09252021 Two Constants

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our Good Shepherd. Lately it has been my habit to meditate on Psalm 23 at night, and this has been a blessing to me. There are two thoughts in particular that have caught my attention, and I thought I would share them with you.

The first three verses are a beautiful picture of peace – not lacking anything, green pastures, still waters, restored soul, paths of righteousness. Don’t we wish life could be more of those and less of what comes in the later verses? But that’s not reality. Reality is that we do find ourselves (far more often than we would prefer) in the valley of the shadow of death or in the presence of our enemies.

The first thing I realized is that we are not in those dark places by accident. There is a constant in this psalm, and it is God’s leading. That’s what being a shepherd is all about. God leads us into green pastures. God leads us beside still waters. God leads us in the paths of righteousness. Then sometimes we find ourselves walking through the valley of the shadow of death, or we find ourselves in the presence of our enemies.

How did we get there? Our Shepherd has been leading us, right? The verses give no indication that He has stopped leading us, and there is no reason to think that He has. In fact, those darker verses clearly indicate the continued presence of our Shepherd. He is walking through the valley with us. He still has His guiding staff, which He utilizes to comfort us. He is preparing a table in the presence of our enemies, so again He continues with us, close at hand.

Not only is God’s guidance a constant, but God’s provision is a constant. In the beginning it was green grass and quiet waters. In the darker places He still provides. He gives the comfort we need in those trying hours. He prepares a feast for us, to the extent that our cup runs over. The situations are harder, but the provision of God is still sufficient and even abundant.

David is so confident in the Shepherd’s constant presence and guidance that he concludes in verse 6 that goodness and mercy will follow him all the days of his life. All the days. Easy days. Hard days. Days of blessing. Days of challenge. Days of light. Days of darkness. Whether walking in the beautiful pastoral scene of green pastures and still waters or through the darkest and most dangerous valley, God still shows His goodness, and God still displays His mercy. All the days – until that wonderful day when He takes us to live with Him forever.

Constant leading and constant provision. May God encourage you with those truths today.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

09182021 Stronger and Better

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God who is stronger and better. Stronger and better than what, you ask? Well, than anyone or anything, actually.

The psalmist of Psalm 118 realized this truth during a needy time. Notice his situation. In v. 5, he just called it “distress.” He was surrounded by enemies who hated him. Four times the psalmist says this group of enemies surrounded him (compassed him about – v. 10, v. 11 x2, v. 12); in fact, they surrounded him like a swarm of bees. They pushed him hard (thrust sore at me – v. 13) so that he was at the point of falling. This seems like a large surging crowd that threatens to trample someone under its feet.

What is the psalmist’s response to this oppressive danger? He called out in confidence to God. He believed this truth: “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” (v. 6). He fully expected God to have the victory over these evil men who were no match for Him.

I believe there are two groups of people over whom the psalmist recognizes God’s superiority. The first is the enemies (“them that hate me” – v. 7). These men will be destroyed with God’s help (vs. 11, 12). God will help him (v. 13). God is his strength, song, and salvation (v. 14). God’s hand was mighty (vs. 15-16). All of this echoes the idea of verse 6 – that God is on his side, and that God is so much more powerful than any enemy. Men pale in significance.

The second group is the friends (“them that help me” – v. 7). The psalmist was not completely alone. He did have others on his side. However, the help of those men was limited. They could not give the kind of victory that God could give. “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes” (vs. 8-9). In the later verses already noted (11-16), it is God who gave the victory, not man. God gives better help than any friend. Do we want human help and support in the midst of trouble? Absolutely. But even if we have that help, it pales in comparison to what God can do.

This psalmist had hope because God was for him. God was far safer and stronger than any man – either those who were attacking or those who desired to help. God was a stronger force and a better refuge. While the following is not my best attempt at poetry, I endeavored to capture this thought.

Meditation on Psalm 118

Surrounded, pushed, and nearly falling.

The enemies in union banding.

Distress results in fervent calling.

 

In time the foes can fight no longer.

Their strength is weak, their power broken.

The power of the LORD is stronger.

 

What source of help can ally set here?

Though help is welcomed, often searched for,

The refuge of the LORD is better.

 

In all that you face, may you find the all-sufficient help of the God who is stronger and better.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

09112021 Morning and Evening

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our ever-present God. Aren’t you glad He is with us every moment? Daytime, nighttime, weekdays, weekends, even on vacation.

Recently I have had the need to seek God in a special way, and I am so thankful for His compassion, lovingkindness, and truth that provide me with so much help and support. I’m thankful that He graciously hears my heart cries and responds to them. I have gathered several verses that I have been praying to Him this week, and I have been very blessed to see His answers that often come in ways that remind me of the wording of these verses.

Of my collection of verses, I chose two as my primary weapons. They are my nighttime verse and my daytime verse. I thought I would share these two verses with you today.

My nighttime verse is Proverbs 3:24. “When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.” This is what happens for those who seek God’s wisdom and God’s truth as their guide for life. Peace, rest, assurance, comfort. These are possible even when life might seem to suggest otherwise.

After being helped so much by my nighttime verse, I realized I needed another one that was appropriate for my waking hours, and I settled on this absolute gem. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Psalm 46:1-2). Just those three words “very present help” are amazing. He is right with me all the time, especially in trouble. He is my refuge and my strength. What is the extent to which I can trust Him? Even if there is an unimaginable catastrophic event like the mountains being dumped into the sea. In other words, even in situations far worse than anything that will happen in my lifetime. Even then, He would be my very near helper.

I trust these verses will be a blessing to you. I pray that God will encourage and strengthen you with special verses to carry you through all your nights and all your days.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

09042021 Psalm 40

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God of compassion and lovingkindness, who constantly thinks about us and repeatedly delivers us even from the most desperate situations.

I spent some time this morning in Psalm 40 and found it to be a great blessing. This psalm is interesting in that I would tend to reverse the first and last sections. Verses 1-3 talk about the wonderful victory, and verses 13-17 are the desperate cry for help. I believe God, through David, is giving the conclusion first, and leaves us as a final impression the type of prayer that resulted in such a conclusion. The psalm is front-heavy on hope. In fact, pretty much the entire psalm is filled with hope, before concluding with the desperate prayer to the God who provides that hope.

Verses 1-3 talk about the victory. There is hope in these verses, because they talk about waiting on God and crying to God, and about God's response and answer and deliverance, even abundantly and dramatically. “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings” (v. 2). The situation was really bad, but God ended it with such dramatic deliverance that it brought a song and praise and increased trust by many.

Verses 4-5 also provide hope, as they talk about trusting a God who has done so much for us and who thinks about us so much. God is rightfully the source to turn to. His interest and interaction have been and continue to be great. “Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered” (v. 5).

There is hope and something like affirmation in verses 6-10, when we are able to realize that this has been our desire. First, to do God’s will. “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (v. 8). Second, to make it a practice to speak of God and His goodness. “I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation” (v. 10). There is something stabilizing and encouraging to someone who has made a practice of speaking about God and declaring His goodness to others. To a certain extent, this puts us in a position to cry to God and expect His response and favor. It’s not like we are rebels who think about God or cry out to Him only when life gets really desperate. Rather, our record is that we love and follow Him all the time and that we love our relationship with Him.

There is the hope of God’s expected response to extreme difficulty in verses 11-12. “Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me” (v. 11). God loves us and cares for us, and He isn’t going to stop. That is important because of verse 12, that the evils and oppressions are so innumerable, and so overwhelming. David talks about being compassed about (surrounded), having been taken hold of, being unable to look up, and finally that his heart has failed (forsaken) him. Can we not sometimes relate? We can sense the accumulation of so many pressures that are just more than we can deal with. There is real impact on our spirit and even on our ability to function.

Then the final verses 13-17 end in prayer. Earnest and dependent prayer is the right response. Asking God fervently to deliver us quickly. Asking Him to defeat our enemies, to defeat the forces that want to destroy us. Asking for the end result that God would be magnified by His deliverance. “But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God” (v. 17).

If you sense anything of a failed heart or of surrounding troubles today, seek hope in the God who loves you deeply and who is constantly thinking of you. There is no situation so difficult that He cannot deliver. Indeed, His deliverance can be so amazing that there will be “a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD” (v. 3). Praise the Deliverer for the salvation He will bring! God bless you, my sisters, as you faithfully serve Him.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA