Delight in the Lord

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

Hello, my friend...

What are you thinking about? Most of us have a continuous loop of internal feedback going on inside our heads 24/7 and don’t really pay attention anymore. Oh, occasionally it will come to the surface – especially if we have done something ignorant or made a mistake on something. Other than that, our minds are an amazing computer that has programming running all the time in the background. In talking with my friends and counseling with others I have discovered that the majority of what’s going on inside our heads is SO NEGATIVE we would physically harm someone else if they said that to us!

Think about it for a minute. When was the last time you consciously told yourself how smart you are, how good-looking you are, how blessed you are? Now if that makes you giggle or uncomfortable, I encourage you to get silent and listen to what your inner voice is saying to you. Joe Cocker was famous for a song he sang back in the sixties and seventies that said, “You are so beautiful to me...can’t you see? You’re everything I’d hoped for, you’re everything I need. You are so beautiful to me.” I occasionally like to sing it with a little variation: “I am so beautiful to me…” I have often sung it out loud with other people around me and it caused quite a cackle of laughter from them.

I met with a good friend of mine (we’ve known each other for thirty years) this morning. He is a pastor – we got ordained the same day back in 1995. He has someone who is trying to ruin his ministry, trying to run him down, to destroy his image. My friend has a LOT of acquaintances and MANY friends, yet what do you think goes through his mind constantly – what we all tell him or what this person is spreading? What would be going through YOUR mind? I think we both know the answer to that question. It is so easy to believe the negative, to condemn, to break down others (and ourselves), yet we find it so hard to build each other up and strengthen ourselves.

David had all the issues we have and so many more. Go back and study his life sometime. He was looked down on by his brothers, everyone with whom he shared his dreams condemned him and laughed at him for them, after he was anointed by the priest to be the next king over Israel he was hunted for years by the sitting king, his family life was in shambles at times, on and on it went. He understood exactly what you and I are going through. Joyce Meyers has a Bible study entitled “Battlefield of the Mind” which I strongly encourage you to study and apply. We all love to read the Psalms and talk about how comforting some of them are and how much they mean to us, yet we forget the pain and loneliness that lay just below the surface – behind the pen that wrote these words.

David wrote, in our verse today, “Blessed is the man...whose delight is in the law of the LORD.” The man (or woman) who reads scripture, who meditates upon it day and night, who takes the time to soak in it, is blessed – is happy, is fulfilled, is complete, is lacking nothing spiritually and mentally. His heart is at rest – even in the middle of trials – his spirit is calm, and his mind is clear. Allowing God to speak to us in the middle of turmoil gives us a different perspective. Allowing His Word to confirm us, to enlighten us, to strengthen us, gives us the ability to push through hard times and criticism.

I challenge you, my friend, to sit down with your Bible and just allow God to speak to you today. It may be that you have been away so long that the Word will run off much like rain on hardened soil. Thats ok. Just do it because it’s the right thing to do. Eventually the top soil will get wet enough to allow some of it to soak in. Give God a chance to reach you where you are. I know it’s dark in there, I know it’s lonely in there, I know there are scary things in your mind. He’s not afraid. He will, with the washing of the water of the Word, cleanse your heart and mind and restore health where illness and disease now lives. Much like taking medicine, the Word may cause things to look and feel worse before they get better – especially when God begins to convict you of your thoughts and attitudes. That, too, is ok. Let God heal you, let Him start making you whole, let Him comfort you, and give you courage.

We are all struggling with something right now. I am, too. But God is a BIG God, a good God, and He can handle it. We just need to give it over to Him and let Him. Do it today. Be blessed.