JMD Devotional 156 Psalm 32:8-11 Trained on Our Terms
I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Be not like the horse or the mule, which lack understanding, which must have their mouths held firm with bit and bridle, or else they will not come with you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on the Lord shall be compassed about with mercy and with loving-kindness. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you who are upright and in right standing with Him]; shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
When I am stubborn, like a mule, I inadvertently choose to be trained like a mule (i.e. hit with a 2-by-4 on the head); how much easier I could make it on myself if I always listened to the counsel of the Word, if I reasoned with God rather than tried to get away with rebellion.
Jeremiah 10:24 (NIV) Correct me, LORD, but only with justice— not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.
As a parent, I have let my emotions get the best of me and have blown up and over-corrected in my disciplining of my children. If God did that, we would be atomized! Discipline in 'just measure' reflects godly self-control. We can count on God to discipline properly.
Jeremiah 46:28 (AMP) Fear not, O Jacob My servant, says the Lord, for I am with you. For I will make a full and complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you; yet I will not make a full end of you. But I will chasten and correct you in just measure, and I will not hold you guiltless by any means or leave you unpunished.
1 Corinthians 11:31, 32 (NIV) But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
Dear God,
Were I to yield to the sins that tempt me and fall prey to the illusions of this hedonistic society; how would I be distinguished from a Canaanite? How would I be different from the lost? I struggle with feeling short-changed, with envying the free-wheeling ways of wicked-but I know their end is total destruction and grief. I know better; why is it so hard to be a saint? I am full of "I"s; I want to feel this, I want that, my desires scream for expression; which all seems fair and just when all I think about is myself and not how my sins affect every other person; but mostly how sin grieves Your heart. You have to ask, "do I even love You anymore?" I forget that I am called to die to myself and to no longer live for my self but to live for the One who died for me and was raised again. Please forgive me for trying to climb over the safety railing; for hating my life; for disregarding Your counsel. Correct me, Lord. May You not have to deal with me as if I were a dumb animal; give me a tender heart that responds to Your rebuke.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
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When I am stubborn, like a mule, I inadvertently choose to be trained like a mule (i.e. hit with a 2-by-4 on the head); how much easier I could make it on myself if I always listened to the counsel of the Word, if I reasoned with God rather than tried to get away with rebellion.
Jeremiah 10:24 (NIV) Correct me, LORD, but only with justice— not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.
As a parent, I have let my emotions get the best of me and have blown up and over-corrected in my disciplining of my children. If God did that, we would be atomized! Discipline in 'just measure' reflects godly self-control. We can count on God to discipline properly.
Jeremiah 46:28 (AMP) Fear not, O Jacob My servant, says the Lord, for I am with you. For I will make a full and complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you; yet I will not make a full end of you. But I will chasten and correct you in just measure, and I will not hold you guiltless by any means or leave you unpunished.
1 Corinthians 11:31, 32 (NIV) But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
Dear God,
Were I to yield to the sins that tempt me and fall prey to the illusions of this hedonistic society; how would I be distinguished from a Canaanite? How would I be different from the lost? I struggle with feeling short-changed, with envying the free-wheeling ways of wicked-but I know their end is total destruction and grief. I know better; why is it so hard to be a saint? I am full of "I"s; I want to feel this, I want that, my desires scream for expression; which all seems fair and just when all I think about is myself and not how my sins affect every other person; but mostly how sin grieves Your heart. You have to ask, "do I even love You anymore?" I forget that I am called to die to myself and to no longer live for my self but to live for the One who died for me and was raised again. Please forgive me for trying to climb over the safety railing; for hating my life; for disregarding Your counsel. Correct me, Lord. May You not have to deal with me as if I were a dumb animal; give me a tender heart that responds to Your rebuke.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
http://SaintJamesPoetry.blogspot.com
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
http://jamesezadventures.blogspot.com/
posted by James M. Dinsmore at 5:58 AM
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