37 uFret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not venvious of wrongdoers!

2 For they will soon wfade like xthe grass

and wither ylike the green herb.

3 zTrust in the Lord, and do good;

adwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.2

4 bDelight yourself in the Lord,

and he will cgive you the desires of your heart.

5 dCommit your way to the Lord;

ztrust in him, and he will act.

6 eHe will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

and your justice as fthe noonday.

7 gBe still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

hfret not yourself over the one who iprospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

8 jRefrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

hFret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

9 kFor the evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the Lord shall linherit the land.

10 In mjust a little while, the wicked will be no more;

though you look carefully at nhis place, he will not be there.

11 But othe meek shall inherit the land

and delight themselves in pabundant peace.

12 The wicked qplots against the righteous

and rgnashes his teeth at him,

13 but the Lord slaughs at the wicked,

for he sees that his tday is coming.

14 The wicked draw the sword and ubend their bows

to bring down the poor and needy,

to slay those whose vway is upright;

15 their sword shall enter their own heart,

and their wbows shall be broken.

16 xBetter is the little that the righteous has

than the abundance of many wicked.

17 For ythe arms of the wicked shall be broken,

but the Lord zupholds the righteous.

18 The Lord aknows the days of the blameless,

and their bheritage will remain forever;

19 they are not put to shame in evil times;

in cthe days of famine they have abundance.

20 But the wicked will perish;

the enemies of the Lord are like dthe glory of the pastures;

they vanish—like esmoke they vanish away.

21 The wicked borrows but does not pay back,

but the righteous fis generous and gives;

22 for those blessed by the Lord3 shall ginherit the land,

but those cursed by him hshall be cut off.

23 The isteps of a man are jestablished by the Lord,

when he delights in his way;

24 kthough he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,

for the Lord lupholds his hand.

25 I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or his children mbegging for bread.

26 He is ever nlending generously,

and his children become a blessing.

27 oTurn away from evil and do good;

so shall you pdwell forever.

28 For the Lord qloves justice;

he will not forsake his rsaints.

They are preserved forever,

but the children of the wicked shall be scut off.

29 The righteous shall inherit the land

and pdwell upon it forever.

30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,

and his tongue speaks justice.

31 tThe law of his God is in his heart;

his usteps do not slip.

32 The wicked vwatches for the righteous

and seeks to put him to death.

33 The Lord will not wabandon him to his power

or let him xbe condemned when he is brought to trial.

34 yWait for the Lord and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land;

you will look on zwhen the wicked are cut off.

35 aI have seen a wicked, ruthless man,

spreading himself like ba green laurel tree.4

36 But he passed away,5 and behold, che was no more;

though I sought him, he could not be found.

37 Mark the blameless and behold the upright,

for there is a future for the man of dpeace.

38 But etransgressors shall be altogether destroyed;

the future of the wicked fshall be cut off.

39 gThe salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

he is their stronghold in hthe time of trouble.

40 The Lord helps them and idelivers them;

jhe delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they ktake refuge in him.

Dan Zink brought this psalm to my attention. He said, "Look at the verbs in this psalm." The verbs pertain to our attitudes. Be still: I think I learned and will continue to learn to be still in the midst of chaos in Ethiopia.  Fret not: Anxiety is an addictive set of mind that will tear you up inside. Delight yourself in God: How often do we take the time to delight ourselves in our Heavenly Father. I think the answer will always be not enough. I hope to become like Mary who delighted herself at her Saviors feet. Wait patiently: I am a woman with a plan and it is often get on board the train or get off. This attitude is not very Christ like as it makes no allowance for Christ to step in with his plan that is to prosper me. Refrain from anger: Anger is a check engine light to show us injustice, but I tend to warp the justice it calls for. Forsake wrath: A hard one as I am a lady. Commit your ways to the Lord: I do for a moment, but then the moment passes and I am right back to my agenda. Mark the blameless: As a Presbyterian I think that protestants don't realize the good from looking at the lives of the Saint before us and here with us. We should be using each other like sandpaper. Each of us helping the other to become more and more like our Lord and Savior. Behold the upright: I like to contemplate the life of Christ and wonder at how it looked to His family, disciples, and followers. How would it look today and in my life?

Dan Zink said near the end of our trip, "We came to serve, to learn, and encourage." I did serve, but I feel like I was taught and encouraged in ways that I cannot express fully. We have a great God who surpasses cultures, languages, and diseases in ways that are unimaginable to my mind. 

How To Love God 101

How To Love God 101

Two stories are told of God and his people Israel in Exodus.  The first story is of how God frees his people from slavery.  The second is God imparting the Ten Commandments to his people.  This shows what may seem to be two extremes.  God first free Israel as a knight would save a princess, but then surrounds Israel with his own laws and decrees.  Do these themes of liberation and covenant contradict each other?  This is not a story of God freeing his people then setting boundaries for them.  Exodus is a story of how God shows his people how to love and have a relationship with him. 

 

In Exodus 19:5-8(English Standard Version) a covenant is made between God and his people:

5Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel."

 7So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.

God is not saying, “Do this or I will smite you.”  God is offering his blessing to Israel much like a man proposes to a woman.  The woman is free to reject the proposal, but once she says her wedding vows she is in a contract of how she will show her love to her husband.  “If you… obey my voice and keep my covenant…” God offers his blessing and “showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments (Exodus 20:6). “  It takes hard work to not lie, steal, covet, and to not put other things before God.  As a jealous God, God wanted to be remembered in his people’s day-to-day lives.  The Ten Commandments were like little love notes that reminded Israel of him. “In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you (Exodus 20:24b).”  It is important to remember that following the Ten Commandments would not save Israel from their sin.  The covenant that God made did not promise that, but that following the covenant would improve their relationship with God. 

As humans we have much experience with human relationships.  Problems need to be worked out and communication is a key factor that takes effort.  Yet as humans relate to different people differently, so Israel could not relate to God the same way the other nations related to their gods.  Just a husband and wife have to show each other how to best relate to each other God showed his people how to best relate to him.