Shhhh...let it go.

No matter what troubles come about, whether from earthquakes, floods or wars, the person who trusts in God is not overcome by them (46:1-3).

They have an inner calmness, likened to a cool refreshing stream that flows gently from God. The Almighty is still in full control, and he gives strength to his people (4-7).

God’s power can smash all opposition. Therefore, opponents should stop fighting against him and realize that he is the supreme God, the supreme ruler of the world (8-11).

°Bridgeway

Be still, and know that I am God...(vs 10).

The word still does not mean be quiet.

H7503. רָפָה rāp̱āh: A verb meaning to become slack, to relax, to cease, to desist...to become weak, to become feeble, to let drop...to leave alone, to let go, to forsake, to abandon...

It means to let go.

The word know means to grasp, to aquire, to comprehend, to understand.

To grasp that God is who He says He is, and to let go of trying to hold onto a chaotic, out of control world, and let God figure it out instead.

Let go of your own security, and grasp onto the true safety of the goodness and power of God.

I never knew you...

 

The parable of the Ten Virgins.

All of them fell asleep.  All of them woke when they heard that Jesus was coming.  All of them had lamps.  All of them tried to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Five were ready, five were not. 

Jesus knew five, Jesus did not know five.

What did He say to the ones who weren't ready?

He didn't know them.

Look at this verse:

1 Corinthians 8:3 

But if any man loves God, the same is known by him.

How can we know that Jesus knows us?  If we love Him, he knows us.

How can we know if we love Jesus?

What are the commandments we are to keep?

2 John 1:5-6

And now I beseech you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto you, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

How you love your neighbor determines whether or not Jesus knows you. 

GOOD KING DAVID
( sung to the tune of Good King Wenceslas )
1 Samuel 30

Good King Davids eyes looked out
on the fields at even
Where the camp was strewn about
all his men were grieven.
"Amalekites have done us wrong
time to kick some booty!"
Davids wives were took that day
along with all their foo-oo-dy!

"This is your fault, we all know
bro, we do not like you!
There's a stone to throw his way!"
David starts to feel blue.
"Help me God, Im feeling low
tell me what to do
Should I pursue after them?"
Ephod says its tru-u-e!

David rides to Besor Brook
took along some guys
finds a dude out in the field
takes him by surprise.
Fed with cakes and dried up grapes
Dude spills all the beans
"Ill take you to my masters lair
but please just dont be me-e-ean"

David gets his two wives back
along with all his goods
Goes back to the Besor Brook
where the others stood.
Angry guys said, "No, you cant
have none of this
You were lazy, stayed behind
so just kiss our gr-i-its!

David sets a precedence
for the land to see
"All the guys who stayed behind
you will let them be.
I declare that they will share
all that we brought back
For our LORD helped us this day
now open up your sa-a-acks"

When God shows up...

SCRIPTURE:
1 Kings 8:11
And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.

OBSERVATION:
Solomon has completed the temple.
He has brought the ark up from the City of David.  And in the majesty of the most amazing building that has ever been built in Israel, an even more amazing event occurs.

God shows up in such a way, that the priests are overwhelmed with the presence of His glory.  The couldn't even finish doing their priestly things.

2 Chronicles explains a bit more:

2 Chronicles 5:11-14 NIV
The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord . Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

After everything is set in place, the priests begin to sing.  120 musicians and singers begin to praise God.  And as they say how good God is, God just shows up and stops everything because of His awesomeness.

APPLICATION:
How many times I'm just going about my business, and a thought will come into my head.  And the thought is just the right thought at the right time.  And I begin to praise Him for just the way He showed up.  And I am overwhelmed with emotion.

The disciples had the same thing happen to them.

Matthew 17:1-8
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.   Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”   While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”   When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”  When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

Jesus had just put a thought in their heads.
"There will be some who won't die until they see my glory"

And then boom...they witness God being God.  And they have to stop what they are doing because of the awesomeness if the moment.

PRAYER:
Interrupt us. 
Show us your glory, your majesty.
Whatever we are doing, let it be with the high praise of you on our lips and minds and hearts.
You are good, and your love endures forever.

NOTHING BAD TO SAY...

2 Kings 23:25, 29

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo.

Josiah was a king that had no compromise. Most of the other kings allowed high places in their kingdom ( places of idolatry ). But not Josiah. He destroyed every shrine and desecrated every high place. He cleansed the LORD'S temple of everything that didn't belong.

But he didn't live very long. 38 years old when he died.

Its not a tragedy when a person who pleases God dies young.

It is a tragedy when a person who lives only for themself dies of old age.

The Holy Spirit says of Josiah that he was an amazing king, unrivaled because of how he turned his life over to God.

What do you say of me, Jesus?
I do want to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant"  when I die.

And they only way I'll hear that is if I turn to you just like Josiah did.

I WANT TO BE SUPER RELIGIOUS

2 Kings 4:6
When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

A widow and an orphan. This time its Elisha, not Elijah. But the compassion and the miracle are very close to what Elijah experienced.

Elisha meets a lady who is in debt. And the collector is coming for her kids.

Her husband is dead, and she isnt going to make it.

Elisha tells her to gather what she does have ( a little oil ), and pour it in a whole bunch of empties.

She then gets SO MUCH, she can pay off her debts, and live on the rest.

Beautiful story.

God DOES care about us. He cares so much, he does perform miracles.

And he uses people as agents oftentimes.

I want to be that guy. Not for the credit of performing miracles, but because Jesus is looking around to see who wants to help Him:

2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the LORD look to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

Make me an Elisha. I want to help widows and orphans in their distress.

James 1:27
Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

I want that religion.

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS AND PANCAKES

worthless

Whats the point.

You were right.

I dont got no more fight.

I really cant go on.
Hide me in a closet.

Take me to the bank deposit.

What good am I, really?
You dont even see me.

You dont wanna be me.

Screw this place.
Never mind, screw it all.

I should just take a fall.

If I ran away... that'd be good.
Some far away place.

Maybe outer space.

Shut that door, slip out the back.
You dont even know Im gone.

You wont find my footprints on the lawn.

Im no good.
Never have been.

Drown me in a bottle of gin.

Stay away from me.
I wont let you get close.

Im not a man...just a ghost.

the other side of the boat

Throughout the night, I search in vain
This net is empty still

But through the cloudless empty skies
My soul is dark and filled

Here, in hiding, I hide my heart
I wont recall His face

But in the quite calm of night
I ache for His embrace

The battered body hanging limp
Upon the cursed tree

While others watched His life depart
I chose to turn and flee

No carpenter can mend this break
No lungs should breath these breaths

The rapid rise of straining sighs
And pain as deep as death

"Cast your net again, my friend
But on the other side"

No man should dare to doubt my strength!
This anger, on my pride!

Exhausted limbs and weary hands
What brashness questions this!

But in His voice, a memory stirs
My jilted choice amiss

Is it...this man, oh can it be
I stare through pooling tears

The man, the One, but no...
Be gone, these mortal fears!

I leave the outline of the man
And quell the rising doubt

"His voice!  No...His voice!"
I stand, but reel in mind

The voice of beauty and of grace
Across the foaming brine!

I cast my net across the bow
Into the silent sea

Then tugs the rope against my hands
What weight! Crushed to bended knee!

Agony, release! I must now know
What man is on the shore

I turn to face the voice of whom
Cruel death could hold no more

The eyes of love are locked with mine
These eyes that could not see

It is the one who beckons still
For everyone like me

John 21:6-7

Soliloquy

On my tombstone's written thusly
"one who marked his pathway well"

In the hours of the testing
Darkness came and darkness fell

But just as simply in a moment
freedom over conquered hell.

dancing on my knees

To dance for others,
Or hold you near.

To see the face
Of yours so clear.

In every action,
And every thought.

I am asking
To be taught.

To sing of heights,
To mourn in depths.

To run to you,
With no regrets.

My actions cold,
And my heart bereaved.

Forgive me for
Your Spirit grieved.

To sense direction,
From unseen hands.

To close my mouth,
With holy bands.

Im not what I,
Desire to be.

If you would,
Please set me free.

I weary of my weary state,
And spit I out, myself I hate.

You alone are goodness all,
So to my stubborn knees I fall.

The End of Death~Revelation 1:18

salient bars held in place, resilient, twisted knots
form the window sill that frames an anguished tortured plot

beneath the frame a shadow cast in dim and roughened hue
bequeathed by one in absent joy, boding an eschew

unseen hands writhe in pain, beneath a quilt of shame
lightless eyes closed tight to veil the prisoner from his blame

hope has fled, all traces gone, without a shred of peace
darkened flames and muted cries have spoken, "unreleased"

guilt betrays the captive here, alone and silent mourns
infiltrated sovereignty, divinity he scorned

designed by sin, made firm by choice, held in place by One
for Death ( his name ) will not be freed by Father's favored Son

Blasting light comes through the cell as Jesus walks the hall
toward Deaths domain, in brilliant white, the Son has come to call

Terror grips the conquered one, as steadily He grows nearer
valiant speaks the awesome Lord, and silent sits the hearer

"I hold the keys to every door, forever I am King
your power vexed and vanquished now...Death, where is thy sting?"

Job 18:17-21

on the tombstone written thusly
one who marked his journey well
"in my time I trusted nothing
what lies beneath is now a shell"

desperation, seperation
searching, seeking, never found
foment torment, tattered doormat
broken pieces heaped in mounds

remove the memory of the wicked
perish it from lips and mind
no one speaks the names forgotten
whose enemy was god divine

Psalm 54, a degree of irony

God save those who cant save themselves.

My words, your ears.

They that rise against me, do not see the God before me.

He helps the needy, and is with the helpful.

Payback to those who pay with evil.

I freely owe the sacrifices of praise.

Freed to see the bondage of the wicked.

Version Psalm 53

there is no God
you are a fool
currupted

He looks on us
no understandstanding
interrupted

we all turned
no goodness
disrupted

no knowledge
devouring sons of God
abused

afraid of fear
shatterd bones
accused

save and protect
through restoration
excused

Version Psalm 43

Uphold my cause against the land
that holds the wicked unjust man
Pleading

O God that makes me strong
You've left me for so long
Grieving

Lead me with your light and wisdom
Bring me to your holy kingdom
Seeing

Stand before your presence then
shouting out to you, Amen
Kneeling

Questioning my souls unease
hoping in the God who sees
Freeing

once in while they come around, if you watch and wait.

if you close your eyes and listen, your thoughts will be their bait.

a captive audience, an ensamble cast preforms for you at will.

take it in, ponder deep, until you have your fill.

what is their name, and whence they came for you at last to know?

memories, both strong and weak, feel them come and let them go...

Try and see it the way I do. I would show you more, Its true.

I'd lift the vail that covers your eyes. I'd give you light to brighten your skies.

Id turn your darkness from dark to light. I would send in angels to give you sight.

I ask for this and so much more, that peaceful waves caress your shores.

That strength and knowledge would bless your life and restful nights replace sleepless strife.

In asking this I know one thing, that this is what I long to bring, to you today and evermore...know that this is what friends are for.

Version Psalm 23

Im led by You
and in the leading
I lack for nothing.

You lead me to
the waters where
I can lay down,

I am restored
because you lead me
into a right place,

You go before
I go through hell
and you are with me.

A table set
to honor me
You meet my needs

I dont deserve
in all my ways
please live with me.

Version Psalm 13

Will forever cover time and space
of how long till I see your face?

I speak to me with stricken words
they come at me with brandished swords

Lightened eyes wont sleep at all
you hear my cry before I fall

Grandiose voices rail with glee
allow not death to conquer me

A faith in substitution finds
arms outstretched toward aid devine

A lasting note is on my breath
requited tones escaped from death