Psalm 119 - 7.7.26

SCRIPTURE:  Psalm 119:145-152

“I call with all my; answer me Lord, and I will obey Your decrees.  I call out to You; save me and I will keep Your statutes.  I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in Your Word.  My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on Your promises.  Hear my voice in accordance with Your love; preserve my life, Lord, according to Your laws.  Those who devise wicked schemes are near, but they are far from Your laws.  Yet, You are near, Lord, and all Your commands are true.  Long ago I learned from Your statutes that You established them to last forever.”

OBSERVATION:  The author of Psalm 119 is unknown, but it is evident that whoever this was, he wrote it to celebrate God and His Word.  He expressed his ambition to live according to God’s laws, commands, precepts, and instructions.  He mentioned how he lost sleep by getting up early to meditate on God’s Word.  He prioritized God’s Word until it became his delight, which was not a burden, but a blessing. 

APPLICATION:  God’s Word should become a blessing to us; not a burden that is something we read just to check off a box! The author trusted that this valuable treasure would give him support, bring him correction, and give him confidence and security.  The more he applied it, the more he took delight in it.  He prioritized it even over his sleep.

PRAYER:  Thank You God for giving me Your Word, which is faithful and true!  I thank You that Your Word is my source of security, peace and joy. Thank You for helping me want to study and meditate on Your Word daily so that my faith will continue to grow, and that as I consistently apply it, it will renew my mind, transform my life, and lead to sweet satisfaction and fulfillment.

- Robin Orefice

Matthew 6 - 7.6.26

S - Matthew 6:25-27

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body. what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life.”

O - This is a tough one for me.  Jesus tells us not to worry about physical life, but when you worry, so much anxiety creeps in and fractures our ability to make good decisions and degrades faith.  Jesus tells us how God has already given us life and a physical body, and we can trust that He will take care of the smaller things.  In these scriptures, He explains the  irrationality of worry.  There are no positive results of worry.  No return on our investment.

A -  I am personally going to weigh the options on how this worry is going to cost me in regards to keeping faith and trading if for fruitless anxiety.

P -  Lord I pray that you intervene when I become anxious and I pray for your wisdom in all situations.  Please remind me how ineffective it makes us when we devote time to an unworthy cause.  I also pray for calm in the midst of the storm. Amen

- Brian Moen

Exodus 20 - 7.3.26

Scripture: Exodus 20:8-11 

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Observation

This is the fourth of the 10 Commandments, and one our generation seems to overlook. This is a commandment and not a suggestion. If we go to Genesis 2:2-3 "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that he had done."  The creation ended with rest. In Charlie Kirk’s book, “Stop in the name of God”, Charlie stated "The rest is not due to fatique, but to fullness. It is not the withdrawal of power, but the crowning of meaning. It is the devine punctuation mark at the end of the most magnificent sentence ever spoken. It is the declaration that the created world, imbued with devine speech and rediant with order, is not merely functional but good-and that its goodness is worthy of joy." 

Application

Keep the Sabbath Holy. This day is to be set apart from all other days. God blessed it, so it is highly favored. We are to work six days. We give our best in those six days, whether it be for an employer or at home. The seventh day is rest. Not a day to rest from God, but to reflect and honor and give Glory to our Father in heaven for His creation. A day of Worship. A day free from work. We also know God wants to refresh us. Our bodies are recharged with a day of rest. A day spent with God will refresh us.

When it comes to the Sabbath day, many people, including the Pharisees, put their own spin on how we should apply this day to our lives regarding what you can or can't do. The best thing for us is go to the scriptures and let Jesus show us.

Matthew 12:8 - “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” He is the authority of the Sabbath.

Matthew 12:9-12 - "Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Luke 13:10-17 - “On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath. ”The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.”

Colossians 2:16 - "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. “ Do not worry about what other people do on the Sabbath. How is God directing you? 

Prayer

Lord Jesus, creator of all things, on the seventh day you rested and blessed that day. You asked us to remember and to keep it holy. Forgive me, Lord, for not remembering and keeping the Sabbath Holy. You set that day apart for me to worship, honor, and glorify you and to give me rest. Amen

- Robert Oberg