A Thanksgiving Psalm

Psalm 100 The Message (MSG)

1-2 On your feet now—applaud God!
    Bring a gift of laughter,
    sing yourselves into His presence.

3 Know this: God is God, and God, God.
    He made us; we didn’t make Him.
    We’re his people, His well-tended sheep.

4 Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
    Thank him. Worship Him.

5 For God is sheer beauty,
    all-generous in love,
    loyal always and ever.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

Like Giving Medicine to A Cat…

I’m sitting at home one night; mindlessly watching TV with Cathy when a commercial comes on for a product that will cure some ailment for a cat.

They show the human and she is happy. They show the cat and it too is happy. They show the family and everyone is happy.

As the saying goes; “Happy cat, happy homelife” or something like that.

The commercial is so moving that I stand on my feet because I, too, want this kind of rich and abundant life, and I reach for my car keys and my wallet.

And then reason prevails and I think of at least three reasons why I shouldn’t pick up this product…

Number One: The side effects are devastating for the cat. They include depression, difficulty with swallowing, vomiting, and diarrhea.

“Yeah, that’s what I want”; I say to Cathy. “A cat who is now depressed, because it can’t swallow and is projecting fluids from both of its major orifices!” I sit back down on couch, trying to get that image out of my head.

The second reason why I shouldn’t pick up this product is; “Have you ever tried to give medicine to a cat?!”

I don’t care how happy the humans and the cat are, it is very apparent that whoever wrote this commercial clearly has never tried to give medicine to a cat!

Simply put, you don’t! Take it from one who has tried you can’t; period.

When I was a young lad, my family tried to hide the medicine in our cat’s food. The cat showed us what’s what and ate every morsel of food as it pushed aside the medicine we had cleverly hidden inside of the food dish.

None of us felt safe to go to sleep after the cat gave us the; “Don’t ever try that again” look and hissed at us.

When my children were young, Cathy and I tried giving medicine to one of their cats.

I told Cathy to bypass the ‘hiding-it-in-the-food’ trick because experience taught us to not even go there…

So, we tried the ‘take-two-people-to give-it -to-the-cat’ approach. That is where two people (usually the parents) are needed because one holds the cat’s mouth open as the other shoves (or attempts to shove) the medicine down it’s throat.

It’s kind of a good-cop, bad-cop trick that never really works.

We thought that by one of us speaking lovingly to the cat while prying open the mouth, somehow the cat would trust us as the other person shoved the medicine down the throat. After all, we were trying to help the cat get better; we were doing something for the good of the cat.

 

This, too, ends up with the cat hissing as it gave us the; “Don’t ever try that again” look.

It also includes many memories burned into my children’s cerebral cortex as they watched in horror as their beloved cat resisted our attempts to heal it by yowling to the point of being ridiculous; memories that therapists would later refer to as “billable hours” as they attempted to help us get those images out of all of our heads. 

Oh, and third reason why I shouldn’t pick up this product is, I don’t own a cat or any pet for that matter….

I changed the channel on the tv and then, in true pondering fashion, I thought of God and how I act towards Him as He attempts to do something for my own good.

How I push away all that He does for my good.

How I yowl and resist and work hard to not take what God has “put in my food dish” that will help me.

How I think that at times He can seem to me to be overbearing and too demanding as I hiss at Him as I give the; “Don’t ever try that again” look.

But the truth is that everything He does is for my good; after all, I am made in His image and (as a Christian) bear His Name.

The truth is that He owns me; I belong to Him.

He doesn’t want to shove anything down my throat. He wants is asking me to stop resisting Him and stop struggling and to take the medicine.

He says to me; “…open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” (Psalm 81:10).

“So the Lord must wait for you to come to Him so that He can show you His love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for His help.” (Isaiah 30:18)

"JUST A MINUTE..."

People say it all the time…

You heard it said to you when you asked someone something.

Admit it; you’ve even said it yourself to someone else in an attempt to pacify the request and continue to do whatever it is that is (seemingly) more important at the time.

“Just A Minute”

Then, one-minute turns to five which turns to ten and so forth…

And our requests (seemingly) fall on deaf ears

And we learn to be cynical and not believe each other’s words. We assume that they won’t really follow through on what they say they will do.

And, worst of, we make the assumption that this is how God answers us.

After all, the Bible says; “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

We reason that God takes HIS time (not ours) to get back to us.

But I want to assure you that just because people treat each other like that, God doesn’t. In fact, it might surprise you that He answers more quickly that we might imagine.

In Matthew 6:8, Jesus tells us that God the Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

King David said in Psalm 139:4 “You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.”

Isaiah prophesied (spoke for the LORD); “I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!”

Wow; I would say that is faster that our lame answer; ““Just A Minute”

My favorite Bible passage that shows just how quickly God answers comes from the Book of Daniel chapter ten. I like it because it also gives insight as to why (sometimes) we can’t see the answer from God.

Daniel needed some direction from the Lord and set aside some time to pray, and he saw a vision. The passage tells us that he had been in mourning for three whole weeks, during which time he had eaten no rich food, nor had he drunk wine, nor had he used any fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.

In the vision, Daniel is told some things that we can take away and apply to our lives as we ponder whether or not the Lord answers us quickly.

First of all, God sends someone to talk to Daniel to let him know that God has heard his request.

Secondly, this angel tells Daniel that God sent him to tell Daniel God’s answer, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood the angel for twenty-one days. In other words, Daniel couldn’t get the answer because of the opposition that was stopping the answer from coming through.

Thirdly, the angel tells Daniel that the Lord dispatched Michael to fight the resistance and made a way for the angel to break through the enemy’s lines and get the answer to Daniel. 

Fourthly, (and this is my favorite insight) the angel tells Daniel that from the first day he set his heart to seek the Lord, God dispatched the answer.

One version says, “the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard”. I like that!

God is saying; “I didn’t wait until you fasted and prayed twenty-one days to answer you. I didn’t even wait until you had spent a whole day in prayer. I sent the answer when you said to yourself, “I’ve got to seek the Lord.”

The Lord told one of His angels to go and tell Daniel that his prayer was answered the moment Daniel began to pray; but an evil angel met God’s angel and wrestled with him, blocking him from getting to Daniel.

God wasn’t saying; “Just a minute…”

 

No, there was a conflict in the heavens taking place even though Daniel couldn’t see it. Satan hindered God’s answer to Daniel for three full weeks.

The Bible tells us that "we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12).

Today, call out to God, knowing that He hears your cry even before you ask Him. He is a loving Father who longs to care for you. He won’t forsake you. He won’t tell you; “Just a minute”.

Waking Up in An Empty Bed

I woke up from a very deep sleep the other day. I must have fallen asleep the night before and slept very soundly (which is very rare for me).

My mind was confused; I didn’t know what day it was or what time it was.

And I realized that the bed was empty; Cathy was gone; and it was frightening.

My mind was even more confused as I tried even harder to figure out what day it was or what time it was.

In my head, I heard an old song by Larry Norman called “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”

       A man and wife asleep in bed
       She hears a noise and turns her head he's gone
       I wish we’d all been ready…

       There's no time to change your mind
       The Son has come and you've been left behind…

My mind was even MORE confused as I tried even harder to answer what day it was or what time it was and where Cathy really was at. Was she really gone? Was I left behind?

Suddenly I was fully awakened as I heard our pickup truck start up; Cathy was leaving for work…which meant that it was Friday sometime around six in the morning. A quick look at the clock on the dresser confirmed that it was five minutes before six o’clock in the morning.

I must have really been tired after a full day (Thursday).

As I made the bed, the song continued in my head:

       A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
       I wish we’d all been ready…

I went downstairs to pour a cup of coffee to awaken the remaining part of my brain.

The song continued to play in my head:

       Two men walking up a hill
       One disappears and one’s left standing still
       I wish we’d all been ready…

I sat down in my favorite chair in our living room (with my cup of coffee) and read Matthew 24:36-44; which is what the song is referring to.

In the passage Jesus states:

³⁶ “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. ³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.³⁸ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. ⁴² Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.⁴⁴ Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

I read the entity of chapters 24 and 25 to meditate on Jesus’ words telling us what to expect as one day this world as we know it comes to an end.

For the record, I’m not one who spends most days thinking about or discussing eschatology (the study of end times), BUT that doesn’t say that it isn’t important.

One day this world will end and I hope that we’ll all be ready. It’s no fun waking up in an empty bed; in fact, it’s frightening and confusing!

Not sure where you are at if He were to return today? Call 1-888-NEED-HIM for more assistance. Or drop me a line at pastortommyoestreich@gmail.com

Pastor Tommy O, River of Hope Ministries

  

“I Wish We'd All Been Ready” by Larry Norman

Life was filled with guns and war
And all of us got trampled on the floor
I wish we’d all been ready
The children died, the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we’d all been ready

There's no time to change your mind
The Son has come and you've been left behind

A man and wife asleep in bed
She hears a noise and turns her head he's gone
I wish we’d all been ready
Two men walking up a hill
One disappears and ones left standing still
I wish we’d all been ready

The Father spoke, the demons dined
How could you have been so blind?

There's no time to change your mind
The Son has come and you've been left behind

There's no time to change your mind
The Son has come and you've been left behind

I hope well all be ready
You've been left behind [Repeat: x3]

Songwriters: Larry Norman

I Wish We'd All Been Ready lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Reign on My Parade

Do you like parades? I sometimes do…depending on whom I am with, because I care less about the parade and more about the opportunity to spend time with friends and loved ones.

So, I don’t like watching the parade as much as I like the spending time with people. And so, I will usually go when asked…

That is depending on where I am able to watch the parade from or how clear of a view do I have in front of me so that I have great access to the candy and free items.

And how clear it is behind me so that I can take a step back when the Shiners or the clowns walk by and attempt to invade my personal space.

Yes, clowns (for some reason) bug me; which is funny since I am somewhat of a clown…

And how clear my view is peripherally because I like to be able to see what is coming up ahead. Yes, I am somewhat of a recovering control freak.

 

And depending on how the weather is; after all no one likes it when it rains on our parade.

And depending on how early we arrive so that I can get the best place with the best view with the best access…

Why? Because when I am sitting in my crowded spot with my view encumbered, it is easy for me to not get the big picture of what is going on.

This is especially true if one is concerned about who is going to clean up the horse manure as in the distance one can hear the band that is approaching; all the while not realizing that between the band and the horse is a street sweeper who is there to take care of this.

This distraction can actually hinder my enjoyment of the parade…this can become so myopic that all around me becomes lost as I become self-absorbed in my own concerns and needs.

After all of these years I wonder why we don’t watch more parades from at least two stories up…because, really, the best view is from as high up as you can be…so why we don’t watch them from a rooftop? (other than that we would get no candy)

It is from the rooftop or high places that our view is not block; both in front and peripherally.

From our high place we can see what is in front of us as well as what is coming up several blocks ahead. We can even see what has passed before us even though they are now several blocks away.

Do you realize that similarly, when we are stuck in life’s struggles and we can no longer see and we are so myopic that all around us becomes lost as we become self-absorbed in our own concerns and needs…

It is then that we need to get up on the roof top and let God REIGN on our parade. Let God be the One who takes us up higher and helps us understand what is really going on.

Remember; like being on the ground level, we only see what we can see. We only see in part and can explain it in part; we don’t have the full view.

We need to let God reign on our parade; let Him speak to us through His Word (the Bible) and let us know.

And even if He doesn’t explain everything to us, the Bible tells us that “the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

The Bible tells us that God “…raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

That means that He also was willing to take care of your sin problem by offering to not only pay for your sins, but also to raise you up into new places in Christ.

“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:11‬ ‭NLT)‬‬

All Scripture (unless noted) is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Increasing Trust

Last week I had surgery to repair the meniscus on my right knee. Too many sleepless nights and painful years had taken me to a ‘fork-in-the-road’ of decision that it was time to get it repaired.

Mentally, this surgery recovery time has been difficult for me. No, not more difficult than any of my other surgeries. But it took longer than I thought it would. Part of this was because prior to surgery, my surgeon said that when he had this surgery, the next day he was on a bike.

Cathy jokes that perhaps when he sat on the bike, his wife said to him; "Hey, get back to bed; you shouldn’t be doing that!"

The surgery did go very well and after two days, because I had a lot of meetings and because I didn’t really have any pain, I went back to work.

But at the end of the day, my knee swelled up and made it difficult to walk or be comfortable so I decided that I needed to work from home; which, with technology and a great staff, should have been easy to do.

I say; ‘should have been’ because I really don’t like depending on others to take care of me or to do things for me. And because at work there were many fires that needed my attention and I was stuck trying to run the world laying in a bed in one of our guest rooms with my leg packed in ice and propped up as I tried to let my body heal.

And, to make matters worse, a squirrel was outside chewing on the soffits just outside the bedroom I was in! I knew how quickly a squirrel could damage a house and my mind went crash!

I wanted to let the staff try to do their jobs, but in-between emails, texts, and phone calls, I had way too much time on my hands to think and mentally get off track.

So, as I lay here writing this, I must admit I don't trust God as much as I think I do. Oh, I have trust for others, but I still look to myself to get stuff done. I trust my ability to work and my brains to complete tasks. But, my trust is really in me; not in God.

This was driven home to me when a coworker sent an email to me that said; "Tom, will you stop playing superman and take the rest and time necessary for your body to heal, please?!"

As I pondered his words, I thought about the theme message for our church.

Every year at church we have a theme message as a way to get some direction as to where we believe God is leading us as a congregation. Some of the themes in the past have been "joy", "simple devotion", and "thriving".

The theme is then woven into messages throughout the year sort of an anchor cornerstone for reference to what "prophetically "the Lord is saying to us as a congregation. Occasionally, I will hear that other congregations have the same or similar theme for their church as our church does… which makes me sit up and ponder what He is saying to the larger Body of Christ.

This year our theme is; “A Year of Increasing Trust”.

When I first heard of the theme I didn't think about it because I think that I do trust God…which basically means: ‘confident expectation of something or someone; hope, to rely upon’. 

He has been faithful over and over and over again. He has been our provider and confidant. He has proven David’s words from Psalm 37:25 which says; “Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.”

But the theme is trust that is “increasing” which basically means: ‘to make greater, as in number, size, strength, or quality; enlarging; augmenting’.

This is about increasing trust in HIM for: finances, healing, others to do the work that I need to get done, in the team in my life.

Even as I write this I think about all the other times I've had surgery and wondered when I would be able to run the world all by myself again. I thought about when I wondered when my hands would finally be able to work again, when my ankle would finally work again, when my shoulder finally work again. Today all of them work excellently.

Do I trust that God's presence is enough? What has God promised? What is the problem for you personally? What has He promised us as His children? What is the potential? What are the problems, giants, walls? How do we discover and obey God’s strategy?

What can I do to increase and trust? How will I study, meditate on, and obey God's word? What will I pray against? Say, "I trust you Jesus”; and then ask.

No, this was a new opportunity for me to trust God for everything.

Let me say that again: everything!

He wants ME to INCREASE in my trust in Him. To look to Him. To believe Him.

He doesn't want me just talking about who He is and what He can do for others.

He wants me to simply trust Him to increase my trust in Him.

Trust Him that He will do the work.

Trust that He will bring the increase and show His faithfulness once again.

“God answer you on the day you crash,

The name God-of-Jacob put you out of harm’s reach,

Send reinforcements from Holy Hill,

Dispatch from Zion fresh supplies,

Exclaim over your offerings,

Celebrate your sacrifices,

Give you what your heart desires,

Accomplish your plans.” (Psalm 20:1-4 MSG)

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson