Have you ever felt shaken up? It's a terrible feeling to experience. I'm reminded of the poor little ants that I used to capture as a child and trap them in a glass mason jar for the observation of me and my curious friends. There they were hanging out with their buddies, carrying crumbs and looking for discarded lollipops and along I come and changed their world! Scooped up, and of course, like every kid who does this ritual, I had to shake the jar!
In today's Psalm David asks, "Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?" Asking "who" assumes someone can have that honor! Wouldn't you love to dwell in God's sanctuary? Or live on His holy hill! When I was younger these things were thoughts but not desires. Now though, as I've aged and matured, those scenarios sound wonderful! Right now I could use a sanctuary or holy hill to run to and dwell with the God of all things! Psalm 14 tells me how....vs 2-5, He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and cast no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury (exorbitant interest) and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
In today's Psalm David asks, "Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?" Asking "who" assumes someone can have that honor! Wouldn't you love to dwell in God's sanctuary? Or live on His holy hill! When I was younger these things were thoughts but not desires. Now though, as I've aged and matured, those scenarios sound wonderful! Right now I could use a sanctuary or holy hill to run to and dwell with the God of all things! Psalm 14 tells me how....vs 2-5, He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and cast no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury (exorbitant interest) and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
How often do people complain about being short changed but when given too much they just pocket it as if they deserved it or it wasn't morally wrong. Character is who you are when no one but God is looking. Every opportunity we have, no matter how small it may seem, is an opportunity for God to show himself through us! Give the change back, point out the item under your cart that the cashier didn't see and didn't ring up. Did you get over-payed? Bring it to your employers attention rather than say, "You know, I deserve this! I work hard and they basically owe this to me!" How about small things like...."They only charged us for one rather than two burgers." or "That guy loaded up more in the truck than I payed for." or "So and so didn't bill me this month, let's wait and see if he remembers." Our actions come from our heart which is convinced by the mind of either right or wrong doing by which ever Spirit or spirits you surrender your will to.
Can our walk be blameless? Can we be righteous? Through Christ we can! By having Him in our heart as Lord of our life, He will live through us and we can walk in His Spirit and want the things of God! From that relationship will grow a desire to change from our old behavior to a new person who is guided by a righteous indwelling! Try visualizing a set of scales before you, then put your so called free flat of flowers or extra $10. that the cashier accidentally gave you on one side and the God of the universe on the other! Pretty stupid huh? Every time we make a compromise to our values we are surrendering the right to NOT be shaken up by life! How small and petty we can be sometimes. Speak the truth from your heart, don't slander other people or cast aspersions, be thoughtful to your neighbor and don't gossip. Pivot away from the vile person but come along side those who fear God. Keep your promises, always. Don't burden people with any unfair demands and never allow your soul to be purchased with a bribe that would lead you to lie about a person. If you have to convince yourself through justification that something you did was alright....then it wasn't. Choose righteousness through Jesus.
Ask the Holy Spirit to heighten your conscience to this truth. He already pointed out some tiny incident to me this morning that I normally would have thought was nothing. But it obviously revealed a hidden entitlement in my heart that He wanted corrected. If we remain open to Him and allow Him to work through us, then just imagine how many lives He could touch through us if we asked for an accountable heart! All those "little, insignificant, unmentionable" incidents that occur all day long would become opportunities for
God to flash His light into the darkness! I call them "O well" moments, and each seems too small for us to even consider beginning to rectify, BUT, God sees them as huge opportunities to open conversations from one heart to another! We think, "I don't want to walk all the way back into the store for just this small mistake.", "I'm not driving all the way back there!", "That person knows I didn't mean it that way."..... Make the trip back! It's about more than YOU! If you feel the prodding in your heart then be obedient and you will not only see tremendous things, but tremendous things will ripple out from that act of obedience!
Your world, my sisters and brothers, will still be shaken..........but you won't.
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