Longing for the taste of His words

Here at Mississippi State, there is a specific time of year that I look forward to most.  While many would say football or even basketball season, I look forward to a different time… springtime.

Yesterday morning while running, I began to realize that many of the trees around campus had begun to bloom and that meant one other thing for me: it was time to visit my favorite place at my favorite time of the year.  Finally it was time to visit to honeysuckle shrub outside of our chapel.

Even as I came running up to the chapel, I could smell the honeysuckle, so sweet in the air.  Even after the first smell, I just wanted to run faster.  I just wanted to get there and smell spring for the first time in the air.  Oh, and how sweet did it smell…. 🙂

But did you know that there is something even sweeter than the smell of springtime?  A taste even sweeter than your favorite cake with ice cream?

This morning, I want to share with you a passage in Psalm that has begun to show me the person I want to become: a person that longs for the words of the Lord.

“Oh how I love your law!

It is my meditation all the day.

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,

for it is ever with me.

I have more understanding than my teachers,

for your testimonies are my meditation.

I understand more than the aged,

for I keep your precepts.

I hold back my feet from every evil way,

in order to keep your word.

I do not turn aside from your rules,

for you have taught me.

How sweet are your words to my taste,

sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Through your precepts I get understanding;

therefore I hate every false way.”

Psalm 119:97-104

When I reached the honeysuckle plant, it was such an amazing realization.  God’s word, I saw, will taste even sweeter than those honeysuckles that I put to my tongue.  God’s Word, the Bible, they are sweeter than even honey.

It’s in times like those–when love and passion for our Lord burns bright within our hearts–that I realize that God truly is greater.  His power is even greater than that of our enemies.  No matter what we are struggling with, even the decline of our faith, He is always faithful.  He and His words are sweeter than honey.  He is good; He is always good.

This morning, I pray that we will see that God and His words are even sweeter than the smell of a beautiful flower or the taste of your favorite sweet dessert.

Long for the taste of His words of your mouth, and be forever satisfied!

 

Words are so powerful they should only be used to…

After a small break, I’m back to writing!  A few have mentioned to me, “Okay, Sarah, when are you going to write again?  I’m ready to read a new post!”  Well, today I’m ready to share again.  Here’s why…

Last week, an amazing quote was written on the dry erase board of the office where I work.  “Mark Twain once said, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t have the time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long note instead.'”  These are the words that stopped me and left me completely still.  After all, never before had I thought about a short letter taking more time to write than a longer one.  I had never thought of words this way: each as a powerful unit of communication that should be carefully considered and put together before being said or written.

So I took a week or so to think, to gather words but only to think on them before writing, and here’s what I came up with.

“Words are so powerful that they should only be used

to bless, to heal, and

to prosper.”

Sue Henry, a wonderfully wise woman once said these words, and they are just as true today as they ever have been.

Jesus Christ used the power of words, God’s Word, when caring for the church.  Ephesians 5 reminds us of this where it is written:

“…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by THE WASHING OF WATER WITH THE WORD, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”  Ephesians 5:25-27

Today, be blessed, be healed, and prosper in being washed with the living water of the Word.

Praying your day is filled with Sonshine,

Sarah 🙂

1 Kings 8:57-61

“May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers.

May He not leave us nor forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself,

to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers.

And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near the Lord our God day and night,

that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel,

as each day may require,

that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God;

there is no other.

Let your heart therefore be loyal to the Lord our God,

to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day.”

1 Kings 8:57-61

Foy Vance–“Gabriel & the Vagabond”

In my last post, I wrote about our “lifesong” or the song that we sing through the life that we live.

While reading my friend Lacey Gray’s blog called “Every Tribe, Tongue, and Nation,” I heard a song called “Gabriel & the Vagabond” by Foy Vance.  Chill bumps crept along my arms as I began to listen to the song: the beautiful tone of Foy’s voice, the acoustic guitar that I love so much, but most of all, the lyrics that captured my heart and captivated my soul.

Please, please listen to the song and read the lyrics below.  I hope that it has the same effect on you, too. 🙂  Hopefully, it will compel us all to ask ourselves one question:  Does our lifesong sing “Hallelujah”?

There’s a man in the corner and his clothes are worn
And he’s holding out his hand
You could see in his eyes as the people walk by
He knows they don’t understand

Ya see they just think he’s gonna take their money
And go and spend it all on dope
Then a man stopped by and I saw a smile inside him
As he gently whispered hope

Well the tramp started to cry, just kept saying,
“Why? why? why?
Could you see I’m down and out
Well I’m 32 and I’ve got this one pair of shoes
And a bad taste in my mouth
I think it’s clear to see that even God don’t love me
Or else why would He leave me this way.”

Then Gabriel just smiled and said be at peace my child
Salvation is here today

He got up to his feet and he sang Hallelujah
People were turning around in the street
He looked them in the eyes and he sang,
“Hallelujah
There’s someone here that you gotta meet
Someone you just gotta meet.”

When the vagabond turned around well without a sound
Gabriel just smiled and disappeared
When he looked to the crowd and they were laughing out loud
But he could not see them for tears
When his vision came round
There was a young girl on the ground
I knew she was finding it hard to cope
She never was a fighter until he laid beside her
And gently whispered hope

They got up to their feet and they sang Hallelujah
People in the street were turning around
They looked them in the eyes and they sang,
“Hallelujah
There’s someone here we have found”
They sang,
“Hallelujah, Hallelujah
We are the voices crying in the wilderness
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.”
The people in the street started their sins to confess
And a chorus of,
“Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Every knee will bow and every tongue confess
and the voice of one crying in the wilderness
crying
Hallelujah, Hallelujah”

What song are you singing?

What song are you singing?

When I first ask this question, you may think I’m asking about the song you sing in the shower or the one that you love to blare in your car.  I definitely have those songs myself, but this morning, I’m talking about a different song…. a “Life-song.”

The other morning, a friend sent me a text message, and all that it said was, “Psalm 40:1-3.”  Here’s what the passage says:

“I waited patiently for the Lord;

he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the pit of destruction,

out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock,

making my step secure.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear,

and put their trust in the Lord.“

Psalm 40:1-3

Isn’t that passage great?  Think about it this way…

Notice the very first line of the passage…. I waited patiently for the Lord…  That is the ONLY action that the Psalmist did on his own.  Everything else is what the Lord did: inclined to him, drew him out, set his feet on solid ground, and put a song of PRAISE in his mouth.

Why did the Lord do all of this?  Look at the last line… “Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord!”  God brings us out of the pit and puts a new song in our mouthes because He uses us to bring others to Him.  He takes our our everyday, ordinary life full of sadness and sin, and He turns our cries into songs of praise for Him!  He puts a song in our mouthes, telling others what true Life is, so that they too will know the Lord.

Here’s my question for you today…

Is the song you’re singing through the life you’re living causing others to put their trust in the Lord?

What song are you singing?