Savoring the Scripture

Be Glad in the Lord Psalm 97 Be glad of heart, O believer, but take care that your gladness has its spring in the Lord. You have much cause for gladness in your God, for you can sing with David, "God, my exceeding joy!" Be glad that the Lord reigns--that Jehovah is King! Rejoice that He sits upon the throne and rules all things! Charles Spurgeon Not too long ago, I attended a birthday party for a friend. She is older than I am, and she has lived her life well. Friends of hers were allowed to get up and share what they loved about this woman. Many stated how they loved the joy, warmth, and light this woman exhibited. And it was all from her Savior. A life rooted in Christ will be one that shows gladness of heart. Psalm 97 ends with a command, “Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones; and give thanks to His holy name” (97:12). To be glad is to be pleased or delighted. God commands us to be glad in Him partially because He is the one thing that will never change. If we find our ...

In the Midst of the Years: when we must wait for God’s deliverance Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. ‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-18‬ ‭ESV‬‬ The book of Habakkuk is the record of Habakkuk’s wrestling with the Lord. Habakkuk faces the challenge to “trust in the purposes of the Lord despite confusing perceptions of precisely what he is doing” (Robertson).  In Habakkuk we see the prophet crying out to the Lord as he faces difficult circumstances which have left him utterly confused, and through his dialogue with the Lord, he comes to a place of acceptance and joy.  The Background Habakkuk lives in a time when the righteous are surrounded by the wicked and it seems their violence, their strife, their perversion of justice is going unnoticed by the Lord. So...