New Years Resolutions have never been something I have invested myself into. First, I never really saw much point. And second, when I did try, I usually failed at keeping them pretty quickly. My approach over the years has been more goal oriented, and not resolution oriented. Mostly.
Several years ago, I stumbled across the idea of choosing a single word to live by for the year. This has been a paradigm shift in my thinking in a lot of ways, and for several reasons. Let me give you a glimpse into my thought process.
I usually start thinking about this in October. That’s the time of year that I go to Colorado for a retreat called Wilderness. That’s where I review my Life Plan in detail and examine what God has been dong in my life closely to see how I can take further steps forward in the coming year. That week in the mountains is kind of my “spiritual fiscal” year. It’s a critical time for my spiritual and personal growth.
And that’s when I start asking God for a concept to focus on for the coming year. The past three years, I have used words that were all similar in how they were impacting my life: “present,” “unhurried,” and “balance.” Those all held similar goals and strategies for my life, and I feel like God taught me a lot over those years. (Here’s a list that provides an overview of all the words I have selected since 2011.)
This last passage marks the end of Psalm 119, and it continues the thoughts found in the first half. Let’s take a look at it in Psalm 119:173-176:
This stanza wraps up the entirety of Psalm 119 with the psalmist’s cry out to God for help. He seems to know intuitively that the help that God offers can be found in the pages of his Word. So he turns there and shares several areas where he is lacking; areas that can only be fulfilled by the Word of God.
As we looked at the first half of this passage, we saw three areas: our need for understanding, our need for deliverance, and our need for a proper attitude of worship.
In the last few verses here, we can see two more areas where we need God help, and we can find that help in Scripture.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours! May your holiday be blessed as you celebrate the birth of our Savior!
The final stanza in Psalm 119 differs from all those that come before it in the fact that it is a final petition of the writer to God. Take a look at the first half of this passage in Psalm 119:169-172:
The psalmist wraps this passage up with a plea for God’s help in several areas. These are areas that he recognizes clearly that he needs some assistance from God. How does he know this? Because a close look at the Word of God reveals those areas where we fall short, and can only grow with the help of God himself.
The psalmist compares himself to a lost sheep in the final lines of this psalm, bringing to mind the passage written in Psalm 23, of God being our Shepherd. In that passage, the author clams that he lacks nothing, and then describes those areas that God has provided for him.
In this stanza of Psalm 119, by contrast, the writer lists those things he does lack, and seeks God’s help in gaining them. We need God’s help in these areas as well.
Did America Have A Christian Founding? by Mark David Hall (Nashville, TN: Nelson Books , 2019)
American history is one of my favorite subjects. My top eras are early twentieth century, during the 1930s and 40s, and the old west period from the Civil War to the turn of the century. But I also love the founding era of American history too.
One of the biggest questions posed to students of American history, is whether or not the Founding Fathers were Christians, and if this nation was founded as a Christian nation. The answer to both of those question is unequivocally yes, but that concept is being consistently rewritten by those who reject the idea that America has deep roots in Christianity.
In Did America Have A Christian Founding?, author Mark David Hall takes a look, not at the history books that have been written since America became a nation, but at the documents of the Founding Fathers themselves, and finds solid evidence of their faith in their letters, journals and other writings.
It’s worth taking a look at. If you would like to read Did America Have A Christian Founding?, you can get it on Amazon.
Over the last couple of stanzas, the psalmist has revealed some things he knows to be true about God. In this last portion of this stanza, he shares two final thoughts. Take a look at this passage in Psalm 119:165-168:
At this point, the psalmist has revealed three different characteristics of God’s nature that he relies upon, that he has found within the pages of God’s Word. First of all, in verses 153-156, Scripture displays God’s mercy. Next, in verses 157-160, God’s Word is proven to be true. The third thing the psalmist reveals about God’s Word, in verses 160-164, is that God’s Word brings joy.
In these next four verses of Psalm 119, we find two additional characteristics of God that can be seen clearly through his Word.
Obedience To God’s Word Brings Peace
I find this verse to be very intriguing. Peace is one of those qualities that followers of God can find when they obey God’s Law. But the idea of obedience is a tough one, because who can obey the Law fully and completely? No one can. And so the psalmist stresses first that peace come to those who love God’s Law, in verse 165. It’s a couple verses later that he equates this love with obedience, in verse 167.
A Kingdom imagination is a necessary ingredient for a fullness of life. I have come to believe that over the past few weeks. And I have been challenged to increase my Kingdom imagination to more and more awareness of what God may be doing around me.
One of the first things I have learned about living with a Kingdom imagination has been to live with expectancy. God is doing a lot of things around me, within me, and through me, and I have been learning to look forward to those things with a sense of urgent expectancy, waiting to see what he’s doing as he reveals it.
As I have been waiting with that sense of expectancy, I have sense my heart being awakened in new and deeper ways.
God has given me gifts and talents and passions. He’s given you the same things, gifts and talents and passions. What I have seen in my life is that I have grown accustomed to the way I have been doing things, and have let my excitement for those things slip a little. Those things that used to excite me and make my pulse race have grown commonplace and mundane.
I didn’t intend for this to happen, but it did anyway. And to be honest, it bothers me. A lot.
