blue skies above
friends all around us
in a world filled with love
taps sounding softly
hearts beating true
as campers say
goodnight to you
day is done
gone the sun
from the lakes from the hills from the sky
all is well
safely rest
god is nigh
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The LORD thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded. c]">
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies ,
great bolts of lightning and routed them.
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, O LORD,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD;
I have not done evil by turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
24 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the LORD ?
And who is the Rock except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he enables me to stand on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You give me your shield of victory,
and your right hand sustains me;
you stoop down to make me great.
36 You broaden the path beneath me,
so that my ankles do not turn.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You armed me with strength for battle;
you made my adversaries bow at my feet.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
and I destroyed my foes.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—
to the LORD, but he did not answer.
42 I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind;
I poured them out like mud in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
you have made me the head of nations;
people I did not know are subject to me.
44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me;
foreigners cringe before me.
45 They all lose heart;
they come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God my Savior!
47 He is the God who avenges me,
who subdues nations under me,
48 who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from violent men you rescued me.
49 Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD;
I will sing praises to your name.
50 He gives his king great victories;
he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.
The bolded verse just suddenly popped into my head as I thought about the last month or so. In my distress I called out to the Lord and he answered me and rescued me from the threat of the devil's entanglement.
I leave for camp in 3 days. I'll be there until August 17th. I'm going to try and keep this blog updated with whats going on.
i miss him.
It is well with my soul,
it is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul.
A broken ALTAR, Lord thy servant rears,
Made of a heart, and cemented with teares:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workmans tool hath touch'd the same
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow'r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy Name:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
O let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctifie this ALTAR to be thine.
by george herbert
When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.
Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?"
But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
-Matthew 27:11-14
In the gospels of Matthew and Mark, between this last statement from Jesus, "Yes, it is as you say" and when he cries out on the cross, "My God my God why have you forsaken me?", he says nothing. During this time, the Jews - his own people whom he has healed and taught and cared for for years - have thrown him at their leaders to be crucified. They mock him and spit on him, they lie about him and humiliate him with a crown of thorns and a robe and a crude sign that says "king of the jews". Yet he said nothing.
He refused to defend himself. He refused to say a word, because there was nothing that could change Pilate's mind. He refused to remind them of everything he had done, or the miracles he'd performed. He refused to remind them of the many times someone realized he was indeed the Messiah. He refused to tell them they were sinning against God. He refused to prove he was God and strike them down for their unbelief. No, he refused because he loved us. He wasn't here to get revenge for all our sins and prove he was God and not to mess with him.
It's so easy to want revenge on someone who has sinned against us, or sinned against a close friend. It's our human nature, to defend ourselves and those we love. When someone hurts them, we want to get them back. It makes us feel better - or does it? Usually hurting someone back isn't relief for our aching sinful souls. Hurting them in revenge for what they did is only sinning more, and it weighs on our hearts.
Revenge falls under many categories...
Anger : Jesus said, "But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell"
or ... love: Jesus said, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you....
or maybe judgment: Jesus said, Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
When Jesus had the chance to take out his wrath on us and get revenge for everything we have done to him, he chose not to speak. He didn't even defend himself. Why? First of all, out of pure love for his children, but also as an example to us to demonstrate love even when others hate us. Even when they have wrongfully sinned against us. There is no reason to stand up for ourselves and get mad at others when they've done us wrong, because we have nothing worthy of that shallow glory in ourselves without God. He is the only one who makes us clean, we can't do that in ourselves.
A friend reminded me recently of Jesus when I expressed to her my desire for revenge. She simply told me, even when everyone mocked him and ridiculed him and humiliated him, he didn't respond. There was no reason to. What good would it have done? This stuck with me, that even though I have mocked and hated God he hasn't taken it back out on me. He simply stood there and bore it all. What an example to follow!
The Lord is our avenger, and we need not worry about taking things into our own hands. That got Peter no where in the Garden of Gethsemane when he chopped off the soldier's ear. God will avenge our wrongdoings, we need not fret about the sins of others.