Sunday Night
I wrote this for Facebook last night. Psalms sustain me.
There is a severe thunderstorm watch for the area. The Weather Algorithm says it might begin raining in about thirty minutes. I love a good storm.
Someone is setting off fireworks in the distance. I also believe I heard three gunshots. The neighborhood gets rough about ten blocks from here. Even the Walgreens pulled out.
I can see the sky light up on the horizon.
Why is sin so damned lonely? Don’t answer that. I already have an answer. Thankfully, I also have Psalm 139 rattling around in my head.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.Then Psalm 63…
My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed
and meditate on you in the watches of the night,
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.Though I look outside myself for validation and reassurance, my enemies are within.
There is little doubt within me that God holds me in love. It is the nature of God to love perfectly. Any loneliness or lack I feel is a reflection of my inmost self. God is always within and among.
Psalm 42 ends with…
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.My enemies are within. Though I look outside myself for validation and reassurance, my enemies are within. Someday, I hope to find an interior voice that will build up and restore. Doing so is harder than I thought it would be.
The storm has arrived.
Rejoicing that you had an incoming thunderstorm. I love the smell of the earth preparing for the rain, the threatening wind, and the knowledge that our loving Creator is carrying us in his arms. It is a reminder that we are to care for his creation, since ALL of us are his creation and our foolish ways are what have destroyed so much of his carefully planned Creation.
Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Even within. They are a part of you that needs love. My enemies are a part of me I strive to love. I love you, too.