Do we live in a desert place at this time? With a breeze of heat, discouragement, and pressures all around.
Let’s open God’s Word for a present help. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit as rushing wind to blow through our being. And let’s put on a garment of praise and take off our heavy attire.
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it” Isaiah 30:21.
“Walk in my Word. Breathe in your dry bones, My Spirit and life,” God ministers to my weary heart through His Spirit alive in me. I must receive it. And I will . . .
because,
I can wake up from a night’s sleep completely discouraged. Before my feet touch the ground, I have to put off garments of discouragement and put on faith.
The battle begins before I get out of bed in the morning!
Remember the word to Your servant, Upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life. Psalm 119:49,50 are my kick out of bed to face a day with faith not dreariness.
This world is not my home. I have to remember that. God’s Word is a complete guide to all my needs, this moment and for all my days. My problem is, I must walk in the Truth of the God’s Word and be filled with His Spirit.
“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:14,15.
This is my intro to a heart of praise.
“Wake up and rise. Allow Christ to shine on you.” I have a choice to do this or not. Am I to look at the desert terrain or the heavenly sky of hope?
Life giving counsel from God’s Word exhorts:
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, . . . Ephesians 5 continues to instruct me in the way I must go for peace and joy in this day:
speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.
Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, (Ephesians 5:17-19).
Am I moaning my dry prayers to the Lord? Yes. But can I sing a refreshing hymn of comfort as well?
Yes. Today, from 1905, Cevilla D. Martin’s Eye on the Sparrow. Let’s speak, (or sing) it aloud. Yes, aloud:
Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Refrain:
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Now it makes sense. The Word of God must be obeyed. We can’t only read God’s Word on the page, we must act on what it speaks to me and you.
So today, I will think on a theme of hope. Speak a psalm or hymn.
Jesus is my portion. A constant Friend is He. His eye is on this sparrow. I know He’s watching me.
That’s how I can:
Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
No matter what the circumstances might be, whether we are on a dry and tough trail, His Word is comfort and refreshing, as a drink of life to me:
“Comfort, Comfort my people, speak kindly to the people of Jerusalem. Tell them that their time of warfare is ended…This is a voice of a man who calls out:
“Prepare in the desert the way of the Lord. Make the road in the dry lands straight for our God . . . ” Isaiah 40 1-3.
