Walking in the Word with Breast Cancer

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  - Psalm 131:1 We are reminded in this passage of the power of pride. The reality is that God's presence can be overwhelmingly intrusive in all the details of life. Pride cannot tolerate the intimate involvement of God running the details of our lives - we often convince ourselves that He is only in the big decisions.  Pride does not like the sovereignty of God.  He is in every little detail of your life, reigning over every single aspect of your journey. Know that God reigning over our lives does not mean He is making all our decisions for us. He still allows us to make plenty of poor decisions, but being sovereign over it all means He is at every outcome, determining our consequences and our blessings based on the choices we make. Mind you, the consequences and blessings are not a matter of punishment, but rather a matter of refining

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  - Psalm 131:1 In order to live in a right relationship with God, to enjoy that peace and contentment, to know true joy and laughter, we need to humble ourselves, acknowledge and repent of our sins. We cannot truly repent of our sins unless we see it as God sees it, and we can’t do that until we humble ourselves.  When we place the things of this world over God, whether those things be our material possessions or our anxious thoughts, we make ourselves an enemy of God. That should pierce our soul to the very depths with grief. When we take the time to truly look into our hearts at what causes the conflict, and we seek the self-focus that lies deep within us, our hearts should mourn at the way we replace Him with our own passions and desires. We should weep at the way we destroy and kill relationships in our lives because of our own selfish

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  - Psalm 131:1 God created us to live in the world - the problem is we often get caught up in the world. We battle our flesh and desires on a daily basis, and so we are tempted by the things of this world. We are tempted to seek after all sorts of things - material possessions, reputation, accomplishments, relationships.  And when we are tempted, our hearts begin to go after those things - we make friends with the world. We start following the world’s rules and believing the world’s lies all so we can have those things our heart desires. We become a friend of the world. We want material possessions, so we hang on to our money over giving to God what is due to Him. We worry about what people think about us, so we begin to make decisions based on popular opinion. We desire to be recognized for our accomplishments, so we pour our energy into our e

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  - Psalm 131:1 Daily, we need to remind ourselves there is a spiritual battle around us, there is someone fighting for our hearts that we need to resist, especially when we find ourselves in the trenches of a difficult battle. The conflict we experience, the heart-breaking emotions that we walk through as a result the trials we are enduring are so often the result of our listening to the lies of the enemy. He wants your heart, and he is sneaky in the way he goes about getting a foothold. He will convince you the suffering you experience is the result of someone else’s sin, and he will set up camp in your heart nursing that wound so you never find freedom from the pain.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  You can trust in that promise - the enemy will flee from you, God will make sure of it. The problem can often be recognizing whe

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  - Psalm 131:1 Humility is a word whose connotation has gotten taken over by the world. The world would have us think that humility is putting ourselves down or thinking less of ourselves. But that definition is still very "me" focused. When we are humble, we think of ourselves less and others more. Being humble means placing others in a position of authority over ourselves. When we've been slighted or overlooked, when we're being taken for granted, when we're misunderstood, a loving response would be to humbly let it go. We are humbled when we recognize the only reason we're upset is because we think we're more important than we really are.  Our flesh will rise up constantly and tell us our views are right, that our opinions are best, and that our judgment is correct, but humbling ourselves means we are consta

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  - Psalm 131:1 In contrast to those who think so highly of themselves, are those who struggle to pull themselves out of the pit. These are the people who hear they should humble themselves, and wonder how they could get any lower.  God speaks to these struggles as well.  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6–7) It’s by no mistake that humility and anxiety occur right next to each other in scripture. Anxiety about the future is a form of pride. And it's in direct disobedience to our King when we struggle with fear.  The Lord is the one who comforts us, who promises to take care of us. So our fear must mean that we do not trust Him — and even though we are not sure that our own resources will

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  - Psalm 131:1 Learning to humble ourselves in a world that gives humility such a negative connotation is challenging. Someone who is humble and willingly submits under another’s authority is considered weak, someone who swallows their negative comments rather than speaking them is spineless. The world insists we stand up for our beliefs and we speak our minds no matter the cost, especially if we are a woman. If we want to be seen as equal to men, we must stand up to them, show them we are intelligent and strong. Humility is equated with weakness.  But God calls us to this stance repeatedly in scripture. He knows when we get low, He is lifted up. When we drop to our faces, and surrender it all to Him, He is glorified and we are blessed. When we place love and unity above conflict and disorder, we find an inexplicable peace covers our relati

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.  - Psalm 131:1 After a spending time in Psalm 130, where we are encouraged to find our hope as we wait on the Lord, the first read through Psalm 131 is a bit heavy. But, just as every word penned in scripture, this is exactly where we should be as we consider how to wait well.  This short Psalm is about humility and contentment - two things most of us struggle to do well, but two things that are essential if we are going to find Hope as we wait on the Lord. As you read on in this psalm, you see David’s souls has become quiet and calmed like a baby - the peace and tranquillity in that imagery is where I want to be.  How do we get there? David tells us not to be proud in our hearts. Our pride is the main obstacle in our relationship with God - it is is what caused Satan to fall, it is what caused Adam and Eve to fall, and it is the root o

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,  and in his word I put my hope.  My soul waits for The Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6 If we want to be people who wait on the Lord well, then we need to develop our capacity for patience. That's not possible in our own power. We know God is sovereign over all, which means we know He intentionally places us in every situation or trial for a very specific purpose - even, especially those that try our patience - and we know it's all ultimately for our good. So, we know if our patience is being tried, we know He's trying to transform us and grow us - ultimately to build our capacity for patience and to give us His strength.  So, as I mentioned yesterday, if we want to grow in strength by increasing our ability to wait on the Lord, we need to dig deeper into our hearts in pursuit of the cause of our lack of patience. When we find ourselves struggling with patien

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,  and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for The Lord  more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6 Waiting can be the most difficult part of our lives, but it is also a most critical part in our transformation. Without the waiting, God cannot do the sanctifying work He does in our hearts. The moments we are waiting - whether it's in a line of traffic or for our child to accept Christ - are powerful opportunities to welcome God in and keep our hearts renewed in him. Waiting is part of His plan for us.  The problem is many of us think we just need to become a more patient person - but that doesn’t happen simply by thinking we should. We can't just determine we are going to be more patient because that's biblical and we want to be Godly in our conduct. That strategy may work for a little while, but chances are good you will fail and end up back where you started because yo

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for The Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6 After we've cried out to the one and only true Deliverer, we are instructed by Scripture to exercise unwavering and daily confidence that God is coming to our rescue. That means we stop complaining about our situation, it means we stop worrying He won't deliver us, it means make ourselves comfortable in that pit another day while we wait. Spiritually speaking, we are to stand up and watch...and wait for His deliverance with eager anticipation.  The second half of Psalm 130 is all about waiting on the Lord. But the focus is not on waiting through the pain, it’s not about persevering through the pain. It is about waiting in Hope.  I have never waited well. I'm a doer, not a "waiter".   I’m extremely solution oriented - I see a problem, and I immediately go

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!  - Psalm 130:1-2 I love that we love a God who wants us to cry out to Him in our pain. He wants us lift our voices from the depths of the pit, and give our struggles over to Him. The Message translates this first verse as “Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life!”  How many times have we felt as if the bottom has fallen out of our lives, yet we don’t cry out to Him? Our tendency is often either to keep our panicked thoughts to ourselves, or to share them with other people. We look horizontally for comfort or resolution to our struggles, but we fail to look vertically. We stand at the bottom of the pit looking around for help, but we never look up.  God wants us to cry out to Him with all that we have because when we do, when we truly cry out to Him, we recognize that our very life depends on Him. He is there in the pit with us, and His lo

1 "Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth"- let Israel now say-  2 "Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.  - Psalm 129:1-2 From the very first words, you can feel the pain of the psalmist in Psalm 129. “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth” is not just annoyance or the kind of hurt you can brush off and get over easily. ‘Greatly’ indicates this is a deep wound that was created in childhood. The wound is so deep that he mentions the furrows that have been dug in his back in the very next verse.  But here’s the thing we have to see when we read these verses - he is not defeated in his pain. “Yet they have not prevailed against me.” He perseveres. We can suffer pain without suffering defeat. We sometimes think if we’re hurting, we’re going to be defeated. But that’s just not true. You can be down but not out. You can persevere through the pain. My husband and I had a conversation with my son recent

1 "Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth"- let Israel now say-  2 "Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.  - Psalm 129:1-2 Continuing on in the Psalm of Ascents, this psalm is clearly written by a troubled author. Following the triumphant Psalm 128, which was focused on the blessings of God, this psalm has a very different tone. The author has his eyes fixed on the struggles Israel has faced. You can feel the pain and frustration of the psalmist as he recounts the ways they have been attacked.  We’ve all had these days, where everyone or everything seems to be against us. We feel attacked on all sides - like the challenge will never let up. Perhaps it’s those difficult people in our lives who always seem to be challenging us - no matter how hard we try to make peace with them, they just seem to want to fight. They are harsh in their tone, they seem to misunderstand our motives, and are always on the defense

1 Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!  2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.  - Psalm 128:1-2 These words are speaking to my heart today. I’ve been finding greater peace since I’ve started studying the Psalms of Ascent, and this treasure is no exception.  We know the word blessed means happy, but I’m just struck by the thought that God wants me to be happy. He wants happiness so bad for me that He repeats how to be happy multiple times in scripture. But He doesn’t just offer happiness, He promises it to me. Over and over again.  Throughout scripture, God gives us specific directions for how to be happy because His desire for me is that I know happiness. If this is God’s heart for us,  why do we spend so much time unhappy? Since my heart deeply desires these blessings on myself and my family, i have found myself digging in to what Scripture tells me I need to do to be happy..

1 Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!  2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.  - Psalm 128:1-2 Blessed is translated to mean blissfully happy or content. What a beautiful thought! Whenever I see the word in Scripture, I smile at the fact that God truly does want to see us happy in life. Look how many times He uses “blessed” in scripture!He gives us specific directions for how to be happy all throughout the Bible. He does acknowledge we will have troubles in this life, but at the end of the day, His Word tells us how to be happy while on this journey.  In God’s perfect plan, He chose this psalm to follow psalm 127. After spending a week meditating on anxiousness, reading about being happy is like a breath of fresh air. We’ve spent some time digging through scripture, learning about how to put away those anxious thoughts, now psalm 128 tells us how to take it one step further and act

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.  It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.  - Psalm 127:1-2 He gives to his beloved sleep - what a peaceful thought. He gives rest to those He loves. I don’t know about you, but I could use some rest from my anxious thoughts today. Coming from yet another appointment for my son with more difficult news, I could use some rest from the thoughts about his future that plague my mind.  Thankfully, He has me in exactly the scripture I need to be in this week. He knows our hearts so well, He knows where our temptations lie and knows the words we need to hear to bring the rest He offers. So now I’m working on harvesting the seed instead of eating it. I want apply His Word to my anxious heart and find His peace.  6 do not be anxious about anything, but in ever

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.  It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.  - Psalm 127:1-2 Staying on this verse an extra day or two because God is really talking to me about being anxious. This past spring was been a particularly anxious time for me. Despite my knowledge of scripture and my experience as a counselor, the enemy still got a foothold in an area of weakness for me. I’m frustrated I let him, but want to be sure I saturate my heart with the truths He wants me to hear. So, if God wants me to stick around here for a little bit to wash me in these truths again, I’m happy to hang out with Him.  6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all unde

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.  It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.  - Psalm 127:1-2 Choosing to throw away our anxious thoughts is hard, mostly because it leaves a void in our brains we need to fill. So what do we fill it with?  God tells us that in scripture, too.   6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. - Philippians 4:6-8 Do not be

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.  - Psalm 127:1 Focusing on this portion of verse 2 today: eating the bread of anxious toil, and wondering how many of us feed ourselves anxious thoughts in stead of the bread of life.  Toil, by definition, means hard and continuous work. It’s an exhausting labor or effort. I wonder how many of us would consider managing our thoughts continuous and exhausting.  Anxiousness is the laborious work of the mind. It happens when we can’t shut off our brains. Some people struggle with their thoughts so significantly that it paralyzes their ability to do any work with their hands. Their brains go into overdrive and they become immobilized. These anxiety attacks are plaguing our culture just as much as our busyness.  But God knows us so well that He addresses our toiling thoughts in scripture as well - multiple times. And He provides the an