Heather Holleman's Blog, page 82
October 13, 2021
October in the Psalms: God Daily Bears Our Burdens
We wake up with a whole day to live. If you made a list of all the burdens and stress you currently carry, perhaps you’d feel overwhelmed. But consider Psalm 68:19: “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” In a recent prayer meeting, the leader asked us to tell God about a burden we have been carrying. We then asked God to now carry that burden for us; we don’t have to anymore. Whatever it is in your life, consider how God will daily bear it.
October 12, 2021
October in the Psalms: Appointed Love
I love praying Psalm 61:7 over my family. David prays this when writing about the king: “Appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!” I underlined that in my Bible and focused on that word “appoint.” It’s such a great verb. I picture God sending out the order, preparing the official decree, and directing Love and Faithfulness to hover over our lives. What God appoints shall happen. Imagine going about the day in search of evidence of that God-appointed steadfast love and faithfulness. It’s operating even now.
October 11, 2021
October in the Psalms: A Song to Sing
In Psalm 59:16, David sits surrounded by men who seek to kill him. He’s a hunted and trapped man. Can you imagine the hopelessness and the fear? David tells God all about it, but then he writes, “But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.” I think about David actually singing a song. Did the men outside hear it? Did it pierce their hearts? I’m not a good singer, but today I consider the song I might sing to Jesus. Try it. Sing a little song. If we woke up this morning feeling hopeless and fearful, we can sing because of God’s strength and love which operate on our behalf today. Maybe October in the Psalms should involve daily singing as well!
October 10, 2021
October in the Psalms: God Restores
Psalm 51:10-12 echoes the cry of anyone ready to return to God’s love after a time of living their own independent way. I will forever love this beautiful prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” God answers the cry of a heart. He can create, renew, restore, and uphold you. He restores lost joy. Ask God to let the Holy Spirit take over and give you that right and willing spirit.
October 9, 2021
October in the Psalms: Be Still
As a high energy (and sometimes frenzied) person, I love the command in Psalm 46 to “be still.” The singers writing this psalm declare that God says, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” When I read this, I remember God’s sovereign control. I remember that nothing thwarts His plans. I remember my job today involves resting in God’s love, power, and divine purposes. Be still. Assume the deepest kind of soul rest because of who God is. When I cannot, I ask God to help me understand stillness and that posture of complete trust and hope in Him. Maybe our whole life involves this journey toward divine stillness.
October 8, 2021
October in the Psalms: God Inclines
Psalm 40 feels like balm to the soul on hard days. If you read it (and consider memorizing it), you’ll find some marvelous things about God. The very first verse positions David waiting patiently on God. And then? We hear “[God] inclined to me and heard my cry.” God inclines; it’s a verb inviting us to see God as stretching out to us, bending low to us, and coming to meet us. We cry out, God is there, inclining.
If you circle all God does for us in Psalm 40, we find Him drawing us up from the pit, setting us on solid ground, making our way firm, giving us a song to sing in our hearts, helping us, and delivering us. This writing inoculates us against creeping despair. We know God is coming to meet us.
October 7, 2021
October in the Psalms: God Delights in Our Well-Being
I loved the day I discovered Psalm 35:27a: “Great is the Lord, who delights in the well-being of his servant.” As I studied this verse in different translations, I could hardly believe it: God delights in keeping us at peace, content, and prosperous. It pleases Him. He wants to make us whole and right. Had I considered this about God before? Had I realized how much God wants me to be at peace? In fact, it’s in His very nature to work for our well-being. He is not against us, but for us. I began to see the circumstances of my life that God allowed—whether joyful or painful—as pathways to my eventual well-being. God, who delights in our well-being, always works lovingly on our behalf. This is a God I wanted more and more.
October 6, 2021
October in the Psalms: Surrounded
I love reading about God’s surrounding love. The verb surrounded makes you feel encircled, protected, embraced, and covered. In Psalm 32:10, David writes, “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.”
Picture it. Think about it. Walk about your life today in the surrounding love of God. Nothing can get to you that God doesn’t allow; His border around you keeps you safe. Inside of it, it’s all bright joy, love, hope and peace with God. You’re surrounded.
October 5, 2021
October in the Psalms: God Instructs You Which Way to Go
In Psalm 25: 12-13, we read one of the most comforting passages about God’s work in our lives. We’re told this about the person who follows God: “Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being.” During times of confusion and uncertainty, I tell myself, God will instruct me which way to go and what to choose here. And I will experience true well-being.
God instructs us through the Bible, through wise counsel, through the Holy Spirit, and through our circumstances. He actively instructs and leads. Right now, He’s leading. Right now, God is cultivating your well-being in Him.
October 4, 2021
October in the Psalms: The Glorious Verbs of Psalm 20
I find too many wonderful verbs to choose just one. In Psalm 20, we read a blessing we can pray right now:
May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion! May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!
God answers, protects, sends help, gives support, remembers, regards us with favor, grants desires, and fulfills plans. I suppose if God answers, we must ask today. What help do we need? What support? What plans do we bring to Him?
