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Psalms 34:1 (33:1 LXX)

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Personal Challenge

Now this is the ultimate New Years’ resolution. If I could live my life this year following this one practice of the psalmist, then there would be no need for any other resolutions. Why is that so? In order to truly bless the Lord at all times and to have His praise continually in my mouth then I must have Him on my heart and on my mind, not just occasionally, not just on Sundays, but every moment of every day whether awake or asleep. If this is how I lived my life then all other things that I would like to improve on throughout the year would either come very easily to me or be determined as not really that important. This is probably the reason why so many resolutions go unfulfilled, because the Lord is not in the middle of them. Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner and show me how to bless You at all times, keeping praise for you continually in my mouth.

1 Kingdoms 15:22 (1 Samuel 15:22 LXX)

Then Samuel said, “If only the desired whole burnt offerings and desired sacrifices were equal to the Lord, as compared to one who heeds the voice of the Lord! Behold! Hearing is better than a good sacrifice and obedience than the fat of rams.”

Personal Challenge

One of the things that we must always watch out for as we live our lives as Christians is becoming legalistic and works based. Samuel reminds us here, as does other writers in the Old Testament, that God is not nearly as interested in what we do externally, such as burnt offerings in his day as He is in our hearts and our willingness to serve Him. In Eastern Orthodoxy, we have many opportunities to participate in activities that from the outside look like works. One of these is fasting. It is so easy to start acting legalistic and judgemental of others on whether or not they fast, or how well they fast. This is not how this is supposed to work. We do not fast to earn favor with God. We do not fast to look good in front of everyone else. We quietly fast to learn how to discipline our minds and bodies. The church fathers consistently taught that we are not to look at our brother’s plate and only consider how we are doing on our journey toward being like Christ. They also taught that loving our neighbor was more important than any rule that we follow so if they offer us something to eat that might cause us to break our fast, then we take it out of love for our neighbor. Love is above all. This way of thinking applies to all of our attempts to be disciplined whether it be fasting, tithing, attending liturgy, praying, or a myriad of other things we do in our Christian life. What is in our heart is much more important than what we say or do. When we live this way what we do will clearly show our love for our God and for our neighbor. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Matthew 21:21-22

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Encouraging Words

As presented by the psalmist, we put our hope in God looking to be recipients of His mercy. Here, Jesus is telling His disciples, and us, that if we have faith in Him and do not let doubt creep in, then that faith will produce miraculous results. Now there is a bit of a caveat here. If I am living a life that is truly focused on Christ, striving to be like Him, communing with Him, and seeking to be submissive to Him and humble before Him, then I will only be exercising this kind of faith to glorify Him and to extend His Kingdom. This kind of faith will never be self-serving. It will always seek to magnify God. This kind of faith not only produces mountain moving miracles but it also changes those who have it. They will no longer see many of the things that bother so many of us as hindrances and therefore not use this faith to deal with them. As I spend more time reading the writings of the first and second-century church fathers and about the lives that they lived, the more I see the truth of this promise. Glory be to God!

Psalms 33:22 (32:22 LXX)

Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
As we hope in You.

Encouraging Words

Hope and mercy, what two powerful aspects of living a Christian life. We put our hope in the loving God. We put our hope in 2,000 years of evidence that God loves us and cares for us and that the Son, Jesus Christ, altered the course of eternity by His incarnation and the life He led leading up to His death, burial, and resurrection. we put our hope in the additional thousands of years that God worked in the lives of His people, continually providing images of the forthcoming Christ. We do not believe that our hope is ever in vain because of Who we put our hope in. And the wonderful and precious result of that hope is the mercy that our Lord pours out upon us. As the psalmist reminds us elsewhere in his writings, “His Mercy end ours forever.” God’s mercy is complete. God’s mercy is all-encompassing, neglecting no one. God’s money is undeserved, yet poured out lavishly. God’s mercy is sourced from His love, which is the source of all love within us. So, as the psalmist says here, Lord God Almighty we put our hope in You and seek Your mercy.

1 Samuel 2:1-2 (1 Kings 2:1-2)

Now the days of David drew near to death, and he charged Solomon his son, saying, “I am going the way of all the earth, but you must be strong and become a man.”

Personal Challenge

We all reach that point in our lives where we must cross that chasm into adulthood and begin to live responsible and accountable lives. For some, this starts when they move away from the nest and go to college. For some, it comes when they leave their home to get married and start their family. There are many other events in our lives that start this process of becoming an adult. It also can happen at many different ages dependent on the circumstances of one’s life. But for all, there is a critical time in life when one decides to lay down the former ways of being a child and living a childish life and choosing to live life as a man or a woman. In Solomon’s case, this transition came to fruition as his father David approached his own death. David challenged his son to take up where he would be leaving off and step up to the task of becoming a man. David encouraged Solomon to be strong in this process. Unfortunately, in today’s society, we have far too many people that are unwilling to adopt their role as an adult and try to continue to live childish lives. We can each use this time of year to review our lives and see where we can step up to being the man or woman that God intends us to live. Glory be to God!

Matthew 19:21

Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

Encouraging Words

So, what does this verse have to do with Christmas some may ask? Jesus was not asking just the rich young man to sell all of his possessions and follow Him. He was asking us all to be willing to give up everything that comes between us and Him in order to truly see the treasure of Heaven. Once again Jesus was not asking us to do something that He was not willing to do Himself. Jesus is God. He is a part of the Trinity. He has been this since the beginning of time when the Father begat Him. He was there when all of His creation was spoken into being. He is the pattern that the human race was made from. He owns the treasures in heaven, and on the earth, and everywhere else. Then on a day over 2,000 years ago He became incarnate through the willingness of some pure, young virgin. He was born in a lowly manger, during a time when the Jewish people were oppressed by the Romans. He grew up a poor man, poured out His love and healing upon the multitudes, and ultimately gave His life for us, all of us. That is truly giving all to the poor. So, it is up to us to do the same… for Him. Glory be to God!

Psalms 33:18 (32:18 LXX)

Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him,
On those who hope in His mercy,

Encouraging Words

How can the terms fear and hope be used in the same sentence and still be considered encouraging? One of the unfortunate things about our English language is how we have singular terms that mean multiple things. Take the word love for example. In the Greek, you would find love as agape, philio, eros, or storge, which are all different types of love. The word fear has similar variations. In many of the Old Testament renditions of the word fear, what was originally intended was great awe and respect. This is what I believe the psalmist was referring to. God keeps His careful, loving, merciful watch on those who hold Him in great awe or respect, those who have placed Him at the Center of their lives. It is this God, the loving, merciful God that we put our hope in. We hope for His great mercy to be applied to us even though we never do deserve it. Glory be to God!

Judges 16:20

And Delilah said, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” So he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as before, and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

Personal Challenge

I am sure that many remember the story of Samson and Delilah. Samson, as a young child, was set apart by his parts so that he would grow up being a servant of God. In this being set apart, he lived the life of a Nazarite. Part of this way of life meant that he was trained in the ways of the synagogue, he never cut his hair or partook in alcohol or other debaucheries of the world. As he grew up God touched him in a way that gave him great strength and he performed many great feats against the Philistines who were oppressing his people. All of this is in chapters 13-15 of Judges. Then here in chapter 16, we pick up with Samson falling in love with Delilah, a Philistine harlot. She is persuaded by the Philistines to find out the source of his strength so that they can defeat him and go back to oppressing the Jews. She ultimately seduces him into revealing that the strength is in his hair and after wooing him to sleep cuts it all off leading up to this verse. Not only had his strength left him but so had his Lord. I often write of how my God will never leave His children or forsake them, so how can this be in Samson’s case. If we read the entire story, starting in chapter 13, we find that it was never God that had left Samson but Samson who had left God. How often do the temptations of this world turn my focus off of God and onto myself or the ways of the world? It happens all of the time. I then have a choice that I must make. I can turn away from the temptation and remain close to God or I can entertain the temptation and start moving a little bit away from God. Here is where the spiral into sin takes me and pulls me farther and farther from God until it looks like He is no longer with me. He is still there. It is only I who can no longer see Him through all of the mud and mire of sin that I have covered myself with. What is the answer to this dilemma? Call out to my Lord, repent of my ways, and run back into His arms. As the parable of the Prodigal Son tells us, He will be right there with open, loving arms. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!