Promises From God's Word: Part 2 of 3

Getting Off the Roller Coaster

Image courtesy of Sura Nualpradid / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last week I shared how much comfort and encouragement I find in all the wonderful promises in God's Word.  Promises such as:  

Lo, I am with you always - Matt 28:20
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee - Hebrews 13:5
The LORD shall fight for you - Exodus 14:14

And on, and on they go.  I also shared that some of these promises come with a call to action on our part...an "if-then" clause if you will.  The one that struck me recently was Psalm 91,  However, I want to start with a more obvious example from Psalm chapter one and move to Psalm 91 next week.


I call Psalm 1 "The Getting Off the Roller Coaster" Psalm.  The missionary life IS a roller coaster.  One minute you feel confident with your new language...the next you want to crawl in a hole, because you are sure only half the testimony you just stood up and gave was understandable...the half you mimed.  One minute you are loving your new culture and cuisine, the next moment you are trying to swallow a strange food you are being offered...like pig innards you can not identify.  One minute you are caught up on laundry and the next you are swimming through a mountain of laundry with your smelly kids, trying to figure out how you are going to pack for an up coming trip, because there has been no water for a week.  But just because your life is a roller coaster doesn't mean emotions have to be and I like to claim Psalm 1 whenever I have let my emotions go along for the ride.  Below is "pictorial" of Psalm 1:1-3 : {Here you get to see a little bit of how my mind tends to float around when I'm reading scripture, darting up and down the page.}

but wait...what about that AND at the beginning of the verse?  "And" is a conjunction, it is used to connect two parts of a sentence.  So we should probably look at the first part before we get too excited about the promise.  And that is where we find it - our part.  {Again, welcome to my brain}

And after the first two verses of Psalm 1, these first two actions on our part, we come to the promise...the sturdy, stable hand of God, which plants us firm in His constant love and causes us to flourish.  And now we can truly say....Amen and amen!  Join me next week when we look at Psalm 91.  

Linking up with:  Tell His Story, My Daily Walk, Walking Redeemed