Proverbs 3:5-6, Acts 16:25-26, Psalm 138:1-3 & 7, John 16:5 & 11

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in Yahweh with all your heart; do not rely on your own insight.  Let His Presence pervade all your ways and He will protect your foot from the snare.

Thank You Beloved, for this timely advice.  If I rely on You and put all my trust in You.  If I wait in patience, then You will speak to me and guide me.  Grant that I may always be imbued in Your Holy Presence so no evil can trap me and bring discord into my life.

Acts 16:24-25

25 About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 26 Suddenly a severe earthquake shook the place, rocking the prison to its foundations. Immediately all the doors flew open and the chains of all the prisoners fell off.

No matter how heavy the cross of the present, we will find that the night is never so dark and the burdens never so heavy, that one cannot find it in one's heart to praise and thank God for past blessings and  the  hope of future ones.   Just singing and praising God lightens the burden and fills the soul with grace and strengthens it so one can sing  in the face of the most difficult and trying circumstances.  Jesus can bring light and hope into the darkest of despairs.

Psalm 138:1-3 & 7

1 I thank you, O Lord, with all my heart,

for you have heard the word of my lips.

I sing your praise in the presence of the gods.

2 I bow down towards your holy temple

and give thanks to your name,

for your love and faithfulness,

for your word which exceeds everything.

3 You answered me when I called;

you restored my soul and made me strong.

7 If I walk in the midst of trouble,

you give me life.

With outstretched arm,

you save me from the wrath of my foes,

with your right hand you deliver me.

My Beloved, how beautifully the Psalmist expresses exactly what I have experienced today in my time with You.  Even if I were alone and friendless, I would still have You and having You, I would have more than kings and princes.  Never ever let sin part me from You my own true God.

John 16:5 & 11

But now I am going to the One who sent me and none of you asks me where I am going.

11 What Judgment? The prince of this world has himself been condemned.

How true Lord, so often we miss the larger picture because we are navel-gazing.  We can get so trapped in our own feelings - feelings that are ephimeral - like the morning mist - here one minute and gone the next and we lose sight of the eternal because we have focused  on what is momentary and passing.  Like Mary Magdalen, we want to cling to You and restrict You instead of accepting You as God and trusting You to know what is best for us. 

Verse 11 is most reassuring Beloved.  Despite the fact that it seems that evil is presently victorious in the world, You say this is not true because the prince of this world is already condemned and in his anger and rage he wants to take as many down with him as he possibly can.  Preserve and protect us Lord with the power of Your most Holy Spirit.