"Simple" Thoughts

After one day back on the blog, I have remembered some things from blogging before. The first is that I have a tendency to post long blogs. That's an understatement. It is rumored that some Senators are considering reading from my blog in their next philabuster. The second is that posting long blogs discourages me from posting on a regular basis. So, I am making conscious effort to walk before I run here. When I don't have time or energy to post a lengthy discourse, I am going to try to pare down my thoughts and make a "simpler" contribution.

Along those lines, Psalm 116 was very helpful this morning. A couple of quick thoughts... Psalm 116:5-9 (ESV), "5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. 6 The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living."

My thoughts (in order of how they struck me, not in order of importance, or in textual order)

1) The Lord preserves the simple - v. 6

• I don't know about you, but that speaks to me. Because most of the time I feel like the mayor of the Simpletons when it comes to actually having some meaningful insight into life. Thank God that brilliance is not a requirement for salvation!
  
• The gospel is so powerfully presented here too. "When I was brought low, he saved me." Do not despise the low places because they cause us to lean on the Savior.

2) Return, O my soul, to your rest - v. 7

• What wonderful comfort there is, not in my strength, but in the Lord's unchanging ability to preserve the simple. It appears that we are to rest in this knowledge.

3) The Lord has dealt bountifully with you - v. 7

• It is quite honestly a temptation for me to think that the Lord is dealing sparsely with me--holding my by the thinnest of threads until I "get it". Teaching me one hard lessen after another in His school of hard knocks. But if I step back for just a moment, I realize that even in the most challenging of times the Lord has dealt bountifully with me. In fact, it is His lavish kindness that upholds me day by day. Considering the fact that I deserve Hell, not in the future, but right now, anything else is a remarkable display of the kindness of the Lord. On top of that, when I consider that he uses each of those circumstances to draw me to Him for His glory and my good--that is even a greater display of His bountiful kindness.

That's all for now. Thank God for His kindness.

Soli Deo Gloria