Amazing God of love and peace, pour out Your joy upon the life of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Psalm 66: 8 Bless our God, O peoples! Give him a thunderous welcome! 9 Didn't he set us on the road to life? Didn't he keep us out of the ditch? 10 He trained us first, passed us like silver through refining fires, 11 Brought us into hardscrabble country, pushed us to our very limit, 12 Road-tested us inside and out, took us to hell and back; Finally he brought us to this well-watered place. 13 I'm bringing my prizes and presents to your house. I'm doing what I said I'd do, 14 What I solemnly swore I'd do that day when I was in so much trouble: 15 The choicest cuts of meat for the sacrificial meal; Even the fragrance of roasted lamb is like a meal! Or make it an ox garnished with goat meat! 16 All believers, come here and listen, let me tell you what God did for me. 17 I called out to him with my mouth, my tongue shaped the sounds of music. 18 If I had been cozy with evil, the Lord would never have listened. 19 But he most surely did listen, he came on the double when he heard my prayer. 20 Blessed be God: he didn't turn a deaf ear, he stayed with me, loyal in his love. (The Message)
I don't know about you, but when we celebrate something big or important like a holiday, we barbecue! And I'm not talking about hot dogs and burgers, I'm talking real meat! One of the most memorable BBQs was when I was still a boy and my best friend's dad who worked at a meat market was barbecuing in his front yard and I was invited over. You name it and that meat was on the grill that night. Later, as an intern pastor in the Valley of Texas, I learned that folks down there were BBQ fanatics. Every Friday night there was an invitation to a BBQ of some sort. And folks there were the ones who discovered there is no such thing as any part of the cow that you throw away! You can pretty much eat the whole cow. I know for some of you it's early and the thought of any thing other than cold cereal may be turning you off, but this text is alive with celebration of what God has done in our lives! Every bad experience the psalmist calls "training." The "road to life" was lined with those experiences that were not necessarily pleasant at the time, but now looking back in thanksgiving, it was a process of making us who we are and who we're met to be. And in response, the psalmist is having a BBQ! Yes, it's a sacrificial offering to God, but you can almost smell the roasting of the meat offered up in thanks to God. And then as he's cooking and grilling, he's singing! This is what Valley folks would call a pachanga, a true all-out celebration of life.
What training experiences have you or are you facing? Just think of the great barbecue that's going to happen some day soon in order to thank God for what these experiences made you to be. Remember God is with us and as the psalmist says at the close of this passage, because we don't "cozy up with evil," God hears our prayers and is with us.
PRAYER: Loving God, at times it does not seem like a training experience, it seems like torture, but You are still with me. Let me celebrate Your presence and response to my prayers. May I seek to share this someday as a celebration of all You have done; in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name I pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
