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15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord rescues them from them all. 20 He keeps all their bones; not one of them will be broken. 21 Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (Psalm 34:15-22 NRSV)
ConCafe Famiily, welcome Thursday into your lives! And bless the Lord dear Friend with your life; may your words, thoughts, and actions glorify Him! May we also glorify God with our prayers; worship God, praise Him, and bless those who have asked prayers from us. May the healings, calm, comfort and peace sought by many be theirs, and may we listen intently to what God may say to us after our prayers and time of worship and study.
Who has been the best teacher you've ever known? I'm talking about a person whose life radiates light and knowledge just by their presence and as soon as they begin to talk or share, you know you're in the presence of greatness. Did you have one of those in high school or college? Did you have one of those in church? Or graduate school? My vote would go to Dean Virgil Matthews, former dean of students at Lon Morris College, and my first Relgion teacher in a university setting. He was a kind and gentle man whose life radiated a deep knowledge, I might add, a personal knowledge of God and God's grace. His lectures were inspired and inspiring. He loved the subject matter and we could tell that he loved us even in spite of our being, for lack of a better word, rascals. Okay, the only rascal was me. I meant no disrespect but I loved to ask him questions, especially on days we were supposed to have exams. It was rumored, and shame on me for believing those rumors, that if we asked the right question or questions, the exam might get delayed. Mind you, our questions were sincere, and worthy of asking, and sometimes we did indeed receive an extra day or two by asking enough good questions to delay our having to answer exam questions. In spite of my behavior, he instilled in me a love for all things Bible and religion. It was always my pleasure to be in his presence, even if I had been called in for questionable behaviors. And I came to know that knowing God and seeking to serve God, would and could be an adventure.
Imagine having David the psalmist being your professor of faith. David was a man who did walk and talk with God, and even in spite of his shortcomings, still knew the love and grace of God and whose words radiated that love and grace from the one true God. He spoke to an audience of righteous and nonrighteous and to those in between or even those who had been righteous up until Friday or Saturday night, and then, well, let's just say un-righteous things might have occurred; and to sit in his class on a Sabbath day was the right place to be to hear words that both inspried, confirmed, or condemned you. Hear the first verse of this passage, God's eyes are on those who love and seek to serve God, and God gives attention to hearing the prayers and cries of those who seek to be right and faithful in their walk with Him. That opening would have caught my attention as it would yours. Your eyes may have winced at the next words, "God looks away from those who seem to do more evil than good; even to the point of not wanting to see them or hear them because of how they've lived. This is seen as more of a call and challenge for all to be better or try harder." This bears hope for me, and other rascals like me. For us to hear, "God is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit," is to hear the possibility that yes, we might still "make it." God is in the rescuing business and God just might rescue me; for He might know me well enough to understand and forgive my behaviors if I would confess and repent of them. We begin to understand that it is ourselves who bring evil on ourselves and God is not to blame; our decisions and our choices have led us down the wrong path; and we need to seek refuge in God and we will be free of condemnation.
Our adventure in walking with God continues dear friend; and it falls on us to seek to be among the righteous and not with the evildoers. Our lives should reflect the desire and the attempts on our part to find God and to follow Him away from the pit of despair to the narrow path of life and light. Whever it is that this finds us right now, it is not yet the end; we still can, and should, confess and seek He who can truly save us.
PRAYER: Loving Father, while we have breath and life, let our desires be for You; for we know that we can find in You that which saves us and brings us to life and life in abundance. Bless our steps to be a blessing to You; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Seek to bless God with actions that bless others today.
Receive my blessings of peace and wholeness,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
PS. Dear friends, Nellie and I are taking a couple of days off and headed towards the water so there may not be a Friday Faith Feeding through ConCafe this week. I thank you for understanding! Pray for our travels to and from; and we'll see each other on Monday right here on this channel!
