Image from biblia.com
Hear the devotional here: https://bit.ly/3t5sdJ0
1 Hallelujah! O my soul, praise God! 2 All my life long I'll praise God, singing songs to my God as long as I live. 3 Don't put your life in the hands of experts who know nothing of life, of salvation life. 4 Mere humans don't have what it takes; when they die, their projects die with them. 5 Instead, get help from the God of Jacob, put your hope in God and know real blessing! 6 God made sky and soil, sea and all the fish in it. He always does what he says - 7 he defends the wronged, he feeds the hungry. God frees prisoners - 8 he gives sight to the blind, he lifts up the fallen. 9 protects strangers, takes the side of orphans and widows, but makes short work of the wicked. 10 God's in charge - always. Zion's God is God for good! Hallelujah! (Psalm 146 The Message Bible)
A blessed Thursday to you dear ConCafe Family. I thank God for you, Friend, and your life and your servant attitude when it comes to prayer. Last night I received that email about the young mother who caught Covid while in the hospital and has not allowed her to hold her newborn infant Isaiah. Pray for Amara Rodriguez' healing; pray that God answer our prayers and allow this new family has a great start. Also, a reader from Karnes City, TX., has asked "please add Joshua Smolik to your list as he’s been in the hospital going on two weeks." Our prayers for those who have asked for prayer and whose needs are ever in our hearts. Share a prayer for your neighbor, for your worst enemy, and for your needs.
This is the tie that closes the week's scriptures that have shared the same theme of God's role in our creation, and our role in praising Him and doing His will. The psalmist starts with the childhood conviction he made to always praise God. Early in his life, he knew he had a God-given ability to write songs and sing, and so he used them to praise God. And by so doing, he had placed his life in the hands of the only One who is able to guide, bless, and protect; and that is our Heavenly Father.
The other day I heard the late George Carlin speak on motivational books. He basically asked why do we need motivational books. "Isn't the fact you have driven yourself to the bookstore to buy a motivational book be success enough? Use that same determination to complete whatever else you wanted to do!" I had never heard that before and it had me laughing, because have often thought about writing such a book and when I walk through the Self-Help aisle of the bookstore I wonder if we indeed need another book that promises to help others get from here to there; wherever "There" may be. The psalmist asks the same sort of question by saying, "Don't put your life in the hands of experts who know nothing of life, of salvation life." He has a point about those who say they have answers but live lives of questions not yet answered. And if the question is about salvation life, then only those who know salvation can guide those who want to know more. A big-name Ivy League school made news by hiring an atheist as their campus pastor. This shows the state of the Church, the Campus, and society in general these days. For this same school to have hired a salvation-knowing, Bible-believing pastor would have had editorials and uprising among faculty and students alike, questioning the direction the university was taking by hiring an "out-of-touch" quack. Sigh.
The psalmist continues with stating what he believes is true; "Mere humans don't have what it takes; when they die, their projects die with them. Instead, get help from the God of Jacob, put your hope in God and know real blessing!" Indeed, it is only in God that we can find the hope we need for our.lives and our future. Whatever plans, hopes, and dreams that we have for tomorrow rest better in the hands of He Who knows all things, guides all things, and makes possible all things; our plans will count for nothing if we plan thinking we can do it alone. God is creator. God is the defender of those who are wronged. God is the One who feeds the hungry, and God is the One who can free the prisoners. God gives sight to the blind. God lifts up the the fallen; protects the stranger, and Who takes the side of orphans and widows. God also will take care of the wicked. The psalmist knows that God is always in charge. And God is the eternal God who will never be removed or replaced. Hallelujah. Amen.
My name and life appear in more than one of the list towards the end of the above paragraph, as I'm guessing yours does too. Even though I believe myself to be in the category of one who knows and live "salvation life," I have been wronged. More than once. I have been almost at the point of having nothing to eat. I have been a stranger ignored, yes, even in churches. I have been, multiple times, a prisoner of my own sin. I have been blind to the needs of others. I have fallen, and God has picked me up; yet I have always have known that God is in charge, even in times I tried making my own decisions thinking I knew what was best. God is eternal. Amen.
PRAYER: Loving God, You may chuckle when we make plans and violate our trust in You. Help me to live a life of obedience and trust. Help me be the example that helps others find their way to and in, God. This we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord. Be the hope of someone new today.
Receive my blessings of hope and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
