Thought for November 19

 History:

• 1493: Columbus discovers Puerto Rico
• 1805: Lewis & Clark reach the Pacific
• 1861: JuliaWard Howe commits "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to paper
• 1863: Gettysburg Address
• 1873: Boss Tweed convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison
• 1895: Pencil patented
• 1953: Supreme Court rules baseball is a sport, not a business [really]
• 1959: Rocky & Friends premiers
• 1965: Kellogg's Pop Tarts created
• 1969: Conrad and Bean walk on the moon
• 1975: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" premiers
• 2021: Australia makes Covid vaccine mandatory
• Born: George Rogers Clark, James Garfield, Billy Sunday, Hiram Bingham [Machu Picchu], Tommy Dorsey, Peter Drucker [management expert], Indira Gandhi, Alan Young [Mr Ed], Gene Tierney, Roy Campanella, Larry King, Jack Welch [GE], Dick Cavett, Ted Turner, Dan Haggerty [Grizzly Adams], Calvin Klein, Ann Curry [journalist], Allison Janney, Meg Ryan, Jodie Foster, Kerri Strug, Adam Driver, 
• Died: Man in the Iron Mask, Franz Schubert, Emma Lazarus [Statue of Liberty poet], Bill Stern [sportscaster], Mike Nichols [The Graduate], Charles Manson, Della Reese, Mel Tillis, Jake Scott [Georgia/Dolphins], 

Thought:

I have a lot of underlined and marked passages in the Book of Psalms. Today, reading Psalm 1 and particularly 1:2-3. 

• Our job--delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night. This verse gets my attention because it requires me to think about how I view God's word. Notice what the verse does not say--
• No command to read or understand God's word. We do it in our search to know God and be in right relationship with Him. Other places we are told to write it in our hearts and minds. And we cannot understand or comprehend it without the help of the Holy Spirit.
• No command to study God's law, but we do because it helps us walk worthy. Other places we are told to consider, contemplate, recite the word, but study is an intellectual pursuit if done in our flesh, it is a spiritual enlightenment when done in the Spirit.

        We are to delight in God's word. What delights you? Your children, grandchildren? The definition is to gain great pleasure, satisfaction and happiness or to be soft and tender. So my heart is soft and tender to accept and receive the word of God and when it does, it gives me pleasure, satisfaction and happiness. This morning is that my relationship with and attitude toward God's word? Reading it satisfies my soul, my mind, my spirit. And then I take great joy in its truth. The word gives me light in the darkness, direction amid chaos, comfort in my struggles, assurance for my doubts, courage for my fears. Maybe I should check every day to make sure I am taking delight in His word.

• The result--- 
• A firmly planted tree. He is the vine, I am a branch. My foundation is solid rock. It is the firmness of the foundation that prevails against the storms of life.
• An eternal source of water. I seek the living water that feeds, satisfies [as the deer pants for the water], refreshes, sustains. We are fed by a limitless flow, a fountain that does not run dry. Even when we read Revelation we see that from the throne of God flows a river of living water that feeds and nourishes the trees that yield fruit in season. 
• Fruit--more branches through our witness and love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control.
• Evergreen---we do not wither. At my age this means we keep on keeping on, not in my strength but His. The winds and rain of circumstances do not cause my faith and trust to fade or wane. 
• Prosperity in everything. Planted by God, fed by Living Water, we are spiritual millionaires. 

Today, let's delight in the Word of God.

Blessings

Larry