Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

Psalms

The Fear of the Lord

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The fear of the Lord has always been a bit of a conundrum for me. On the one hand, I understand what it means, but in some ways, it is a mystery. We know we should fear the Lord because He is holy and His wrath is terrifying. At the same time, His love and mercy are comforting and we know those who love Him are safe in His arms. The paradox of fearing and loving God has led to a lot of thought, study, and confusion for me.

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Perhaps you are in the same boat. Thankfully, the Lord cleared all this up for me in an instant this week. I was reading in the book of Proverbs, one of my favorite books in the Bible, and one I have read countless times. Yet for the first time, I saw something I’d overlooked before.

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Hope in the Darkness

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I love Psalm 37. It’s like a mini guidebook for how to live. The psalm is full of wisdom and encouragement and worthy of being read daily. Recognizing how relevant God’s Word remains today always makes me smile. We need no other proof of the divine nature of the Bible than to see how prescient and applicable the words written thousands of years ago are today. Right out of the gate, it appears King David, the author of the Psalm, is speaking directly into our world.

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He writes, “Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong. For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender green plants.” (Psalm 37:1-2). Our world is full of evil people, but it is an encouragement to know their plans will not last forever. God will hold them accountable for what they do. There is hope in the darkness.

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Risen Indeed

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Jesus Christ has risen! He has risen indeed! The resurrection of Jesus is the defining moment in all of history. It is the pivotal event that divides our dating system. No event has ever made a greater impact on the world, and no event brings more joy to the hearts of those who trust in Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

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While Good Friday is a somber and reflective day, Easter is full of hope and celebration. But the celebration of Easter must not end when Monday morning arrives. He rose on Sunday, but on Monday we must remember He has still risen indeed. Our life has hope, meaning, and purpose only because the tomb remains empty today.

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Our Thoughts

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Most of us are pretty good at presenting a Christian face to the world. Underneath the façade, though, our thoughts often reveal a different side to our character. Indeed, getting our thought life under control is far more difficult than mastering our outward habits. John Macarthur once wrote, “The sins of our thought life are soul-coloring sins, character-damaging sins.”

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What we think about shapes who we become. We can never be joyful followers of Christ if deceit, lust, and conceit cloud our thoughts. The direction of our lives will be determined by what we think about most. A mind saturated by Jesus will yield a life devoted to Him. As appealing as that sounds, the opposite is also true. When our thoughts are on things other than God, the result will be a life that is frustrated, defeated, and ultimately wasted.

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Nothing is Sacred

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The lack of a sense of reverence and awe in our churches and our lives has been weighing heavily on me in recent days. I touched on this briefly in my last post (see “A Devoted Life”). There is something else troubling me about the way we “do” church in our modern culture. Believers today rarely see prayer as being a sacred approach to the throne of God.

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Almost every church I have attended in the past thirty-five years uses prayer as a transition vehicle from one part of the service to the next. It’s the time when the worship team ascends or exits the platform or simply signals the end of the greeting and the beginning of the service. Prayer has become a vehicle instead of being understood as the great privilege and gift that it is. Even in our church gatherings, it appears nothing is sacred.

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