God reigns.

 The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he! The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!

Psalm 99:1-5 (ESV)
 
God reigns. Since He reigns, those who think they are in charge will be proven wrong. Both the Old and New Testaments say there can only be one king, one to whom we show loyalty.
We can pervert things and show loyalty to things, ourselves, and our circumstances, or we can show loyalty to the only one who deserves it. For now, the choice is ours.
 
Those who know the King know He is holy or unique among all living and non-living things. There is none like Him. We can try to understand Him, but it would be best to focus on obeying Him, for one who is like Him is beyond our understanding.

Dumb as a human?

 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods!

Psalm 97:1-7 (ESV)
 
If the creation speaks of a creator and points to the creator, then sinful man, controlled by the one who hates the creator, will find ways to eliminate such thoughts. Educated people who have tried to destroy God by "logical" explanations have been captivated by the obscure while ignoring the obvious.
Rocks proclaim the glory of God, but so often, man does not. Maybe the saying should be "dumb as a human" rather than "dumb as a rock."

Hope Is Anchored In Reality

 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."

Psalm 95:10-11 (ESV)
 
Those who do not know God's ways are doomed to failure. This is not something said lightly or judgmentally, but a statement of fact. We are doomed if we live in the context of our false hopes rather than placing our hopes in reality.
 
Real hope is anchored in reality, and all reality starts with the knowledge of God. Those who ignore God live delusional lives where depression, anxiety, anger, and narcissism are the norm rather than the exception.
 
When someone thinks incorrectly, they act incorrectly, and the only way to make their actions right is to make what is wrong normal. They often do this by creating a community that agrees with them. Yet, no matter how many votes "normal" gets, that which is right will continue to be right, even with no votes.

Where do we "park" our hopes and dreams?

 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

Psalm 91:9-13 (ESV)
 
Where do we "park" our hopes and dreams? Are they connected to our skills, talents, resources, family, and so on? No matter how valuable our skills are, how reliable our family is, or how many resources we have accumulated, our trust must be in God alone, or we will experience tremendous failure.
 
This Psalm says this: "Because my dwelling place is the Lord, the Most High, who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed." "Because" is a keyword that makes this passage easy to apply.
What would be considered my dwelling place, where my hope and trust are? The peace or lack of peace will reveal the true answer to this seldom-asked question.

Without God, there is no hope!

 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Psalm 91:1-2 (ESV)
 
Who or what is our refuge and fortress? There is one who is worthy of our trust, and He will prove that fact in time. Therefore, we can either align our lives with that reality or be frustrated.
Being frustrated at the beginning of a process is not the worst thing that can happen because there is time to adjust. However, being frustrated at the end of a process can be devastating because time has run out.
 
Everyone experiences troubled times, and during those troubled times, we need to know, not feel, wonder, or hope. We need to know that God loves us, that our significance and security are in place because we are walking in His shadow, and that He alone is protecting all things important.
 
Without God, there is no hope, for we all face times that only He can control.

Preparing for the future is not hard.

 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12 (ESV)
 
We all live a specific number of days. If you are reading this, you do not know your final number, but the evidence of this truth is indisputable. In fact, we will all be "dead" from this life much longer than we are alive, yet we live as if the moment is our eternity.
 
So often, the moment eclipses the reality of the future, and we get lost and live confused lives. Those who do not plan for a future will be frightened by the idea and shocked by its reality.
There will be a future. Your life will not always be the same if you are alive now. What do you need to do to be ready for what will come?
 
Preparing for the future is not hard. We plan for what we know for sure and what is probable while trusting our God for the things we cannot know. If one does not know God, they are their own. Being on your own is scary and unnecessary.

Intentionality

 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!" For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.

Psalm 90:1-4 (ESV)
 
In this prayer of Moses, we are reminded of the importance of knowing God and reviewing what we know often. It is easy to review in a way that becomes meaningless, yet the review process is vital.
 
Reviewing something or being reminded of something is the same idea. We are often reminded of things when tragedy strikes. Sometimes, we are reminded of important truths when we observe other people, experience a historical event, or smell something that brings back memories of good or bad days gone by.
 
Whatever our process, we need to be intentional about being reminded regularly of who God is and who we are in relationship to Him.

Like What?

 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?

Psalm 89:5-7 (ESV)
 
There is no one and nothing with whom or to whom we can compare God. God is so unique that any comparison of Him to anyone or anything falls woefully short. God is God. There is no other, will never be another, and never was another.
 
That is why those who know and love Him do not use comparisons to teach who He is. You cannot say God is like a good father because He is a good Father, and good fathers are judged by God's standard, not vice versa.
 
Whenever we hear that God is "like" something (unless it is something He compares Himself to in the Scriptures), we need to mentally adjust by thinking of the truth, or we risk diminishing who God is.

Hearing is not a substitute for doing.

 

A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! Psalm 84:10-12 (ESV)   We can sing this song; it would be wonderful if we meant the words we sing. Singing them does not always mean that we mean them. We need to be careful not to get into the habit of saying rote phrases that eventually become meaningless. Our utterances do not mean that we believe or even apply what we are saying to our everyday lives.   Hearing is not a substitute for doing, singing is not a substitute for obedience, and agreeing in concept does not constitute an embrace in real life.   The words that come from our lips to praise God should express what we know.

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Listening

 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me! There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. "But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.

Psalm 81:8-12 (ESV)
 
There are times when God chooses to give us what we deserve. My dad used to tell me to be careful what I prayed for because God might answer it. When I was young, I wondered what he meant. Now that I am not older, I get it.
 
I could pray for comfort; God might grant that, and my comfort might keep me from my purpose. I can pray for peace, and the peace might keep me from pursuing God. I could pray for riches, and the riches might control me. I need to pray that I listen to God.

Examine My Life

 So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror. When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly. They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.

Psalm 78:33-37 (ESV)
 
A life that vanishes like a breath is tragic. It is likened to a life that has chased the wind and caught it. This thought accompanies a bleak nothingness.
It is easy for mankind to talk of repentance and much harder to repent. So often, we try to play "Let's Make A Deal" with God when, in reality, He has already made the deal.
 
I must examine my life and allow it to tell me what I believe. Talk is easy, cheap, and can be manipulative. Actions can be displayed for the crowd; my heart is deceitful and wicked. I need always to have a way to check what is true.

Recount God’s Faithfulness

 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.

Psalm 78:1-4 (ESV)
 
It is a generational sin to hide God's glorious deeds from the next generation. Older people need to spend time recounting God's goodness. We need not recount our goodness, for there is nothing to be recounted, but we are responsible for recounting God's goodness.
 
This is what we should talk about on a regular and in a normal basis. It should not be extraordinary that we speak of God, even though we speak of His extraordinary deeds. God alone makes the ordinary extraordinary, and without Him there is nothing remarkable of which to speak. Today I need to think of Him, His glorious deeds, and the wonders He has made.

Meditation

 We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.

Psalm 75:1 (ESV)
 
When was the last time I recounted God's wondrous deeds? What are His wondrous deeds?
Maybe the fact that I must ask that question means that I am not tuned in with what those deeds are. Perhaps that is why we need to take time, intentionally, to stop, ponder, and remember. Maybe that is why we have communion: to force ourselves to stop and reflect on the single most crucial time in the universe's history. Why do I forget God's intervention and goodness so easily while seemingly staring down the "issues" of life that are so troublesome?
 
Meditating is an essential part of enjoying God. Yet even Satan has tried to destroy meditation by defining it, to a secular world, as something that empties your mind, rather than something that fills your mind with God, His truth, His love, and His deeds.
 
Today, we should spend time recounting God's marvelous deeds. If we choose to do that, this will be a good day.
 

Stability

 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

Psalm 73:25-28 (ESV)
 
Stability comes to those who have a single desire to walk with God in this life. We will find that all else fails us. Our health, our wealth, our friends, our family, our mind, and more will all fail us at some point. The rock, the fortress, and the stability are God alone. If I am ever to experience true significance and security, I must know what God has said and abide in it as truth.
The continual wandering of my heart from idea to idea or from one thing to another to satisfy should be evidence enough that the things of this earth, apart from God, bring futility.

Victory

 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame! In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me! Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.

Psalm 71:1-6 (ESV)
 
David learned to be faithful to God. He had learned that he could not rescue himself, that his enemy was too great, and that his ability to defend was too small. David's stability in life did not come from his circumstances but His God.
 
Too often, we think the victories in this life belong to us when they belong exclusively to God. We, too, should thank Him.

It is good for us to declare the truth.

 O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, Selah to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice. Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.

Blessed be God!
Psalm 68:32 - 35 (ESV)
 
All power and glory belong to God. We should "ascribe" this fact. It seems so simple, so normal, to ascribe power and glory to ourselves, to proclaim our glory, and speak of our wonders. Ascribing glory to self is a waste of time and reduces any hope of clarity. Self-eclipsing God distorts reality and places our lives in a constant shadow.
 
It is good for us to declare the truth verbally. We need to hear it and say it, and the more we do that, the more likely we are to live within the truth. There is a danger in meaningless verbiage.
 

My Most Significant Accomplishment

 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!

Psalm 67:1-3 (ESV)
 
Why do we want God to bless us? We should want God to bless us so that we might demonstrate His power, show His mercy, be visible examples of his grace, and so on. God's blessing is given to those who use it to bless God. Self-centered or focused individuals who crave God's blessing to be self-indulgent have missed out on the purpose of His blessing.
 
Ultimately, the most significant accomplishment in life will be knowing God and making Him known. All of life's efforts should be directed in that direction, or they are a waste of effort. This is hard to grasp in that we seem to have the consumer mentality when it comes to blessing rather than the "enricher" mentality. ("Enricher" is a made-up word meaning that we think of using our lives to enrich others.)

All who love give.

 Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. Psalm 66:5 (ESV)

 
Those who have experienced God's mercy act as if they have experienced God's mercy. Those who stop and look around and think, for even a moment, understand the awesomeness of God and appreciate His mercy, grace, and intervention in mankind.
 
It is a pitiful person who has not seen or experienced what God has done and is doing. We cannot always blame someone for not seeing what God is doing in life's circumstances because we are often too close to them, and clarity is difficult.
 
We must often ponder, think, and meditate on God and His works on our behalf. We must take the time to enjoy God, or we will have lives of empty desperation in our continual search for significance, for none can be found apart from Him.
 
God loves and gives. All who love give. Gifts become meaningless when they are expected or when the one receiving them believes they deserve or have earned them. Perhaps that is why God's gifts are so often ignored.

Those who earnestly seek God find God.

 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

Psalm 63:1-7 (ESV)
 
Those who earnestly seek God find God. There is no other way. Hoping you run into Him is a nice thought, but it places all the responsibility on God. God can force encounters, but a forced encounter is not what you want.

God alone holds the keys to life and death,

 For God alone, my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man

to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
Psalm 62:1-8 (ESV)
 
God alone holds the keys to life and death, provides significance and security, and can be trusted. It is good to wait in silence for Him, for He has never failed those who wait upon Him and trust in His steadfast love.
 

What does your soul trust?

 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts—the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!

Psalm 57:1-5 (ESV)
 
In the shadow of God's wings, there is safety. Proximity matters. With whom is my life aligned? With whom am I taking counsel?
 
What does your soul trust? How do you know?
 
If I am aligned with God, living in close proximity to Him in my thoughts and actions, I will experience a refuge that is unlike any other, for there is none other available at this level.