My thoughts (Sue Robinson):

I have always loved this Psalm. Even those who don’t have a strong church background have heard it, or at least parts of it, repeated for years. Most of the time, it’s quoted as a calming influence when someone is having fears or difficulties in life. “Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death…” And it is soothing and comforting in those times.

But as I prepared to study this chapter, I noticed the first few words.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.”

God intends for us to rest and recuperate. In fact the Psalm says He MAKES us to lie down. When we run on and on with no sleep, little rest, and even less relaxing times, we are actually going against God’s best plan for us. That is one of the purposes of the Sabbath day; to take time to rest and reflect on God’s love for us.

I know all of us in this busy age find things to fill each and every minute of the day. But imagine the words of the Psalmist; green pastures, still waters, restoration. I think it would make God so happy if we would take a few minutes out of each day to meditate on God’s beautiful creation and feel the soothing effects of the blessings God has made for us to enjoy.

Prayer for the day: Lord, help me to slow down and enjoy the beauty of Your world. Encourage me to make rest a balanced part of my life. Thank You! Amen

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (David Zier):

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently before God.”

This reminds me of the story when Jesus is on the stormy water in Matthew 14. Jesus returns from praying, and the disciples see something they don’t recognize. When Jesus tells them it is he, Peter asks Jesus to call him to walk on water to meet Jesus. As Peter walks toward Jesus, he sees the wind, becomes afraid, and begins to sink. “Lord, save me!” Peter cries.

The last several months I have been experiencing that sinking feeling over and over. My body has been trying to adjust to an anti-convulsive medication, but it was thwarted with changes in dosages and changes in form. I felt out of control, tired, depressed, in pain, constant chills, bruising, bleeding, peeling skin, burning eyes, and a foggy mind that seemed frustratingly absent and forgetful. I also experienced partial seizures the meds were trying to prevent. I felt like I had a First Alert necklace around my neck, and I kept pressing the button trying to tell God to get me out of my pit (“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”), but I was not sure God could hear me and I felt all alone. I was isolating myself from most people, even people that I love, because I was struggling with the realities of each day. Sleep twelve hours, get up at noon, and then return to bed. In March, the realization that I would have to pull out of a Guatemala mission’s trip was very difficult. I realize this was the result of medical issues, and I am not beating myself up over it (though I do at times!). Perhaps I have said too much, but there is a point to all of this.

Peter was anxious; he was fearful initially of the ghost he thought he saw. The realities of life represented by the wind come at us out of left field and knock us over. Life will happen to each one of us. Each of us may fall into that pit and wonder where our First Alert system is to help us up.

I wonder what Jesus prayed on that mountain before the encounter with Peter on the water. I can imagine Jesus was on that mountain being still and waiting patiently before God. Perhaps he was anxious about the life of ministry, or the wind, or the road ahead. Jesus experienced everything we experience. Sometimes it is easy to forget that.

What does it mean for me to be still and wait? Not fret. Not worry. But let go. Many of us have bad days and hard times in life, and maybe it seems like the way out is a long distance ahead. God knows where we are. God knows what is on our hearts. Just imagine how healing being still and waiting can be. What if Peter was still and waited. It’s easy to carry that stillness into the times of life when all is good. But how healing is that “being still” and “waiting” when we may need it most?

Thought for the day: Be still and wait on God. God, help me to get out of my own way so I can let You in, even when it is most difficult.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Robert Ferguson):

Do you remember the first time you kissed someone that had you smitten? Do you remember the first time someone gave you butterflies in your belly? Do you remember a time when you stayed up all night talking on the phone with that special someone and absolutely refused to be the first one to hang up?

“You hang up…no, you hang up. Okay…I’m hanging up…hello? Why didn’t you hang up? You hang up first!”

Remember? Young love…and I don’t mean chronologically young but I am talking about new love. There is a certain freshness when you first start dating someone. Surely you feel as if there will never be any circumstance or situation that could bring you down from this beautiful perfect cloud you and your new love interest are riding. But as many of us who have lived long enough know, eventually we all come down from the romantic highs and the starry eyed, gushing feeling. Sooner or later someone gets disappointed. Perhaps the realities of life set in and those feelings of euphoria are replaced with a faint but ever present sense of ho-hum. And for many of us that is the point where we lose interest or,at the very least, we start to take that other person for granted.

If I’m being honest I have to admit that sometimes my spiritual walk with Christ has been a lot like that. Do you remember the first time you really felt your relationship with the Lord? Do you remember being excited? When I first got saved you could not keep me out of the church. Every moment that I found myself alone I was praying to God. Any and Everything that happened in my life was somehow connected to God and God’s divine will in my life. But as I matured as a Christian that old cynicism of the world started to creep back in and I began to realize that having Christ in my life absolutely did not mean that challenges would not still come. The realities of life began to set in and even though the spirit of Christ remained in my life, I found that I had grown less excited about my relationship with Christ. In fact sometimes it seemed easier to get excited about things such as money, cars, clothes and other trappings of the world.

As I read the scripture for today I feel the spirit reminding me that while this world does seem to offer bright, shiny things, there is often a heavy price to pay for more things. Sometimes the world and its circumstances can beat you down. I don’t know about you but sometimes I want a do-over button. I want to go back to that time when I first fell in love with Jesus. I want to go back to when my faith felt brand new.

Thought for the day: Remind me, O Lord, where my strength, shelter, and power come from. Revive me again Lord!

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Angie Eden):

If I had a dollar for every time I heard my pastor tout the benefits of small-group connection, I’d have…

Well, I lost count, but I know I could burst into a Starbucks on a Monday morning and yell, “Drinks on me!” He says it a lot.

A little over a year ago, I ventured into this world of “small groups,” also known in our church as Oasis groups. Various people from various backgrounds meet and mingle each week. Amid all the discussion, scripture reading, and prayer, folks form bonds in ways not possible when you merely pass on Sunday mornings. A level of caring extends beyond the meeting time and reaches into your daily life.

In today’s scripture, a follower of God acts on the impulse to join another traveler. When the follower asks the traveler, “Do you understand what you are reading?” the traveler responds, “How can I without someone to help me?” They go along together, reading and discussing. The follower even goes into the water with the traveler to baptize him.

Do you have a friend on the same spiritual path as you? If not, have you thought about taking a risk and trying to connect with a small group? God’s love and guidance is meant to be shared, multiplied. You will be a gift to others and they will be a gift to you.

Thought for the day: For today, give God thanks for the testimony and the insight of others. Hear their stories, their ideas. Seize the opportunity to learn as well as teach. Proclaim the good news together!

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (David Zier):

I hate it when I let myself get distracted by stuff that takes my focus, time and energy from the things I need to do to things that fill my mind up with clutter and are not productive. Not too long ago, I was feeling that someone was being nice to me because they had to be, but basically was ignoring me otherwise. No matter what I did or said, it was never good enough. Work I did was never passed on, ideas I was trying to work with were dismissed and belittled, and no matter what I was trying to do, it was basically ignored.

When all of this was happening, my mind would be occupied with thoughts of the things I would like to say. And perhaps even more than just things I wanted to say, but the hurtful reaction of the other person. Of course I never said anything, so the other person was spared and was never hurt. So in my mind, I am thinking that I was being righteous because I never did anything. I just THOUGHT about it. So, there was no harm done. Right?

When I read this passage in Philippians, it makes me realize that when I fill my mind with this stuff, I may not be hurting the other person, but I am hurting myself! If I take the time to let my mind occupy itself with these thoughts and ideas, for long periods of time, it takes my mind off of the honorable, just, commendable, and things worthy of praise that Paul is talking about.

I can take this even further and look back at all of the time I let my mind get preoccupied with all kinds of stuff. When I let myself get discouraged about something, preoccupy my thoughts with selfish motives, when I think about people that have hurt me and what I would like to do or say to them, it is amazing how much time I spend on JUNK! This stuff provides me no benefit, and takes up time and space in my mind where I could be dwelling on the good things, righteous things, and pure and just things.

Yes, I know our minds wander and can think multiple things at once, especially my multitasking mind. It is hard to think that I would NEVER have these thoughts that have plagued me over and over, but I think I can be more deliberate to minimize the stuff that is not beneficial to me, and focus more attention on what Jesus wants me to focus on. If I allow myself to focus more on what is just, right, and worthy of praise, then this will become more of me, who I am, and how I act. If I allow myself to fill my mind with junk, I wonder how this manifests in my behavior! That thought is scary!

As part of my discipleship journey, I need to focus on the kind of thoughts that are uplifting and praise worthy, and this will be beneficial to me as I continue on my path to full spiritual maturity. Focusing on the praise worthy, honorable, just, pleasing and pure things of God will also encourage me during those down times, so I can focus less on the things that bring me down.

Thought for the day: Am I focusing my thoughts on the right things?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Steve Adams):

Sometimes I analogize our minds to helium balloons. As we go through our busy days, striving to fulfill our responsibilities and meet the demands of our schedules, the helium gradually leaks out, and after a while, what began as a big, shiny, colorful balloon which can float to the heavens, becomes a shriveled, wilted blob that sits motionless in a dark, lonely corner. But when we read scriptures like this, our thinking is enlarged, our minds are energized, and our souls are inspired. So we float up to a heavenly perspective and capture at least a glimpse of how our loving Creator God sees things.

Isaiah first speaks of justice, encouraging his readers to maintain it and continue doing the right thing, assuring them that even if people are in the midst of oppression, salvation is just over the horizon!

The second subject covered here is almost a lost art. It’s the concept of the Sabbath. Doesn’t it seem heavenly to think of taking one day a week to immerse yourself in God, time to thoroughly enjoy truth, purity, peace, and strength? There’s only one problem: we don’t have time. Or, do we? Why not make it a goal to spend one day a week focusing on spiritual things? Even if it’s an hour here and an hour there, a Sabbath is an oasis for our souls.

Next, Isaiah assures eunuchs and foreigners who devote themselves to the Lord that they are not separated from God. God honors them! Let the eunuchs never say, “I am just a dry tree.” How beautiful. For all those who choose the things that please God, God will give them an everlasting name. This concept ties in beautifully with Romans 2:6-11, which says in part, “to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, God will give eternal life…glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.”

Thank you so much, God, for letting all of us who love You come into your fold!

Thought for the day: I’m ready to embrace with open arms all those who love God and seek God’s name, whether they share many of my religious beliefs, or have a vastly different spiritual paradigm.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.