Last night we were sitting around the dinner table, and our son said, “When are we going to start doing “family worship” again?
D’oh! Nothing like being called to task by a 7-year old!
Whenever we have a baby in the house, we seem to get away from our routine of having a short time of family bible reading and prayer around the dinner table, and we’ve been pretty irregular with it for quite a while
So we sang a hymn, prayed, and Paul read a short New Testament Scripture passage. He was putting the Bible away, and D said, “Can I read a Psalm?”
Um. Okaaaaaaay! We weren’t about to deny that request. So he took the Bible and found the Psalms and randomly picked Psalm 115. I was going to suggest he read the 23rd or 100th, you know, something short and familiar, but I didn’t want to take away from his initiative, so Psalm 115 it was!
I confess that many times when the Bible is being read, if I’m not looking at the text so that I can read along, I tend to daydream and get distracted, but this passage grabbed me in verse 1 and held me to the very end. If you have time, I encourage you to take a few moments and meditate on these words.
115:1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.9 O Israel, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.12 The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron;
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord,
both the small and the great.14 May the Lord give you increase,
you and your children!
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!16 The heavens are the Lord‘s heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of man.
17 The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any who go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!
This made me think about the “idols” in my life that hold me back from living my life purely for God. I am not talking about clay sculptures that we build and worship. No, our idols are far more sophisticated and insidious than that. Idols in my life are caring too much what others think, material possessions, comfort and convenience, to name a few.
What are the idols in your life today that keep you from worshiping the one true God?
This is my prayer for today: Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory!
5 Responses
Oh, thank you for always being so real. You are calling us out, too.
Steph
In the morning, I like to read from this little “thought for the Day” sort of inspirational book. Today I said, “Oh I’m just gonna fool around on the Internet instead.” So I go onto your blog and WHAT do I find? Inspiration!
I’d say my idol is definitely what others think of me. Always doing things I think I should do, which by the way, no one else is telling me to do. It’s alllll in my mind.
Thanks for the psalm, and thank your son for me too!
This theme has come up in my morning reading as well. I’m guilty of worshipping my own comfort. God never called anyone to comfort. It’s time to get uncomfortable, and I’m painfully, glaringly aware of the first comforts that have to go.
Timely remiders. Thanks.
Hey, do you know the worship song by Chris Tomlin called Not To Us? It’s pulled right from that Psalm, and it’s a great tune.
I have had this open all day…
All day… since the moment that I opened it from my RSS reader this morning…I was so very careful not to close my browser window so that I could keep coming back to it.
I’ve read it several times, each time finding something new, either in the verse or in your presentation of events.
Kudos to you for calling US out as Steph said…and to your little one. My heart fills with joy when I hear of children who want the spiritual side. My Matthew is like that.
This did alot for me today… so thank you.. and David too 🙂
Heather