“Search me, O God, and know my anxious thoughts.

  

Psalm 144:12-14

 

December 15, 2022

 

 

My Rock and My Fortress

Of David.

 

May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace; may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;  may there be no cry of distress in our streets!  Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!  Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!

 

This should be our prayer:

 

Dear God,

 

If I am wrong correct me.

If I am lost guide me.

If I start to give up keep me going

 

“Search me, O God, and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out  anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”  Psalm139:23-24

 

Father, I am walking each day in a world filled with lies, hate, and deceit, good is being called evil and evil is called good.  I often run to your Written Word for direction, for you have said; “All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness.”  2 Timothy 3:16

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

My Rock and My Fortress

  

 

Psalm 144:1-11

 

December 14, 2022

 

My Rock and My Fortress

Of David.

Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him?  Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.  Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down!  Touch the mountains so that they smoke!  Flash forth the lightning and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them!  Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.  I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp, I will play to you, who gives victory to kings, who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.  Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

 

You might find it of interest that David refers to God as his Rock 12 times in the Psalms.  In Psalm 62:5-7 we have an example of David defining what he meant by God as his rock.  “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.”  We have many references to Jesus as a living Rock in the New Testament.  For example Act 4:9-12, we have Peter and John before the council of religious guys making sure they and we understand, “if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him, this man is standing before you well.  This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

 

My prayer and my heart desire are that you have received by the grace of God and faith from God the Rock, who is Christ the Lord.  For He is my stronghold and delivers, my refuge.  Jan and I most nights before our prayer time will sing hymns to our Lord, it is not for prime time, but it is in agreement with making a joyful noise to the Lord.

 

My prayer to my Father in heaven is more about rescuing me from those in the highest office of our nation, not so much the foreigners, that have bribery them with millions.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

My Soul Thirsts for You

                                                                      Psalm 143:7-12

 

December 14, 2022

 

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David.

 

Answer me quickly, O Lord!  My spirit fails!  Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.  Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust.  Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.  Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!  I have fled to you for refuge.  Teach me to do your will,  for you are my God!  Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!  For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life!  In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!   And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies, and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am your servant.

 

Has this become your prayer, it has mine.  I did not have this while in the Hospital, but many a night, laying there on oxygen not being able to sleep, I cried out to the Lord, in that my spirit was low, I knew the doctors and nurses were doing the best for me, but the third shift of nurses, often were mean spirited at my last place of care, and it made me tell the Lord, I do not know what to do.  So this Prayer is my new song to the Lord, I am needed and He is lifting up my soul, He is my refuge.  I have no doubt the Lord preserve my life.  And He use some great nurses to minister to me and two wonderful Physical Therapists to help me go home.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

My Soul Thirsts for You

 

Psalm 143:1-6

 

December 13, 2022

 

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David.

Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy!  In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!  Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.  For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.  Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.  I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.  I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

 

It is early morning, still dark and I can hear the rain that we need so bad hitting the roof.  Living in the Texas hill country, it is always a blessing to hear rain.  It is an answer to many who have been asking the Father to give us the rain we needed so desperately.

 

Now that I’ve shared praise to our Father for the moisture and awaking me from a good night's sleep, shall we examine David’s plead for mercy?  As you give thought to the subject of mercy; how does God’s mercy differ from man’s?  I asked my bride her thoughts on that subject and Jan’s answer was God's mercy if perfect, it is complete.  She sure is on target, our Father in heaven is merciful, and Lamentation  3: 22-23, The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;  his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I’ve yet to see a person show love and mercy in that way.

David had an understanding of himself and others, no one is without sin not my words, Romans 3:23,  ^“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”  I believe David had an understanding of this. Yet, many who go by the title Christian, do not believe they are a mess.  When you come to the understanding it is not about you it is all about God, your Creator, it is a Master and servant relationship.

We should never try to live in the past, but we sure need to learn from the past.  When it comes to what God has done for you in the past, recall, that His love never ceases, and His mercies never come to an end.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

  

PSALM 139:17-24

 

DECEMBER 9,2022

 

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  If I would count them, they are more than the sand.  I awake, and I am still with you.  Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!  O men of blood, depart from me!  They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain.   Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?  And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?  I hate them with complete hatred; I count them, my enemies.  Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!   And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

 

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  If I would count them, they are more than the sand.  I awake, and I am still with you.  As a follower of Christ, we need to put God’s Word in our hearts so that we will not sin against Him.  Psalm 119, is all about us applying God’s written word to the way we live life. Verse 105, gives this insight, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  Many years back I was teaching a class and a young man said, “It is not a spotlight so that we see the road ahead, it gives us the light for the next step.”   We and I do use the word "we" and would prefer the spotlight so that we would not have to depend on the Lord, and many who go by the title Christian are trying to negotiate life on their terms, not God’s lamp to our feet.

 

Our finite minds cannot grasp nor understand the vastness of our Father's thoughts, or His ways.  Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  We who are in Christ, and the sum of that statement is we have by faith and grace of God, bow our knee to God, and agreed with Him that we have sinned and in confession and repentance to Him, have asked His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to come into our hearts and forgive all our sins.  

 

When that takes place we have the indwelling of His Spirit, Galatians 4:4-7, gives us an understanding of what has taken place in the life of one who by grace and faith has a personal relationship with Christ.   ^“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

One must remember that King David did not have the Holy Spirit living in Him, for He was living under the Law.  Jesus fulfilled the Law and gave us this freedom David did not enjoy.  It is not freedom the flesh enjoys for our flesh prefers David’s thoughts about our enemies.  But Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-48,  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  You do not have the ability to do this, but Christ in you can and will.

David is showing God that his desire is to obey His will and to walk in His way in the final verses of Psalm 139.  Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!   And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  All who have Christ living in them must do the same, in fact, the Apostle Paul tells the people of Corinth the following; 2 Corinthians 13:5, ^“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test, yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

 

Psalm 139:7-15

 

December 8, 2022

 

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

 

Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!  If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!  If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.  For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.  My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

 

Where shall I go from your Spirit?  That brings a song to my mind; “When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,  What a glory He sheds on our way!  While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey.”  O' what a joy-filled time that is, but what about when we are not abiding by His will when we are putting number 1 first?  David being led by the Spirit makes it clear, that God is present and I know it must break His heart, that we are not abiding in Him.  Jesus God's only Son, who took our punishment on the Cross, has this to say on the subject.  It is found in John 15:7-11, ^“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

 

Psalm 139:1 - 6

December 7, 2022

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.  You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.  Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.  You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

 

 

Dear Father in heaven, thank you for allowing King David to grasp these truths, and Father I am in full agreement with David when he said; “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”  You gave these insights to the prophet Isaiah, and it is recorded in Isaiah 55:8-9, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways  and my thoughts than your thoughts.

 

Most high God, my prayer is that your Church would ponder on these truths and that they would not leave our minds.  Father, I am often a foolish man, not giving thought to what comes from my mouth, often I am just being silly, trying to be funny, but your Word has brought convictions.  This is one of those weak-minded highways in my mind I’m asking You to bring down to a narrow trail.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice