Lord, as we return back into Your presence now, we pray that You would make us listeners and hearers of Your Word.
We pray, Lord, that we would rely on Your Holy Spirit to teach us. Allow Your Spirit to mold us and change us as we hear the Word You are going to speak this morning. We pray for Your mercy. We pray for Your guidance.
And Lord, we pray and worship You that You are our Savior and our Redeemer. Amen.
Matt got me a towel. Jerry backed up a row.
It’s sixteen after eleven already.
This morning, we are going to talk about salvation, with a little question next to it: Salvation: Are We Growing Up?
Are we growing up in Jesus through our salvation?
We are going to be in Psalms. The Book of Psalms is broken up into three little books, and Psalm 1 through Psalm 41 are the first book.
So today, we are going to look at salvation in Psalms 1 through 41. Not every psalm will be included. It may be a verse in some; it may be a little passage in others.
If you have ever read the Psalms—I think a lot of the groups have been doing Psalms, waiting for the change here—especially in these first forty-one psalms, there are some words that you hear a lot.
If you like any of these words, you might like to read these psalms. I wrote down four of these words. The first word would be the Lord. If you like the Lord, our God, you may like reading these psalms.
If you like the words I, my, or me, you might like reading these psalms, because David says a whole bunch of times, “I, my, me.”
Another word that is also mentioned a lot is enemy, or enemies. Then the fourth word would be the word that we started with: salvation. If you like the word salvation, you might like to read through these psalms.
As we look at these words—the Lord, I, my, me, enemy, or salvation—and as we read these, where does it lead us? We are going to take a look at where the Psalms lead us.
We will see if we can get through these forty-one psalms this morning. We are actually going to give you a break. We are going to start in Psalm 9, so there—boom—we cleared up eight of them quickly.
So we are going to start with Psalm 9:1.
I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart;
I will show forth all Thy marvelous works.
Marvelous works. It is not a single work. It is not a single salvation. It is not salvation of the soul; it is His marvelous works. It is continuous. It is ongoing.
Do we praise the Lord continually for His marvelous works—the things that He is doing in us, or in spite of us, or through us, or around us? Are we remembering to continually thank God for His marvelous works, for His salvation?
Down to verse 11:
Sing praises unto the Lord, Who dwelleth in Zion:
Declare among the people His doings.
That is a repeat of the first verse: tell among the people of His doings, of His works, of His continuing work in us. Do we tell among the people what God is doing for us, what God has done for us? Or do we keep it to ourselves? Do we let it out?
Can our enemies see that we have Jesus? And do we express to this dying world the marvelous works of our God? We certainly need to be.
We need to be a testimony for all to see, even for our brothers and sisters to see. It is not just for the lost world; it is to encourage us among one another. “You know what God did for me this week?” Is there a testimony you can share?
Tuesday, Susan Boyer was pulling in the parking lot here. Some of y’all have heard this story; some of y’all were here. There was a man walking along Huguenot Road. He followed her down the driveway.
Susan said, “May I help you?”
He said, “Well, I just live a couple of doors away. I’m trying to get home.”
“Well, where do you live?”
He said, “Here in Lakeside.”
Here in Lakeside. Did you hear me? This ain’t Lakeside.
This man had walked away from his home, his retirement community, where he was taken care of. That is what you can figure. He walked all night. He got across that river some way. I kind of figure it was the Nickel Bridge; it could have been the Willey.
But he ended up here. The Lord looked after that man all night while he was walking and brought him to a safe haven.
That is a testimony for this week, y’all. I used that testimony at work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. It went crazy. I had men going, “What? That’s impossible. How could he survive out there alone at night in this world?”
God protected him. That’s how.
We need to remember to testify to the things God does in our midst, through us, or in spite of us. God’s works—that is what we need to remember.
Verse 14 of Psalm 9:
That I may show forth all Thy praise
In the gates of the daughter of Zion:
I will rejoice in Thy salvation.
David starts in almost panic mode. He says, “Lord, I,” or “my,” or “me.” But he does it in a way that glorifies the Lord, not in a way of demands—in a proper way to step in front of our heavenly Father and ask something.
And then most of the psalms will end with praise, with worship. Is that where we are going? Are we going forward with our salvation, with our testimony? Is it carrying us into worship for our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ?
Let’s see. Psalm 13, verses 5 and 6:
But as for me, I have trusted in Thy lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.
I will sing unto the Lord,
Because He hath dealt bountifully with me.
What do we think of when we think of bounty—bountiful? Thanksgiving? Benefit? The bounty. More than we expect.
A guy goes out to kill a deer, but he kills a really big deer. That is God dealing bountifully with us. How often do we ask God for something, and the return—the response from God—is so much greater than what we had thought?
Is it because we are not in tune with our Lord? Is it because we are not communing with our Lord that we do not have an understanding of how big “bountifully” really is?
How big is our picture of what God has done for us through His Son? Think how bountifully God has blessed each one of us—daily, hourly, moment by moment. Do we remember that? Do we acknowledge it like David did?
Sometimes David will just stop and say, “Thank You, Lord.” Do we do that during our day? I think the Lord encourages us to do that.
Do we remember how bountifully we are being dealt with every day, moment by moment? Do people see that? Does the world see it?
Only Jesus could have dealt so bountifully with us. Only the blood of Christ could redeem us from our fallen state, redeem us back to His heavenly Father.
Just the thought of the blood of Jesus should send us to worship. Does it grab us? Are we filled with it? When I say the word salvation, do any of y’all’s hearts go off?
Did they do that when I said the word? You remember when you first got saved? “I can’t even sleep.” Or is it today?
We are going to move to Psalm 18. All right, skip five. You’re going to Psalm 18, verse 2. I didn’t skip five; those words weren’t in that.
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
My God, my rock, in Whom I take refuge;
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
I wrote down beside that: This is a statement of fact. If we know the Lord, this is a statement in the Word of fact that the Holy Spirit gave David.
Do we live in the facts that are told us in the Bible, or do we live by what our brain has gotten out of the Bible—from our own view, from the world’s view?
The world takes a lot of ideas out of this wonderful Book that has no error and makes it a saying for the world. Do we do that, or do we rely on the facts?
When we read the Book, when we are praying on it, when we meditate about it, are we looking at it as truth—the unerring Word of God? It is.
I am going to read that again. Think of it as fact:
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
My God, my rock, in Whom I take refuge;
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
Thank God we can say that. Does that lead us to worship? Where are these Scriptures taking us? To worship. We can hope so.
Verse 46 of that same psalm. You are going to hear a lot of repeating here. That is the point of this. Take the first forty-one, and seventy times things are repeated.
The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock;
And exalted be the God of my salvation.
David had a lot of things going on. He was king. He was way busier than we are. Think about as busy as you can possibly get. What if I was king? How fancy would I be?
But David stops and acknowledges God the Father, the Lord, as his strength and his salvation. How do you think he got through? How do we get through?
I look at the people in the world and go, “How are you making it? How are you doing it?” Marriages that stay together in the world just completely baffle me. Thank God. All it is, is the hand of God still having reign over this planet.
Do we realize and understand the power that is there in this salvation—the power to help a king with a nation?
The power to help our president make decisions about this nation, about other nations, about the world, in fact. Thank God our president believes, because where would he be if he was thinking up things like the world does?
The God of my salvation.
Verse 49. Therefore—any time you get the word therefore, He has been talking to us and talking to us and talking to us, and then you get down to “therefore.” What does the Book say do?
Therefore I will give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the nations,
And will sing praises unto Thy name.
We get through all of the asking, all of the God answering, all God supplying the need, and then where do we go? Wow, on to the next thing, or do we stop for a moment and say, “Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Jesus”?
For even a moment—a fresh breath in your workday, a fresh breath when you are looking after your children—that freshness, that is the life of Christ.
Are we letting it work in us to bring us to worship daily, moment by moment, continually? That is another word that is in here a few times. I didn’t make the list, but I really like it: continually.
Is this our response to our Lord? When do we respond? Whether we respond good or bad, when do we respond? How do we respond?
It can be a bad response. God will forgive us for that, but at least we are responding. If you are talking to—well, don’t even think a child. Think a grown-up that is just not getting it. At least a response from that person is better than nothing.
God would rather us respond and maybe make a mistake. God will forgive us, but He wants us to respond. He wants us to respond in a worthy manner, certainly, but a response to our Lord is better than nothing.
Let’s remember: good or bad, we need to be responding to the Lord moving in us. How often do we do that? Always to respond, or sometimes? Every once in a while, if it was like a really big thing?
“Lord, I’m caught in a bear trap. Please stop the bleeding.” Hallelujah, You did it. But if I ran a red light, I’m gone.
Do we say, “Lord, forgive me for doing that. I need to stop when that light turns yellow”? That is a little thing.
We are driving along a highway. That guy is flying. I’m running seventy-five and he passed me. I must be okay. I was supposed to be doing sixty or fifty-five.
How do we respond? Does God ever quicken us? Does God quicken you when you are doing something that is wrong—something as minute as lust in our heart for something, or as big as breaking a law?
The law of the land, which we are held to because the Word says we are accountable for the law of the land, and the rulers have been set up by God.
I do not think God cares about the little or big of it. I think He cares about our response to it if He quickens us. If the Holy Spirit quickens us and says, “That’s wrong,” do we listen? “Everybody else is doing it.”
There are brothers here that have a reputation—man, they fly the highway. You get in the car with me, I don’t care if we are going to New Mexico, I am going to run the speed limit. This is the way I am.
Because it’s a sense of—now, I do not think it is a fear of being arrested or paying a fine. When I was younger, it was a fear of my father killing me.
For doing something wrong that, you know, is pretty cut and dry. The speed limit is this; that’s what you drive. That’s it.
It was not a matter of Pop killing me. It was a matter of Pop holding me responsible for having a driver’s license, to have a car, to drive on a road where there are people all around you.
My father was a professional driver—truck driver, big trucks, bus driver. He probably had a more acute awareness of the tragedies that could occur. So does our heavenly Father. He has an acute awareness of what could happen if we are stepping out of line.
If we hear the Holy Spirit quickening us, chastening us, and we do not respond—I guarantee you, those lights come on behind you. Do you respond?
You had that happen? I mean, your legs just go. You start: “Driver’s license, VIN number. What did I do?”
I got stopped like that in Holland Springs. This was when my wife and I were married. I said, “I was just driving through Holland Springs. I wasn’t running over the speed limit, because I don’t do that. I still got these flashing lights behind me.”
“Sir, your inspection sticker is about four months out of date.”
My wife’s here. I said, “Sir, it’s laying on the counter at home.”
I blame my wife.
He said, “I’ll tell you what you do. You’re going to have to pay this. If you don’t want to have to pay this, just go over, go to court, take your day in court, and tell the man it was laying on the counter at home. He will probably just say, ‘Okay, fine. Could you put it on?’”
“Yeah, I did.”
“All right then, don’t worry about it.”
I didn’t bother. I paid the fifty bucks.
The officer gave me an out, a complete freedom. That is what we have in our Lord Jesus Christ: a complete out, a complete redemption. We are free of it.
Do we live in that freedom, or do we bang along till we get here to worship? Sometimes you come in, “Boy, worship was really dragging this week. Man, it drug.” Others may say, “Man, it’s the best worship we’ve had in months.”
I would say it probably has something to do with how much you worship during the week.
We ask the Lord, “Let us forget everything about the week and come in and worship You.” Thank God we can do that, and pray that, and He answers that prayer.
But if we are worshiping during the week, I cannot guarantee it, but I bet worship will be good for each and every one—not one left out. Not a one.
Do we take our salvation for granted every day? Lord, let us not do that.
Psalm 19:7-10:
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul:
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever:
The ordinances of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.They are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb.
I think it said true in there twice. Our God is true. He speaks to us truthfully. The devil is the deceiver. He is our enemy. That is not our God.
If you ever get a feeling that God is trying to trick you into doing something, that is not the Lord. If you ever feel like you are being tricked, that is the enemy.
Be aware. “I’m not aware You’re trying to trick me, Lord, but I didn’t sin.” The Lord didn’t. He’s not leaving traps—booby traps—putting one over here, when Kenny moves his foot, Linda.
That is the enemy; that is not the Lord. Let us not get confused by the Lord chastening us, encouraging us, and wanting us to grow up, with the enemy trying to trick us to keep exactly what God wants from happening.
Let us not be deceived.
Psalm 19:14:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer.
Let it be acceptable—what we think, what we say, what we wish for, what we desire.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight. Well, it is not a nice sight when You can see me, Lord, because we are always in His sight. We are always there. He is always watching us.
When I was about—I asked my parents if they could come this week. I thought, “But I was going to tell a story. Man, I don’t know if I can tell that story.”
Lord, just help me. I am going to tell this story.
And the point is going to be: we are always in God’s sight, no matter where we want to go or what we want to do. I am in God’s sight, except I’m in a—you know, all these times, running ninety miles an hour—but you are still in God’s sight.
The circumstance which you are in does not allow you to make exceptions on what God desires from us. And forgive me for saying “you”—me.
It does not allow me to make a decision and rationalize out any decision we make based on, “God doesn’t see us because everybody’s doing it.”
I don’t know. I guess I was ten or eleven years old. I was in my secret-agent James Bond phase in my life. James Bond.
I’m in my room by myself. Mom and Daddy aren’t home. My little sister is in the den watching TV or something. I’m in my room escaping from prison.
I’m going to escape. I was fairly imaginative—imaginative. I’m going to escape, and nobody is going to see or know this.
I’ve got a little secret box—not the cigarette box, like some of you young ones used to have. It was metal, fairly heavy metal. The door would shut real good.
I had, I think, like three firecrackers. Well, where I got them, I still don’t know where I got them.
But I had decided that I could compress that energy in that secret box, with a pillow on top of it, with my butt on top of that. Then it would explode and nobody would hear.
And it would explode through the floor into the basement, where I could crawl out and come in the side door and scare my sister to death.
Well, don’t worry, I never had to leave the building to scare my sister to death.
So I get, I think it was like three firecrackers, and I would roll them up in a tight little—well, I was going to say. That’s going to stay. I got it, put it in that box, closed that box tight. All right, all right, all right.
Put the box down. All right, now, if I light this, I’ve got to get the pillow on top, get my butt on top. All right.
I light it, put that secret—and always remember, I’m trying to deceive. I’m trying to trick whoever is pursuing me, my adversary.
But the whole time God is watching me, protecting me, and keeping His hand on me to keep me from hurting myself or blowing my parents’ house up. He protects you even when we are messing up. And when we are trying trickery, He protects us.
I’m getting—well, I’m down on the ground. I got the pillow here, my butt—I light it, close the box, sit on it.
Oh! Oh, my God!
All I get is—I kicked the pillow. No hole in the floor. Oh, yeah. What have I done?
Then my little sister throws something at the door. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. Did you hear how loud that was?”
I mean, it rang for a long time. I mean, it didn’t even put a mark on the floor. It destroyed that little metal stress box, though.
So if you ever need to escape from a secret box, three firecrackers will do it.
We cannot trick our heavenly Father or our Lord. We cannot try to deceive Them. If we are playing those games, we are working right into our adversary’s game.
Boom. Do you hear how loud that was? Think how loud it is in heaven when one of God’s children slips off the path.
How loud is the mourning over a brother or sister falling away? How loud is the hurt and cries of our Lord, praying back to His Father, “Grab that sheep up before he gets too far away”?
That was loud.
Forgive me, I’ve lost my place. Psalm 20:5-9. Now, put a little note here, little note here: read this, Psalm 20:5-9.
We will triumph in Thy salvation,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners:
The Lord fulfil all thy petitions.Now know I that the Lord saveth His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven,
With the saving strength of His right hand.Some trust in chariots, and some in horses:
But we will make mention of the name of the Lord our God.They are bowed down and fallen;
But we are risen, and stand upright.Save, Lord:
Let the King answer us when we call.
Don’t ever think that God hasn’t answered us. Never think that He hasn’t heard us—our cries. He has heard us.
The answer may not be what we want. The answer may take place in the heavens, and we will not know about it. How much do we trust? How much faith do we have that God is taking care of it?
How much do we say, “Well, Lord, I didn’t see it, but teach me to have faith that in Your economy You have gained ground. You have taken care of it”? He is taking care of all of it. We go back to salvation. Thank God. Thank God.
Verse 5 of that little passage. I have a note here: “Lord, do Thy will. Do Thy will. Fulfill Thy petitions.” What does God want?
Do we want God to do His will, really? I want to learn how to want God to do His will in my life and our lives. Do we want that? Do we long for it? He longs to do it.
Do we long for His will—His true will—to be done in our lives, or what we have decided is His will? Or do we want Him to do His will in our lives?
That is Psalm 20:6: “With the saving strength of His right hand.” No one stronger. No one stronger than our Lord Jesus, the right hand of the Father.
The strength is there for us. It is a provision. It is part of salvation. Are we living in that daily, moment by moment? Or are we relying on that strength to carry us through? Are we relying on ourselves and our own strength to carry us through?
Number seven:
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses:
But we will make mention of the name of the Lord our God.
I thought of what the world would do—throw things at you. “I’ve got more chariots than you have. I’ve got more horses than you have, so I can defeat you.”
Well, all their things versus our Lord—what happens? The Lord wins. All the things that the world has, all the things the world can throw at us, all the snares and traps the enemy will set—we have the strength of our Lord.
Verse 8:
They are bowed down and fallen;
But we are risen, and stand upright.
Their things fail. The things we try to put in place of our Lord fail. But the thing that is important is that Jesus is always the same.
No matter how much we are forgetting to put Him in our life instead of the things, the wants. Well, it is fine to desire to grow up in Christ. Thank God, that is a good desire.
But do we put stipulations on growing up in Christ?
I think of John the Baptist. What did he put ahead of Jesus in his life? I can’t think of anything. What did it get him?
Everybody knows the story of what happened to John the Baptist. A maiden says to the ruler, “I want his head on a platter,” and because the king did not want to be embarrassed in front of his host of people, he said, “Go get the head of John the Baptist and bring it to me.”
John the Baptist did not want anything except the Lord. It is not that that got him his head cut off.
The world’s response is so completely backward to the response we have from Jesus every time we need Him.
Let’s not be like the ruler and ask for things that we really do not want to ask for, and then we are sorry that we did. “I got it. I still don’t have that peace.”
Certainly, the ruler did not get any peace from having John’s head, nor did the woman’s mother who wanted it done. Where do we get our peace? We cannot get it from this world.
Oh, Lord.
Psalm 21:1:
The king shall joy in Thy strength, O Lord;
And in Thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
Rejoice is worship. How greatly will we worship?
Psalm 21:6:
For Thou hast made him most blessed for ever:
Thou hast made him glad with joy in Thy presence.
Can the world see our joy by our countenance? What countenance do we have based on what God has done for us? What joy do we have based on what God has done for us?
Psalm 24:3:
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in His holy place?
It is a question. There are two questions: “Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord?” And, “Who shall stand in His holy place?”
Psalm 24:4 gives an answer:
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
And hath not sworn deceitfully.
I can say it better than I can read it: deceitfully.
Response, verse 5:
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
There we go. Where are we going to stand? How are we going to be in that holy place? We will be there because of the blood of Christ. Because Jesus died for us, we will be there.
But there is a qualifier: he who has blameless hands and a pure heart, who lifteth not up his soul unto vanity nor sweareth deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
It is how we walk. How do we walk? How do we react? What is our response to remembering God’s salvation? Do we remember it?
Psalm 25:4:
Show me Thy ways, O Lord;
Teach me Thy paths.
Anybody ever ask God to do that? Anybody said, “Lord, make me to know Thy ways. Teach me Thy path”? He desires to.
You may need a four-wheel-drive vehicle. A skateboard may not get you through it.
The Word in us—the living Word in us—will help us get through. Not knowledge of the Word. “I know where it was—John’s. I don’t have my little books, but I don’t have my little tab for Haggai. No, I got this in the other Book. I haven’t lost it, but I can’t find it right now in this one.”
Not just knowledge of the Word, but a living expression of the Word in us. That is what is going to get us through.
Let us be presented with blameless hands and a pure heart because of what Christ has done and what He desires to do in us daily.
Can I go next week? Can I share next week? I am not going to get through this. I mean, it is noon now.
Let me see if we can find a stopping point. I got another story I have to tell.
Teach me, Lord. Psalm 25:4. Teach me, Lord:
Show me Thy ways, O Lord;
Teach me Thy paths.
Teach me. What do you think of? I think, am I willing to be a student, to be taught? Or do I want to be treated like an adult who already knows the stuff?
I think “teach me” means that we need to be willing to go back to nothing to learn.
Psalm 25:5:
Guide me in Thy truth, and teach me:
For Thou art the God of my salvation;
On Thee do I wait all the day.
Are we willing to wait for an answer? “On Thee will I wait. Teach me, Lord.” Well, why aren’t You teaching me?
Are we willing to wait for the Lord to do the teaching, to pick His time when the Holy Spirit knows we are ready to be taught? Are we willing to do that?
Are we willing to wait and listen, be quiet? Are we willing to be quiet and listen?
Psalm 25:15:
Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord;
For He will pluck my feet out of the net.
You ever get caught in a net? Your feet, your hand? Just a little net. You are trying to get the fish out of a net, and suddenly your hand is more caught than the fish. “I got the fish with my hand.”
Psalm 25:15, forgive me:
Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord;
For He will pluck my feet out of the net.
Where are our eyes? What are we focused on? Where do we dwell? Where do our souls dwell?
If we keep our eyes toward the Lord, if we dwell with our Lord, He will bring us out of the net. “I’m in trouble now, Lord.” Are we willing to wait? It’s only a foot.
The foot is real important because it is part of the body, just like we are so important to one another as part of the body.
If we keep our eyes on the Lord and we see a brother or sister with something caught in a net, how do we respond?
Are we willing to dive in and risk ourselves to help that brother or sister through this very trying time, or whatever it may be? Are we willing to jump in, keep our eyes on the Lord, and work on the net?
Teach us to do that more. Teach us to do that.
We’ll stop there. We’ll start again with Psalm 27, if the Lord tarries and I don’t die. We’ll try to do that next week, maybe.
I will share this one story. Lots of my stories come from outdoor life or Boy Scouts. We were camping one time.
In Boy Scouts, we always had a church service on Sunday morning. Nobody ever said anything. Basically, what it was was the adult men sang “Amazing Grace,” the first verse, and that was church. Thank God there was that. Thank God.
But even on those camping trips, the Lord—every guy who was in my scout troop when I was little, no matter where they are now, they heard the Word. They may have missed it. Thank God I didn’t. I missed most of it, but I got one or two. “Amazing Grace.” That’s it.
Well, on the night before, on Saturday, we always had a campfire. We would sing songs, and we learned a song on this camping trip on Saturday night called “My Hat, It Has Three Corners.”
Choking on my water.
“My hat, it has three corners.” The colonist triangle hat. Go to Williamsburg; you can either buy one of those black hats or a pipe with a long stem.
Well, this was about the hat. A hat that has three corners. “Three corners has my hat. If it had not three corners, it would not be my hat.” That’s the song.
It is as stupid as it can be. But what is going through your head? “My hat, it has three corners. Three corners has my hat.” Well, that morning, we are having church service.
Nobody is looking around. “Where are Tyler, Stuart, and Richard?” Nowhere to be found in camp. Nowhere. Not there for breakfast. They are gone.
They were mischievous. They ran off a lot. Nobody panics. “Stuart! Tyler! And Richard!”
We are having our service, and there is usually a prayer sometime in the service. Then the adults sang “Amazing Grace,” then there is a closing prayer.
So sometime—not when the men were singing—there was a prayer. Everybody was quiet. “Lord, we thank You…” About that time, you hear this voice from way off across—we were on a lake, so the sound travels across the lake. Everybody is very quiet.
“Lord, we thank You for my hat, it has three corners.”
Now we know where Richard and Stuart are. Oh, they are trying to ride a cow, and we are trying to have worship.
What do we do when we come to worship? Are we here to worship and be quiet and be before the Lord, or is our mind out trying to ride a cow because that is the next thing at hand?
That’s the point of the story. They should have been there for the Sunday worship service. They should have been entering in, maybe singing “Amazing Grace,” but they ran off because they knew there were cows that needed to be ridden.
“It has three corners.” Catch that darn cow.
Or we pray that You would catch us.
Lord, we pray that You would capture us and never let us go. We pray, Lord, that You would comfort us in our feeble attempts to follow You in our own strength.
Lord, that we would remember that You are our strength. You are the reason that we have joy in our hearts and peace in our souls.
Let us not forget daily, Lord, that in You we have an unchanging, righteous, loving Father.
Amen.