So how did your first week go?

completed the first week with my new bible reading plan.  i think i like it.  it doesn’t take too long.   i like that i have started in the book of mark.  i like that i am also reading a few of the psalms and a chapter of proverbs each week.   good plan.

let me show you something i saw today.   i’ve read psalm 4 a hundred times in my life, but i’ve never seen it quite like this before:

Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I call to him. In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD. Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?” Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD. You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.   Psalm 4:3-8

so many of the psalms are written by david when he is in distress.   the enemies of war are oppressing him.   the ungodly and the wicked are tormenting him…it’s almost too much for us to identify with!   but not completely…

its not just in the new testament (ephesians 4) that we read about the wrongness of prolonged anger.   its right here in the psalms…thousands of years before.

david writes that in our anger…which is sometimes the unavoidable outcome of facing heinous, wrong situations…we are not to sin.   we are to go to bed at night and search our hearts in silence.   we are to offer the right kinds of sacrifices to god…the kind that lead us to trust him and not manipulate him.

it was the same as it is now.   no matter who has hurt me or rejected me or tormented me or abused me or frustrated me,  god has filled my heart with greater joy than anything they experience.

that truth blows me away.

and i can sleep at night with this confidence.

#anger #biblestudy