MY WAY, OR THE HIGH WAY: ISAIAH 40:3-5

As I journal this morning, Lord, I do so with a plethora of emotions. Gratefulness and complete awe for your undeserved grace—truly, we do not deserve Your mercy or Your grace, and yet You give it relentlessly. Thank You for your merciful grace day by day, and oh God, keep transforming me from the inside out. Only You, can make the darkness LIGHT. In You there are no shifting shadows. In You we live and move and find our being – we find who we really are, the WHO You created and intended us to be from before we were formed in our mother’s womb…only in You. May this be the moment-by-moment reality I walk in from this day forward.

This morning in prayer, a verse about making rugged ways smooth came to mind, and here is that passage, along with my personal thoughts.

Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness

In this wilderness, prepare your heart for the Lord and all He wants to do in and through you. IN the wilderness. Don’t wait for a more opportune time. Don’t wait until you ‘feel’ better. Today, make room in your heart for Jesus.

Make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

In these desert times, plow a straight path – straight. Bulldoze every obstacle right off this path and don’t deviate from it. Temptations will try to lure you away to some road that branches off, but don’t take the bait! Make this pathway fit for the King of kings…yes even, and especially, in this desert.

I am reminded of a song—Jesus, Just the Mention of Your Name. In it there is a phrase: “Flowers grow, the desert blooms again.” Lord, help me carve a pathway for You, only You, and help me to see, in my mind’s eye, before it happens, flowers blooming in the desert - IN the desert.

A shift takes place, one where my diligence is not the focus—now it is the work You do on my behalf when my heart’s desire is to walk with You. . .

Every valley shall be lifted up

In the valleys, You lift me up, Lord. You carry me. You are my burden-bearer. Oh God, support and sustain me as only You can do. Keep my eyes fixed on You and my heart tuned to Your promise that this valley will be lifted up. There is no ‘low’ too low for You, and You delight in raising Your children up.

Every mountain and hill made low

When mountains and hills weary me, where oxygen seems non-existent, You reduce those mountains and hills to gracious pastures where I can rest. Cause my heart to be humble in Your presence so I do not go back to climbing those mountains You never intended me to climb in the first place. Help me lie down in Your green pastures, lead me beside those quiet waters, restore my soul.

The uneven ground will become smooth

When the road beneath my feet causes my ankles to twist, as I look to You, my Savior and my God, smooth out the unevenness so I can move, steadfastly, only in Your paths of righteousness. You, Lord, are the one who raises me up when I feel so broken.

The rugged land will become a plain

Lord, it feels like rugged terrain sometimes, like now. But You, O God, level the playing field when I turn to You. In Your presence is fullness of joy and life forever more. Ah, I rest in Your fertile valley, Lord, and I graze on the mana of Your goodness and mercy.

And the glory of the LORD will be revealed

Lord, it is Your honor and glory and abundance, the riches of Your grace and mercy, the honor and dignity and reverence for You that is revealed as I keep my eyes fixed on You, the author and perfector of this race I am running. Keep my eyes FIXED on You. Open the eyes of my heart to see as Your glory is revealed.

And all humanity together will see it

Let my life be a living testimony of Your goodness, Your grace, Your mercy. Lord, I don’t deserve any of this, but You made a way by sending Jesus to save me from myself and from the enemy and from this world's treasureless traps. One day, every single thing will be made new. For now, I long for my life to be a living, breathing testimony of all You’ve done for me and in me. My flesh wants all the glory. My heart desires only Yours.

And this passage ends with the following…

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken

The mouth of the One True and Only God declares and commands all of this will come to pass as I keep bulldozing that highway for my King – the King of kings. Oh, Jesus, be the center of all I think, pray for, and do—one day at a time. In Your name. Amen. Amen.

smcs / 10-20-2026

LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST

 INJUNCTIONS FOR LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST

PSALM 105 - 6/28/2023

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; make known His deeds among 
the peoples!

Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; tell of all His wondrous works!

Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!

Seek the LORD and His strength; seek the LORD continually!

Remember the wondrous works He has done, His miracles and the judgments 
He uttered.

Give thanks

Make known

Sing to

Tell

Glory in

Rejoice

Seek

Seek continually

Remember

 

So many injunctions – yes, I think it is a proper use of this word because injunction, used today mostly in courts of law, is not its etymology. It comes from Latin, and not until the 16^th century did it take on legalese. It means to ‘direct or impose by authoritative, or urgent admonition.’ Yes, I think these are urgent admonitions because they set the tone and the direction life will take both in the moment, and in the long-term. 

We begin by giving thanks to the Lord. Because He is so magnificent, we can’t help but tell others about Him. We sing TO Him as we glory IN Him and as we do so we find ourselves rejoicing – even when life seems bleak, we rejoice because we have bent our hearts toward the LORD, our Creator who is worthy of our praise. 

We seek Him for all of life’s concerns, for the joy of life, in the heartaches of life, and we don’t just seek Him now and then, but continually. It is a lifestyle and when developed, when we live and move and find our being in Him, we know and honor the fact everything is from Him and through Him and to Him. 

When life feels like it is being derailed, we take a breath, take stock of the circumstance, and remember how faithful our Lord has always been. And the cycle begins again with profuse thanksgiving – which sets the tone for this moment, setting us up for peace rather than despair – in the moment and for the long haul. 

Oh, thank You, LORD! Thank you for Your injunctions – your urgent injunctions which have been tried, tested and proven in the very lives of these whom You called to write down Your very heart for us. Thank You Lord. Lead on, O King Eternal!!

I cry aloud to God and He hears me

 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and He will hear me.

PSALM 77

In the day of trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying. My soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan. When I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah. 

You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled I cannot speak. I consider the days of old; the years long ago. I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search. “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has His steadfast love forever ceased? Are His promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious. Has He, in anger, shut up His compassion?” Selah

ThenI said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty deeds Your way, O God, is holy. What god is like our God?You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your might among the peoples. You, with Your arm, redeemed Your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah 

When the waters saw You, O God, when the waters saw You they were afraid; indeed the deep trembled. The clouds poured out water, the skies gave forth thunder, Your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; Your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea, Your path through the great waters, yet Your footprints were unseen. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

What a Psalm! I feel the emotions of Asaph as he pours out his heart to God. He obviously knows God, knows God’s ways and knows God as a shepherd, a powerful shepherd. But his emotions are all over the place at this moment. I don’t think he believes for a moment that God has closed up shop, never again to be gracious or offer compassion, never again to be faithful, never again to offer His steadfast love. But there are, what some call, dark nights of the soul where, as Asaph says, “My soul refuses to be comforted.” I have had that kind of agony, and even though that was the feelings, and my ‘soul’ was refusing comfort, my spirit knew enough to reach out, spirit to Spirit – which is what Asaph did. At first he could only moan. He describes his spirit as one that faints.

When I remember God, I moan. When I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah.

This groaning is a loud, wailing kind of groaning. His soul was in an uproar and even his spirit felt weak. But then…

I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search.

This reminds me of Romans 8:26-27 – “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

I am being reminded that SELAH happens a few times in this Psalm. One of those times is when he says “when I meditate, my spirit faints. SELAH.” So, he does just that – he pauses to reflect, to exalt God once again to the proper place in his heart and mind. 

At first he said, “when I meditate my spirit faints.” Then he says, “Let me meditate IN MY HEART.” Something shifted for him. It causes me to ask a pertinent question – when I ‘meditate’ am I simply going on rote-control? Funny thought, but serious one. When I move from meditation that is not straight from my heart, but more from my head, I wallow in self pity and degradation – BUT… 

In that ‘proper place’ where God is exalted, in those SELAH’s, I am free to ask the hard questions of God. Five questions came to Asaph’s heart as he puts his own soul on pause. They are:

Will the Lord spurn (reject) me forever?

Will He never show me favor again?

Has His steadfast love ceased?

Are His promises at an end for all time?

Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Is He so angry He has shut up His compassion?

Wow, those are hard questions, and only when processed through the heart can they be reconciled. Processed through the mind, or my soul, leaves me subject to current feelings, presuppositions that are based on past experiences, or some bad teaching somewhere along the line. When I pause and let my spirit be led by my heart, my redeemed heart, I am able to process God’s eternal goodness. I am able to do so eve  when my soul just feels like it wants to wallow in despair. 

Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes I will remember Your wonders of old. 

I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty deeds.

Your way, O God, is holy. What god is like our God?

You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your might among the peoples.

You, with Your arm, redeemed Your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

In the appeal of his heart, Asaph finds perspective! He appeals, he remembers, he ponders and comes to some conclusions:

God’s deeds are evident and provable!

God’s ways are wondrous!

God’s works are mighty!

God is holy and there is no god like Him!

God still works wonders!

God makes His power known to His people!

God, by His own arm, has redeemed His people!

By my count, that is a 5-7 win between the soul and the spirit! 5 speculations put down by 7 truths about God. That’s what happens when we let our redeemed heart do the meditating. When we pause, SELAH, and exalt the Lord our God; when my meditating is not speculating.

2 Corinthians 10:5 - We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

When the waters saw You, O God, when the waters saw You they were afraid; indeed the deep trembled.

The clouds poured out water, the skies gave forth thunder, Your arrows flashed on every side.

The crash of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; Your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.

Your way was through the sea, Your path through the great waters, yet Your footprints were unseen.

The waters, the deepest of waters (fears, speculations, trials, troubles, insurmountable obstacles) TREMBLE when they see God!

Clouds, thunder and lightening are all under His control. Every problem thrown at me has no power because my God is in control! He is fully sovereign over all my life and my ways! He is a good, good God.

And even when I cannot see His footprints, He leads me THROUGH the sea and the greatest of waters. There are no problems my God does not foreknow, foresee, and forecast for His glory! He goes ahead of me and parts the seas! He goes before me and LEADS me through the depths of anguish, despair, sorrows and sufferings. My God’s RIGHT HAND REDEEMS ME! Past, present and future! 

So, with a resounding NO! I Say, no matter what my feelings tell me:

The Lord will NEVER reject me!

He ALWAYS shows me His favor again and again!

His steadfast love NEVER CEASES! HIS MERCIES NEVER COME TO AN END!

His promises ARE ALWAYS YES AND AMEN!

God DOES NOT EVEN KNOW HOW TO FORGET TO BE GRACIOUS! It is not in His DNA

God’s anger is real, but He NEVER shuts up His compassion. 

Nehemiah 9:17 - “They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; And You did not forsake them.

Psalm 86:15 – “But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

I’ve Joel 2:!3 – “Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and relenting of evil.

To all this, I say, SELAH and GLORY!

SMCS 4/17/2023

 

May the greatness of God, in all His revealed and hidden Glory, fill you today.

LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE THE LORD!

Recent rains have made everything green - Kokohead, Koko Crater, the Ka Iwi coastline, and even sea moss at Sandy Beach looks vibrantly alive! All God's creations are His possessions, and it is delightful to see His garments bedecking the landscape. I marvel at the thought of all those creatures hidden under these mantles of green. LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE THE LORD! Selah.

WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE

 

"When push comes to shove..."
"When all else fails..."
"When I come to the end of my rope..."
"When I come to the end of MY rope 
         I'll tie a knot and hang on!"

There's got to be a better way - and I believe God has provided one.
Jesus says, 

"I am with you always." 
"I will supply all your needs according to My riches." 
"I will never leave you or forsake you." 
"In Me all My promises as YES and AMEN." 
"I know the plans I have for you - to give you a future and a hope."
"I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you."

Tie a knot in His rope, and He will hold you and strengthen you so that you never feel the need to push and shove, you will not be overcome by failure, and you will never come to the end of a rope again. Our God is faithful.

BY HOOK, OR BY CROOK by Sue McCary Sargis

 “Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. And I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords.’” —Ezekiel 38:2–4

There is a war coming, the likes of which we have never seen. God says He will put a hook in the nostrils of those coming against His beloved Israel. It’s a battle I will not be here to witness, even from a far away shore because I will be safe in Heaven with my Jesus by then. I pray all those I know and love have a personal relationship with our Savior so they, too, do not have to suffer the world to come, a world gone totally array in the hands of the antichrist. This, however, is not the intent of my writing today.

While reading Ezekiel’s prophesy, the phrase “by hook or by crook” suddenly came into my mind. I’ve always understood this to mean something will happen, one way or another. As I believe God is sovereignly in control of timetables past, present and future, I know His will is accomplished, one way or another – in my life because I choose the crook; in others lives because they continually choose the hook. In the case of this end-times war it will be by hook, or by force and against the will of those waging war because God’s plans will be accomplished. At times in my own life when, kicking and screaming all the way, I ended up right where God’s plans intended because He knows I am not His enemy, but a sheep in His pasture, under His protection and care. It wasn’t His preferred method of moving me, though.

As “by hook or by crook” flittered through my mind I saw a Shepherd’s staff – that S-curved handle on a straight, strong, sturdy implement, and I know the shepherd uses his staff to rescue sheep from harm, to haul them out of streams when they get too close to raging waters ending upside down and helpless, weighted by their heavy frock, and to pull them out of briar and bramble. The shepherd also uses the crook to ward of predators, and to hook a lamb to keep it from wandering off. The shepherd’s hook is a steadying rod as well.

Would I rather be forced by hook - a symbol of servitude and conquest, or by crook – a symbol of rescue and protection? Would I rather experience the Good Shepherd’s leading and care . . .

The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.  He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23

Or constantly be afraid of that cruel hook found in God’s Ezekiel warning? When we get to know the Shepherd, we see His staff with eyes of understanding – we know we are protected, we know we are rescued, we know we are led safely to succulent pastures and rest. I will follow the Shepherd. I choose the Crook.

Once upon a time, a shepherd stood on a hillside 

with a stick in his hand, and that was all he needed 

to successfully guide his flock.

(smallfarmersjournal.com/The Shepherd’s Crook/by: Nick Evangelista/from issue: 21-1)