Psalms 23

Posted on June 14, 2011 by James Gorton

Tuesday June 14, 2011

Sometimes a passage of scripture needs no introduction as in the case of Psalms 23.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, 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 overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

In this passage there are 17 references of “my”, “me”, or “I”. It gives me the indication that God is actively involved in my life and what is going on in my circumstances. The Lord is involved in a variety of actions including; “making me lie down”, “leading me”, “refreshing me”, “guides me”, “comforts me”, “preparing a table”, and “anointing me”. Talk about a relational God that is actively involved in many aspects of my life. It means that I need to be a participant in that interaction with the Lord.

The consequence of this interation with the Lord is that I have the privilege of dwelling in the house of the Lord forever. What a privilege we have today of experiencing eternal life with the Master as we step out and allow Him to guide and direct our life.

On this journey there will be times of darkness but we have a Lord that will show us the light and bring us into His eternal realm.

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The Yes God

Posted on June 13, 2011 by James Gorton

Monday June 13, 2011

As I write this morning in my jlog, I am reminded of Bruce Almighty, the movie that came out a few years ago. It is a story of a man who lost his job and God gives him the position of being God here on earth. It is played by Jim Carey and is very funny. There is one scene where Bruce answers every prayer that comes in with a yes and in a short period of time chaos begins to reign. Often in our prayers we think we know what’s best and want God to answer our prayers in a yes format. The problem arises when we are unable to see the future because of our lack of future vision. We don’t see how a yes answer to our prayer request could be negative to us and to our circumstances.

As I was reading Psalms 20 this morning, I came across this passage in verse five that seems to be saying what Bruce was doing for everyone by saying yes to all prayers that caused chaos. “. . . May the lord grant all your requests.”. May God grant all your prayers. It would seem that God is saying yes to all what we want. The fact is, God does answer all our prayers when we are in fellowship with Him, but sometimes His answers are yes, and sometimes His answers are no, and sometimes His answers are not yet. We need to come to Him with an open mind to His wisdom and insight and knowledge of our future to guide our daily steps. We need to come to Him with what Jesus prayed in the gardem when He prayed, “Not my will but Yours be done”. He knows best. He knows what’s best for our relationships. He knows what’s best for our jobs. He knows best for what we need. Not our will but His will be done.

On this journey He wants us to come to Him with our requests with an open mind so that He can direct our lives as He sees fit.

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God’s Law; His Word

Posted on June 10, 2011 by James Gorton

Friday June 10, 2011

“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.” (Psalm 19:7-9)

As I read this passage a couple of days ago, I began to meditate on it as I was taken by the words law, statutes, precepts, commands, and decrees. They all mean about the same as I looked up the words in the dictionary and all were defined by the word law. I don’t like to be driven or directed by the law so I, but by grace so I had a hard time with this verse. This morning it came to me that God’s law is his word so I substituted these words and put in God’s word and it changed my feeling about this passage. God’s word , does refresh my soul. God’s word brings wisdom to my simple thinking. God’s word brings joy to the heart. God’s word brings light to the dark areas of my life so that I can see. God’s word endures forever. God’s word is righteous all together.

Take another part of this passage and look at the predicate–I’m going way back to English 101 for this sentence structure. The predicate is right after the verb and relates to the subject (I think). The words you find here are perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, and firm. When I look at God’s word, it is perfect. It is trustworthy. It is right. It is radiant. It is pure. It is firm and doesn’t waver. God does bring light to our path and helps us to see His truth from a different vantage point.

On your journey with Him, let His word transform your perspective today.

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Psalm 8

Posted on June 9, 2011 by James Gorton

Thursday June 8, 2011

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Sometimes God’s word speaks for itself. He is majestic in all the earth. On your journey reflect on His majesty.

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Dwelling On His Holy Mountain

Posted on June 7, 2011 by James Gorton

Tuesday June 7, 2011

As I was reading in the Psalms this morning, I came across Psalms 15 where David asks a question regarding individuals who want to dwell with the Lord and who want to walk on the holy mountain with Him. It is a short chapter with only 5 verses and tells us what are the requirements for walking with the Lord. In fact in these 5 verses there are only twelve requirements. “The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.” (Psalms 15:2-5).

As you go thru this list, I’m sure that you can fulfill some or maybe many of these requirements. What I found though that I stumbled on was the very first one. One whose walk is blameless. To be blameless is to have nothing in your life that God can point to as sinful or destructive to yourself or to others. I can’t say that my life is blameless. In fact it isn’t. Over the years there have been things that I have done and words that have said that have been hurtful to the Lord and to others. I am not blameless. As I look closer to the list, I know that at some point in my life I have tripped over most of those requirements. It places me and I am sure you in a delimma. I am not free from sin. It reminds me of Paul in the New Testament in Romans 7 where he wrestles with what he wants to do but he does the very thing that he hates. He finishes off his problem by saying, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25)

Today on this journey, you and I can walk with the Lord on His Holy mountain because of what Jesus Christ did. Enjoy the journey today with Him

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Do Not Walk, Stand, Nor Sit

Posted on June 6, 2011 by James Gorton

June 6, 2011

I have started to read the Psalms and as one might expect the first one is Psalms 1. The theme of this Psalms centers around individuals who want to be blessed. When I think of being blessed I think of someone who goes thru life and has life handed to them. I have heard of people who go thru tough times and always seem to come thru on their feet. It’s someone who seems to be treated as a favorite. You might think of this person as having been given everything. Someone who is blessed could be one or a combination of a number of things, but in all of these circumstances there is a passive aspect to the situation in that the blessing comes to us and we are just a passive bystander.

David clarified what characterizes someone who is blessed. He said, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,” (Psalms 1:1) He uses three actions that need to be taken if we are to be blessed. First we need to not “walk” in the steps of the wicked. Walking is a very active decision on our part. It means that we need to make a decision to not walk with people who are choosing to do things that are destructive to our relationship with the Lord. “Standing” is the second action we are not to take with sinners. When I think of standing, I think of not participating in the action, but giving verbal ascent to what they are doing by being there and taking a stand with them in what they are doing. Standing is not as active as walking, but it is agreeing with what they ee doing. It’s like standing guard as someone is about to do something wrong. The third action involves “sitting” which is much more passive where we are there and are listening to what is being said but are not participating in the actions. It’s like allowing life to pass us by and us allowing it to pass us by without doing anything actively to change something wrong that is happening.

Individuals who are blessed are ones who are not walking, standing, or sitting with those who do wrong, but are actively involved with feeding their minds with God and his word throughout the day and night as they live, as David said, “but whose delight is in the law of the lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” (Psalms 1:2). It is an active choice to not do some things and to choose to do healthy things. Blessings come from God those who choose.

On your journey today, be careful with whom you walk and where you stand and what you are sitting and listening to.

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Friday June 3, 2011

Many of our relationships are set up as contracts with stipulations. If you do this, I will do that. Whether we know it or not, we often put conditions on our relationships and the interactions that we have with our spouse, our children, and our friends. If we are treated with respect we respond in kind and give that respect back. If people greet us there is a tendency to give back the same greeting, but if we are not greeted, we may do the same in kind. If we have a conflict with someone and they choose not to take responsibility for their actions, we may choose to disconnect with that person until such time as they do take responsibility for their actions. The condictons in which I respond to a person is dependent on them taking responsibility for what they need to do.

I find the same actions being taken by our Lord in the New Testament. In I John 1:9, John is speaking and says that “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”. This is a conditional statement. Our responsibility is to confess our sins. God, after we confess our sins, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess, God will forgive. God’s actions to forgive are dependent on our responsibility to confess. In other words, if we don’t confess, God chooses not to forgive.

As I was reading the last chapter of Job, this concept jumped off the page. “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.”(Job 42:14) God told the friends, who had distorted who God was and how he worked, to go and ask forgiveness from Job so that he could pray for them. It seems in this passage that it was only after Job had prayed for his friends that God restored his fortunes. Job could have been angry with his friends for not supporting him. He could have wanted to get revenge for what they said to him. What he needed to do was to pray for them in order for God to give back to him what he had lost.

I am reminded of a similar passage in Mattthew 18:23-35. Jesus was telling about a parable of a rich man who forgave his servant of his debt after he asked for forgiveness, but the servant went out and didn’t forgive his own servant when he had asked for forgiveness. So the rich man called in the servant whom he had forgiven and told him that because he hadn’t forgiven his servant, his forgiveness would be removed and then Jesus concluded by saying, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

For Job, restoration followed Job praying for and forgiving his friends. On this journey, we will face opportunities to take responsibility and forgive others when they ask which will precede God’s direction and blessing.

Posted on June 3, 2011 by James Gorton | Leave a comment

My Friend

Posted on June 1, 2011 by James Gorton

Wednesday June 1, 2011

Friends are very important. Friends are very important to me. As I have gotten older the priority I have put on spending time with my friends has risen on my time frame. I have found time in my day to pull away from my work and seek a breakfast or a lunch with friends that I want to stay in touch with. I am not perfect in this adventure as I do sometimes put tasks above my friends, but I am a work in progress. I love getting together with my friends and eating breakfast at Butterfields to catch up on what haas been taking place in their lives. It is a reciprocal arrangement where sometimes I will call them to make arrangements and sometimes it is the reverse. I covet those times and find that I need my friends for support and for a listening ear and am sure the opposite is true.

When you think of a best friend what comes to mind? For me it was my late wife as she and I had that common bond of connection and I truly saw her as my best friend. Unfortunately she died almost 3 years ago this month and I lost my best friend. I have friends who have also lost their best friend, and it hurts deeply at the time and continues to cause pain for months afterward.

As I was reading in Job this morning I came across something that I would love to hear from the Lord. “After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, “I’ve had it with you and your two friends. I’m fed up! You haven’t been honest either with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has.” (Job 42:7). God called Job “My friend.”. What a message to hear that the Lord would call us His friend. For Job, he needed to get honest with God and seek Him with all his heart. He also needed to seek forgiveness for his wrong perceptions of God and his lack of knowledge of the Creator.

The real question for me and for you is whether or not the Lord would call us His friend. I would hope so, but I wonder if there are things in my life that need to be cut out and perceptions of God that need to be changed as in the case of Job. On this journey, finding God as our friend and him calling us His friend is the most important relationship that we could pursue.

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Firsthand Experience

Posted on May 31, 2011 by James Gorton

Tuesday May 31, 2011

I Grew up playing sports and watching them on TV, after they began being shown (I remember the first TV’s that came out and there were no sports being shown on the one channel that we could get. My family lived out in rural Colorado so there were no sports teams we could go to. I had heard of major sports teams and followed the Denver Bears, a triple AAA baseball team but I had never seen them in person. They had a promotion that if you got straight A’s in school for a quarter, you could get a free ticket to a baseball game and one for your parent. I do remember my sister getting them all the time, but this one quarter I got straight A’s (I think my first and only quarter) and got to go. It was truly amazing as we parked the car and walked up to the stadium. We gave them the tickets and walked thru the turn styles and into the expansive arena. What a beautiful sight with green grass and players throwing and hitting and fielding. You see I had heard of major league baseball, but I finally saw firsthand what the experience was.

Job had the same experience with the Lord. He had been a follower most of his life. He had prayed to him. He had asked forgiveness for himself and for his children many times. He sought out wisdom by reading from the scriptures to learn more about this God he worshipped. But when he was afflicted with sores all over his body and had lost all of his possessions, he asked for a personal encounter with the Lord and God gave him that as God talked with him in Job 38-41. I think it is interesting Job’s response when the Lord finished his response to Job. “I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!” (Job 42:5). He had lived his life worshipping God, but when he asked for an encounter with God, he came face to face with Him and a firsthand experience. His whole perspective changed. His understanding of God transformed as he heard God speak. What he knew became experiential.

We have the same opportunity to not only know God but experience him firsthand in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. But are we experiencing Him firsthand or are we living our lives and praying to Him but don’t have a firsthand experience with the God who IS ALL. On this journey, sometimes it is healthy to stop and evaluate what kind of a relationship we do have with the God who rules all so that we can experience all that He has for us.

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Unworthy

Posted on May 27, 2011 by James Gorton

Friday May 27, 2011

Over the years I have logged some significant time talking with God as I’m assure you who are reading this jlog have. I have come to Him at times with a heart of thankfulness because of the things He has done for me. There have been times I have come to Him with an angry heart because of all the things that are happening to me that are unfair or unjust. I have at times come to a Him with a very sad heart because of death or pain in my life or someone elses life and I am experiencing sorrow. Sometimes I have come with a fearful heart due to what I am facing. Over the years I have had different motivations and attitudes when I have approached the a Lord to seek Him. Due in part to the circumstances of life, there are various kinds of hearts that cause me to seek the Lord.

I am reminded of another kind of heart as I was reading Job this morning. Job had finished his discourse to his three friends and at the end sought a face to face visit with God to get his questions answered. His three friends who had the perspective that Job had done something wrong to deserve all his pain were silent because Job justified himself before them. Job got exactly what he wanted as God began to respond to Job and his thinking that he had done all of this by himself. In Job 38 God spoke to Job from the storm and said to Job, “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?”. He filled Job in on what he had done and what he was doing in all of creation every minute of every day. It was an awesome display of what God was and is doing behind our lives every minute without our knowledge. It’s at this juncture that God asked Job to answer Him and Job replied, “I am unworthy-how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer- twice, but I will say no more.”(Job 40:4-5) Job had a heart of unworthiness. When he began to understand all that the Lord did and had control of, he responded by feeling unworthy and realized that opening his mouth a second time would be ignorant and unwise.

I realize that on this journey we have finite minds and know only a fractional percentage of knowledge and wisdom compared to God and so when we come to Him one kind of heart that would be helpful would be an unworthy heart.

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