Just Today

The Bible says taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8). I heard someone talking about this verse, and they warned not to be choked out by the world. They said when we are choking, we can not taste the goodness of God. I had just read the parable of the sower, and this idea of being choked out was very fresh on my mind. In Mark chapter 4, Jesus tells the parable of the sower. Different seeds land in different places, and each of them experience something unique. The third seed lands among the thorns and weeds. It sprouts and takes root, but the weeds and thorns choke it out. That is to say the world choked out the love and word of God.

I have been feeling very discouraged this week for some reason, and I think part of that is the world trying to choke me out. The thing I love about that verse from the Psalms though is that it NOWHERE says taste and see that the world is bad. It says only to taste and see that the Lord is good. YHVH is so so so good.

I find this very easy to say. God is good. I also find it easy to forget God in the midst of being choked out by the world. Something just isn't adding up. I wonder if Jesus were to look at my life, look at my possessions, and just look at me, if he would say I was to caught up in the world?

Proverbs 30:7-9 says this:

⁷ "Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:

⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.

⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the LORD ?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

Two things; keep lies away from me, and don't give me too much or to little. I can guarantee you I don't have too little, but do I have to much? Do I have so much that at times I get caught up in that stuff and think to myself, "Who is the LORD?"

So many people wake up every morning and their prayer is this: "God... just get me through the day. Lord, PLEASE just get me through the day." When is the last time we prayed that? Why would we pray that. we have plenty of stuff to get us through the day. That's the problem though, we have stuff to get us through the day. I have weeds and thorns to get me through my day. How would my life change if I prayed, LORD, JUST get me though the day? What if we prayed just to get through today? That would mean we need to deny ourselves. I don't like believing that I have to deny myself. You may not like believing that you have to deny yourself. You might also be saying, " Sam, now wait a minute. Denying yourself can be good, but we don't have to deny ourselves." I wish that were the case. Denying ourselves is not comfortable, but it is something we HAVE TO do. We must believe that Jesus called us to do this.

Mark 8:34: Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

There are things that I don't like to believe, but believe because they are truth. God is God, and I have no right to question Him. I heard Francis Chan say that we spend our lives judging God, and that it's going to be a big shock for us on judgement day when we stand before this God that we have been judging and realize that he is the one judging us. That was powerful to me.

I want my prayer to be, "God, just get me through the day." That is a prayer we would get to pray. We are not forced to pray that by poverty or persecution like some people are. I believe that if we pray that prayer, then less people would be forced to pray that prayer.