I Will Bless the Lord

    Today I wanted to share another devotional I read by Dennis Kinlaw.  In the following devotional we see that the Psalms are full of items that we can apply in our lives today.  I trust this will be a blessing to you, as it was a much needed reminder for me today.  "Psalm 34:1  I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips".

    "It is an exciting venture to take a particular psalm and guess what in the life of the author provoked him to write it.  First, read the psalm carefully to see what it says, and then try to read between the lines, relating different aspects of that psalm to life.  The question becomes, "What kind of human condition would cause a person to write a psalm such as this?"

    One of the things I have noticed is that if we study the book of Psalms long enough, we will find a psalm for every human situation.  For moments of difficulty, moments of exultation, moments of tragedy, and moments of praise; there is a psalm that corresponds to each personal story.

    Another thing I have learned about the Psalms is that many times the psalmists give their conclusion at the beginning, in contrast to the more familiar style in which a writer builds to a climax and then presents the conclusion.  The psalmist will give the solution, and then the reader must work through the psalm to see what the situation was that brought the psalmist to that answer.  Psalm 34 is one of those psalms whose conclusion is at the beginning, and what a conclusion it is! "I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips."  Wouldn't it be great if at the end of today that was the song on our lips?  Let us make that conclusion the answer to our problem of today." (Kinlaw).

As we face each day there may be times of trial or trouble.  Let us not forgot to praise the Lord in the good times and in times of trial.  "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good;  Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!" (Psalm 34:8)

References

Kinlaw, Dennis. This Day With the Master: 365 Daily Meditations. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002.

Salt of the Earth

 Hello,

    This is Pastor Jesse.  This is my first attempt at a blog and my hope is that this comes through accurately.  For my first trial run at a blog I want to share something from a devotional I have been reading by Dennis Kinlaw.  The Scripture verse he is commenting on is from Mark's Gospel chapter 9:50.

"Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it?  Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another" (NKJV)

    "Some jobs in life are hateful and yet necessary.  I remember one of those from my teenage years.  In those Depression days, there was no such thing as a refrigerator.  If meat was to be kept, it had to be salted heavily.  Every fall I knew that one day I would come home from school in the afternoon and find a gutted pig lying on the back porch.  I knew there would be no playing ball that afternoon.  My job was to rub salt into the pieces of that pork as my mother cut them up.  The only thing that brightened that unpleasant task was imagining the smell of bacon frying for breakfast or the taste of ham when company came.

    One day we were having some special company for supper, so my mother took me out to the smokehouse and pointed to the largest ham hanging from the rafters.  I pulled it down, opened the sack, and laid the beautiful ham out for my mother to cut.  The big butcher knife penetrated the best portion of that ham, and I waited with anticipation to see the meat.  Then I had two simultaneous and shocking perceptions.  One was of the frown on my mother's face and the other was the most offensive odor I have ever smelled.  The ham was full of maggots.  My mother looked at me with dismay and said, "Son, not enough salt".

    I have never heard Jesus' words "You are the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5:13) without remembering that ham.  We live in a day in which our society is loaded with corruption.  The problem is not that evil is so powerful; in fact, evil only works in the absence of that which is holy.  Where the Holy One reigns, evil can no more exist than maggots can live in salt.  This is the reason we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Then we can find freedom from the corruption that surrounds us.  Even more important, the Spirit in us can be a check on the evil around us" (Kinlaw, December14).

This passage and devotion speak volumes concerning the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  His Spirit is our guide and our protection against evil.  I hope this passage and devotional brings new insight to your hearts and minds.

Works Cited

Kinlaw, Dennis. This Day With the Master: 365 Daily Meditations. Grand Rapids, Michigan:    

    Zondervan, 2002.