Psalm 84 (KJV): Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere

From Psalms

Psalm 84
(For the director of music, According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah.  A psalm.)

¹How amiable are thy tabernacles,
      O LORD of hosts!

²My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
      for the courts of the LORD:
my heart and my flesh crieth out
      for the living God.

³Yea, the sparrow hath found an house,
      and the swallow a nest for herself,
      where she may lay her young,
even thine altars,
      O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.
⁴Blessed are they that dwell in thy house:
      they will be still praising thee.             Selah.

⁵Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee;
      in whose heart are the ways of them.
⁶Who passing through the valley of Baca
      make it a well;
      the rain also filleth the pools.
⁷They go from strength to strength,
      every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

⁸O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer:
      give ear, O God of Jacob.           Selah.
⁹Behold, O God our shield,
      and look upon the face of thine anointed.

¹⁰For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
      than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
¹¹For the LORD God is a sun and shield:
      the LORD will give grace and glory:
no good thing will he withhold
      from them that walk uprightly.

¹²O LORD of hosts,
      blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

Blessed is the man who trusts in thee...for he will be given a day in your courts.  And better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.  Certainly any day in the past year, while sober with the help of God, was better than all of my achievements in the 10 years before that living in my addiction.  Each day in the past year came with the gift of prayer, through psalms.  Each day came with the joy and love of my family.  Each day came with the clarity of sobriety.  Each day came with the strength that only God can provide.  The value of these gifts cannot be measured in this life.  Meaning they can't be measured in money or time or any worldly good.  These are treasures that only God can bless us with.

That is what it means to this addict to spend one day in the God's court.  No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 83 (KJV): They are confederate against thee

From Psalms

Psalm 83

¹Keep not thou silence, O God:
      hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
²For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult:
      and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
³They have taken crafty counsel against thy people,
      and consulted against thy hidden ones.
⁴They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation;
      that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

⁵For they have consulted together with one consent:
      they are confederate against thee:
⁶The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites;
      of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
⁷Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek;
      the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
⁸Assur also is joined with them:
      they have holpen the children of Lot.      Selah.

⁹Do unto them as unto the Midianites;
      as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:
¹⁰Which perished at Endor:
      they became as dung for the earth.
¹¹Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb:
      yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:
¹²Who said, Let us take to ourselves
      the houses of God in possession.

¹³O my God, make them like a wheel;
      as the stubble before the wind.
¹⁴As the fire burneth a wood,
      and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;
¹⁵So persecute them with thy tempest,
      and make them afraid with thy storm.
¹⁶Fill their faces with shame;
      that they may seek thy name, O LORD.

¹⁷Let them be confounded and troubled for ever;
      yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:
¹⁸That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH,
      art the most high over all the earth.

This is about how all the enemies of the Isrealites collaborated together to try to defeat Isreal.  I would like to use this as a parable for the forces of addiction getting together to overtake the addict.  We are inundated with messages and situations where our addiction is constantly in front of us.  Pressures that constantly encourage us to give in to the temptation of our addiction.  Whether its a small party after work to celebrate a milestone...of course, you'd be letting the team down if you don't have a beer...or if you leave early.  Thankfully, I no longer have to believe any of that.

The pressures are all around.  They seem to work together.  It takes great strength to overcome the pressure. It takes the strength of God.  Thankfully though there is God to hand this over to - and to pray for strength from.  Otherwise, I'm sure I would have acted out on my addictions this week...or next.  You see I have a business trip coming up.  Being away from home - away from visible accountability - would make it easy to act-out and justify it with some lie.  However, I remembered that God is everywhere and has his hand on me. (1 Thessalonians 1:4)  This brought me back to my sobriety before things got out of hand.

So I thank God that He knows when not to hold his peace.  I am grateful that He is strong enough defeat especially the most powerful enemies.  I am most thankful that God has a plan for me.  Amen.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 82 (KJV): Do justice to the afflicted and the needy

From Psalms

Psalm 82
(A psalm of Asaph.)

¹God standeth in the congregation of the mighty;
      he judgeth among the gods.

²How long will ye judge unjustly,
      and accept the persons of the wicked?       Selah.
³Defend the poor and fatherless:
      do justice to the afflicted and needy.
⁴Deliver the poor and needy:
      rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

⁵They know not, neither will they understand;
      they walk on in darkness:
      all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

⁶I have said, Ye are gods;
      and all of you are children of the most High.
⁷But ye shall die like men,
      and fall like one of the princes.

⁸Arise, O God, judge the earth:
      for thou shalt inherit all nations.

The addicts today are part of the afflicted and needy.  They need help and often do not even realize it.  They often deny the fact that they have a problem until its too late.  It's a fortunate few that actually make it to a meeting before they lose everything they have.  Or worse perish in their addiction.

I will close in prayer for the addict that still suffers.  For the woman who wrestles with her decisions to continue to drink despite what it does to her life.  Despite losing who job and alienating her children.  She continues to isolate and seek solace in her lite beer.

For the man who continues to watch porn and webcams and explore the world of sex parlors, every chance he can be alone at a computer.  Despite the fact that women working in the sex trade repulses him its not really clear even how he finds himself on these sites.  Or why his brain needs this stimulation.  He knows very well that there are people at his company that monitor his activity.  He also knows that, with his company's zero tolerance policy, he could be fired in an instant for this.  Despite all this he continues, almost unwilling, on his addiction.

God be with these people.  Show them there is an alternative.  There is a path to sobriety.  Work through the people in their lives to expose their problem.  To show them they need to find help.  To help them realize that they need to turn their lives around.  That there is a path to do that - that you are the path and that the map is the 12 steps.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 81 (KJV): But my people would not hearken my voice

From Psalms

Psalm 81
(For the director of music.  According to gittith.  Of Asaph.)
¹Sing aloud unto God our strength:
      make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
²Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel,
      the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

³Blow up the trumpet in the new moon,
      in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
⁴For this was a statute for Israel,
      and a law of the God of Jacob.
⁵This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony,
      when he went out through the land of Egypt:
      where I heard a language that I understood not.

⁶I removed his shoulder from the burden:
      his hands were delivered from the pots.
⁷Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee;
      I answered thee in the secret place of thunder:
      I proved thee at the waters of Meribah.                Selah.

⁸Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee:
      O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;
⁹There shall no strange god be in thee;
      neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
¹⁰I am the LORD thy God,
      which brought thee out of the land of Egypt:
      open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹But my people would not hearken to my voice;
      and Israel would none of me.
¹²So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust:
      and they walked in their own counsels.

¹³Oh that my people had hearkened unto me,
      and Israel had walked in my ways!
¹⁴I should soon have subdued their enemies,
      and turned my hand against their adversaries.
¹⁵The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him:
      but their time should have endured for ever.
¹⁶He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat:
      and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

When we are close to God it is much easier to maintain sobriety when we are farther from him.  Vice versa is true, when I find I am drifting closer to temptation and urges, I have drifted farther from God.  If we do not focus on His word and His will for us, if we try to control, or take back control, he will let us fail.  Sometimes it takes this failing to learn faith.

We sometimes we think God is reluctant to bless us, but that's never the case.  Maybe because you aren't as rich as a friend, don't have as big a house as your neighbor, or don't have as nice a car as your co-worker, he hasn't blessed you.  It may just feel that way because we have not surrendered to God's will.

I recently read the review of Psalm 81 by a "prosperity preacher."  In this review the preacher said, "God's desire is to give His people the finest of everything - then ask yourself what it is in your life, if anything, that is hindering God from blessing you with more than what you currently have."  There is some truth in this, however, this preacher was trying to say that if you give money to her "ministry" then you would prosper materially.  God doesn't want your money - that's not what this psalm is about.  Nor does God want to bless you with mere money.  Money is insignificant for God - God wants you.  He wants you to live for him and to serve him - and to serve his people, and to reflect his love.  In return, God will bless you with gifts that are priceless.  In return, you shall experience the gift of his love, you shall experience the gift of sobriety, you shall experience the gift of salvation and forgiveness.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 80 (KJV): Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved

From Psalms

Psalm 80
(For the director of music.  To the tune of "The Lilies of the Covenant."  Of Asaph.  A psalm.)

¹Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
      thou that leadest Joseph like a flock;
thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
²Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh
      stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

³Turn us again, O God,
      and cause thy face to shine;
      and we shall be saved.

⁴O LORD God of hosts,
      how long wilt thou be angry
      against the prayer of thy people?
⁵Thou feedest them with the bread of tears;
      and givest them tears to drink in great measure.
⁶Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours:
      and our enemies laugh among themselves.

⁷Turn us again, O God of hosts,
      and cause thy face to shine;
      and we shall be saved.

⁸Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt:
      thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
⁹Thou preparedst room before it,
      and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
¹⁰The hills were covered with the shadow of it,
      and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
¹¹She sent out her boughs unto the sea,
      and her branches unto the river.

¹²Why hast thou then broken down her hedges,
      so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
¹³The boar out of the wood doth waste it,
      and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
¹⁴Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts:
      look down from heaven, and behold,
and visit this vine;
¹⁵And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted,
      and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.

¹⁶It is burned with fire, it is cut down:
      they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
¹⁷Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,
      upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.
¹⁸So will not we go back from thee:
      quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

¹⁹Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts,
      cause thy face to shine;
      and we shall be saved.

O Lord, please give me another day of sobriety.  Deliver me not into the temptation of my addictions sex, alcohol, or drugs.  Help me focus on your way and focus on your will and let me not be distracted by the empty idols that we are bombarded with everyday.  Cause thy face to shine on me that I may saved, and can be an example for those around me of thy power.  Help me seek to understand rather than to be understood.  That where there is wrong, that I may bring the spirit forgiveness.  That where there is error, I may bring truth. That where there is doubt, I may bring faith.

Let your word be a light for me as I journey down step 8 of the twelve steps.  That I will truly see those who I have hurt with my addictions, and how that's effected them.  Help me be open, honest and completely truthful in this search.  That you can show me how best to make amends to those people and prepare for step 9.

Indeed cause thy face to shine, so that all of us addicts can be saved.  Amen.

Thanks for letting me share.