Some surprising verses

Oct 24, 2006Find joy today

I’ve started journal writing again. Not the online bloggy things, but real pen to paper jotting. I started doing this because I felt disconnected from Jesus and had forgotten that we connect well when I’m writing things down. So, I’ve spent some time writing my thoughts for no one to read but me, and I’ve taken to writing down Scriptures that surprise me. Here are a few nuggets. It’s my sincere prayer that one of these is just the one for you. These are all taken from the NLT Bible, which happens to be the translation of my One Year Bible. I normally read NAS, but I’ve enjoyed the NLT this year.

“We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.” Psalm 39:6. When I read this verse, it reminded me of America, the rush-rush-rush of doing, going, running. But where does it lead us?

“Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless; it is like chasing the wind.” Ecclesiastes 6:9 Oh man. This is a hard verse. I like stuff. But I am praying for a heart of contentment. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think chasing after wind is very productive. I’d rather chase after Jesus.

“It does no good to charm a snake after it has bitten you.” Ecclesiastes 10:11. This is for all you co-dependent folk out there (I’m one of them). When someone injures me, instead of backing away and saying, “Ouch!” I often try to charm the biter, somehow thinking if I’m nice to the mean person, I’ll be more godly. Sometimes that’s true. But it’s also true that snakes are dangerous and they should be run away from instead of “charmed.”

“It is an honor to receive an honest reply.” Proverbs 24:26. Though I highly value authenticity, there are times I’m not honest. I would rather appease someone than say something that might hurt their feelings. This is not honoring them! I’m learning, though it’s painful, to be honest when someone truly wants to know how I feel about something.

“Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil with good.” Psalms 90:15. What a lovely thought. Though difficult things come our way, replace those with unending, overflowing joy!

“God’s ways are as hard to discern as the pathways of the wind, and as mysterious as a tiny baby being formed in a mother’s womb.” Ecclesiastes 11:5. Does it bother you when folks use God’s name flippantly? Or pretend to know God’s mysterious ways? I hear “God told me to do this,” and I wonder if that is the case. Did He really? If His ways are mysterious, how can we know 100% how He chooses to move. As I look back on my life, I see His hand very clearly in retrospect, but in the situation, usually I was baffled and confused. God’s ways are mysterious, but He is good. And He loves us. Faith comes when we trust His mysterious ways, though we don’t understand them.

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