WISDOM PSALMS!

Psalms of Wisdom or Wisdom Psalms---during my season of medical maladies, this book of the Bible is where I have camped out! The rockier the path of "life" became, the more I turned to wisdom found there! The perfect law of the LORD refreshes the soul and makes wise the simple. 

(Psalm 19:7, DAL, PPP)

Psalmists often looked to God for insight.(Psalms 1,73, 91,119) 

For me, Psalm 1, 3, 16, 25, 27, 34, 37, 90 & 121, are at the top of my "wisdom" list as I have reflected on God's word. 

Think..... Considered. Focused. Meditated. 

Psalms Personally Paraphrased. (PPP)

• Blessed...delight in the law of the Lord & meditate day and night. (1)
• You Lord are my shield, glory & lifter of my head. (3)
• You make known to me the path of life. (16)
• I lift my soul to God in whom I trust (25) I take refuge in you, for I wait for you.(25)
• Be strong, let heart take courage; wait for the LORD! (27)
• His praise will continue from my mouth (Psalm 34) Blessed take refuge in Him. (34)
• Delight yourself in the LORD, (37) Commit your way to the LORD;trust in Him and He will act. (37) Be still before the LORD ...wait patiently for Him. (37)
• Teach us to number our days to get a heart of wisdom (90)
• My help comes from the LORD who is my keeper.(121)

True wisdom is followed by alignment with one's actions based on truths found on each path/circumstance with Him, rocky or not. 

A path of life walked in humility. AMEN!

"scru-TEA-ny"

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. (Psalm 139: 23-24, NASB)

Scrutiny requires that one looks within. A spiritual check-up.  A look at the heart. Vital signs. A motive check. 

The problem with scrutinizing one's spiritual life is the limitation of one's  own humanity. A great frailty in most folks is the inability to see one's own faults.
It's God who can penetrate the recesses of our hearts---those "desperately wicked areas." (Jeremiah 17:9) 

One must be willing to ask God to do the search. To probe and dig deep. "Down where our unspoken thoughts swell and unstated  motives hide." (Living the Psalms, p. 282)
Such searching by God of one's inner most being could be so-o-o painful. Why would one want to do that? Could truth revealed by the Great Physician change one's actions?
The result is an awareness of anything that brings pain to God or to others. Deep hurts. Knowing....and then changing, with God's help, allows one to walk in the everlasting way....a path of righteousness, and to bring others along with her.

Something to think about during my "Tea with Thee" time....as I sip a cuppa scru-TEA-ny from my most transparent teacup.

PLEAS FOR PLEASING GOD....

10/14/13 "There's a Psalm for That" entry last spring had me "camped-out" in Psalm 5. Today I'm there again, tho I'm at a different place in my life. Thus, today's verses for meditation are different.

Listen (give ear) to my words, Lord, consider my sighing. (lamenting lit. meditation)
Listen (consider) to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
In the morning, Lord, you hear (heed) my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. (eagerly watch, lit. look forward) (Psalm 5:1-3)

In this psalm one sees David's refusal to "stumble about stoop-shouldered, carrying his burdens throughout the day." (Living the Psalms, p. 17) Instead, he takes his needs to the Lord each morning.

Shouldn't I (you) do the same? Shouldn't my (your) pleas be about pleasing Him in every situation?