Author: Ben Bourland

5th (Day 67) “Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!” Psalms 31:23-24

Waiting for the Lord takes faith but the rebuke for the prideful is scary. PRIDE is an issue I find myself dealing with routinely. It is probably the one think I ask God for the strength to combat and crucify daily.  I just love that charge of David – ‘be strong and let your heart take courage’. This is mantra to learn to tell ourselves. God gives this strength so that you can give your heart permission to take courage. These two verses for me are VERY timely today.

4th (Day 66) “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Psalms 30:5

This verse is so awesome and can be an anchor verse for so many situations. The first part ‘Gods anger is just for a moment’ is a testament to the love the Lord has for us  in that He isn’t angry with our failures for long. He is quick to grab us up and hold us close even when we are not so quick to forgive ourselves. Then ‘His favor is for a lifetime’; now because of His Son, His favor falls on me for eternity. Finally, ‘weeping at night will turn to joy in the morning’; I am pretty sure the joy here is joy in the Lord.  I might have a heavy heart of loss in the evening but because I rest in the strength of God, I can rejoice in Him and His power over my grief can overcome. The Psalms are like an ointment for the soul – I know someone has said this before but it has rung true in my study over the past several weeks.

3rd (Day 65) “The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever. May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!” Psalms 29:10-11

I love this simple exclamation by David calling out the fact that God SITS enthroned over the flood; meaning that even over a wiping out of everything but what was on the ark, God sits as King. He is the same God today Who presided over the flood. That power that He wields provides us strength, peace, and comfort. As we enter more lockdowns and distance from our loved ones, God SITS enthroned. Isn’t that comforting?  Question we need to ask ourselves – Are we capitalizing on this season? Are we looking for the places, situations, and opportunities God is putting in front of us to learn and prepare for what’s next?

2nd (Day 64) “The voice of the LORD is powerful, The voice of the LORD is majestic. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.” Psalms 29:4-5

The Cedars of Lebanon were known as an image of wealth and strength. Here David talks about the voice of the Lord being powerful and majestic. Gods word has power and His voice can break the strong and wealthy. When I hold my Bible, I hold on my hands this voice of God. This is just another reason to hide Gods word in my heart through memorization – to wield His word at a moments notice to strike down my own pride or break temptuous thought. I have re-picked up my memorization of Romans 5:1-8.

1st (Day 63) “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:2&3

Today I did a study of all passages with the word Shepherd in it. There’s a lot (57 by my count).  This is part of my work in search of God’s will for our church during COVID restrictions. I had new revelations today that I am still distilling but God has been so faithful to give me something new each day that more and more fills in the gaps. This time, day after day, in Gods word, has been so good! 

Spent time tonight searching Gods word for continued work on my position regarding our response to COVID in regards to shepherding the church body. Marianne and I both ended our evening in the kitchen pouring over passages. She is such a great partner and her closeness with the Lord is an asset as I seek His will and purpose in hard to answer questions. We are taking time every night this week to sync up on what the Lord has revealed to us through prayer and supplication.

28th (Day 60) “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” Psalms 25:4-5

Yesterday I had the full intention of spending time with the Lord as I crawled into bed but alas, I fell asleep…so I can’t count that. 🙂 I am already starting to contemplate how I might grow in 2021. A lot has changed: COVID-19, entering into eldership at Canyon Hills, my job has evolved a bit, and my family has grown. So, how can I be praying that the Lord will grow me in the next year…well, God lays it right out here for me in Psalm 24. ‘Make me to KNOW Your ways O LORD! TEACH me Your paths and LEAD me in Your TRUTH and INSTRUCT me.’ When I think about all the challenges and trials that could be ahead this next year; this is exactly what I need. To KNOW, to be TAUGHT, and to be LED by God Almighty. When this is the case, there is no obstacle to great to overcome. There is nothing to fear and there is nothing to be worried about getting right to glorify God; when I am walking in TRUTH and KNOWING God’s ways, then every decision I need to make can rest on what I know to be true and my heart will be right because I am willingly being led by Him. How are you praying that you will grow in the next year? What is God revealing to you about that?

26th (Day 58 – Thanksgiving!) “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah” Psalms 24:3-6

I love this passage!  It complements well the thing I told my family I am thankful for today.  As you all have probably noticed, I have been noting something I am thankful for each day of this last week leading up to Thanksgiving (today).  When my family was at the table this evening having dinner, we went around saying something we were thankful for and mine was, wait for it…COVID-19.  That’s right – I am thankful for what COVID has done for my time and closeness I have gained with my family and more recognition of my frailty and God’s mightiness.  I obviously am not thankful for death, the suffering of others, or the lasting side effects a lot of people who have been infected get; but I am thankful for what it has done for me in regard to love for others and the building of my faith in the only One that matters, God Himself.  I do hope for a cure (effective vaccine) but I also hope for a revival caused by people being brought to looking for hope in the one place that can provide hope that lasts an eternity.

25th (Day 57) Psalm 23 – The one everyone knows — “The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want…”

When you focus on the ‘Shepherd’ aspects of this Psalm then you see that a Shepherd thinks and observes in terms of his flock.  When David says ‘I shall not want..’, it is because when you have God as your Shepherd, there is nothing else you need.  But then in verse 6 he talks about ‘surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life’.  This is where my ‘thankfulness’ comes from today.  All of the goodness and mercy He has bestowed on me through my wife and children.  It is for them that I am utterly thankful to Lord for.   My life is busy, but it would be busy no matter my circumstance.  In this case my life is busy with the right things -> my family, my church, and my ministry.  The Lord has made work support these other 3 things…before, my family, church, and ministry supported my work.  I am so thankful for the amazing women He has surrounded me with (Marianne, Bella, Sophie, Prim, and Brooklyn – I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!)

24th (Day 56) Psalm 22…Yes, the whole Psalm.

Today I am thankful for my Salvation because for a moment I thought I had lost it being probably the only professing Christian to not totally internalize that Psalm 22 is a depiction of the Cross.  There are direct quotes from this Psalm that Jesus spoke in His Passion; and there multiple places that iterate specific accounts of things that happened during the crucifixion (like casting of lots for Jesus’ clothes).  Think about this for a moment…David had a Psalm written roughly 1000 years before Jesus walked the earth that prophesies the playing out of the details of the cross.  How can Jews, who know and love King David so much, not see the crazy symmetry here?  Do they think that Jesus manufactured everything?  Do they think that Jesus paid off the Roman soldiers to gamble over His clothes?  I am so thankful that Jesus came, lived a perfect life, and then chose to give it for MY sin so that He could spend the rest of eternity with me…”for the joy set before Him” Hebrews 12:2.