Wisdom & Understanding

Be still and know that I am God ! It is hard for me to listen to the news on TV/radio or read the newspaper without getting a feeling of fear or dread. Reports of the lives being lost both here in the domestic world as well as overseas, the economy steadily falling along with reports of global warming leave me feeling scared. I know that God does not want us to feel fear, but to be honest (and He knows that we are mere humans) it can be scary. Towards the end of last year I asked the Lord in my prayers to show me what was His “word” for me this coming year. Last year I felt that He whispered “Wisdom and Understanding” and indeed it was a year to gain wisdom AND understanding about a lot of things in my life. Though I know that I have not made the mark by any means and am ALWAYS learning with His gentle help; after prayer I felt that for this year the word for me is “Restoration of Joy.” Joy doesn’t mean being happy all the time, but it is an ever-abiding sense that God is in control...

“Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice;”… “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalms 51: 8, 13 David, the “apple of God’s eye” had sinned. He had allowed the cares of this life to distract him from his first love…God. After praying and fasting for his illegitimate child not to succumb to sickness, the child dies. David realizes from the words of a visiting prophet and from the conviction of his own heart that he had sinned against the God that he once worshipped and loved above all else. He cries out for forgiveness and restoration, because having once had intimacy with God, he knows that nothing else will satisfy his empty, vulnerable and bruised soul. To have something restored means to have something put back that was there before. David knew what joy felt like. The times when he was given victory over the enemy while watching the sheep of his earthly father as well as later while on the King’s batt...