One Day at a Time ... The Wayfarer 5/6/17
One Day at a Time
5/6/17
5/6/17
Matthew 6:34
King James Version (KJV)
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Each new day brings with it new hope, new joy, new reason to expect and to receive blessings that may only come that day, each new day also brings new sorrow, new trouble, new consternation and new fear dependent upon the recipient of what is perceived as blessing or curse.
Each new day brings opportunity to either change whatever extant condition may be the cause of turmoil and trouble, or to wallow in the condition and its result rather than make the necessary change required in order to vanquish and overcome.
Glass half empty, glass half full, both truisms that depend on perception, the half empty perception constantly negative, constantly unsatisfied, constantly worrying, while the half full gives pause for thankfulness, gratitude and acceptance that there is in fact reason to rejoice that there is still room in the glass for more to come, and if not at least enough to provide sustenance required from moment to moment.
Psalm 23
King James Version (KJV)
23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
We may enter each new day in thankfulness for the half full glass in expectation of its filling as did David, or we may expect only the emptiness at end of day if we refuse to accept that filling by the one capable of that filling, choosing instead to drink it dry without making proper provision for the remainder of the day.
Take note that David did not say that he could do anything for himself, but was, instead reliant upon the LORD for his provision.
James 4
King James Version (KJV)
4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
As noted by James, and so many others throughout the scriptures, man's sorrows and troubles are self created, self-fulfilling because of the refusal to relinquish self-reliance in exchange for reliance on the LORD.
As long as that refusal exists, so shall the consequences of that refusal.
Job 14:1-2
King James Version (KJV)
14 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt once stated that, "We have nothing to fear, except fear itself."
It is that fear, that leads to unnecessary consequences, as men rely only on themselves to abate and overcome it, rather than trusting the only Power capable of that vanquishment and abatement.
Jeremiah 29:11
King James Version (KJV)
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Those thoughts are found only in the reliance upon the LORD taught from Genesis through Revelation, and the expected end only available through the reliance upon what has been given to overcome the helplessness of a creature that refuses to admit that helplessness.
God's plan remains extant and as viable as it was the day of creation, unchanged and unchanging despite mankind's continued attempts to interfere and replace that plan with those of his own.
An old song from my youth intrudes with haunting lyrics and melody that ring with a semblance of that very truth.
"Que sera, sera, whatever will be will be, the future's not ours to see, que sera sera."
Though in a sense true, there is a lack of truth within those words, in that the future is indeed ours to see when that reliance is placed on Christ Jesus and the assurance of the completion of God's will, as it was from the beginning for this incapable creature that goes from day to day ignoring the fact of his incapability and the capability of the Creator.
One day at a time, we draw closer to God, or farther from Him.
One day at a time we are given opportunity to accept or deny the reliance required of us on Him rather than ourselves.
One day at a time we live... one day at a time we draw closer to the end of one life and the beginning of another... eternal ... that awaits where reliance on self can be to no avail whatsoever....where reliance on the cross and more importantly that which was done on that cross is the only reliance that holds meaning.
2 Timothy 1:12
King James Version (KJV)
12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Amen and Amen
The Wayfarer
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