Delight In the Lord

Good day! I’m Duane Matz and this is Today’s Living Word

I recently celebrated my 78^th birthday,  God has allowed me 78 years on His turntable of trips around the sun, And like the old 78 rpm records my voice is getting a little scratchy.  I am thankful for the voice he has given me and for the avenues which He has given me to express the truths found in His Word.

 

I am a blessed man, and I can say with David, Ps 16:6 “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places.” And I often wonder, “Who am I Lord that You would visit me! Ps 8:4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

 

Every thing that I have comes from the Lord, He has literally given me the desires of my heart! Ps 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. The word “delight” here means to be pliable in the hands of the Potter (God) To be pliable is to be obedient, and that obedience will lead you to God’s will for your life.

 

You will get a refreshing take on this verse when you insert “be pliable”: for “delight.”  Try it, right now! “ Be pliable in the Lord’s hands  and He shall give you the desires of your heart,”

The refreshing part of this Psalm is you and I have just one thing to do. Be pliable! Be like soft clay in the hands of the Potter! We don’t have to waste a  lot of energy trying to figure out our life’s purpose!

 

That clay is being shaped with every act of obedience on our part. He will do the rest, and we will be on our way to fulfilling our purpose in His kingdom

Eph 2:10 will come to pass! “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

 

Your purpose in life (God’s will for you) is made plain as you)  daily submit to Him. No guess work on our part. He knows His plans for you and I, and our pliability in His hands will get us there.

 

I’m Duane Matz and that’s today’s Living Word.

Oh Look! A Squirrel

Good day! I’m Duane Matz and this is Today’s Living Word

 

Happy New Year! Last year I wanted to come up with one word as a benchmark for the coming year and the word that the Lord gave me was “engage.”

I sought to engage (connect) the culture of the world and the culture of the church with God’s Word. …the Bible.

 

It turns out that the word I selected was even more personal than I thought it would be. God reminded me (Oh look! A squirrel!) that I have a bad habit of disengaging in one on one situations and conversations. I’m often off in a different world even before I make eye contact with the person I am conversing with.

 

It’s a character flaw that I am not proud of, and with the help of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit I am determined to press on, reminding myself that there will always be squirrels, and I would be better off engaging the person who I am conversing with the way Jesus did!.

 

Checking out of a conversation puts me in Duane’s world, and that is a small world indeed. It winds up being just me and the squirrels.

 

Lord, help me to engage with people around me, like Jesus engaged people around Him. Remember his encounter with the rich young ruler? Jesus did not say “this is what you must do to inherit eternal,   O look a squirrel”

 

Is that what He did! No Mr 10:21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him,  That’s the target, that’s the example Jesus gave us. Lord help us all as we seek to engage (connect) with others!

 

I’m Duane Matz and that’s today’s Living Word