Announcement...

Our Daily Bread
In one of the software packages I support at work, there is a feature to send an announcement chat message to a group of folks.  It can be handy when you want to tell folks "Server A is down.  I am working on it" or "There is extra pizza in the break room!".  There is an option to let people respond or you can just send a one-way announcement.

Our prayer life and conversations with God can be like those one-way announcements.  We talk and beg and plead and whine without checking the "Let God respond" check box!  The devotional gave great insights into how to open the two-way communication -- listening during prayer times and reading God's Word.  We often don't make time for either.

I thought the devotional was timely for me.  Please pray for me as I start back into my Bible study regimen this week.  I start a new program.  I am a little nervous about it.  I will let you know how it goes.

How are you listening to God?

Lord, thank you for listening to us.  Please help us listen to you!

Psalm Sunday
We are looking at Psalm 60 today.  It is full of Old Testament imagery.  Read it out loud (like you should do all psalms!) and see what it means to you!  FYI, the word miktam means "poem".


Psalm 60
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A miktam of David. For teaching. When he fought Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah, and when Joab returned and struck down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

1 You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us;
    you have been angry—now restore us!
2 You have shaken the land and torn it open;
    mend its fractures, for it is quaking.
3 You have shown your people desperate times;
    you have given us wine that makes us stagger.
4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
    to be unfurled against the bow.
5 Save us and help us with your right hand,
    that those you love may be delivered.
6 God has spoken from his sanctuary:
    “In triumph I will parcel out Shechem
    and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
    Ephraim is my helmet,
    Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin,
    on Edom I toss my sandal;
    over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
    Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Is it not you, God, you who have now rejected us
    and no longer go out with our armies?
11 Give us aid against the enemy,
    for human help is worthless.
12 With God we will gain the victory,
    and he will trample down our enemies.

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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit - Romans 15:13