Sherry Sharp

“Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the LORD.” Psalm 31:24, NKJV

Sometimes it is a simple truth that works like a soothing salve on a wounded heart. The Bible verse in Psalm 31 is that “soothing salve” for me.

Perhaps like you, friend, when I peruse my daily “inbox” of emails, the current events news catches my eye and demands my attention. Like driving past a wreck on the highway, my human curiosity cannot help but be drawn to the carnage forbidding me to look away. Finding encouraging news articles to read has become harder and harder.

So, how do we face the “Breaking News” as the ding alerts rattle our phones? Is our world really polarized beyond any hope of finding common ground from which to start a conversation? Families with generational diversity find themselves unable to discuss current issues without yelling or the opposite, shutting down any conversation when complete agreement with one side of an argument or the other cannot be met.

Is there a remedy? While I cannot promise an easy solution that will solve every issue demanding attention and that divides humanity, spending time with the LORD in quiet helps me to see chaos from a different perspective. For those of us who need eyeglasses to see the world clearly, sitting down with God and reading His Word is like putting on our spiritual “glasses;” everything happening around us when seen through God’s lens of truth becomes clearer.

Human conflicts are not new; they just come packaged in soundbites that reflect the modern culture. Satan has been hard at work since the beginning of creation to wreak as much havoc as possible before his time runs out. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesian 6:12, NKJV).

However, put on your “spiritual glasses!” Jesus tells us, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, emphasis mine, NKJV).

The problem is Satan. The remedy is Jesus!

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trust in Him!” Psalm 34:8, NKJV

Our family was dining at a very nice resort restaurant to celebrate a special occasion. As we looked over the menu for the Saturday brunch, the server pointed us to the wine list. We were in a part of the country where vineyards are plentiful, so those who had interest perused the selection. One in our party called everyone’s attention to a bottle of wine that was selling for $14,000. No, I did not make a mistake in the number of zeros.

“Huh?” I said. “Seriously?”

“Yep!” was the reply. “$14,000.”

“Wow. That must be some bottle of wine.” We all agreed.

After a good laugh, we also agreed that such a select wine would be wasted on us, since not one of us has a discerning taste for grapes. A Sommelier, on the other hand, is a person who specializes in different wines and who most likely could taste the difference between a multi-thousand-dollar bottle of wine and a bottle selling for $30.00.

How sad for the person with such finite taste buds, I thought to myself; they probably can never fully enjoy wine of lesser quality.

Then, the Scripture from Psalm 34:8 came to my mind. When you and I experience the love of God, through Jesus Christ, just like the wine expert, absolutely nothing else the world has to offer will or can satisfy our hunger and thirst for what is spiritually “good.” Unlike the expensive bottle of wine, however, what Jesus offers is free to anyone who asks.

Friend, as one who has “tasted” of the goodness of the LORD for the last forty years, nothing and no one compares. I invite you to do the “taste test” of Jesus; He is faithful and He will never disappoint you.

For deeper study, read John 2:1-12.

“Be happy in your faith at all times. Never stop praying. Be thankful, whatever the circumstances may be. If you follow this advice, you will be working out the will of God expressed to you in Jesus Christ” (J.B. Phillips New Testament).

Bee Happy! Psalm 37:4” so reads the garden flag waving in my front yard adorned with colorful embroidered flowers and whimsical flying bees. In the community where I live, yard flags are a common addition. Our yards are small and look very much alike, so between flags and flower plantings we have an opportunity to express our different personalities. Walking through the neighborhood, I enjoy seeing the embellishments people have chosen to share with passersby.

The sentiment, “Bee Happy” is cute, colorful, and quirky which is why I like it, but I am a little troubled that it references the Bible verse in Psalm 37 without further explanation. Bible scripture can be read in a variety of translations and paraphrases. Psalm 37:4 in the Easy English Bible does read “Be happy…” however, taken out of context often leads to a misunderstanding of the intended message. You see, according to the passage, the reason to be happy are the words that follow, “that the LORD is your friend.”

Ironically, looking from the perspective of context, Psalm 37 is about how we should consider ourselves when dealing with “evildoers.” Hm…I wonder how that message might look on a garden flag in the front yard?

Well, the fact is, you and I do have so much for which to be happy. regardless of our circumstances, which may or may not include “evildoers.” Understanding and believing that “the Lord is our friend” should fill us with joy and happiness. Probably each one of us has a story that includes at least one person who does not like us. For certain, we all have an adversary, Satan, who hates God and, therefore, hates those who love God and believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. Satan wants to steal our happiness, joy, and peace.

But for Jesus…as the flag states, “Bee Happy!”

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was…” James 1:23-24, NKJV.

Most houses have them these days. When I recently moved into my new home, it came with a security system, of which I was immediately skeptical. Every previous residence has had a security system that has either malfunctioned or seemed to have a mind of its’ own. With fear and trembling, I decided after a few nights in the new house to set the alarm. The emotion of “fear and trembling” was not because of a possible unwanted intruder, rather it was because I did not trust the alarm not to go off erroneously.  

For a couple of weeks, I have been setting the alarm and it has behaved perfectly. Routinely, now, I activate the alarm system, head to bed, and sleep peacefully throughout the night. Because the alarm is reliable and trustworthy, I rest with no worries either of an intruder or of the system malfunctioning.

God’s Word instructs readers over and over about trusting in the Lord, who is reliable and never “malfunctions.” The Prophet, Jeremiah writes, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose trust is the LORD” (17:7, NKJV). When we profess faith in God by the blood of Jesus Christ, unmistakably we are declaring that God stands above any earthly power or adversary. If one declares faith in God, but then lives in fear, he (or she) is the embodiment of what James says about being a “hearer,” versus a “doer” of God’s Word. We claim to be a believer in God, and people in the world are watching to see if we are authentic by being a “doer,” or are we simply saying we believe but live as those who do not know and trust in God by faith.

The illustration of the home security system may seem like an over-simplification of what it means to have faith in God. I would disagree. Just as you and I put our trust in the house alarm to warn us of danger, and go to sleep, trusting, then surely God wants us to put our faith and trust in Him, letting go of all anxiety and fear.

Fear or faith…which one is your master?

“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, NLT

Across the globe, people have gathered to celebrate Easter, the holiest day on the Christian calendar. Some of us have ridden the emotional roller coaster of the week leading up to Sunday, when we remember how the story played out over 2000 years ago.

Just a few days prior to His crucifixion, Jesus, honored through misunderstanding by crowds of potentially millions of people, rode on the back of a donkey being hailed, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (John 12:13). Christians know the day as Palm Sunday. What happened between Sunday and Wednesday that caused the people to switch sentiment and cry out, “Crucify Him!”? (John 19:15). If a poll had been taken on that day, very few in the crowd would have understood the true mission of Jesus Christ on the earth. Amid both exalting Jesus and then yelling for His crucifixion, people simply got caught up in the human hype failing to understand who He really was to them.

Fast forward to 2023…who do you say Jesus is? As you celebrate Easter Sunday, do you believe Jesus is the Messiah, Immanuel, God with us; that He left heaven, came to earth to die for your sins and mine, was buried for three days and rose from the grave? Do you believe that Jesus spent forty days on earth following His resurrection, seen, and heard by hundreds of people, who then watched Him ascend into the clouds of heaven where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father? Do you believe Jesus will return to the earth one future day as He said He would to gather up His “Church?” Do you believe there is a future day of judgement for those who refuse to acknowledge Jesus as their Savior, who died for their sins?

Friend, too much is at stake to not know for certain the answer to these questions and why. We may celebrate or deny the Easter story in a crowd, but we will stand one day before Holy God, alone, with or without Jesus by our side. He is our only Defense!

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NLT).

When my father was in his fifties, he suffered from erratic heart rhythm causing shortness of breath and a rapid heart rate; to solve the problem, doctors inserted a device called a pacemaker. The pacemaker detects irregular heart function and sends an electrical impulse to the heart when needed to keep the heart from over or under working. An electrocardiogram performed in a hospital or doctors office will show the effect produced by the pacemaker.   

If someone could create a chart reflecting the ebb and flow of human behavior since the beginning of time and the chart could read the behavior like that of an electrocardiogram, the result would likely appear as one in cardiac arrest. In a world where people of each generation feel entitled to take ownership of what constitutes cultural norms, defining what is acceptable behavior often depends on the loudest voices. We can all agree that “the loudest voices” are not always speaking in the best interest of humanity; one need only review history to confirm this reality. Adolf Hitler, it is said, always began his speeches almost in a whisper, drawing his audience to complete silence to hear him. However, by the end of his delivery, Hitler was yelling, inciting the crowd to join him in his deluded reverie.

The Holy Bible is God’s “pacemaker” for the human heart. When we get out of step with the precepts God has given us to live physically and spiritually healthy lives both individually and collectively, His Word will redirect our thinking and actions to align with His.

The world appears to be in a state of chaos. I wonder, though, is it only the “loudest voices” we hear trying to drown out reason and truth? “For God is a God not of disorder but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33, NRSV). If we feel out of step with those around us, let us take the time to consult God’s Word, which establishes His ownership of all things and always leads to abundant life for those who love Jesus!