soul food

i have been reading through the Word via a lectionary called "The Saint James Daily Devotional Guide for the Christian Year." for each day, there is a new testament reading, an old testament reading, a Gospel reading, and a collection of psalms. often there is a seasonal reading, based on the church calendar, and for every week there is a prayer taken from the Book of Common Prayer, Saint Andrew's Missal, or other such old works. i love the history of faith it incorporates, especially since i was born with post-modern eyes. it grounds one to the history of God's people throughout the ages, and likewise encourages such faithfulness. it comes in four installments per year, one for each season. i highly recommend you go here and order it.

we all know that when reading God's Word, things pop out that you could swear you've never seen before, though you may have read the passage many times. this is a testimony that His Word is alive. so many times have i been struck by something, perhaps even a phrase, that speaks to my soul in deep ways. i love when i read something that destroys my assumptions and shapes for me a more true understanding of my God.

so from now on, when i am struck by something i read, i am going to write it down here. it just cannot be repressed. i have to share it. and this, i can see, is the power of the Spirit in His work of growing the kingdom. why do i feel compelled to share it, write it, memorize it, read it out loud...and why is it a joyful thing and not a burden? strange thing, really. and yet, it is God's design.

thus, for my first post under the heading of "soul food," i share the following:


i love this, from psalm 65 -

"You visit the earth and water it;
You greatly enrich it;

the river of God is full of water;

You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it.

You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.

You crown the year with Your bounty;
Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance."

and also, from psalm 58 (david is making a cunning statement about "the wicked"):

"Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime..."

and finally, from psalm 56:

"This I know, that God is for me."