Psalm 33

 I'll be back with more Simple Joys pictures tomorrow hopefully but today I had to write this down somewhere before I got out of bed....read it, or don't...it's mostly for my own benefit :)  I'm working my way through a series of devotional books that I picked up - a Woman of Character series.  Today I started this one:

 I started reading it, thinking.....I have confidence in God.  I have a faith-gift.  I trust God and have never doubted what he can do in my life.  BUT, then I got a little further in and started really seeing what it says in the first passage they suggested:  Psalm 33...and my bigger question became not "Do I trust God?"  but "What should it look like in my life if I REALLY have complete confidence in God....how would I live....what should characterize my life if I have total faith in God?"   How would that confidence in him look in me?  

The answer I get from this passage is in the last few verses (specifically vv. 20-21).  Rest & rejoice.  If I KNOW that God is in control and I'm trusting him to work in whatever situation I'm in....I can rest.  No amount of striving and working (trusting in kings, armies, strength, horses - vv. 16-17) is going to be enough.  He has a plan and it will come to pass (v. 11).  I can rest, and trust in that plan.  And, while I'm waiting....I can rejoice.  It mentions singing and making music early in the passage (vv. 1-3) but for some of us...that also includes other forms of artistic expression. Rejoicing does not = music only.  The artist in my gets antsy to go create something :) 

Psalm 33

 ¹ Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous;
   it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
² Praise the LORD with the harp;
   make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
³ Sing to him a new song;
   play skillfully, and shout for joy.

 ⁴ For the word of the LORD is right and true;
   he is faithful in all he does.
⁵ The LORD loves righteousness and justice;
   the earth is full of his unfailing love.

 ⁶ By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
   their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea into jars^[a];
   he puts the deep into storehouses.
⁸ Let all the earth fear the LORD;
   let all the people of the world revere him.
⁹ For he spoke, and it came to be;
   he commanded, and it stood firm.

 ¹⁰ The LORD foils the plans of the nations;
   he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
¹¹ But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever,
   the purposes of his heart through all generations.

 ¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
   the people he chose for his inheritance.
¹³ From heaven the LORD looks down
   and sees all mankind;
¹⁴ from his dwelling place he watches
   all who live on earth—
¹⁵ he who forms the hearts of all,
   who considers everything they do.

 ¹⁶ No king is saved by the size of his army;
   no warrior escapes by his great strength.
¹⁷ A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
   despite all its great strength it cannot save.
¹⁸ But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
   on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
¹⁹ to deliver them from death
   and keep them alive in famine.

 ²⁰ We wait in hope for the LORD;
   he is our help and our shield.
²¹ In him our hearts rejoice,
   for we trust in his holy name.
²² May your unfailing love be with us, LORD,
   even as we put our hope in you.