Psalm 36 New American Standard Bible
Wickedness of Humanity and Goodness of God.
For the music director. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord.
36 [a]Wrongdoing speaks to the ungodly within [b]his heart;
There is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 For it flatters him in his own eyes
Concerning the discovery of his wrongful deed and the hatred of it.
3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;
He has ceased to [c]be wise and to do good.
4 He plans wickedness on his bed;
He sets himself on a path that is not good;
He does not reject evil.
5 Your mercy, Lord, [d]extends to the heavens,
Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the [e]mountains of God;
Your judgments are like the great deep.
Lord, You [f]protect mankind and animals.
7 How precious is Your mercy, God!
And the sons of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
8 They drink their fill of the [g]abundance of Your house;
And You allow them to drink from the river of Your delights.
9 For the fountain of life is with You;
In Your light we see light.
10 Prolong Your mercy to those who know You,
And Your righteousness to the upright of heart.
11 May the foot of pride not come upon me,
And may the hand of the wicked not drive me away.
12 Those who do injustice have fallen there;
They have been thrust down and cannot rise.
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
What happens when only one person in a relationship is faithful?
The one who’s committed might be able to hold some kind of relationship together, but there won’t be the sort of closeness and trust they long for.
There will be heartbreak and conflict, distrust and disunity.
It’s pretty obvious faithfulness has to go both ways for human relationships to work well.
And we don’t, we wont, approve of the sort of people who would say, “You have to be faithful to me but I don’t have to be faithful to you.”
But have we ever thought something similar in our relationship with God?
We anticipate, we expect God to always be faithful to us and keep His promises to shower us with blessings, never forsake us, and welcome us into eternal life.
But do we anticipate, expect, ourselves to be equally faithful in return?
We should.
Psalm 121 The Message
121 1-2 I look up to the mountains;
does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
3-4 He won’t let you stumble,
your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel’s
Guardian will never doze or sleep.
5-6 God’s your Guardian,
right at your side to protect you—
Shielding you from sunstroke,
sheltering you from moonstroke.
7-8 God guards you from every evil,
he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
he guards you now, he guards you always.
God Keeps All His Promises
God is faithful. He is Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh — I AM who I AM. We can count on Him existing forever as Himself, the faithful one who does not change (Malachi 3:6).
Psalm 89:30-34 New American Standard Bible
30 “If his sons abandon My Law
And do not walk in My judgments,
31 If they [a]violate My statutes
And do not keep My commandments,
32 Then I will punish their wrongdoing with the rod,
And their guilt with [b]afflictions.
33 But I will not [c]withhold My favor from him,
Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.
34 I will not [d]violate My covenant,
Nor will I alter [e]the utterance of My lips.
God is never going to break the promises He’s made or stop trying to restore broken relationships. But His promises include ominous consequences if we are unfaithful to Him. We can’t just go about living however we want and assume it does not, or will not, matter 1% to God. Our actions affect our relationship with God, even mightily damage destroy it, though His commitment doesn’t change.
We Have To Love Him Back ….
John 14:20-24 Amplified Bible
20 On that day [when that time comes] you will know for yourselves that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. 21 The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him [I will make Myself real to him].” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, “Lord, what has happened that You are going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered, “If anyone [really] loves Me, he will keep My word (teaching); and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling place with him. 24 One who does not [really] love Me does not keep My words. And the word (teaching) which you hear is not Mine, but is the Father’s who sent Me.
We cannot be in a true relationship with God if He’s the only one trying to make things work. Just as you and I want the people you, and I, love to love us all back and demonstrate their love through their actions, does God want that from us.
He will always love us whether or not we love Him (John 3:16-21), but we can only have an intimate relationship with Him if we’re doing, fulfilling. our part.
Loving Jesus results in faithful actions. If we’re not keeping His words and walking in His footsteps, then we don’t have a relationship with Him.
And people who do claim to have fellowship with Jesus yet don’t follow His teachings are liars (1 John 1:6).
Keep Returning To Faithfulness
Hebrews 11:5-6 The Message
5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
Faithfulness must go both ways. God promises faithfulness and He’s seeking relationship with people “whose heart is fully devoted to him” (2 Chr. 16:9).
He highly values those who promise to be faithful to Him and then diligently, sincerely, studiously, prayerfully, step by step follow-through on that promise.
God knows all to well we are human. He does not expect 100% faithfulness from us in the exact same way He gives 100% faithfulness to us. But He does expect that when we miss the mark we will come back and recommit ourselves to Him.
We want a God who is faithful to us.
But we don’t always want the hard parts of the relationship — the things that rest square on our full cooperation.
Yet faithfulness on our parts is undeniably essential if we 100% want to have a relationship with the faithful One who always calls for us to come back to Him.
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus shares a parable to teach we “must always pray and not give up.” He teaches God hears us and can be relied on to respond (Luke 18:1-6).
Then He asks a distinctly pointed question …
“When (not if) I come back will there be faithful people on earth?” verse 8
He is going to come back.
That’s a promise.
But He wonders what He’ll find.
Will there be people who are eagerly awaiting Him?
People who’ve been following Him, glorifying His Father by producing good fruits (John 15:8)?
Philippians 2:5-11 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 Let the same mind be in you that was[a] in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he existed in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
assuming human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a human,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God exalted him even more highly
and gave him the name
that is above every other name,
10 so that at the name given to Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
People who were faithful to the point of death (Heb. 11:32-40; Rev. 2:10)?
I don’t know whether or not we are going to be alive or in the grave when Jesus comes back looking for “faithful” people. But we have humble ourselves to live as if He’ll be back tomorrow, and we have to pass on his example of faithfulness to the next generation as if He will tarry another few months, decades or more.
In the name of God, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit …
Praying ….
Psalm 19 The Message
19 1-2 God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.
3-4 Their words aren’t heard,
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
4-5 God makes a huge dome
for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
racing to the tape.
6 That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies
from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith.
7-9 The revelation of God is whole
and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right,
showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
and easy on the eyes.
God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,
with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are accurate
down to the nth degree.
10 God’s Word is better than a diamond,
better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring,
better than red, ripe strawberries.
11-14 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger
and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins,
from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed,
scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth;
these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-My-Altar.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 
