Psalm 65-67; 69-70

I confess being distracted this evening as I read through these Psalms.  I’ve been laid up today with pain and have become engrossed in a novel…so much so that I feel as if the characters are real.  That’s the problem I have sometimes with reading.  I get “into” them so much that I tend to walk around for awhile in my real life in a fog, going over the novel life in my thoughts.

I’m struggling with this tendency especially since I am re-reading a book that I once put down — it’s the fourth Harry Potter book.  The reason I stopped reading it years ago is because it too dark for me.  I was afraid that perhaps God didn’t want me to read it — all that magical stuff and whatnot.

So. Imagine my consternation at being in the middle of this book and feeling as if I can’t put it down!

I wish I had the same delight in reading the Bible as I do in reading a good novel.  The only “downer” about this Bible Reading Challenge is that it has become more of a habit-thing and less of a heart-thing.  I find myself hoping that today’s reading will be short.  This is probably due to the fact that I wait until after ten at night to sit down and read!

Lord, would you please give me fresh eyes and a fresh spirit?  Let me learn more and more about You and your character through the pages of this book, Your Word, that is alive.  I pray you will give me a hunger and a desire to read what comes next, and that I will be more like a miner chipping out precious jewels than a bulldozer operator tearing down houses and checking them off a list.

I did enjoy reading Psalm 65 today.  I found these verses particularly beautiful:

You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,
O God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,

⁶ who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,

⁷ who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.

⁸ Those living far away fear your wonders;
where morning dawns and evening fades
you call forth songs of joy.

As evening fades here over Texas, I sing a song of joy to You, Lord, because you hear my prayer.  And I wait expectantly for you to answer…bringing me a renewed spirit and a life rededicated to following Christ.  I can’t do it alone.  I need you, Lord…thank you for loving me even when I am most unlovable.