wild honey from the Rock

Psalm 121

I look up to the mountains – does my help come from there?
My help comes from the LORD, who made the heavens and the earth!
He will not let you stumble and fall; the one who watches over you will not sleep.
Indeed, he who watches over Israel never tires and never sleeps.
The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade.
The sun will not hurt you by day, nor the moon at night.
The LORD keeps you from all evil and preserves your life.
The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.


This morning after I got J. off to Bogotá on the ministry bus, I went inside, poured myself a coffee and a bowl of cereal, and opened up my bible. This was the first thing my eyes landed on. I looked up from the page, out the picture window to the 6:00 a.m. cloud-shrouded mountains. Reading again, tears stung in my eyes at the confirmation that He will never sleep, He will never leave me unattended, having to go it alone. He is the one watching over me, knows my going out and coming in, has plans for good and not for evil, for a future and a hope, will complete the good works he has begun. I, too, am Israel, one who struggles with God and with life.
This morning I thank the LORD for his faithfulness, for a day of rest, for good friends, for a wonderful family, and that He willingly and lovingly takes my worries and stress and mistakes and inability, replacing them with his life, his spirit, his plans.
I feel him say to me, “Don’t pick up the burdens I’ve already taken from you. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
“For it was I, the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt [from the weight of the world on your shoulders that you were not able to rid yourself of]. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.” Psalm 81:10 (the title of this post also comes from that psalm)

I decide this morning to cast my cares at the foot of the cross, to still my soul in his presence, and to open my mouth, so that my Father and friend can fill me up with good things.