God Never Fails & His Word Never Fails -Psalm 37:37 - Episode 109

 

Homeschool Mom Summer Summit Info

Jan is the  author of the new book “A 60-Day Prayer Journal for Parents” & the audio course "Psalm 91- Pray It & Believe"

Well hey there,  thanks for checking out the podcast today. In this episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show we are concluding our look into the promises we discover in Psalm 37, an awesome psalm penned by David (and I really do mean awesome, that’s an accurate word to describe Psalm 37). 

 

Today we are going to look at just one verse and I’d like to share a bit with you from C.H. Spurgeon and E.M. Bounds. Ready? Let’s jump in.

 

You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, part of the Spark Network, now playing in the Edifi app. I’m your host, Jan L. Burt, and this is episode number 109.

 

Psalm 37, verse 37 - from the Amplified and the CSB.

 

Amplified says this: Mark the blameless man (who is spiritually complete) and behold the upright (who walks in moral integrity); there is a (good) future for the man of peace (because a life of honor blesses one’s descendants).

 

Isn’t that a remarkable verse?

There are so, so many times when I just am flat in awe of how much is packed into one single verse from the Bible. It literally astounds me!

There are answers for us in all the things we face daily. And regarding this verse, I’m going to share how one verse can literally change the course of our lives. My hubby and I, we had quite an experience some years back. Now, I’m not going to dive into details because, according to what the Apostle Paul lays out very, very clearly in the New Testament, sharing details just is not right. So, in a broad and very generic sense, we had a situation and it involved our work in ministry. Things got difficult, went kind of sideways, you might say. I’m not gonna say we were right and someone else was wrong but I will say that we were deeply hurt by all that took place. This was on the heels of my mothers death, just boom right on top of that. We knew the Lord wanted us to handle this time with decency that would bring honor to His name. That was far more important than “winning” or than being understood or any of that kind of thing. And honestly, the body of Christ is precious to the Lord, and we really truly did choose to simply be silent, bite our tongues, and rather choose to be totally misunderstood and possibly even slandered and maligned rather than put some kind of a mark on God’s big C church. The bride of Christ is to be spotless upon the day of Jesus’ return, right? We did not want to put any kind of spot where Jesus says, “Keep that spotless.” Basically, we applied the words of Psalm 37 verse 37 here in the Amplified. We wanted to walk in moral integrity, we wanted to be the man, and the woman, of peace and to live a life in honor, in spite of our own feelings and hurts and mourning and all the things that come with hard times. And if you did not know this, being a disciple of Jesus comes with hard times! Some of those hard times involve fellow Christians. I feel bad sharing that with you if you did not already know that. And if you’ve been on the other end of those sorts of hard times, let me tell you that I am so sorry, and I wish it were different, but please please do not walk away from the church or from Jesus, no matter what. And no matter how things shook out, even if there was like a fit of anger and words were said, by you or by others, that you wish you could take back, even if you shared too much with people (because when we are really hurting and start to talk, it can come out like a torrent, like a flood, and things can come out that are so far beyond what we ever intended to share… our pain needs to come out, and the Lord is always always there to listen as we just share honestly with him, David did it all the time we find in the psalms) but if you maybe went too far in what you said and it became gossip, guess what? There’s grace for that! And healing and God’s goodness and His great love. Don’t let any of those things keep you from the Church or from the Lord, please. We can’t always be perfect, or why would we need a Savior? But we are being sanctified continually, so we can expect to get better and better and become more and more like Jesus. So, there is no condemnation here on this podcast - because who am I to condemn someone when there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So, in this case, we bit our tongues and felt like we would rather be misunderstood than to even hint at causing any type of division or gossip or anything like that, and we were in grief, so we knew our words could become a flood pretty quickly, so we kept quiet. And you know what? God has done such a healing work in us, for us, and for those around us. It has been one of the most incredible seasons of our lives, these last several years, and I could have totally missed it had I not stayed close to Jesus, taken my heart heaviness to Him first and foremost, walked through it by staying in the Church, and just simply believing that if God put it in His word, I could trust it to be the best way for me to live out this hard place in my life. My husband, he handled it even better, like a bazillion times better, than I did. God’s word, it works. It does what it says it will do. Because God keeps all of His promises. He never fails, and He never will. And so, His word never fails, either. 

 

If you are in a hard place right now, and especially if that hard place involves other believers, can I encourage you to stick super duper close to the Lord? Like, He should be your oxygen. Always with you, a breath away, your life source. And stick with the Church, because it is His Church, it is His body, we are the bride of Christ. Do that today. Just for today, don’t live in the yesterdays and don’t fret about all the possibilities of your tomorrows. For today, stick close to Jesus and stick with His Church. Then, do it again tomorrow. Expect the Lord to bring healing and comfort as you stay in His word, spend time in prayer, and as you keep believing that the body is your good place, these are your people, and you will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 

 

Here is that same verse from the CSB.

Watch the blameless and observe the upright, for the person of peace will have a future. 

 

A bit shorter than the AMP, but it drives the point home well, doesn’t it? Take a look at some people in your life, in your world, find some Christ followers who live well. Who you could say handle things rightly, would fit the description of being blameless. Not perfect, that isn’t what this means - but how they doin’ at living life in those hard places? How’s their tongue? Find the people who mind their tongue and honor the Lord in the hard places. And also in the sweet spots. Some people don’t end up on the struggle bus until they start to do well, and then, well, it’s all downhill from there. Am I right? So watch the blameless and observe the upright. And emulate them! Learn from them! Take a lesson, and heed it! For the person of peace WILL have a future.

 

There’s the word will, four little letters that just make me smile. Because when God says will, He really does mean it! He will do all and every bit of what He has said He will do. The person of peace will have a future. There’s the promise for us. Be a person of peace, even when it seems hard and you would be justified to just let fly! Be a person of peace, because then you will have a future. The AMP says there will be a good future for you and your descendants will be blessed, so that’s like a heaped up kind of blessing. We need to go after those, and grab hold of them. Blessings upon blessings, well those promises are worth a bit of tongue biting, aren’t they? 

 

Now I’d like to share a word or two from Charles Haddon Spurgeon. I have this wonderful study Bible with sermon notes from Spurgeon, and boy does it learn me a lesson or two! 

 

Spurgeon says regarding Psalm 37, “I feel no chains in my religion, for I am free, and no one is more free. He who fears God and is wholly God’s servant has no chains about him; he may live as he likes, for he likes to live as he ought. He may have his full desires, for his desires are holy, heavenly, and divine. He may take the full range of the utmost capacity of his wishes and desires and have all he needs and all he wishes, for God has given him the promise, and God will give him the fulfillment of it.” 

 

He was referencing verse 4, which says: Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desires.

 

Isn’t that greatly encouraging? God isn’t telling you to stubbornly will yourself to hate what your flesh loves. He is telling you that He aims to help you put to death any and all sinful desires, what your flesh loves, and He has amazingly good things in its stead. He gave you the promise, and He will also give you the fulfillment of said promise. 

 

God is, by nature, a chronic giver. He will give you what He has promised, and He wants you to believe Him for it.

And I’d like to end this episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show with some words from E.M Bounds. Mr. Bounds wrote so much on the subject of prayer, and I love the intercessory work of the Church, so let’s just look at a couple of things he said.

 

“The providence of God reaches as far as the realm of prayer. It has to do with everything for which we pray. Nothing is too small for the eye of God, nothing too insignificant for His notice and His care. God’s providence has to do with even the stumbling of the feet of His saints. “For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” Psalm 91:11 -12 His care reaches to the smallest things and has to do with even the most insignificant matters that concern men. He who believes in the God of providence is prepared to see His hand in all things that come to him and can pray about everything.

“While God’s providence is over all men, yet His supervision and administration of His government are particularly in the interest of His people. Prayer brings God’s providences into action. Prayer opens the way when it is shut up or hampered.

“It has to do with food and clothing, with business difficulties, with interposing and saying from danger, and with helping in emergencies at opportune and critical times.

“We have an impressive lesson on divine providence in the case of Elijah when he was sent to the brook Cherith, where God actually employed the ravens to feed His prophet. He was an interposition so plain that God cannot be ruled out of life’s temporalities. Before God will allow His servant to lack bread, He moves the birds of the air to do His bidding and take care of His prophet.” 

 

Okay, so that was a long quote. 

But wasn’t that good?

Have you considered prayer in this way? That you are inviting God to step in and via His providence change things, intervene in the big things and the little things, remembering that nothing is too small or insignificant for His care? Such a great reminder when it comes to the why behind our praying. We pray because we believe our God hears and answers, right? We want to experience His care that reaches to the smallest things! And so, we pray. And we can pray about everything. Prayer brings God’s providences into action. It opens the way. Oh that we would pray as much as God would have us pray! How would our world, and even the entire world, be changed? We will never know until we set to work at praying! Want to live the miraculous like Elijah did? Pray for it, in the big and the little. Not just for the healing from cancer or for a job for the unemployed, but for daily bread in a way that just boggles the mind and shows off who our God is (like bread delivered by ravens) and for a heart willing to be the only one who saw that daily provision from ravens beaks (like Elijah), and that if the brook dries up, the God to whom you pray will speak to you about where to go next… even if it is to a place and a person quote / unquote outside of where you think the provision will come. He takes care of His own. Pray big, bold, daring prayers - and pray those prayers even over the small things, the daily things. Why? Well, why not? Why not look and expect to see the hand of God at work in the dailies? Some of your greatest blessings, some of the praises from your lips, may come in response to your prayers for the things you often think of as small. 

 

Okay, that’s all for episode 109 - and I’d like to mention that I am a speaker at the upcoming Homeschool Mom Summer Summit. I’m speaking three times at the summit, but I will also be going live in the summit facebook group several times, like a minimum of three times, and I’ve got some giveaways and lots of stuff as part of this. So if you homeschool, if you know any homeschoolers, check it out. Link is in the show notes and also I’ll make sure I have that easy to find on my website, which is just my name, Jan middle initial L Burt dot com. 

 

 

I’m speaking on these three topics: 

Character Training That Lasts a Lifetime

Managing The Mayhem

A Time of Encouragement for You, the Homeschool Moms

 

I would be so honored to have you check it out and listen in to my workshops. I’m always so blessed to be able to love on the homeschool community, and honestly if any of these sound interesting to you even if you don’t home educate, please take a look at this summit. There is a free option, and it allows you access to the summit sessions on a daily basis, so you’d want to take a look at each day’s offerings and then pick a couple to watch / listen to on that day. It’s an online summit, which is nice. And I for sure has some tech issues with my recordings, so as always, I keep it very very real because it’s not a contest, it’s just life. Let’s do life together, cheering one another on, and get on with the tasks God has entrusted to us.

 

Check out that link and sign up, share it with friends, and have a beyond blessed day today. 

I’m thankful for you, and I am praying for all the podcast listeners. Thanks for being here.

 

See ya next time for episode 110!

Bye bye!