Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
Be With Me is a daily 7 minute chronological walk through the New Testament hosted by Michael Smith. It is for everyone who is curious about what Jesus actually said and did in the gospels. Most episodes will leave you with at least one good thought to chew on for the rest of the day. We start with the Bible and hopefully end with Awe. We are walking through the chronological events of Jesus' life and then thoughtfully considering them. It is meant to spur the devotional life of the Christian and the not-yet-Christian. We occasionally venture into the Old Testament when it helps our understanding of the New Testament events. Everybody has 7 minutes. Everybody needs to wonder. Be With Me is hosted by Michael Smith who has absolutely no special qualifications to do a podcast. He is not a pastor. He has not been to seminary. He does not lead a mega-church. He is not a professional and he has no more credentials than you do. He does, however, follow a great God with an observant eye and a curious heart. Each day, he starts with a study bible and aims for astonishment. ‘be with him’ for 7 minutes as he sets out daily to discover the God who invites us to ‘Be With Me.’
Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder
How does God HELP us? S30e153 Ps34,19,103
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Join me as we look to 3 psalms to see practical ways God helps us.
If you love nature.
If you are broken hearted.
If are frustrated that "you are dust"
Then join me for these 7 ½ minutes to hear how God helps us.
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https://youtu.be/4MT4SinIbH8
How does God HELP us? S30e153 Ps34,19,103
God helps us when we are brokenhearted. Ps 34
God helps us in nature and in His word Ps 19
God helps us by remembering we are dust and forgetting our sin Ps 103
Psalm 34
Ps 34 A psalm for the smashed, shattered and broken-hearted I will bless the Lord at all times
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Taste memories help you recall the characteristics of God when you are not currently enjoying the characteristic of God
34:18The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
Here we find a spiritually geographic association; a proximity to those who have the right heart toward Him. : Broken-heartedness. smashed into pieces. Shattered.
What is the response of God toward the broken hearted?
His response is a closeness of the Person of HIM to the person of YOU
He allows a more porous awareness of His presence when the heart is in this condition: and it is brutal broken smashed shattered
What is the response of God toward the broken hearted?
God has a special response, toward that woundedness:. NEARNESS.
I don’t mention this lightly.
Are you: brokenhearted? smashed into pieces. Shattered?
If so, It is often there that the nearness of God is easiest to see.
It is easiest to feel God when you are smashed shattered and brokenhearted
Do you ever ask retrospectively:How was your crisis? “I never felt God closer.”
Good news ultimately: who doesn’t want to be near God?
Because it is He that made our hearts and our affections in the first place.
God is near to the broken hearted .the smashed; proximal to the shattered.
If that is you, be ready to enjoy the nearness of God
often More brokenheartedness = more NEARNESS.
Prayer: let me have the humility to break my heart before you, to smash myself first before any external smashing is required. God Helps brokenheart
In Ps 19 we learned that God has something to say in two places nature, word
First, The sky has something to say
If Nature could TALK, What Would It SAY?
Ps 19: 1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
His Glory, Work, knowledge and voice are partially communicated by nature
Sky isNot silent. Teeming with meaning. Communicating. Banishing ignorance.
That is: The character and the characteristics of God are exposed in it
soI can learn something about God just by going for a stroll
The Psalm is about the communication of God in nature, but doesn’t stop there
But I can also learn something about God by the STUDY of His Word
the communication of God is also in His word.
The second half of Ps19 talks about the wonderfulness of the Bible:
The testimony of the Lord is perfect, sure, pure…and then makes a valuation:
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
Absent the perfection, surety, truth of the Word
It cannot have any reliable effect: soul revival, changing heart, wisdom
Because the Word is holy, and pure, we can trust on it’s reliable effects Ps 19 is a call to Remember to pursue the treasures that are in God’s world in God’s Word, before pursuing the treasure of the this world: Gold.
Why learn about God in nature and in His word? Just for knowledge? No.
David LANDS on being changed. Being pleasing before the Lord
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
I want to be changed into someone who is pleasing to YOU
I do not stand before the sky for nothing
I do not study your Word for naught
Nature is not without an effect. His word is not without an effect
No, I want those activities, and many others, please you. So don’t crack your Bible or put on your hiking shoes without wanting the pleasure of God as outcom
Finally let’s remember how God HELPS US in Ps 103
Bless the Lord, o my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name.
It is a sustaind celebration of God’s goodness and benevolence
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
What does God NOT remember? Our faithfully placed sins
Where? Into His lap. On the cross. Perfect sacrifice
How effective? Perfectly. As far as east from west
God forgets our sin
And remembers we are dust.
Life is painful. Temptation is hard. Purity comes at a cost. Integrity is not without a price. Service is exhausting. Justice comes slowly. Forgiveness is tremendously difficult.
The Lord is compassionate
Heb 2: 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Heb 4: . 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ?
What if we did not have such a God
What if He was not good to us in shuch a way
What way:
By forgetting our Sin.
The God who cannot forget actively forgets our sin
By remembering our Dust. How much. All the way to be made like us
To be made faithful priest to make propitiation for sins. What’s that: to make them disappear
Help ON THAT DAY: sin. Help with the day to day.
Are you tempted now? You’ve got.help, real time real God help?
God helps us when we are brokenhearted. Ps 34
God helps us in nature and in His word Ps 19
God helps us by remembering we are dust and forgetting our sin Ps 103