Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
11 July 11
Good morning, dear ones.
Interesting to note the rhyming of numbers in today’s date…seven, eleven, eleven. Of course the other day it was seven, seven, eleven. Incidentally, you have probably noticed that I commonly write the date in a form we learned from the British system…placing the day number ahead of the month number. Whatever.
It’s already been a busy day. There’s more to come. And we have long-time missionary friends coming for lunch…Darrell and Sheri Beebe. Hope the sun comes out again.
May your day be blessed. Love. Dad/Ray
11 July 2011
Psalms 70
Focus: “But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, ‘Let God be exalted.’” Psalm 70:4.
I remember once coming up behind an old guy (Hey—who are you calling an old guy?) driving an old pickup moving at just under the speed limit. It didn’t take long to stack up a bunch of vehicles behind us who wanted get to where they were going a lot faster than they were going. As I thought about it, I had to admit that the guy had a very good sticker message on the back window of his canopy: “Sorry—I’m not in your hurry.”
Within the five verses of this Psalm it’s pretty clear that David is in a hurry to get to a place of refuge, safety, and deliverance from all the stress and conflict he was facing. And he wants God to also get in his hurry to help him get there—NOW! But, as is the case with us who are also prone to get ourselves in similar hurries, God’s implied answer is, “Sorry, I’m not in your hurry. I work on a different time table and see a bigger picture than yours.”
There are many ways to classify people. In the course of creating these compositions I have suggested several. And here’s another: The two basic kinds of people in the world are (1) those who seek the TRUE God of the Bible, and (2) those who don’t. David is pronouncing a wish or a prayer that those who do seek God be rewarded with rejoicing, gladness, love for God and His gracious gift of salvation.
But do you see the typical discrepancy that David presents? While he wants to be among the seekers who are rejoicing and glad, he is obviously NOT at this particular point, and his frantic hurry actually prevents those qualities from happening. Nevertheless, I’m certainly not condemning David—I still regard him as a worthy role model because he is doing the right thing—doing what I need to do—continually seeking God and honestly pouring out his heart before him, no matter what the circumstances are around him.
“All the irritations of daily life subject your mind and nerves and then your muscles, to repeated tension. You can work out most of this tension with your exercise program, but if you are smart, you will try to avoid most of the tension to begin with.” - Dr. Leon Root