Psalm 118 is a personal favorite. It’s beauty, simplicity, and expression of deep faith when “things” are not going “right” inspires in the midst of uncertainty. Maybe you can relate?

The psalm opens with a call to “give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His mercy endures forever.” Then the author calls Israel, the sons of Aaron, and all who fear the Lord to give thanks for His enduring mercy.

Put your name in there to, “Let ______ say, ‘His mercy endures forever.” Personalize it, especially when you are encompassed by troubles. Speak the promise of His enduring mercy.

When dangers cause stumbling, when it seems correction is too great to bear, His mercy endures, bringing stability and rejoicing, take that personally.

When trials press in, we rejoice together, because the right hand of God has delivered us in order to declare His wondrous works. The years of wandering and trials will cease, and we will enter the gates of righteousness with praise.

Personalize it. Personalize the rejected Stone Who is now the cornerstone, Yeshua/Jesus, as He goes before you this day, what is made will be measured according to His righteousness, and will conclude in His will, perfectly.

“This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24) is not a declaration of excitement when all is well, but a cry of victory over the present circumstance because of the One who orders our steps.

Rejoice now, when rejoicing is the furthest thing from your mind, and the hope on the horizon will be manifest in the present.

“Let ______ say, ‘His mercy endures forever,” that’s you and me as well.

Be well. Shalom.

This clay has talked back. This clay has questioned. This clay has argued. This clay has attempted to persuade.

Yet the hand of the Potter continued to work against the natural inclination of this clay. Mashed against the wheel, His hand working the lump into a form discomforting this clay.

Pressure of hand and wheel. The will of the Potter working this clay against the circumstance manifest as a potters wheel, shaping this clay into a vessel.

The working of this clay is contrary to the sensibilities and sensitives of today, as the clay must, for once and again, behold the truth that God the Father is Lord, and this clay is not.

The Potters House demonstrates a simple principle: the Lord has the right and authority to work this clay however He wills.

It’s painful. It’s unsettling. It’s not what the clay would want. Yet, in His hand this clay is worked perfectly according to the desire of His heart, according to His plan and purpose for the vessel He is forming for use in His house.

Messiah bought the potters field, so the Potter could rework and refresh the rejected clay (Matt. 27:7-10).

Once rejected, under the pressure of His hand, you are more accepted then you ever imagined; because He purposely and intentionally bought you, and that, at the highest price.

Meditation: Isaiah 64:7; Jeremiah 18:1-4; Romans 8:28-29; 10:8-10.

Be well. Shalom.

“You are His workmanship” (Eph. 2:10).

All too often, as disciples of Messiah we forgot who and what we are to be, when we struggle to be relevant, of importance, or influential.

The word “workmanship” in Greek is a cognate of the English word “poem,” another way, “You are His poem,” created in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus. The written poem cannot say back to the Author, “I don’t like the words You have used to create me, give me better words, even more meaningful, more beautiful words.” After all, the poem comes alive by those words.

God is the poet, you are His poem, and as you are refined by word and breath, you will be read by those around you with the rhythm of His life, provided you stop attempting to erase and substitute the words of His poem, for what is more desirable.

Much like the clay and Potter, the poem of your life in Messiah is a unique expression of He who is in you. You are written to be a representation of the Authors heart for those around you to read, not a critic of your own story.

Be well. Shalom.

(Pictures: Ephesians 2:8-10 in Hebrew.)