Will the Wicked Win?

Will the Wicked Win?

(Psalm 1; 14; 15; 36; 37; 39)

Safe Pasture

By Nickers and Ink

c2009

All rights reserved.

One of my favorite Scripture promises is found in Psalm 37:3-5:

“Trust in the Lord and do good;

Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

And he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

Trust in Him, and He will do this.”

(Psalm 37:3-5, NIV)

Of course, we have likely all seen examples of folks taking this verse out of context and attempting to persuade the Lord to offer us our every whim. Perhaps we have used this strategy ourselves.

If the Lord doesn’t seem to be filling our every desire, could He be choosing to change our desires themselves? If we would only allow God to reshape our wills, might we find our desires aligning more with His?

"’For I know the plans I have for you,’

declares the Lord,

‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future.’"

(Jeremiah 29:11)

A Poetic Pleading

Continuing our celebration of our reading through the wonderful God-given Hebrew poetry of the Psalms, as well as National Poetry Month, today’s devotional entry offers a poetic prayer, based on our Scripture readings for the day.

How about trying your own hand at composing a psalm or poem to the Lord and post it on your own blog today? Be sure to leave a comment with a link to your own post.

Standish’s Seedling Fuchsia

by Joseph Paxton,

c1850

Will you pray with me?

Not Shaken, But Stirred

A question plagued me since my youth –

How worthless chaff established root

To stand and grow and bear its fruit,

Contagious evil absolute.

Yet beauty planted by Your hand,

Obeying fully Your command

May struggle, as if in quicksand,

Reaching skyward for homeland.

So evil prospers, even here,

As weeds advance, inciting fear.

It chokes out life and bends the ear.

At what point will it disappear?

As blossoms frail, we stretch and age,

Refusing to engage ill’s rage.

Our roots hold fast against rampage,

Forever planted in Truth’s page.

The world considers us absurd,

The weirdest ones that may be heard.

But we cling closely to Your Word

To be unshaken, only stirred.

Amen.

Posted for a variety of prompts:

AC (poem in iambic pentameter)

Easy Street Prompts (“fainthearted”)

One Single Impression (“word”)

Poetic Asides (April P.A.D. Challenge – poem about an event)

Read Write Poem (NaPoWriMo – “Let’s get metaphysical”)

Seek the Lord Sunday (Jeremiah 29:11)

Sunday Scribblings (“follow”)

Then Sings My Soul Saturdays (“something heavenly”)

Photo/s posted in response to these prompts:

Lens Day Challenge photo/s)

Odd Shots Monday (photo/s)

Scenic Sunday (photo/s)

Straight Out of the Camera (SOOC Sunday)

Thursday Challenge (photo/s)

Weekend Snapshot (photo/s)

Word-Filled Wednesday (photo/s and Bible verses)

Wordless Wednesday (any day – photo/s)