Sabbath Prayer

Written June 2000

Sabbath Prayer

LORD, what a lovely ending to the Sabbath! You've sent the gentle rain off and on all day long, and the clouds have been interspersed with bits of Your glorious sunshine. Psalm 23:14 has been my meditation:

The SECRET of the LORD is with them that fear him…

The word "secret" can mean INTIMACY! YES, You have been showing me many special SECRETS! They are just for me – from YOU! But I had to search them out by doing "topical studies" and looking up word meanings. Oh, what JOY! :)

It is the glory of God to CONCEAL a thing: but the honour of kings (that's me – Rev. 1:6!) to SEARCH out a matter. (Prov. 25:2)

The word "search" means "to penetrate; hence to examine intimately". Interesting! Thank-You, LORD!

Yes, LORD..it is a lovely ending to a wonderful Sabbath! The rain is gone, but everything is still wet, and the sun is a big ball of yellow hanging underneath the remaining clouds and fading in the west underneath the treeline. As I take a little "sabbath walk", I take delight in the beauty of Your big "ball of fire" yet peeking through the trees for a few remaining moments, and I'm enjoying the little cardinal You placed at the highest point of that old dead tree limb. I can see him plainly way up high, and I can clearly hear his cheery "Cheer-up, cheer-up" song. The rippling of the water in the ditches all flows gently downward to the creek, and my tongue also
bursts forth with singing:

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (Is. 61:10)

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The morning arrives, and everything is still wet from the rain You sent again during the night, My quiet walk along this same lonely, country road this morning brings PEACE to my being, LORD... especially after meditating on my verse of the day:

Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall PLUCK MY FEET out of the net. (Ps. 25:15)

Praise be to YOU, YAHWEH!

The clouds still cover and the stillness and quietness pervades, but all the little birds are singing their own special songs, and yes… there is the little cardinal again high up on the old dead branch
singing, "Cheer-up, cheer-up"! As I walk on down the road towards the creek, I meditate on the fact that I am in "PRISON" (the prison of illness), but after my meditation in Your Word this morning, I feel FREE, LORD. I hear the chickens from my yard, and the roosters scream "Rrr-rr-rr" through the morning silence, and once again I am caught up in Song as Psalm 146 comes to mind:

1Prasie ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

2 While I LIVE will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no help…

5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his HELP, whose HOPE is in the LORD his God:…

7…The LORD LOOSETH THE PRISONERS!!!!

Amen!