“For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” – Psa. 103:14

The truth of this text should do two things:
IT SHOULD COMFORT US
As J. R. Miller said, “God does not treat us as if we were strong, holy, and unfallen angels! He does not forget that we are weak, that it is hard for us to live right, that we are easily tempted and overcome. He is very patient and gentle with us when we have sinned–binding up our wounds, restoring our soul. He does not lay upon us loads too great for us–for He knows how weak we are! He gives us help, too, with our burdens–that we need not faint under them. We ought to get a great deal of comfort out of these words. You say you are so weak that you cannot resist temptation. Does not God know it? Will He not help you to overcome? You are weary through trouble or burden-bearing–but God knows all about it! You find your work hard, and cannot see how you are ever to get through with it; but God understands. He knows how frail you are; He remembers that you are only dust. He is pitiful, and gives always needed help!”

IT SHOULD CORRECT US
What if God allowed His disappointment with our imperfections to affect His love for us and His goodness toward us? That’s a common trait of man. For some reason we feel we must show our displeasure with others when they fail. Sometimes we act as though their sin was against us rather than God. And it’s often the case that our unkindness toward them is a worse sin than theirs. May God help us to be more like Him. Our wrong doing never provokes Him to do wrong. Whatever He does in response to our sin is always done out of love (Heb. 12:6). He cannot do otherwise, for God is love, and we should not do otherwise. Far too often we forget that we ourselves are subject to falling, or what great trials the other person has been through or is going through. Had we been in their shoes we might have done much worse than they did. And I suspect we would appreciate the encouragement of knowing we are loved any way, rather than being mistreated. It was the goodness of God that led us to repentance ( Rom. 2:4) and our goodness toward others gives them their best chance for recover.– HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?”- Dan. 6:20

How many times we find this expression in the Scriptures, and yet it is just this very thing that we are so prone to lose sight of. We know it is written “the living God”; but in our daily life there is scarcely anything we practically so much lose sight of as the fact that God is the living God; that He is now whatever He was three or four thousand years since; that He has the same sovereign power, the same saving love towards those who love and serve Him as ever He had and that He will do for them now what He did for others two, three, four thousand years ago, simply because He is the living God, the unchanging One. Oh, how therefore we should confide in Him, and in our darkest moments never lose sight of the fact that He is still and ever will be the living God! Be assured, if you walk with Him and look to Him and expect help from Him, He will never fail you….. In the greatest difficulties, in the heaviest trials, in the deepest poverty and necessities, He has never failed me; but because I was enabled by His grace to trust Him He has always appeared for my help. I delight in speaking well of His name. (George Mueller)

I’ve never met anyone needing deliverance from a lion’s den, but everyone I meet has a need of some sort. While they might describe it as a need for food, freedom, health, wealth, wisdom, strength, or a thousand other things, their great need is help from the living God. While the nature of our problems vary our great need always remains the same, and it’s the same for everyone,– we need the living God.-HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.”- Psa. 119:15″My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.”– Psa. 119:28
I’ve been thinking about thinking. I’ll warn you ahead of time that I’m not a doctor, a shrink, or a genius. Some have even questioned whether or not I have a brain. However, I’m convinced that I have the answer to a lot of the anxiety that we see today.

There are two pieces of medical equipment that would work wonders if put to use– the rocking chair and the porch swing. Yes, I really believe that. People are running themselves ragged and making themselves miserable, and there is no justification for it. They act as though this is the only generation that has ever had problems and that theirs is the worst. How soon we forget! Look back at history and you will see that people have always had problems and yes some were much worse than yours, or mine.

Admittedly we have many serious problems today that should cause us concern, but that doesn’t mean that we should live in a state of panic. Much of the stress we experience is self-induced. And we do little or nothing to reduce it. We even seem to resent someone suggesting that we ought to relax. In our mind, to just sit and think for 30 minutes or so each day is a senseless waste of time. Obviously they’ve never given it a fair shot or they wouldn’t knock it. Just as the body needs rest the mind needs relaxation. Although not entirely true, Blaise Pascal made a good point when he said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone”. Rather than relax and meditate in a rocking chair most people are like a cat on a hot tin roof.

By the way, there is another piece of equipment that goes perfect with those I’ve mentioned. I’m talking about the Bible. It can work miracles. It can do what nothing else can do. While in-depth Bible study is important, sometimes it is better to just sit and read God’s Word. It speaks for itself. I know– you’ve got work to do, activities with the kids, and problems to attend to. But I’m not telling you to camp out on the porch or to spend all day in the rocking chair. I’m simply suggesting that you capture what moments you can and put them to use. Allow God to speak to you through His Word and meditate upon what He says. You will be glad you did. — HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.” — Matt. 4:18-22

Christ calls us to come to Him and then to follow Him. Wise men do. However, to follow Christ we must be willing to leave something. The problem is that most people don’t want to leave their comfort zone. But there is no way around it. To make progress in our spiritual life, to get to the place where God wants us to be, we must leave where we are. We might remain in the same geographical location all of our life, but our primary interest must shift from everything else to Christ. As we forge ahead by faith we must leave somethings behind. And if we truly realized how much we gain by what we give we would never hold out on God. If we knew what great blessings lay ahead we wouldn’t worry about the things we leave behind. We would gladly give Him all.

Michael card wrote a song called “Things We Leave Behind” that speaks of this matter. It begins like this:

There sits Simon,
 so foolishly wise
 proudly he’s tending his nets
 Then Jesus calls,
 and the boats drift away
 all that he owns he forgets

 More than the nets
 he abandoned that day,
 he found that his pride was soon drifting away
 It’s hard to imagine the freedom we find
 from the things we leave behind

You would do well to read the entire song, but this makes my point. And remember this– When we are following Christ what lies ahead is always better than what we leave behind.–HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”- Rom. 8:18

Men search for silver, dig for diamonds, seek success, plead for popularity, and pursue pleasures, but none or all of these ever satisfy the longings of their soul. Although they acquire all that the world affords there is something missing. That something is actually Someone– Christ. Absolutely nothing can compare with the salvation provided by the Lord Jesus Christ. Pleasure, possessions, popularity, and power are as nothing compared to the gift of eternal salvation. The greatness of salvation is not only in what we are saved from, but also in what we are saved unto. J. C. Philpot described it well when he wrote:

“For consider what we are saved from, as well as what we are saved unto. From a burning hell to a blissful heaven; from endless wrath to eternal glory; from the dreadful company of devils and damned spirits, mutually tormenting and tormented, to the blessed companionship of the glorified saints, all perfectly conformed in body and soul to the image of Christ, with thousands and tens of thousands of holy angels, and, above all, to seeing the glorious Son of God as he is, in all the perfection of his beauty, and all the ravishments of his presence and love.To be done forever with all the sorrows, troubles, and afflictions of this life; all the pains and aches of the present clay tabernacle; all the darkness, bondage, and misery of the body of sin and death; to be perfectly holy in body and soul, being in both without spot, or blemish, or any such thing, and ever to enjoy uninterrupted union and communion with the Father, Son, and blessed Spirit—O what a heaven lies before the believing saints of God as the end of their faith in the salvation of their souls!”

As I’ve said hundreds of times, for the Christian the best is always yet to come ! Our future always looks bright if we look far enough ahead. In that glorious day when we stand in the presence of our Savior we shall find no cause for complaint about the past, no discomfort in the moment, and no fear of the future. We shall be at peace in the vast sea of eternity where all is perfect forever, rejoicing in our Redeemer.– HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346