From: Dr. Randy L. Rowland [rlrowland@comcast.net] Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 6:53 PM To: Dr. Randy L. Rowland Subject: weekly words from Randoon ... 8/12/2007 Weekly Words From Randoon … For the week of 8/12/2007 News From Sanctuary – This Wednesday, 6:30pm COOKOUT AND PLAY @ GOLDEN GARDENS Next Sunday – 8/19 – FAREWELL PARTY FOR PETE/LILY ARMSTRONG – Sandel Park Following worship service. Prayers – Lord, continue to be with John Fason and all those who are helping him while he battles the end stages of cancer. Christ, have mercy on our dear friend who is deeply depressed. Holy Spirit, encourage those who are distressed over work situations in our body. Again, Lord, we beg you for peace in the world. Reflections on – Psalm 3 “Looking Up” Think about body postures. When you are sad, lonely, ashamed, guilty, depressed…what do you do? How about when you are going outside into a beautiful day? Chances are you greet the beautiful day looking up at the sky….smiling…almost wanting to lift your arms up and hug the morning. And…when you are in the more distressed state? Well, it is a pretty good bet you hunch your shoulders, hang your head and don’t look up at anyone? True for me? How about you. Well, imagine how king David must have felt when his kingdom was in a civil war, and the opposition leaders was his son, Absolom, who at the time of the Psalm we study today, was BEATING him. An ashamed and fearful David was on the run….and he wrote this Psalm…#3 – 1 O Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2 Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” Selah a 3 But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift b up my head. 4 To the Lord I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. Selah 5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. 6 I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. 7 Arise, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8 From the Lord comes deliverance. Your many foes may not be your own kin … but, how about your health, your depression, your relationships, your career? Yep, these foes surround us and threaten to undo us. In fact, we can get ‘looking down’ so hard that we forget God and the world. We forget whose image we are shaped in. We grovel in our shame….and forget the glory of being Created by God and destined to do good works and great things in Him. This Psalm refers to the patterns of normal life: “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.” God sustains us even sleep, this half-alive state day in and day out. As surely as we sleep and rise, then sleep and rise again – GOD IS THERE SUSTAINING us…and our Creator and the author of our personal and corporate destiny’s BESTOWS HIS GLORY ON US (Verse 3) in exchange for our shame, sorry, guilt, WHATEVER – and in JESUS CHRIST, God reaches down to us…and lifts us gently by the chin to look up and see him. The key the Psalm is the first word of verse 3: BUT. We can be really down. We can be hurt, despondent, self-accusing – BUT, for those who trust in CHRIST, God is present to give us glory and lift our heads. The word of God today tells all of – LOOK UP AT ME … and don’t forget the ‘divine conjuction’ , the gigantic ‘but’ that reminds you and me that ho matter how bad life is…no matter how tough we might make it – HE IS THERE and HE desires to let us let him LIFT OUR HEADS – we don’t have to live a HANG-DOG existence. Absorb some glory today – and make it a GREAT WEEK!! Much Love, Dr. Randy L. Rowland 2854 NW 59th Street Seattle, WA 98107 USA 206.953.0909 www.sanctuarycrc.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a A word of uncertain meaning, occurring frequently in the Psalms; possibly a musical term b Or LORD, | my Glorious One, who lifts