True North

Wake up.

Scroll through Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat, and TikTok.

Listen to devotional, while making coffee.

Breakfast for Kids, lunch packed, backpacks loaded. Referee three arguments!

Podcast on drive to work. Work, including watercooler political discussion.

Happy hour with friends to discuss the latest Amazon and Etsy finds that I can’t live without.

Audible self-help book on drive home. Pick up kids. Dinner. Referee two arguments!

Check news, repeat morning Social Media scrolling.

Binge on a Netflix series.

Sleep.

REPEAT!

Think about your day. How many people with differing opinions are vying for your attention? Who is throwing unsolicited advice your way, only to disagree with the advice you were just given. Everyone wants your attention and the voices are so LOUD! Your boss, coworkers, friends, social media, newscasters, family. Will it ever STOP? Psalm 12 gives us the answer to our searching.

(1-4) “Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing. The faithful have vanished from the earth! Neighbors lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts. May the Lord cut off their flattering lips and silence their boastful tongues. They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content. Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”

(5-8) “The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.” The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over. Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land.

Even though David wrote this Psalm thousands of years ago, it could’ve been written today! Faithfulness and commitment is waning. I don’t know who or what to believe. Who might deceive me?

We could just give up on people. But I think there is a better way. Look to your True North…Jesus! He speaks to us through His Word and gives us every answer we’re searching for. Verses 5 through 8 of Psalm 12 tell us that God’s words are pure, protective and preserved promises! I’ve learned that unless I begin my day with Him, I’m already defeated!

I was recently reading 2 Samuel 5, and it reminded me of the importance of going into my daily battles asking God before I attack all of the voices around me! In verses 19 and 23, the Bible says, “David inquired of the Lord, ‘Shall I go and attack the Philistines?’” He asked before He acted! (Spoiler alert - David defeated the Philistines)

What if we asked God each morning to show us when and where to attack the Philistines in our life?

Maybe it’s taking a rest from social media. Not throwing our hands in the air and just saying, “Oh well, that’s just the way the world is,” when we listen to the news, but instead fight the battle with God’s truth, teaching our children and grandchildren to spread love rather than hate, hope rather than despair and generosity towards our neighbors!

God has a purpose for each of us every day! Psalms 12 reminds me to focus my attention on God and His Word. Then like David, when the Philistines are advancing our way, we’ll know the truth and be able to defeat the lies of the enemy in our lives!

Pastor Pam

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