–Louis L’Amour  (Borden Chantry)

       “Make Your ways known to me, LORD; teach me Your paths.”

                    –Psalm 25:4 (HCSB)
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As we have looked at Psalm 105 we have seen that it is a psalm of reminder.  It focuses on the history of Israel and God’s deliverance throughout their history.  With this month of Thanksgiving, why not sit down and write, or at least think, about all the times that God has taken care of you.  The many times He has delivered you from possible death, the times He has been there when sickness was in the house.  Most reading this will not know the feeling of starvation for there was always some food on the table.  You may have gone from steak to beans, but there was sustenance.  A roof overhead, a bed, but most importantly the knowledge that God was there with you.

          37 — He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes.
          38 — Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen upon them.
          39 — He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night.
          40 — The people asked, and He brought quail, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
          41 — He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it ran in the dry places like a river.
          42 — For He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant.
          43 — He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness.
          44 — He gave them the lands of the Gentiles, and they inherited the labor of the nations,
          45 — That they might observe His statutes and keep His laws.   Praise the LORD!  (NKJV)

     God is there to protect and guide.  A cloud for covering and fire to give light.  It served as a guide in the wilderness, a shield of protection, and a covering for the manifestations of God’s glorious presence.  If you are in the midst of a wilderness why not look up and see the cloud of God hovering over you?  He is there, just as He was with the Israelites.  F.B. Meyer said, “Dare to believe that one day, when you know as you are known, you shall understand the lovingkindness that underlay your darkest experience.”
     In the midst of your turmoil and troubles remember the Lord, His dealings in the Scriptures, and His covering over you in the past.  God is faithful and He will take care of our needs.  If the need arises He will give food from heaven, or He will open up the rock to satisfy our thirst.  To bring it closer to home, the “Rock” has been struck and from this Rock flow the waters of life which if we drink of Him we will never thirst (John 4:13-14).
     This psalm records five hundred years of God’s unbroken faithfulness toward His people.  Think and know–that God’s eternal purposes are still being carried out in the world in which we live.  We should have confidence in the God who rules history.  George O. Wood puts it this way, “If today is not one of joy, God’s tomorrow will be.  The Lord will never leave or abandon you in ‘Egypt’ or ‘the wilderness.’  He intends to bring you into a place where the ecstasy far outweighs the agony.”   Perhaps this is a good place to utter those last words of the psalm — Praise the LORD!

                    “Through each perplexing path of life
                    Our wandering footsteps guide;
                    Give us each day our daily bread
                    And raiment fit  provide.”
                          –Philip Doddridge

                    –Revelation 22:1 (NKJV)
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It’s been a while since I mentioned a “hymn at midnight,” but one has been running through my mind.  Yesterday I wrote that when we become fully awake that we shall see Jesus in His glory.  This hymn was written by Charles H. Gabriel, a prolific composer.  He wrote between 7000-8000 songs, along with twenty-three choir cantatas, forty-one Christmas cantatas, and edited over thirty-five hymnbooks.
       But back to the thought of being fully awake.  It is then that we shall see Him face to face.  It is then, when the trials, toils, and troubles of this life are over that we will, upon death, actually become fully awake when we enter the portals of glory.  There will be no night there, no sleeping–O that will be glory!

          “When all my labors and trials are o’er,
          And I am safe on that beautiful shore,
          Just to be near the dear Lord I adore,
          Will thro’ the ages be glory for me.”

What is the old saying, “born once, die twice; born twice, die once”?  To an extent, as we walk through this life we are awake.  Perhaps not fully for along the way we get groggy because of the work of the day and the fight of the battle.  We wonder, when oh when will it be over and then we realize that it is only through His grace that we will waken in glory.  There is a wonderful term in the second verse, “infinite.”  Stop, ponder this!  His infinite grace!  It is what will carry us over through the veil.

          “When, by the gift of His infinite grace,
          I am accorded in heaven a place,
          Just to be there and to look on His face,
          Will thro’ the ages be glory for me.”

Our feet get sore along the way, our legs ache with weariness.  But on the other side there will be friends with arms outstretched to welcome.  Joy, unspeakable joy, unfathomable joy will course around us.  Then we will awaken fully, and look up on the face of Jesus, and see Him smile–WOW!  Imagine!  We shall finally see Him face to face; we shall see Him as He is–o that will be glory!

          “Friends will be there I have loved long ago;
          Joy like a river around me will flow;
          Yet, just a smile from my Saviour, I know,
          Will thro’ the ages be glory for me.

                    O that will be glory for me,
                    Glory for me, glory for me;
                    When by His grace I shall look on His face,
                    That will be glory, be glory for me.”

                    –Nathan West  (Haunted West)

       “I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD…”

                    –Psalm 132:4-5 (NKJV)
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Have you ever had trouble staying awake?  I remember one recruit that was caught sleeping while on guard duty in Basic Training.  My, oh my, did he receive some special instructions from the D.I.  Thanksgiving meal, it will surely bring on the heaviness of the eyelids.   Perhaps while driving you have felt yourself running off the road and those little rumble strips brought you out of your slumber.  They not only gave you a little tingle, but they quickly awakened you.  Sleeping is vital to our well-being, however, to fall asleep at the wrong time could be dangerous.
       At night, when I lay on my bed I try to always pray, I fall asleep.  In fact, in my life I have found that if a person needs sleep they should start praying.  It used to really bother me, but I have read that I’m in good company.   Luke writes, “But Peter and those with him [James and John] were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him.” (9:32, NKJV)  Matthew doesn’t say that they were sleeping but he does bring out a very good point, “When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” (17:8, NKJV)
       Look again at the verse from Luke, “when they were fully awake, they saw His glory…”  Yes, God often gives us blessed sleep, peaceful sleep; it is refreshing to the body as well as to the soul.  But…notice here, “when they were fully awake.”  I want to shout at myself as I write this–wake up, oh my soul!  We cannot work while we sleep, we cannot further the kingdom while we sleep.  We cannot be faithful or work any acts of faith while we sleep.  George Matheson proclaims, “It is from my waking soul, from my reasoning soul, from my prudent and poising and pondering soul that He values the expression of my faith.”
       I have seen where I am going through God’s Word.  I have known whom I have believed.  It is this seeing and knowing–my experience–that I can trust in God.  Yes, now I see only as “through a glass darkly” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV) or as the NKJV translates it, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face…”  I know, I reason, and I believe the words of John, “Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2, NKJV)  Wake up–let the rumble strips of the Holy Spirit awaken you–to see only Jesus.
       There are times to sleep; times when the body needs to be rejuvenated.  Let me say here, beware of spiritual sleep, which can bring on physical sleep.  The Garden, that place where Jesus agonized tells us of these three close disciples who were sleeping.  If Jesus had any close friends it was Peter, James, and John.  But here, in His time of greatest need, they were asleep.  Notice the words written in Matthew.  Jesus had already moved away from his disciples and had been praying.  “Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘What?  Could you not watch with Me one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”…  And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.  So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then He came to His disciples and said to them.  ‘Are you still sleeping and resting?…'” (Matthew 26:40-41,43-45 NKJV)
       Yes, we need a “little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,” (Proverbs 24:33, NKJV) but don’t overdo it.  Jesus says that He had to be busy while it was day and that admonition follows on down to us for “the night is coming when no one can work.” (John 9:4, NKJV)  But remember, it is when we are fully awake that we can look up to Jesus and fully see Him in His glory.