–Psalm 77:18 (NKJV)
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Have you ever found yourself in a situation where it is hard to praise God?  Perhaps a storm or battle you are going through and you just cannot praise God.  When that occurs, remember, we praise Him for who He is.  Someone said, “The situation does not dictate to us what to do…  We don’t focus on the surrounding difficulties, but to what God says.”  G. Campbell Morgan wrote, “The fixed point in the universe, the unalterable fact, is the throne of God.”  Keep that in mind as we look at the first part of Psalm 97.

          1 — The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad!
          2 — Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
          3 — A fire goes before Him, and burns up His enemies round about.
          4 — His lightnings light the world; the earth sees and trembles.
          5 — The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
          6 — The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory.  (NKJV)

       In these verses we see clearly two attributes of God–His sovereignty and His omnipotence.  The Lord reigns!  Many people do not like the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, but in reality this should give great comfort to the child of God.  He is in control!  Lawson states, “God actively, moment by moment, rules over all things for His own glory and for the good of His people…”  
       We live in a chaotic, confused world where it appears to our finite, human mind that God does not control nor does He care about the affairs of men.  Evil abounds, and sometimes our own lives spin so much we think we are riding in a tilt-o-whirl.  Other’s actions sometimes affect us, and we wonder where God is, and yet, we are told to praise Him.  Praise Him for who He is, praise Him for His sovereignty, praise Him that He cares for you.  Don’t look at the evil, the raging tempest, or the fierceness of the battle, but look at the throne.
       Notice the foundations of His throne–righteousness and justice.  When we seemingly think evil is winning and in control–look at the throne, the foundation consists of justice.  God will judge.  Keep your focus heavenward, look at the throne.  Look at His power.  Contemplate on this Psalm; read Revelation 1–get a firm view of the throne.  The “fire” represents the divine wrath and fury that goes before God.  When we read the prophets, we see that the Day of the Lord–the day of judgment will be a fearful and mighty thing.  In the midst of calamity we are to declare His righteousness.  F.B. Meyer said, “The strain of ‘Hallelujah’ is impossible till it can be said in the heat and universe, ‘The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.'”
       So in the hard time, in the midst of the turmoil of the storm, in the fog, fury, and ferocity of the battle–KNOW–that God is in control.  He is on His throne and nothing escapes His attention.  Give praise for who He is.  Praise Him for His sovereignty, righteousness, and justice.  Praise Him for His omnipotence and that He cares for you.

               “Before Jehovah’s awful throne,
               Ye nations, bow with sacred joy,
               Know that the Lord is God alone;
               He can create, and He can destroy.”
                         –Isaac Watts

               –Hebrews 12:12-13a(HCSB)
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I used to tell students that such-and-such is pet peeve #???.  I would make up a number, but one day a student asked, “How many “pet peeves” do you have?  I quickly responded, 150; this person actually started writing down each time I mentioned a pet peeve.  Today, I want to give you Pet Peeve #27.  It riles me, causes my gizzard to have a fit when I hear someone say, someone who is supposed to be an adult–“I have to be an adult today,” or “I hate adulting.”  Where do they think they live, in Never, Never Land?  My mercy, they have had eighteen years of their life to begin to prepare.  What were they doing!??
       One time a student came to me and asked, “Do you think I’m an adult?”  I didn’t reply yes or no, but simply asked, “Do you accept responsibility?”  He gave a sheepish grin and walked away.  That’s one of our problems today, is people thinking that just because they reach a certain age they are an adult.  No, my friend, being an adult is someone who is mature–they accept responsibility.  I came across a couple of items that describe maturity.  Neither one had an author.

          Maturity is the ability to base a judgment on the big picture…the long haul.
          Maturity is the ability to stick with a project or situation until it is finished.
          Maturity is the ability to face unpleasantness, frustration, discomfort and defeat without complaint or collapse.
          Maturity is the ability to live up to your responsibilities and this means being dependable, keeping your word.  The world is filled with people who can’t be counted on.  People who never seem to come through in the clutches.  People who break promises.
          Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it.
          Maturity is the ability to harness your abilities and energies.

Quit crying, whimpering, and murmuring and become an adult.  It is who you are supposed to be.

          Maturity is the ability to tolerate an injustice without wanting to get even.
          Maturity is patience.  It is the willingness to postpone immediate gratification in favor of the long-term gain.
          Maturity is perseverance, sweating out a project in the face of heavy opposition and discouraging setbacks.
          Maturity is humility.  It is being big enough to say, “I was wrong.”  And when right, the mature person is able to forego the satisfaction of saying, “I told you so.”
          Maturity is the ability to evaluate a situation, make a decision and stick with it.  The immature spend their lives exploring possibilities, changing their minds and in the end they do nothing.
          Maturity means dependability, keeping one’s word, coming through in a crisis.  The immature are masters of the alibi.  They are confused and disorganized.  Their lives are a maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business and good intentions that never materialized.
          Maturity is the art of living in peace with that which we cannot change, the courage to change that which can be changed and the wisdom to know the difference.

So put aside the Peter Pan Syndrome and get busy becoming and/or being an adult.  The Lord expects you to live life abundantly, in fact, more abundantly (John 10:10).  Life is living–but living up to your means.  Quit making alibis, excuses, and crying about having to be an adult.  Accept your responsibility before the Lord–go forward in the way He has for you, and grow up.  It is a sad thing to see so many adults age-wise, but still act like a child.

               “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put aside childish things.”
                         –1 Corinthians 13:11 (HCSB)

                    –Zane Grey  (Riders of the Purple Sage)

       “Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken.  Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well.”

                    –Ecclesiastes 12:6 (NLT)
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          “It’s a fact that you’re getting older,
          Man don’t it seem like the winters are colder?
          You get tired so easy and you can’t stand the heat…”
                    –Dan Roberts

       Old Solomon spends some time in the first portion of Ecclesiastes 12 speaking of the “Old Folks.”  He starts off to admonish the young, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.'” (12:1, NKJV)  There are more older folk now than before.  Look at the statistics:
                    1900 — 4% were 65 or older
                    1980 — 10%
                    2000 — 12%
                    2020 — 16.8%
Part of the warning given to the youth by Solomon is telling them to begin to prepare for eternity now–in their youth.  In fact, part of the purpose of the book is to ask the question, What will there be at the end of the road?  Solomon gives the answer, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.  ‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher, ‘All is Vanity.'” (12:7-8, NKJV)
       I am not going to write verses 1-8, but I want to show you how Solomon is dealing with the fact of getting old.

               “Keepers of the house tremble” (3) — The arms and hands tremble in old age with palsy or feebleness.
               “Strong men are bowed” (3) — The legs are bent in feebleness, and the knees totter.
               “Grinders cease, for they are few” (3) — The teeth lose their ability to masticate food.
               “Those looking out through the windows are dimmed” (3) — The eyes begin to lose their sight, and the pupils become less dilated and more contracted.
               “Doors are shut in the street” (4) — The lips fall into the mouth for lack of teeth.
               “Sound of grinding is low” (4) — In toothless old age, only soft foods may be eaten.  Thus no noise is made.
               “One rises up at the voice of a bird” (4) — The least amount of morning noise terminates his sleep.
               “All the daughters of music are brought low” (4) — The qualities that make up the power to make and enjoy music are eluding him in his old age.
               “They are afraid of what is high and terror shall be in the way” (5) — He had developed a fear of heights and of stumbling along paths once famliar.
               “Almond tree blossoms” (5) — His hair has turned white with age.
               “Grasshopper drags itself along” (5) — Describes the halting gait of the elderly as they walk along on their canes.
               “The caper berry fails to bear fruit” (5) –All sexual power and desire is lost.
               “The silver cord is snapped (6) — The spinal marrow connecting the brain and nerves is pale and silverlike.
      I will mention but one more as I know you are completely exhorted and encouraged:
               “The wheel is broken at the cistern” (6) — The system of veins and arteries that carries the blood around continually like a waterwheel breaks down.
 
       No wonder there is depression and apathy among the aged.  Is Solomon making fun, or simply telling the truth?  Feelings among the aged tend to be one of uselessness.  “I was once resourceful, but now…”  Many older people twiddle their thumbs whispering “if only” as they live with guilt and regret.  For many there is the feeling of bitterness and resentment as they look back and think “life wasn’t fair.”  Then there is the unseen guest that lurks around–fear.  The is fear of falling, fear of sickness and bad health, fear of dying–fear of where they’ll spend eternity.  Father Time is moving on and he will leave no one behind.
       Solomon really doesn’t do much to help us with his reality check.  “Woe is me,” you now might be saying.  But stop!  We need to look from a Divine perspective!  Born once, die twice, born twice, die once.  Derek Kidner said, “To remember Him is no perfunctory or mental act:  it is to drop our pretense of self-sufficiency and to commit ourselves to Him.”  This is from our youth until that final breath of old age.
       Face it friend–the fact is that you’re not getting any younger.  Try all you want with the creams, the botox, the ointments, age is still creeping up on you and in fact, faster on some than others.  “The starters starting harder” (Roberts) making it harder to get up each morning, harder to face the day, harder to keep moving.  But…God has designed you to live with Him all through the days of your life, including those at the end.  Even more, He has designed you to spend eternity with Him.