Living is something that should be real.  We should take it as best we can, as deep and wide and full as we can.  We shouldn’t ever be small or ever be afraid.”
              –Ernest Haycox (The Border Legion)

    “Catch us the foxes, The little foxes that spoil the vines, For our vines have tender grapes.”
              –Song of Solomon 2:15(NKJV)
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Irritation!–those small, pesky things that drive you crazy.  Ever had a speck of dust in your eye, or an eyelash?  Something so small, but it irritates you until you get it removed.  Maybe you’ve had to wait in line at a fast-food restaurant just a little longer than you wanted–didn’t it irritate you, or someone in front of you at a light doesn’t take off as fast as you wanted them to–it just makes you irritated.  
    Annie and Kimberly took Julee on a walk through the woods.  They didn’t know it at the time, but there were pesky little critters out there waiting for them.  Both of them are now covered and itching “like crazy” with chigger bites.  Scratch, scratch, scratch–oh, the irritation!  Something invisible and yet it is causing you misery.  Then there are people; certain individuals who are not bad, but their personality just doesn’t mesh with yours.  The kind of people that when they hang around you it makes you irritated; they say something and you just have to roll your eyes.
    Life is full of irritations!  I guess we get irritated because things do not go the way we want them.  Hurry, hurry, get out of my way, you’re irritating me.  Scratch some more–these things itch.  Then we search for answers, how can I stop this itch?  How can I avoid these people?  How can I…?
    Somethings in life are going to irritate us–like those little critters.  Mosquitoes buzzing their high-pitched sound in your ear.  Chiggers biting, devouring a piece of flesh.  Even something as small as a pimple can bring a little pain, enough to irritate us, and it always is on the nose or middle of the forehead.  A cut shows from a nick from the razor while shaving–irritation.
    Then there are things we do in life when we stop and say–dummy!  We spill something; invariably when I get a new shirt right off the bat I’ll spill something on it–irritates me.  We knock a glass off the table, we rush and don’t take time and bump something causing it to break–dummy!
    For some, life itself is an irritation.  Everything, everyone, is an irritation to some people.  It shouldn’t be that way.  Some tend to go through life cynical and pessimistic.  They look for things that will irritate them.  That should not be.  We should be living the day to the fullest.  This is the day the Lord has made, we should be rejoicing not irritated that the alarm went off in the morning.
    Learn to live life to the fullest, and by that I don’t mean to party-hardy, but to live in obedience to God’s word and will.  Only then will not irritations not bother us so much.  Impatience is one of the chief causes of irritation, but why are we impatient?  What would a few more seconds matter, or why didn’t we plan better?  Learn to be patient.  Hmmm, aren’t you glad our heavenly Father is patient with us?  I sure don’t want to irritate the Lord.  As far as mosquito and chigger bites, well–keep on scratching.

If you stop pushing on, you lose…  It is always a little further to the top than you think.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Reilly’s Luck)

    “If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well.”
              –3 John 1:16 (NKJV)
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I am not much of a beach person, preferring the mountains.  However, the times I have lived near the beach we enjoyed it.  We liked to get up early, head down and eat breakfast on the beach watching the sun rise.  Now, I’m a person who ponders.  I would sit with coffee cup in hand looking out over the horizon and think about those that traveled the oceans in days of yore.
    It is similar today, those men on the ships out in the ocean traveling toward a destination, but today they have instruments, maps and technology thanks to those who have traveled before them.  Imagine, say 1492, the voyages of discovery; men took off going across the ocean.  Day after day all they could see was the horizon.  No land in sight, seemingly no progress.  Often they didn’t think they were moving forward toward their destination–but they were.
    Similar were the travels of the pioneers across the American wilderness.  They had to travel across the great plains.  Much of the scenery was the same, but travel was slow and often it seemed to them that they were not making much progress.  The mountains looked so far away but they left tracks behind them, so they knew there was progress being made.
    Our life is much the same way.  We start out on the journey called “life” with only a fuzzy view of what might lie ahead.  Others have traveled the journey of life, but it is always an individual thing as well.  We make goals, but often they seem as if they are not getting closer, there are no markers to gauge our location, therefore, we cannot judge accurately our progress.  We are often tempted to believe we are making no progress for God in our walk through life.  
    I want to share the following from the writings of Carlos Murphy.  See if they depict your life at times.

         “Realize what great advancements are made as we wait motionless on God!  God is never still!  He is always on the march!  Even when, by painful circumstances, we seem pinned down and hemmed in, He is taking us to His desired destination at great speed.  Progress in God cannot be measured by the senses of any man!
         …Watch the sun rise and set.  Observe the tides.  Though we sit hour after hour, we are moving forward at breathtaking speed!  Scientists tell us the earth moves through space at 67,000 miles an hour!  In a full day, we will travel more than 2.6 million miles!
         Ponder another lesson.  The sun always moves in the same direction.  It rises in the east.  It does not hurry.  It is never lost.  It never doubles back.  At the appointed time, it reaches the western horizon and disappears from view.
         So it is with lives ordered by God.  He is always moving forward!  He is never hurried and never lost.  He never doubles back.  He knows how long it will take to arrive at His destination, and He sets out to arrive right on time.
         Take heart, then!  Our progress cannot be measured by carnal eyes!  We are borne along by God, moving ever forward on His charted course.  We will arrive safely in due time!” (Heart At Rest)

    Sometimes in the midst of the battle, we lose sight of time.  The enemy keeps attacking and there is no rest, no respite in the action of the enemy.  We have seemingly gained no ground.  We are beset by the same sins.  We are wearied in mind, body, and soul.  This is not the time to give up, but to hold on and continue forward.  Our progress in our eyes may not be fast, in fact, it may seem as if we are losing ground, but hold on–the Lord knows where He is taking us.  Do not lose heart, do not quit for progress is being made.

Resolutely he faced that wide traveling river, grateful for something nameless that seemed borne on its bosom, conscious of a strange expression of his soul, ready to see, to hear, to smell, to feel, to taste the wildness and wonder of freedom as he had dreamed it.”
              –Zane Grey  (Wanderer of the Wasteland)

    “Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand.  With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory.”
              –Psalm 73:23-24 (NASB)
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The way may seem rough and weary.  The water looks rough, the current fast, yet it is there for you to cross.  When you stand and look at the raging river, you look back, but to what?  There’s nothing to go back to, yesterday is gone, there’s only today and the hope of tomorrow.  Take the step, perhaps the river, like the Jordan shall roll back for you to cross over.

         “On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,
          And cast a wishful eye
          To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
          Where my possessions lie.”
                 –Samuel Stennett

Where are your treasures?  Are they over on the other shore?  Have you been storing up treasures in heaven, on the other side of the river?
    This was one of the most popular hymns of the early 19th century.  Manifest Destiny, the westward movement was in full swing.  We are not much different than they when traveling through the journey of life.  We travel over plains, through valleys.  There are high mountains that must be traversed and sometimes gorges to cross along the way.  However, while we travel through the worldly life, our Lord Jesus is there with us–such a comfort.

         “All o’er those wide extended plains
          Shines one eternal day;
          There God the Son forever reigns
          And scatters night away.”

Joshua wrote that “you have not been this way before” (Joshua 3:4).  The weather may be fierce, the winds howl, or the valley that is before you that must be cross may have poisonous winds that choke and burn the eyes.  Along the way the will be pain, suffering, and death, but the promise land is still before you.  Go, go, do not falter in your journey.

         “No chilling winds nor pois’nous breath
          Can reach that healthful shore;
          Sickness and sorrow, pain and death
          Are felt and feared no more.”

How long will it take you to reach that shore of Jordan?  Fifty years?  Seventy?  Some never see beyond the promise of youth, much less old age.  One day all will stand on the banks of that “river.”  All will cross over.  For some it will be a happy land, a land flowing with “milk and honey,” a land where the Savior is waiting.  For others the crossing will spell eternal doom.  Thank the Lord, we you have accepted Him are able to cross with glee and anticipation.

         “When shall I reach that happy place,
          And be forever blest?
          When shall I see my Father’s face,
          And in His bosom rest?

                                        I am bound for the promised land;
                                        I am bound for the promised land.
                                        O who will come and go with me?
                                        I am bound for the promised land.”

But unless you’ve fought the battle and unless you’ve won the war
    The taste of victory sometimes ain’t so sweet.”
                –Red Steagall  (“Paw-Paw”)

    “When war broke out again, David went out and fought against the Philistines. He defeated them with such a great force that they fled from him.”
                –1 Samuel 19:8 (HCSB)
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It was custom, it was expected, that whenever we came off a long trip and went to Granny’s house that she would always have the soup on.  She knew that we would be tired and would be needing something to eat.  The same was true if we visited Grandma.  She might not have soup on but there was always something to eat.  Most always, at both places, there was some kind of dessert.  The weary travelers not only needed nourishment, but they needed to be given a treat.  Since that time I have tried to keep up the tradition.  I usually don’t put soup on, usually it’s chili, but those coming know that there will be something waiting for them.  Of course, the coffee pot is always on.
    Reading the first twenty-one verses of Psalm 22, David is in the doldrums.  Enemies are after him, depression is upon him, the journey has become extremely wearisome.  However, he knows, there is an assurance within him, that soon there will be relief.  Soon he will arrive at home and be greeted with food that will satisfy.  Let’s finish Psalm 22 (HCSB).

         22 – I will proclaim Your name to my brothers; I will praise You in the congregation.
         23 – You who fear Yahweh, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him! All you descendants of Israel, revere Him!
         24 – For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He did not hide His face from him but listened when he cried to Him for help.
         25 – I will give praise in the great congregation because of You; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You.
         26 – The humble will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise Him. May your hearts live forever!
         27 – All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before You,
         28 – for kingship belongs to the Lord; He rules over the nations.
         29 – All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down; all those who go down to the dust will kneel before Him—even the one who cannot preserve his life.
         30 – Their descendants will serve Him; the next generation will be told about the Lord.
         31 – They will come and tell a people yet to be born about His righteousness—what He has done.

David finds that not only is his hunger satisfied, but his soul has also been renewed.  He gains strength, rises again, and states that he will fulfill his vows.  

         “From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
          Through gates of pearl stream in countless host,
          Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
          Alleluia!  Alleluia!”
                    –William H. How

    No matter how far we travel.  No matter how arduous the journey may be, the obstacles thrown at us, the enemies faced, there is hope and there is victory.  This is assured if we do not quit.  Look at these verses compared to the previous ones in the Psalm.  Someone has written that these are the resurrection; the aftermath of the previous verses.
    However, though food is provided, we must eat.  There will be a feast, it is up to us to complete the journey so that we can make it to our seat at the table.  When you eat of the Lord’s Supper, are you satisfied?  Take inventory, my fellow traveler.  Never lose heart; never quit.  There is a table spread waiting for you when you get to the end of your journey; when you get home.

         “It is possible to die of starvation at the door of a granary.  By the act of faith in Jesus Christ, partake of the food.  See that it becomes yours by your own taking of it into the very depths of your heart.”
                     –Alexander Maclaren