I’ve seen enough country to know there’s beauty spread in all directions.  If a place is ugly, you can pretty much figure it was something men had done to cause it.”
              –Lou Bradshaw (Along the Way)

    “I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles.”
              –Psalm 145:5 (NLT)
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When I read Psalm 5, the first thing I think about is this:  Without the Lord what would be the use?  Where would I be?  No matter our lot in life it could always be worse.  No matter what position we hold how can we get through it without the direction of the Holy Spirit?  Abraham Lincoln said, “I would be the greatest fool on earth if I did not realize that I could never satisfy the demands of the high office without the help of One who is greater and stronger than I.”
   Too often, I am afraid, most people start the day looking down.  They look down at their feet when they get up, they then look down at their phones to see if they missed anything.  When in the shower they look down and at the table, if they take time for breakfast they will look down at their plate and coffee cup.  Instead, we should begin each day with expectation–looking upward.  In this psalm it seems that David begins the day with a “sigh.”  He starts the day already moaning and groaning.  Then he takes that cry and turns it into expectancy.

                   Listen to my words, LORD; consider my sighing. (1)
                   Pay attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for I pray to You.
                   At daybreak, LORD, You hear my voice; at daybreak I plead my case to You and watch expectantly. (3)

    David then begins to think of the Lord and His character.  He begins reflecting on the things that bring displeasure to God.  Deceitfulness seems to especially bring displeasure to Him.  It also seems that David takes the wrath of God for granted; he knows it is there.  But the purpose of the wrath of God is to cleanse; it is in reality a mark of His love.  
    In this modern and enlightened culture in which we live (?) we often hear that God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.  There is truth there because He gave His Son for all.  However, take a look at these next verses.

                   For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil cannot lodge with You. (4)
                   The boastful cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all evildoers. (5)
                   You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors a man of bloodshed and treachery. (6)

The NLT puts verse 4 this way, “O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness; you cannot tolerate the slightest sin.”  We tend to categorize sin; in our modern view we begin to say this is okay and that is all right–after all we’re only human.  I wonder how many in the church pray as David prayed?

                  “When we don’t pray, we quit the fight.
                   Prayer keeps the Christian’s armor bright.
                   And Satan trembles when he sees
                   The weakest saint upon his knees.”
                           –William Cowper

Once a man gets the smell o’ fire and smoke in his nose it’s hard to stay away.  But as fo’ sugar-fed pets, half broke, half wild, I nev’ had any likin’.”
              –Ernest Haycox (Free Grass)

    “This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.'”
              –Isaiah 48:17 (NLT)
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Aren’t you glad that God is with us in our need?  When we struggle, when we are distressed and are in despair God is there.  Psalm 4 teaches us that we can have rest even when the “wrecking ball of life” may have demolished what we thought to be safe and secure.  
    Augustine said this Psalm should be sung as a testimony that God gives peace in the midst of inward and outward trouble.  We may not like what is coming our way, or what happened to us, but in spite of it all, God is there and is faithful.  Martin Luther wanted this Psalm to be sung at his funeral.
    Take a look, read, reflect, pray along with David, and meditate.

               Answer me when I call, O God who vindicates me.  You freed me from affliction; be gracious to me and hear my prayer. (1)
               How long, exalted men, will my honor be insulted?  How long will you love what is worthless and pursue a lie?                 Selah (2)
               Know that the LORD has set apart the faithful for Himself; the LORD will hear when I call to Him. (3)
               Be angry and do not sin; on your bed, reflect in your heart and be still. (4)
               Offer sacrifices in righteousness and trust in the LORD. (5)
               Many are saying, “Who can show us anything good?”  Look on us with favor, LORD. (6)
               You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and new wine abound. (7)
               I will both lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, LORD, make me live in safety. (8)

The RSV, verse 4, states, “Commune with your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.”  There is something about being alone that causes us to reflect honestly.  We need to learn to be silent and think of the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord.  That will help us to trust Him explicitly.
    Verse 5 is something that is forgotten in this age.  Go to a church and just watch what is happening at times.  Some of it is pure nonsense.  This verse tells us to give proper sacrifices.  Doing our own thing cannot happen.  Proper sacrifices are always righteous.  They do not show off and they are not arrogant or pompous.  Perhaps we should take the time to read in Scripture what happens to those who offered improper sacrifices, hmmmm.
    In this society that promotes tolerance to the extreme it is important to be in the Word of God.  Find out what makes God angry.  We should be angry at the things that make God angry.  Don’t be hasty, or opinionated, think it through and understand that God does get angry–understand why.
    One of the most important things in reading the Word of God is to get to know Him better.  What is our heavenly Father like?  One thing that David understood completely, no matter the circumstance, is that he could trust God.  

              “If you will only let God guide you,
               And hope in him through all your ways,
               Whatever comes, he’ll stand beside you,
               To bear you through the evil days;
               Who trusts in God’s unchanging love
               Builds on the rock that cannot moved.”
                        –Georg Neumark

William Secker said, “It is better to enjoy him without anything else than to enjoy everything else without him.”  Therefore, I say, no matter what, know that He is there–trust Him!

I knew my own bit of longing for the wild places.  I am a man not given to cities, nor the crowded walks of men.  I like the long winds upon my face, the stirring of miles of grass bending before the wind, the clouds shadows upon the plain, the lure and lift of far hills.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Mojave Crossing)

    “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills.”
              –Deuteronomy 8:7 (NLT)
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First thing to let you know is that for the next month the Echos From the Campfire might be a bit sporadic as I’m going to be on and off the road a while.  We’re going to be taking advantage of this thing called retirement and go visiting and traveling around.  I’ll do my best to give you a few thoughts to ponder.
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There’s an old song that carries the jist with it, “and all I’ve got is a wearied mind.”  I’ve been in that place many a time.  I’ve been weary of body, and I’ve been weary of mind.  I remember when I was to take my “master’s comps” that I would wake up throughout the night before the test going through ideas, facts, people, events, etc.  I chose four areas for my test and would receive four questions upon which to write:  Civil War, Current Thoughts in American History, World War II, and United States 1900-1940.
My mind wouldn’t rest as I went over everything I could think of in those areas.  
    Events, circumstances, financial issues, politics, sickness, and a host of other things can give us a wearied mind.  The question is then: how do we receive rest from the weariness of the mind?  In the case of my comp test it was when the test was over.  I knew I did well, so I didn’t worry about the results, but other things may continue with us and it is hard to lay them down.
    When the body is weary we go to sleep.  Ahh, sweet respose from a hard day’s work.  The weariness of the body is cured by slumber.  However, the mind is different.  When the mind is weary, sleep does it little good.  George Matheson says that, “The weariness of the mind needs an opposite cure from the weariness of the body…the weariness of the mind can be cured only by stimulus.”  
    Jesus, “prescribes not a sedative, but an irritant; not more sleep, but more waking.  To the man of the weary hand He says, ‘Cast your cares upon Me;’ but to the man of the weary heart He cries, ‘Take My yoke upon you,'”. (Matheson)  The hidden key is found in Hebrews 12:3,

               “Consider Him…lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”

The New King James puts it this way, “For consider Him…lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”  Ponder the last phrase of the Amplified, “so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.”
    Let me finish this morning with the words from George Matheson.  “I want a new interest to heal my heart’s weariness–some one to live for, some one to work for, some one to wait for, some one to long for.  It is my want of longing that makes my want of strength; it is my listlessness that brings me languidness.  Create a new heart within me–an eager, beating, bounding heart, a heart vibrating in response to Thy love!  Let me feel the passion and the pathos of life, of Thy life!  Let me be taken captive by Thy beauty!  Let me catch the spell of Thy loveliness!  Let me be thrilled at the sound of Thy footsteps!  Let me learn the rapture of hearing Thy name!  Let me experience the glow of excitement when the murmur runs round, ‘Jesus of Nazareth passeth by!’  Then shall the weariness of the heart vanish, then shall the languor of the spirit cease; for the liberty of flight is the Sabbath of the soul.  Then we shall mount up with wings as eagles; we shall not faint nor be weary.”

In that country, a man saddled his own broncs and fought his own battles, and the measure of his manhood was that he did what needed to be done, and did it well, and without shirking.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Killoe)

    “Each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.”
              –1 Corinthians 3:13 (HCSB)
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I just wonder how many times in my life I have reflected on Psalm 23.  It is one of those special verses that the Holy Spirit inspired David to pen.  We wonder, stew, and fret over things here on earth, many of which we have no control over, but listen,

              “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
                     –Psalm 23:6

That one verse gives us hope.  See one of the problems we have here is that we have a limited perspective, and we then let life overwhelm us.  We tend to look at a little portion of life instead of looking at it as a whole.
    When things seem to go haywire, we can trust in the faithfulness of God.  “It is not a belief in your faith or belief itself that is important.  No, hold on to the faithfulness of God; have faith in Him, be certain of Him, for you will never master and conquer life in this world until, in spite of everything, you do hold on in that way.” (Lloyd-Jones)  Be absolutely certain of the Lord Jesus Christ, of who He is in your life.  
    Whether we like it or not, life itself has a way of forcing us, sooner or later, to consider what lies beyond it.  Life is transitory and temporary; it is full of uncertaintly and of accidents.  “If we live for this life only and to rely upon it, or anything in it, is deliberately to court disappointment.” (Lloyd-Jones) Therefore, life in this world should be viewed truly in the light of the next world.  This life offers us no real or final security, that comes only through trusting in the faithfulness of God.
    Look around and see what the world thinks is important.  Look at the billboards as you travel; look at what the commercials on television try to sell.  Live with gusto, buy this, you’ll look glamorous in this, put on this deodorant or this scent and the girls won’t be able to resist you and on and on and on.
Sin is subtly luring us away and then we are seeing more and more than sin is being thrust at us.  We are made to want to live life to the fullest, at least according to the standard of the world.  The problem is that we think of life in the body rather than the life of the soul.  The world is transitory, but the soul moves on into eternity.  It is the inner life that matters.  What was it that Jesus said, “Don’t fear those that can harm the body…”? (Matthew 10:28)
    What is the purpose of this life if not to prepare us for the next one?  If you want calmness in your soul feed it, and look at this life in view of eternity.  Lloyd-Jones writes, “Life in this world can only be truly lived and mastered as we have a right view of that next world.”  
    What is your view then of the next world?  Do you think of it much?  Does it draw you?  There is joy set before us.  Death leads us to our Father’s house.  There, we will have security, peace, rest for the soul.  It will be our permanent residence for all of eternity.  Start now, then to protect and nurture and discipline your soul for it is the one thing that really matters.