/ Claire van Ryn

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PSALM 55 “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.” v6‬ ‭(NIV‬‬) Escape. David speaks of the urge to run away. To soar above strife. Oooh, and I can so relate! When “horror has overwhelmed me” (v5), like the horror of the NZ massacre and the landslides in Indonesia. Like learning of women being threatened with divorce if they do not abort their babies, diagnosed with disability in-utero. Like the incessant horrors of poverty, oppression, violence, sickness, disaster. When I hear this, I want to fly away to a shelter where evil doesn’t exist. Safe. Unreachable. Unaffected by the trauma of a world bloodied, a landscape soaked in atrocity. There is such a place. With David’s often dire observations, I’ve learnt to look for the “but”. “But you, God, will bring down the wicked... But as for me, I trust in you.” v23 That’s right. Once more, we find what we need in God’s presence and promises. Escape to Him 💛 . . . 🖼 =my choice from the Glover Art Prize (also winner of the Children’s Choice Prize 😆) 👌🏼by Jason Cordero (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm55
PSALM 54 “I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good.” v6‬ ‭(NIV‬‬) I wouldn’t always describe my life as “free”. That’s not to diminish my first-world freedoms. They are many and I’m so thankful for the freedoms that come with living in Australia. But so much is expected of me sometimes as mum, employee, taxi service, homemaker, wife, friend, creative, cleaner, advocate... All hats I happily wear, but when they are propped one atop the other like a tower above my brow, I find it a precarious position. “Free” is not the adjective that comes to mind! But whatever our circumstances, whatever we are facing, we are always FREE to praise God, “for it is good”. I know it’s often the last thing I want to do, or the last thing I think of, but when I do, everything is pulled into perspective. . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm54 #free #praisegod
PSALM 53 “But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread.” v5‬ (NIV) Last night as I lay in bed, my brain was like David’s enemy armies, marching on my sanity. All the myriad responsibilities and to-do’s were lining up until my heart was beating rapidly to the tempo of their battle-ready feet. We’re about to enter a busy season in the van Ryn household. And Satan would love for me to be in a tizz about it, spreading dread like gastro. God helped me see the truth. “There’s no battle here,” he whispered. He took those overwhelmed feelings and dissolved them into the peace of his presence. Thank you Lord! There is nothing to dread when we remain in you. . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm53 #peace
PSALM 52 “You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.” v3‬ (NIV) This forms part of a description of David’s enemies - a vehement rant pitting “them” against “us”. I like to reread these verbal fruit salads to test myself: do I fit in these descriptions? Invariably, I do. And I’m thankful anew for God’s grace. But the juxtaposing of these two words is interesting: falsehood and truth. Falsehood sounds softer than the antonym I would have chosen. Lying. Falsehood pokes at those half-truths, those times I’ve kept my mouth shut rather than speak truth and wear the discomfort and scrutiny of being ‘other’ - not conforming to popular thought patterns. But if we don’t speak truth - yes, even when it injures us in some way - we are no different to the crowd. No different to the “mighty man” of this psalm. I strongly believe that now, perhaps more than ever, our stand for truth is needed. Unambiguous truth spoken with great love. . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm52 #truth #speaktruthwithlove
PSALM 51 Honestly, this psalm-a-day thing is challenging my eyelids today. Could’ve just hit the sack. But God tugged me to my Bible at 8:30pm when I would prefer to be in bed. The words run together on the page. Which I’m sorry about, because I know this psalm holds much treasure. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.” v5-6‬ ‭(NIV‬‬) That’s me! Sinful since before birth. But also redeemed to eternity! I’m happy to be reminded of this in the struggle of my everyday. Not sure what your’s looked like today, but I was in a post-cold stupor, summoning energy to do the smallest tasks. And I was cranky. At myself, hubby, kids, planet earth. Thank you Lord for the “joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me” v12. Tomorrow is a new day and I serve a God who provides fresh starts, new beginnings, “whiter than snow” (v7). . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) 📷 of gorgeous Elyse 😍 #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm51 #babybaby
PSALM 50 I’m tired. But fulfilled. Thankful. Three days at church camp has that effect. 200 or so people living smooshed together, deepening relationships, simplified living, sea breeze, gentle lap of waves. We won’t mention the strangled screeching of penguins... let’s just say their cry isn’t as cute as their looks! So here I am, bleary-eyed, reading Ps 50 and struggling to share anything significant. But there IS something I CAN do. “Sacrifice thank offerings to God,” v14 and 23. It’s mentioned twice as something that most honours God. So I will do that... THANK YOU GOD for the kids who, armed with little more than rope and a pocket knife, spent the past three days building a cubby in the bushes, imaginations set free. THANK YOU GOD for the mashup of people who I can call family, serving each other and you. THANK YOU GOD for the experience of church on the beach, no roof, sand between toes, laughter, dancing, seagulls and wide endless blue. THANK YOU GOD for the stillness of this moment when I can silently muse on your majesty. . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm50 #doorofhopecamp #hopecamp
PSALM 49 “Satan... wants us to believe meaningless things for meaningless reasons.” (Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz) I thought of this when I read Ps 49 this morning, which speaks of the impotence of wealth, of how futile it is to chase after money when we take nothing with us beyond the grave. Dust to dust. “A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.” v20 If we don’t pursue things of eternal significance, we are as good as animals!!! And Satan is supremely chuffed when we’re more interested in work, career, travel, renovating your ensuite (whether it’s ok to mix chrome with matt black and gold tapware 🙊🤦🏼‍♀️), than sharing Jesus. Distraction is the sharpest arrow in his quiver. I want to hold the things of this world loosely and be ever attentive to God’s voice, so I can step out in obedience at a moment’s notice. . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm49 #wealth #meaningless
PSALM 48 “What are you most looking forward to about heaven?” I asked our 7-year-old. “Seeing Jesus and asking him all my questions,” he said. “And riding a dinosaur!” 😆 Gosh I love him!!! When the kiddos ask me heaven questions, usually all I can say is that it’s better than anything we could ever imagine. And their dinner-plate eyes goggle. Or I could quote Psalm 48:2 of course... “It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole world.” Imagine. The joy of the whole world! Which also suggests that every morsel of joy we experience now is a taste of eternity. When things are hard and heaven seems so far from the harsh reality of now, there is hope in that thought. All the joy droplets in our day fall directly from heaven, quenching our heart’s yearning for better, if only for a moment. But they don’t have to be droplets either. As we read in Psalm 46, the Holy Spirit is a river of joy that runs through us. . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm48 #heaven #joy
PSALM 47 “Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.” v6‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Sometimes, when I get angry at the kids, there’s this fiery moment of exploding emotion. Not pretty. I have to apologise after. This psalm is like the direct opposite of that. An uncensored, bubbling, jubilant response of praise. Like an eruption of awe and wonder at who God is. In his book Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller describes wonder as “that feeling we get when we let go of our silly answers, our mapped out rules that we want God to follow.” And then he writes this: “I don’t think there is any better worship than wonder.” Letting go is hard. But to let go and wonder is to worship in the spirit that David demonstrates so frequently in the Psalms. With exhilarating freedom! . . . (I’m reading a psalm each weekday - feel free to join me and share your own learnings 😊) #flampsalmaday #apsalmaday #dailypsalm #biblereading #joinme #psalms #godisgood #shareyourthoughts #blogger #jesus #psalm47

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/ Claire van Ryn

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