.worth seeking.

Today = Luke 24:1-12 + Genesis 43 + Psalm 34

I know I've been commenting on the psalms a lot, but I really really like this one. It is referenced a bunch of times in the New Testament, especially by Paul. As Pastor Ed says, Psalm 34 was Paul's verse - he knew it in its entirety, and he let him change it from the inside out.

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him." (Psalm 34:9-22).

I love these verses. Last night I was feeling pretty stressed, but it's things like these - the reminder that God is bigger, SO MUCH BIGGER! What the heck do I need to be worrying about? One of the verses that challenge me is verse 14: 'Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." It is so ridiculously simple, but heavy. It is hard to physically turn away from the things we know are not healthy for us. It's difficult to abandon those things that feel good and may even be culturally accepted, But God asks us to turn from the bad, to move toward doing good. And then there is the challenge to 'seek peace an pursue it.' That is hard. I haven't quite grasped God's version of peace. My version is laying in a nice comfy bed, going to sleep early with little to no work (ha like tonight!). His peace is more like the supernatural peace, the peace in the midst of hardship or chaos. I've gotten a taste of it sometimes, and it's incredible. It's definitely worth seeking.