Further up and further in!

Heya! So as part of a plan to help bolster both my Scriptural knowledge and my personal spiritual life as a whole, I've decided to keep a journal (or something of the sort) of my thoughts on what I read in my devotions. The plan is for me to read a chapter a day and record my questions and discoveries I stumble upon on the way. Some posts might ramble aimlessly on for pages. Others might only be one or two sentences. One or two might be intelligent. Some might be inspired or even inspiring. Most will probably be quite the opposite. But hopefully every post will help you and I to grow just a little bit closer to the Father who holds our lives in His hands. I encourage you to join me as I embark on this venture through realms both familiar and un!

Being one of my favorite books of the Bible, and also one that I think we'll find surprising depth residing in unforeseen nooks, I have chosen to begin my venture with a journey through the Psalms. So without further ado: Psalm 1.

1How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
4The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.
(Taken from the NASB)

Well, I've got to say that precious few passages could be more uplifting to start out this project than one that encourages us to meditate on and delight in God's Word. It's a bit ironic actually. For not a short while now I've been very much slacking in spending time even reading Scripture, much less taking it to heart and applying it. Then, after coming up with the idea of carrying out this project to help recover from said malady and despite being exuberantly excited about it, I still put it off for a good couple of weeks before you now find me writing this entry. So having the first thing I read end up being what it was is somewhat humorous to me. Having previously run into God's sense of humor on multiple occasions, something like this was not entirely unexpected. I was merely anticipating more of the berating, tongue-in-cheek kind of sly reminder as to my obvious lack of dedication in pursuing Him. Instead I am confronted by a double-whammy of the psalmist's intense joy he obviously finds in imparting God's wisdom and the encouraging promise of the joy the receiver will find on his journey. My warm-fuzzy feeling is then toned into resolution to never revert back to the state illustrated in the second half of the passage. My dogged pursuit of living by my own power, attempting to drag myself by my bootstraps has left me feeling lost, confused, and desperate for what I was running from for some time now. The words of Psalm 1 are truly an encouraging and emboldening war cry for me to rediscover myself and my relationship with my Creator and press forward to the fray! I hope that even an echo of that cheer has found its way to your ears, as well.

Struggling to be who I am,
Nic