"Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it."
Psalm 34: 14
5 more days until my year anniversary of this blog!
I have been a little bummed out lately, because I had hoped I would have reached my ideal weight by this time.
But like I told my negative, interior voice yesterday, let us focus on the good in my life instead of the bad!
For instance, yesterday, I was having sharp hunger pangs during my piano lesson of the evening.
I had some angst about it. They were really strong. I was a bit perplexed. I had visions of stuffing potato chips in my mouth. But I knew I would feel bad about myself the next day. So I resisted the stuffing of chips. I also resisted the bowl of ice cream at the little ice cream parlor on SE Woodstock on the way home.
Instead, I had a turkey, tomato, olive and pickle sandwich on a gluten free bun at Subway. It was not all that tasty. I am not fond of gluten free bread. But I had it toasted. And it satisfied my hunger. I did not have any horrendous cravings afterwards. And came home and drank a large glass of water with my nightly vitamins.
Proud of self!
It does seem lately I have been backsliding on the food binging again.
Yesterday, being tired and hot and somewhat low, I was also a bit more contemplative. Maybe relieved that the season with my chamber group had come to an end and hence more time on my hands.
But I was just noticing how often I thought about food. And how I lost willpower as the day progressed.
I had come to the realization that food has been my idol for most of my life. In church on Sunday, the pastor quoted Matthew 4:4 "Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Jesus says this to the devil when he is being tempted in the wildnerness.
The verse Jesus was quoting found in Deuteronomy 8:3 - "“And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”
I have heard these scriptures many times, but it hit me over the head yesterday. Because during service, my mind kept wandering. Mostly to what I was going to eat for lunch. The devil does tempt me and distract me! And he knows how to lure me. With food!
So this is one area I am going to focus on for year number two. More on that as I develop a plan.
Just suffice it to say that as of this evening, I have conquered the devil!
And here is my psalm of the day. Interesting first line! Here is some interesting commentary on this psalm:
" The superscription of the psalm places it within a particular life situation of King David: "when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away." The only story in the biblical text that might be associated with Psalm 34's superscription is found in 1 Samuel 21:10-15. There, David fled from Saul and went to King Achish--not Abimelech--at Gath. But Achish recognized him and David was afraid for his life, so he feigned madness to disguise his true identity.
Ascertaining a specific historical event in the life of David in which to place Psalm 34 is not as important as using the setting to gain insight into the meaning and intent of the psalm. In Psalm 34, David praises God for deliverance from a life-threatening situation--perhaps his encounter with King Achish of Gath, later remembered as Abimelech.
Psalm 34 is an alphabetic acrostic. Each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Acrostic poems were the works of highly skilled literary artists and functioned in ancient Israelite literature in a number of ways. Acrostics were most likely memory devices to aid in private and public--that is, individual and corporate--recitation; in addition, literarily, they summarized all that could be said or that needed to be said about a particular subject, summing it up from alif to tav, from A to Z. Adele Berlin suggests further that in an acrostic, the entire alphabet−the source of all words−is marshaled in praise of God. One cannot actually use all of the words in a language, but by using the alphabet one uses all potential words."
https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=361
Psalm 34
Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.
1 I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will glory in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will glory in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord will rescue his servants;
no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord will rescue his servants;
no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
You know, I could live my life focusing on verse 14.
Speaking of turning from evil, I am going to rise up this very moment and head to the gym!
Happy Tuesday!
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