Meditations: September 2025

The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness,
And such is my heart:
The thick darkness in which he dwells.
His mercies are new every morning;
One morning, his mercies will not need to be new.
That day will never end.

(2 Chron 6:1; Lam 3:22-23; Rev 21:25)

That is actually the last, chronologically, of the meditations below, but it is a wonderful summary of my month.

“God has not forgotten the recipe for manna.”

(Abigail Wallace, “‘As Your Days’ : What John’s Last Days Taught Me About Mercy, Worry & Strength”)

To pray in Jesus’ name
Is to take refuge in the Lord.

(John 16:23-24; Ps 62:1-2)

The Lord didn’t tell the man
That the thorn and brier defeated
Would be pleasurable,
But it was.

(Gen 3:17-19; Isa 27:4, as applied to mowing)

If I am but a hammer,
Then let me be a good hammer.
The Lord is kind to his servants,
And he takes care of his tools.
Remember me, O my God, for good.

(Neh 13:31)

Down by the river we sat and wept;
There on the cottonwoods hung our lyres;
There was commanded among us joy:
“Sing to us one of the songs of Zion.”
How can I sing Jehovah’s song
When all his servants are not here?
If we shall be Jerusalem,
Why are we not now Jerusalem here?
If I forget Jerusalem,
May my hand forget its skill;
Cease to recall Jerusalem,
May my tongue be ever still.
Above my highest joy I set
Even thy lowest parapet.

(Psalm 137)

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire,
But love does not insist on its own way.

(Prov 18:1; 1 Cor 13:5)

Love distances wrath, is mild. Love heats* not against. Love embellishes not itself, is not inflated, disgraces not, seeks not its own, is not sharp**, reckons not up a wrong, rejoices not in injustice but co-rejoices with truth, everything covers, everything believes, everything hopes, everything remains through. Love never falls.
* root of Eng. zeal
** root of Eng. paroxysm

(1 Cor 13:4-8, rough word study)

“More law ≠ less sin.”

(Steve LeBlanc, “The Ministry of the Law”)

Thank you, O Lord, that I may blunder through,
Taking as much care as I can to honor you,
And receive forgiveness when my righteousness is still like filthy rags
Because your righteousness for me is greater.

(Col 2:20-23, somehow—I was on the production team this day and don't remember how I got from Colossians to here)

“Grace, like manna, arrives for the moment and lasts for the day.”

(Dave Harvey, The Clay Pot Conspiracy, p. 80.)