“For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands” (Psalm 92:4).

The works of God reflect who He is.  When we triumph in His works, we declare His lovingkindness and faithfulness.  From beginning to end God is loving, kind and faithful; and from morning to evening it is good to declare it as so.  Declare God’s lovingkindness and faithfulness and you will be found to declare every good thing He has established and to triumph in it.  Nevermind when you and I have been loving, kind and faithful or done anything good, on this it is good to be mute; but regarding God, it is good to declare.  It is good to declare in the morning.  It is good in the evening.  It is good every hour in between.  It is good because it is the language of triumph!

The triumph has to do with God’s great works.  May nothing but the works of God’s hands elicit from us such declarations, and may no small nuisance or large trial expropriate what triumph is yours and mine.  We may triumph that God has planted us in Him to flourish, and  through the works of His hands, we shall.  We may triumph that when we grow old we shall still bear fruit, be fresh and flourish, for God's work is so.  We may triumph over instability, for the hand of God has made us like a palm tree that weathers hurricanes.  We may triumph over timidity and weariness, for God has made us like the majestic and durable cedars of Lebanon.  His lovingkindness and faithfulness establish what we cannot.  His works are all the reason we need to give thanks and sing praises to His name and declare His lovingkindness and faithfulness all the day long.  It is so good!

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

"So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory" (Psalm 63:2).

Pilgrim feet have oft trod,

Stumbling through desert sod.

Hid the way, by thorns driven;

Hedged the path by light of heaven.

God's pilgrim, soul and flesh,

Seek Him in His wilderness.

It's His, and here sanctity wild

Is refuge for the pilgrim child

Whose heart leaps and trembles to see

God in awesome majesty.

Author: Carolyn Roehrig

“When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth” (II Samuel 23:3-4).

Who is like this over me?  Christ, certainly.  Who wants to be like this over others?  I, for one.  How?  By rehearsing in my heart what truth is scripted across the sky every morning.  What is that?  The Light following darkness often stained crimson; the rising Son; the deep heights of God’s love; the cloudless expanse of eternity; the new life; the bright hope after rain; new mercies every morning.

These are truths so familiar to us that we feel them, but we must speak them in our hearts throughout the night hours and seasons.  Those who know the script by heart have rehearsed it by moon glow and star shine, the only light given in darkened times.  Those who know Truth have neither by darkness nor rain been overcome, but they have been overcome by light, mercy and hope.  They are those who see God’s bright touch upon every drop of rain.  Should they look down, they see the living color of God’s glory reflecting in the puddles; should they look up, they see the full spectrum of God’s inscrutable light, prisms arching over them, a promise.  They are overcome by God’s righteous rule, and come over others with it.

Author: Carolyn Roehrig