Episode Transcript
Welcome Bonnie McClure to the Wake-Up Call for the final entry of the mini-series on Psalm 103. Bonnie is from Bremen, Georgia. She is married to Matthew, and mother of two sons ten and eight, and a dog named Kudzu and a cat named Rose. She’s a high school bookkeeper by day and a writer by calling. She writes regularly at the Pointed Arrow.
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Abba, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Abba, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Psalm 103 (NLT)
Let all that I am praise the LORD;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Let all that I am praise the LORD;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death
and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
The LORD gives righteousness
and justice to all who are treated unfairly.
He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
The LORD is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
The LORD is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
But the love of the LORD remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!
The LORD has made the heavens his throne;
from there he rules over everything.
Praise the LORD, you angels,
you mighty ones who carry out his plans,
listening for each of his commands.
Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels
who serve him and do his will!
Praise the LORD, everything he has created,
everything in all his kingdom.
Let all that I am praise the LORD.
CONSIDER THIS
Well, friends, here we are, at the close of this series on Psalm 103. I am reflecting that while each entry highlights the glorious attributes of God’s well-established nature when we look for these same characteristics within humanity, each one of them suddenly becomes harder to find, if not absent altogether.
Compassionate, merciful, slow to anger, forgiving, faithful, healing, righteous, eternal—all qualities we have explored that our Lord exemplifies beautifully—and yet when we examine them in our own lives, even our best efforts simply pale in comparison.
And yet.
The invitation of Jesus is not just to be saved by his grace. We are not merely a pile of dry bones with a bright future. The Lord prophesies through Ezekiel, “Dry bones, come alive!” (Ezek. 37).
I grew up across the street from a thirteen-acre garden plowed and planted by a single, lifetime farmer, his plow, and a mule named Midnight. Mr. Freddie Crawford came from a long line of farmers. Farming was all his family had ever done for livelihood. He knew intimately the timing, care, and touch required to help something grow. He was humble and hardworking, quiet and unassuming. He was deeply kind.
My father was an avid relic hunter. He loved to visit grading sites to try and find arrowheads surfacing from their ancient burial. He would often hunt Mr. Crawford’s garden, as each year the garden was cleared and plowed anew, unearthed a new layer of discovery.
One year, he found five unbroken arrowheads right in the middle of the thirteen-acre garden. I remember how he marveled at the small miracle. It would be rare to find so many complete pieces in such close proximity, much less in a location you had previously scoured for years. Mr. Crawford explained to my father that as long as the field is plowed regularly, as it should be, whatever lies along the outside of the garden will eventually turn up in the middle.
I see this as a beautiful metaphor for the way God regularly plows and renews our lives each season. He knows precisely what is buried in the soils of our hearts. He put it all there himself. With each new turn of the soil, we dig deeper into the sanctifying grace of his love and his plan for us. We turn up new gifts, new treasures, new wholeness, at just the right time.
Praise the LORD, you angels,
you mighty ones who carry out his plans,
listening for each of his commands.
Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels
who serve him and do his will.
It is wonderful enough to come to know the wonderful ways of the Lord, but even grander still is the gift of learning that the spirit of the Lord is in us. If we keep seeking him and allowing our lives to be tilled and worked by him, his miracles will turn up right in the middle of our lives.
As precious and awe-inspiring as five, unbroken arrowheads.
THE PRAYER
Lord, thank you that while we cannot achieve these wonderful things that you naturally are, you invite us to make a home where you dwell, so that these qualities can enter our lives, blessing us and blessing others. We thank you that you do not see us as empty, dead, hardened piles of stone, but instead vessels for your living spirit to pour into and flow through and animate. We thank you for the special treasures you have instilled inside of us, the refining and laborious work you do within our hearts to turn up these precious gifts, always at just the right time. We thank you for the gift of being land that belongs to you, the most skilled and gentle farmer of our lives.
