Psalm 119: Good Bye My Friends

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

http://youtu.be/-U4uF57N6eQ

ו Waw
41 Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord—
Your salvation according to Your word.
42 So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me,
For I trust in Your word.
43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
For I have hoped in Your ordinances.
44 So shall I keep Your law continually,
Forever and ever.
45 And I will walk at liberty,
For I seek Your precepts.
46 I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings,
And will not be ashamed.
47 And I will delight myself in Your commandments,
Which I love.
48 My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments,
Which I love,
And I will meditate on Your statutes.

From the Message

Let your love, God, shape my life
with salvation, exactly as you promised;
Then I’ll be able to stand up to mockery
because I trusted your Word.
Don’t ever deprive me of truth, not ever—
your commandments are what I depend on.
Oh, I’ll guard with my life what you’ve revealed to me,
guard it now, guard it ever;
And I’ll stride freely through wide open spaces
as I look for your truth and your wisdom;
Then I’ll tell the world what I find,
speak out boldly in public, unembarrassed.
I cherish your commandments—oh, how I love them!—
relishing every fragment of your counsel.

One of our dear homeless friends passed away last night. He was fighting cancer, seems he died of a heart attack. He had told me recently how tired he had become. How there were days he had to make himself get out of bed. 

He was a happy positive person who always had a kind word and a story to tell. He would play the piano in our gym during our weekly meals. We called him Pops but his real name was Matthew. I will miss him. 

Earlier in the week we received word that several friends of our who had served in our kitchen from the 92 Air Force Squadron had died when their KC-135 military plane crashed in Krygyzastan.  They had brought their old boots for the homeless. I suppose they went out with their boots on doing the proud and honorable work of protecting our country. 

It has been a hard week of losses of generous kind hearted souls. 

In this group photo pictured in the middle is Capt. Victoria Pinckney, of the 93 squadron at Fairchild Air Force base in Spokane, WA. she was on deployment in Kyrgyzstan as well as Capt. Mark T. Voss and Tech Sgt. Herman Mackey. All three lost their lives when their jet went down.

So it is with a heavy heart that I write today's post. 

Our Psalm starts to day with the words  "Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord"—

As I think of the friends and family of these who have departed this life, my prayer is that the Lord would show His mercy and be their comfort. I think how fleeting life is for those of us created from dust. Oh Lord we need your mercy. 

And I’ll stride freely through wide open spaces as I look for your truth and your wisdom;  Be it the wide open skies of Kyrgyzstan or the Chevron station on 3rd and Monroe, none of us knows how long our days on this earth will be. None of us knows if the people who grace our lives today will be with us tomorrow. We are so prone to take people for granted and assume there will be another opportunity to let them know what they mean to us. Suddenly they have departed this world and we are left with memories and often regrets for those things on our heart that we neglected to share. 

Don’t ever deprive me of truth, not ever— your commandments are what I depend on.

Are you depending on God and choosing to live His way. When tragedy strikes, and a plane goes down  or a homeless man who lived in a motor home dies on a street corner, are you trusting him. When children are gunned down by a crazy person in a school it is then that we must depend on the comfort of the Lord. It is then that we become an extension of his comfort and love to those who are hurting. 

I cherish your commandments—oh, how I love them!

—relishing every fragment of your counsel.

Luke 10:27
He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighboras well as you do yourself.”

Luke 12:6-7
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Proverbs 10:7
7 The memory of the righteous is blessed,
But the name of the wicked will rot.

Psalm 90: 12

So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

I found this song that I thought was a nice memorial. Please join me in praying for the family and friends who are hurting from these recent losses. Maybe you have an ache in your own heart over a loved one departed. I pray the Holy Spirit will be your comforter. Life is precious - may you live yours wisely and not take for granted the people who grace your days. O Lord let your love shape our lives. 

http://youtu.be/gghG64i8Mmg