Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good
morning. It is Monday, March twenty five, twenty twenty four. Hello,
my name is Elle David Harris. I am your host, and this
is your Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single day, and
today is no exception. We are continuing in our lesson study series for this
final week through the Book of Psalms, and our caption for today is piece
of a Weaned Child, Piece of a Weaned Child. We'll get it to
that in just a moment, but first I'd like to say welcome to you
and ask you to go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join
our online community pick up your Daily Portion book. Also, let us know
where you are in the world at your Daily Portion dot com. This is
a way that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and
pray, and then we will get underway. Father and Heaven, thank you
for giving us the opportunity to be called by your name and to continue into
this work week. Father, Please give us understanding, teach us how to
connect with you, because you have welcomed us into your presence. In Jesus'
name, I pray, Amen and a man again. So the lesson writer
interestingly says this, God's people live in a world that afflicts the faithful,
a world full of temptations and hardship for almost everyone. A refreshed conviction that
he is a child of God and dependent on God for his life consoles the
Psalmist and brings him to confess that his pride has no value. The deceitfulness
of pride is that it causes the proud to become self centered and unable to
look beyond themselves. The proud are thus blinded to the higher reality of God.
Now this is very interesting to me, because really and truly, if
I'm dependent upon my mother for sustenance, I'm a baby. Can't even hold
up my head. I am dependent upon her breast milk for sustenance if you
superimpose that on my life as an adult. And I am dependent upon God
for my daily bread, for my daily spiritual bread, for everything that is
my life, my breath, my strength, my intelligence, my intellect,
my emotional stability, and on and on. We can go at infinitum forever.
And I become proud and say, God, I don't like how you're
doing my life. I don't like what it is that you say that my
life should look like. I'm not in agreement with you. How proud is
that? And so the lesson writer aptly has us to look at Psalm chapter
one hundred thirty one, and I will read beginning at verse one, and
the Bible reads, oh Lord, my heart is not proud, thank God,
Nor do I have a haughty look. I do not have great aspirations
or concern myself with things that are beyond me. One thing that we say
in Jamaica is sometimes people fast in other people's business, or in big people's
business. And basically what this is saying is that some people are into what
others are doing, rather than worrying about what I'm supposed to be doing.
Have you ever heard that is above my pay grade? Yeah, there are
people who even at work at your workplace, organization, company, or whatever,
sometimes the management has already made a decision about a thing, and it's
not an ethics problem, it's not a moral problem. It's just a way
that they have chosen to operate, and then some people have such big problems
with it that it becomes a point of gossip and contention. Well, the
Bible writer is saying that I'm not going to be like that toward God.
When God makes a judgment in heaven, I am going to agree with him.
No matter what trials or tribulations I go through. No matter what God
brings my way or allows me to go through, I am going to trust
him. I am not proud. I don't have a proud look, and
my aspirations are only really what God wants for me to do. I'm not
going to add anything to it. Whatever the calling is that God is placed
on my life, that is what I am going to explore. And the
Bible continues verse two. Indeed, I have calmed and quieted myself like a
weaned child with its mother. I am content like a young child. Oh,
Israel, hope in the Lord now and forever more. You see,
the Bible writer is welcoming other people into a right relationship with God, the
kind of relationship where confession is a standard. And when I say confession,
I don't mean just saying out loud what I have done wrong. That's not
what I'm saying. I'm talking about agreement with God. Holiness and confession are
agreement with God. Whatever God's judgment, his what he says is about my
life, then I agree with that. This is what we're talking about.
And so I have calmed and quieted myself like a weaned child with its mother.
Have you ever been in a situation where you were not quiet, where
you are not peaceful, You didn't like how things were going on the job.
It was a relationship breach with someone that you really loved, maybe even
were romantically involved in or with excuse me, or maybe your health condition has
gone in a way that nobody planned and it's not something that makes God happy
because you're in pain or somehow going through a struggle that it's way too difficult
for you in your mind to bear. And God is saying, just like
I took care of job in his deepest trials, just like I took care
of Jesus as he was in the garden of Gethsemane, sweating as it were
great drops of blood, just like I took care of Christ while he was
on the cross, crying out, My God, My God, why have
thou forsaken me? I am able to take care of you. The Bible
writer is saying, Oh, Israel, I want you to hope in God
in this same way that I am learning, and do it forever more.
What I want to do now is see what we can draw from Psalm chapter
one hundred and thirty one, besides what I have rambled on about some specific
lessons and some other points in scripture. Okay, and so in verse one
we see humility before God. My heart is not proud, so we see
humility. We have to humble ourselves. We have to learn, by God's
grace, the importance of humility and recognizing our limitations before the infinite knowledge and
wisdom of God. We don't know enough to argue with God. We don't
know enough to be disconcerted by what he does or does not do. What
we need to know is that He's a good God. How good is He
He's so good that no matter what we go through, no matter what we're
confused about, he can take us through the trials. He does not always
deliver us, but he does deliver us through. He doesn't always deliver us
from, but he delivers us through. We don't always understand, but he
said, don't lean to your own understanding in all of your ways. Brothers
and sisters, acknowledge Him, and he will direct your path. So we
learn humility from verse one before God. From verse two we learn contentment and
trust. Remember it says I have learned to be calm and quieted myself.
This is a deliberate and active choice contentment in whatever station I find myself,
whether I abound or I am abased, I find contentment. Whether I have
food or food and raiment, right, clothing and shelter, I am content.
This imagery reflects a deep sense of contentment and trust in God, trust
in the wisdom and knowledge of God. Trust in God as much as a
child trusts in the care of its mother. And then the insignificance of pride.
It doesn't make sense to be proud, brothers and sisters, because no
matter what decisions we make, when we're proud. They have to be undone.
We cannot trust in our own understanding. We can't trust in our own
wisdom because if we do, this means that we are selfish, yes,
and our understanding of conplex matters. They go beyond our grasp and we pay
the penalty. So there's so many lessons to learn. But let's be peaceful
like a child is peaceful and content in his or her mother's grass. A
wonderful day. Thanks for joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot
live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of
God. This has been your daily portion with El David Harris. Make it
a great day. Yeah,