Refresh yourself.  I don’t mean with ice-cold lemonade.  Or a relaxing stroll on the beach.  Or leafing through that classic novel you haven’t read since junior high or at all.  All are refreshing but that’s not what I mean.

I”m looking at Psalm 78, one of the longest, which in my Bible covers 4 pages.  It’s a good reminder that I need God’s refreshment all the time.  Not only once in a blue moon.  No.  Every day.  Am I alone?  Don’t think so.  Never met anyone, anywhere, who said they’d had enough of their Bibles.  Knew it through and through.  Nothing new between its covers.  Old hat.  Out of date.  Kapooey.  Enough already.

There’ve been times in my life when my Bible’s been neglected, which produces a spiritual desert.  Being out of touch with Jesus.  But when I draw closer to Him, giving the time He deserves, soaking in His Word, it makes troubles less so, as thanks are eagerly given to their source, my Lord Jesus.  Cracked and shattered life comes together better with Him next to me, even holding me.  He’s my superglue, so to speak.

Can I sense Him?  I can.  Through eyes of faith.  Must I be perfect to have Him nearby?  Are you kidding?  I’m just an old sinner saved by grace.  Psalm 78: 39–‘He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.’  God understands us better than we think.  Warts and all.  So, get up off the ground of guilt and self-pity.  ‘Stand up, stand up for Jesus…’

Reading verse 40 and beyond, the psalmist gives us added refresher material about God’s power and judgment.  How He saves His own, and deals with those who thumb their noses at Him.  These verses serve as reminders of what we so easily forget.  That God is there for us.  No matter what, we can depend on Him and utterly trust Him.  Easy to do?  Yeah, right.  I wish.

But as you consciously remember who He is, and what He’s done for you in the past, you begin to grasp that the present and the future will be cared for by your Lord Jesus Christ.  He’s the ‘I am’ of life.  The current.  The promise in our past, present, and future.  All of it.

How’s your grade in this refresher course?  I’m about C+ but class isn’t over yet!

Thank you, Jesus, for helping me.  Amen.