A Glad Heart
Today’s scripture selection: Psalms 15-17
Key verses: Psalm 6:9-11
Heartburn is no fun. I have plenty of experience with this because I have a bad habit of skipping breakfast, eating a “fast food” lunch, and guzzling lots of coffee all day. That’s a prescription for heartburn that can set a house on fire.
But there is another kind of heartburn that is even more serious – the spiritual kind. Confronted by the challenges of life, we can too easily find ourselves burning with frustration or self-righteous indignation. We can feel put ourselves firmly in the camp of the victimized and abused. We can too easily forget that, for all its difficulties, life really is beautiful thing – at least for most of us.
That’s when it is helpful to hear the Psalmist say something like this:
“….my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you (Lord) will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
When we have an awesome, loving God who will not abandon us to the realm of the dead; when He is so faithful to make known to us the path of life; when He is so willing and able to fill us with the joy of His presence – well, what room is there for spiritual heartburn?
I don’t mean to be trite. Life can be excruciatingly difficult. As a pastor, I am all too aware of that. But I also know it can be indescribably beautiful.
So rest in God’s presence and give thanks for all the good there is in each day’s walk of faith. And go easy on the coffee.
Prayer: Lord, I thank you that you will never abandon me. I praise you for a daily walk of joyful companionship with you.
AMEN.
By Paul Simrell
The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. Elpis is the Greek word meaning “expectant hope.” He also serves on the associate clinical staff of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, Richmond, Virginia, both as a pastoral counselor and a ministerial assessment specialist, specializing in executive, clergy and relationship coaching. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
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