Good morning all!

Father, we know that You truly hold the world in Your hands and nothing in life comes to pass without Your knowledge. I pray we will trust You always and know that You are a just God, and we should never have any reason to doubt You. You word declares that you knit us together in the womb, You alone know that smallest of details to the greatest, thank You Lord for loving us, Amen. Have you ever thought about that, what are the works of God?

Psalm 111

Psa 111:7 KJV – The works of his hands [are] verity and judgment; all his commandments [are] sure.
All that God puts His hands on is just and without questioning, all His commands are worthy of our trust.

Psa 111:8 KJV – They stand fast for ever and ever, [and are] done in truth and uprightness.
His commands will always be true and should be followed faithfully and with passion.

Psa 111:9 KJV – He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend [is] his name.
He paid the ALL debts: and the promise of His covenant has NO limits: His nature is holy and truly jaw dropping.

Psa 111:10 KJV – The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do [his commandments]: his praise endureth for ever.
All wisdom begins by acknowledging God as the true authority of our life: when we follow His commands, we become a whole lot wiser: He is worthy of our praise always.

Bottom line

So what message is the psalmist trying to convey here? The message is one encouragement and peace in God’s handling of our life. We should always be able to see the hand of God in our life, the word declares that the Holy One never sleeps or slumbers. Why? He’s always working on us and believe you me…it’s a full-time job-Ha! If we look at our life and see something less than the power and majesty of God…He’s got more work to do. So how do we change what we see? Well, let’s start by always seeing God in the midst of our life and just like Al Green said whether times are good or bad, happy or sad…stay together. If you’re like me, sometimes I ask God too many questions. And if I’m really honest with myself, the questions I ask are usually self-serving. They really only serve me…not Him…and there lies my problem. The beginning of wisdom isn’t God answering our questions regarding the works of His hands, instead we should pick one of His commands and go do it. Right? Picture you’re at work and your boss gives you a task and instead of you going and selling the Pepsi you stand there and ask him/her why are we selling the Pepsi? You feel me? I mean who’s the better worker, the one that goes and works the vineyard even when his hands are getting pricked by the thorns or the one that stands there and questions his boss about the thorns that are in the vineyard? The boss is well aware the vineyard has both grapes and thorns so what’s he looking for? The worker that will bring him the wine NOT the whine-Ha!

Isa 5:7 NIV – The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. When the Bible speaks often of wine and in many cases, it represents the love and mercy of God (very 1st miracle of Jesus He produced wine). In this passage in Isaiah God asks the question to us, I sent you to find the good grapes but all I heard about was the bad ones…that’s the bloodshed. The cries of distress is us saying this is NOT fair and that’s NOT right, and how come? How come? How come? When the fruit of Christ inside of us (same place as the vineyard) doesn’t produce wine…love and mercy…is the problem with God’s fruit or His worker? Ain’t nothing wrong with the fruit, it’s always there and it’s always fresh. It’s us questioning God about the bad grape we found or the thorn that pricked our finger…get over it already and go find a good grape and produce the wine. How do we produce the wine? The mature state of the grape, we do His commandments, we follow His word we don’t stop just because we experienced a thorn. This is where wisdom begins NOT ends and then His praise ENDURES forever. Now call me crazy but for anything to ENDURE it usually goes through some stuff, right? What do you suppose is enduring? That’s right it’s you and I in the vineyard looking past the bad grapes in pursuit of the good ones, it’s working beyond the thorns knowing that end product is worth it all…the maturing of Christ in you and I…the work of His hands.

Point to Ponder

Remember when Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a vineyard? Mat 21:43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Make sure your vineyard produces fruit like love and forgiveness otherwise He’ll take it away and give it to people who will.

Let’s all be His vineyard, In Him Phil

Faith – Family – Friends