A Fresh Start

December 30, 2009 by Debbie.

For over 20 years I’ve either read or said aloud Psalm 103 almost every day. I always thought of it as a song of praise from me to God. Today I realize it is not just a song of praise from me to God, but a song FROM God to me.

I’m reading Dr. Kevin Leman’s book, Sheet Music - highly recommend it. In one of the first chapters, Dr. Leman says that we all have an internal ‘rule book.’ Basically, it’s made up of the impressions we learned before third grade.  Some of the things in my ‘rule book’ are not to waste, don’t clutter, don’t leave a mess, DO something and get it DONE, start things early and finish before it’s needed. These rules are part of me and will stay part of me unless I conscientiously decide they are harmful and need to be replaced with one that isn’t harmful. My humanity leaves room for less than ideal  rules as I wasn’t raised by perfect parents, nor had a perfect life up to 3rd grade, therefore my rule book wasn’t formed from perfect impressions. Problems come when my rule book clashes with John’s internal rule book. Dr. Leman says that’s the time to stop, talk about the whys behind the problem and find out what rules are clashing, examine those rules and see if one or both need to be revised.

So God sings to me from his rule book in Psalm 103 - rules he will ALWAYS live by - he will  forgive me, he will  heal me, he will redeem my life from destruction, he will be tender towards me, he will satisfy me with good things, he will renew my youth, he will not hold my sins against me nor reward me by my sins - past, present or future sins - he will show me his ways, he will show me his acts, he will always have mercy towards me, he will remember my children, he will direct the angels for me, he will rule the kingdoms I live in. And the best thing is that God’s rule book is perfect.

So when my rule book clashes with God’s rule book, we sit down and talk about why and look over both rules and see which one is true and good, which one to keep and which one to readjust.  Isaiah 1:18 says it this way, “Come let us reason together,” says the Lord, “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they should be red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

You may wonder why this makes more of an impression on me than saying Psalm 103 lists God’s promises to me. Because I learned early and have a ‘rule’ that promises are made to be broken and 95% of the time are. I like rules and automatically distrust promises. When I hear someone make a promise my first thought is what’s the loop hole? But a rule is set in my mind - such as the rule of gravity; I throw the cat up in the air and down she comes (OK, I don’t go around throwing cats up in the air, but a little levity here helps.)  I can understand the (internal) rule book because I live it without even thinking about it. A promise has to be thought about and ‘kept,’  - something you do, not something you ARE. Is my ‘rule’ correct? No, but now that it’s mentally out in the open I can deal with it. I can ‘reason together’ with God. We can talk about how to overlay his true rule (God doesn’t lie, what he has spoken he will accomplish) over my incorrect rule.

Do you have some rules in your internal rule book that might conflict with God’s true rules? I didn’t think I did but obviously I do. Maybe this New Year’s is a good time to sit down with God and say to him, “Come let us reason together, show me how my rule book matches up to yours.” Maybe it’s time for a fresh start, regardless of how big or small.

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