Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

Remember All His Benefits {No Matter What Monday}

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When my son was younger, he asked me what Labor Day was. I tried to explain its significance, but my son was not impressed. “It’s not anything exciting, then?” he asked disappointedly. Now that Labor Day means a day off school and the chance to sleep in, my teenager thinks it’s a lot more exciting! 

This month we’ll be walking through Psalm 103 and celebrating the benefits we receive from the Lord. Spoiler alert: These benefits are even better than a 3-day weekend! In this psalm, David calls himself—and all the people of God—to bless the Lord and remember all His benefits. Today we’ll start with verses 1-5: 

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:1-5)

God forgives. This forgiveness is complete—He forgives all your iniquity. We’ll dig into the details of this gracious forgiveness next week!

God heals. While God often heals our physical diseases, the healing the psalmist probably had in mind here is our spiritual healing from the disease of sin. As 1 Peter 2:24 says, “[Christ] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 

God redeems. When you were in the pit of guilt, shame, and death, the Lord was the one who rescued you. 

God surrounds you with steadfast love and mercy. “Crown” means to encircle or surround. When you look around, do you only see your problems? Or can you see the steadfast love and mercy of God surrounding you today? 

God satisfies you and sustains you. God’s goodness fills us up and fuels us for the Christian life. 

This is not an exhaustive list of God’s benefits – and even this short list is mind-blowing! When we understand the magnitude of what we’ve received from the Lord, we respond with praise.  David wants us to not forget God’s benefits, but to remember and bless His holy name. 

No matter what you face this week, remember the benefits you’ve received from the Lord. 

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To Him Who is Able {First 5}

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Today I’m sharing in the First 5 app as we celebrate studying every book in the Bible over the past 5 years! Here’s a preview of the teaching.

Today’s Reading: Jude 24-25

Jude 24-25 (ESV) “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

Have you ever heard a promise that seemed too good to be true? Maybe you doubted the promise-maker’s willingness to keep their commitment or you were skeptical of their ability to make it happen.

As we’ve studied God’s Word together in the First 5 app over the last five years, we’ve basked in the many beautiful promises the Father gives us through His Son, Jesus Christ. When doubt creeps into our minds about God’s ability to keep these promises, Jude 24-25 reassures us that God is able to do exactly what He says He will do. And here’s how we know: God has all glory, majesty, dominion and authority, from eternity past through our eternal future.

Click here to read the entire teaching over at First 5. I hope you’ll consider downloading the app and joining in our next study!

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Yet I Will Rejoice in the Lord {No Matter What Monday}

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We’ve been taking a journey this month with the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. He’s pleaded with God to relieve his suffering, heard a troubling answer, reminded himself of God’s character, been encouraged to live by faith, and received comforting promises from his God. The book of Habakkuk concludes with a beautiful prayer of trust and hope that Habakkuk wrote to be sung by God’s people in worship. 

After remembering God’s faithfulness to His people throughout their history, Habakkuk ends his prayer with these words: 

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

These verses sounds strange to our modern ears . . . no figs or olive oil? Problems with the flock? But this is describing a natural disaster of huge proportions for an ancient, agrarian society. For Habakkuk, if the trees don’t blossom and the flock is gone, there is no food. This is even worse than what we experienced in March when we couldn’t find toilet paper and canned goods on the shelves. Habakkuk is saying, “Even if the world falls apart and I lack basic necessities like food, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” 

What’s your “even if”? If the pandemic keeps dragging on . . . if your candidate loses the election . . . if the cancer comes back . . . if you never get married . . . if the miscarriages continue . . . if your relationship with an estranged family member never improves . . . yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will take joy in the God of our salvation. 

Habakkuk isn’t trusting that his circumstances are going to get better – he’s trusting who God is, no matter what. The Lord is his strength as he seeks to live by faith, remembering that the One who’s been faithful in the past will be faithful throughout Habakkuk’s uncertain future. 

No matter what you face this week, find your joy and your strength in the faithful Lord. 

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The Lord is in His Holy Temple {No Matter What Monday}

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This week we’re continuing in the book of Habakkuk, where we see a conversation between God and a suffering prophet. Habakkuk cried out to the Lord for help, and God told him that He would bring the Chaldeans to oppress the people of Judah. (This was not good news!) God exhorts Habakkuk to wait with faith in God’s promises. 

As the conversation continues, God tells Habakkuk that He will eventually bring justice and punishment to the wicked Chaldeans. There will be suffering and hardship, but deliverance will come (Habakkuk 2:5-19). 

Then God speaks these words of comfort to Habakkuk: 

“But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)

When I first read these words, I couldn’t see how Habakkuk could find comfort here. This isn’t the first verse I turn to when I’m sending a “thinking of you” card to a friend. But as I dug deeper, I understood why this truth would lead to Habakkuk’s prayer of praise that we’ll look at next week. 

The Lord’s presence in His holy temple teaches us that He is ruling and reigning over all things. As He’s ruling from His throne, He also sees us. Psalm 11:4 says, “The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.” He sees the sin of others that affects us. He sees our hurt. He sees our tears. 

And since we live at this point in history, after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lord’s presence in His holy temple means even more. God the Son left the throne of heaven to dwell among us. Now His redeemed people have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us – now we are God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). 

God says in Habakkuk 2:20 that He is in His holy temple – and Scripture tells us that we are God’s temple. What does that mean? It means God is with us. 

The words of this verse brings comfort to those who are in Christ because we know the Lord reigns from His throne, He sees our pain, and He resides with us in our suffering. 

No matter what you face this week, the Lord is in His holy temple. 

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