Treasures...

Mom and I went thrifting today and ended up at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. It's mostly building supplies, paint, kitchen cabinets and the like - but, I found a treasure hidden in the framed artwork. It was a beautiful piece of counted cross stitch needlework, such a perfect design. I wondered to myself how anyone could give that away. As I looked around the store, I realized that many treasures had been given away, but to a place where people could find them and make a home for them again. Some one, instead of throwing away kitchen cabinets, had donated them - so they could be used by someone else. So many people today, in spite of everything they have - throw away - treasures. I was then reminded of these verses: Matthew 6:19-20. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. What treasure have I laid up in heaven?

Psalm 95

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;

    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before him with thanksgiving

    and extol him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God,

    the great King above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth,

    and the mountain peaks belong to him.

The sea is his, for he made it,

    and his hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us bow down in worship,

    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

for he is our God

    and we are the people of his pasture,

    the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,

“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,

    as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,

where your ancestors tested me;

    they tried me, though they had seen what I did.

For forty years I was angry with that generation;

    I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,

    and they have not known my ways.’

So I declared on oath in my anger,

    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

Psalm 102

Hear my prayer, Lord;

    let my cry for help come to you.

Do not hide your face from me

    when I am in distress.

Turn your ear to me;

    when I call, answer me quickly.

For my days vanish like smoke;

    my bones burn like glowing embers.

My heart is blighted and withered like grass;

    I forget to eat my food.

In my distress I groan aloud

    and am reduced to skin and bones.

I am like a desert owl,

    like an owl among the ruins.

I lie awake; I have become

    like a bird alone on a roof.

All day long my enemies taunt me;

    those who rail against me use my name as a curse.

For I eat ashes as my food

    and mingle my drink with tears

because of your great wrath,

    for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.

My days are like the evening shadow;

    I wither away like grass.

But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;

    your renown endures through all generations.

You will arise and have compassion on Zion,

    for it is time to show favor to her;

    the appointed time has come.

For her stones are dear to your servants;

    her very dust moves them to pity.

The nations will fear the name of the Lord,

    all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

 For the Lord will rebuild Zion

    and appear in his glory.

He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;

    he will not despise their plea.

Let this be written for a future generation,

    that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:

“The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high,

    from heaven he viewed the earth,

 to hear the groans of the prisoners

    and release those condemned to death.”

So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion

    and his praise in Jerusalem

when the peoples and the kingdoms

    assemble to worship the Lord.

In the course of my life[b] he broke my strength;

    he cut short my days.

So I said: “Do not take me away, my God,

in the midst of my days;

    your years go on through all generations.

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,

    and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain;

    they will all wear out like a garment.

Like clothing you will change them

    and they will be discarded.

But you remain the same,

    and your years will never end.

The children of your servants will live in your presence;

    their descendants will be established before you.”