Psalm 147

It is good to praise the Lord. The psalmist opens this psalm with those words. How true it is when your heart is fixated on the Lord, that is is good to praise the Lord. He goes on to say that it is pleasant and good to sing to God.

Is it delightful to sing to the Lord? The answer is, it should be. I hope it is for you. The psalmist writes about how good God is and why we should praise him. The reason we see is that God is all powerful, he controls all things. Here is what the psalmist lists as why God is good.

1) He heals the brokenhearted. 2) He knows how many stars there are and has named them all. 3) His understanding is above all measure. 4) He is just to the righteous and wicked. 5)He is in control of the weather.

God is good and all powerful. When we come to a chance to worship Him, it should be with all of our heart and all of our self. Do you get distracted? Do you find your quiet time and worship time with the Lord as awesome and sweet? Or, is it just another thing to do? I like what this writer did, he wrote down different attributes of God and thought about them. This is something that I am challenged in doing, listing the things of how and why God is so good and to know my worship time with him is precious. I love being able to just sit and read God’s word and think about how great he is.

Content in the Lord

Psalm 131

This is a song by David. He wrote it as he was content in the Lord and when he was in the presence of the Lord, there was peace. This psalm is the second shortest psalm out of the book. It says, “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed  and quieted my soul, like weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

David was showing that he has true peace and contentment in the Lord. Do you? When you are faced with trials, situations, problems, or things that are not pleasant, are you content with where God has you, what God has you going through? It is easy to look at our problems or life as overwhelming and such a huge thing, but the reality is, God is bigger and better than any of it. David realized that true satisfaction came from the Lord and being in his presence. Do you think the grass is greener some where else? Are you not satisfied or content with the Lord?

Being satisfied in the Lord

Instead of seeking great things for yourself, seek great things of the Lord. Jeremiah 40:5 says, “Do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord.” Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let you request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard you hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. When you seek the Lord you start to realize what is really worth pursuing and what is not. A couple of things to gauge yourself with this: What is your motive for what you are pursuing? What is the goal of what you are pursuing? Are you happy with where God has you? If not, why? What is God’s Word showing you with pursuing after Him?

My God is Tougher than yours

Psalm 121

This is one of the 15 songs titled songs of Ascent or marching songs.  People would sing these songs as they traveled to Jerusalem or when they left Jerusalem.

This particular song reminds me of someone pointing out how awesome God is compared to anyone and anything in the world.

My God is Tougher, Greater than yours

In verses 1-2 we see the writer showing maybe a fellow traveler. He says, “I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 

I was picturing the writer maybe talking to another person. The other person might have been talking about who is the best king in the world or that this powerful person is so great. The writer responds with, you know God is bigger and better than that man. It is like when one responds, “My dad can beat up your dad.” to show that their dad is better.

God is better and bigger than anything, why? The writer answers, “He created heaven and earth, what did your guy do?” God is the supreme, author and creator of this life. It reminds me of what Psalm 118:6 which says, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” In verses 8-9 he writes, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.” In Psalm 20 David writes in verse 7, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord.”

Our hope, our faith, our strength, and our guidance should come from the Lord. He has shown himself to us as we see in the Bible and even today with salvation through Jesus Christ. This would be a good song to remember, my hope comes from the Lord who by the way created everything. Not bad to put your trust in God who created everything. This is a good reminder of having the right focus in this life.

The Word Is Powerful

Psalm 119

This is the longest chapter in the Bible. There are 176 verses. It is an acrostic poem based on the 22 Hebrew letter alphabet. Each stanza starts with the appropriate letter of the Hebrew alphabet and in each stanza there are 8 verses. The focus of psalm 119 is the Word of God. It is possible the writer wanted to show 22 ways in that would remember the power of God’s word. Some commentators say this psalm was written during the time of the temple being restored and rebuilt during the time of Ezra’s ministry.

If we could look at just one of the many great sections of Psalm 119, I would like to look at verses 8-16.

The Word

It says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me know wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statues; I will not forget your word.

The psalmist starts with a question, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” How can anyone keep his way pure? The answer guard it by following God’s word.

Here are some things that we can learn from these 8 verses.

1) God’s word helps us to guard us in our ways.

2) His word keeps us on our path.

3) We should store God’s word in our hearts and not forget them. (We should memorize God’s Word).

4) God’s word should flow from our lips (worship as well regurgitate what we read from Scripture).

This is not just a once in a while regarding reading God’s word. Throughout this chapter we do not see this being an occasional glance at God’s word. In fact we see this being the one thing we always read and go to in guidance in life. He will meditate on it, and fix his eyes on God’s precepts. This would be a constant reminder of how powerful God’s Word. We know what Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  We need to read God’s Word daily. I hope that you are and continue to do so.

Can You Say, “I love the Lord”?

Psalm 116

In this psalm the writer expresses their love for how good God is. Out of these 19 verses I would say that I kept on getting stuck on verse 1.

It says, “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my please for mercy.” I really just got stuck on the first part of the verse, I Love the Lord…

If I were to ask you do you love the Lord what would you say? If I then proceeded with why, what then would you say?

At the end of John, Jesus was resurrected and was visiting the different disciples. In this particular visit, Jesus was seeing Peter. He asked Peter a question, “Do you love me?” 3 times Jesus asked Peter this as Peter denied Christ 3 times but we see that Peter really loved Jesus (John 21). Do you really love the Lord? A question that needs to ring through our heads and our hearts. Do we really love the Lord? If we do it should be so evident in how we live, how we talk, even to what is expressed in our faces. The psalmist wrote that he loves the Lord because he has heard his cry. God has answered our cry for salvation as Jesus died on the cross for our sin. He first loved us! This is why I love the Lord, because he first loved me and I do not deserve it.

So, Can you say I love the Lord! I hope you can and do, even from the roof tops, you love the Lord.

Psalm 112

The man who fears God is blessed. This is the theme of Psalm 112. It continues from Psalm 111, which was written as an acrostic which means each line would start with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The writer shows us how when we fear the Lord we will be blessed and will not be moved.

True Trust: vs 7

I love this psalm as it is one of great encouragement to stay focused and on track with seeking  to please God. It says in verse 7, “He (the righteous man) is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.” This verse caught my attention because I think this shows how much we trust God when we hear the bad news. This does not mean that we are grieved when receive news of someone passing away or that we are saddened by the hurtful news, but this shows that we are not afraid, God is who is in control, even in those tough situations.

We can hear bad news by people who we thought were our friends and then they talk bad about us. How do you react to that? Do you become afraid and think everyone will believe it? Do you think that everyone will turn on  you? Look at Job as people turned on him. We need to stand firm to know that God is in control as it says to be steady and not afraid. In verse 6 it says, “For the righteous will never be moved. We are not moved from God. Problems are hard, our flesh and heart are weak, but God is our strength. The problems will keep coming and what great comfort to know is that God will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Even in hearing the bad news of death, we trust God as Jesus is victor over death. Praise the Lord for his infinite love and wisdom.