Tag: Psalm

December 19 –  Tested Blameless Protection

“As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.”  Psalm 18:95  (NASB)

As we move day to day looking for and finding promises in every book of the Bible, the Book of Psalms is not out of the ordinary. We’ve already found many promises in these songs written by David and many others which bring praise, worship, honor, and adoration to our Lord God. As we often notice and underscore, God’s Word is true and powerful. The New Testament book of Hebrews (4:12) says God’s Word is living, active, and sharp.  Today we find the promise that God’s way is blameless – that means it’s never wrong and will never lead us astray from the path He places us upon. We also have the promise that it is ‘tried’ which means tested and proven to be true. No errors or mistakes or falsehoods will be found in the original manuscripts of the Bible inspired by God through human writers. Third, God and His Word is a place of refuge, a safe place where we are shielded from the attacks of our evil enemy. Why can we know it’s a safe place? Because it’s God’s true and trusted revelation of His will and it’s able to judge our heart’s thoughts and intentions.  

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November 26 – A Life of Waiting

“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.” – Psalm 25:5 (NASB)

Are we not all in need of guidance through life? With many crucial decisions to make the wise one looks to God for help in making the best choices. Much like traveling in a region or city that we are not familiar with, we need directions and we get that from many sources. We all have many things to learn from the Lord. Even though we may have been following the Lord for many years and even though we may have been learning from Him many things, He still has very much to teach us. And how will God have an opportunity to teach us what we need to learn? We have that opportunity by recognizing and waiting on God. By constantly being ready and expecting God to teach us His ways and His paths. It is through an attitude of expectation that we wait with hope for God to teach us what He wants us to know. “Lead me in Your truth and teach me” is what David wrote. We too can be at all times looking expectantly to God for Him to show us and teach us and lead us.

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November 25 – Being at Home – Always

“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.” Psalm 90:1 (NASB)

And this day many are traveling home after their visit with families or other travels on the busiest travel day in some countries. Going home is often a wonderful trip no matter what the reason. This is a very short verse today from a Psalm written by Moses. He was writing about his own experience and the experience of other people of faith who lived before him. We believe his words can describe our experience today as well. We like the picture of the Lord as being our dwelling place. It is like saying that the Lord is our home. Isn’t it true that when we trust in Him we do feel at home? Our Lord does want us to feel at home with Him. It is so comfortable to be able to trust Him and to sense His fellowship. So let’s always remember to come home to the Lord because that is where we belong. He is and He always will be throughout all generations for those who believe and accept Jesus. That is something we can be very thankful for today…tomorrow…forever.

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November 24 – Thanks Giving Every Day

“Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men!” Psalm 107:21 (NASB)

Giving thanks is an important activity in the life of faith believers. We’re commanded to be thankful for everything and that is not always easy. This week we have celebrated Thanksgiving Day in the USA. To the north in Canada, our friends have celebrated Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October. But whenever we pause for a national day of thanksgiving, it is good to think of the real reason we do that. We have reason to make every day a day of Thanksgiving.  Today’s verse is just one of many that focuses on giving thanks to the Lord. He is certainly worthy of our thanks. He has done so much for each of us. He has loved us and because of His love He has brought us into His family. Some of us will be together with our earthly family and we should remember God’s help for each of our loved ones and let’s be thankful that God has brought us into His family.

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November 17 – He is the Only One

“Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.  How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood. Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, and Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count.” – Psalm 40:4-5 (NASB)

Many promises can be found in our verses today. One which we may not often think of as a promise because it is a result of one action is “How blessed is…”  True followers of God remember times when God has shown how great He is and how He takes care of our needs. Notice the word ‘trust’ used as a verb (in the last line of v. 3) “And will trust in the Lord.” Then the word ‘trust’ as a noun; “who has made the LORD his trust,” The verb and noun forms connote a faith of commitment in the right object, God alone. As we read our Bibles we know that God has been demonstrating His greatness and His love to people for many centuries. When the psalmist David wrote the words we read in today’s verse He was thinking of what God had done already many centuries before. God has never ceased to show Himself in the same way and has done so all the time throughout the centuries. The promise we carry today is that no other person or entity can compare. Our God is the only true and living God.

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November 13 – Letting Joy Be Seen

“The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;  The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” – Psalm 19:7-8 (NASB)

One of the greatest blessings which God has given us are his words and thoughts in the Bible.  When David wrote this psalm he expressed his appreciation using selected words. This Psalm extols the Words God has given to us. Each of four parallel lines in today’s verses contains a word (a synonym) for God’s Word; each describes what His Word is; and each pronounces what it effectually accomplishes.  God has given us the Bible to reveal His thinking about how we should live.  This, of course is a manifestation of His perfect love for us.  So, when we read the Bible we are reminded of God’s love and His concern for us. That should resonate in the heart and mind of every faith believer. And when our hears are full of joy it shows in our eyes?  Our inner sense and well-being can be seen by other when they look at us. Yes, our eyes reveal our inner spirit as they glisten with joy and that is what David was expressing about his experience.  Let’s be sure to pay attention often to what God has revealed to us in His Word. 

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November 12 – Unending Song To Sing

“I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.” Psalm 89:1-2 (ESV)

Today we look again at a psalm the people of Israel sang to express their feelings of devotion and thanksgiving to God. The Covenant God made with David is the focus of this Psalm. It is not attributed to David but to Ethan the Ezrahite who was a Levitical singer (1 Chronicles 6:42).  Ethan’s wholehearted belief that God is faithful was the basis for his appealing to the Lord in his dilemma. As we think of God’s love for us we too can be inspired to sing with real joy.  When we remember how faithful God has been to us, always keeping His promises we can be inspired to share that with others.  This is what and how the psalmists shared God’s faithfulness with their mouth.  This is how we too do so when we sing praises, spiritual songs, and hymns.  God’s love and His faithfulness are not just temporal but they are eternal and have always been and will always be. Those of us who believe and have received God’s gift of salvation know the  blessing of singing about it and the promise that we will continue singing the praises to God in heaven.

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November 11 – From Whom Comes Victory

“For by their own sword they did not possess the land, And their own arm did not save them, But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, For You favored them.”  Psalm 44:3 (NASB)

It’s Veterans Day in the United States. On this day we honor those who have served in our armed forces. One of the ways that the Children of Israel preserved their history and it’s stories was in songs.  Psalm 44 is a song written for the purpose of remembering what God had done for them in securing the Promised Land and to offer up prayer and thanksgiving to God.  It was good for them to remember that God was the one giving them the victory.  Although God is Spirit this song says uses terms we can visualize. His right hand, His arm, and the light of His face, protects and providentially cares for us out of His love for us.  We can rejoice that God is the same today and Christians around the globe are God’s children and members of His family wherever we are.  He cares for us and watches over us just as He did for the people of Israel.  As we reflect we can remember the ways God has intervened in our lives and it is by His grace and power and wisdom that we make it through day by day.

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November 10 – Resting In Silence

“My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.” – Psalm 62:5-6 (NASB)

There are times in our lives that our best option is to back away from our worries and take a respite, like a breather. The idea of waiting in silence as we read in this verse is very close to the idea of resting.  God created us humans and gave us a physical body that needs rest for recuperation from the work we do.  God also gave us a soul which also requires rest and we get that rest by waiting for God in silence.  When we wait we can hear and learn to believe in God’s promises.  That’s what gives us hope and that hope comes from God.  Our word ‘hope’ means a way to wish. We want but don’t know if we will get it and perhaps will be disappointed.  But God created us to have hope that comes from Him and never disappoints us.  Our hope grows and gets stronger as we wait in silence.  As we wait in silence, we think about and meditate on what God has promised.  He promises hope from his unchangeable character and lovingkindness.  Today let’s do it; let’s wait only for God and for Him alone.

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November 8 – The Offering That Is Due

“Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.  O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.”  Psalm 65:1-2 (ESV)

These verses remind us of several reasons why God’s people come to Him.  Just as His people were used to going to Jerusalem to praise God so we have the same desire and opportunity wherever we are.  We can praise Him any time, any place, in our hearts.  It does not matter where we are and we don’t have to be at any special place or take any specific posture. There are no required or set words that must be repeated but the words of our prayers should include words of Praise to our God.  As we turn to the Lord we remember the promises we have made to Him.  We don’t need to go to the temple or to a church building to fulfill our vows for we can renew our promises as we draw near to Him anyplace, with our supplications and thanksgiving. And, of course we know that we can approach God in prayer because He does hear our prayer.  What a joy it is to remember just as David did in our verse today that our praise is due to God who promises to hear our prayers of praise. 

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