Great is Our LORD…

 1 Praise the LORD!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.

2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem;

He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.

3 He heals the brokenhearted

And binds up their wounds.

4 He counts the number of the stars;

He calls them all by name.

5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;

His understanding is infinite.

6 The LORD lifts up the humble;

He casts the wicked down to the ground.

7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;

Sing praises on the harp to our God,

8 Who covers the heavens with clouds,

Who prepares rain for the earth,

Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

9 He gives to the beast its food,

And to the young ravens that cry.

10 He does not delight in the strength of the horse;

He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

11 The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him,

In those who hope in His mercy.—Psalm 147:1-11

Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;

His understanding is infinite.

Beloved…Jesus describes Himself in Matthew 11:28-30:

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

My Jesus is meek.  He is gentle and lowly but also great and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite.  What does our God do with His power?  

—He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds

—He lifts up the humble and casts the wicked to the ground. 

—He covers the heavens with clouds

—He prepares rain for the earth

—He makes grass grow in the mountains

—He opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing

Today,  Father, may Your Spirit encourage my heart to acknowledge my need for You moment by moment. You, who hung the stars and call each one by name, will hear my cry…You will reach down and lift up the light of Your countenance upon me. I am so thankful that you are not impressed with what impresses man. You take pleasure in those who fear You…in those who hope in Your mercy. 

7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;

But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

8 They have bowed down and fallen;

But we have risen and stand upright.

9 Save, LORD!

May the King answer us when we call.—Psalm 20:7-9

4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,

Nor shall evil dwell with You.

5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;

You hate all workers of iniquity.

6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;

The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

7 But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;

In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.

8 Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies;

Make Your way straight before my face.

11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;

Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;

Let those also who love Your name

Be joyful in You.

12 For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous;

With favor You will surround him as with a shield.—Psalm 5:4-8; 11-12

46 And Mary said:

"My soul magnifies the Lord,

47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;

For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me,

And holy is His name.

50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him

From generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with His arm;

He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

And exalted the lowly.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things,

And the rich He has sent away empty.

54 He has helped His servant Israel,

In remembrance of His mercy,

55 As He spoke to our fathers,

To Abraham and to his seed forever."—Luke 2:46-55

Resting In His Love…

 But the just shall live by his faith.—Habakkuk 2:

I love this because it reminds me that my salvation is not dependent on me but on the faithfulness of my God. He will get me there as I surrender to His Spirit moment by moment. My faith is not a one time declaration, but a way of life. I live depending on God and not on me.  This one thought brings me such comfort. In Him I live and move and have my being.  At the moment of my salvation, I was declared righteous by God and now stand before Him justified. This will never change. I am His.  My destiny to live forever in His Presence is sure. As a true believer, I will persevere in my faith because God has promised to preserve me through.   I will hold the beginning of my confidence steadfast to the end, because He will hold me.  

Despite knowing all of this, I can still lose my perspective as I walk through this life. I am thankful that my God never does. He is in the midst of me. He is the One who does the saving. He sees my failings, but He also sees my finishing.  He sees me as I will be…in glory with Him…and He is rejoicing over me with gladness and singing.  He is quieting me with His love.  He is not worried. 

The LORD your God in your midst,

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing."—Zephaniah 3:17

The KJV says it this way…

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” 

Beloved…God is already resting in His love for those who belong to Him, we can too.  

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,

And to present you faultless

Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

To God our Savior,

Who alone is wise,

Be glory and majesty,

Dominion and power,

Both now and forever.

Amen.—Jude 24-25

Whenever I am Afraid…

 1 Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up;

Fighting all day he oppresses me.

2 My enemies would hound me all day,

For there are many who fight against me, O Most High.

3 Whenever I am afraid,

I will trust in You.

4 In God (I will praise His word),

In God I have put my trust;

I will not fear.

What can flesh do to me?

5 All day they twist my words;

All their thoughts are against me for evil.

6 They gather together,

They hide, they mark my steps,

When they lie in wait for my life.

7 Shall they escape by iniquity?

In anger cast down the peoples, O God!

8 You number my wanderings;

Put my tears into Your bottle;

Are they not in Your book?

9 When I cry out to You,

Then my enemies will turn back;

This I know, because God is for me.

10 In God (I will praise His word),

In the LORD (I will praise His word),

11 In God I have put my trust;

I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

12 Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God;

I will render praises to You,

13 For You have delivered my soul from death.

Have You not kept my feet from falling,

That I may walk before God

In the light of the living?—Psalm 56

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You….

Beloved…I don’t know about you, but in my life there are always temptations to fear.  For me catastrophic loss lurks behind every precious moment God gives me.  When this kind of fear hits it is important that I give it no foothold. It is vital that I remember and meditate on who my God is.  David kind of does that in this Psalm as he speaks about God’s tender lovingkindness and compassion. 

Throughout all of my wanderings and changeable circumstances my God is not only with me but He numbers them. He chronicles all of my miseries. He notices every tear I shed and puts each of them in His bottle.   I do not serve a God who is aloof, uncaring and distant. I serve Him who draws near to the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. The steadfast love of my God endures all day. He is always with me and never leaves me. My God is for me…He is on my side and loves me with an everlasting love.  

Today, no matter my circumstance (even saying that fills me with dread) I will trust and walk in His steadfast love toward me that never ceases. Today, Father, I give my earthly fears and cares into the hands of Perfect Love.  Today, I will render to You all of my praise and thanksgiving.  Your grace is sufficient and Your help is sure. 

3 You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You.

4 Trust in the LORD forever,

For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.—Isaiah 26:3-4

In the multitude of my anxieties within me,

Your comforts delight my soul.—Psalm 94:19

Bold and Unwavering Faith…

 Answered Prayer for Deliverance from Adversaries

To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. A Contemplation of David when the Ziphites went and said to Saul, "Is David not hiding with us?"

1 Save me, O God, by Your name,

And vindicate me by Your strength.

2 Hear my prayer, O God;

Give ear to the words of my mouth.

3 For strangers have risen up against me,

And oppressors have sought after my life;

They have not set God before them.

Selah

4 Behold, God is my helper;

The Lord is with those who uphold my life.

5 He will repay my enemies for their evil.

Cut them off in Your truth.

6 I will freely sacrifice to You;

I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good.

7 For He has delivered me out of all trouble;

And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.—Psalm 54

But I will [boldly and unwaveringly] trust in You.—Psalm 55 Amp

We find David here in this Psalm taking refuge from Saul by hiding among the Ziphites.  Hoping probably to gain favor with Saul, the Ziphites reveal David’s position and betray him.  The low point of this Psalm for David, however, is actually its high point because David then turns to His God for help. His eyes look up instead of outward to man. 

“Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life”

David then goes on to pray a prayer of thanksgiving for his deliverance by God before it even has occurred.  It has always been hard for me to pray this way.  It seems presumptuous.  In reality, however, it is truly a picture of bold and unwavering trust…Something that I want fervently in my own life. 

Here is the thing that I need to remember.   As a believer in Jesus, I CAN  pray this way. Jesus, by His death on the cross, has already conquered my greatest and most formidable enemy. The only enemy that can really hurt me because he can keep my soul eternally in hell is Satan and the sting of death.

55 "O Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory?"

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.—1 Corinthians 15:55-58

I have been set free. When I get to heaven, my own eyes will look, as David’s do here in verse 7, in triumph on my enemies. 

For God is my defense.

10 My God of mercy shall come to meet me;

God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.—Psalm 59

34 Wait on the LORD,

And keep His way,

And He shall exalt you to inherit the land;

When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.—Psalm 37

But I will [boldly and unwaveringly] trust in You.—Psalm 55

Cast your burden on the LORD [release it] and He will sustain and uphold you;  He will never allow the righteous to be shaken (slip, fall, fail)—Psalm 55

17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways,

Gracious in all His works.

18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,

To all who call upon Him in truth.

19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;

He also will hear their cry and save them.

20 The LORD preserves all who love Him,

But all the wicked He will destroy.

21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD,

And all flesh shall bless His holy name

Forever and ever.—Psalm 145

The Fool Has Said in His Heart…

 1 The fool has said in his heart,

"There is no God."

They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;

There is none who does good.

2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,

To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

3 Every one of them has turned aside;

They have together become corrupt;

There is none who does good,

No, not one.—Psalm 53

David declares here that there is none righteous. Paul reiterates this in Romans Chaper 3.  Speaking to the Jews, those who had the promises of God he says:

What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.—Romans 3:9–12

Jeremiah declares in Chapter 17 of his book that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked…Who can know it?

Beloved…concerning every human on the face of this earth the divine diagnosis is that no one does good because all have sinned.   This is a necessary thing.  Not only because it shows us our desperate need for the salvation of God, but of late I am realizing that it also helps me when dealing with my fellow humans. 

The Bible is clear…none of us can do good.  We are all sinners. We need the Spirit of God dwelling in our hearts to walk in the will and way of our God and even then, we stumble. Why then am I so surprised and disappointed when a fellow human (sinner) shows the same proclivity to sin as I do and sins against me?   

One word.  Pride. My offense is sin.  My pride has risen up because it thinks I deserve more than I am getting.  Um…I don’t.  But for my God’s precious grace at Calvary, I would deserve only suffering and death. 

For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in His Son. 

I can lower my expectations of people…saved and unsaved…with whom God in His sovereignty has surrounded me.  Knowing and remembering that I am encompassed and yes, even married to a sinner like me can, if I think on it rightly, stir my compassion and leave me freer to love others as God does.  I am subject to the same fleshly weaknesses.  When my brothers and sisters inevitably stumble in sin as I also do, I can choose not to be surprised or offended. Instead of judging or condemning them,  I can show them compassion.  I can pray for them and ask God to show them the same mercy He relentlessly and continually shows me when I sin.

The closer I draw to the Lord the more obvious to me my sin becomes. How more and more wonderful to my heart then, are these words from Romans Chapter 5.

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.—Romans 5:20-21

If you are reading this and believe that you, also, are under the indictment that David speaks of here, that is all you need to receive the sweet, merciful forgiveness that is found in Jesus Christ. His amazing grace is for you. Go to Him, confess your sin and ask Him to be your Lord and your Savior.

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.—John 3:14-17

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."—Matthew 11:28-30

I Will Extol You, My God, O King…

A Praise of David.

I will extol You, my God, O King;

And I will bless Your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless You,

And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;

And His greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation shall praise Your works to another,

And shall declare Your mighty acts.

5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,

And on Your wondrous works.

6 Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,

And I will declare Your greatness.

7 They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness,

And shall sing of Your righteousness.

8 The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,

Slow to anger and great in mercy.

9 The LORD is good to all,

And His tender mercies are over all His works.—Psalm 145:1-9

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised!  

Beloved…It is so freeing to praise our God and to bless and love the people with which He surrounds us.  It brings our souls out of the prison of self and adjust and directs our focus from the deadly inward to the heavenly upward and outward.  

The “garment of praise is the antidote for the spirit of heaviness. Heaven…where there are no more tears…only unspeakable joy…is a place of praise.  If you are looking for a little piece of heaven here on this earth, do as David does.  Extol Your God and bless His name. Every day, every hour open your mouth in praise.  Meditate on His character and His wondrous works. Utter the memory of His great goodness and sing of His righteousness. 

8 The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,

Slow to anger and great in mercy.

9 The LORD is good to all,

And His tender mercies are over all His works.

I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].—Philippians 1:6

3 To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."—Isaiah 61:3

The Lovingkindness of God Endures All Day…

 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?

The steadfast love of God endures all the day.

8 But I am like a green olive tree

in the house of God.

I trust in the steadfast love of God

forever and ever.

9 I will thank you forever,

because you have done it.

I will wait for your name, for it is good,

in the presence of the godly.—Psalm 52:1;8-9

I so want to be like the green olive tree that David describes who trusts confidently in the steadfast love…the mercy…the lovingkindness of the Lord.  The one who waits and hopes in Your precious name and strengthens herself in You.  

Oh, Father!   May my own life reflect the truth of my convictions to others in my words and in my actions. Rather than fretting and angsting, when trials and troubles come, I want to remember that I am not sufficient for any of them!  You, Father, are!  What a joy to “really” know this!  What a gift to be able to roll all my earthly cares into Your capable hands. Your banner over me is love. Your left hand is under my head and Your right hand embraces me. I want to dwell under Your shadow.  I want my life to be spent in Your sweet, joyful Presence. May Your fruit be found in me. 

He shall be like a tree

Planted by the rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither;

And whatever he does shall prosper.—Psalm 1:3

But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;

He is their strength in the time of trouble.

40 And the LORD shall help them and deliver them;

He shall deliver them from the wicked,

And save them,

Because they trust in Him.— Psalm 37:39-40