He is Our Boast and He is Our Praise...

 1 We have heard with our ears, O God,

Our fathers have told us,

The deeds You did in their days,

In days of old:

2 You drove out the nations with Your hand,

But them You planted;

You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.

3 For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,

Nor did their own arm save them;

But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,

Because You favored them.

4 You are my King, O God;

Command victories for Jacob.

5 Through You we will push down our enemies;

Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.

6 For I will not trust in my bow,

Nor shall my sword save me.

7 But You have saved us from our enemies,

And have put to shame those who hated us.

8 In God we boast all day long,

And praise Your name forever.

Selah

9 But You have cast us off and put us to shame,

And You do not go out with our armies.

10 You make us turn back from the enemy,

And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

11 You have given us up like sheep intended for food,

And have scattered us among the nations.

12 You sell Your people for next to nothing,

And are not enriched by selling them.

13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors,

A scorn and a derision to those all around us.

14 You make us a byword among the nations,

A shaking of the head among the peoples.

15 My dishonor is continually before me,

And the shame of my face has covered me,

16 Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,

Because of the enemy and the avenger.

17 All this has come upon us;

But we have not forgotten You,

Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.

18 Our heart has not turned back,

Nor have our steps departed from Your way;

19 But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals,

And covered us with the shadow of death.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,

Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,

21 Would not God search this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?

Arise! Do not cast us off forever.

24 Why do You hide Your face,

And forget our affliction and our oppression?

25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;

Our body clings to the ground.

26 Arise for our help,

And redeem us for Your mercies' sake.—Psalm 44:1-26

Israel in Psalm 44 seems to be in the midst of calamity and defeat. David looks back in verses 1-3 and remembers what God had done for them in the time of Joshua...how God had fought for them and driven out the pagan nations from the Promised Land.  When I do as David does here, my heart is encouraged and my spirit revives.

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked came against me

To eat up my flesh,

My enemies and foes,

They stumbled and fell.

3 Though an army may encamp against me,

My heart shall not fear;

Though war may rise against me,

In this I will be confident.—Psalm 27:1-3

In Verse 3, David remembers the why of their victory. It was God who gave the land to the children of Israel. It was NOT their own arm that saved them.  It was His right hand...His arm that did it, because He favored them. Jesus did the same for each of us at the cross over 2000 years ago. 

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly... But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.—Romans 5:6;8

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.—Ephesians 2:4-9

I love the next few verses.  

4 You are my King, O God;

Command victories for Jacob.

5 Through You we will push down our enemies;

Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.

6 For I will not trust in my bow,

Nor shall my sword save me.

7 But You have saved us from our enemies,

And have put to shame those who hated us.

8 In God we boast all day long,

And praise Your name forever.

Selah—Psalm 44:4-8

Beloved...only God is trustworthy. Through Him, we will do valiantly. He is our boast, and He is our praise!  He will never let us down.  

Last night, I couldn’t sleep because of discomfort and pain.  Anxiety, taking advantage of my weakness and lack of sleep, crept in and did its best to gain a foothold by highlighting the many things in life that are beyond my control. 

Scripture that I had memorized became my refuge — specifically Isaiah 26:3-4.  Focusing on this passage reminded my heart of the time when God was not my refuge.  When, in my youth and arrogance, I thought I was the captain of my ship and the master of my faith...a time when anxiety didn’t assail me.  

Here is the thing.  Back then I DID have reason to fear.  Whether I acknowledged it or not, I was not in control. The end could have come at any moment, and His everlasting arms would not have been underneath to catch me. Today, no matter what happens, the eternal God is my refuge, and underneath me are His everlasting arms.  That truth brought His peace to my heart. My pain lessened, and I slept.

In verses 22-26 David cries out to God to His people for His mercies sake. As His children, we can do the same.  His banner over us is love.  Once we are His, we are His forever.  His left hand is under our head, and His right hand embraces us.  There is nothing that can separate us from His love. 

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 8:37-39

Life at its Very Best is Empty Without God...

My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.--Psalm 84:2

Father,

My soul longeth for You, my God!  My soul thirsts and my flesh cries out for the living God!  Bring me into Your presence...into Your holy habitation...into full communion with You.  I will seek You early in this dry and thirsty land. I want to see Your power and Your glory in my life.  I give it all to You....my soul shall be satisfied in You as with the richest of food.  With joyful lips I will praise You as I meditate on You all the day long and my eyes will wait on You in the night watches.  You are my help and in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.  My soul follows hard after You.  It is good for me to draw near to You.  My hands are stretched forth unto You.  I hope in Your word...my eyes search it and find comfort.  My flesh and my heart fails, but my God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever 

Life at its very best, Father, is empty without You.   Life apart from You is without purpose...it is meaningless.  I want to drink always from Your cistern and be refreshed.  I want to walk through this life in You...relying on You...depending on You...going from strength to strength.  Be my sun,  my shield and my defense.  My trust is in You, Father and I will not be ashamed.  You will give me grace and glory and no good thing will You withhold from me.

O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.  Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God--Psalm 43:3-4

Remember...

 6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me;

Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,

And from the heights of Hermon,

From the Hill Mizar.

7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;

All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,

And in the night His song shall be with me—

A prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God my Rock,

“Why have You forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

10 As with a breaking of my bones,

My enemies reproach me,

While they say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.—Psalm 42:6-11

What do we do as believers when our hearts are cast down and disquieted within us?  

We remember God...

We remember His goodness and all His past deliverances. We remember that even as His waves and billows go over us that they will not overflow us. 

Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by your name;

You are Mine.

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.—Isaiah 43:1-2

We remember as David does in verse 8 that the Lord WILL command His lovingkindness in the daytime and in the night His song WILL be with us. 

Our  position as believers is “in Christ”

Our possession as believers is “Christ in us.”

My Beloved is mine and I am His. As a believer we stand permanently in God’s unmerited and undeserved favor. The God who created all things resides in our hearts and He has promised to never leave us.  He is our help, our hope, our strength, our song, our sufficiency and our salvation.  

Life is a spiritual battle.  Trials, depression and discouragement are inevitable in this fallen world. But our God goes before us, is in us and fights for us. In Him, we are more than conquerors. 

Beloved...God’s love and grace are unfailing.  Bring your heart to Him who loves You with an everlasting love.  There has NEVER...no not EVER been a time when His sustaining grace has not met me.  I have never...again...no, not ever...gone to Him and come away uncomforted.

“When my soul fainted within me,

I remembered the LORD;

And my prayer went up to You,

Into Your holy temple.—Jonah 2:7

Trust in Him at all times, you people;

Pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us.

Selah—Psalm 62:8

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”—1 John 5:4

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 8:37-39

22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

"Therefore I hope in Him!"

25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,

To the soul who seeks Him.—Lamentations 3:22-25

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.—Psalm 42:11

Try Me, And Know My Anxieties...

 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2 He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 And He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.—Luke 9:1-3

Here Jesus, after giving his disciples both the ability and authority, commissions them to go out and do what they had seen Him do.  

My focus, as I read, zeroed in on verse three.  The disciples were to journey depending on God to meet their needs.  They were to trust His care, His provision and His power in everything...from food, clothing, the casting out of demons and the of healing diseases. He (the Great I AM) would become for them what they needed as they journeyed. 

I am pretty terrible at this. Even when I think I am trusting Him, there is always an underlying anxiety in my heart that seems to overshadow.  I know it is there because I have habits or “tells” that belie my outward calm.  I also know its root cause, but how to ease my concerns is not in me. My mind “trusts” that God can be relied on, but my heart is not so easily convinced.  What do I do?  I confess my sin and press on.  As I do this, I pray that He will unite my heart to fear His name and root out the double mindedness that is evident. 

Beloved...the One whose Presence goes with me (us), the One who performs all things for me, (for us) will make perfect that which concerns me. (us). He will align my will and yours with His perfect one.  It won’t happen overnight (although He could do that), but it will happen moment by precious moment as I (we) continuously place our trust Him.  

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,—2 Corinthians 3:5

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.—Psalm 139:23-24

27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.—John 14:27

The following is a list of verses from my Thompson Chain Reference Bible in regard to dependence.  My heart was encouraged and helped as I read them this morning.

Genesis 41:16

Exodus 17:11

Exodus 33:15

1 Kings 17:4

2 Kings 6:27

2 Chronicles 20:12

Psalm 22:10

Psalm 127:1

Jeremiah 10:23

Matthew 8:25

Matthew 15:32

Luke 9:3

Luke 11:3

John 3:27

John 15:4-5

Acts 3:12

1 Corinthians 4:7

2 Corinthians 3:5

2 Corinthians 4:7

Everlasting Arms...

26 "There is none like the God of Jeshurun (Israel),

Who rides the heavens to your help,

And through the skies in His majestic glory.

27 "The eternal God is your refuge and dwelling place,

And underneath are the everlasting arms;

He drove out the enemy from before you,

And said, ‘Destroy!'—Deuteronomy 33:26-27 AMP

Father...if the heavens are the work of your fingers, what must be the strength and power of Your everlasting arms??

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust."...

He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.—Psalm 91:1-2;4

—You, my God, are my strong habitation to which I can continually resort.  

—You are my Owner and Protector

—You are the shield of my help

—You uphold me with Your righteous right hand

—You keep my faith from failing and my spirit from sinking.

Your merciful kindness toward me, Father, is great and Your grace is sufficient.  I am more than a conqueror through You who loves me. 

—You, my Father in Heaven, have strong, everlasting arms, and You will never let them fall or fail. 

The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him,

Who shelters him all the day long;

And he shall dwell between His shoulders."—Deuteronomy 33:12

28 Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the LORD,

The Creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints nor is weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the weak,

And to those who have no might He increases strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,

And the young men shall utterly fall,

31 But those who wait on the LORD

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.—Isaiah 40:28-31

16 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;

Let such as love Your salvation say continually,

“The LORD be magnified!”

17 But I am poor and needy;

Yet the LORD thinks upon me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

Do not delay, O my God.—Psalm 40:16-17

Open My Ear...

Beloved...Happy Resurrection Day!  

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.—1 Peter 1:3-5

*****

Today’s Devotional

6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;

My ears You have opened.

Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

7 Then I said, "Behold, I come;

In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,

And Your law is within my heart."—Psalm 40:6-8

According to one commentator the “open ears” refer to his readiness to hear and obey God’s will..  “Behold, I come”  means “Here I am, ready to obey”.

Father!

Forgive my unwilling heart! Open MY ears!  Oh, that I would have a will yielded to Yours and a body surrendered and ready to walk in those works that You prepared beforehand for me. By Your Holy Spirit fill my heart with right desires.  Fill it with the fullness of Your word. Fill it especially with the knowledge of what You have done for me. Incline my ear to follow Your voice and Your way and not the counsel and dictate of my own evil heart.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable in Your sight,

O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.—Psalm 19:14

3 Trust in the LORD, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself also in the LORD,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.—Psalm 37:3-4

The Secret Things...

 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.—Deuteronomy 29:29

I am not quite sure what this verse means but I do know that that which is “revealed” is in Scripture.  That which is hidden from our eyes are perhaps the intricacies of how all of those things that have been revealed will be specifically accomplished.  For instance, I know from looking around me that we are living in the last days.  I truly believe Christ will return for His bride very soon. Perhaps even in my lifetime!  

But here is the thing...I consider it God’s love, mercy and grace that I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.  What I do know is that not one jot or one tittle of his word will go unfulfilled.  I also know that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  He does and will prepare each of us who seek Him for every trial they face. Our God is kind and tender hearted toward those that are His. His will for them is good and His grace is sufficient. 

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

The LORD will give grace and glory;

No good thing will He withhold

From those who walk uprightly.

12 O LORD of hosts,

Blessed is the man who trusts in You!—Psalm 84:11-12

Beloved, the secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him. The fear of the Lord is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding.  His secret counsel is with the upright. Jesus said this in John 15:

13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

You are my friend, Jesus said, if you do whatever I command you. Believing we become a friend of God!  Our job as His children is always the same...to believe, to trust and to obey. God called Abraham his friend because he believed God.  Abraham’s belief was reflected (as is ours today) in his actions.

Beloved...obey God and leave the results of your obedience in His hands. I have always loved Jesus’ response to Peter in John 21.  Very good advice...keep your eyes on Jesus and follow Him.  

20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?"

22 Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me."—John 21:20-22

6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;

My ears You have opened.

Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;

In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,

And Your law is within my heart.”—Psalm 40:1-8

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.—Romans 15:4

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”—Acts 1:6-8

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!—Romans 11:33

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began 26 but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith— 27 to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.—Romans 16:25-27