Category: Uncategorized

Psalms 84 (85)

O Lord, You were pleased with Your land; You turned back the captivity of Jacob;
You forgave the transgressions of Your people;
You covered all their sins. (Pause)
You ended all Your wrath;
You turned from the wrath of Your anger.
Turn us, O God of our salvation,
And turn away Your anger from us.
Will You be angry with us forever,
Or will You prolong Your anger from generation to generation?
O God, You will turn and give us life,
And Your people will be glad in You.
Show us Your mercy, O Lord,
And grant us Your salvation.
I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me,
For He will speak peace
To His people and to His holy ones,
And to those who turn their heart to Him.

His salvation is very close at hand to those who fear Him,
That glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth met together;
Righteousness and peace kissed each other;
Truth arose from the earth,
And righteousness looked down from heaven.
For the Lord will give goodness,
And our land shall yield its fruit.
Righteousness shall go before Him
And establish His footsteps as our pathway.

Encouraging Words

This is a Psalm that could apply to our lives today. First of all, I will not jump on the bandwagon proclaiming that God is using this pandemic to punish us for our sinful ways. That is not the God that I worship. Secondly, if we proclaim to be followers of Christ then we must remember that we are citizens of the heavenly kingdom and now living as ambassadors for Him on this earth. It is our responsibility as ambassadors to represent Him, especially in times such as this pandemic. How do we do this? By loving our neighbor and taking care of those in need around us. By being beacons of hope showing to everyone around us that our God has our eternal lives in His strong and protective hands. By being obedient to the laws of the land that He has placed us in, as His representatives. Now is the time for His followers to turn to Him and really follow in His footsteps, even to the cross, for Him and our neighbor. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Psalms 83:12-13

For the Lord God loves mercy and truth;
He will give grace and glory;
The Lord’s hand will not remove good things from those who walk in innocence.
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who hopes in You.

Encouraging Words

Do we want to be blessed by our God? Do we want to see His hand at work in our lives? I believe we all do have this desire. We receive this blessing by putting our hope in Him. We put all of our dependency on Him and not ourselves or the things of this world. This means we shift our focus off of what is going on around us, no matter how good or how bad, and put our focus on Him. He is our God and He loves mercy and truth. He will give us His grace and His glory. He will bless us if we walk in innocence, or humility, before Him. Glory be to God!

Psalms 83:2-3 (84:1-2)

How beloved are Your dwellings, O Lord of hosts.
My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh greatly rejoice in the living God.

Encouraging Words

In these unprecedented days of the closure of schools, businesses, and even our churches, we might begin to think that our Lord has abandoned us. That is not so. The Psalmist reminds us that the dwellings of our Lord of hosts are beloved. He also cries out saying that our soul longs and faints to be in the courts of the Lord. Skip ahead in time to our Lord Jesus Christ and we are told by Him that He will dwell in our hearts until He comes again. Our hearts are the dwellings of the Lord of hosts that are beloved and we can meet Him there, in His courts, every moment of every day. Think about it! Glory be to God!

Psalms 72:24 (73:24)

With Your counsel You guide me,
And with glory You take hold of me.

Personal Challenge

So, if I never spend time with God, in worship, in prayer, in the reading of His scriptures, then how will I ever receive His counsel? I will not. Our relationship with God is not just a one-sided relationship with Him doing all the work. We must engage Him, pursue Him, submit to Him if we are to receive His counsel and glory. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 72:26-27 (73:26-27)

My heart and my flesh fail,
O God of my heart; and God is my portion forever.
For behold, those who keep themselves far away from You shall perish;
You destroy away from You all who act unfaithfully.

Personal Challenge

Is my God the God of my heart or just something that makes me feel good when I need Him? Is my relationship with Him a total commitment or one that is based on my fickle whims? Have I given my all to Him? If we live our lives with our hearts of stone and our fleshly desires only, we will fail. By loving this way we will find ourselves far away from Him, perishing, and feeling destroyed. Jesus promised us that if we follow Him and abandon this world, this life of the flesh, that He will replace our heart of stone with a heart for God, a new heart. Now is the time to abandon the world and to pursue Him! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Psalms 70:6 (71:5)

By You I have been supported from birth;
From my mother’s womb You have been my protector;
My song shall be always of You.

Encouraging Words

It is so encouraging to know that our relationship with God doesn’t start when we say some prayer or make some kind of a decision. He was there when we were formed in our mother’s womb and He will be with us through­out eternity. He has always, and always will, be our protector. Thank you, God!

Psalms 70:1-3 (71:1-3)

O God, in You I hope; may I never be put to shame.
Deliver me in Your righteousness, and set me free;
Incline Your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a God for protection
And a strong place for salvation,
For You are my foundation and my refuge.

Encouraging Words

I love how the Psalmist so often praises the Lord for the wonderful things He does and at the same time words it in such a way so as to be pleading with God to do those things. It is our God that we put our hope, not man. It is our God who will deliver us, set us free, hear us and save us, protect us, and be our strong foundation. He is our hope. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Psalms 62:9 (63:8)

My soul follows close behind You;
Your right hand takes hold of me.

Personal Challenge

It is one thing to say that we are a follower of Christ, and it is an entirely different thing to actually follow Him wherever He leads. We have so many apostles, disciples, saints, and martyrs that have shown us that the path of Christ is not an easy path. It is a path of sacrifice and humility. For Christ, it was a path that led to the cross. What the Psalmist is saying here is that to be a follower of our Lord we must be walking close behind Him, our footsteps in His footsteps, giving up our selves, and taking hold of His strong, guiding hand. Glory be to God!