Forever Love

DEVOTION

PSALMS

FOREVER LOVE

Ps 118:1-9

118:1

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Let Israel say: "His love endures forever." 3 Let the house of Aaron say: "His love endures forever." 4 Let those who fear the LORD say: "His love endures forever."

5 In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. 6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 7 The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.

8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. 9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

NIV

Here is a psalm we will have to take in bites just as we will with the next psalm, the longest one of all. This one has twenty-nine verses, but psalm 119 has one hundred and seventy-six. So let us take a look at this first couple of stanzas. How can we ever think that his love does not endure forever? Just because we live in a linear existence, limited by space and time, it should not mean we cannot understand the eternal existence. That which has no beginning and no end, it has been and will be forever is eternal. We could say that his love endures for all the days of our life, but then that would not be forever, although we too will live forever, so then his love will endure for all the days of our eternal life. The only difference is that we had a beginning, but we will not have an end. Sometimes that is difficult to comprehend when we are living In a decaying body, which experiences the effects of ageing. We have wrinkles we never had, we have less muscle, more fat, less hair or grey and we certainly have more aches and pains. But his love endures forever, and in this fact we can rejoice and know that we will never be without his love. He will never stop loving us, no matter our age, or how we have changed in our form, as long as we are still loving the Lord with all our heart, our mind, our spirit and whatever strength we have. Whenever we have experienced some difficult time in our life, we looked to the Lord and he always answered us. That first time we cried out to him, he answered and he saved us. Every time since then he has always been there to free us from anguish. When we get anxious, he is there to set us free. When we get worried, he is there to set us free. When we are tempted, he is there to set us free. The Lord is always with us so why then should we be afraid of anything or anyone? Man might be able to cause us some bodily harm, but want can he really do to who we are? The Lord is with us, even then can man really do anything to who we truly are? We will be triumphant over all things because we look to the Lord, our help. The problem is we could be looking to ourselves instead of him and then we would not win, we would loss the battle, we would have those anxious moments, those times of worry, those moments of falling short, and yielding to those temptations. It is far better to be in the Lord, to trust in his ability to keep us, to provide for us, to save us, to help us in time of trouble, to free us from sin, then to trust in man, which in this case would be ourselves. Plus, it is far better to trust in the Lord, to put all our eggs in one basket, so to speak than to trust in princes, which is the way of the world, the social, economic, and political structure of the world. The Lord’s love endures forever, and we will endure in his love forever. Who else can we put that kind of trust in? Not ourselves or anything or anyone in this world. His love endures forever.

Praise the LORD

DEVOTION

PSALMS

PRAISE THE LORD

  Ps 117

Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. 2 For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.

Praise the LORD.  

NIV

This has to be the shortest of all the psalms, yet it says everything that is important. It is an exhortation to praise the Lord, to lift him up. It is interesting the Hebrew word praise carries the meaning of to shine, to make a show, to boast and thus be foolish, rave, to celebrate. This is praise and sets aside all our human inhibitions and concerns what others would think of us. In all reality it is a rare thing to see the Lord praised in this manner in church, which should be the one place we would think this praise would happen. Have we become too sophisticated to truly praise him in that manner this Hebrew word means? When we think of David dancing before the returning Ark of the Covenant, he was in full praise. The king of Israel wearing only a linen ephod dancing with all his might before everyone. That may not have seemed kingly, or a kingly manner, but he did not care, he was praising the Lord with all his might. Then we have this word translated here as extol. It is another Hebrew word which is also translated praise the Lord, but it carries a meaning to address in a loud voice, specifically loud, but figuratively, to pacify(as if by words). Then we have the nations and the peoples. These two words encompass all mankind. The word translated nations implies Gentiles, while the word translated peoples implies a community or persons, which could be seen as the Jews, since this song was written for them. So then we all should be giving praise to the Lord loudly and with all our might, looking foolish even about how involved we are in praising God. This means no sitting on our hands and muttering the words of some praise song. The whole reason for all this praise is God. How great is his love toward us and how faithful he is regarding us. There are not enough words in our language to express just how great his love is toward us. There are not enough words to explain his faithfulness that endures forever. We do not fully comprehend forever, much less how faithful he is. What we are left with is simply to Praise the LORD and all that it means to Praise the LORD.    

Thank you Lord

DEVOTION

PSALMS

THANK YOU LORD

Ps 116

I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. 2 Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

3 The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me;I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. 4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:"O LORD, save me!"

5 The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. 6 The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.

7 Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

8 For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, 9 that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living. 10 I believed; therefore I said, "I am greatly afflicted." 11 And in my dismay I said," All men are liars."

12 How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. 14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. 16 O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.

17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD. 18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the LORD — in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD.  

This is our story, our life before salvation, our life in the darkness that leads to death. Somehow through the power of the Holy Spirit, he broke through that hardness that encircled our heart and broke the chains that had shackled it to death. Our heart was entangled with cords of death, but the Lord freed us. We cried out, at least in a sense, and he heard our voice and answered in the most miraculous ways. He was indeed compassionate for we were not just a chief of sinners, we did not believe he was real. But then there he was, and in all his glory, showing mercy, compassion and miracles. Our heart was turned and freed from its pain. Now it is full of light. There was such gloom and doom, but God changed everything. What was complex became simple. The complexity of life is overwhelming, trying to live in a darkness by ignoring it, pretending to be something we were not. We stumbled around trying to see, but our eyes were filled with tears. God delivered us from that and brought us into the land of the living. There is nothing we can do to repay him for his love toward us. All we can do is be his servant all the rest of our days. Whatever being a servant means. Whatever he wants from our lives is all good. If we are to sweep floors, wash windows, preach the word, stay here, move there, work forever, take some classes, learn more, teach his word, help somebody or feed them, we are ready to do his will. Whatever he has for us, we will obey or at least try our best to. What was a life devoted to our own will, is now one devoted to his will. We will always be thankful to our Lord for his deliverance. We will always call on his name, for there is no one like him. Praise the name of the Lord. Thank you Jesus. We cannot even image what our life would have been if you did not come into our life. We are convinced we would already be dead, and lost forever. But you did and we no longer face death and darkness, for we live in your light and will do so forever and ever, for all of eternity. Thank you Lord!

The Living God

DEVOTION

PSALMS

THE LIVING GOD

Ps 115

115:1

Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

2 Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?" 3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. 4 But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. 5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; 6 they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; 7 they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. 8 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

9 O house of Israel, trust in the LORD — he is their help and shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD — he is their help and shield. 11 You who fear him, trust in the LORD — he is their help and shield.

12 The LORD remembers us and will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron, 13 he will bless those who fear the LORD — small and great alike.

14 May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children. 15 May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

16 The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man. 17 It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to silence; 18 it is we who extol the LORD, both now and forevermore.

Praise the LORD.  

NIV

There is no use in making anything into an idol. There were in those days people who did make actual idols of stone, metal, even gold, silver or bronze. Cast in to shapes, some were in the form of a man, or woman, others of animals. Perhaps we still have some of those type of idols today in the various religions of the world, such as Buddha or Ganash, the lord of prosperity and fortune. The list could go on and on. But do believers engage in some form of idol worship? Does Christianity have its idols? There seems to be some denominations who do have many statues, graven images that they pay a certain amount of respect or homage to. Any image can be an idol. But as we see here not a single image made by the hands of man can neither hear, see, smell, touch nor speak. None of the five senses are present in any image. They are but useless objects. Although we believers know God and worship him because we understand he is the creator of all that is created. We know and understand there are no other gods, only the one Almighty God above the earth and the heavens. We know him in a personal way as we have been cared for by him, and we have the Spirit dwelling within us, our spirit bears witness to his presence. We feel him within, we are lead into the truth by him. We have been healed by God, we have been provided for by God. We have witnessed miracles he has done for us and in us. There is no question of our faith in him. We have no doubt he is God and that Jesus is real and actually came to earth to become our Savior and that through him we have eternal life. We will never die as those who worship dead idols. Our bodied may give up its life, but our spirit will live on and we will be given a new body. Maybe it is the same one we have now, but only it will be glorified as Jesus was after he was resurrected. That is still somewhat a mystery as to just what form our bodies will be, what we will look like. But we will live forever. Those who worship silent idols will die both in the physical realm and the spiritual realm. They will be as dead as their idols. The problem is, we believers can get trapped into having some form of idol in this life. Some make success an idol, others make education an idol, and then there is money, Oh the almighty dollar. We know this sounds like beating a dead horse, but the dollar has become an idol for some believers. They find all sorts of ways to store it up for later use. They invest it in worldly affairs in hopes of gaining more of it. It is a trap, a scheme of the evil one to divide our heart between God and this world. A house divided cannot stand. Whatever we make into an idol, whatever we spend or invest our time and effort in pursuing can become an idol. We have to be careful not to idolize anything or anyone here on earth, for they all are useless in the kingdom of God. Our place in the kingdom has no bearing on how successful, how intelligent, or how wealthy we are. Our place in the kingdom is based only on our faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing else matters. This life is not about us, it is about God. Yes, he is our help. He is our provider, he is our healer, and he is our salvation. He does so much for us, to bless us beyond measure. But that does not mean we focus on our life. We are to focus our life on him. All that we are, all that we do, should be about him. Sure, we work for our sustenance, because he told us to, for that is our lot as descendants of Adam. But our life is not about our work, it is about God. He also told us to work as onto the Lord. So as we work for our sustenance, we work as if we are working for God, as if he is our employer. Life is good and that is because we serve a living God, who hears us, sees us, speaks to us, touches our lives, and smells the sweet savor of our worship. We serve the Living God.

His Authority

DEVOTION

PSALMS

HIS AUTHORITY

114:1

When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue, 2 Judah became God's sanctuary, Israel his dominion. 3 The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back; 4 the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. 5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back, 6 you mountains, that you skipped like rams, you hills, like lambs? 7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, 8 who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.

NIV

We do men think we are? Can we make the sea flee? Can we turn back a river? Can we make mountains skip? Can we control the weather? Can we walk on the water? Can we calm a storm? Can we make the earth tremble? Can we cause a tornado or hurricane? Can we even make the wind blow or not blow? Can we stop the rain? Who does man think he is? The earth and everything in it belongs to the LORD and trembles at his presence. Have we ever made a spring of water pour from a solid rock so millions of people can drink? Can man create all the oil beneath the earth’s surface, or all that natural gas? Man only has been given the knowledge to extract it. How is it that man believes he controls his environment or can have an effect on that which God established and has total authority over? Does man think he is greater than God? Maybe the men who think they are greater than God do not believe God, or that he is just this God who started it all and left to go somewhere else and has no interest in his creation. But that is not so, God keeps his creation at work according to his word. We see how God did all he did in the time of Israel. Then we know about Jesus and all his works over creation. It is not just the walking on the water, or calming the storm, but all his authority over sickness, disease, blindness, earing, healing the lame, curing deformities, and his power over demons. Then there is his power over death, raising the little girl and his friend Lazarus from the dead. His own resurrection from the dead, having victory over death. God has absolute authority over everything in and on the earth as well as with people who turn to him. Because he created man with the ability to make a choice, to choose to believe and listen to God or to be disobedient and refuse to listen to God, the people who refuse to listen to him live outside his authority. They want to live within their own authority, but that will lead them to disaster. It is funny how these are the people who think they are in charge of the environment, that mankind effects his world, actually are destroying themselves. God is the only one who controls the work of his hands and we need to learn to live within his authority over all creation.

We Will

DEVOTION

PSALMS

WE WILL

Ps 113

113:1

Praise the LORD.

Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. 2 Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.

4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, 6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?

7 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; 8 he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. 9 He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children.

Praise the LORD.

NIV

Who is the servants of the LORD? We are, therefore we praise the name of the LORD. We will let the name of the LORD be praised both now and forever more, at least in our life. There will not be a time when we will not praise the name of the LORD. We will always be in that attitude of praise. Although in the middle of the night when we awake for whatever reason, we think of the Lord, We mutter praise to him for giving us rest. Then in the dawn of light, when the sun is rising, even if it is behind clouds, we begin our day with praise to the Lord. This attitude of praise fills our day, each moment in thanksgiving for the breath of life, for each minute of the day, and all that it has to hold for us. Then as the sun sets on the west, as the day comes to a close and we set our head once more on the pillow, praise for a good day is on our lips. Why should we not live in that manner considering he is exalted over all the nations and his glory is above the heavens? Why would we not be constantly in an attitude of praise when we know there is no one like him? Although it is true that we have a lot of busyness throughout our day with all the activities of life, we still should always be in this attitude of praise. There are many distractions which can divert our attitude of praise and turn it into one of grumbling or discontentment. But God is enthroned on high and he stoops down to look at the heavens and the earth. That is an incredibly large God. His power is beyond measure. His majesty is overwhelming, yet here he is, taking such personal care of each of us who are his servants. He seats us with princes, he settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother. As powerful and majestic he is, he loves each one of his servants in such a close and personal way. Why would we not always be praising him? Even when everything is not going precisely our way, we know it is going exactly his way, and therefor he is worthy of all our praise. Of course that means we have to get rid of the pronoun “I” and replace it with “he”. Or at least with “we”. Together, we and God will walk through this life, he will lead, and I will follow, praising his name.

Lifted Up

DEVOTION

PSALMS

LIFTED UP

Ps 112

112:1

Praise the LORD.

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.

2 His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. 4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.   5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. 6 Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. 7 He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. 8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes. 9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.

10 The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

NIV

It is really too bad the wicked do not read the scripture. They would understand why they are so vexed and gnash their teeth and waste away. They would see how all they long for will come to nothing. Sure, it seems like they flourish in some ways, but inside they are wasting away. All they strive for is meaningless in the eternal. Does that some like sour grapes? Does it sound like we are jealous or envious of their wealth or possessions? They have no delight in the commands of the Lord, they live only for they own pleasures and unfortunately they will perish. But we fear the Lord and we do delight in his commands for they are sure and just and always have our best interest at heart. We are his children and we are mighty in the land. We are a generation of upright, because we are in Christ. We are the generation of the born again. Our birth into the kingdom of God makes us this upright generation. We have the greatest of wealth and riches because we have the truth of God, we have Jesus, and we have eternal life and that righteousness endures forever. What is richer than that? This life is temporary, the one we live in this flesh, we have to live within it, within the constraints of space and time. Once we lived as the wicked, vexed in the darkness, without the light of Jesus in our life. But there was a dawn, the light dawned in our spirit and we saw the light and came out of the darkness of our mind and spirit. There is a question with the translation about who is gracious and compassionate and righteous. This translation says it is the upright man, others indicate it is the Lord. This has to be the Lord, for he is all of that, and we are not. Although that should be our goal, to be more like Jesus each day. Honesty in all we do in the affairs of life, whether that is in business, either as the employer, or employee, or in the affairs of the Spirit, speaking the truth, but partnered with grace or graciousness and compassion. This is not bible thumping the wicked, this is loving them, allowing the Spirit to flow through us onto them. Our faith will not waver, it will not be shaken, by anything man has to offer. Because we are in Christ, we are consider the righteous and as such we will be remembered, perhaps not by people, but by God. But then again perhaps people do remember our graciousness and compassion, our outpouring of love upon them. However, the point is that our faith will not be shaken and it is not just so we will be remembered, but because we put all out trust in God. Our heart is steadfast, it is steady, and it is secure. We fear nothing from God or man. In the end, when this life in this physical form comes to a close we will triumph over the wicked. We will be ushered into the Lord’s rest, they will not, although that is wonderful, it is also sad for them. However, they still have time to see the dawn of light. Where will they see that light? Has not Jesus told us we are the light of the world? Should we not be shining our light into the darkness of their world? We should not be joyous because they will perish. This scattering of our gifts to the poor may well speak of earthly wealth, which then would speak in opposition to storing up wealth for ourselves. But it could also speak of scattering the gift of God among the poor souls who will perish without the opportunity to know his gift of eternal life. Let us spread the righteousness of God among the nations, among those we come in contact with. For his righteousness endures forever, anyone who has his righteousness, Jesus, endures forever. Our life will be lifted up. May you all be lifted up this Christmas day. Merry Christmas dear friends. 

Real Praise

DEVOTION

PSALMS

REAL PRAISE

111:1

Praise the LORD.

I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. 2 Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. 3 Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. 4 He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate. 5 He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever. 6 He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations. 7 The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. 8 They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness. 9 He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever — holy and awesome is his name. 10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

NIV

What else can we say that would strengthen our resolve to praise him? This first verse has a far greater meaning then this translation puts it. In the original Hebrew it goes like this: Praise ye the Lord, I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the righteous and in the congregation. Then to make it even better the first praise ye is the Hebrew would Halal, which is the base word of hallelujah which in Hebrew means Praise Yahweh. The second praise in, I will praise the Lord, is yadah which means use the hands, to throw or especially to revere and worship (with extended hands). This implies with the whole heart, completely, fully, without reservation. The Hebrew word translated whole heart is only used in the singular. That comes back to the divided heart issue. We will lift our hands to the Lord with a singular heart, thinking of nothing else other than fully praising him in the assembly of the righteous. That should mean in church. It sure seems many of us miss that mark by a fair amount. It would seem many believers just sit on their hands in worship. Does that sound judgmental? We judge ourselves. Maybe, but it is the truth, in fact, in many cases there is not even a smile on their faces. Stoic seems more a description then worship. We cannot buy into this more traditional view, this reserved form of worship, we must extol the Lord, praise him, lift our hands, if not both maybe just one anyway and praise him with our whole heart. Just considering how great his works are and to ponder in them should bring us to a whole-hearted praise. To meditate on his glorious and majestic deeds should move us to lift our hands. The fact his righteousness endures forever along with him being gracious and compassionate should motivate our hearts to singleness of purpose. He has provided for us because we revere him. Now on the other hand, if we are not provided for by the Lord, perhaps we do not revere him. Oops, that would be wrong, not to fear, not to revere him. If we remembered the works of his hands are faithful and just, we would stand in awe of him, praising him with a whole heart and lifted hands. Everything about him is trustworthy and steadfast forever and ever. Everything he does is done in faithfulness and uprightness, which should give us more than enough to be moved from a stoic pose, with almost a muttering of our lips in praise. What would we look like when we stand in the assembly of the righteous on the last day in the presence of our God? Will we mutter words to a song then? Would we sit on our hands then? If we think we should be any different on that day, then why shouldn’t we be that way now? He has redeemed us, he has ordained his covenant forever. The beginning of all wisdom is to fear, to revere, the Lord. If we do this, we have understanding of who he is and what he has done and will do. So let us praise the Lord, now and forever!

His return

DEVOTION

PSALMS

HIS RETURN

Ps 110

110:1 Of David. A psalm.

The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." 2 The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. 3 Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth.  

4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." 5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.  7 He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

NIV

Certainly this whole psalm is prophetic about Jesus. Every word is about Jesus. If this does not prove the majestic existence of God, what does? Of course we have the whole of creation to prove that God exists. Yet here we have David who lived hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth and he writes this song all about who Jesus is and what he will do. Melchizedek was a priest that there is no record of his birth, his ancestry or his death. He just appears in scripture. Jesus has no beginning nor in the reality of God, in the heavenly realms, Jesus lives forever and he has no end. Although he died in the flesh which he needed to in order to redeem us, he was raised from the dead to live forever. This first phrase about the LORD saying to my lord is about God saying to Jesus. How great is God? He is so great we cannot even express his greatest in our language. He inspired David to write about a future David had no idea about. He had no human knowledge about the future coming of Jesus to be the Savior of the world. All of Israel had knowledge of a future Messiah and perhaps this is just about this Messiah, but he is Jesus and he was in the loins of David. Nevertheless, we have a Savior, we have a Messiah, and we have Jesus who brings us life everlasting. He will come again, this time on the womb of the dawn. He will come on the clouds of glory, riding upon a white horse with ten thousands of angels. He will judge the whole earth. Not a single king can withstand his power. But first, before all that happens, we have another promise. He has told us to stand ready for a day is coming when he will lift us up from this earth to meet him in the air. We will be changed in a twinkling of an eye. This corruptible will become incorruptible. This perishable will become imperishable. We will no longer be flesh and blood, but changed into a gloried condition, as Jesus was after his resurrection. This is the Lord we serve. This is the Lord we bow to and give all the glory and praise to for every aspect of life. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly we await your return. He will return.  

At the right hand

DEVOTION

PSALMS

AT THE RIGHT HAND

Ps 109

109:1 For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent, 2 for wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues. 3 With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause. 4 In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer. 5 They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship.

6 Appoint an evil man to oppose him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. 7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. 8 May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. 9 May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. 10 May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. 11 May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. 12 May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. 13 May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation. 14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out. 15 May their sins always remain before the LORD, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

16 For he never thought of doing a kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted. 17 He loved to pronounce a curse — may it come on him; he found no pleasure in blessing — may it be far from him. 18 He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil. 19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him. 20 May this be the LORD's payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me.

21 But you, O Sovereign LORD, deal well with me for your name's sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me. 22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. 23 I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust. 24 My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt. 25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.

26 Help me, O LORD my God; save me in accordance with your love. 27 Let them know that it is your hand, that you, O LORD, have done it. 28 They may curse, but you will bless; when they attack they will be put to shame, but your servant will rejoice. 29 My accusers will be clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.

30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng I will praise him. 31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life from those who condemn him.

NIV

There is a lot of pain within the soul of David as he writes this psalm. It would seem this is in the period of which Saul is seeking to kill him and he is on the run, hiding from Saul. But there is something interesting in that David says he is a man of prayer, yet, he prays for the Lord to brings all sorts of evil upon those who would do harm to David. That is somewhat strange to pray for the worst sort of things to happen to those who would accuse him. Yet it would seem there is a reason showing the difference between how the Lord deals with the righteous and the wicked.  The Lord deals harshly with those who refuse him, who oppress the righteous. There is now and has been great movements against the Lord throughout the ages. Today we have those who would what anything to do with the Lord removed from the public square. Men have replaced him with images of themselves, statues erected to honor men instead of God. The deeds of men are exalted instead the deeds of God. Although we have not seen as great a persecution of believers in this country as it is in other countries, there is still a national outcry against the things of God. The evil hearts of men will be dealt with in judgement from God. There is nothing we can do, but pray for them. Jesus changed this. David may have prayed harm upon his adversary, but Jesus has told us to pray for our enemies. Still, we also see how God deals with the righteous. Now being righteous has nothing to do with being good, for as man, we simply can never be good enough, we will always fall short of perfection, in fact, we fall way short. In our human condition sin still lingers within our flesh. This makes us anything but righteous within ourselves. But, praise to the Lord for his righteousness. Jesus is our righteousness, he stands in gap for us. He stands before the Father interceding for us, showing the Father his hands and feet and telling him the he took all our sin upon himself, he freed us from the penalty of death. It does not seem that whatever happens in our life, we should always rejoice because God deals with us not in accordance with what we deserve, but in accordance with his love. He saves our life from anything this world can throw at us, for we are in Christ. Jesus not only stands before God, but at our right hand, that is a place of honor. We honor him by his standing at our right hand and he saves our life from anyone who would condemn us. The devil would condemn us for every infraction of the law of God. He would condemn us for not being good enough. He would condemn us for our continued sin. He would condemn us for not doing enough good works, but he lies, he is the father of lies, he cannot speak the truth. But he makes every effort to find something to condemn us for. However, Jesus stands at our right hand, and before God on our behalf. We are saved and that is that. Because Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, so are we, a place of honor, because we are in Christ. Let us live with that knowledge, live as a person dwelling in a place of honor before the Father.

More and Less

DEVOTION

PSALMS

MORE AND LESS

Ps 108

108:1 A song. A psalm of David.

My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul. 2 Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. 3 I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. 4 For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. 5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.

6 Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered. 7 God has spoken from his sanctuary:" In triumph I will parcel out Shechem and measure off the Valley of Succoth. 8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet, Judah my scepter. 9 Moab is my washbasin, upon Edom I toss my sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph."

10 Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? 11 Is it not you, O God, you who have rejected us and no longer go out with our armies? 12 Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. 13 With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.

NIV

This first stanza of this psalm certainly sound familiar for it is the basis for a popular worship song titled “Be exalted O God”. But the missing part of those lyrics is the part of having a steadfast heart and the part about awaken the dawn. The dawn is that first moment in the morning which we spend with our Lord. It is the first thing we do after making our coffee, sitting down and spending time meditating on his word and how that applies to strengthening a steadfast heart within us. This means we need to get up, awakening the dawn, no sleeping in to that last minute before we have to rush to get ready for work. We will sing among the nations, we will sing among the people. This is when we are off to our place of employment when we are with people. This is who we sing about the greatest of the Lord among. This is where we live out our faith, and live it out loud. This is where we exalt you O Lord above the heavens and where we let your glory be over all the earth. The rest of these words of the psalm speak of his glory over all of the land of Israel, but also over all the peoples of the land, and this would extend to us as even from the beginning the Lord has included the whole earth, all the people are his creation. David asks the best questions and of course as inspired, he pens the best answers. God will give us aid against our enemies, which in reality is only but one, Satan. Yet he is not omnipresent, so all those other fallen angels who are now called demons, are plenty and so a horde of enemies are always at the gate trying to bash their way into our heart and mind. One of the biggest attacks is this self-reliant attitude, this "I can do this" thinking. This "I" thing period. Whenever we get into that mode of thinking we can, we lose. With man it is impossible, but everything is possible with God. He is the only help against the forces of evil. Help of man is worthless, which includes our own helping of ourselves. It is worthless, for even the armor of God is not ours, it is his and he only tells us to put it on. This is our choice, we can leave it in the corner, and refuse to wear it, but it is his armor and as we put it on, he is the one who uses it. If we think because we have the breastplate of righteous on, that it makes us righteous, we think wrong, it is his righteousness, his breastplate that protects our heart. David also prayed that God would create in him a pure heart.

Ps 51:10

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

NIV

This is all about the power of God at work within us, not about our power at work in God. It is not about how much we can do, it is about how little we can do without the power of God at work within us. It is he who created us, it is he who saved us. He is the one who does all things through us. He is the potter, we are the clay. If we try to live by our choices, our will, our desires, our wants, our plans, our understanding, our intelligence, or anything associated with our abilities, we will no doubt fail. Everything is about God, it is his armor we wear. It is his fruit that we bear. It is his gifts that we share. As John the Baptist made that proclamation about him having to decrease and Jesus having to increase, at least in the KJV, but a newer translation says:

John 3:30

30 He must become greater; I must become less.

NIV

This is our life, we must become less and he must become greater. That is how we will have a steadfast heart. He makes our heart steadfast as he becomes greater and we become less. Perhaps we should forgo the pronoun I completely, and only use the pronoun he or we could say we. It is God at work in me, so it is we. Just in reality it is only him. But we do have to decide to become less and allow him to be the greater within us. So in that sense we are partners with God. But it still is all him, if we want to have the victory. So it comes down to more and less. More of him, less of us.  

Either or,not Both And

DEVOTION

PSALMS

EITHER OR NOT BOTH AND

Ps 107:33-43

33 He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground, 34 and fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who lived there. 35 He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs; 36 there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle. 37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest; 38 he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and he did not let their herds diminish.

39 Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled by oppression, calamity and sorrow; 40 he who pours contempt on nobles made them wander in a trackless waste. 41 But he lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks. 42 The upright see and rejoice, but all the wicked shut their mouths.

43 Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the LORD.

NIV

 Again we are reminded about how this psalm can be all about the life of the Israelites and their exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. It also shows how their refusal to enter caused them all to wander in the desert until they all died and then their children entered. But it also speaks about the daily life in a believer of today. Well, maybe a believer and maybe just a lip service believer. It also speaks about mankind in general and the difference between the righteous and the wicked and how each lives in a different realm or reality. For those who refuse to enter into his land, his realm, rivers will become deserts and flowing springs will be thirsty ground. What was fruitful will be a salt wasteland. This is the land of the wicked. This is the life of a worldly person. What they think is the good life is nothing at all, for it is not in the realm of God, they are on the outside and don’t even know it. They have nothing and their end is to perish, just as the children of Israel wandered in the desert until they perished. However, there are others, the people who believe, not just in lip service, but believe in their heart, their whole heart, not a divided one. We remember about the divided heart, half in each realm, but not totally in either, that is the lukewarm heart and the destiny of the divided lukewarm heart is to be spit out from the mouth of God. Either be totally in or out but we should not try to live in both realms. For those who decide to get all in, live only in the realm of God, he turns the desert into pools of water and parched land into flowing springs. He brings the hungry (those who hunger and thirst for him) to live. He gives them eternal life and they will dwell in the city of God forever. There they will settle forever. Within the realm of God, his kingdom, we will sow fields and plant vineyards, and yield a fruitful harvest. This speaks about our lives as believers within his kingdom. It speaks of our sowing the word of God in the world, of our planting his word within the realm of the wicked, and how, because of our sowing and planting there will be a fruitful yield of new believers. Because of this we are blessed and our numbers increase. Again, a comparison of those who are under the oppression because of their wicked ways and how he pours contempt on those who either refuse to enter and how they are destined to wander. But we have to also think of how the Israelites fit this description. And this could mean how some believers might fut this description. They knew God, but also wanted the world, they looked back to their life in Egypt at times, they grumbled about their current situation of following God. It is if they wanted both the world and God. We saw that with Lot’s wife, following the directions of the Lord, but looking back wanting what she had, wanting both, a divided heart. We can see this in the life of the Israelites even after they were in the land of milk and honey and had it all, everything, but instead of staying in the realm of God, they adopted the realm of the foreign gods and the result was disaster. God allowed them to be overrun, hauled off in exile as captives, slaves in a foreign realm. We cannot afford to live in both realms or even try. Yes, we are in this realm of the world, but we are not of it, we do not live according to their rules, their customs, their ways. We live in the realm of God and live in his ways. It comes down to a single united heart bent toward God. We either believe or we don’t, we cannot sort of believe, trying to abide in both. We are all in, we will believe God every time on all issues, until our last breathe.   

Unfailing love

DEVOTION

PSALMS

UNFAILING LOVE

Ps 107:17-32

17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. 18 They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. 19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 20 He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. 21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. 22 Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.

23 Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. 24 They saw the works of the LORD, his wonderful deeds in the deep. 25 For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. 26 They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. 27 They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits' end. 28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. 29 He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven. 31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. 32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders.

NIV

Two stanzas which we most likely should deal with individually, but they do both deal with people of the rebellion. Both kinds are fools. Simply rebelling against God is a foolish way to live and it does cause suffering from afflictions because of sin. What we believers have to grasp deep within our being is that God is the God who heals us. Somehow we should get that and know that all our iniquities have been forgiven, Jesus took them all upon himself at the cross. So why should we have to suffer any afflictions? But this song is talking about fools who reject God and perhaps it is speaking more metaphorically about loathing all food. This could be the bread of life. This food they reject could be the food that came down from heaven, Jesus. When he was with his disciples at their last meal with him, he speak of taking this bread which is my body and drink this  wine which is my blood and this could mean as men reject him and his communion they draw near to the gates of death. Surely they still have a chance to change their minds and turn from their wicked ways, as we did, and accept his food from heaven. The psalmist indicates they did just that, crying out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them, he will always save those who cry out to him. He sent forth his word and healed them. He sent Jesus who heals people from the grave. When we accept Jesus the distress of death no longer holds its power, for the word of God, Jesus is the word and the word became flesh and dwelled among us. Jesus heals us from death, from the grave. We are no longer subject of the infirmity of death. The others, they spent their life’s effort in commerce, the pursuit of profit, of success. The desire to gain the wealth of this world. They are the merchants of the sea of life, the mighty waters. But this group were not really as foolish as the others, as they saw the mighty works of God. They were not just foolish, living in either ignorance or rebellion, not wanting to notice what God does. They were aware of his works but desired to travel their own course on the sea of life. But God stirred up their sea, made their lives into a turmoil, huge waves, things got messy, as much or as fast they could produce wealth, it could vanish just as quickly. The market is fickle that way, the merchants were at their wits end, their courage melted away from the acts of God against them. When they cried out to the Lord, he calmed the waters and guided them to a safe haven, his haven. Life is a dangerous thing when we are not in Christ. When we want to live by our supposed wisdom, we will either be a fool or in so much distress upon the sea of life, we might just drown. We have to see we need the food from heaven, Jesus and as we live in him, he calms the sea of life that we travel on. We do not have to deal with the infirmity of death and we do not have to deal with the pursuit of commerce, for he calms the storm, he is in control of the course of our life. That does not mean we go without, not at all, in fact we are well cared for. God is not only our redeemer, but our rock, our fortress, our provider, our healer, and our shepherd. He leads us on a path of righteousness, he leads us beside still waters, and he restores our soul. We can live in contentment, loving where we live, for we live in Christ. We do not need to suffer anymore, or fear anything or anyone. We do not need to fight our own battles in life for he is our victory and we thank him in every situation in life we face. We will always praise him for his unfailing love.

Broken chains

DEVOTION

PSALMS

BROKEN CHAINS

Ps 107:10-16

10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. 13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. 15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, 16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

NIV

We have several stanzas of a similar format and somewhat of the same subject, so let us just deal with each one for they are slightly different as well. This stanza deals with those who sat in darkness and the deepest gloom. These are the prisoners in iron chains. The cause for this condition is rebellion against the words of God. Is not our life before we finally heard his voice? We were sitting in the darkness of the deepest gloom. We refused to listen to anything about the truth of God, in fact, we were in the worst of a rebellious movement as we did not even believe anything could be a result of God for it was all natural occurrence and that we did not believe humans could even comprehend the existence of the idea of God. This is why we fell into the category of being an agnostic rather than an atheistic. Nevertheless it was the darkness of our own mind. Yet we still may have been better off than those who professed they believed there is a God, but still refused to obey his words or counsel. However, being in the darkness is not a good place no matter what men may say about doing their own thing. Being in this rebellious state against God results in him subjecting people to bitter labor. This is not just labor, but bitter labor. This is not a happy life, living enjoying our jobs, our labor, and content with our position or possessions. This is a life of discontent, always wanting more, wanting better. This is being measured and weighed and found wanting. A life less then how God desires our life to be. But living, refusing God, results in stumbling around in the dark with no one to help. Yet whenever someone calls out to the Lord as we did, he brings them out of our darkness into his light. It is far better to be able live in the light then in the dark. The chains Satan kept us locked up with were broken by God, he freed us, and he cut away the bars of iron that kept us in the dark. It is all due to his unfailing love. There is nothing we warrant of his love, other than we are his creation, even as we lived in the darkness. His love reached into the darkness of our heart and broke the chains that bond us and lifted us up into his light, all because of his unfailing love.

Forever

DEVOTION

PSALMS

FOREVER

Ps 107:1-9

107:1

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this — those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, 3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.  4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. 5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. 6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. 8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, 9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

NIV

This may be speaking of the wanderings of the Israelites as in the dispersion when many were carried off into captivity. But this speaks even more to the general condition of man living in the land of the foe, who would be the prince of this world, Satan. Jesus, having ascended into heaven, sent the Holy Spirit to convict men of their sin and need for repentance. He has been sent all over the earth to gather from the lands, from the east and west, from the north and south. This song describes the condition of humankind without the presence of God in their lives. Once we wandered in a desert wasteland and we could find no city where we could settle. This city we could not find was the city of God. We were in this wasteland of darkness, and there we could not see to find our way to the city of light. We were indeed hungry and thirsty. We were looking for a way out of our desert, our life was ebbing away. But somehow the Spirit was able to shine into our darkness, our hungry and thirsty soul and showed us a way into the city of light. He shown the light into our desert wasteland and gave us a hope, so we called out to the Lord, we said, “forgive us, we repent”, and he did. He delivered us from all the distress in our spirit, in our soul, in our life. He lead us on a straight path right into his city, his kingdom and we then found a place to settle down finding a contentment that was never in our wasteland wanderings. His love is beyond measure to take the time, effort to come into our desert wasteland and redeem us, find us and bring us into his city where he satisfies all our thirst and fills our hunger with good things. His love is unfailing and his deeds for us are wonderful. How could we not give thanks to the Lord? He is good and his love endures forever.

Praise

DEVOTION

PSALMS

PRAISE

Ps 106:32-48

32 By the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them; 33 for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses' lips.  

34 They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, 35 but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. 36 They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. 38 They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. 39 They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.

40 Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. 41 He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. 42 Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. 43 Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin.

44 But he took note of their distress when he heard their cry; 45 for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented. 46 He caused them to be pitied by all who held them captive.

47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.

48 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, "Amen!"

Praise the LORD.

NIV

Well at least it ended with, all is well and they returned to him and he gather them to himself. But what a trip, what a wasted amount of time they spent grumbling, rebelling against his ways, against the Spirit of God. He had commanded them to rid the land completely of those who were living there. He did not want them to become involved with the pagan ways of the Canaanites. But they did not listen and the mingled with them, they adopted their customs, there idols worship and even there form of sacrifices. How could they do that?  What the heck was wrong with those people? Did they not know who God was, considering all the signs and miracles he did for them? Yet here we are today, many times rebelling against the Spirit of the Lord. Oh, we say we are a good person, we do not murder, steal, cheat, lie, or do terrible things. But if we harbor any ill feelings toward anyone, Jesus says it is the same as murder. If we do not bring the whole of our tithe into the storehouse, are we stealing, robbing God? It could even be considered lying. But that is not the all of it. Have we mingled with the nations, have we adopted any of their customs? It would seem many of us have done that, at least at some level. Do we waste away in our sin? It may not be so much as wasting away, but wasting our time, wasting our efforts trying to trust in our own abilities. Have we wasted our time trying to live by the customs of the pagan world? This whole idea, or ideologies, customs such as methods of preparing for the future. The subject of investing has the danger of who are we investing in? Who are we giving our money to make more of it? Who have we trusted to prepare for our future? The whole idea of retirement is a hoax perpetrated on people by the devil himself. He wants nothing more for us to store up as much as we can, investing in his evil schemes influenced upon so many companies who are involved supporting so many morally bankrupt concepts. He wants nothing more to get us to retire, sit back and do nothing for the rest of our life, until we die. We just waste away in our sin. No, we have to put all our trust in God, for he is the one who saves us, who gathers us to himself. We need to always be in an attitude of praise and thanksgiving. We always need to be looking to God for everything we need and how we live our life. We know many of these ideas have a great deal of differing opinions or interpretations, but what we write we write from our heart, and how God deals with our heart, my heart in specific, so if what I write offends you, please understanding I am led by how God deals with me. I have to live according to his leading for my life. So I want to praise him, give him thanks and stay as close to him as it is possible in this frail, corruptible human condition.  Praise the LORD.

Any Idols

DEVOTION

PSALMS

ANY IDOLS

Ps 106:24-31

24 Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise. 25 They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the LORD. 26 So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the desert, 27 make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.

28 They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods; 29 they provoked the LORD to anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them. 30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked. 31 This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.

NIV

It seems it does not make any sense how those people could engage in such worship of idols after seeing how many great things the Lord did for them and was still doing for them. He brings them right to the Land of Promise and they despised it. We know the story about the twelve spies they sent into the land to check it out before they would dare cross the Jordan River. Come on now, after God dried up the Red Sea, after they saw Moses meet with God at Horeb and they heard the thundering voice of God they still needed to send spies. They did not believe God would go before them and crush anything or anyone who would keep them from occupying the land. What it comes down to is they simply did not believe him, or his promises. The story about the plague and this priest Phinehas is found in Numbers 25. We will not recount it, but the result of all there grumbling was twenty-five thousand of them died from the plague. It did not stop until this Phinehas drove a spike or spear through two people in their tent. A Israelite who brought a Midianite woman into his tent. In other words he was taking her as his wife, a strict violation of the Law. This was all about accepting the gods of other people. There is a danger in allowing women to woe men into false gods. Throughout the Old Testament we can see the temptations brought by women. This is not to be negative about women, it is just a fact of history during those times. We think of Samson and how Delilah brought him down. There are so many times this happened. Even David and Bathsheba. It even started back with Adam and Eve. She was the one deceived and then Adam followed after her. God did not intend this to be. But the children of Israel would not believe him, they wanted what they wanted and it caused many of them to die. Have we learned anything from those people? Do we believe all his promises? Or are we about getting our own way? Have we brought foreign idols into our life? Have we accepted the influence of the ways of the world, the idols of the world, which basically boils down to fame and fortune, success, and the accumulation of money? What makes us happy? What gives us a sense of security? What brings us comfort and a sense of peace and serenity? Is it God or money? We better make sure it is God or we might well be in trouble somehow. Have we taken him for granted? Do we think this is how he blesses us, by making us wealthy, or able to store up enough to live in comfort in our old age? Are we trusting him to lead us across the Jordon, we will travel the path he has put before us, or do we grumble in our tents? If it is not money, they maybe we have made some other idol, such as beauty, or health. How much time do we obsess over beauty, thinness, good health, or fashion? All those are billion dollar businesses designed to trap us in their clutches. Every year another fad diet comes down the pike. Every year another something which was good for us in now bad for us and that which was bad is now good. How many times are we going to be tricked by their deceptions? How many idols will we fall prey to rather than living for God, trusting God, looking to God for every aspect of our life? Let us stand up and drive a spike or a spear through all those idols and it will be credited to us as righteousness. Thrusting in Jesus for he is our righteousness is the only thing we need to do. He took three spikes for us, let us use those spikes for any idols we have allowed to sneak into our lives. We will believe his promises.

No forgetting

DEVOTION

PSALM

NO FORGETTING

Ps 106:12-23

12 Then they believed his promises and sang his praise.

13 But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel. 14 In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. 15 So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them.

16 In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the LORD. 17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram. 18 Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.

19 At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal. 20 They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass. 21 They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, 22 miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. 23 So he said he would destroy them — had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them.

NIV

Verse 12 most likely should have been included with the first eleven, but we chose to start this next few stanzas with it. In quick review the children of Israel were very upset at Moses, at God because of leaving Egypt just to be trapped between the Red Sea and the army of Pharaoh. Then God opened the sea and they crossed on a dry desert sea bottom and then he drown all the army of Pharaoh when they tried to cross chasing the Israelites. Then they believed his promises and sang his praise, but. There is that holy but. One day singing his praises the next day forgetting what he had done. The rest of this next stanza is all about how they forget and what they did instead of continuing to believe his promises and sing his praise. The details of their desires and their sin is not as important as the reason for them, forgetting what God had done and forgetting to believe and sing his praises. We know the whole story of their discontentment and the golden calf event. There is another truth in this portion, but we will save that for later. Now we should consider if we ever slide into this same type of forgetting his promises and wanting what we want and wanting it now, so we go about trying to get it for ourselves. We get distracted from his promises and begin to make a life for ourselves that we desire, almost to the point of worshipping something other than God. That is back to the divided heart issue again. The children of Israel didn’t even have a divided heart, they simple rejected God for the golden calf, which we could see as being all their wealth. The calf was made from a collection of all the gold they took out of Egypt, which God may have intended for them to use as currency in the new world he was taking them to. Instead they worshipped their wealth, the golden calf. God’s anger was fierce regarding this and he would have destroyed them on the spot if it were not for Moses. But let us get back to this idea of forgetting his promises for a little while. Do we forget? Do we try to make our own way? What are his promises that we should remember and live by them? He promised them he would take them to a land of milk and honey, the Promised Land. He promised they were his chosen people and he would take care of them, lead them, watch over them, and give them victory. As far as all the promises he made to them and to us we would have to include all the New Testament and all that he promised to those who believed. Just thinking about the promise of Jesus, the Spirit who dwells within us and the fruit and gifts he brings to bear in our life, sends chills down our spine. Just thinking about God is leading us into a Promised Land in which we will spend eternity with him should give us enough to sing his praises all day long, each and every day. But do we forget and get so involved with our daily life, striving for that which we want in this world? Sure we have to work, we just can’t sit back and believe God will drop everything we need into our laps, or can we? No, we are commanded to work for our sustenance, but at the same time we are supposed to believe God will supply all our needs. So our work is to be as to onto the Lord.

Col 3:22-25

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

NIV

Transpose slaves and masters to employees and employers and we have this truth in our modern era to live by. We must work, but our work is not for men, but for God. Everything we do should be about God, not about men, not about winning their praise, but winning the praise of God. Our whole life is about our relationship with God. We should not every forget his promises and always be about singing his praise. He has already done so much for us, and he continues to do even more, and will do immensely more in the days to come. Just as Moses stood in the gap and kept God from destroying the children of Israel, we have Jesus standing in the gap. Jesus stands before the Father interceding for us all the time. Though we try to be good, and remember all the time, we fail from time to time. We get distracted by life, we mess up and fall prey to some temptation, and we are not perfect as we now stand. So Jesus stands for us, stands up for us, intercedes on our behalf, and God the Father relents and we are not destroyed because of our failures. God remembers that Jesus took our sin and now we have been saved, and we will continue to be saved and kept by God, unless we completely turn our back on him and walk away. That is not going to happen, we will continue to believe, all the days of our life. We will not forget.