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.

No Fear

DEVOTION

PSALMS

NO FEAR

Ps 106:1-11

Praise the LORD.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise? 3 Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right. 4 Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them, 5 that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise.  6 We have sinned, even as our fathers did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. 7 When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name's sake, to make his mighty power known. 9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert. 10 He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them. 11 The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived.

NIV

This song is more of a history lesson in the life of the people of Israel. However, it also starts out with statements about the character of God. He is good, there is no question about that, although many might argue with that fact. Some ask, how God can be good when he allows this to happen. They question is goodness when something they consider as bad happens in their life. This is the same as how the children of Israel thought at the Red Sea. They felt trapped between the water and the army of Pharaoh. They argued with Moses, thinking it better they die in Egypt then out here like this. They did not see that God was being good to them. Nor did they consider his love that endures forever. Are we like that in any way? Do we miss out on praising God because we might be going through a tough time in life at the moment? Do we forget his mighty power and his acts of love toward us, as those people did? When they were under the oppression of the Pharaoh they gave no thought to the miracles of God. When we are under difficult times, do we forget God does miracles? When we feel ill, or have some infirmity, do we forget he is the God who heals us? Maybe we just do not believe, or we forgot he can heal us and we just don’t ask? Although the children of Israel rebelled against Moses and God, he still saved them, he parted the Red Sea and allowed them to cross as though it was a desert. This is not a muddy sea bottom crossing, this is as dry as a desert crossing. But when the enemy tried to cross after them, God closed up the waters over them and they all drown. This is how he acts toward us. He always provides a way out of any difficult time, or situation. He provides a perfect solution for us, but keeps the elements that are causing us, stress, anxiety, worry, or some other emotional, spiritual and yes even physical oppression on us at bay, he drowns them with his mighty power. We should never forget his mighty acts for those of the past and remember all his mighty acts he has already done in our life. We cannot afford to get too comfortable with our life in the world, being a part of the world, allowing the world, the people of the world to influence how we think about things. We are not part of this world, although we are in it, we are not of it, our citizenship is in the kingdom of God and he is our Lord. Therefor we live in a different world, the world of our God. We live within a culture of miracles, of seeing his mighty power at work each day. We live within a society that has an eternal inheritance. We do not have to allow the darkness to cover our eyes, for we live in the light of God, and in fact, his light shines within us so that we can give light to the world. As God is our influence, as his grace is his divine influence upon our heart, our life, and that is reflected in our lives, so others may see his grace, his wonderful light. We live in a whole different way, filled with the wonders of God, his miraculous acts on our behalf for his name sake. For all he does in our lives, we never forget to give him all the honor and praise for all he does. We do not grumble or argue against him as they did. We do not get anxious or filled with fear as they did. We do not ever consider how better our life was before we decided to follow him, as they did. We always look forward to the day our redemption is complete and always are content with what God is doing in our life. We have no fear of the future, the present or the past. We know God will always be with us. Therefore we live with no fear.

HE

DEVOTION

PSALMS

Ps 105:8-45

HE

8 He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, 9 the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. 10 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: 11 "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit."

12 When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, 13 they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. 14 He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: 15 "Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm."

16 He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food; 17 and he sent a man before them — Joseph, sold as a slave. 18 They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, 19 till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the LORD proved him true. 20 The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. 21 He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, 22 to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom.

23 Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham. 24 The LORD made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes, 25 whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to conspire against his servants. 26 He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. 27 They performed his miraculous signs among them, his wonders in the land of Ham. 28 He sent darkness and made the land dark — for had they not rebelled against his words? 29 He turned their waters into blood, causing their fish to die. 30 Their land teemed with frogs, which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers. 31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country. 32 He turned their rain into hail, with lightning throughout their land; 33 he struck down their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their country. 34 He spoke, and the locusts came, grasshoppers without number; 35 they ate up every green thing in their land, ate up the produce of their soil. 36 Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their manhood.

37 He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold, and from among their tribes no one faltered. 38 Egypt was glad when they left, because dread of Israel had fallen on them. 39 He spread out a cloud as a covering, and a fire to give light at night. 40 They asked, and he brought them quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. 41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert.

42 For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham. 43 He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy; 44 he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for — 45 that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws.

Praise the LORD.  

NIV

It is not right to divide this all up, for everything here is about what he did. If we were to highlight those words, he did, which we did, it would be obvious this is an account of what God did for Israel. They are aware of the history of their existence and they are the chosen people God determined to reveal himself to as the one true God. Because God sent Jesus into the world to save whosoever believes, he did not choose Israel to be the only people he was going to save. They were chosen to be the people through whom he would demonstrate his supreme authority over all the earth and who he is, his character, his holiness, his righteousness and his justice. Still, this song relates much of their life before entering the Promised Land. It gives an account from Abraham, their beginning of being the chosen ones, to their entering and possessing the Promised Land. All because of what God did. Not because of them, but because of him. This should give us pause to consider how much of our life do we give credit to God. So often we use some personal pronoun in our conversation with others. I will do this, I did that, I went here, I got this or that, I am going to, I have decided, I want to give, have, do or whatever. It seems our life is all about us, what we are. How much time do we spend recounting all that God has done for us, in and through us? From the very beginning, as he knit us together in our mother’s womb, he foreknew that we would someday, in fact, he foreknew the exact day we would come to repentance and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He did not predetermine that we would, but he did foreknow we would. So from the beginning he watched over us, he protected our life, for he knew what he was going to do for us, in us and through us. He guarded our life, he destroyed every foe that would do us harm, he brought us through some of the toughest moments of our life. He directed our path, even before we knew it was him making us to go or come someplace. He put all the right people in our life to bring us to the day he knew we would come to him. When we did make that choose, when we did accept Jesus, he began a whole new cascade of events, one after another, miracles, healings, provisions, directions, callings, and opportunities for us to serve his kingdom. It was as if he dropped manna from heaven, and send us quail and cause water to flow from a rock like a raging river in what was the desert of our life. Because of him, fruit spring forth from within us, we became a land flowing with milk and honey. He did so many things in our life, if we were to give an accurate account of each and every single move of his hand within our life, it would take a book to list them and therefore  give him glory. He has caused everything to be as it should be in our life. He has given us the best of life, Jesus. He has given us the best of companions, our spouse and blessed us with the fruit of her womb, children and their children, and their children. For women, he has blessed them with a spouse who is the man of God he should be, and the warrior who conquers, and works the land, to provide the sustenance which God ordained. As with Adam, man is to work all the days of his life, by the sweat of his brow, he should labor for his sustenance. How great is our God? He is the greatest God there is, for he is the only one true God of all mankind, yet he deals with each of us in such a loving and personal way. He cares for us as no one else will. He is due all our devotion, all our praise, all our thanksgiving for great is the Lord and greatly is he to be praised. Praise the Lord. It is all about him, about he said, he did, he spoke, he struck, he caused. It is just about HE.

Seek his face

DEVOTION

PSALMS

SEEK HIS FACE

Ps 105:1-7

105:1

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. 2 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. 3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 4 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

5 Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, 6 O descendants of Abraham his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. 7 He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

NIV

This giving of thanks to the Lord has a significate meaning for our lives. First, we have to know that it is God who has given us everything. It can be easy to forget that and think it is our ability, our intelligence, our education, our understanding of science and the social/economic structure that allows us to provide what we want now and in the future years of our life. We must remember we can be snuffed out in an instant, life can be over at the blink of an eye. Then who will get all we struggled to accumulate?

Luke 12:20

20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

NIV

No, we have to give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name and tell everyone what God has provided for us, what he has done in our lives, and how everything we have, everything we are, and every ability, skill, knowledge, is because of the Spirit working in our lives. It is all God, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture, to do with as he sees fit. This is the peace which Jesus gives us, not as the world gives, but his peace, which is defined as the assurance  of salvation of our soul, and a contentment with our position in life whatever that may be. When we strive for the things in our life, when we want what we want and we want it now, we only breed discontentment, envy, jealously and greed. Because we do not get everything we want, we can become discouraged and that can lead to depression. What a mess our life can be when we do not give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name. How destructive our life can be when we do not tell the nations of what God has done for us. What a sorrowful life we could lead if we are not singing to him. Singing praise to him, and telling of all his wonderful acts. How introspective we become when we do not glory in his holy name, for when we do not glory in his name, we might well be trying to glory in our name. There is no way our heart can rejoice unless it is seeking God. This is not a game of hide and seek, for he is easy to find, he wants us to find him and rejoice in him. When we look to our own strength we can be assured it is never enough. First and foremost we cannot save ourselves, no matter how many “Good works” we do. Second, we cannot find any assurance because of our “Good works”. There is nothing we can do in order to gain a better standing in the presence of God. The only way we gain life is to loss it, to give it to Jesus, to be in Christ. Salvation is ours because of what God has done. Then all we have, all we are, and all we do is based on the hand of God, the working of the Spirit in our lives. We are weak, he is strong, and he makes our path straight. Left to our own strength, our own abilities, knowledge or education, our paths will be crooked. When we rely on what we think is the best method, the most productive way to life, to give ourselves the best advantage to obtain the best life has to offer, we will be walking a crooked path that leads nowhere, maybe even on that wide road that leads to destruction. It may be the most popular lifestyle of the world, but it should not be ours. That is not to say we do not have a hand in our life, but all our abilities, skills, knowledge is a result of the inspiration of the Spirit. So we walk the narrow path, the straight path led by God, who gives us light to show us the way in which we are to go. We need to be constantly seeking his face. We remember all the things he has already done, already provided, the miracles he has performed in our lives. Everything he does is right and just. Therefor our life is right and just if we seek his face.

Bring Joy

DEVOTION

PSALMS

BRING JOY

Ps 104:31-35

31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works — 32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD. 35 But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more.

Praise the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD.  

NIV

His glory will endure forever, we have that promise, one the psalmist may not have had. He was writing this song far before God gave John the revelation of a new heaven and new earth and a new city of Jerusalem where his glory will shine forever. That glory will replace the need for the sun, his light will give light to the world. Maybe it is still some type of sun, but not this one. At any rate, his glory will endure forever. We can only hope that he rejoices in his works, as we are his works. Do we cause God to rejoice? We might well be confident of that because we are in Christ. That would give him a great reason to rejoice. He did not create Adam to perish, but to have fellowship with him. We were created for the same purpose, and when we fellowship with God, he rejoices in his work. But that also implies, within the context of the song, to the whole earth. God rejoices in the works of his hands, the planet he made for us to live in. He is in control of it as we saw before in this song. He gets great joy from watching the mountains, the rivers, lakes, oceans, team with life he created to roam on and in them. He rejoices in the weather he established to sustain his creation, as well as the way in which he created a symbiotic environment. All vegetation require the exhale of living creature’s breath and they require the exhale of all vegetation. It is perfect. He even created the volcano, the smoking mountain for his pleasure and they serve his purpose. When it all comes down to the basics, we will sing to the Lord all our life. As long as we have breathe in our lungs we will sing to our Lord. Then there is our meditation. That sounds like an old fashioned word, but it is still needed in our life. As we spend this time over a portion of the word of God, we are, in fact, in meditation. We ponder what God is speaking, first, to those it who originally heard, then to us, their descendants. How does it affect our lives, how should we respond to the word? The Hebrew word translated meditation carries the meaning of contemplation, but also utterance. So it could mean our pondering over the word, or in the way we utter words, which could be in prayer or in communication with others. All of that should be pleasing to our Lord, because we are his work. A day is coming the wicked will be no more, but we are the righteous because we are in Christ and we have been given the grace and peace of God the Father and of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have this assurance, but still we should live in a manner that pleases him and gives him joy.

Holy is our God

DEVOTION

PSALM

HOLY IS OUR GOD

Ps 104:24-30

24 How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. 25 There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number — living things both large and small. 26 There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27 These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. 28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. 29 When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. 30 When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.

NIV

Time has gone by this morning and I must make a 5 hour drive to visit my sister,

 So I ask you to write your own devotion this morning, see the splendor of our God. Notice his hand of provision, his everlasting love toward all his creation. Notice how his absence is terrifying. How could we live if he were not there? Notice how when we have said that we have the very breathe of God within us, it is voiced here in another way. It is when he is the one who takes away our breath, he determines the hour of our death, not us. Notice he sends his spirit and we are created, renewed. This death could be the death of the old man, and the spirit is our being born again, but is also could be about real death and the resurrection. So write your devotion with all this in mind. 

Praise our Holy God.

Follow him

DEVOTION

PSALMS

FOLLOW HIM

Ps 104:10-23

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. 11 They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. 13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work. 14 He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate — bringing forth food from the earth: 15 wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart. 16 The trees of the LORD are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. 17 There the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the pine trees. 18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats; the crags are a refuge for the coneys.  

19 The moon marks off the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. 20 You bring darkness, it becomes night, and all the beasts of the forest prowl. 21 The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God. 22 The sun rises, and they steal away; they return and lie down in their dens. 23 Then man goes out to his work, to his labor until evening.

NIV

Once again we are faced with the management of God over all the earth, over all his creation. Does he actually micro-manage all this or did he just set it all in motion and then let it all happen at the regular times or intervals? We know all this happens like clockwork. The mountains gather the snow during the winter months which melts each spring and flows down into the valleys to water all the needed areas for the flowers of the fields and for the beasts of the wild both drink and feast on prey that comes to the water. Each spring life bursts forth from the springs of water coming down from the mountains. Just watching the series, “Planet Earth” should give us the idea of how God established it all, even though the producer’s may have had another agenda in mind. God thought of everything, for all the plant life that need the water, all the wild beasts, the birds, the domesticated beasts of the field and yes, even for us. He waters the plants we cultivate for food. Each spring the snow or rain of the winter months make it possible for great grain harvests, including fine grape growing areas all over the earth for the making of wine to gladden our heart. That should settle the discussion over whether he intended us to enjoy the fruit of the vine. No reason to withhold some wine from our tongue, as long as not in excess, for God intended it to gladden our heart. He set the moon and sun in their place, along with the whole of the universe, for the seasons, and for the day and night. We know the moon also controls the tides, which bring much to the daily life of the earth. But the day and the night both have their reasons for those beasts that hunt by night and for the man who works by day, even though we have discovered a way to work by night. However, that may not be the way God intended for man to live. Yet we should understand at the time of this song, man did not have the lighting to work through the night. Sunup to sundown was the way it was, then rest to enjoy a glass of wine and some food of their labor. How does all this relate to us? It simply shows us how great our God is and that he thought of everything for the benefit of this place he created for us to live. It also shows us he is in control of it, that man has no control over the planet, over the mountains, the waters or the beasts who roam it. As much as some would like others to believe man is responsible for the earth, for the environment, God has it all under control. Can man chance the tides? Can man stop the night? Can he bring forth the day? Can he cover the earth with rain, or snow? Can he stop the lions from their prey? About the only thing man can do is not work, to refuse his God given role in society. Man can refuse to be productive for the benefit of others and himself. Man can be lazy, unwilling to work by day or night. Even this idea of working until a certain age, and storing up for sitting back, relaxing from work, is not the way God intended for man to live. But we think we know better than how God established it all. How futile is the thinking of man without the knowledge of God. How uninspired are man’s thoughts without the Spirit. How mundane is man’s life without the LORD. How useless is man’s existence without Jesus? But we live with joy, with peace, with contentment, with purpose, God’s purpose, with gladness of heart because we know the LORD and we are his people and he is our LORD and Savior. We have nothing to fear from man or God. We have no reason to be anxious, to be worried, and to be concerned about our life, for God established everything including our life. He set our path before us, he gives us the light to see it and he gives us the strength to walk it. His path will lead us home. All we have to do is follow him.