Tag: Psalms

The Lord is my light and salvation.

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

The Lord is my light and salvation
whom shall I fear?

There is a lot of fear going around these days. We are not quite through a pandemic which has altered many of our lives and livelihoods. And now there is a war in Ukraine. I can’t really stop any of these things that are going on in the world. But I can run to God with my fears and confusion.

Lord, be my salvation. Be the stronghold of my life. Be my confidence and truth. Be my defender. Be my healer. Be the one that knows the bigger picture and sees how it works together. Be the one I trust in all things. Hear me when I am afraid. Help me trust in You.

The Lord is my light and salvation
whom shall I fear?

I give thanks to you.

 Psalm 86:8-13

8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come
    and worship before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
    that I may walk in your truth;
    unite my heart to fear your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
    you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart.

My whole heart. My undivided heart. That heart that cannot curse and bless at the same time. That’s the heart David is talking about.

I can imagine David. His whole heart ready to burst — overflowing with the thankfulness for God’s gifts of forgiveness, grace, and mercy. When we are burden with sin, it’s a heavy load to carry. When we recognize all that God sees and knows about us and and that He still loves us, it is an amazing thing. We are His creation. And He provides for us in ways that are beyond our comprehension.

It’s true we don’t get everything we want. Even those honorable things that seem like they would be good things aren’t always meant for us. Getting to the point of being thankful in all circumstances is a journey of surrender.

But it can begin today.

What difficult things can you look back on in your life and see where God has done some beautiful work? If you have some history with God, you have seen His provision in action. You know what He can do — even if it takes years for it to come to fruition.

What is today’s circumstance that has you wondering is He sees or knows or even cares? Let me encourage you to give thanks to Him for what He has done and what He is going to do. Even if you can’t start with your whole heart, start with part of your heart. As you look back on what He has done, it gets easier to trust Him with your heart. It may start off as bits and pieces, but, between remembering His work in the past and giving thanks for today, you will find that more and more of your heart will participate.

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart.

Unite my heart.

 Psalm 86:8-13

8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come
    and worship before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
    that I may walk in your truth;
    unite my heart to fear your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
    you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

Unite my heart to fear your name.

Have you ever had a divided heart? They aren’t hard to come by. I find myself longing for that thing I should not be longing for or I am stuck between choosing what is the right thing to do and the thing I would rather do. Maybe you have some other scenarios playing in your head. I want my heart to trust in God so I don’t have to look longingly at that other thing that I don’t need in my life. I want to “fear His name” with that sense of awe and reverence. While God is certainly all powerful, I never really look at His power as something to be fearful of in the current understanding of the word. Merriam-Webster defined fear as profound reverence and awe, especially towards God. That fits.

Even when I have really struggled with the burden of sin and consequences I never saw God as one to be afraid of so I appreciate the difference in the use of the word fear in the definition above. Not that God loves sin, He certainly doesn’t. But His patient love for me, even when I am in the middle of being ridiculous, is always evident.

Lord, unite my heart so it is undivided and that is is Yours. Let the rhythm of Your breath of life set the beat of my heart and let it all be for Your glory! Amen.

Teach me your way.

Psalm 86:8-13

8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come
    and worship before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
    that I may walk in your truth;
    unite my heart to fear your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
    you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth.

I never have to worry about whether or not God will teach me. But, as I am learning in my Hungarian lessons, sometimes it takes me a long time to learn something. The teaching is there — no doubt about that. But, am I a willing and interested student? And, as I am learning to walk in God’s truth, will I stumble and fall, just like a toddler does when they are starting out?

Absolutely.

I am pretty sure I am harder on myself about this than God is on me. I just need to remain teachable. I am in my 50s but I know there is still a lifetime of learning ahead of me!

P.S. Yesterday was a busy day and I wrote out the PrayerPoint but completely forgot to hit the publish button…so you ended up with two PrayerPoints today!

For you are great.

Psalm 86:8-13

8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come
    and worship before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
    that I may walk in your truth;
    unite my heart to fear your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
    you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

For you are great and do wondrous things;
 you alone are God.

God has done marvelous things, He is doing amazing things, and so I know He won’t stop. It’s His nature.

I just need to take a look at my life to see His work, His provision, His care for me. Are the times of loss and difficulty? Of course, that is living this life. Any difficulty I have is not an indication of His lack of love or care for me.

Look back and remember what He has done for you. Look at today and see where He is providing for you. See the pattern? Tomorrow will be the same thing. You can count on Him!

There is none like you.

 Psalm 86:8-13

8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come
    and worship before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
    that I may walk in your truth;
    unite my heart to fear your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
    you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.

I have always been fascinated by creation. All the amazing creatures designed by our Creator. The symbiotic relationships. The development. How the Universe works together with the sun, moon, and planets and how man ever saw the patterns — which are very different depending on your vantage point. It’s all so vast. And yet, God is so personal. He knows the hairs on our heads. He can telescope and microscope at the same time and not be confused by it at all. On the other hand, I took chemistry and astronomy in the same semester and that was a big mistake. I couldn’t wrap my head around either concept because objects were either a million miles away or thousands of them could fit on the head of a pin.

Today just seemed like one of those days to stop in awe of God’s creative handiwork — from creating to healing to restoring to renewing — He never stops. Take a moment to consider His handiwork. What have you seen in your own life that causes you to be in amazement of what God has done?

Psalm 51

Psalm 51:1-19

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

There are many beautiful things in this Psalm. On David’s part, his humility, broken spirit, and contrite heart. It’s a place where we have all been. It’s so relatable.

But the most beautiful is all that God is doing. The list is long:

He shows mercy and blots out transgressions. He washes us thoroughly and cleanses us from our sin. He teaches us wisdom and purges us with hyssop. He washes us some more. He hides His face from our sin and He blots out some more. And then, He creates in us clean hearts! He renews a right spirit within us! He refuses to cast us away from His presence and He will not take His Holy Spirit from us! He restores to us the joy of our salvation! He delivers us and opens our lips!

Receive God’s good gifts!

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness.

Psalm 51: 13 – 19

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness.

Sin is sin. The earthly consequences often differ, but in the end, we are all guilty.

I believe satan loves to poke and needle the guilty. He wants us to never forget our sins. And his goal seems to be to interrupt or delay the recognition of our sin as sin and distract us from going to our Deliverer.

Have you ever been stuck in the cycle of sin-guilt-shame-hiding-isolation- discouragement-frustration-anger-distance-sin? It might look a little different in your life, but this type of cycle does not produce healing. Somewhere in the cycle needs to be the confession-forgiveness-deliverance!

Don’t let yourself be fooled by satan and his tactics. The world certainly gives us every reason to justify our behavior. We have been through a lot recently and it looks like things aren’t easing up just yet. But God — He longs to restore and renew us. Daily confession brings daily deliverance. What a beautiful way to start a new day!

Uphold me with a willing spirit.

Psalm 51: 7-12

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Uphold me with a willing spirit.

There are days (and weeks and months) where I need to be held up. Have you been through a season like that? It’s those days when relationships, health, finance, or work challenges are just too much.

Thank God that He sees and knows and sends His reinforcements! He lets us know He is there is so many ways: from taking care of the smallest details to sending the right people to us at just the right time. There are so many ways God holds us up and lifts us up. Sometimes, however, I am guilty of not allowing Him to uphold me. I get comfortable in a cranky place.

Lord, grant me a willing spirit Uphold me in faith with the joy of your salvation! Amen.

Take not your Holy Spirit from me

Psalm 51: 7-12

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Another gut wrenching plea. The weight of our sin in unbearable except for Jesus’ work.

But, if I am honest, sometimes the weight of my sin doesn’t impact me to the core as much as someone else’s. How could that be? I think it is my sinful nature coming through along with the whispering lies of satan.

I am confident in God’s love, care, and provision for me. I am very confident. And yet I vacillate between the gravity of my sin and the work done for me. It’s difficult to hold both of those at the same time.

Do you struggle with this, too?