Thursday, May 2, 2013

Psalm 103
In this psalm, David is so enthralled with the goodness of God that it stirs him to overwhelmingly praise Him for His goodness.  So often we can identify with David's lament of being in the "furnace of affliction".  David was quick to cry out to God during those times and just as quick to praise Him afterward.   God is the fountain of all goodness, and we should concentrate our praise on that goodness and loving kindness and tender mercies and grace.  And we receive all these things without deserving any of them. Praising His name should consume us every second of every day. He has after all redeemed us from eternal death.  How could we not praise Him constantly?  Even when we are in the "furnace of affliction".

“…he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”
Thank goodness for that!

“…as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
As we told our second grader Sunday School class many years ago, “God throws them into the sea of forgetfulness.”

Psalm 104
Pay close attention. The writer changes pronouns back and forth from “you” to “he”. Hmmm…
The psalmist praises and celebrates God’s greatness, majesty and sovereign dominion over everything. We are told that God reveals Himself in His mighty works as nature proclaims His infinite wisdom and goodness. How can we not marvel and thank Him for His creativity with nature?

Psalm 113
At first reading, this psalm seems to be just another call for us to praise the Lord.  But look closely at verse 6, "Who is like the Lord, our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and earth?"   Did you catch it?  Do you understand what's being said?  God stoops down.  He stooped down from His heavenly estate to become one of us, to die for us.  He "raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap;"  Praise God for that! 

Psalm 114
Psalm 114 relates that the sea (Red Sea) fled and the Jordan River turned back. The mountains and hills skipping and the earth trembling…sounds like an earthquake, or just another example of the voice of God. Been listening lately?

Psalm 117
Oh, so very short, the shortest psalm in fact.  Insignificant in its brevity???  Hardly!  Read it again and feel its significance!  Isn't that just like God...to show us there is significance in insignificance? 


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