Nuggets of Gold from the 37th Psalm
Today’s Passages – Psalms 36-39; Proverbs 23
(Second Milers also read – 1 John 4 – 3 John; Memorize – Malachi 3:10)
Before I give you today’s thought from the Scripture, I would like to apologize for the inconsistent posts lately. My schedule has changed quite a bit here lately, and there have been several days where I just could not squeeze it in. I hate to admit this, but I am a little behind in my Bible reading. Pray for me that I will be able to get all of my ducks in a row.
“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” – (Psalm 37:4)
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” – (Psalm 37:23)
“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” – (Psalm 37:25)
Have you ever noticed that Psalm 37 contains many wonderful verses that we often quote. I have listed three of them above, but really I could have added more. This Psalm almost reminds me of a chapter from the Book of Proverbs, but the theme seems to be the same throughout the Psalm. The bottom line to this Psalm is that God is encouraging us to trust in His promises and provisions; and to not worry about the apparent prosperity of the lost world around us. Their success and superiority is short-lived at best; but ours is eternal.
Let’s consider the three verses listed above. David says that a good man will “order” his steps according to the direction of the Lord. This means tha a good man will yield himself to the will of the Lord. Notice that both verse 4 and 23 say that this good man will “delight” in God. God then in turn not only provides the necessities mentioned in v 25, but also will grant his desires. What a wonderful and awesome God we serve. What does this world have to offer you that could possibly compare to what God wants to give that “good” man (or woman) who delights in Him.
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Today’s Passages – Psalms 32-35; Proverbs 22
(Second Milers also read – 2 Peter 3 – 1 John 3; Memorize – Malachi 3:10)
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Wait, I Say, On the Lord – Guest Post by Sami Erickson
Today’s Passages – Psalms 26-31; Proverbs 21
(Second Milers also read – 1 Peter 4 – 2 Peter 2; Memorize – Malachi 3:10)
“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart:Wait, I say, on the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)
In this day and age we have gotten used to getting anything we want immediately. If we have to wait five minutes in line we are in an uproar. We have become a very impatient people. I fear that we expect the same kind of service from our Heavenly Father as well. How many times have you prayed and asked God for something and since it wasn’t answered immediately you just gave up? I know im guilty! Sorry to say, the Lord doesn’t work like this. The Lord doesn’t do things on our time lines, He does them on His.
Wait on the Lord! No matter what the situation is, no matter how scary it may be . “The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1) I know at times you may think you need an answer right away and circumstances surrounding you are saying there is no hope but “Wait, I say, on the Lord”
I have gone through times when I wondered “does God even hear me?” “Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me:” (psalm 28:1) God is not a God of confusion. If you Wait on Him he WILL answer your prayer, or reveal His will to you. The worst thing you can do is act on what YOU think is the right thing to do, simply because you cant wait for God to show you. There is nothing better then to know 100% that its all God and zero you. “Wait , I say, on the Lord.” Gerald always says “Let go and Let God” Give it up to the Lord…. Whatever it is! And WAIT on Him.
Have a Great day!!!!
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Mountaintop or Valley?
Today’s Passages – Psalms 21-25; Proverbs 20
(Second Milers also read – James 5 – 1 Peter 3; Memorize – Malachi 3:10)
“Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.” (Psalm 21:2)
“O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.” (Psalm 22:2)
Isn’t it interesting the difference between Psalm 21 and Psalm 22. Many of these Psalms are just praises and prayers to God right out of the heart of David. In Psalm 21 everything is great. David is praising the Lord for all of the wonderful things that God has done for him. In Psalm 21 it appears that everything is going great in David’s life.
Now when we get to Psalm 22, it seems like the bottom has fallen out of David’s life. Notice in verse 2, he accuses God of not hearing him. That’s funny because in the first Psalm he said that God gave him the desires of his heart. What happened? Is there some kind of a contradiction here? No. It is just that David, like us, is viewing God through the eyes of his present circumstance. Apparently his circumstance in Psalm 22 was not as good as Psalm 21. Remember, these Psalms are expressions of the deep feeling coming straight out of David’s heart.
I find that my prayer and praise to God is much the same way. Like David, I too go through different seasons. At times, it feels like nothing is going wrong in life; but at other times it seems as if God is completely absent from my life and the devil is having a “free for all”. Do you ever feel that way? I guess maybe David was just as human as we are. I would like to some day get to the place where my praises to God are consistent regardless of the valley or the mountaintop I may be traveling through.
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My Thoughts and Words
Today’s Passages – Psalms 17-20; Proverbs 19
(Second Milers – James 1 – 4; Memorize – Malachi 3:10)
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)
I love the Word of God. I thoroughly enjoyed the Book of Job; but I am also having a wonderful time each morning in the Psalms. As I read this morning, I was captured by the beauty of Psalm 19. Verses 1-6 are expressions of David’s worship of God. Verses 7 – 11 are remarks that lift up the Word of God, and the reader is admonished to place a higher value on the Word of God than gold. Great Advice!
However, the verses that really caught my attention were verses 12 – 14 where David prays to God regarding God’s help in keeping him from sin. In verses 12 and 13, he speaks of secret sins and presumptuous sins. The presumptuous sins are those that we do blatantly, proudly, and in public view. David begs God’s help in the removal of these things.
Verse 14 is the prayer that all of us should have on our lips and in our hearts the moment that we awake from sleep. How often do we violate our relationship with God by allowing evil thoughts to take hold of our meditations. we muse on things that are clearly outside of the will of God. Ask God to control your thought life. The minute the devil causes you to think about something that is wrong, take it to God. Ask Him to help you. Purposely divert your thoughts to things that are true, honest, just, and pure, etc. Our sin begins with the musings of our heart.
Notice also the petition regarding his words. Oh how I wish that I could take back some of my words. The tongue can be a consuming fire, a deadly poison. Why not ask God to help you get your tongue under control.
I wonder how many mistakes we could have avoided in the past had we made this our prayer? We don’t have to make the same mistake in the future. Let God control your thought life and your tongue!
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Today’s Passages – Psalms 9 – 16; Proverbs 18
(Second Milers also read – Hebrews 10 – 13; Memorize Luke 6:38)
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A Recipe for Success
Today’s Passages – Psalms 1-8; Proverbs 17
(Second Milers also read – Hebrews 6 – 9; Memorize Luke 6:38)
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” – (Psalm 1:1-6)
The recipe for success in God’s economy is simple and sure. God says that we are to separate ourselves from the philosophies of this world; ans submerse our lives in the principles of the Word of God. It’s that simple. Notice that this psalm teaches that if we will do these things we will be fruitful and prosperous. This is a guaranteed promise from God.
Why is it that Christians do not follow this simple recipe from the Word of God? I think that there are many reasons for this, but the one that stands out above the rest seems to be that we really do not fully believe the promise. Our sight of the substance of this world overpowers our faith in the things that are not seen. Another reason that comes to mind is that because the blessings that come as a result of our faithfulness to God and His word often only come after a time of testing, Christians often throw in the towel and follow their own instincts. But whatever the reasons may be, the fact remains that most of us never arrive at the place where we experience the level of prosperity that God promises.
Christian, let me encourage you to meditate, and even memorize this wonderful psalm. Let it be absorbed into your soul. Even more importantly, however, you should put this portion of Scripture into practice in your life. Fall in love with the Word of God, and follow its principles. Don’t be enamored with all the glitz that this world may offer you. Choose to live for the things that really matter.
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Take It Like A Man
Today’s Passages – Job 39-42; Proverbs 16
(Second Milers also read – Hebrews 2 – 5; Memorize Luke 6:38)
“Then Job answered the LORD, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.” – (Job 40:3-4)
“Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.” – (Job 40:6-7)
“Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” – (Job 42:1-6)
In these last several chapters of the Book of Job, we see that God is doing most of the talking. Job’s friends are completely silent, and Job doesn’t say much except to declare that he is going to keep his mouth shut. I remember as a child, I would often get into arguments with my brothers. My dad would tolerate the bickering up to a certain point, but there would come a time when he would eventually make us all shut up, and then he would do all of the talking; and we often didn’t like what he had to say. Needless to say, he set us straight. That is what God is doing here with Job and his three friends, He is setting them straight. They were all pompous experts about God in the early part of the book, but now they are strangely silent. Job finally declared that he “uttered [he] understood not”.
My thought this morning, however, comes from vv 6 & 7 of chapter 40. God is rebuking Job and his three friends. I am sure that they did not like what God had to say, but they needed to hear it. People don’t like rebuke too much. It is not very pleasant. However, when it comes to rebuke by those who are in authority over us, we must train ourselves to accept it, and apply it to our lives. God told Job to “take it like a man”. Every once in a while in life, God is going to bring you through something unpleasant for your own good, and you are going to have to “suck it up” and take it like a man. It’s part of life. Trials are part of life; rebuke is part of life. Who do we think we are that we should be excempt from it? We are not God. We need to be taken to the woodshed every once in a while. Learn to appreciate the correction of God, knowing that He corrects us with nothing but our best interest in mind.
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Now It’s God’s Turn To Speak
Today’s Passages – Job 36-38; Proverbs 15
(Second Milers also read – Titus 2 – Hebrews 1; Memorize – Luke 6:38)
“Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.” – (Job 38:3)
It is now God’s turn to speak. God hasn’t said anything in this book since His earlier conversation with Satan; and the humans in the story were not privy to that conversation. All of this talk that has been going on since chapter 2 has been by people who really had no idea of the true circumstances regarding the calamity that Job was facing. They were clueless. Job’s friends were accusing Job, and Job was defending himself. They were all speaking on behalf of God; yet much of what they said was not true. However, now we will hear from the Source. God is speaking, and we know that everything that God says is true. By the way, you get the idea from the tone of this passage that God is not very happy about all that has been said. It kind of reminds me of a time when I was much younger when I was rebuked by an authority figure in my life. He had some things to say to me, and I was going to listen. God will spend take 4 chapters to basically remind Job and his friends that He is God, and they are merely humans.
As we read chapters 39 – 42 together tomorrow, pay close attention to God describing Himself, and His magnificent, omnipotent power. Between now and then, however, think a little bit of how much we are like Job and His friends. We are just little humans, trying to understand an infinite God. Let’s start thinking of ourselves as we really are. We are not much. We are pretty small and insignificant in the big scheme of things. And while we are at that, let us also start trusting God’s wisdom in allowing the things that have happened to us in our lives.
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Multiplying Words Without Knowledge
Today’s Passages – Job 33-35; Proverbs 14
(Second Milers also read – 2 Timothy 2 – Titus 1; Memorize Luke 6:38)
“Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.” – (Job 35:16)
“Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.” – (Proverbs 26:4)
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:” – (James 1:19)
“Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” – (Proverbs 17:28 )
There is entirely too much talking going on in this entire Book of Job. Job’s so-called friends should be listening to Job rather than rebuking him. He certainly has suffered enough. Even Job is talking too much by arguing with these idiots. They are all “experts” on God; yet there is much that they do not, and cannot understand.
We do the same thing, don’t we? We talk about things, and try to sound like we have complete knowledge on a subject; but half the time we really do not know what we are talking about, especially when it comes to talking about God. The best thing that we can do is quote Scripture if we have to talk at all. The older I get, the more I realize that I really do not know much. I should keep my mouth open proportionately to the amount of knowledge that I have, which means it should not be open much.
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