The Hope - Psalm 120-131 Listen to Psalm 120-131
Insight Into Scripture
Welcome back, I hope that you all had a restful weekend.Over the weekend we read one of the longest and most known Psalms; 119. Psalm 119 goes into how the writer craves the word of GOD, and what an important part it plays in their life. If you read Psalm 119 you will see it is divided into sections with headings on the top of the sections. Those headings are the complete Hebrew Alphabet in order, and your Bible should have the actual Hebrew lettering that was used back in Old Testament times.
After Psalm 119, the book breaks into short emotion filled Psalms.
Psalm 1301 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
2 O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
Listen to Psalm 130
Thought For the Day
For the past couple of days we have researched "Why bad things happen?" I was just thinking how this question lines up with the Psalms. Most of the Psalms are humanity crying out to GOD, for situations that are happening beyond their control, such as King David being chased by men wanting to kill him, hiding out in caves. In today's devotional I wanted to look at the hope we Believers have in Christ when these situations happen.
I have heard a statement this weekend that made an impact on me. A guy that I was talking to, said that he could endure life's "Whys" if he knew the purpose of them.
He had a good point, we humans live out life in either the past, present, or future. In the present when we are going through one of life's "Whys", it hurts and we can't see the future or know how this is going to effect the future, so we want GOD to be our puppet and have HIM fix it now. We usually do not remember the past to see how we have gone through situations like this, survived, see how GOD was always with us, grown in faith, and one step closer to being more like Christ.
GOD lives in all three; past, present, and future. A good example of this is, if you ever taped a football game on the TV while you were at work; But, when you were driving home you heard the score and all the big plays made during the game. When you get home you can watch the tape, but, you know the final outcome. GOD is a some sorts is doing the same thing, He knows He plays in your life, and HE is watching your life being played out. He knows the outcome and where He has allowed and protected you from situations that will produce HIS final outcome for your life; to be like Jesus.
In closing I wanted to leave you with two thoughts: If your a believer you ALWAYS have eternal hope. These few years that GOD has given us here on earth will hardly compare to the joy that we are going to have spending an eternity with Christ. I know that when you are going through a rough time, it seems like forever. Try and always keep focused on the end of the race, try to imagine how amazing it will be to be at the feet of Jesus, meeting Moses, King David, and all your other favorites. People that do not have Jesus, yes these situations could crush you, that is why it is so important for us to give as many as you can Jesus' hope.
The other thought is off a verse that I am sure you have heard before, and maybe it has been told to you when you were struggling. I know that while I was very sick, a lot of people quoted this verse. I hope to maybe bring some new light to this verse:And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28
There are two key phrases that I am not sure if you caught. The first one is We Know. There are not many things in life that we KNOW, but Paul is stating here that he KNOWS this to be true. That is a very bold and confident statment.
The second is All Things. "All things" are everything that is good from GOD that HE gives you, plus all the bad things you may or may not cause to happen. So, to give us some hope for the tough times of life, Paul states that EVERYTHING that will happen to you in your life, GOD will use for good at sometime, maybe not in the present, but in the future. Have a great day. - Jim :)
Bible Trivia
Why did Saul want to be soothed by music?
Hint: 1 Samuel 16:15-17
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Tuesday, July 17th Reading - Psalm 132-138
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1 comment:
Bible Trivia:
Why did Saul want to be soothed by music?
ANSWER: To stop the troubling of an evil spirit that God had released upon him.
1 Samuel 16:15-17
16.....and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.
agranny's thoughts:
Because of Saul forsaking God, God in all His righteousness gave judgement by removing His Spirit.
This was the directing power that God had GIVEN to Saul which directed and encouraged him in his government and wars. Once God REMOVED His Spirit that had been upon Saul, by his own rejecting of God, Saul left open his life for God to LET an evil spirit to come upon him and trouble him intently.
When one contimues in wilful sin, and grieves and quenches the Spirit by this sin, the Spirit will depart, and WILL NOT always strive. The consequence of this was that an evil spirit COULD trouble him.
If God and his grace do not rule us, sin and Satan will. The devil, by the permission of God was allowed to trouble and terrify Saul. This torment gave Saul over to all passions of his mind. He grew fretful, discontented, and suspicious.
Now Saul is seeking relief from this spirit that has been allowed to torment him. Everone he consulted advised having music played (vs. 16): "Let us have a cunning player on the harp to attend thee.’’ Now if these had been Godly advisors they would had known the evil spirit was allowed to torment him by the Lord, their advise would have been possibly more like this, "give all diligence to make his peace with God by true repentance, and send for Samuel to pray with him and to intercede with God for him! then might he not only have temporary present relief, but the Spirit of God could return to him. His advisers only knowing the things of man sougth Music to be played to make Saul merry and gave temporary peace only and false a evidence of curring him. Many have been decieved into thinking these methods work and have led many lives to a complete ruin.
Now also it must be seen how this was used to bring God purpose and will for David's life to the forefront. God'a will was brought about for him without any of David's or his friends doing. Those whom God has called for any service HE will prepare and qualify for it.
David was annointed and when he returned to his home no evidence of the annointing oil could be seen but the workings of the Spirit signified by the oil could not be hid. This remains true today those that have a TRUE annointing upon them no matter how humble one trys to be that Spirit of God will shine forth. This is why we don't have to go around boasting of the gifts of God that he has bestowed upon us. He is all we need to PROCLAIM and the rest is for HIM TO USE THROUGH US.
Now I am not saying that music is not of God and don't want anyone to think that. Music can be soothing to a troubled spirit or rest for the tired, or lift the sad hearted for a time. We all exprience how Praise and Worship brings us into HIS presence and there is no denying that it is The Spirit of God that we are in the presence of.
EMPHAZING THE ABOVE BELOW;
God created music, and gave it the capability to touch people with great power. Music can be used for great good or for great evil, it is so powerful to our inner being.
God wants the power of music to be used in worshipping Him. In heaven, God's people worship Him with music and singing (Revelation 14:2-3). On earth, we should worship God the same way (Psalm 150). Worship is, and should be, more than music and singing; but certainly music and singing are wonderful,
Now here is the point of this, we are being a blessing to God and He is the RECEPIENT of this Music and what we recieve is a gift from Him. We have to be careful that we keep our priorities in line and not let the emotions and goose bumps distract us from what God's true desires for our life is, To serve HIM and TELL ALL OF HIM!!!!
IN CHRIST
Ecc.3
Donna
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