Devotional Thoughts

Psalm 7:17    "I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high." David wrote earlier in verse 8 of this Psalm, "... judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me." As he began to write concerning the wicked and seeking the Lord's judgment, his heart began to turn.  It seems to me that he must have begun to take inventory of his life even as he was speaking against others. For in the Psalm previous to this one, he cried out for mercy and now he was thinking about his own righteousness. Surely David was enabled to see that his own righteousness was nothing in comparison to the holy perfection of our God.  Your and my righteousness is nothing without the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We cannot stand before the thrice Holy God trying to declare our own goodness.  I can assure you there will be no one standing in the portals of heaven trying to declare to G

Psalm 6:2-4    "Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.  (3)  My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?  (4)  Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake." Have you ever heard anyone say they want what they deserve?  People often say that without truly giving thought as to what we "really deserve".  If the truth be known, we all deserve eternal banishment from the presence of the Lord God Almighty. He is Holy. We are sinful creatures. He is righteous. We are totally depraved from the ability to do any good on our own.  I do not want what I deserve. I find myself in the same frame of mind and heart as David, "Oh save me for thy mercies' sake."  Notice the plural tense of the word, mercy.  David realized his need for God's mercy every single day of his life and, in fact, many times each day. Aren't you thankful that we have the blessed truth revealed to us in the

Psalm 5:8-12    "Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.  (9)  For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.  (10)  Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.  (11)  But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.  (12)  For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield." "Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies."  Why is it important for us to seek the Lord's leadership in our lives?  There is a fact that cannot be avoided or ignored:  There are people in the world who only seek to bring accusations against

Psalm 4:1    "Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer." It is apparent that David was deeply troubled when writing this Psalm. He both begins and ends this verse with the words, "Hear me" and "Hear my prayer."  No doubt he was seeking the grace and mercy concerning a situation in his life. I think we can all identify with him in that we have had situations and circumstances in which we pour our hearts out to the Lord seeking His divine and blessed help in our lives. "Hear my cry! Hear my plea! Lord, I need you to help me" Notice what he said between the two requests for God to hear his prayer. "Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress." In saying these words, David was remembering past times in his life when he had experienced the Lord's help. He possibly was thinking back to a lion or a bear that had tried to rob from his flock. He m

Psalm 3:1-3     "LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.  (2)  Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.  (3)  But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head." Do you ever feel like you cannot take one more "ounce" of pressure?  Does it seem like every time you turn around, you are hit with bad news? I remember a time when I dreaded hearing the phone ring. It seemed wave after wave of bad news kept flooding against me.  We live in a world where struggles and trials are an everyday situation.  David wrote this particular Psalm when his own son, Absalom, rose up against him.  He had all the problems of being the king of Israel with outside enemies coming against him and then to top it off, his own son was determined to overthrow him. "LORD, how are they increased that trouble me!" Can you identify with David and his struggles?  Maybe not to the

Psalm 2:1-4    "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?  (2)  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,  (3)  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.  (4)  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." It is too easy for my mind to see the events of the world and get so caught up that I find myself angry at everything and those who are perverting the true things of life.  And yes, I do find myself asking the question, "Why are these things happening?"  Just as with the people of Israel during the days of king Ahab, I find myself asking, "How could anyone turn away from the true and living God to something that was fashioned by man's hands?"  I wonder how anyone could be so wicked that they would sacrifice their own children to an idol? Yet, we see these things happening today in

Psalm 1:3    "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." This particular verse is "planted" in the middle of this first Psalm and it acts as a dividing factor between its first half and last half. The first half deals with the actions of those who walk in the presence of the Lord. There is delight in the Word of God and there is thought given to the precious Word of God, both the Living Word and the written Word.  When our hearts and minds are focused on the things of the Lord, we will be striving to be closer to Him.  As we look back at this Psalm, we have the wonderful advantage of knowing the Living Word, Jesus Christ. We have the blessings of knowing the beautiful grace of God that has given us life and drawn us unto Himself. The second half of the Psalm speaks of the ungodly, the unrighteous.  Those who seek to walk the way of

Ezra 10:1    "Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore." Ezra 10:3   "Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law." This concludes our study of the book of Ezra. The temple has been rebuilt. Though it does not have the same glory as the original, the Lord has blessed their work tremendously.  He has provided every need in order for the temple to be completed. There is a problem though. There is sin that must be dealt with. Though the solution was drastic, they needed to be cleansed of the sin. They made the determination to make a covenant with the Lord to put away the sin of

Ezra 9:8-10    "And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. (9) For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. (10) And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments" Ezra 9:15    "O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this." Let me take verse 15 first. "O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous." That statement stands on its own power. There is nothing that can change t

Ezra 9:5-6    "And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God, (6) And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens." If we learn nothing else from the study of Ezra, we can know for sure that Satan has no pity. If he doesn't succeed in one area of life, he backs up and comes from a different direction. Everything was in place for the work to be completed. They had gone back to the king for affirmation of the work. They had sent for the priests to come with them. They had fasted and prayed to seek the Lord's help. Now they had arrived back in Jerusalem only to find some had inter-married with Canaanites and other enemies of the people. It seems Ezra has had the wind knocked out of his sails. It could very well have been h

Ezra 8:15    "And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi." We find in the first part of chapter 8 a list of men and their sons who went back to Jerusalem.  Ezra realized there were no Levites (priests) in that list of men. So they remained in that place until there came to them "men of understanding.... that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God." (Ezra 8:16-17)  They had men of understanding as far as the physical work was concerned, but Ezra realized the need for Spiritual guidance and leadership among the men.  He was willing to wait for those with spiritual understanding before returning back to Jerusalem.   Another great decision was made once those men arrived.  "Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right

Ezra 7:27-28    "Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem:  (28)  And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me." The occasion was given for the letter written by the king to be read in support of the work being done.  Artaxerxes, king of Persia, had written a decree to allow the people to return to Jerusalem for the purpose of rebuilding the temple.  The wisdom of God had moved the heart of the king to put in writing that decree which provided all which was needed by the people. It would be difficult for the people to move the physical materials that would be needed; therefore, he decreed for "all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province

Ezra 7:6-7    "This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.  (7)  And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king." "This Ezra... was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given."  We must remember they had been in captivity for 70 Years in a strange land that was filled with idolatrous worship. Yet, in that ungodly atmosphere there were those who remembered the Lord their God and maintained worship in their lives. Ezra had maintained his stance of studying the Word of God (law of God) and was fully qualified to teach it to others.  Some of the children of Israel who were practiced in the various stances of worship went wi

Ezra 6:19   "And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month." Ezra 6:21-22   "And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat, (22) And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel." The presence of the Lord was mighty as they completed the work of rebuilding the temple. We know that when the Lord is present, the blessing of peace and joy can be experienced through His righteousness. The Lord had blessed them in many ways during the process of rebuilding. Now it was their blessing to be able to observe Passover once again in Jerusalem. They offered their lambs. They were to partake of t

Ezra 6:7   "Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place." This verse is very interesting in that those who opposed the work of the temple had sent their petition to the king with full expectation of his stopping the work. This was his reply when the written decree was found that Cyrus had given full approval, knowing that God had moved hearts in order for the work to be accomplished. "Let the work of this house of God alone."  When reading a few verses further, you can see that he proceeded to tell the opposition to make sure the people had plenty of supplies in rebuilding the temple. Then he went on to tell them to provide "both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven." This next verse shows how mighty our God truly is: "That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the

Ezra 6:3-5    "In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;  (4)  With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house:  (5)  And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God." It was decided to search the records of King Cyrus when opposition came against the workers of the temple. Darius was now king and had no first hand knowledge of the directions of Cyrus concerning this matter. But we can see the hand of

Ezra 5:9-11    "Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls?  (10)  We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them.  (11)  And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and set up." Recently, we saw one of the most used tools of Satan is that of discouragement.  The accuser of the brethren is bold enough to stand in front of us, beside us, behind us, or wherever he has the best approach to our minds. He sometimes whispers into our ears and other times he screams at us that we are not worthy to do the work of God.  The truth of that matter is that he has no idea what constitutes being worthy of serving the Lord. In our scripture for today, we see his second most used tool: intimidation. The work

Ezra 5:1-2    "Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. (2) Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them." This morning I will attempt to use Scripture to show what was happening during this time of delay in rebuilding the temple of God. The opponents had stood to their face with false accusations concerning their motive for doing the work. A government command had been handed down to cause them to stop. They stopped.  We aren't sure how long they had halted in the work, but according to the Prophet Haggai, they had been working on their own houses instead of the house of God. The Lord rebuked them through the Prophet Haggai.  "Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. (8) Go up t

Ezra 4:23-24    "Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. (24) Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia." When the people refused the request of the Samaritans to help, they went back to the new king with accusations.  They accused the people of being rebellious and not trustworthy. They spoke of the wall being built and the foundations laid as if the people of Jerusalem were doing something in secret.  But when they really wanted the work to stop, they went the route of money. They said, If you allow this work to continue, tax revenue will be greatly reduced. They will make the king look as if he is not effective in leading the nation. This resulted in the new king sending the letter commanding the work to cea

Ezra 4:1-3   "Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel; (2) Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. (3) But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us." "Now when the adversaries... heard".  We can be assured that Satan despises when the Lord's people are busy in His kingdom. Satan is satisfied as long as God's people are slack and sedentary in their service, but when the Lord moves His people to higher service, Satan becomes active.  We saw thi