Devotional Thoughts

Psalm 118:24    "This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." If you are like most of us, you probably have regrets from days gone by and have hopes for days to come. We sometimes spend too much time in either one of those circumstances whether it is living in regret or dreaming of tomorrow.  I know I spend time in both of them.  I am saddened by my regrets and I rejoice in my hopes. The point of this very quick devotion (for today I'm spending time with family) is that we too often do not simply stop and rejoice in today. We worry about what was or what might be and we forget "what is".  Can you identify with that? We cannot change yesterday and we are not promised tomorrow here on earth, so let us rejoice and be glad in today.  How can we do that? May I suggest a few ways to enjoy today?  First, spend time with the Lord.  Pray unto Him, but then listen to what He has to say to you. Read God's Word. You will be ...

Psalm 117:1  O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.  Psalm 118:1  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 118:5-9    "I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.  (6)  The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?  (7)  The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.  (8)  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.  (9)  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes." I begin today's writing a little differently than usual.  I encourage each of us to pay close attention to the verses that I placed at the beginning. There are some very beautiful principles that are laid out in these verses that will be a source of encouragement as well as strength to our souls. Those principles are pra...

Psalm 117:1-2    "O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.  (2)  For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD." This is such a short Psalm and yet the message is profound. Three times in two verses we find the word, "praise".  And basically throughout the entire book of Psalms, we find that same subject repeated time and again.  Do you think praise just might play an important role in our lives? I certainly do.   It is so easy to get caught up with the things of this world. We get busy trying to make a living, raising a family, providing the best we can for a successful life. We find ourselves entangled with struggles and problems of life.  We get caught up with the glitter and glimmer of the world and the next thing you know praise has escaped us. We find ourselves so very busy and the first thing that seems to slip from us is the most important part of life: ...

Psalm 116:15    "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." I admit a part of me wanted to skip past this verse this morning.  I had to stop and ask the Lord what am I to see in this verse and I also asked Him why did I want to skip past it. The human side of me, and maybe others as well, only see one word in this verse. If we are honest with ourselves the only word we see is the word, death.  That word conjures many emotions within us. For some it brings fear, for others it brings sadness, for some it brings hope of complete healing. Whatever we think when we see that word, it always stirs some sort of emotion within us because it brings separation. So, Lord, what do you want us to see in this passage today? When I asked Him to show me, the very first word that stuck out to me was the word, "sight".  That tells me that there is more than one way to look at death. I wrote of three ways in the first paragraph, but there is another way that...

Psalm 116:12-14    "What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?  (13)  I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. (14)  I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people." What shall I give unto the Lord for all that He does for me every single day?  First, let's think about those benefits. We saw back in Psalm 68:19, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah". And going farther back in our study of the Psalms, we saw in Psalm 40:5, "Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."  Thinking about the fact that the Lord daily loads us with blessings to the point that they cannot even be numbered, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits...

Psalm 116:6-9    "The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.  (7)  Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.  (8)  For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.  (9)  I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." As I read today's verses, I have a new perspective on Elijah. Remember after he had confronted the prophets of Baal, the wicked woman Jezebel demanded that his life be taken?  "And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life." (1 Kings 19:3)  He went into the wilderness "and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers." (1 Kings 19:4)  I'm ashamed to say that I have thought that Elijah was afraid of Jezebel, and there may have been some of that fear in him; but after readin...

Psalm 115:11-15    "Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.  (12)  The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.  (13)  He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.  (14)  The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.  (15)  Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth." What do you think about this thing called trust?  Do we realize that even though some may say they find it difficult to trust, every one of us places trust in someone or something.  I'm sitting in a chair as I type this devotion. I am trusting that whoever assembled this chair did it correctly and it will hold me while I type. When I get in the car and press the ignition, I am trusting that the engine, combined with gas and oil, will run and then the drivetrain of the car combined with the engine and tires...

Psalm 115:2-3    "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?  (3)  But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." Yesterday, we answered the question of the heathen. Today, we wonder why they would ask that question? Could it be they ask it of us because they have asked it of their own gods? Very quickly, I think of three times when OUR GOD was pitted against their gods. Remember when the Philistines were allowed by God to take the ark of the covenant? Israel had taken God for granted. They captured the ark and took it back to the temple of their god, Dagon.  They set it beside their idol and then came back the next day. When they arrived, Dagon (a man-made ugly idol) was on its face before the ark. They had to set it back on its pedestal. When they came back the next day, Dagon was on its face before the ark except that time its head and hands were cut off. So, I ask this question: Where was their god?  He was bowin...

Psalm 115:2    "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?" "Where is God now?"  Have you ever heard that question? I think we all have heard it and some may have even said or thought it. I caution us to strive never to let those words cross our lips. Yes, it's true we all face situations and circumstances when it seems we are left to deal with them on our own. But the Word of God assures us that we can always know where our God is. Which brings us to answer the question: Where is our God?  May I answer it with a promise given to us by the Lord, Himself?  "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5) Can we now understand the answer to the question? It's simple: Our God is ALWAYS with us. He has never turned away from us and He never will. The heathen asks that question and we must be very c...

Psalm 115:1-3    "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake." "Unto thy name give glory."  What does it mean to "give glory" unto the name of the Lord?  The word, glory, carries the meaning of having the spotlight shining upon someone or something.  I think we all feel good about ourselves when we do something that is worthy of being noticed. Hopefully we do not do it simply to be noticed, but there are times when appreciation is shown for something that is done. It is at that moment that we have the ability and opportunity to deflect that appreciation from ourselves unto the very One Who gave the talent that was used to accomplish the good deed. Can we see what David is now meaning when he said, "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory."  It is at that very moment when someone shows appreciation to us that we can simply say, "I thank the Lord for workin...

Psalm 114:1-2    "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;  (2)  Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion." There are eight verses in this Psalm. The writer begins in these first two verses by saying, "God had a plan for Israel and nothing would prevent that plan from being carried out." He would use Egypt to show His power upon and over His people both to direct and protect as His plan was being accomplished.  God would use Israel, and us today, to show His His marvelous glory. Specifically, He would use the tribe of Judah from which to bring about His results. If you read the other six verses of this Psalm, you will see a beautiful word picture of the response of nature as God brought HIs people through the vast wilderness to a land He had promised them through their Patriarch, Abraham.  "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, u...

Psalm 113:1-3    "Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.  (2)  Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.  (3)  From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised." We often say, "Praise the Lord!"  And we mean it when we say it. But have you ever really stopped to think, "What is praise?"  According to the concordance, praise means, among other things, to celebrate, to boast, to rave.   I don't mean this in a criticizing manner, but how timid are we when we praise our children for their accomplishments? How shy are we when our favorite team is doing something really well?  We rave about how good our favorite player or actor might be.  Another meaning of the word (and this meaning surprised me) is to express rage.  We rave when our team is doing well and sometimes we rage when they lose a game they should have easil...

Psalm 112:1    "Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments." Psalm 112:8    "His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies." The older I get, the more I realize the importance of praising my Lord.  Our relationship with Him should be such that we offer praise simply because of who He is. He is God! He is the source of all power. The glory of that which is called nature is a mere reflection of the glory of our God, the Creator.  We praise Him because of His very nature of love and grace. We praise Him because He is true to His promises. We praise Him because He chose to love us and be a very active presence in our lives. Have you ever experienced any of this in your life? "Praise ye the LORD."   We are blessed to have the privilege of honoring God. Can you imagine going through a day without Him in your life? I don't even want to attempt imagini...

Psalm 111:10   "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever." How many times have you, or someone you know, said something like, "Lightning will strike you for saying that, or doing that"?  I've had people tell me that if they walked into a church building, the ceiling would fall in.  I know that is said in jest, but there is a reason that lies deep within when someone makes such a statement.  There is a fear of God that lies within that tells our brains that we will pay the price for any mistake we might make. Please stay with me on this thought.  There is truth that God chastises and corrects His children. The Word of God even tells us that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:31) There have been times when that healthy fear of God gives us wisdom enough to prevent us from doing something wrong.  Though that "...

Psalm 111:9    "He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name." "He sent redemption unto His people."  We read in verse 2 of this Psalm, "The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein."  You and I can take great pleasure in the sovereign works of our Lord. Studying the Word of God teaches us that in the last week of Christ's time on earth, there were many highs and lows.   We read of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We call that Palm Sunday. We read of His cleansing the temple of the moneychangers. The Pharisees and Sadducees attempted to entrap Jesus by their questions; which, He would turn them around to confound those who asked the questions.  Jesus observed that last Passover Supper after which He humbled Himself and bowed down to wash the disciples' feet. We hear the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, "O my Father, if it be pos...

Psalm 111:1-4    "Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.  (2)  The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.  (3)  His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.  (4)  He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion." In this Psalm, it seems David is encouraging the Lord's people to give praise unto the Lord. Then he said, "I WILL praise the LORD with my whole heart." I am made to think this morning on that subject of praise.  What is praise?  I'm sure it means different things to different people. This devotion is not a critic's point of view as to the subject of praise. I'm not saying what is right or what is wrong. I believe praise and worship are matters of the individual's heartfelt need.  Yes, there are times when praise is an absol...