Psalm 116

¹ I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.
² Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.
³ The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, save me!”
⁵ The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.
⁶ The LORD protects the simple hearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.
⁷ Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.
⁸ For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,
⁹ that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

¹⁰ I believed; therefore I said, “I am greatly afflicted.”
¹¹ And in my dismay I said, “All men are liars.”
¹² How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me?
¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.
¹⁴ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
¹⁶ O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.
¹⁷ I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.
¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the LORD in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD.

Charles Spurgeon notes to the Village Preacher called this Psalm “Psalm of Thanksgiving in the Person of Christ”. As I read this Psalm, I can picture Christ living this Psalm during his time on this earth. Spurgeon writes that this Psalm is a continuation of Psalm 115 was is consider the Passover Psalm. It could be considered as a Psalm that represents the nation of Israel coming out of the bondage of Egypt. As we look at the first verse, we see three key points that should be in our life. First, I love the Lord. Second, God hears my voice. And third, my cry that he heard is for mercy. Why do I cry for mercy? Mercy is defined as: compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power; compassion, pity, or benevolence. Who else could I turn to, beside God? However, if I picture this as a Psalm that my Lord would pray, why would he call for mercy? Would it be because of John 3:16?

As a young boy around eleven I would help milk the cows in the early mornings and evenings seven days a week. It was during this time in my life I remember the song “Tell Me the Story of Jesus” that would play on the radio at this time. This was back in the early sixties. This Psalm reminds me of my story of a journey with Jesus that started at an early age. The Christian walk is not just a walk that means I go to church on Sunday but left out my beliefs in my daily secular walk. No, it is a walk that makes me a servant to God’s way, and His will.

Psalm 115

¹ Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.
² Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?”
³ Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
⁴ But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;
⁶ they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell;
⁷ they have hands, but cannot feel feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
⁸ Those who make them will be like them and so will all who trust in them.
⁹ O house of Israel, trust in the LORD –he is their help and shield.
¹⁰ O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD –he is their help and shield.
¹¹ You who fear him trust in the LORD – he is their help and shield.
¹² The LORD remembers us and will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron,
¹³ he will bless those who fear the LORD – small and great alike.
¹⁴ May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children.
¹⁵ May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
¹⁶ The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to man.
¹⁷ It is not the dead who praise the LORD those who go down to silence;
¹⁸ it is we who extol the LORD, both now and forevermore.

Praise the LORD.

In chapter one of his book Knowledge of The Holy, A.W. Tozer writes:

That our idea of God corresponds as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creed statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are, we likely to discover what we actually believe about God.

By studying God’s Word daily, we get to look into his mirror of truth. It is amazing how the first impression of the people we meet are later changed as we grow to know the other person better. If we get pass the first impression our personal relationship with that person will usually deepen and grow richer. This is also true of our idea of God. This relationship grows once we learn the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. In today’s reading the phrase fear of the Lord or fear the Lord is used in Psalm 111, Psalm 112, Psalm 115 and Proverb 23. So, as a starting point in developing a better relationship with God ask yourself this question “What does the fear of the Lord mean to me?”. Therefore, as I study the Psalms and the rest of God’s Word I must start off with a fear of the Lord that looks at God as creator of this universe and a God that does whatever pleases Him.

Verses sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen gets us the focus of our praise. Our praise goes to the Lord of heaven, not to men on this earth. No matter how powerful a man becomes, no matter how rich a man becomes, no matter how famous a man becomes; he will die. Those who gods are created by man will die and go down in silence; however, we who extol the Lord will praise the Lord both now and forever. Yes, we have life eternal.

Psalm 114
¹ When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
² Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
³ The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back;
⁴ the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
⁵ Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back,
⁶ you mountains, that you skipped like rams, you hills, like lambs?
⁷ Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
⁸ who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.

Image you are fifty-eight years old. You are one of the oldest survivors among a nation that has spent the last forty years in the wilderness, but now are ready for the promises of God made to this generation. You are one of the few that can recall the riches of Egypt that this nation left to travel to the new land that God had promise to Abraham almost five hundred years earlier. As this generation looked back on the past forty years on a journey through the desert they could look back to not only to the rebellious ways of their parents and grandparents; but also to the many miracles that also witness that came from God.

This is one of the advantages that a believer has when he or she accepts the way of the Lord at an early age. Having grandparents and a mother that loved the Lord I was blessed to have an early start in my life to be introduce and follow the way of the Lord. During this journey of over sixty years, I have witness both the rebellious ways of many believers as well as the great triumphs of God working miracles in the believers’ lives. So, I do not have to worry about tomorrow because the God that brought an entire nation out of slavery to become a nation (which still exist to this day) is more able to take care of an individual believer.

Psalm 113
¹ Praise the LORD. Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
² Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.
³ From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.
⁴ The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.
⁵ Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,
⁶ who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
⁷ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
⁸ he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.
⁹ He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.

One of the simple truths that we sometimes overlook in reading the psalms is the truth it reveals about the relationship between God and man. Verse one starts out with the phase “Praise Yahweh”. The phrase “Praise the Lord” comes from the Hebrew word Hallelu Yah and is used twenty-four times in the Hebrew Bible and four times in the Greek form in the book of Revelations. The word Hallelujah (Alleluia) that we use in Christians songs today literally means Praise the Lord. This psalm puts in place when we should praise the Lord, now and forever, and from the raising of the sun to the setting of the sun. In other words, everything we do should reflect our Praising of the Lord. In good times and bad times, we should always praise the Lord. Yes, even in the bad times as we learn from Job. In Job, 1:21 after Job lost all his earthly goods as well as his children he fell to the ground in worship and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return.” The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord”. In other words, no matter what is happening in your life today your life should always reflect the phrase “Praise the Lord”. This is truly the relationship that man was created to have with God.

Psalm 112

¹ Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.
² His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
³ Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴ Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.
⁵ Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.
⁶ Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever.
⁷ He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
⁸ His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
⁹ He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.
¹⁰ The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

When I consider the phrase “blessed is the one who fears the Lord” I reflect to Psalm one. The key in understanding this phrase is found in the word blessed. In Psalm 1, we are told, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law, he meditates day and night.” The fear of the Lord is an understanding of God and his way. To grasp an understanding of this verse we must understand the definition of fear. Fear can be defined as a feeling of anxiety (restlessness caused by uncertainties) that marks a state of guard apprehension and uneasiness that forces one to make decisions. This blessing comes from a trust and obeys relationship with the Lord.

As I study this Psalm, I cannot help to be drawn back to the teaching of Psalm one. God has given us the way to walk in; however, humankind seems to want more. The truth of this Psalm is we are to trust and obey the God.

The difference in the life of the man who fears the LORD and the life of the man who does not is the caretaker. As I work in my backyard or on my land, I realize how much the design reflects the desire and purpose of me the caretaker. The same is with the one that looks to the Lord as the one that directs his life. This is the type of relationship that Christ spoke of in John chapter fifteen:

¹ I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

² Every branch in me that bears not fruit, he takes it away: and every branch that bears fruit, he cleanses it, that it may bear more fruit.

³ Already ye are clean because of the word, which I have spoken unto you.

⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so, neither can ye, except ye abide in me.

⁵ I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing.

⁶ If a man abides not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

The wicked, the one that does not have the fear of God in their life does not have the caretaker in their life. May my life (the work of God’s hand in the life of an old saint) reflects the same joy in God that I have when I set in the designer’s chair, look out, and delight in the beauty that my secret garden gives me?

Psalm 111

¹ Praise the LORD, I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
² Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
³ Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴ He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate.
⁵ He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.
⁶ He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations.
⁷ The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.
⁸ They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness.
⁹ He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever-holy and awesome is his name.
¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

Last night during the silent of my time in prayer, I realized how important the very first verse of the Bible is to humanity “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. God is responsible for our very being; however, we become so wrapped up in our affairs and the social environment in which we live in that we forget that God even exist. The world around us has taken God out of the picture. God is either too big to care about the events of our individual lives, or he really does not exist. This psalm helps bring us back to the simple relationship we need to have with God. God is our creator and we are his creation. After reading Proverbs twenty-two, I realized that “Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all”. All men must call him creator.

First, we must praise and extol the One who made our being possible. Do this with your entire heart. The path of knowledge starts with this simple understanding of “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. If you do not have this as the foundation and starting point to ponder everything you see, hear, taste, and touch then your thoughts will lead to the wrong conclusions. Today as you read, the psalms focus on the phrase the fear of the Lord. This fear is the starting point in understanding the world around you.

When I consider the second part of verse ten “all who follow his precepts have good understanding”, I cannot help but place an emphasis of the importance of starting the day out with the Word. The world is ready to let us know our problems. In Genesis, three Adam and Eve hide from God because they were afraid and naked. As we study the account of the fall in Genesis chapter three, we realize that God did not asked Adam why he was afraid; but instead ask him “who told you that you were naked?” However, before Adam could reply to God’s answer God ask Adam another question “have you eaten from the tree?” Adam’s reply it was the woman who you gave me that gave me the fruit. So, in fact, Adam blames God instead of taking the blame himself. In I Timothy 2 :14 we realize that Adam was not deceived or beguiled, but freely chose to take the fruit. Whom do we listen to every day? The world around you, or God? Therefore, do we follow God’s precepts, or do we listen to the world?

Psalm 110
Of David

¹ The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
² The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies.
³ Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth.
⁴ The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.“
⁵ The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
⁶ He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
⁷ He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

The writer of Hebrews refers to this psalm in Hebrews chapters six and seven. The Lord referred to this verse three times in the gospels (Matthew 22:44, Mark 12:36, Luke 20:42). He also warned the Jews that in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of God and coming on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64 and Mark 14:62). Peter in Act chapter two and the author of Hebrews in chapter one refers to this psalm when addressing the work of Christ. The Lord used this psalm to redirect the Pharisees answer to his question “What do you think of Christ? Whose son, is he?” When they answered, “the son of David”, he referred them to this psalm, which he accredited to David. His question was “How is it then that David speaking by the Spirit calls him Lord? If then David called him ‘Lord’ how could he be his son?” To this, they could not answer him a word, nor did they ask him any more questions. Christ reference to this psalm was during his last week on this earth right before his death when his authority was questioned. In Matthew 26:24 Christ states, “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him” and in Act chapter two Peter preaches that Christ is the one written about in this psalm.

Two facts to remember about this psalm: The Lord will judge the nations; however, He also has the role of priest after the order of Melchizedek. In I John 2:2 John writes of his actions in this position as being the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. So read this psalm in relationship to Psalm two and “kiss the Son, lest he becomes angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath may kindle in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.”

Psalm 109
Of David.
¹ O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent,
² for wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
³ With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause.
⁴ In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.
⁵ They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship.
⁶ Appoint an evil man to oppose him; let an accuser stand at his right hand.
⁷ When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him.
⁸ May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.
⁹ May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
¹⁰ May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes.
¹¹ May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
¹² May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.
¹³ May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation.
¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
¹⁵ May their sins always remain before the LORD, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁶ For he never thought of doing a kindness but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted.
¹⁷ He loved to pronounce a curse may it come on him; he found no pleasure in blessing may it be far from him.
¹⁸ He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil.
¹⁹ May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him.
²⁰ May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me.
²¹ But you, O Sovereign LORD, deal well with me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
²² For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
²³ I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
²⁴ My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt.
²⁵ I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.
²⁶ Help me, O LORD my God; save me in accordance with your love.
²⁷ Let themknow that it is your hand, that you, O LORD, have done it.
²⁸ They may curse, but you will bless; when they attack they will be put to shame, but your servant will rejoice.
²⁹ My accusers will be clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
³⁰ With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng I will praise him.
³¹ For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life from those who condemn him.

As I read this psalm of David, I look back to the time that he was running from Saul. At this time in his life he was in running from the law of the land and being hunted down as a criminal. During this time of running from Saul his name and reputation was being destroyed by Saul. The times of I Samuel seventeen and eighteen when David was the hero, the one who slew Goliath, the captain of a thousand men, the one that slew ten thousand were now history. It was not because of something evil that David had done, but the envy that Saul had of David. Just like Cain who slew Abel because Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God and Cain’s was not, Saul desired to slay David because God’s favor was on David and not Saul. The same can be said of Christ as he walked on this earth two thousand years ago. As you read the verses above you can see a picture of Christ as he was accused by the religious leaders of wrongs he never did. The accusers in this verse have the same nature of Satan (who is the Great Accuser) in them.

As I was reading today (February 22, 2008) in My Utmost for His Highest) Oswald Chambers writes “Our greatest fear is not that we will be damned, but that somehow Jesus Christ will be defeated. Also, our fear is that the very things our Lord stood for— love, justice, forgiveness, and kindness among men— will not win out in the end and will represent an unattainable goal for us.”

Verse 21 is a verse that will conquer this fear for the believer, and it is this truth: “It is out of his goodness that we are delivered and not our righteousness; to him belongs the praise and glory for this great salvation.” So how must we approach those closest to us when like David they accuse us falsely and attach us. David gives the answer on how to approach these times in verse 4 “but I am a man of prayer”. Believe me it is hard when someone very close to you turns on you and seeks to destroys you and your reputation. At first you want to fight back and take the matters into our hands. However, if your desire is to be Christ-like then you soon discover and realized that this is an issue that only God can handle so you turn to him in prayer and remember what that we are to be Christ-like in everything we do. The very things our Lord stood for— love, justice, forgiveness, and kindness among men will someday be in place and we who follow him will reign with him, so wait on his return both in prayer and staying in his word.

As I read this psalm of David, I can picture the inward hurt that must have been in his heart. The cry for justice is alive in this psalm, however there is also a cry to God from David to deliver him from those that are attaching him. We as believers also face the same issues and struggles that David faced as we go about our daily routines. We see God’s loving kindness, his goodness, his mercies, and his forgiveness is always there for us as well as others to enjoy; however, it does come with a price. That price is the realization that our way is wrong, and we need to repent and turn from our evil way to God’s way. This is a price that many do not want to pay. Vengeance (the repayment of evil to those that did evil to us) is something that we must leave in God’s hand. The desires that David outlines in this chapter:

appoint an evil man to oppose him

let an accuser stand at his right hand
when he is tried, let him be found guilty

may his prayers condemn him.
may his days be few

may another take his place of leadership.
may his children be fatherless

may his wife a widow.
may his children be wandering beggars

may they be driven from their ruined homes.
may a creditor seize all he has

may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
may no one extend kindness to him

may no one take pity on his fatherless children.
may his descendants be cut off

may their names blotted out from the next generation.
may the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD

may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
may their sins always remain before the LORD

may the memory of them be cut off from the earth.
may the curse he pronounce be upon him

may this curse be like a cloak wrapped about him

may it be like a belt tied forever around him.
may this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me.

are justified,

However, these desires are for God to execute and not us.

Psalm 108

David.

1 My heart is steadfast, O God; Iwill sing and make music with all my soul.

2 Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.

3 I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.

4 For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.

6 Save us and help us with your right hand, that those youlove may be delivered.

7 God has spoken from his sanctuary: “In triumph I will parcel out Shechem and measure off the Valley of Succoth.

8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet, Judah my scepter.

9 Moab is my washbasin, upon Edom I toss my sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

10 Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

11 Is it not you, O God, you who have rejected us and no longer go out with ourarmies?

12 Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.

13 With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down ourenemies.

See Psalm 60

Psalm 107
¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
² Let the redeemed of the LORD say this those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

³ those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
⁴ Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.
⁵ They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.
⁶ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
⁷ He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
⁸ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,
⁹ for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
¹⁰ Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains,
¹¹ for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.
¹² So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
¹³ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.
¹⁵ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,
¹⁶ for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.
¹⁷ Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
¹⁸ They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death.
¹⁹ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

²⁰ He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.
²¹ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.
²² Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.
²³ Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters.
²⁴ They saw the works of the LORD, his wonderful deeds in the deep.
²⁵ For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.
²⁶ They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away.
²⁷ They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits’ end.
²⁸ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.
²⁹ He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.
³⁰ They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.
³¹ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.
³² Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders.
³³ He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground,
³⁴ and fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who lived there.
³⁵ He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs;
³⁶ there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle.
³⁷ They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest;
³⁸ he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and he did not let their herds diminish.
³⁹ Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled by oppression, calamity and sorrow;
⁴⁰ he who pours contempt on nobles made them wander in a trackless waste.
⁴¹ But he lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks.
⁴² The upright see and rejoice, but all the wicked shut their mouths.
⁴³ Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the LORD.

This Psalm reminds me of what Mart De Hann wrote in his book Been Thinking About “The Scriptures offer no hope to those who refuse to believe Christ suffered for them. The Bible offers a whole new life, however to those who believe that Christ lived and died as their substitute.” However, as I consider the words that he wrote I realized that his entire statement is based upon his belief that the Scriptures are the foundation of his philosophy system. This Psalm reflect the simple theme of man’s helplessness outside of God’s intervention. Life is good because of God’s unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. However, just as the statement that Mart De Hann made was based upon the belief that the Scriptures are the foundation of his philosophy system so must we base the truth of this Psalm upon this same foundation. Are the scriptures the foundation of your philosophy system?

As one who has spent over fifty years studying the Bible, I can see why this Book has survived the countless attempts to deny it as the Word of God. The more I study and let the Holy Spirit reveals its truths the more I want to give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. The message of the world with it focus on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is all around us twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. The best way to combat the desires of our sinful nature to stay in the Word. As Psalm one states the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. So let us daily give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.