Psalm 68 - Cue the Musicians!

A lot, actually it seems like most, of the psalms mention praising the Lord and/or singing God's praises. Psalm 68 is no exception.

3 But let the godly rejoice. Let them be glad in God’s presence. Let them be filled with joy.4 Sing praises to God and to his name! Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds. His name is the LORD — rejoice in his presence!

But this psalm goes further. It describes God going into His sanctuary.

24 Your procession has come into view, O God— the procession of my God and King as he goes into the sanctuary.25 Singers are in front, musicians behind; between them are young women playing tambourines.

Singers and instrumentalists have always had a very important place in worshiping God. 

1 Chronicles 15: 16 David also ordered the Levite leaders to appoint a choir of Levites who were singers and musicians to sing joyful songs to the accompaniment of harps, lyres, and cymbals.

In Ezra and Nehemiah we read about how they appointed priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers and temple servants.

AND.... we read in Job 38 that the morning stars (a choir) sang God's praises as the world was created.(I'm sure they were singing God's praises before creation.)

All of this to say, God loves choirs. When a person is part of a choir he/she is joining in a long line of singers and musicians that have been praising God since the beginning of time. The place of the singers is so important that they appointed singers when they appointed the priests and Levites and temple servants. 

I am so thankful for all of the singers and musicians who give extra time each week for rehearsals so they can present their best as they lead us in worship each week. 

Some of you reading this may need to join a choir - the one at Hilldale or the one wherever you attend church.

It is a high calling to be a singer or musician (instrumentalist) leading out in joyful praise to God. Are you following your calling? 

And....I guess I should say that even if you're not in a choir you should sing - whether you're any good or not - with the congregation as they sing. God is worthy of all our praise. 

Psalm 67 - All Peoples Praise - a Case for Missions

Some translations use "nations" some say "peoples." I think peoples is better because there are many people groups that aren't necessarily individual nations.

This psalm beautifully calls for all peoples to praise the Lord because of His saving power and because He rules with justice.

Reading this psalm reminds me of a book I read a few years ago. (And if I can remember the name of it I'll let you know.) The idea behind the book was that we should be involved in missions because God deserves and desires worshippers. As we share salvation through Jesus Christ we give people a reason to praise and worship God. Sharing the Gospel with all peoples leads to John's vision in Revelation.

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

We should be involved in going on mission as we have opportunity, but a cool thing that is happening now is that the nations are coming to us. Nashville and Clarksville have people from many different nations that are now a part of our communities. As God's people, we need to find ways to reach out around the world and in our own backyards.

And we should be praising God through everything we do.

Psalm 66 - Remembering and Praising

We forget.....

We forget the great things that God does.
We forget promises that we make to God.
We forget to praise Him.
We forget to tell others what God has done for us.

Psalm 66 calls on everyone to praise God and to remember His awesome deeds. It recounts some of the things God did for Israel and the psalmist.

The psalmist also says that he will remember his vows and offerings to God.

And he remembered to confess his sins and to thank God for forgiveness.

Let me encourage you to try to remember these things too.
1. Remember great things that God has done for you.
2. Remember to follow through on things you promised God. Remember to give God your tithes and offerings.
3. Remember to confess your sins. and then thank God for His forgiveness.
4. Remember to tell others so they will praise God with you.

Psalm 65 - Praise Awaits

Praise awaits you, our God....

Psalm 65 beautifully lists lots of reasons for praising God.

1. Answered prayers v.2
2. Forgiveness of sin v.3
3. 
   

Well.... there's no point in rewriting the entire psalm line by line. Just look over it. It talks about God's power and how He takes care of the earth and more. I think it would be a good model for each of us. Take some time and praise God for answered prayers, but list them. Praise Him for forgiveness of sin - (maybe confess them first). And then - and this is easy in the Spring - just look around at the beauty all around us and praise God for all of it. He crowns the year with His bounty.

Psalm 64 - Evil Plans Brought Down

Psalm 64 only has ten verses. The first six describe how the wicked and evil conspire and plot. They say that they have devised the perfect plan. David explains "Surely the human mind and heart are cunning."

But no matter how clever and how cruel man is, and how they fearlessly ambush others, they are no match for God.

God will shoot them with his arrows and they will suddenly be brought down. god will use the wicked's own words against them and bring them to ruin.

The end result is that people will see what happened to the wicked and what God did to bring them down. People will fear God and will proclaim His works and ponder what He has done. The righteous will rejoice in the LORD, take refuge in Him and glory in Him.

So what does this mean to us in 2017?

It doesn't take much looking around to see a lot of evil wicked men devising all kinds of evil things against others. It's easy for righteous people to get discouraged seeing how clever and skillful they are at attacking the innocent.

So if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by the wickedness of the world, take courage. With just a few shots of His arrows God will bring them down to ruin. He will even use their own words against them.

Don't be in despair looking at all of the evil in the world, the wicked plotting, etc.
Instead:
Take notice of what God is doing.
Ponder, think about, what He has done.
Rejoice in the LORD.
Take refuge in Him.
Glory in Him.

Psalm 63 - Wanting More

David doesn't say it in exactly those word "wanting more" but I read it there between the lines. David said this about God.

I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. v.2
Your love is better than life. v.3
I will praise you as long as I live. v.4
and more....

But he begins the psalm with these words.

1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

So here's what I see in this.

David was longing for God with his whole being because he had already seen how wonderful God is! 

Have you ever been in a service where people are sharing testimonies? Some can tell you things God did last week. Others are still talking about something that happened back in 1974. David wasn't satisfied with what he had seen in the past. He had seen God's power and glory. He wanted more! He knew that God's love is better than life. How could he be satisfied with love from last year or last decade? He thirsted for God with his whole being. The land around him was dry and parched with no water. Only God could satisfy his thirst.

Bottom line: Self examination time.

So.... where are you? Are you satisfied with what God did for you in 1998 or do you want more? If you've never seen his power and glory you should probably start there. If you have, are you thirsting for more of Him?

Psalm: 62 - Power and Love

God has spoken plainly,
and I have heard it many times:
Power, O God, belongs to You;
unfailing love, O Lord, is Yours.

It's the perfect combination; omnipotent power and unfailing love. Power without love is tyranny. Love without power is helpless. Knowing that power belongs to God and that His love is unfailing should give you confidence and peace, rest and hope, to face anything in life. It is easy to understand that He is your rock and salvation, fortress and refuge.... all the things listed at the beginning of the psalm.

I think there is a lot more to this than I've started here. I think if each of us will spend some time meditating on the thought of power belonging to God and that unfailing love is His then it will make a diference in how we live our lives.

I'm not meaning to wimp out on my blogging about this psalm. I just know that I need to spend more time thinking about what this means.

What do you think?