Psalm 113 - First Thoughts

I noticed as I was reading Psalm 113 that something immediately popped into my head as I read each verse. "Oh! I'll blog about that!" was my thought each time. But then I realized that my random thoughts on each verse didn't seem to go together into something that would flow together as a nice blog post. so I think I'm going to just right my first thought on each verse. You'll need to read the psalm to follow along.

Vs.1 As God's servants we are told to praise Him. It should be a daily - let's say hourly - thing.
Vs.2 The name of the LORD will be always praised. Our lives now are just preparing us for eternity.
Vs.3 This seems like a call to missions. How can the LORD be praised everywhere the sun shines if we don't share His praise around the world?
Vs.4 All the nations of the world think they are the best. It looks like there's going to be a big showdown between a number of these countries: USA, North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, etc. But God is greater than any of them and his praise higher than the heavens.
Vs.5-6 Here's how great and awesome God is. As unendingly (perhaps not a real word, but I need it here) enormous as the universe is, the LORD has to stoop down to look at the heavens and the earth. Another cool thought is that He does! He loves us so much that He stoops down to look at us. (as seen in the next verses)
Vs.7 He cares for the poor and needy and provides for them.
Vs.8 We don't see the poor take actual seats with the princes (rich leaders) of the land, so what does he mean? Perhaps the psalmist is talking about  how at the cross, we all stand on level ground. God isn't a respecter of people or position, but rather treats all of us the same - as children of the King.
Vs.9 Another verse that isn't always answered the way we would expect. Some happy mothers have adopted. Some happy mothers have many spiritual children that they raise to love and serve and praise the LORD. Some happy mothers take in foster children. Some happy mothers care for children that belong to a neighbor, family member, church member, etc. who for one reason or another is not receiving the care he/she deserves from his/her parents and she steps in and shows the child love and respect and points them to Jesus.

Well....I'm sure with a little more thought I could figure a clever way to connect all of my random thoughts, but maybe that isn't necessary. What did God say to YOU today as you read Psalm 113?

Psalm 109 - Advice for when you want something really really really bad to happen to someone

OH my! I don't even know what to say about this psalm. David was in a really foul mood when he wrote this.

I guess the thing to take from this is that it's OK to tell God what you're thinking, even if it's not the nicest of thoughts.

We also see that David came to the place where he admitted to God what a mess his life was and what bad shape he was in.

The last thing I noticed is - after complaining about his enemy (and wishing him the very worst), then admitting how wrecked he was as a man, David still says this

30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.

If we put these three thoughts together we can come up with this plan.

When you're being attacked or life is going all wrong or things couldn't be worse.....

1. Tell God your honest thoughts

2. Admit that you're a wreck without Him

3. Choose to praise Him - with a lot of other people - like at church, not by yourself. You need God's people around you.

Psalm 103 - think About His Love

Psalm 103 is a beautiful song of praise. It gives us a lot of great reasons to praise the LORD. Rather than restate them in another way, I thought how what is listed here falls into several categories which give us a good example to follow. It is wonderful to pray scripture - to quote it as your prayer to God. Psalm 103 is perfect for that. But the scriptures can also be a guideline or outline for us in our prayers and public praise.

Here are the categories I saw. Do you see others?

Praise God for His benefits - all of the things that He gives us and does for us. (heals us, satisfies our desires with good things)

Praise God for who He is - His character. (compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love)

Praise God for forgiveness of sin. (He doesn't repay us for our sins, removed our transgression from us)

Praise God because you will be joining heaven and earth in praising Him. (angels and heavenly hosts, all His works everywhere)

Praise the LORD!

Here's a beautiful worship song from a few years back that has a lot of the lyrics based on Psalm 103.

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.