Posts Tagged ‘ Psalms ’
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:13-14, ESV
Do not despise your appearance or your inability to do something.
God made you! No one else could, and He has a purpose for you!
Praise Him for who you are in Him, or stay stuck in the bitterness of this world.
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11, ESV
Christ is the only way to God and eternal life, and that is the only way to find peace and joy that not only endure but will last eternally.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Psalm 68:5 NIV
Are you an orphan or widow (or widower? Just have an absentee or abusive father or husband (or mother or wife)?
God loves you and wants to care for you. Lean in to Him.
Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah
Psalm 68:19, ESV
Remember that God takes care of us in all circumstances, and we can find rest from our worries and anxieties.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10, ESV
We are wicked, unclean people unable to purify ourselves.
God is able, through the power and grace of Jesus’ redemptive blood!
May the Lord give you increase, you and your children!
Psalm 115:14, ESV
I am immediately struck with Jesus’ words: “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4:24-25)
Things are good, but obedience and love are better!
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18, ESV
The simplest meaning of this is that the realization of our sin and complete inability to remove that sin should break our hearts and crush our spirits.
Until we realize that is why Jesus came. When we understand and believe this fully, we are saved from our sins and God’s wrath.
I realized late that I forgot to click “Schedule” on this, so it is appearing a day late!
As we are in the midst of my pro-life themed-videos, I thought it fitting to share THE pro-life psalm in its entirety, with only minimal commentary.
Psalm 139 English Standard Version (ESV)
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
My only commentary today is for verses 23-24:
For any who is involved with a sin in which they struggle – and, for the main purpose of this week’s topic, especially those who have been involved with [an] abortion[s] – the best place to start is by asking God to search you.
“Please, God, look into my heart and my mind. You understand everything I am thinking and feeling! Help me! I know I messed up – that I am messed up! I know have done something horrible and wrong, and it is tearing me up! I can’t handle it!”
And He is faithful and true. He will judge your heart, yes, but if you trust that He is truly Lord and the source of salvation, He will “lead [you] in the way everlasting!”
God will forgive you and help you to move forward, if you trust in Him and His sacrifice and the mercy and grace that it afforded.
Trust in the risen Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. The lover and forgiver of your soul.
In today’s video, I think it is pretty clear I had not had my coffee, yet! But if you look in the background, you can see evidence I was about to remedy that.*
The last entry touched on the Las Vegas shooting and how “But for the grace of God, there go I” in terms of how each and every one of us could be capable of committing such an atrocity. Today, I look at the exact opposite end of the spectrum.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor, theologian, and professor who was killed by the Nazis just days before the end of World War II.¹ Both he and James, the brother of Jesus, focused heavily on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
The Sermon on the Mount is basically Jesus’ teachings on how the Christian should live. Specifically for today, in 5:16 (ESV), Jesus says:
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
If all we do are good things, but we do not really mention God, how could others give God glory? We may merely be “good people” in the eyes of the world.
Therefore, God gives us the direction we need in this matter:
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
Psalm 50:23a, ESV
When we give thanks to God, this directs people to Him! Thankfulness, a lifestyle of gratitude, is the thing that helps to center our life around Christ and leads others to Him.
A heart of gratitude not only gives the glory to God, but it can also help us to feel great and can help others to feel better.
However, the main point is that God is glorified. Gratitude, likewise, can keep us focused on Him so that we are more likely to seek His glory than to turn to anything else – including lashing out at this world and those in it.
Therefore, give thanks to God. As Paul said, give thanks in everything in your life² – yes, everything, even the bad things.
And thank you for joining me today!
daniel
Fill your need for wisdom, and go to Proverbial Thought!
This past Sunday I shared a poem about what people need. That was prepared before realizing I would be sharing today’s entry!
The eight season (series, for all of you BBC/British television/Whovian people out there) of the rebooted Doctor Who television show recently kicked off. This season began on August 23rd, setting some BBC America records, and that is compared to last November 23rd’s globally record-setting release of the 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor.
There are a lot of people who really like Doctor Who, and, as a Whovian myself, I can understand the passion that goes into following this show.
I read an article recently titled, “Entertainment Geekly: ‘Doctor Who’ is the saddest show on television“. Here is a little excerpt:
One way of looking at this: The Doctor is friends with everybody! But another way of looking at this: The Doctor is never close with anybody. And even when he is close with someone, it won’t last. He’ll leave them behind, or they’ll leave him behind; or they’ll just get older, and he’ll grow a young man’s face. The Davies era immediately played up the Doctor’s loneliness by repositioning him as the Last of the Time Lords: No longer a plucky renegade from an elaborate culture, but rather, that culture’s last remaining memory.
Maybe “sad” is the wrong word for Doctor Who: It’s a show that takes tremendous joy in simple human connection, even as the modern iteration constantly futzes with those connections. (It’s never clear if the Doctor likes his Companions, or loves them, or if he just needs them to be in love with him.) . . .
The central tension of most action-thrillers derives from the fear that someone might die. But because the Doctor will never die, the central tension of Doctor Who is the utter certainty that things will definitely change. Every change is like death, but every change is also like birth. Doctor Who is never bleak—compared to our current apocalypse vogue, it looks positively chipper. . . .
The Doctor never gets to live a normal life, which is his tragedy. (Tune in to a new episode of Doctor Who, and remind yourself that soon–this year, next year, certainly the year after that–the Doctor and his closest friend will say goodbye.) But I also wonder if that’s why, the longer you watch Doctor Who, you find yourself relating less to the every people Companions and more to the Doctor. From our perspective, the world might change, but we always stay the same–as friends come and go, as we move from one place to another. It takes someone else to notice when we become a new person. Maybe that’s why the Doctor always seeks out new Companions: So that the man who never changes can change, over and over again.
It seems to me that Doctor Who is popular because of how it plays off of the loneliness so many people feel. It feeds into the need for hope all people have. Whether it is in relating to his companions or relating to the Doctor himself, people watch Doctor Who because of a need and a desire for a savior.
And it becomes sad when we realize that there is indeed a Savior who can fulfill all of our needs, but so many do not know about Him or ignore Him … or, worst of all, flat out deny Him.
All it takes is to seek God and the forgiveness offered through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
Psalm 25:16-18, ESV
a simple man of God 