Day 4Four - Psalm 107
One of the most frustrating things for me to hear from a brother or sister in Christ is, "I'm just sitting here, waiting for the Lord to do something. He's knows I need help so I'm just gonna wait." -- Ugh. [Don't get me wrong, there are times to wait on the Lord.] However, my frustration lies with people's attitudes and not realizing God's trying to help them. This Psalm is a prime example of God helping his people AND his people actually needing to doing something in the process. Three key words (in verses 7 & 14) reads, "(God) led them." -- LED is an action word. This means that these people who were asking God for help actually had to GET UP and doing something. God didn't make their legs walk-- the people made their own legs walk. It required an action on their part to engage God's help... and you know what? God did help them. So next time you're "waiting for God", get up and walk! Engage God's help with action and just see where that leads.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Day 4Three - Psalm 108
One thing I love about the Psalms is that it will start one way (praising God) and then end another way (where are You, Lord?!). This Psalm is a perfect example. Here, the Psalmist is very confident in God and what God can do. But by the end, he's asking, "Have you rejected us, Lord?" It kinda reflects any given day nowadays. I can't tell you how many times I've woken up with the song, "this is the day that the Lord has made" stuck in my head and been very pumped about the day... only to be asking the Lord that night, "where are You?! What's going on?!" Thankfully, the last verse of this Psalm brings it back home and is a good reminder for when I have days like the one above: "With God's help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes."
One thing I love about the Psalms is that it will start one way (praising God) and then end another way (where are You, Lord?!). This Psalm is a perfect example. Here, the Psalmist is very confident in God and what God can do. But by the end, he's asking, "Have you rejected us, Lord?" It kinda reflects any given day nowadays. I can't tell you how many times I've woken up with the song, "this is the day that the Lord has made" stuck in my head and been very pumped about the day... only to be asking the Lord that night, "where are You?! What's going on?!" Thankfully, the last verse of this Psalm brings it back home and is a good reminder for when I have days like the one above: "With God's help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes."
Day 4Two - Psalm 109
What I find interesting about this Psalm is that the author spends 13 verses explaining how the enemy would repay love for evil... I honestly don't get why this needed to be explained in such detail. A few verses would've sufficed, I think. Regardless, the Psalmist wants his enemies to see that his work is the "Lord's doing" -- so that, when his enemies attack him, they will be put to shame because they are putting God's doing to shame. Interesting to note that it's not until the Psalmist has this revelation of "I'm doing the Lord's work" that he's okay with being persecuted. Its like he was able to justify it and accept the attacks from his enemies.
What I find interesting about this Psalm is that the author spends 13 verses explaining how the enemy would repay love for evil... I honestly don't get why this needed to be explained in such detail. A few verses would've sufficed, I think. Regardless, the Psalmist wants his enemies to see that his work is the "Lord's doing" -- so that, when his enemies attack him, they will be put to shame because they are putting God's doing to shame. Interesting to note that it's not until the Psalmist has this revelation of "I'm doing the Lord's work" that he's okay with being persecuted. Its like he was able to justify it and accept the attacks from his enemies.
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