Month: July 2024

Psalm 6:2-4 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak: O Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed. My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O Lord, how long? Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.

In the midst of troublous times David pleas for mercy, deliverance, and salvation. He prays in faith and the confidence that the Lord hears his plea. He feels weak and sore vexed in body and soul, but he trusts God to hear his plea and deliver his soul. He acknowledges that it may take a while for healing to be worked out and wholeness to be restored. He wants God to hurry up, but he will patiently wait for God’s timing.

We also are weak and vexed in body and soul because we are sinners living in a sinful world. Every day we are in some kind of misery and brokenness, and every day we need to plea for mercy. Thank God for hearing our prayers. The “mercies of God” is the blood of Jesus Christ. For His sake God hears our prayer and grants mercy, healing, deliverance, and salvation from the spiritual enemies that would destroy us. We need help, and God is the Help.

Pleas and prayers are our responses to the dangers, miseries, threats, and pains of life. Faith believes the mercies of God. He has definitively demonstrated His mercy toward us at the Cross, and for Christ’s sake He hears our plea for daily mercies. He gives life and forgiveness every day without limit.

Psalm 5:11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them; let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

All believers are commanded, urged, and motivated to rejoice in the Lord. The Lord is always present to hear and help no matter what the circumstances are. David reacts to the world around him, which is filled with Sin and danger, by being joyful in the Lord. The things that were going on around David’s life did not always bring joy. But by faith he always had reason to be joyful, for the Lord was always there to defend him, forgive him, and hear his prayers.

We can, with the indwelling and the help of the Spirit, rejoice in the Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice [Philippians 4:4].” Then v, 7: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Since the Lord is always with us His joy and peace is always there, too. And nothing and no one can take it away, unless we ourselves surrender it by listening to the temptations of the evil one, that our life is miserable. So we affirm and declare that we have an abiding joy within. God loves us, Jesus forgives us, and the Spirit assures and comforts the hearts with the Gospel. Therefore, we are are enabled to “give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ [Ephesians 5:20].” Constant thanksgiving is a key to open the joy that abides deep in the heart through faith in Christ.

Psalm 5:7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy; and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

Evildoers will not dwell with God, the foolish will not stand in His sight, and liars will be destroyed. Unbelievers have no place with God, but David will come into the very presence of God on earth, and he will worship the Lord. He will come in the mercy of God and worship in fear. He worships believing God’s holiness and trusting in His love.

David worships in times of danger and trouble and also in calm and peaceful times. We worship God in the fear (deep faith) of His holiness and justice and in love of the multitude of His mercy and grace. We seriously fear His wrath and punishment for our sins and we sincerely thank Him for His great love and forgiveness. This kind of worship is our daily experience in all kinds of troubled and peaceful times. By faith in Jesus we worship in spirit and in truth in all the places where His presence resides, which is within us at all times and in all places. The body is a temple.

Psalm 5:1-3 Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

David’s response to troublous times was to pray to the Lord, to look up, and to talk to God with words and voice. He believed that God hears, listens, and considers. He talked to God in the morning, probably every morning, since every day has enough trouble of its own.

We follow his example by spending time with God in the Word and in prayer in the morning before the activities of the day begin taking over our thoughts and actions. Listening and talking to the Lord in the morning sets our minds on Him, and then we are ready for the day. One way to grow in a close relationship with God is to pray to Him earnestly each morning. Before our minds become jumbled with problems, we can commit the whole day to God. Regular communication builds a stronger relationship with God. Start talking to God as soon as you wake up in the morning.

Seek first the kingdom of God. Then all the other things will be added. One way to keep God first in our daily lives is to seek Him first thing.

Psalm 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.

If we have trusted in Christ for salvation, God has forgiven us, and always listens to us. He loves, hears, and answers. Look at your problems in the light of God’s power instead of looking at God in the shadow of your problems. When God lifts up the light of His countenance (smiles) upon us, we can lay down in peace and sleep. In spite of the problems surrounding him and the enemies he faced, David was able to get a good night’s sleep. Only the Lord makes me dwell in safety.

When we are experiencing a sleepless night we may respond to God’s presence and promise instead of to our problems. We pray, leave it with God, and trust Him to make me dwell in safety. Then God grants peaceful sleep. The problems that plague us in bed cause us to turn and return to Him, and then we lie down and sleep in peace.

Psalm 4:3-5 But know that Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your own bed, and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.

David responded to stress and threat by knowing (believing) that the Lord had set him apart for His love and protection. Therefore, he knew that he could call and God would hear. To reinforce that knowing he meditated by himself, being quiet before an awesome God, trusting the Lord to hear and help.

In times of need (which is always) we can slow down, stop and be still in the presence of a great and good God. We believe that Jesus makes us godly and thus the Lord has special regard for us. He will keep us for Himself and keep us from harm and danger. It helps our faith when we take time to be with God.

Jesus has already offered the “sacrifice of righteousness” for us, and by faith in Him we are righteous. Think about it! Dwell on it!

Psalm 4:1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

David pleads with God to hear his prayer, and at the same time trusts that He does indeed. He is confident in God’s justice and love (righteousness and mercy), that because of His character, holiness and love, God hears his prayer. God has made him bigger and safer when he was in distress. There were many times of distress in David’s life, and God delivered him out of them all. Now in the present moment, he prays to God and believes Him to hear once again.

Calling upon God for Jesus’ sake and praying in His name is our first response to distress and trouble and worry in our lives. Indeed, living in such a world as we do, this kind of moment comes up every day, for we are always in some kind of stress. We may look to many sources for help, but our first resort is to turn to God in prayer. We trust Him to hear our prayer in time of need. He is holy and just and will always do the right thing. He is loving and merciful and wants to do what is good for us. He will enlarge us.

Psalm 3:4-5 I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me from his holy hill. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.

During the crisis with Absalom’s rebellion when David was on the run, he cried to the Lord. The Lord heard his prayer, and David was able to lie down and sleep. The Lord sustained him in this crisis.

Sleep does not come easily in a crisis. But in the midst of this threat and worry he was able to sleep peacefully, because he cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard him.. The assurance of God’s watchful care and answers to prayer bring peace. It is easier to sleep well when we have full assurance that God is in control of every circumstance. Sleep comes more easily when we pour out our heart to God and thank Him that He is in control.

We don’t have to wait for a crisis to cry to the Lord. Crisis or not, every night we may pray, receive assurance that God hears, and then lie down and sleep peacefully.

Psalm 2:11-12 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Instead of rebelling and raging against the Lord, our response to God in our life should be love, service, rejoicing, submission, and trust. The rebellious kings of the earth includes all of us. God is wrathful against His sinful and rebellious created humanity. He will send His Son who will break them in pieces at the Judgment, but He will also bear upon himself our deserved punishment. Either way, all sin and rebellion will be judged either on Jesus or on us.

Therefore a Holy God is to be feared (worshipped and believed). And those who believe the Son will serve (love) Him, who has taken away the punishment. They will rejoice with trembling (feeling). They will kiss (an act of worship and submission). They will be blessed because they put their trust in Him. They trust Him because they know He has died for them, taken their judgment, forgiven their sins, and earned for them eternal life. Blessing follows.

The very Son who sits in just judgment is the very One who died for us. When the Spirit grants such faith through the Gospel we naturally respond with service, rejoicing, and submissive worship.

Psalm 2:1-2 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed.

All people since Adam are born sinners who rebel against their Creator. We ask why they would rebel, since God is good and kind. It is a vain and useless task to rage against the Almighty Creator, but man is deceived. They dig in their heels contrary to reason. They even discuss together how to throw off the supposed shackles God places upon them. This rebellion is not only against the Father Creator, but also against the anointed Son and Savior.

It is not only politicians who rebel and rage. All of us show this sinful streak even in early childhood as we resist authority. Teenagers rebel against authority, and even adults don’t like being told what to do. Submission, humility, and dependence on God are hard lessons for humans to learn. Thus civil law enforcement is necessary to keep the peace so that we can live in a world of rebels.

The believer recognizes this streak within him and repents. He learns obedience through the things he suffers, even as Jesus as a man learned what it is like to experience obedience. He learns to submit to the will of God, knowing because of Jesus that His will is always best and for our good. As believers, we learn to accept the discipline of the Lord through the Word and the Spirit in the experiences of life.

It takes time, but we do stop raging.