Month: April 2025

Psalm 104:23 Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.

In the midst of God’s wonderful Creation and Provision, humans go about their daily work and labor every day, enjoying all the blessing and goodness of the Lord. Life still goes on in the daily grind of work. We do not become hermits or monks, but we remain in the world. We are priests in the world with our thoughts and prayers filling each seemingly mundane day with the glory and grace of God. God blesses our work while we bless the Lord always. He is always with us, though it may not be in spectacular ways. His Presence makes the routine special.

We go about our daily lives with the Lord on our minds with thoughts, prayers and praises, and He is on our lips with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. The daily routine of work becomes the means by which we remember and bless the Lord for His unfailing goodness and mercy. We sanctify work by bringing the Lord into it with thanks, praise and blessing.

Psalm 104:1 Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honor and majesty.

My soul, my whole self, mind, will, and emotions, along with all created things, blesses the Lord in response to His greatness, honor, and majesty. We look in wonder and awe as we ponder God’s great Creation and Providence. The Psalmist then poetically recounts the Creation story of Genesis One. We are left speechless with nothing left to say except praise, honor and blessing to Almighty God, Creator of everything that is and of all things good.

Whether we look with the naked eye or through a telescope or microscope, we are moved to bless the genius and majesty of the very great and majestic Person behind the wonderful Creation. He must be awesome. So we praise, honor, and bless the Lord for His revealed glory, greatness and goodness. To bless is to think and to say good things about and to God. In our stunned state we speak blessing to the Lord.

But even more than being impressed with Creation, we are over-awed at His love and mercy in sending His Son for our salvation and life in Redemption. We who receive His blessings through faith in Christ in turn live lives of blessing God, other people, and all created things in thought, word, and deed. The appreciator is a beautiful sight to behold.

Psalm 203:17-18 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and His righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

The Lord is good and His mercy endures forever. He is merciful and gracious, forgiving our sins for Jesus’ sake. Our life on earth is short and full of trouble, but His mercy is eternal and based on His promises. Our response to eternal mercy is to fear (believe) God. Because He is merciful, because He does not remember our sins, and because He grants us righteousness in place of sin, we keep His covenant, we remember His commandments and actually do them.

The Holy Spirit grants us faith in Jesus for forgiveness, He counts us as righteous, and He reminds us of His Commandments, giving us the desire and power to live according to them. The list of God’s blessings and benefits is extensive and mighty. We love Him because He first loved us. The grace of God changes our lives while faith receives all the blessings with joy and thanksgiving.

Psalm 103:1-2 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits..

”Count your blessings!” When life seems hard and things are difficult, take time to list the blessings that come from the Lord. Remember how good God is and all His freely given benefits. He forgives sins, He heals diseases, He redeems from death, He crowns with love, He satisfies desires, He gives righteousness. All these benefits He gives for free out of mercy, because of Christ. We receive all these without deserving any of them. When you feel you lost your joy and peace and nothing to praise God for, read David’s list.

Bless the Lord and His Name, and you will feel better about your life in the present circumstances. It is too easy to forget God and to take His benefits for granted. So we make it a point to bless the Lord at every opportunity, all day long. To bless is to thank and praise and to say good things about God and blessings enjoyed. We actually make God feel better, if that were possible. Use everything within your soul (mind, will, and emotions), and everything in your body (tongue, eyes, hands, and thoughts) to bless the Lord. For He is good, and His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 102:20, 22 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;…When the people are gathered together; and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.

The Lord looked down from heaven to behold the earth to hear the groaning of those in prison and to loose them from death. He also declared His name and His praise when the peoples and the kingdoms are gathered together to serve the Lord. This is a prophecy about the sending of the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior, to the earth to set free the prisoners of Sin and Death.

God hears the groans and cries of the prisoners of death. That groaning is our response to being imprisoned in death. Our sin has caused this condition. And not only we ourselves, but also the whole Creation groans. “The whole creation has been groaning together…and not only the creation, but we ourselves…groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for…redemption [Romans 8:22-23].” This describes our human condition in this short life: groaning as prisoners waiting to be set free. Jesus accomplished this once for all, but sin and death remains while faith waits.

Because of Christ’s liberation we are free to serve the Lord by loving people. Gladly serving is our grateful response to being set free.

Psalm 102:17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.

”God helps the helpless.” The Lord God hears and answers the prayers of the poor, weak, destitute and helpless. He does not need to pay attention to those who help themselves. If they are so self-righteous and prideful, then God says, “Try it yourself.” The Lord is there to help those who need Him. He loves the sinner who recognizes his own weakness and need. He died for them. He died for the self-confident also, but they don’t see the need for God.

We approach the Lord with repentance and humility, admitting our poor, miserable condition. We confess our sin, weakness and need spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. God loves to hear our cry for help. Our response to death, sickness, pain, suffering and helplessness is to pray. God hears and helps.

Jesus did not help the proud Pharisee, but He healed, helped and justified the humble tax-collector. He paid attention to the poor, weak, blind and lame. And He regards our prayers when we come before Him in Jesus’ name, pleading the blood of Christ, and in dependent need of help and mercy.

It is not really hard to see our destitution and turn to the Helper. But pride blinds us to our needful situation and prevents us from seeking His help. So we pray in penitence, humility and faith. He regards our prayers.

Psalm 102:15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

All unbelievers will fear the name and the glory of the Lord. The response of “fear” here is used in the sense of really being afraid, not in the sense of belief. The almighty majesty and awesome power of God instills fright in the sinner when confronted with His glory. The sinner cannot stand before the holiness and righteous judgment of God.

He will be brought to his knees in the face of His revealed power and glory, forced to recognize His majesty and crumble before the just judgment of God upon his sin In fact, when Jesus appears in glory to all the earth at the end of the age, every knee shall bow, whether on the earth or under the earth or in heaven, at the name of Jesus, and confess that He is Lord [Philippians 2:10-11]. The believer will bow gladly and willingly; the unbeliever will bow grudgingly and unwillingly, with gnashing of teeth regretting that they did not fear (believe) God when they could have.

Jesus Christ will have His worship as Lord one way or another from all Creation. So it would certainly be a good idea to fear, love and worship the Lord now when we hear the Gospel of grace and forgiveness. Fearing God leads to loving God when we hear that He first loved us.

Psalm 102:1-2 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.

In the day when I am in trouble, which to some degree is every day in a world of sin, I respond with prayer and crying to the Lord. I believe He hears my prayer, sees my need, and answers me. Since I am very often in some kind of trouble I will “pray without ceasing.” No matter where I go or what I am doing He is there with loving care and open ears to hear my prayer and cry.

In the day, and at the moment, when I call upon the Lord He hears and answers for the sake of Jesus. The Spirit brings my trouble before the Lord, and He answers right away (speedily). Psalm 50:15: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” God answers immediately, though it may take time to work it out. He is never in a hurry, but He is never late. Call! He hears!

Psalm 101:2-3 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

We as sinners cannot and will not behave perfectly in public nor will we walk with a perfect heart in private with our thoughts. But we can want to and purpose to live perfectly in thought, word and deed. Therefore, we repent daily of our failures and receive forgiveness and new life. By faith the Holy Spirit freely grants us the righteousness and perfections of God. He energizes us to behave and walk according to His ways. In Christ we are perfect, declared righteous, and we desire to walk by the Spirit that lives within us.

We maintain that perfect life by remembering God’s grace and being reminded of the gospel daily. He moves me to will and to do, as I am led by the Spirit. Our response to God’s forgiveness, life and salvation is to recommit our life and renew our minds: I will behave; I will walk. Daily repentance and faith renews and sustains us to behave in a perfect way and walk with a perfect heart.

With His help we avoid seeing sinful things, and we hate the work of those who have turned aside from God. Instead we fix our eyes on things above, where Christ is. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness [2 Peter 1:3].”

Psalm 101:1 I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.

In response to God’s Word and revelation of mercy, love and kindness I will sing unto the Lord. I will sing praises to the Lord in the assembly of thr congregation of believers, and all through the day I will sing in my heart unto the Lord.

I will sing of mercy and judgment, Law and Gospel. I sing of God’s just judgment upon my sin, which convicts me of sin and guilt, leading to repentance. I sing of God’s tender mercy, love and kindness toward me. It is judgment on my sin, which was born by Christ; it is mercy on me the sinner, which forgives me and gives Life. When I sing of God’s Law and Gospel in my heart and on my lips, my spirit is lifted and I feel lighter. Jesus receives the judgment and grants me the mercy. Therefore, I sing.