This particular verse is repeated two more times in Psalm 42 and 43…why so? Do you ever give yourself a pep talk? Something like, “I know you can do it, you can do it! Hang in there and just do it!” I believe the Psalmist was doing the same thing… “Ok Soul, why are you moping around? Instead, we need to be remembering all the things the Lord has done for us in the past…and all the wonderful things He’s going to be doing for us in the future… so now, get up, and get going…you have nothing to mope about!
Author: kezha1
A Christian mother, grandmother, and retired nurse living in Illinois. Called into a ministry of encouraging others to find their ultimate plan and purpose in life through Christ.
James 4:1-2 ” What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.”
“I want, what I want, when I want it!” Anyone that’s seen a 3-year-old throwing a temper tantrum knows what this means. Most of the strife and disputes in our lives come from selfishness on our part… we crave, covet, and lust after things and want our way no matter who we have to go over to get it. We may be much older…we may not thrash around on the floor kicking and screaming…but we can still throw tantrums when we don’t get our own way. Some take a more passive/aggressive approach, while others pout and make life miserable for everyone around them until they relent…either way, a tantrum is a tantrum, whether you’re 3, 33, or 83.
Acts 13:2 “…the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ “
In the case of Barnabas and Saul, God’s calling was to preach the gospel…in your case it may be something entirely different…but the correlation is the same in that the calling comes first, then the setting apart. And depending on a myriad of things, the timing between one and the other can be short or long. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will place a calling on our heart and immediately will spring us into action…while other times, there is a long period of equipping and preparation on our part before He says, “Yes, the time is now.” It’s during that long wait that we tend to question our calling…but regardless of how long it has been, know that the Lord has not forgotten…He’s still at work, perfecting you, until the time when He will separate you for the work He’s called you to.
Nehemiah 4:22 ” …Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen by day.”
This week as I was driving to work, I came upon three brood mares grouped together in a pasture, each standing guard over a new-born foal curled up at their feet. It was such a powerful picture that I asked the Lord what it meant. He then gave me this verse in Nehemiah and the analogy that we are all workmen for God during the day…we serve, minister,and help, but we should also be guarding our Jerusalem at night. We should be praying and interceding for our loved ones, and those in authority over us. At night, we should be covering our home, our family, our church, our city, our nation with protective prayer… In God’s army we are to be workmen during day, and guards by night.
Psalm 102: 17-18 ” He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their plea. Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.”
Psalm 102 is titled – A prayer of an afflicted man…When he is faint and pours out his lament before the Lord. The writer of this Psalm wants the generations to come after him to know that God not only hears our prayers, but answers. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy, He has not sneered at me and turned away. Hence, I will declare His righteousness to a people yet unborn, that they in turn may rejoice and trust that the Lord will always hear their prayers. A people not yet created…that’s you and me!
Joshua 6:16 ” The seventh time around, when the Priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, ‘Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!’ “
The enemy people of Jericho were entrenched in a formidable stronghold, with walls that had held back warring nations in the past, so they must have watched with amusement as the Jews walked silently around the city for six days. But come that seventh day there was excitement and anticipation in the Jewish camp…God had promised that He would turn Jericho over to their control, and they were eager to see how He would accomplish this feat. The destruction of those massive walls started with “trumpet blasts” from the Priests… those words also meaning thrusting a sword or a spear. Those sounds were used like a weapon in God’s hand to initiate the destruction of the walls. But it was when Joshua ordered the once silent people to give a mighty war cry, that the deafening sound reverberated off those walls, and they came tumbling down.
Mark 10: 51-52 ” What do you want Me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, Rabbi, I want to see. Go, said Jesus, your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.”
Jesus already knew what the blind Bartimaeus needed…so why did He ask what he wanted? The Greek word for “want” not only shows an exercise of the will…active determination, but also purpose…pressing on to action. Bartimaeus’s faith in this man Jesus grew from only hearing about Him and the miracles Jesus was performing, but this faith had grown to the point that he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that Jesus could heal his blindness. Physical sight was restored in an instant, but spiritual sight was also restored as he accompanied Jesus and His disciples down the road.
Job 5:17 ” Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.”
Spankings are never fun… and when it’s the Lord wielding the switch, it can be down right miserable. As mere mortals in all our weaknesses and frailties, we stray often, and like unruly calves, need to be roped in…but hopefully this correction will result in education on our part. But it all hinges on whether we accept the reprove, or reject it and turn away from God. Spankings hurt for a little bit, but we must always keep in mind…”The Lord disciplines those He loves and punishes everyone He accepts as a son.” (Proverbs 3:11)
Jeremiah 1:5 ” Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…”
The Hebrew word for “formed” in this verse has a rather creative image of a potter with a lump of clay in front of him ready to create something beautiful. And as it is with us…the Lord saw us before we were created, before we were an unformed body… before we were even a little lump of cells… He knew us. The Lord not only knew us, but as Psalm 139:16 says,” All the days ordained for me were written in Your Book before one of them came to be.” We all are that lump of clay in front of the Master Potter, but He has in mind exactly what He’s going to be making…something unique, exquisite, and His.
Matthew 10: 42 ” And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
Simple acts of kindness done for a stranger…opening a door, offering a friendly smile and a greeting, getting a glass of water, helping someone across a busy street…all things that only take a minute of our time, but may have lasting impact on the person receiving it. “Whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” (Proverbs 14:31) If we call ourselves His children, these gestures of kindness are showing Jesus in a real and tangible way to the world around us. As it says so beautifully in Hebrews 6:10, “God remembers your work and love you have shown Him as you help His people.” Those simple acts of kindness you do are far from simple, and far from unimportant in The Lord’s sight.
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