GOD WITH US!
Today’s Reading: Psalms 120-124
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
This is the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu (Gallicantu = “cock crow”). It’s a Roman Catholic Church located on the eastern slope of Mount Zion commemorating Peter’s triple rejection of Jesus on the night He was arrested. According to Christian tradition, the location of this church is also the original place of the House of High Priest Caiaphas. In the distance you can see the security fence that divides Israel from Palestinian territory. And even further you can see in the haze across the Jordan valley to the mountains of Moab in Jordan. We are reminded in today’s reading to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verses: Psalm 121:5-8
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.
Here are five little Psalms with big content!
Psalm 120 is written by a person of peace who did not take vengeance against those who slandered him. We can learn from these words that we should take false accusations to the Lord in prayer!
Psalm 121 teaches us that God continually watches over us. This is one of several “Songs of Ascent” to be sung as pilgrims are climbing up the mountainside to its highest point on which Jerusalem is located. As they look up they are filled with faith and expectancy as they are facing the City of God!
Psalm 122 was sung after entering the gates of Jerusalem. They realize that worship in Jerusalem would continue to be possible only if the city continued to be secure, prosperous and peaceful!
Psalm 123 was sung as they approached the Temple. Now they are lifting up their eyes to behold the Lord Himself!
Psalm 124 is sung to describe God’s interventions over the years in miraculously protecting the people of God as long as they welcomed His help, knowing that He would not intervene on their behalf if they didn’t want Him to do so. We are created in the image of the One “who made Heaven and earth.” Human free will, given to people who are made in God’s image, means that we must call for His help so that He can respond without violating our free will!
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I lift up my eyes to You. I know that You hear me! Therefore, I pray that You will preserve me from all evil! I “pray for the peace of Jerusalem!” Have “mercy on us!” Thank You that I have escaped like a bird. You have broken the trap (snare), and I am free! I pray in the name of the One who is truly on my side, Jesus Himself! Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I may have shared this before but here goes the story. My father, Roy Mainse, suffered 3 heart attacks after 21 years as a missionary in Egypt. His Doctor told him that he must return to Canada for any chance of recovering. A 300-mile car ride was necessary, from Assiut to Cairo, in the blazing June sun with no air conditioning. Dad was lying across the back seat (his nephew, Lorne Kenny was driving. Lorne for many years was the head of the Middle Eastern Studies Department at the University of Toronto). Dad told me that he felt he would faint in the intense heat. Somewhere on that trip Dad quoted out loud Psalm 121. Lorne confirmed this story to me several times. As Dad said the words of the old King James version (6a), “The sun shall not smite thee by day,” a small cloud came between the sun and the car. That cloud remained between the sun and the car for the remainder of the trip! My Dad and my cousin Lorne both assured me that Egypt, with the desert on both sides of the Nile River, does not have clouds in the sky in June! God was surely on Dad’s side that day! He lived and ministered here in Canada for another 20 years. At 76 years of age, while shovelling snow, he sat down on the steps of his Toronto home and his heart stopped. He was immediately with the One Who was truly on his side!!! Amen
Yours in recognition of the fact that when we decide to side with God, He will side with us!!!
David
P.S. I have an ostrich egg on which I had Psalm 121:5-6 inscribed in gold paint. It sits on the top shelf above me as I type. I love to show the egg to my great-grandchildren while telling them the story of their great-great-Grandfather and the Egyptian sun! Below is a photo of the egg.
I purchased this egg, emptied of its contents, in Jordan. Our guide offered to print the words of Psalm 121:5-6 in gold lettering after I had told him my Dad’s story. I look quite skinny in this picture. I’ve put on 20 pounds since this was taken! Praise the Lord!!! Thanks to all blog readers who pray for me!!!
Perhaps we should remind ourselves of God’s protection in prayer each day,thus assuring God that we have not forgotten this ‘fact’ and that He wants us to call on Him for His divine intervention.I wrote a simple poem about the ‘Egyptian cloud’.
God bless David! Love the egg! what a wonderful piece of memory, Thank you Lord bless all who post on this site…..in Jesus Name we Pray amen
Lord bless our Prime Minister in Canada and the President in the United States. I pray they look to You Lord for guidance….amen
Jesus, how we need You! We ask for your help in every way – in our families, our homes, our leaders, our coworkers, our thinking, our actions, our brothers and sisters, our everything…
And we also ask for your help for all those who are persecuted for their faith in You. Please meet all their needs, Lord, and help them be strong in You….
Thank You, Lord God, for your faithfulness and your love. Help us stay close to You wherever we go. In Jesus’s name, amen
Amen,Rob.Thanks
Amen
Amen William and Rob
I found that poem with attached note.I am very reluctant to share this,for obvious reasons,but I mentioned it above so here it is,definitely not inspired.God bless
Inspired by a story David Mainse shared about
his missionary father in Egypt.
http://100words.ca/?p=29490#respond
Cloud Of Grace
Oh cloud of grace that shaded me
And made known the Lord’s smile,
You guarded me in my misery
As I traveled o’er each bumpy mile.
Over the years I can not know
How many times you smiled,
But as I had watched my children grow,
I know that You too had watched this child.
You’ve blessed us more than we can count,
For true love seeks no gain,
So we must never keep an account,
To show that we have not lived in vain.
G.W(Bill)Marshall /4 Nov, 2017
Nice, Bill. Thanks!
Wow what a testimony. Have just returned from two weeks in Galilee area bright sun around 100 degrees F. That was ????. Praise God for providing the cloud for a man that was walking with the Lord throughout his adult years. We have a awesome creator, wonderful Savior and a helping Holy Spirit. Aleluia.
amen amen amen. God bless you Dale….
Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem. Father send forth Your chosen labourers into the fields. The harvest is ready. Give Wisdom to our leaders & help to those in need. ????Praise Your Holy Name.
Yes the Lord asked us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem: His City! Lord I joined with David’s prayer and did so. I also lift Ann Mainse up in prayer for the pain and fever to subside, In Jesus Name I pray this, Amen!
I remember the egg picture; what a legacy for David’s children and the rest of his family; and especially his Dad’s story and the cloud miracle.
Psalm 121 is one of my favorite.
Be blessed this day you saints; hope your weather is warmer than it is here
Amen
God Bless the blog group.
Thank God I found you l
There’s a song with those words God With Us and it’s simply entitled Emmanuel again maybe many of you bloggers might know this song or sung it in church and here are the words Emmanuel Emmanuel Emmanuel his name is called Emmanuel God With Us revealed in us his name is called Emmanuel God bless
I still sing this song during morning devotions; thank you Msrilyn Busse!