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!!!