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Suggested Reading: Psalms 137-139
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
A beautiful view of the Old City of Jerusalem at night. It was here in Jerusalem that David prayed with great fervency the prayer suggested for today!
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verses: Psalm 138:2b, 139:23-24
For Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your Word above all Your Name.
…Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 137 is the lament of some of the Jerusalem Temple musicians who were taken as slaves to Babylon. These words are very sad at the beginning, but suddenly their tone changes to anger and thoughts of future revenge. They did not have God’s love and forgiveness in their hearts.
Psalm 138 is David’s composition. Our first key verse teaches us that God’s Word is of highest value! This should be motivation enough to be consistent in our daily readings!
Psalm 139 is a profound theological statement. God is OMNISCIENT! (all knowing). God gave new and revolutionary understanding to David, his generation, and all future generations! God is OMNIPRESENT! (present everywhere). He is here so that we can, if we are willing, experience His presence 24/7!!!
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, the man after Your own heart, David, wrote a prayer which I intend to pray now and often: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” I pray this in the Name of the One in Whom there is no wicked way, and Who, through my faith in Him, leads me in the way of everlasting life! That’s Jesus only! Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
While I don’t know the tune to which David’s chief musician sung the words of Psalm 139, I do know by heart a magnificent modern hymn which I’m going to look for on Google right now….I’ve just been worshipping God with “Carmen,” one of my favourite singers. Not only does he sing the prayer from Psalm 139, but his medley includes the hymn “I Surrender All,” and he has led me into a new commitment to God for this new day (click here for Carmen). Rather than more words on the blog, I encourage taking additional time to pray and worship!
Yours for God’s work in our lives and for our worship of God!!!
David
David I love that song as well and I sung it to our Father God
and the prayer. I Also thank God for creating me.
Thank you Renold for the beautiful picture you took
Keep warm today blog boddies
Lianne Hogg
I also raised my hands in worship to our Lird Jesus as I listened to Carman sing
Oh we love you and worship you Lord for your majesty we adore you and we are nothing witnout you you know evrry word before we say it snd evrry deed before we do it , thank you father God for your loving kindness in Jesus name Amen 😉
It is 6:11 here now and what a wonderful way to begin this day in scripture, your commentary and worship and praise with Carmen! To know God is with us from the moments we were formed and 24/7 now and always. Search my ways Lord and guide each of us this day in Your Holy Presence! Have a great day, to all!
Praying for you, brother Scott … that you are alive and well, and we will hear from you again.
Amen to that David,,,,we miss you Scott!
Have always loved to worship with Carman as he sang. Thank you for the link to that beautiful medley. Thanks to you for all you give writing this blog for us, to Ann for editing grammar, for Reynold’s wonderful photography, and to Ron for the technical portion. You are blessed with an amazing, talented, and servant-hearted family. Praise The Lord!
Beautiful! Also lifted hands in worship with Carmen’s songs. Thank God we can give our anxieties to Him(never heard “heart” interpreted anxieties before.) That is comforting as there is much to cause anxiety today. Thanks again, David for your blog and link. Have a great day everyone. Is a beautiful day in the Maritimes.
Thank you David M. for the link to Carman and the time of praise & worship provided as I got carried away listening to that song you linked to as well as others I found on Youtube by him!
I too, wonder where Scott is. Miss his posts!
Praying all is well with you Scott and we shall see you back on here SOON. 🙂
Thank you David M. for Carmens song it is very touching and timely. Yesterday a good friend of ours gave my husband the scripture Psalm 139 for my grand niece who was born last Friday with some health complications but we are standing on Gods word she will be healed and live a normal life. Praise the Lord, Thank you God that I have been able to keep up with this bible study. I do not blog very often unless something touches my heart like this one did. I love to read and hear what yous all have to say and am learning everyday to be a stronger Christian. God Bless you all and I too am wondering where Scott is.! ADele
May Our Lord bless your little grand niece and give her strength to overcome any difficulties she may have.
Oh like others with hands held high, being able to worship along with Carmen was so very uplifting and peaceful!!! Thank you Pastor David.
Blessings to fellow saints today. Love you IN THE LORD!
Yesterday a man sat next to me on the bus and talked to me as if he was a friend. I have seen him before but did not know him. He asked me what was bothering me and then told me that people are supposed to love eachother. I told him that when some people talk about love it is only trick people. This is a fact. He said that he hoped I would meet a christian. I told him that I have met many christians and many who are better examples of christiand than me but I don’t try to trick people. The fact is that someone told the guy to try to trick me but I told him the truth in a very simple way. This is love. I told him that I have only a small amount of love in me but it is not faked. I am grateful to God for the better examples than me. However, nice words are not love. People are in denial. David Mainse demonstrates God’s love. Satan demonstrates deceit.
Dear Rev. David M .
Thank you for sharing with us this beautiful hymn song of Carman . Once more Reynold gives us a fabulous picture of the City of Jerusalem and when I think of you and Norma – Jean , Ron and Anne and the 100 companions that will be with you in The Holy Land , I am almost as excited as if I was going myself knowing that we will have the oppurtunity to follow you with the daily blog .
PS. keeping your grand niece in prayer Adele and also hoping that Scott is well .
Have a blessed day everyone.
xxxx Carole.
Friends, I want to thank you all for your concerm for me; please know that I am fine. I’m in awe over your expressions of care and concern, I guess I didn’t really think that my contributions would be missed, I was wrong. Lately I’ve been going through a spiritually dry point in my life, I’ve been questioning and wondering what’s hapened. Where’s the zeal, where has the reality of what I’ve believed to be true and how does this truth fit into who I am and what I do … had I led you folks on? If so, I am sorry. I know that a lot of this may not make sense, I guess I’m trying to figire it all out myself. It feels like a dark time but even so, I shall trust in the Lord. Blessings to all and from the bottom of my heart, thank-you for your care and concern.
What you are saying makes perfect sense. Sometimes Christians forget they are in a relationship with God and all relationships have ebbs and flows. Married couples go through this all the time, when it seems all the passion and excitement of those earlier days of “falling in love” are long gone, and they entered uncharted territory where they have to decide what to base their marriage on.
From my own experiences and from experiences I have read from others who gone through their own spiritual wilderness– these dry spells, or dark nights of the soul are often the birth pains of a deeper faith, a development of mature love, a love that has been tested. Just don’t let the enemy try to convince you just because you questioning or working out your future with Jesus that means something is wrong with your faith or God is mad at you. If you have examine yourself and there is no unresolved issue with sin blocking you from experiencing God’s love for you or your love for him, then rest assured these dry spells can benefit your relationship with the Lord.
Sometimes when we have been very fruitful for our Lord, we hit these “dry spells” but in reality God is just giving our souls a rest, like a farmer might give a field a rest from planting, in order to replenished the soil. So take heart, all is well. And as long as we know you are well and reading along, even if you don’t feel you have anything to offer at the moment, that’s cool. We all learned and benefited from everything have shared in the past, maybe it times for others to take the lead and let you refresh at their offering. God bless and I will be praying for you.
It is so good to hear you are well Scott, have missed you brother and your wonderful encouragement in words.
I believe all of us can point to a time when we had questions and we know what you are experiencing, so please be assured of our prayers and sending love that God in His wisdom and mercy will lead you through this time of dryness into a more wonderful way of living out your faith. Hang in their Scott, we are with you.
Doesn’t sound like you, Scott – syntex etc. ?!
Syntax
If so, hang in there buddy. You have all you need, regardless of fluctuations. What you have extended in Christ is what will keep you strong! Write anyways, and through this, from your perspective. Thanks for responding.
You don’t seem from this post to the same person.
I mean you don’t seem from this post to be the same person.
Dear Scott , So happy that you are fine physically ,yes I was in that spot of
dryness Stiritually many years ago I see my Bible marked with this malady.
I kept praying and also had Pastors pray with me. I don’t know when I came
out of it. But God will help you , this may seem like a glib answer .God willing
may God bring you to higher heights , Go bless you and keep you….R….
Permit me to share how Psalm 137 will always be very meaningful to us.
When we arrived in Hamilton from Holland as new immigrants who had just stepped off the boat at Pier 21 in Halifax, we felt like strangers. We will never forget a sermon on “How shall we sing the Songs of the Lord in a strange land ?”
pointing us to the men of Judah being taken captive to Babylon and being forced to share their faith in JHWH with their captors. We were challenged to study God’s Word in English and to learn the Hymns of faith as quickly as possible, so we too could share our faith with others. That was in May of 1953. Sixty short years later that encouragement of Psalm 137 is still as real as it was then.
Studying the Psalms is fascinating. No wonder king David could hear, read, study, memorize and meditate on God’s Word so well, considering that as a shepherd boy with his sheep 24 / 7 he had so much time with his Lord, because he was not distracted at all. We could be jealous of him for having so much “quiet time” every day to spend with God and no wonder God gave him prophetic visions of the Lamb of God coming to earth to die on the Cross, 1000 years before the time of Christ. I point that out to Young People often who are so busy with their smart phones that they think they have no time to meditate on God’s Word and His Will for their lives.
We look forward to reading your blog from the Holy Land soon.
Have a blessed Lord’s Day with His people this weekend.
Bill Lensink
🙂
M.