Today's Scriptures: Psalm 72 & Romans 1:1-6

Welcome sweet friends! 

I hope you had an awesome holiday season and are ready to dig back into the Psalms for 2023! And what a perfect place to begin! 

Psalm 72 is the end of Book 2 in the Psalms and closes with the words, "The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended." (v.20). Some believe this psalm was written by Solomon and some believe that David wrote this for his son, Solomon. I tend to think the latter is the case. In fact, I believe David has written a doxology- his final prayer to God. And I have grown to love David's doxology.

 David begins by praying for himself and his son, and then looks beyond their reign to the Messiah to come proclaiming,  

In His [Christ’s] days shall the [uncompromisingly] righteous flourish and peace abound till there is a moon no longer.

He [Christ] shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.

Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him and His enemies shall lick the dust.

The kings of Tarshish and of the coasts shall bring offerings; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him.

For He delivers the needy when he calls out, the poor also and him who has no helper.

He will have pity on the poor and weak and needy and will save the lives of the needy.

He will redeem their lives from oppression and fraud and violence, and precious and costly shall their blood be in His sight.

And He shall live; and to Him shall be given gold of Sheba; prayer also shall be made for Him and through Him continually, and they shall bless and praise Him all the day long.

 There shall be abundance of grain in the soil upon the top of the mountains [the least fruitful places in the land]; the fruit of it shall wave like [the forests of] Lebanon, and [the inhabitants of] the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

 His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun [indeed, His name continues before the sun]. And men shall be blessed and bless themselves by Him; all nations shall call Him blessed!- Psalm 72:10-17 (emphasis mine)

Oh, how I look forward to this day when our King reigns!

 You may remember the LORD’s claim in Psalm 2:6, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” Psalm 72 now goes on to further describe what His king is like—how He rules and what He values. 

David then closes his final psalm with a blessing- his doxology, "Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things! "And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory, Amen and Amen." - Psalm 72:18-19 

 You might also recall that Psalm 2 ends with “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him [the royal son]” (2:12b).  I thought it was interesting to see how the psalm at the beginning of his life and at the end are so similar.

David spoke this doxology at the very end of his life, but I thought it would be neat to write our own for 2023! I'd like to encourage you to pen one that will depict this year for you here, at the beginning of the year.

You won't need to share it with us, but I hope you'll tuck it into your journal or Bible so that you'll be able to refer to it often as you journey through 2023, and then at the end of this year you can check it to see how adequately  it describes your year and your journey with Him. 

So let me ask you as you prayerfully consider this assignment…

What are your expectations for this year? Your hopes? Fears?

What are you most trusting God for? Who is God to you? And what do you need Him to do for you this year?

Hopefully these questions will get you started on your doxology for 2023! 

Let's Pray:

Heavenly Father, You are always with us in every transition and change. As we enter into this new year with excitement and even some anxiety, let us recall Your deep love and compassion, Your presence, and Your faithfulness.
We thank you for the gifts, talents and skills with which you have blessed us with. We thank you for the experiences that have brought us to this moment. We thank you for the work of others that gives breadth and depth to our own work.
O Father, be with us as we move forward, rejoicing with you and supporting one another in 2023. In your Holy Name we pray. Amen.

Blessings, 

Sue