Today’s Scripture is Psalm 82 & 1 Peter2:13-17

Good morning, Beloved!

In this psalm, “God takes his place in the divine council” (82:1). I had to wonder just who He is addressing here. Jesus, in John 10:34, refers to this psalm to explain how strange it is for the Jews of His day to find it incredible that he could claim not to be one of the “gods” but to be the Lord God himself. Here, in John chapter 10, Jesus says that He "called them gods to whom the word of God came.” Therefore, it is believed that these “gods” are religious leaders, rulers, and divinely appointed officials.

God is calling them to justice: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?” (82:2) I immediately thought of this passage in James as I read verse 2, 

"For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?" (James 2:2-6)

If we're honest, most, if not all of us, have shown some sort of favoritism over time. I think of our country's passion with actors and musical artists who entertain us, yet our military, police and firefighters, who work to protect us never have to worry about the paparazzi, though we know God word tells us, He never shows favoritism and is now calling us out. 

I'm thankful God doesn't show favoritism and is always looking out for the "little guy", aren't you? In fact, I tried researching all the verses in the Bible that refer to taking care of the poor, widows, orphans and refugees and I easily found over one hundred. Here's just a few examples,

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27)

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? (1 John 3:17)

It is imperative that we as well as our religious leaders use the "talents" we've been given to care for our brothers and not show special favors for ourselves or others. We should defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy and deliver them from the hand of the wicked. (82:3-4)

It is easy for those in leadership situations to think of the interests of the powerful, for if they were to become upset, they could damage the organization as a whole. But the role of a servant leader should be to look after the interests of all and speak up for those who have no voice.

Jesus modeled this so perfectly for us throughout the gospels. It's clear this is huge in our Father's heart and I know He will help us to love all and help those in need. 

Pause & Reflect:

Can you think of a time when someone favored another over you, or a loved one for the wrong reasons?

Would you ask God to show you today what He wants you to do to help?

Ask Him to show you any area where you have shown, or are showing favoritism?

Let's Pray:

O Father, I am so thankful You clearly don't show favoritism, for You love all and look on the hearts of men and not their outward appearances. We long to be more like You in this area. Please give us a heart that loves deeply and compassionately. Please reveal to us any areas where we have failed in this area. Help us to forgive and build up our brothers, for this is Your will for Your people. Amen

Blessings, 

Sue

 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

 Today's Reading: Psalm 42 &  Jonah 2:1-9

Deep calls to deep... What exactly does that mean? I've often heard this phase used in songs or poetry and I've always wondered what exactly was the writer referring to, so when I learned that I was assigned to write on Psalm 42 today, I decided it was time to research this psalm to find out its meaning!

I truly believe for us to get  the utmost from our study in the psalms this year, we need to gather as much information as we can from Hebrew scholars, for it is their wisdom that will bring more life to the psalm for us. That being said, I want to start with a bit of the back ground to this psalm and you can tell me later if you concur. 

The psalm begins: 

__Book II - Psalm 42-72

There are actually five books included in the Book of Psalm and we have now already  completed the first book! (I hope that makes you feel accomplished!) Book 1 ends with this important refrain, “Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel—From eternity unto eternity, Amen and Amen.”(Psalm 41:14). This refrain or some form similar will close out each of the books of psalm with Psalm 150 being just one big blessing to God. (Pretty neat, huh?)

__For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.

I previously shared that the term Maskil  probably comes from the Hebrew verb (sakal), which means, “to understand.” 

Here's an interesting note I hadn't shared before:

 "Typically, this has been seen either as a liturgical term or a musical tune or beat to which this psalm would be sung. Some scholars have thus understood these Maskils to be memory verses and others have suggested that it is simply a designation for wisdom literature put to music"  _(The Preacher's Study emphasis mine)

(Since I've been trying to put more Scriptures to memory, I thought that was pretty neat that they too put verses to music in order to remember them better.)

Psalm 42 was written by the "Sons of Korah". The sons of Korah were leaders of the tabernacle and because it is mentioned how he “used to go to the house of God . . . with shouts of joy” (verse 4), and also writes as if he is east of the Jordan River (verse 6), and he hears the taunting of an enemy (verse 10), it is believed that the writers of this psalm were accompanying King David as he was driven from Jerusalem by his rebellious son Absalom (2 Samuel 15). 

As David and those faithful to him fled for their lives, they are looking back in sadness at their home of Jerusalem. Psalm 42 is essentially a record of their thoughts during that time of exile and the longing they feel in their hearts for home and all that is familiar to them. 

I found this description in Handfuls on Purpose for Christian Workers and Bible Students and thought it summed up the phase beautifully: “The deep of man’s need calleth unto the deep of God’s fulness; and the deep of God’s fulness calleth unto the deep of man’s need. Between our emptiness and His all-sufficiency there is a great gulf. . . . Deep calleth unto deep. The deep mercy of God needs our emptiness, into which it might pour itself. . . . Nothing can fully meet the depth of our need but the depth of His Almighty fulness” (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971. Vol. 8, p. 11.)

Have you ever experienced that sense of longing? 

We can understand the meaning of deep calls to deep when we recognize that our needs are great, but the riches of God are greater. Our wisdom and understanding is finite, but His knowledge and judgments are infinite and unsearchable (Romans 11:33–34). The height, breadth, and depth of God’s resources are without measure and I personally believe God purposely takes us through periods like that to show us not only our need, but His riches and ability to meet ALL our needs.

How amazing is it to know that He seeks us out? He searches our innermost being. He desires us, wretched sinners that we are. When we had/have no desire for Him, He still pursues us. His breath gives us life; His Spirit awakens our soul. He gives us the ability to see His beauty and love in ways that are only possible through Him. 

In the depths of the sons of Korsh's despair, they found help in the depth of God’s goodness, and they were able to say in conclusion, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again—my Savior and my God!” (Psalm 42:11).

Time to Reflect:

Can you recall a time in your past when God answered your deep, heart-felt longing? Perhaps the situation hadn't changed at that time, as in the case of this psalm, but being reminded of God's care, compassion and His involvement made all the difference? 

Are you quick to pour your heart out to God, or are you one who keeps it suppressed too long?

I hope you'll come share on WitW and brag on our Father and Savior a bit today.

Let's Pray:

O Father, deep calls to deep so my heart longs to answer your call to go deeper and more intimate in my relationship with You. I can actually thank You for the times of loneliness and despair, for even then I am never alone, and now I realize that it is in those seasons when I grow to know and love You more. Forgive me for the times when my thoughts turn inward and I grow sorrowful and depressed, and help me to run to You right away. Help me to remember You are always there calling me deeper. In Your precious Son's name I pray. Amen. 

Blessings,

Our Reading:  Psalm 3 and Ephesians 4:26 

Have you ever had a sleepless night where you couldn’t get the thoughts in your head to turn off? Has your mind replayed spoken words and troubling details like a recording on a continuous loop? Or perhaps you weren’t as focused on what had already transpired but instead, were troubled by what was yet to unfold. Did you dwell on the fear, anxiety and anticipation of what the future might hold?

I think we all could identify with times when we have wrestled with troubling thoughts and sleepless nights. After all, we can not control all of the events and circumstances that impact us. David also knew what it was like to be in dire circumstances. He was pursued on multiple occasions by those whom he loved and yet they meant him harm. But David gives us the answer to gaining peace of mind and restful sleep. 

“But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭3:3‬ ‭

David placed his inability to control his circumstances into the hands of the One who could control all circumstances. David used beautiful imagery of God as:

-A shield about Him: We can take comfort in knowing that God can protect us and will not let anything touch us that has not been first sifted through His loving hands. Even difficult trials can be transformed by God into what He purposes for good.

-his glory: We can take our focus off of earthly troubles and focus as David did on the majesty and awe of God’s presence with us. Honoring and pleasing God should far outweigh anything else in our life, including the opinions of man or any material gain/ position.

-the lifter of his head: When our head is bowed down with weariness, depression or worry, we can find renewed comfort, hope, and strength as we surrender our circumstances to Him. He will carry our burdens for us and lift our countenance as we lean on Him. 

David focused on God’s ability vs his inability. He poured out his heart to God and then he rested in the knowledge that God heard his prayer.

“I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.” Psalm‬ ‭3:4-5‬ ‭

Reflection:

1. How do you cope with sleepless nights and troubling thoughts? 
2. When you can’t sleep, do you turn to the Lord in prayer and seek wisdom in His Word?
3. Can you entrust your circumstances to God? 

Let’s Pray:

Father, We thank you for being a shield around us to protect us in this fallen world. May the splendor of Your Glory surround us with awe and wonder as we turn our eyes from worldly cares to focus on You, our Creator. We thank You for being the One who sustains us day by day. Grant us Your peace Lord and the blessing of restful sleep as we learn to trust in Your love and provision for our needs.           

Becky