Old Jerry

I think that the lament ends with an upswing of hope and praise is because even though they are depressed they know that God will do something to relieve them of their distress. So this should also teach us to trust God because we know that he is going to be doing something good for us. I think that praise, the language of faith, is so important in our prayers because we know that God is improving our life in this situation and that if we keep our faith it will become stronger.

I think that the lament ends with an upswing of hope and praise is because even though they are depressed they know that God will do something to relieve them of their distress. So this should also teach us to trust God because we know that he is going to be doing something good for us. I think that praise, the language of faith, is so important in our prayers because we know that God is improving our life in this situation and that if we keep our faith it will become stronger.

David knew that God would and has forgiven him for what he had done and David had put it behind him. He didn’t keep bringing it upon himself and keep reminding himself what he had done. He had turned that baggage over to God. If we are willing to lay down our baggage at the feet of Jesus and not keep picking it up again, the God’s grace and mercy will be the same for us as it was for David.

I think that Psalm 98 says the things that I feel inside but I can’t to express them in public and that is to “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!” (Psalm 98:4) I am able to sing praises to the Lord but I can’t seem to have exuberates that I think I should have.

The reasons we are given to praise the Lord is because He has done marvelous things. He has made known his salvation and has revealed his righteousness in sight of the nations. I think that praise is so exuberant in this psalm is because they have so much to be grateful for. In our congregation and in my life we have exuberant praise because God has been so good to us.

I think that the reason that the command to worship is in the psalm is because it is in a poet setting and in that setting it is easier to remember what was being said. We have always used poetry to express our love. I think that the warning that is at the end of the psalm is there to remind us that if we are to worship God then we should be will to follow his laws. This fits with the earlier elements of the psalm in that if we love God we will do as He tells us to.

This psalm teaches us that we should be praising God at all times and in all places. We can praise him in our music, with wind instruments, with sting instruments, with percussion instruments and with singing. We should all be praising God. It should be read out loud because it a high energy type psalm.

The exercise that I did was to meditate on Psalm 133. I would like to see us be in unity. I have always dreamed of being in one with others of the faith.

The thing I like about this Psalm is the unity that it talks about. That would be wonderful if we could be unified. There would be nothing that could not be accomplished if we Christians would unify. I think that “dwelling together in unity” is so difficult is because we all want things our way. We don’t want to compromise with each other because we are right and the other is wrong. Besides unity requires us to compromise. Unity and purity conflict with each other because in order to have unity you have to have compromise where purity says that we don’t compromise. We should never compromise on core issues but on non-core issues there should be compromise.

The way that I would use this Wisdom Psalm is to first use myself. The after I have done that I would instruct my children to do the same. I have always believed that if you want your children to do the right thing you must be doing it also. There are ten topics is right living listed. They all talk about the way that we should live.

We have to be reminded that the righteous will succeed and the wicked will perish because we are always being bombarded by the evil one. He would like us to think that our righteousness is useless and we can’t get anywhere with it. The part of the Psalm that I like is when it says that wicked will blow away like the chaff and the righteous will prosper. That give me an image that stands out in my mind.

I prayed a Psalm and it really dose lift up my heart. The Psalm that I prayed had some things in there that were quite true for me, but I have asked God for forgiveness for not being the way that it should be.

To know that God loves me is to know that he will not harm me. He will always be there for me and I have faith in that. When I love somebody I know that I don’t want any harm to come to them. This is the same as God’s love for me.

The psalmist is feeling downcast during this spiritual struggle. He is combatting his spiritual depression by talking to himself. He is trying to booster his spirit. I have felt that way at times. And I seem to do the same that the psalmist is doing by talking to myself. The way that I reached out to God at times like this is just to go into a prayer and ask Him for His help. I try to let Him guide me through the circumstance.

To “dwell in the house of the Lord” means to be close to the Lord at all times. And to “seek his face” is to be able to communicate with the Lord.

This exercise has brought the real meaning of the Psalms to me. I had read them a lot of times and had prayed them a few times but I have gotten so much out of them as I have now. It really humbles me when we are but a spec in God’s eyes and that He cares for us so much.

I think the way that creation seem to affect the psalmist is that he thinks of the greatest things that have been made and marvels at it. Then he thinks about how it must have been made and is amazed of how it must have been done. In the concluding prayer he asks God to search him for the things and are impure and to put him the path to eternal life.

The Psalmist was speaking of the great expanse that God has provided for us to see his power and then he sifts to showing us his powerful word. The way that the psalmist seems to bask in God’s Word is that he talked about the great expanse before he talked about His word. He related Gods word to how the sun shines on us and can feel the rays just like God’s word. Sometimes when I am having a down day I also like to bask in the sun and in God’s word. That just brings peace to my heart. The Psalmist’s wonder in creation seems to affect him in this psalm because he can see God’s great works and he know that God has great things for him if he stays in his word. In the classic prayer of verse 14 David is asking God to help him take care of outer being as well as his inner being.

This psalm teaches us that God is all powerful and that He loves us even though we are but a speck in his universe. We humans are to take care of the creation that God created. This teaches us that Christ was put here on earth so that we could be reconciled to God. We are responsible to take care of the creation that God has created.

Paul curses those who do not believe in the Lord. He invites all to come quickly I think that Paul looked forward to Christ’s coming because he was tired and wanted to see him. I feel the same way sometimes. I know that being in the Lord’s kingdom will be the greatest thing that will happen and Paul has be teaching the same thing.

It takes a lot of courage and faith to minister in the face of opposition. I think that the reason that opposition nearly always accompany success is because we are in a spiritual war and the enemy is always to bringing more weapons to the fight. If we aren’t being successful then we wouldn’t have to worry about the opposition.

I think that Paul’s wording “if the Lord permits” teaches us that we can make plans but we have got to be listening to God in order to carry out those plans because He may have a different direction that He wants us to go. Planning without this mindset is actually arrogant because it means that we think we have everything in control. We have got to listen to God.

It teaches us that regular giving is the best way of giving. It means that we don’t have make a big sacrifice all at once to help others by giving on a regular bases. If we make it a planned event then it is easier to give and we don’t have to rush around the last minute to donate to God’s church.

I think that the reason we sometimes get discouraged in serving the Lord is we see other loafing around and doing nothing. I am glad that I can be part of the 20% that has been called to help the way that I do but it does get discouraging. The thing that motivates me is knowing that I am doing it for the Lord.

It teaches us that when Christ returns that we who are in Him will be resurrected and if we are alive we will be transformed. Knowing this it encourages me to stay in Jesus because we know that there is nothing in this world that can take this away from us.