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Category: What does this PSALM sing to you?

Psalms - 150 songs of worship from the Old Testament
Psalms praise the Lord

Psalms is a hymn book, full of praises and pleas of emotion. Share a favorite Psalm and tell us what it means to you. Do you have a link to a contemporary Christian song with a lyric from Psalms? Please share that with us as well. Share a hymns text. PRAISE THE LORD in our Christian Social Witness for Jesus. COMMENT on a verse or an entire Psalm. How does it affect your? (These speak to so many of our daily troubles and God’s availability to His created ones. How does this Psalm sing about Jesus Christ? What is your WITNESS of Christ Jesus to your SOCIAL friends through this Psalm or song? We praise you for your Post and WITNESS for the LORD.

  • For you will always have the poor – 3

    For you will always have the poor – 3

    For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ – Deuteronomy 15:11

    Certainly Jesus could have been referring to this command of Moses.

    Thus far we have examined two of the three reports of Jesus telling us that the poor are always with us. (Our Lord means no disrespect.) Before moving on to His point in the anointing with oil and returning to the final quote, let’s take a brief Biblical look at the needy.

    Psalms

    9:18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
    and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

    10:2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
    let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.

    14:6 You would shame the plans of the poor,
    but the LORD is his refuge.

    113:7 He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap

    Proverbs

    14:21 Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner,
    but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.

    19:1 Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity
    than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.

    28:6 Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity
    than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.

    Judge rightly between the words of Jesus  and the integrity of the one who remarked that the extravagant anointing of Jesus kept help from the poor.

    “And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” tweet=”Luke 6:20
    Luke 6:30-36

    Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

    And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

    30 hour famine - prayer for the poor“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.

    But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

    Who has the LORD chosen?

    Has the Lord not chosen the poor, the humble and the least of those among men a His own servants?

    “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?” tweet=”But you have dishonored the poor man. James 2:5-6a 

    Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. – Colossians 3:12-14

    To be continued…

  • A Psalm of Thanksgiving – Psalm 100, Psalm 50

    A Psalm of Thanksgiving – Psalm 100, Psalm 50

    Psalm 100

    Who is giving thanks? And to whom? “For what do we give thanks on Thanksgiving?” 

    The New International Version tells us it is For giving grateful praise. The New King James Version calls it, A Song of Praise for the Lord’s Faithfulness to His People and the English Standard Version, borrowing from its text reminds us, His Steadfast Love Endures Forever.

    מִזְמֹור לְתֹודָה

    A Psalm of Praise, in Hebrew, תּוֹדָה, towdah, a common theme in the Psalms, means, thanksgiving.

    “Thanksgiving, done proper, is worship of the Lord God.”

    Psalm 100 for the year of our Lord, 2016

    A select version of verses 1-5

    A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

    Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

    Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.

    Acknowledge that the Lord is God!

    It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
    We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

    Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
    And into His courts with praise.

    Give thanks to him; bless his name!

    For the Lord is good.
    His unfailing love continues forever,

    And His truth endures to all generations.

    תּוֹדָה tôwdâh -a definition:

    תּוֹדָה tôwdâh, to-daw’; from H3034; properly, an extension of the hand, i.e. (by implication) avowal, or (usually) adoration; specifically, a choir of worshippers:—confession, (sacrifice of) praise, thanks(-giving, offering).

    give praise to God
    thanksgiving in songs of liturgical worship, hymn of praise
    thanksgiving choir or procession or line or company
    thank-offering, sacrifice of thanksgiving
    confession

    An extension of the hand

    Psalm 100, though written for the Hebrew people speaks to all. Make a joyful shout, a joyful noise, a celebration unto the LORD, all you lands, all people, all of His creation, all of the earth. And why not? Has the Lord God not been gracious to many peoples of many lands, most especially US?

    This should be a time of joyful songs, not quiet personal celebration of what we have done. We have food, we have shelter, most of us have not been driven from our homes, like those so oppressed in lands of conflict. We are blessed!

    “Is it not appropriate for us to extend our hand of thanks to the Lord who has provided for us so abundantly?” Thanksgiving is an extension of praise and worship to our One Provider.”

    The long tradition which precedes Thursday’s annual holiday is worship, acknowledging the Lord who provides the fruits of the harvest. At times some have no food, yet even these learn to rely on the graciousness of God – all the more reason to say more than grace over our meal.

    What is our problem with God?

    It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. Even if sinful man points to a big bang without cause, reason or likelihood, we like to take credit for everything we do – all we accomplish, even the very act of creation, cell from cell or primate from amphibian. Some even would imagine alien intelligence (yet who created them) before humbly considering a God greater than man. We don’t want to be sheep and certainly resist being led by a God or a King or even someone of an opposing political persuasion.

    Know that the Lord, he is God! Acknowledge that the Lord is God! We know it in our hearts, but a certain humility must bow down to worship the One we do not understand with all power and mercy we cannot comprehend.

    Perhaps you never thought of this as a time of worship or a place to have your hands extended in praise and thanksgiving to your creator who knows each synapse of your thoughts and every pulsing of your heart. Though you resist any as King over you, even a most benevolent Lord over all of our provision, the King of the heavens and earth welcomes you through the gates of the eternal place of worship and into the courts of loving worshipers saved in the blood of His own Sacrifice for our sins.

    The LORD יְהֹוָה Yĕhovah

    Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. Give thanks to him and praise his name. Do you need a reason to make the Lord the center of your celebrations? It’s really quite simple: He is good. The LORD is good.

    [ctt title=”What man can claim the righteousness of the LORD our God?” tweet=”Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. – Psalm 100:4b” coverup=”doKDN”]

    For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever… Not only is the Lord good – the only One – God’s love endures. Whose love in your life has endured more than a season? Who truly loves you until your death… and beyond, can a mortal soul love your flawed flesh forever? The Lord will when you extend your hand in worship.

    His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation. His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. Praise the Lord with what words the Spirit will share. God is good.

    Mark this, then…

    Psalm 50:22-23

    “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
    lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!

    The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
    to one who orders his way rightly
    I will show the salvation of God!”

  • I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills – Psalm 121

    I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills – Psalm 121

    Psalm 121

    I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,

    from whence cometh my help.

    I don’t know about you, but I have had a rough week. Perhaps you have had a tough month or maybe this past year didn’t go how you had hoped. So we come to a Sabbath rest, a time of stillness and contemplation and ask, ‘What to do now?’

    On a night of exhaustion from one such time a song came to mind, a song of ascents.

    I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?

    From familiar scripture read in my youth, sung in church, taught in a classroom and contemplated in the weak and lonely hours, the question echos in the darkness of despair as an echo in seemingly empty mountains. Where does my help come from?

    Ever feel helpless? Has a moment of sense humbled you in your selfish thoughts that you control your every day, each move toward success and joy and riches? Has a brief moment with your own soul brought you to a place where you must look up to something, lest you look down in despair forever?

    My help cometh from the Lord,

    which made heaven and earth.

    Psalm 10:4 challenges the self of one who does not believe the God who made all things can help:

    ‘In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”’

    Yet another Psalm [19:1] sings out even to the unbeliever:

    ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.’

    How could the God who watches over universes, solar systems, innumerable planets, incomprehensible sub-atomic systems and intricately engineered cell structures be so powerless as to not watch over your soul?

    He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:

    he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

    Even the most powerful of mankind and the richest of rulers will bow down to the One Almighty God, Creator and LORD over all things!

    Can the Judge of all souls not keep you? Will the LORD not help those who bow down to His will and not our own selfish ways?

    Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

    Do not be thrown that the LORD is worshiped as the God of Israel. This  Psalm of David is humble acknowledgement by a powerful King who united twelve tribes of Israel. The Lord was glorified though David, King of a chosen people.

    Christ Jesus, crucified on a cross as ‘King of the Jews’ for redemption of our sins brought the very humility of God to the promises of the generations. A thousand years after King David and two thousand years ago, the LORD God, Father of all creation, chose not only the chosen of Abraham but the chosen of the nations, those in generations to come.

    Christ was lifted up on a cross as perfect sacrifice for our sins. He IS raised up in righteousness as redemption before Almighty God. Jesus Incarnate, the Messiah Jesus, is keeper of our souls.

    You who have bowed down to the LORD, God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, have a help higher than the hills. We have Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit of the LORD God as our help from above, a guide to our soul.

    The Lord is thy keeper: שָׁמַר

    the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. צֵל

    The sun shall not smite thee by day, נָכָה

    nor the moon by night.

    The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil:

    he shall preserve thy soul.

    The Lord seeks humble followers, even powerful kings and lowly peasants. The Lord is keeper of His own sheep. He watches over the souls of His beloved. Christ keeps the lives of true believers.

    Is it not evil that torments us – evil of our own and evil of our enemies, the unrelenting hand of wickedness of the enemies of the Lord of love?

    Shalom

    Pray for your enemies, that they may see the Lord in your love. Is it not peace the Lord would have for His own?

    The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in

    from this time forth, and even for evermore.

    Amen