Monday, December 10th Read Psalm 1 Praise the LORD, my soul. I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them he remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, 8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. 10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Psalm 1 begins series of five final songs in the Book of Psalms, and the five are known as the Hallelujah Psalms. As we have journeyed through the psalms, we have studied the writers griefs, shames, sins, doubts, and fears. We have witnessed the people of God in their defeats and victories, their ups and downs of life. We have encountered rebellious words and struggling faith. All this is behind us now, in these final psalms every word is praise. Hallelujah is a Hebrew term meaning boast in the Lord! another way of expressing is Let s give glory and praise to the Lord and none other! Magnifying the Lord is the single objective of these last five psalms. While the Lord is to be praised, even the highest of human beings, such as princes or presidents, are not worthy of our confidence. We are sure to be disappointed when we put
trust in those who are imperfect and fallible. When we put our trust in man, we rob God of his glory; we are giving to others the confidence which belongs to Him alone. God can be trusted because He is a moral, upright God. He is immutable and the champion of justice for the oppressed and the needy. In all this we see a God of power, holiness, and love. This is a God who can be trusted with confidence. In verses seven through nine the list of those afflicted can be connected to the work of Jesus. He applied these verses to himself in the synagogue at Nazareth in Luke :18-19. The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord s favor. Let s praise our Maker for his endless reign of glory and love for all! Tuesday, December 11th Read Psalm 17:1-11 How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. 7 Sing to the LORD with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. 8 He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. 9 He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. 10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; 11 the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
The psalm quickly begins to describe the goodness and greatness of God and give reasons for His praise. The first reason is God s active care for Jerusalem. This is a likely reference to its restoration after the exile when in the book of Nehemiah, the Levites were brought to the city to lead a grand celebration. Next the psalm moves on to witness that God not only cares for communities, as he restores Jerusalem, He also cares for individuals. Those who are wounded and brokenhearted are special objects of His care. The same God who cares for the individual also knows and names all the stars. His majesty extends in both directions, from the span of the universe to the individual need. God is limitless, He is big. He is working on the largest imaginable scale down to the intimate and intricate details of our hearts. He has complete knowledge of all things in every way, yet He's very close, healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds. It is when we recognize God s might and our own weakness that we learn to lean on him. It is this attitude of humble dependence on him which delights our God. In verses 10 and 11 the psalmist contrasts the apparent strength of horses and men with the weakness of those whose only hope is in the Lord s love. God is not delighted by our attempts at selfsufficiency and independence, but rather by our confession that He alone is our hope. Speaking out and singing our praise to God reminds us of who He is. As we declare His characteristics, we begin to wonder why we ever doubt his ability or willingness to come to our aid. He is the one who protects us, blesses us and provides for us. It pleases God when we hope in His loyal love and His loving kindness. Fowler, Bryan. God of Big and Small... EMMAUS A Jesus Church in Cary, NC, 017, emmausrdu.com/emmaus-blog/god-of-big-and-small. Leaning on His Love. Scripture Union, 01, scriptureunion.org/dailydiscovery/leaning-on-his-love/. Wednesday, December 1th Read Psalm 17:1-0 1 Extol the LORD, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion. 1 He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. 1 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. 1 He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 1 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast? 18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow. 19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. 0 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. The exhortation to praise comes again. The more we understand the power and care of God, the more we should praise Him. He has strengthened the bars of your gates begins a series of four great and compassionate acts of God for His people. Each of these give reason for praise and gratitude for a specific goodness: He gives security (strengthened the bars of your gates) He gives a future (blessed your people within you) He gives peace (peace in your borders) He gives provision (fills you with the finest wheat) In line 1, He sends out His command to the earth, begins a series of short descriptions of God s presence and work in the natural world. God s work in natural begins with His command to the earth His word runs very swiftly. The Apostle Paul asked for prayer in Thessalonians :1 asking that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified. Perhaps, Paul had verse 1 in mind when he wrote those words. Verse 19, He has revealed His word to Jacob, talks to the idea of the same God that orders and directs the natural world through His Word has also brought the revelation of His heart and mind through His Word to Israel. God uniquely chose Israel to be the receivers and guardians of His revealed word. He has not simply directed a sequence of actions to be carried out but open Himself up to Israel His special people. Now, we as believers in Christ, continue to carry the responsibility and privilege of sharing His Word with the world. Understanding the greatness of God, His care for humanity, all of nature and the remarkable power of His Word should move us to praise Him all the more. Hallelujah!
Thursday, December 1th Read Psalm 10 Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. The psalmist urges us to voice our praises to God. He loves to hear us respond with fresh and spontaneous expressions of delight. In the days of the psalmist, it was common for God s people to literally dance for joy and play on musical instruments when they were filled with praise. David danced in the street when the ark was brought back into the city of David in Samuel. Miriam, Moses s sister, danced in praise of God after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. The dancing in Scripture was done out of praise in one s heart to God for His blessings and deliverance. We are to give our Lord fresh unrestrained exclamations of praise for the care and provisions He has bestowed on us. God s throne is a place of worship and celebration. It is also a place of trembling and awe. A place of right reverence. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The wise see and celebrate God, not just as their Father whom they owe adoration, but as their King to whom they owe their total allegiance. As we learn to look at God with awe, it helps us to worry less about ourselves and turn our eyes toward others. As we turn toward God, it helps us establish our self-worth in the best possible way we understand both our significance within creation and our significance to our Creator. We can miss majesty when it is right in front of us if we do not approach Scripture and our relationship with the Lord as worthy of praise and worship. As we read and spend time with the Lord, put on eyes that hunger for a loftier vision of who God is. Our God is a God of no limits, and therefore, utterly unlike anyone or anything we know. When we lose sight of the majesty of God, we fill in his limitlessness with our limits. We define His attributes with boundaries of our own making. Don t miss the view, lift up your eyes with Praises of our infinite Lord! None like Him: 10 Ways God Is Different from Us (and Why That's a Good Thing), by Jen Wilkin, Crossway, 01. Swindoll, Charles R. Living the Psalms: Encouragement for the Daily Grind. Worthy Publishing, 01.