Seeing Jesus in the Psalms (at least the 3 today)

“O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples, And I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the clouds.” Psalm108:1-4 NKJV

Worship – When was the last time you really go onto worshiping and thought you might wake the morning?  I must admit it was been too long since I did last – because it was NOT today! I wish it was. But the cares of this world come in and so does the being busy and we just don’t allot ourselves the time to get lost in the spirit.  This Psalm is about being assured of the victory and this is how it starts?! This is going to be good!!! SO GOOD!!!

Dear Heavenly Father – As always, please open eye to see and our ears to hear what you are saying! Lord – open our understanding that we may know you. Please do not let us miss out on what you want and need from us today. And please keep us and bless us and shine your face upon us and pour out grace over us and give us peace! Thank you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Today’s reading is from the book of Psalms, chapters 108 through 110 (embedded below the image below for your convenience).  As I said, this first Psalm, today, is about Assurance of God’s Victory over Enemies – So timely with world events being what they are. And timely as each of us overcome our own battles and enemies. If we broaden our outlook it is a promise that Jesus overcame. Although this is not typically “known” as a messianic prophecy Psalm, when we put it together with the other two, today we have such a clear picture of the assurance that through Jesus is victory physically and personally

And this victory over our enemies is almost repeated in Psalm 109 which speaks of Judgment of False Accusers. The accuser of the brethren is satan (as we discussed back in the book of Job).  This also points to the work of the cross and the spiritual victory over the accuser and death.

And then we conclude with a messianic psalm – The Announcement of the Messiah’s Reign! GLORY TO GOD! Today is an entire day of God revealing His grace and transformative and restorative plan – but only to those who have ears to hear and eyes to see.

Sometime when you are good and made righteous in the eyes of God – the accuser twists it like everything else he always twists and makes it wrong to do right.  Suddenly you are the bad guy at work because you are the too good and you might tell on the others (or in actuality God in you convicts them).  Tonight, having a conversation with a fairly recent college grad – and she spoke of the unfair amounts of pressure put on them, which I knew from conversations with my son – but I learned that the same thing happens to these kids. At a time in their lives when they are for the first time out on their own and this mis-trust and pressure against the “good guy” isolates them.  I suppose – when I look at the last time I experienced it at work it also isolated me. As an adult I am theoretically better equipped to handle it and it was only happening at work. It isn’t happening in my “whole world” (meaning dorm life, cafeteria life, classroom life and socializing life – if effects these children in every area). The accuser’s lie comes through and accuses in many ways – like you are wrong if you do wrong, but if he cannot accuse you he will make doing right the wrong thing to do.

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20 NKJV

Woe to the time in which we live. The days surely are darkening. But we have a glorious hope and we have an assured victory! We have a true salvation!  And we have a loving heavenly father who holds us tenderly in His hands as we repent and turn to Him daily.  And we have the added blessing of a relationship with Him.

We sing that song in church the “I’m not here for blessings” – BUT YES I AM! I am here for those very promises He promised! Those very promises of victory, deliverance, salvation – and His love felt through a real relationship with a living and powerful God.

If not – why would I be here? If God offered me the same defeat and destruction the world offered, what would be the point?!

The song continues “I just want you” and I agree one hundred percent –cause His love, promised providence and protection (aka blessings) are completely entangled with who God is – so much so the Bible literally says “God is Love”.  You too can have a relationship with God if you don’t already.

RELATIONSHIP:
Do you already have a relationship with a powerful God who cares about your every need because He loves you? Did you know my God can communicate with you and protect you – He has a plan for you to prosper if you just submit to His will and let His plan play out in your life!!! God wants a relationship with you and has already made a plan for your life. He loves you so much He sent His son to this world, to die as a sacrifice for your sins and rise from death with victory over sin and the ability to have a personal relationship with you.
“⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus, I believe you are the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be. Help me through a real personal relationship grow and accept your will for my life – that I may live in your blessings. Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen

MEMORY WORK: Mark 16:17-18 – This month is a two for one special!!!
NKJV – “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
NAS – “These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
ESV – “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
NLT – “These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”
NIV – “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

Thank you for reading.
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

BIBLE READING: Psalm 108-110 NKJV

Assurance of God’s Victory over Enemies
A Song. A Psalm of David.

108 O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
² Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.
³ I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples,
And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
⁴ For Your mercy is great above the ^[a]heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the clouds.

⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
And Your glory above all the earth;
⁶ That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and ^[b]hear me.

⁷ God has spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice;
I will divide Shechem
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
⁸ Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the ^[c]helmet for My head;
Judah is My lawgiver.
⁹ Moab is My washpot;
Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
Over Philistia I will triumph.”

¹⁰ Who will bring me into the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
¹¹ Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
¹² Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.
¹³ Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.

Plea for Judgment of False Accusers
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

109 Do not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
² For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
³ They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me without a cause.
⁴ In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
⁵ Thus they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.

⁶ Set a wicked man over him,
And let an ^[d]accuser stand at his right hand.
⁷ When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And let his prayer become sin.
⁸ Let his days be few,
And let another take his office.
⁹ Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
¹⁰ Let his children ^[e]continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them ^[f]seek their bread also from their desolate places.
¹¹ Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.
¹² Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
¹³ Let his ^[g]posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

¹⁴ Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
¹⁵ Let them be continually before the Lord,
That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
¹⁶ Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the broken in heart.
¹⁷ As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
¹⁸ As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
¹⁹ Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
²⁰ Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.

²¹ But You, O God the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
²² For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
²³ I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
²⁴ My knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
²⁵ I also have become a reproach to them;
When they look at me, they shake their heads.

²⁶ Help me, O Lord my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
²⁷ That they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, Lord, have done it!
²⁸ Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let Your servant rejoice.
²⁹ Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.

³⁰ I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.
³¹ For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
To save him from those ^[h]who condemn him.

Announcement of the Messiah’s Reign
A Psalm of David.

110 The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
² The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!

³ Your people shall be volunteers
In the day of Your power;
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
You have the dew of Your youth.
⁴ The Lord has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”

⁵ The Lord is at Your right hand;
He shall ^[i]execute kings in the day of His wrath.
⁶ He shall judge among the nations,
He shall fill the places with dead bodies,
He shall ^[j]execute the heads of many countries.
⁷ He shall drink of the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He shall lift up the head.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 108:4 skies
2. Psalm 108:6 Lit. answer
3. Psalm 108:8 Lit. protection
4. Psalm 109:6 Heb. satan
5. Psalm 109:10 wander continuously
6. Psalm 109:10 So with MT, Tg.; LXX, Vg. be cast out
7. Psalm 109:13 descendants be destroyed
8. Psalm 109:31 Lit. judging his soul
9. Psalm 110:5 Lit. break kings in pieces
10. Psalm 110:6 Lit. break in pieces