Day to Day

Psalm 96:2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.

I love this.

I have noticed that my daughter’s kids go around singing songs they’ve heard her play, songs on the radio, or tunes from the TV.  Kids soak up what they hear, and they love to repeat the tunes and learn the words.

Imagine what our kids would grow up singing and believing if they heard nothing but spontaneous lyrics coming out of our mouths that bless his name!?

Sing of his goodness, make up tunes about his provision, hum happy tunes of praise to his name, make melodies and lyrics that proclaim the character of God.

And see if your whole house isn’t full of his joy and provision, and your children aren’t filled with his goodness, as well!

What comes out of our mouths indicates what’s in our hearts.  So if HE is in there, sing it out loud of what he’s done for you and yours.

And sing it over and over again, until those who hear it come and join you in faith and praise.

The Unending Sum

Psalm 71:15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And of Your salvation all day long; For I do not know the sum of them.

Isn’t this a cool verse?

What comes out of our mouths in the course of a day?  Griping about our government?  Complaining about our homes?  Cursing those who drive ahead of us in traffic?  Gossip about our husbands to our co-workers?

If we just trained ourselves to think about what comes out of our mouths to be that which glorifies Him – like gratefulness, kindness toward others, faith in his goodness – we’d experience the joy of salvation all day.

And at the end of the night we’d total up his goodness and kind deeds towards us, only that total would never come, because there’s too much to count.

Count your blessings.

Name them one by one.

See what God has done.

The Burden Bearer

Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation. 

Think about a daily burden bearer.  He shows up at your house when you awake and he asks, “What’s loading you down today?” You talk about your finances, your health, your kids, etc. and how you’re heavy with worry and doubt.  He opens his big bag and asks you to dump those worries inside and let him ride off into the sunset, carrying them for you today, while he works on each concern of your heart.  Would you give them to this kind person?

The Lord is our daily burden bearer.  Seriously, if we are heavy footed, he wants to lighten our load so that we can sprint.  He says his burdens are easy and his burdens are light, so if we are heavy – those are burdens we are not meant to carry!

God is our salvation.  We’ve been reading it over and over and over again.   And he is to be blessed by our praise and with our trust.

Cast your cares on him.

He cares for you.

He loves you.

Waiting...

Psalm 62: 1,2 My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.

Have you ever had to wait a long time in silence for anything?  It’s unnerving isn’t it? Especially if there is nothing to read, watch, or no one to talk with.  Now that we all have electronics, there is never a time when we are not connected with someone somewhere. 

But there are times when it’s good to wait in silence.

In silence we hear no noise, we are not distracted by questions and conversations, and we are acutely aware of His presence when he speaks.

He speaks to us and reminds us that he is our Savior, our rock, and our stronghold.

And all of that reminding reveals that we cannot be shaken or torn or destroyed, because we belong to Him.

Wait in the silence and listen for his voice, and see if you don’t feel want to linger there a while longer while just you and He converse, sing together, and enjoy each other’s company.

Three Things

Psalm 40:16 Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let those who love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!”

We who seek the Lord are told to do three things here:

Rejoice

Be glad

Magnify him

Rejoicing is really something we cannot do unless we are glad, so we must speak to our souls when we are downcast and tell our souls to rejoice – even if we feel like pouting.

Magnifying him is something we do with our mouths, ascribing to him all of the beauty of his name – he is holy, he is just, he is loving, he kind, he is good – you get the picture.

I think one of the best antidotes for depression is true gladness of heart that leads to rejoicing that ends in magnifying who God is.  It lifts even the soul in the pit out of the darkness into the light.

But...He Is

Psalm 37:39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble.

There is no other name on this earth that can sustain us like Jesus.  No president, no spouse, no boss, no child, no one can be with us like He can right in the middle of trouble. 

When trouble comes, we feel weak and helpless.  When a child is ill, we can do nothing but lean on the knowledge of medicine and hope.  When a job is lost, we can do nothing but our best to try and find a new one.  And when the future looks bleak, we can only prepare so much, and then hope for the best.  All of that requires a lot of effort on our part and on the part of others, and even our best efforts often fail.

The Lord never fails.  He  may be slow to answer, silent at times, or say no to our requests, but it’s only because he sees the outcome, what we deeply need, and our awesome future of abundance ahead.

We can trust him like we trust no other.  He is our Savior and our hope that does not disappoint.

The Lord Is

Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?

What do you fear and dread?  

I think if we listen to the news very much, we dread the future.  Maybe we fear death, loss of a job, or illness.  Fear is a monster that appears like a shadow on our walls and it looks bigger than life.

However, the Lord is our light and salvation.  He’s also our defense against all things fearful and dreadful.

It’s really our choice and it takes training our minds to think the truth.

We can dwell on the things that scare us, or we can live in the truth that sustains us.

I want to daily choose Him, my defender, when I am weak.