Psalms 59:17, “To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; For God is my defense, My God of mercy.”

When we look at the life of God (which we do not know when it started), God has been perfect beyond measure or compare. One of His most admirable traits is His mercy. It is truly magnificent. This is why we owe the song to the merciful One..

O my Strength. God is truly our strength through all of life. He is so under-utilized, though. There is so mu ch more that God can help us with, but foolishly, we try to do it on our own. We try to take on so much and we are not strong enough to do this. Instead, we need to focus on giving our lives to God. Part of this means giving our problems to God. Giving our stresses, anxieties, depressions, losses and fears to Him.

I will sing praises. We all need to step up and sing of the praises that we have to God. It is not of us that we accomplish anything. Anything that we do well is due in whole to God. It is not of ourselves. We should always be singing praises to God because He is more than worth it. God has been there before us, during us, and after us. There is nothing that God cannot do.

For God is my defense. When the world tries to tear us down, God is there as our defense. He is there to pick us up and dust us off. He is there to clean us up and tell us that everything is going to be fine. God keeps so much of the bad away from us. When bad does come to us, it serves as a lesson of how much we need God. God is there with us even when bad things happen.

My God of mercy. God is a God of mercy. Because of our lives, we deserve death. We deserve rejection from God because we do not measure up to the level of perfection that God attains. Yet, God gives us mercy. He gives us mountain after mountain of mercy. We didn’t earn it. We can’t buy it. It is freely given. It is through the unfailing love of God that the mercy runs from God like a rushing river. He is the merciful One. He is all that we need.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for being our strength, defense, and giver of mercy. You are all that we need and You are always there. We can call out to You at any time. We can come to You in song and praise. Your name is worthy of all our worship.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

Wickedness, Not Righteousness

Psalms 58:1-2, “Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men? No, in heart you work wickedness; You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.”

People, due to sinful nature, do things that they should not do. People who purposefully do things wrong over and over again are considered bad or wicked. They do not want to do good for any number of reasons. They choose wickedness, not righteousness.

Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? There are those out there in the world that choose to stay silent when bad things happen all around them. They choose to ignore the situation and act like it is not happening. This does not help the situation. This is not righteous behavior. When Jesus saw bad things happening, He chose to speak up and not stay silent. He chose to speak out against the unrighteous behavior of man.

Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men? Due to unrighteous behavior, people are poor judges of themselves, but that does not mean that people do not judge other people. Only God can judge fairly because He is without sin. He is able to hold everyone to one standard. Sinless or sinful. Everyone falls into the sinful category. The only way to become sinless is to accept the salvation that Jesus died on the cross for.

In heart you work wickedness. Instead of be righteous, people practice wickedness. We get angry and call people names. We steal. We lie. We cheat. We murder and so much more. There are so many crimes that we commit against God. Every sin flies in the face of a holy God. Besides all the acts that we commit, there are many more that are thought up and never carried out. These, according to God, are still sin.

You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. People are constantly committing crimes all over the world. There are wars that are happening. There are atrocities all around us. People treat other people so poorly. The wickedness is rampant and it seems like there is no end to it. The only hope for humanity is to put their whole trust in God. Only God can be our righteous judge.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for loving us even though we are a wicked people. Thank You for the salvation that You offer even though we do not deserve it. Help us to push out all wickedness.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

Trust in the Refuge of God

Psalms 57:1, “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.”

Bird, especially penguins, are very protective of their young. They will sit on their eggs until they are born and after birth, they will continue to watch over their young. Like a baby bird with a mother, we can trust in the refuge of God.

Be merciful to me, O God. Even though God does not have to, we ask God to be merciful. We do not want to be punished for our sins. We do not want to pay for all that God says we are. God is merciful because He does not make humanity pay for the sin that they have committed. He is merciful even though humanity has time and time again turned their backs on Him. Humanity even had God’s only Son killed. God has no reason to be merciful but He is.

For my soul trusts in You. Our souls were created by God. We are made by God and He has never given us a reason to doubt Him. He cannot lie. He cannot deceive us. He wants what is best for us. God will protect us if we will simply trust in Him. He will not allow us to spiritually die if we trust in Him. We will have a home in Heaven if we trust in Him.

In the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge. We have a home in God and He will protect us on all sides. That does not mean that we will not be attacked every once in a while. The attacks will come, especially if we continue to get closer and closer to God. Like a bird wrapping wings around their young, God will wrap Himself around us and hold us. He will comfort us when we are scared. He will be there even if everyone else abandons us.

Until these calamities have passed by. God is in it for the long haul with us. The battles that we face, God is there with us through all of them. He will not abandon the fight. He will not give up. He will fight until He is victorious and He is victorious every time. Even when people let us down, God is there to hold us up. When the bad times comes, God helps us weather the storm. He is strong when we are weak. He is someone we can trust in and rely on.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for being our God whom we can rely on. You are there for us. You protect us. You guide us. We have nothing to fear when You are around. We are taken care of because You love us. We should be punished for being who we are, but You see fit to save us. We owe You everything for this.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

No Fear of Man

Psalms 56:11, “In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

So many people have fears. People can be afraid of dying. Afraid of clowns. Afraid of heights, water, tight spaces. There are so many fears but there is one fear that we do not need to have. With God, there should be no fear of man.

In God I have put my trust. Since God has done nothing to ruin our trust in Him, we can trust Him in everything. People will let us down and break promises. People will say one thing and do another. God is trustworthy because He cannot lie. He is perfect. God can be our best friend, if we allow Him to be. We need to allow God to come in and put our full faith in Him to do all that He says He will do.

I will not be afraid. Once we have put our faith and trust in God, we do not have to be afraid. When we invite God in, we push out things that do not align with God. Fear is one thing that does not align with God. The only fear we should have with God is the fear that means that we are in awe of God and His majesty.

What can man do to me? If we have God on our side, what can man do to us? Man can make it uncomfortable for us, but we must remain strong. Man can be mean. Man hurt, injure or even kill. Man cannot kill the soul. The soul is the property of God or can be given to the devil. It is either fixed on Heaven or fixed on Hell. Man cannot destroy the soul, but the decisions we make will affect our souls. We should fear the Lord out of respect, but give no fear to man.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for being there for us. You love us and care about us. We have nothing to fear when You are near us. You will protect us when we call on Your name. Your name casts out all other fears. Our souls can be protected by You if we let You in. Help us to come closer to You.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

God, Protector and Sustainer

Psalms 55:22. “Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”

The world can be very cruel. It can be unfair and present us with problems that just happen. Cars break down, houses need repair, jobs get lost. Some days, it seems like nothing will go right at all. This is when we need God, protector and sustainer.

Cast your burden on the Lord. All of the things that happen to us in life should be given to God. Sadly, we do not always do this. God is bigger than all of our problems. He knows all our problems and He can be a part of all our solutions if we allow Him to be. He has a plan and He can take our burden off of us if we will let Him. When we go through life, we need to be willing to talk to God. God can handle all that we are going through. When we get to a point where we want to throw our hands up in the air, we need to go to God immediately.

He shall sustain you. Like someone who needs a sandwich when they are hungry, we need God when we get “spiritually” hungry. We can get spiritually get hungry when we shy away from the teaching of God, praying to God, or worshiping God. This means that in order to be sustained, we need to have more of God. He is our sustainer. He is our protector. He is all that we need.

Never permit the righteous to be moved. When we get on a path toward God, we become focused on God and His ways. God does not allow His people to get too far away from Him, unless they choose to do so. The world tries to pull people away from God. The devil, operating in the world, tries to pull people away from God. When standing with God, we will not be swayed by what the world has to offer. We will have our eyes on the prize of eternity and nothing should interfere with that. God is all that we need and more. When we need protection, God is near. When we need sustenance, God is there. We simply need to call on His name.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for being our protector and sustainer. You love us even we we choose the world over You. When we get bogged down with life, it is refreshing to know that we can come to You and be refreshed. We can dump our burdens onto You. We can be free and carefree because You have paid for it all. Help us to give our worries to You.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

Give of Ourself to Him

Psalms 54:6, “I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.”

It is easy to constantly give to what the world is willing to take. The world wants to look out for the needs of some, but not all. More than likely though, the world will only take, giving nothing back. Unlike the world, God does not only take, but He gives. He also expects us to give of ourself to Him.

I will freely sacrifice to You. We have been given everything by God and all that God ask for is our allegiance to Him. We must be willing to pledge our lives to God because our God pledged His Son’s life for our salvation. Our small sacrifice of denying the world pales in comparison to all that God has done for us. Sacrifice is giving more than you think you can give. This means that we need to give to God until it hurts. We should not be worried about our comfort. God gave His Son to extreme discomfort. Our life should honor that.

I will praise Your name. For all that God has done, He is worthy of our praise. We need to praise Him not because it is forced. We should want to praise Him because we love all that He has done. Our praise should never be ceasing because God’s love is never ceasing. Even now, God continues to work in our lives. He gives us blessings. He gives us love. He gives of Himself. He is not going to sit back and see how much we squirm and fight. He is there to help us fight our battles.

Lord, it is good. The name of God is worthy and holy. It is good. Few things in the world are good. Few are righteous. God is both good and righteous. He is perfect. We can call on his name in the times of happiness and sadness. Depression or glee. He is always there to hear us. He is good and this is good because we are not. All that we do is nothing compared to all that God is. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot help ourselves. Only God can help and save. We need to give of ourself to God because if we do not, we will be lost forever.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for making the ultimate sacrifice. We could not do this ourselves. We would be lost. Our souls would wither and die without You. You are our breath. You are our food. You are everything to us. We praise and worship Your name. You alone are holy, righteous and good.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

The Viewpoint of God

Psalms 53:2, “God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.”

God has the unique perspective to be able to see everyone on the whole earth all at once. Only God can do this. Only God can see into the very soul of each and every person. This is the viewpoint of God.

God looks down from heaven upon the children of men. God resides in Heaven and however high up heaven actually is, God is above us and can see us. He is watching over us. He watches over us because He cares about us. We are His finest creation that He ever created. We are His children, entitled to all that God has for us.

To see if there are any who understand. To fully understand God is impossible. We can attempt to partially know God, but God is so far above us. His plans are far above us. His knowledge is far above us. Through divine revelation, God chooses to share His plans and knowledge with us. He chooses to include us in what He is doing. Thankfully, we do not have to fully understand God to follow God. We simply need to understand that God loves us and made a plan for us to be with Him in Heaven.

Who seek God. God also wants to see who will seek after Him. Sadly, not everyone wants to follow God. Some choose to follow their own ways, thinking they are superior to God. This could not be further from the truth. God already knows who will serve Him and who will not. No one chooses God from the beginning but in time, some come to God. Some do seek the viewpoint of God and what He has established.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your constant overwatch of us. You loved us before we ever loved You. You care about us in ways that we cannot even begin to imagine. Help us to understand parts of You every day. We long to have a deeper knowledge of You in our lives. You are our Father and we want to get to know You.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

Own Strength

Psalms 52:7, “Here is the man who did not make God his strength, But trusted in the abundance of his riches, And strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

To the person who thinks that they can do it on their own, they are not fooling anyone. No one can be strong on their own all the time. Physically strong is not always possible. Mentally strong is not always possible. Sometimes we need to break down and admit that we cannot do it all under our own strength.

The man who did not make God his strength. This statement is the exact definition of a fool. Someone who is not acting with knowledge or wisdom. God is all-powerful and we are not. Why would we not want to take advantage of having an all-powerful God who is there for us? Anyone who turns their back on God for help does not know what God can do to help. Everyone should be having God on their side because becoming an enemy of God is the worst decision of anyone’s life. An enemy of God will die on the sword and under the banner of their own strength.

Trusted in the abundance of his riches. Money does not solve problems; it just makes for bigger problems. Money does not buy happiness. The minute we die, we do not have any of the money we once had. It all goes to someone else. It does not buy love. It does not buy joy. It certainly does not buy admittance into Heaven. God is not interested in our money because all money is God’s. He simply allows us to have some. We should place trust in money because money will let us down. God will never let us down.

Strengthened himself in his wickedness. Some people go down a path that leads the complete opposite direction of God. This is wickedness. We should do all that we can to avoid sin. Finding strength in sin is not what God wants; He wants us to find strength in Him. We cannot do everything in our own strength and that is okay. We simply need to admit this and rely on the God of the universe to help us out. He will if we call on His name.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for all that You do for us in Your infinite strength. We are so weak and need all the help we can get. Let our trust stay in You. Help us when we get in over our head. Help us to do what You would have us to do. Lead us away from sin and wickedness that try to tempt us. We owe it all to You.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

What Have I Done?

Psalms 51:3, “For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.”

Everyone in the world has done something wrong at one time or another. These wrongs are called sins. Sins are actions or thoughts that are contrary to God. Depending on the sins, there can be regret. These regrets can be overwhelming and range in severity. It can even make someone say, “What have I done?”

For I acknowledge my transgressions. It is one thing to sin. It is another thing to admit that we have sinned. God knows that we sin, but sadly, we do not confess these sins to God. Sometimes we go through life sinning and merrily living without any consequence. We should know that everything that we do has a price attached to it. Like a bill that comes due at the end of a month and needs to be paid, we need to pay for these sins that we commit. That payment is death.

My sin is always before me. Our sins are all recorded and held on to by God. Because Jesus died on the cross for our sins, the payment of death was paid and we have a zero balance. We need to continue to confess sins that we commit. Sin is always going to be before us because we do not stop sinning just because we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The difference is that the sins that we commit do not hold the same weight as they once did. Sin loses its sting. There is no longer death from sin. There is life in Christ. We may say “what have I done?” but Jesus did it all when He took our sins and sent them down to Hell to be there forever. Jesus did it all.

Heavenly Father,

We come before You humble because our debt is paid. We do not have to pay for the sins that we have committed. We are free because our Your Son’s obedience. We are free because of the shed blood on the cross. You love us and do not want us to stray from You. When we do stray, we can come back to You with Your loving arms wide open, ready to receive us. Thank You for being all that You are.

In Your name we pray,

Amen

God is Judge of All

Psalms 50:6, “Let the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is Judge.”

When someone commits a crime, the offender goes to jail and then goes before a judge to answer for those crimes. There is a punishment that needs to be given based on the crime. When we die, we will also go before a judge. This judge is God and God is the Judge of all.

Let the heavens declare His righteousness. God is the only one with true righteousness. Righteousness has one definition that is “what is right or just or normal, rightness, justness (of weights and measures).” When God looks at a situation, He will look at it with a perfection that is unmatched to anyone else. The whole world should declare that God is all that He is. He is perfect. He is loving. He is just.

For God Himself is Judge. God is the Judge of all other judges. God created the laws. He created the whole world, after all. God is the only one who can truly judge everything fairly. Something is either sin or it is not. It is black or white. There is no gray area. There is no question when it comes to God. He knows what the intent was when we did something. He knows our thoughts. Our actions. He is fair. It may not always seem like this, but if we are willing to look back from His perspective, it is. See, because of just one sin, we deserve death. Now we have to multiply this multiple times for all the sins we commit in our lives and that means we deserve countless life sentences. Yet, God sent His Son to die on the cross in the most horrific way so that we do not have to serve even one life sentence. Instead, we are given the opportunity to live forever in Heaven with God. God may be the Judge of all, but He is never unfair.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for being the most fair judge over us. We deserve so much punishment and yet, You withhold that from us. You love us and care about us. Your righteousness is beyond our comprehension. You love is beyond measure. Your grace is overflowing. Your mercy is tender and sweet. Thank You for not holding our sins over our heads. You truly free us from all burdens.

In Your name we pray,

Amen