Psalms 91-111

Have you felt that you’ve had a guardian angel look after you? Angels can be God’s messengers; Angels are not visible, except on special occasions. “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”(Psalms 91:11) It is comforting to know that God watches over us even in times of great stress and fear.

“Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach from your law; you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked.”(Psalms 94:12) God disciplines us to protect and help us; as a parent corrects their child. Self-discipline and God’s discipline is essential for really understanding right and wrong. For those trained by discipline, although painful during the process, the righteousness and peace that follow makes the pain worthwhile. Instead of accepting your own stubbornness, realize that God is urging you to follow his paths and not your own. When you feel the struggle of pain, it is important to persevere forward; a hardened heart is useless. When someone’s heart is hardened, they’ve stubbornly become set in their ways and cannot turn to God. This is tragic. This doesn’t happen right away; be cautions when you allow series of choices to disregard God’s will. If you resist God long enough, God may resist you in return. “For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”(Psalm 95:10) God turns His back when we insist upon ungrateful hearts, not worshiping or submitting to Him, testing God because of stubborn doubts. God warns us strongly against hardening our hearts to Him and encourages us to reject the glamour of sin and anything that separates us from God.

When we are sincere in our claims to love God and be faithful to Him; then our desires will reflect common ground with God’s desires. You love what God loves; and you will hate evil as God does. If you admire people who selfishly only look out for themselves or those who get ahead in life using any means to accomplish their own greedy ends, then your desire is clearly not pleasing God. It is important to stand up against evil; including socially accepted evil. “The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil. Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure.”(Psalms 101:3-5)
In the economic crisis we are in, there is perpetual loss of hope. If you were to lose everything, how would you behave? When we realize that God created us and gives us all we have, we will want to give to others as God gave to us; if you lost everything; you still have God and all he gives. We did not create ourselves; God created us. Although many would agree with this, people live in direct contradiction when they behave as though they are the creator and center of their own little worlds. This point of view leads to a greedy possessiveness that in turns leads to a loss of hope itself. It is important to stand on the only solid rock you have even in times of crisis; God and His promises.

Do you have a hard time accepting forgiveness from anyone, including God’s forgiveness? “The Lord is compassionate and gracious; slow to anger, abounding in love…For as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”(Psalms 103:8,13,14) East from west is symbolic of God’s forgiveness; when God forgives our sin, he separates it from us and doesn’t even remember if. We need never wallow in the past, for God has wiped our slate clean. If we follow God, we should model His forgiveness; this means truly forgiving someone also means to forget the sin. If not, we have not truly forgiven and dishonor what God does for us daily.

Do you ever wonder if miracles exist? Sometimes we get so stuck in our little make believe worlds and victimize ourselves to think miracles don’t apply to us; this view is blind and ungrateful. Looking at God’s miracles in the Bible; if you were to count them, it would be astounding. They cover every aspect of life. If you ever question God’s hand; look at his track record and what He has done for us individually- birth, personality development, loving friends and family, specific guidance, healing and salvation and the list goes far beyond. If you think you’ve never seen a miracle; take a closer look; you will see God’s power and loving intervention on your behalf. If God hadn’t breathed into you the breath of life, you wouldn’t be here right now. It’s important to have gratitude for the things we take for granted.

Historically, the Israelites had many troubles; God allowed it in order to help them. In the same way, our troubles can be helpful because they, 1) humble us, 2) wean us from the allurements of the world and drive us back to God, 3) vitalize our prayers, 4) allow us to experience more of God’s faithfulness, 5) make us more dependent upon God, 6) encourage us to submit to God’s purpose for our lives, and 7) make us more compassionate toward others in trouble. It is so important to trust God’s provision and care regardless of our circumstances. If you give way to complaining, as we saw historically with the Israelites, God may give you what you ask for, even if it is not the best for you. If you’re not getting what you want, have you considered that God knows it is not in your best interest? Instead of insisting on your own way; spend some time in meditation listening to God speak to you; for you may decide you no longer want what you thought you did once you see what God has for you.

“The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy….The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.”(Psalm 111:7,10) The only way to become wise is to revere God. Too often people get trapped into thinking their academic knowledge and life experience alone makes them wise; instead of acknowledging that God alone is the source of wisdom. When our very foundation for gaining wisdom is unstable, we are prone to mistakes and foolish choices; we cannot arrogantly think that wisdom comes from us alone; that is a direct insult to our Creator.
God is our redeemer; redemption means recovery of something or someone upon payment of ransom. All people were being held in bondage of sin; it’s human nature; until Jesus paid the price to free us. Jesus gave his life as a perfect sacrifice to allow us to freely approach God’s throne through prayer and have God active in our lives through the Holy Spirit; without this, people are not permitted into the Most Holy Place; God’s presence.