365 Reflections

Psalm 103:1–5 (ESV) Bless the Lord , O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord , O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. I love these four verses. You could read them again and again. They are our Divine benefits. And they are the reason to bless the Lord.  Notice that the Psalmist here is speaking to himself. He needs to remind himself of the benefits he has in His God.  Don't we all need to do that? We need to remember the benefits so we turn our mouths toward blessing! Notice as well, the Psalmist calls himself FULLY into worship: "all that is within me." This is not a second-rate offering of praise! You have to push yourself fully into worship! Sadly, many Christians are improperly satis...

We grow up thinking we are going to live forever. We are fools. Eventually life starts coming to a clearer and clearer realization that no one gets out of this life alive. We are winding down. This is the Psalmist's realization in Psalm 102. Psalm 102:23–24 (ESV) He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days. 24 “O my God,” I say, “take me not away in the midst of my days— you whose years endure throughout all generations!” I have to confess, I feel like this Psalm is speaking straight to me. I'm experiencing more physical ailments than I ever have. My body is showing signs of wear and tear. I haven't exercised cardio in a long time as my knee heals from something I cannot explain. My strength is broken. It starts to hit you - life is short. Your body reminds you that eventually you have to slow down and eventually you will stop.  Though this Psalmist realizes his life will end, he has great perspective" Psalm 102:12 (ESV)...

Psalm 101 is a Royal Psalm of David as he contemplates his office as King and ruler of the land. It's a powerful presentation of personal and private decisions leading to proper execution of his office. This Psalm is very important for us today. Many falsely believe that as long as a Public figure does his job well it doesn't matter what he does behind closed doors. This Psalm begs to differ. The first stanza is filled with personal standards already set: Psalm 101:1–4 (ESV)   I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord , I will make music. 2 I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; 3 I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. 4 A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil. He will guard his eyes. He will protect his associations. He will not experiment with ev...

Psalm 100 calls us to joyfully sing to God for who HE is! It is fitting that the 100th Psalm be centered on God. Psalm 100:1–2 (ESV) Make a joyful noise to the Lord , all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! The call to worship is a call to joyful shouting, singing and serving. How miserable some churches are. Dead and dry like the dessert. No life, no passion, no celebration. Why would anyone want to attend? Yes, there are times for solemn reflection and awe-inspired quietness. But there are also times for jubilant and noisy celebration! Make a NOISE! AMEN! We are admonished to come into His presence with singing. Isn't God everywhere? Sure. But singing to Him brings His presence to fuller reality. It just does. Singing is opening our heart in a way standing and watching others never could. You bear your soul in the singing moment and God's presence is made real. Psalm 100:3 (ESV) Know that the Lord , he i...

The most common description of God from people in America? Love. The most common description of God in the Bible? Holy. Psalm 99:5 (ESV) Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he! Three times this Psalm calls the King of glory Holy! In the Scriptures, God is called holy more than He is called loving, just or kind. The Bible uses the word, "holy" or "holiness" over 900 times. He is absolutely Holy. In the Hebrew language, you didn't emphasize words by capitalizing or italicizing them. And words like "very" or "really" were not around to provide emphasis. So the Hebrews repeated the word for emphasis. That gives us greater understanding of Isaiah's experience in the Temple as he watched the angels cry to one another: Isaiah 6:3 (ESV) And one called to another and said: “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” Here in Psalm 99, we see the scene set...

What many people do when they come to faith is believe Jesus saved them from their sins. That is right. But He is much more than simply Savior. He is King and Judge. This is the message of Psalm 98. The first stanza reminds us the Lord is Savior: Psalm 98:1 (ESV) 1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Second stanza presents Him as King: Psalm 98:6 (ESV) With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord ! Finally, stanza three proclaims Him as Judge: Psalm 98:8–9 (ESV)   Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together 9 before the Lord , for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. He is all three.  Thankfully, He saves us first. He extends down to us and lifts us up from the miry pit of our own failure. But that's not where it ends. He is als...

Psalm 97:1–5 (ESV)  The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! 2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. 4 His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord , before the Lord of all the earth. We often pray for God to show up. Have we read the opening of this Psalm? The awesome presence of God is described as clouds and thick darkness as at the time when God descended on the mountain and the people drew back in Exodus. His righteousness is untouchable to us. He is totally just and that should throw a bit of tension in our minds. The earth trembles, the mountains melt, his enemies get fried in His presence. God's reign is awesome (in the frightful sense).  This is the God that shook Isaiah to his core. He caused Peter to despair of sin. John fell pr...

Sing a new song to the LORD! Let the whole earth sing to the LORD! Sing to the LORD; praise his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. (Psalms 96:1-2 NLT) Psalm 96 call us to sing a new song to The Lord. But what does that mean? Does that mean we are to always buy the latest worship album, learn the chords and sing the new tunes? That would make this command about the latest Christian worship album and not about God. I'm sure the Christian music artist is happy with that interpretation. But there's much more here. The context of this Psalm is the moment the Ark of God finally entered it's resting place in Jerusalem from the house of Obed Edom. This is the famous incident in which David disrobes in front of a disapproving wife in wild celebration that Gods presence was coming to the city.  David penned these words in response to the NEW THING God was doing. David instructs us to sing a new song when God does something new! This makes our worship what it is supp...

There's a lot said about worship in the Christian church. What is it? What does it look like? What's the difference between true and false worship? What kind of music is most worshipful? But have we gone to God's Word? Psalm 95 is about HOW the people of God are to worship God according to God. Psalm 95:1–5 (ESV)   Oh come, let us sing to the Lord ; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. First we see that worship is not about us. Its not about how it makes us feel, what it does for our senses, or where we are at when we are called to do it. Let us sing joyfully because of WHO HE IS not what we feel.  We are joyfu...

Hurst will happen. We cannot avoid them. Psalm 94 is a call for the God of vengeance to do something about the harm being done to His people: Psalm 94:1–2 (ESV) 1 O Lord , God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! 2 Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve! Psalm 94:5–7 (ESV) 5 They crush your people, O Lord , and afflict your heritage. 6 They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; 7 and they say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.” Some people are awful. We see them in the middle east and on the streets of America's cities. People who don't give a care about God and act like His rule is a myth. They can drive us crazy if we let them. Psalm 94 is a better response. Instead of getting mad at those who do wrong, pray for the Lord of vengeance to shine forth, rise up and judge. There's a reason why God's vengeance is called for. Because we tend toward R...

Psalm 93:1–3 (NASB95)   The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. 2 Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.   Psalm 93 makes it clear that God is in charge and all that is here has been established by Him. He established it. The Earth is suspended in space because He made it that way.  You can think this reality was an accident. You can believe chaos became chemistry and lead to creativity. There are some who do. But the more we inspect, the more we investigate, the more we realize just how delicate of a balance every rotation of our Earth, every sunrise, every aspect of our biological system really is. You are experiencing a miracle every day.  Right now: The Earth is moving at 67,000 miles per hour. The Earth is rotating at 1000 miles per hour. And NOTHING is under it. It's here, doing it's thi...

It's good to rest. We were made to rest. God formed us in His image and on the 7th day God rested. It's important we do not neglect our day to sit back, enjoy our lives, and worship our God. Yet so many of us disregard this command at the whim of a hat. Psalm 92 is a song for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was that good they wrote a song about it. Here's what it says: Psalm 92:1–4 (ESV)   It is good to give thanks to the Lord , to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, 3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. 4 For you, O Lord , have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. The Psalm opens with God's own words on His Sabbath: "it is good." When we Sabbath we are reminding ourselves that our work is made good because God's first work of Creation was good. We have all that we do because of all that He did! ...

Psalm 91 is a wonderful promise of protection. Psalm 91:1–4 (ESV)   He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the Lord , “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. This Psalm also shows up on the lips of satan himself in the wilderness as he's tempting Jesus. He quotes the 11th and 12th verses: Psalm 91:11–12 (ESV) For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. 12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. But I never saw this before: Satan left a key part of those verses out in his temptation: Matthew 4:6 (ESV)   and (the devil) said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down...

It's September 1st. My 38th birthday. Day #13,879 for my life. Appropriately, I'm looking at Psalm 90... Psalm 90:9–12 (ESV) For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. 11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Our biggest obstacle to wisdom is one simple word - TOMORROW.  Tomorrow hovers in our thoughts like a get-out-of-jail-free card. But assuming we have tomorrow just may be the dumbest thing we can believe. Who really knows? We are like grass. We are like vapors. I could have sworn I live longer than 13,879 days! I mean, what is that? It's a blip! But that's  the point of Psalm 90. We are more finite than we think! Only one Being is absolutel...