Monday, July 18, 2016

Monday, July 18: Psalm 146-150 by Pamela

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Psalm 146-150

Scripture: "Praise the Lord" "Praise to God" "Praise Him"

Observation: In these few chapters, these phrases occur over 37 times. They command our attention and demand notice.

Application: It's not always easy to give praise in all circumstances. While it's true that we have so much to be thankful for and we have so much hope for the future the day to day struggles can bring us down. We may even forget just how deserving God is of our praise and forget just how much we fall short of God's perfection. We put our trust in "princes" verse 3 or in people that don't always have our best interest in mind. We put value into fleeting things and search for control over things we will never have control over. Our focus is not always on Heaven but on things that will eventually fade away. When those things do fade away, we can still praise God for He is worthy of our praise in all circumstances.

Kezia and Kaden just returned from a youth mission trip to Mexico. While they were there they heard a story of a family who watched the father of the family become brutally murdered right in front of them. How can that be worthy of praise? However, through his death, the entire family has been brought into a relationship with Christ and they all acknowledge that without his death, they would not have come to Christ. Praise Him!

Instead of being consumed with the stresses of every day life, we need to focus on the Creator of the universe. If He  can create the sun and the moon and the stars and all the creatures and all the weather and all the vegetation and all the landforms and all the people surely we can trust Him to get us through anything life throws at us. He is worthy of our praise.

Psalm 150: 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

Prayer: Oh Heavenly Father, Let everything we do and say be in Praise to You for all you have created, for all you have done, and for all that is to come. We constantly need to be reminded that You deserve our praise and that we are so undeserving of Your gift of salvation. Thank you for not giving up on us no matter what we do and no matter how much we forget that You are so worthy of our praise. Give us a desire to praise you in all circumstances and trust you fully. Amen.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Isaiah 18-22

1 comment:

Tammy said...

Praise Him for what He has done and will do, in and despite our circumstances. But even more so, for who He is!