LOVING THE PSALMS

Today is Thanksgiving Day!  I have so much to be thankful for.  A wonderful wife, dear loving children, adorable grandchildren, a fantastic Dad and Mom, and a great Church full of great people.  I am an American, I'm saved, I'm on my way to Heaven, I serve a risen Savior, I'm sooo thankful!!  I hope that you are too. I'm reading again in the Psalms and enjoying it.  Here are a few tidbits: 1) DRAW NEAR- Ps. 73:28 says: "But it is good for me to draw near to God:  I have put my trust in the LORD God, that I may declare all thy works."  This Psalms starts with David admitting that he was envious of the wicked and that his feet had well nigh slipped.  He almost gave up when he saw the prosperity of the wicked and yet he had tough times.  But after meditating on that a while, in verse 17 he said: "Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end."  God's house gave him God's answers!  Isn't it still that way today so many times?  God's house ought to be a place of encouragement, edification, education, and challenge to live our lives for Jesus Christ!  Let God's house be something special for you as well. 2) GOD KNOWS- So many times, we know we fail to be all that we should be, but God knew that before we were ever saved.  In Ps. 78:39 it says: "He remembered that they were but flesh;"  God knows what we are, and we are not perfect, but one day we will stand before Him perfect.  If we were perfect, we would not need to lean on God so much as we do right now.  Let us be repentant of sin, but not so critical we forget that God knows, God forgives, and God calls us to serve Him as we are wrapped in a robe of flesh! 3) SHINE FORTH- Three times in Psalms chapter 80, it says: "cause thy face to shine: and in one verse it says: "shine forth".  When this is stated, it means that you are asking God to smile on you!  God's face shines when He smiles on His children.  Dear God in Heaven, smile upon us this day!  We need not anything but Your favor.  We are not desireous of anything but your approval.  Smile on us today dear LORD.  We seek thy loving favor.  Let me so live my life to look up at thee in prayer and sense your smile is on my life.  Love you Lord.... I'm smiling when I think of you! 4) THANKSGIVING VERSE- Psalms 92:1 says: "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:"  Let us go around our tables and let God know the many things we are thankful for today.  Let us not feast on His bounty, without offering up our thanks for all that God has done for us!  May you have a blessed Thanksgiving Day!  God has been so good to us, and we need to thank Him everyday!  Pastor Mike Mutchler