PSALMS 101-110

Today is Friday!  Wonderful!  Why?  I take Fridays off.  Yes, I have today for myself and my wife.  What a blessing.  All of these 27 years, I have never had a day I've taken off until a few years ago we started taking Fridays off during the summer months.  Then when school started this year, we added hours to Monday through Thursday and took Fridays off.  What a blessing!  Now Saturday is always a day of preparation for Sunday with Men's Prayer Breakfast, counseling with people, and final planning for Sunday.  Now, I love Fridays!  I slept in an extra hour and enjoyed every minute of it.  It is a time to catch up with some much needed sleep.  After typing this blog, I will go to the gym for an hour or so and push myself to do more than normal.  I try to work up a sore on Fridays.  Push myself in lifting, running, etc.  I'm reading again in Psalms, which I love!  Here are some thoughts:

1) LIFELONG MINDSET- Psalms 104:33 says:  "I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live:  I will sing praise to my God while I have my being."  This is a mindset of praise and worship of God for a lifetime.  This is the mindset I want, and the mindset I work at.  To live ones life for Christ and to sing to my God and worship Him.  How greatly that is needed of us.  We are not here to have God do everything for us, we are here to acknowledge that God is everything!  Let us life our lives in praise to the KING of Kings and LORD of lords.  As long as I live, let me praise thy holy name.  I have been singing the chorus, "My Jesus I Love Thee" over and over each day.  I am reminded how I sang it as a 16 year old riding my bike, singing out to God.  Little did I know that a 16 year old wrote the song as a poem.  William Ralph Featherston, 1864 (so long ago!)  The third stanza reads: 

    I'll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
    And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
    And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
    If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

Now this speaks to me of Psalms 104:33.... making the love for Jesus a lifelong mindset... or should I say Heart Set!

2) WOW!  I never ever noticed this before.  In Psalms 105:37, it reads:  "He brought them forth also with silver and gold:  and there was not one feeble person among their tribes."  Here David is telling the story of God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, and though they were slaves, God gave them the silver and gold of Egypt.  (this was to be used for the tabernacle)  But that last phrase is like wow!  "there was not one feeble person among their tribes."  There were over 3 1/2 million people and none of them were feeble!  Wow!  God promised health to His people, but here we see an excellent example of it.  They were in good health... all of them! 

3) VALIANTLY- Psalms 108:13 says:  "Through God we shall do valiantly:"  Any man who is a man who is manly, wants to be valiant.  That is a trait that speaks of being a man's man.  Valiant!  It is the knight in shining armour.  It is the hero of the day.  It is the man who wins the day and conquers adversity.  Well, here we see that it is through God that we shall do valiantly.  Not though our abilities, or toughness of character, but through our God.  If we but follow our LORD, He will cause us to do valiantly!  Let us follow the LORD!

4) SHOW THEM GOD- A few days ago, I spoke about "shew me a token of good".  Here in Psalms 110:26,27 we see a very similar thought:

"help me, O LORD my God:  O save me according to thy mercy:  That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it."  Here again David is asking for help, and asking that the help comes from the LORD in such a way that everyone around him knows that it is the LORD who has helped him.  The LORD did it!  What a desire.  That God gets the credit for whatever is done so that the glory reflects to God, and not to us.  Praise His name!  Wonderful!

Well, I've got to go for now.  May God's blessings be upon you.  It's my day off, but I've already taken and made 6 phone calls while typing this blog today.  Busy, busy, but happy!  Pastor Mike Mutchler