ENJOYING PSALMS

Today is Tuesday.  I missed my blog yesterday because I had an early start and never got back to it as I had hoped.  Once I begin the day it is hard to get back to my morning practice.  It is a beautiful day in the making and I'm looking forward to it.  Here are a few thoughts I gleaned from my reading today: 1) CONSIDER THE POOR- Psalms 41:1 says:  "Blessed is he that considereth the poor:  the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble."  God wants us to consider the poor.  That means that we think about them and how best to help them.  It does not mean we give all of our funds to the poor, but think about their plight and help them to the best of our ability.  As I have church functions, I am always trying to make them as financially feasible as possible.  I want even those who struggle to have an opportunity to be involved.  We have a bus ministry that cost thousands of dollars each month, but is a ministry to those who are poor and many of which do not have transportation.  Why consider the poor?  Well, God attaches a promise to it.  God will deliver us in our time of need if we consider them in their time of need.  So..... consider the poor! 2) IT'S JUST LIKE WE HEARD- Psalms 44:1 says:  "We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old."  David said we have heard with our ears.  Certainly that is how everyone learns of God, but it must go much deeper than that.  We must learn to know God personally, not just because we have been told about God.  Later, in Psalms 48:8, David says:  "As we have head, so have we ween in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God:  God will establish it for ever.  Selah."  Here he says, what I heard about God, I have now seen!  Yes, it must become personal to know God.  We start off with the hearing, but we must see the hand of God working in our lives with our very own eyes!  God is real, and He must be real to us, and to our children.  Pray for others to see what they have heard! 3) THE TONGUE- We usually go to the book of James to see the evil potential of the tongue, but it is also found in Psalms 52:2-4  "Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.  Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness.  Selah.  Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue."  Here we see from ancient times that the tongue was still one of our biggest downfalls.  We had better watch the tongue because the Bible says it is like the deadly Asp, with poison underneath of it's tongue.  A serpent that will strike quickly before we know it.  We can find ourselves speaking evil about another before it even connects with our brain that we are doing wrong.  People.... let us watch our tongue! Well, so much for today.  Have a blessed day in the LORD.  Pastor Mike Mutchler