Tuesday 18 February 2014

PSALM 65 We are satisfied

Psalm 65:4 AV     Blessed is he whom thou choosest, 
And causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell 
in thy courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, 
even of your holy temple.

Psalm 107:9 AV For he satisfieth the longing soul
and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

Psalm 63:5 AV My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness
and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.

Spiritual thirst (Ps 63:1) and spiritual hunger of the longing soul  (Psalm 107:9)
are " spiritual emotions " of the heart.

It really is not just something academic ( which only the learned comprehend).
It is something Spiritual ....of the heart.
Those who lift up their hands (in the Spirit),
those who lift up their voices in the Spirit  (in tongues),
and those who lift up their heart to the Lord ( that hearest prayer),
will have their longing souls satisfied and
their hungry souls filled with goodness.

He satisfies / We are satisfied.  AMEN.

PSALM 65 He shall hear

He shall hear / we shall be heard  AMEN.

Psalm 65:2  AV
O thou that hearest prayer
Unto thee shall all flesh come.

Psalm 10: 17 AV
Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble:
Thou wilt prepare their heart,
thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

Psalm 4:3b  AV
The LORD will hear when I call on him.

He hears  /  we are heard

Psalm 55:17 AV
Evening and morning , and at noon,
I will pray , and cry aloud
And he shall hear my voice.

Psalm 145  AV
He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him:
He also will hear their cry , and save them. 

Monday 10 February 2014

Review of PSALM 63

Looking over Psalm 63 we find that
Verse 1     articulates our desire for God
                                 our thirst for God
                  and          our yearning for God
Verse 2-8  speaks of things which are the goal of Christian prayer;-
                 Communion with God , which includes;
                 encounter with God,
                 experience of the presence of God,
                 communication of concerns,
                 expression of love and appreciation of love,
                 expression of hope,
                 revelation of truth,
                 self revelation of the nature of God.
Verse 2-8 demonstrates the considerable experience which the psalmist had
                 of ongoing personal relationship in prayer, including;-
                 divine counseling
                 divine enabling
                 divine upholding
                 divine inspiration of prophetic prayer
                 divine inspiration of love and forgiveness
                 divine inspiration of several ministries of prayer.
Psalm 36:7  ESV  How precious is your steadfast love, O God !
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 63 is a hymn for Israel which looks beyond Israel to the rest of mankind.

Sunday 9 February 2014

PSALM 63 Attached to God

Psalm 63:9 The Jewish Study Bible Tanakh Translation.
My soul is attached to you;
   Your right hand supports me.

When we long for God and desire God with our whole being.........
When our heart's cry is that God's constant love is better than life itself....
Then we know that it is the working of the Holy Spirit in our own heart
that has drawn us to God and put into our heart , our love for Him.
 Our hearts overflow from the rich encounters we have had with God
while meditating on Him.
We give thanks and ecstatic praise for all our previous experiences
of " Your constant love."
ISAIAH 41:13 ESV
For I , the LORD your God, hold your right hand;
   it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the one who helps you."
Our desire is to continue in the love of God.
Our desire is not to relinquish the security of His presence.
Our desire is not to relinquish the active relationship
which we have with our Lord in prayer and praise.
Our need for continued renewal, forgiveness, discernment
cause us to identify with the words of the psalmist.
Psalm 63:8  ESV
My soul clings to you ; your right hand upholds me.

Thursday 6 February 2014

PSALM 63 One in God's will

Joshua 1:8 ESV
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, 
but you shall meditate on it day and night, 
so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
It is the will of God that we should meditate on the word of God
in order that we may carefully do what is the will of God.
Psalm 119:55 ESV
I will remember your name in the night, O Lord, and keep your law.
We need to discern daily whether or not we are doing it.
How beneficial it is to put Psalm 63:5-7 into action in our own lives.
Psalm 16:17 REB
I shall bless the Lord who has given me counsel:
in the night he imparts wisdom to my inmost being.

Psalm 63:5-6-7 ESV
5  My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
    and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6  when I remember you upon my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7  for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
Here we have a picture of God as a nurturing eagle as in Psalm 91:4 ESV
He will cover you with his pinions,and under his wings you will find refuge.

PSALM 63 Bless God

Psalm 63:4 NRSV
So I will bless you as long as I live;
     I will lift up my hands and call your name.
Psalm 63 is a prayer and verses 1-8 an affirmation of faith...Verse 4 is a vow .
When we sing this verse in Church, we are making a vow
before God in the midst of the congregation--a vow to praise God for our lifetime.
Before and after we make such a vow, we should know the love and support of 
fellow believers who are at one with us in faith. Joining people in a vow is unifying.

Psalm 63:4 ESV
So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
      The NRSV    " I will lift up my hands and call your name"
suggests demonstrative raising of the hands as an act of prayer...
singing praise with our lips and extending blessings with both hands.
       The ESV reading   "in your name I will lift up my hands"
suggests that the actual lifting of the hands and arms is done in God's name.
i.e. in God's power with God's authority;-
i.e. as a member of the Body of Christ
i.e. as a member of the royal priesthood
i.e  as a believer....experiencing the heart of God,
i.e. in union with all those who in the name of God,
     lift up their hands and bless the Living God. 

Wednesday 5 February 2014

PSALM 63 Divine thirst

Psalm 63:1  ESV
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land.
                IN THE WILDERNESS
The difficulties of daily life, especially in the hard times
may distract us from the spiritual life.
Meditating on Psalm 63 might help us to rediscover our
own longing for God. By grace we might make verse one
the prayer of our own heart, and in doing so, join the psalmist
in the presence of the living God.
                 DIVINE THIRST
The yearning expressed here includes a sense of need because we need love
and it is the power of love (God) which inspires our faith and our hope.
We can have quite a good intellectual understanding supporting our cerebral
faith, but if we don't have the love of Jesus in our hearts we are in a dry place,
a desert.
Anyone  who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
( what an empty desert )
You , however , are not of the flesh but of the Spirit,
in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
                                                               Romans 8:9  ESV 

Tuesday 4 February 2014

PSALM 63 Better Than Life

Psalm 63:3 ESV  Because your  steadfast love is better than life
                                  my lips will praise you.
To be utterly convinced that God's will and purpose for us is the very best
makes a difference to our faith attitude and outlook.
To join the psalmist in realizing that God's steadfast love for us..........
is better than life........That redefines who we are.
That realization is enabling, very enabling, it changes our priorities .
We need to let God reveal his steadfast love for us..
The psalmist has the very strongest inclination to lift his hands and his heart
up to the Lord. His words in Psalm 75:25 are;-
    Whom have I in heaven but you and there is none
    upon earth that I desire beside you.
In Mark 12:30 NASB , we read,;-
    You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
    and with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength.

No self conscious , or apologetic singing at the psalmists's meeting,
nor is the worship restrained . In Psalm 22 , the psalmist calls for
the people to join him;-
Trust in him at all times, O people:
pour out your heart before him.
Romans 6:13 AV    But yield yourselves unto God,
                               as those that are alive from the dead.

Sunday 2 February 2014

PSALM 62 God Only

Ps 62:1 ESV  For God alone my soul waits in silence
                                               from him comes my salvation.
Ps 62:2 ESV  He only  is my rock and my salvation
                                          my fortress, I shall not be greatly shaken.
Ps 62:5 ESV  For God alone , O my soul, wait in silence
                                                                   for my hope is in him
Ps 62:6 ESV He only is my rock and my salvation,
                                        my fortress, I shall not be shaken.

We trust God himself for deliverance , refuge, strength, breath and life
and we do not start putting our trust in any alternative.
The Triune God of Christendom , Father, Son and Holy Spirit
is sufficient for all things even to eternal salvation.
In lands which were once CHRISTIAN, the fabric of society is decomposing
like a leaning wall or a tottering fence, because the people have come to put 
their trust elsewhere !
It is important now that those who really put their trust in God, should sing out
the prayer of thanksgiving which invites others to praise and give thanks.
Our prayers of trust encourage other believers to join with us in the sure confidence
of God's protection and care.
Psalm 62:8 ESV Trust in him at all times,  O People:
The relationship with God, experienced by the trusting psalmist,
is a relationship in which all are invited to participate to-day.

Saturday 1 February 2014

PSALM 62 Pursue God

Psalm 62 verse 11 in the TLV
Do not trust in extortion, and do not put vein hope in plunder,
Even though these things increase riches, 
do not set them on your heart.

Glen D. Black comments:
People may pursue the plunder of this world,
but only the Lord will reward man
with mercy and righteousness.

Psalm 62:12 (v13 in the TLV)
For you reward a man according to his work.

A person's work shows whether his faith is real or counterfeit.
The true attitude of a believer cannot be at variance with God's truth
expressed in Psalm 62, in which the psalmist is everyman/everywoman
who is open to encounter with God....
aware of his weaknesses, aware of his own need
but with great hope putting his confidence in God his rock.
When you really lack confidence in your own ability, give God a chance.
When you can't see any way through, put your trust in Him.
Trust in Him at all times, you people
Pour out your heart in His presence.  Psalm 62:8 TLV.

PSALM 62 Prayer of Trust

Psalm 62:7 from the Coverdale version from The Book of Common Prayer.
In God is my health, and my glory:
     the rock of my might, and in God I trust.
What a statement of faith....and our disposition in daily life
particularly in life's adventures;- to doctors and hostpitals,
to solicitors and courts, through all the exams and all the results.
Those of us who trust in Him are able to pour out our hearts to Him
because God has been, is now and will continue to be a refuge for us.
He is our hope.
Psalm 62:8 from the Coverdale version from the Book of Common Prayer.
O put your trust in him alway, ye people;
pour out your hearts before him,
for God is our Hope.

PSALM 62 God our Rock

Psalm 62:2 ESV He only is my rock.....
Psalm 62:6 ESV He only is my rock.....
Psalm 62:7 ESV.....my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Those singing Psalm 61, sing  (verse 2)
"Lead me to the rock that is higher than I"
The Rock is our means of rescue and deliverance.
Blessed be our God the Rock.

Psalm 18:2 ESV 
The Lord is my rock,
and my fortress and my deliverer.

PSALM 62 Waiting Prayer

Psalm 62:1  ESV   For God alone my soul waits in silence.
Those who serve at table are still called waiters.
They also serve who only stand and wait.
Those of us who rush about  often want to tell God
what should be done, but to wait in silence to do
what we see the Father doing and to say only
what we hear the Father saying would be remarkably Christlike.
John 8:47 ESV 
Whoever is of God hears the words of God.
John 10:27 ESV
My sheep hear my voice.....
John 17:8 ESV
For I have given them the words that you gave me.

Psalm 62:11 Once God has spoken
                     twice have I heard this.
The psalmist may mean that he heard God's word
in his mind and in his heart.
In verse 1 "my soul waits in silence and in verse 11 God has spoken.
There is a prayer of silence in which we wait for God to speak:
A prayer in which we throw no words or requests in His direction
and in which we are open to receive something of His will and purpose.