I've been adding 2-3 Psalms everyday to my usual devotional time. Yesterday, I read Psalm 34 and was able to find several truths in there that I could then add into my prayers to the Lord. Just like a child learns how to speak by mimicking their parents, so we learn how to pray by using God's own inspired words that we find in the Bible.
Today, I read Psalm 37...full of familiar words and phrases, so comforting, so convicting, so awakening to how I need to pray. Have you read and prayed Psalm 37 lately? I won't cover all 40 verses; but, here are some that I made notes on and breathed back in response to my Lord.
1 - Don't worry about what others are doing, even when they're wrong...be responsible for your own actions.
3 - Trust that God has it covered, just do the right thing.
4 - Fill my life with God, be happy with Him, and He will provide for me and my family.
5 - Just like Prov. 16:3, I need to commit my plans to the Lord...He will take care of the rest if we have the right motivations for what we're trying to do.
7 - Rest and be patient...God's got it covered.
8 - Don't get angry, it just leads us to do yucky things.
25 - In all of my experiences, have I ever seen someone who is truly doing the Lord's will not be taken care of in the end...I highlight that part because I know the righteous go through troubled times, in fact, Psalm 34:19 tells us that "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." It doesn't say WHEN, but it does say He'll deliver! It also says He'll deliver us from ALL of them!
27 - How many times have I seen in the Psalms "depart from evil and do good".... it's in about every third or fourth Psalm. Truly! God knows we are going to do bad things, but, once we're aware of it, we should turn around, leave it behind, and do the right thing. We are responsible to make a change!
28 - God will give us justice when things aren't right...again, it might not be in our own timing, but, it will happen, count on it, He will not forsake us.
...and finally,
39 and 40 - He has saved us, He provides us strength when we are weak or troubled. He will deliver us BECAUSE we take our refuge in Him.
Do you go to the Lord for shelter in times of trouble, or do you attempt to tackle it on your own....is He your shield, your strength, your hiding place?
I am reminded of the old hymn...
Trust and obey
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
Than to trust and obey!
I really needed this reminder today, I pray it's something for you to hear and think on as well.
Final note of trivia - did you ever realize that the Psalms and Proverbs make up about 10% of the Bible...I'll be honest, I never did. As I've been flipping back and forth to them each and every day lately, I started making a note of how large the section was. Then I did the math. These words of wisdom, prayers for protection and guidance, cries of anguish, shouts of victory and sweet lovingkindness aren't just 2 out of 66 books of the Bible, they are a significant portion of Scripture. Read them, pray them, and feel the shared pain and joy of the writers.
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