Today’s reading is Psalm 146
Like Jon wrote earlier this week, I find myself thinking back over the past year and evaluating this Bible Journal year. It has been a gift that I am grateful for. It has pushed me and challenged me to look more closely at God’s word and to determine more of what God is trying to say to me. Deb mentioned yesterday, these final Psalms are perfect Christmas gifts. I agree! Ps 146 is a beautiful way to sum up the truths we have discussed together this year.
- Praise the Lord! No really, praise the Lord as long as I live, with every breath, to my dying day. Praise Him for who he is, what He has done, how He loves us, how He has saved us, because He loves us so much He wants to save us, because He desires to be with us, because He loves the ones I love more than I am able to, because He protects me and the ones I love, … we could make an entire journal devoted to documenting the praiseworthiness of God. We could write in it every day for years and years until we die and still not be able to list all of His worth. Yet this Being chooses us. He wants to share our lives with us. He wants to make a way for us to be with Him here on this earth and for eternity. Who are we to deserve this kind of lavish love and pursuing?
- Don’t put your confidence in powerful people, there is no help for you there, but joyful are those whose hope is in the Lord your God. vs 6 “He keeps every promise forever.” Can we really even comprehend this promise? Can we really grasp that the Creator of the universe keeps every promise forever? Maybe we should look into starting another blog where each time we come across one of His promises in the Bible we document it and leave the running list open to meditate on, search through, seek encouragement from and lean on in hard times.
- The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God throughout the generations. Praise the Lord! This my friends is hope for 2018 and every year after. With all of the “hard”, sin, and disaster swirling around us in this world right now I need to know that He will reign forever, that He will be my, and my kids, and grandkids, God throughout their lives and beyond. I need to know that He knows what is going on and that He is reigning when it feels like things are spinning out of control. God being my God throughout generations brings peace and hope in the turmoil that this world continues to hand me. Praise the Lord! “Praise the Lord” is a weak “thank you” for this kind of gift. I find myself frustrated by my lack of words to express my gratefulness for this kind of promise. I have to ask the Holy Spirit to intercede for me, to put into words, or convey my heart to God when I can’t find the words to do it justice. When I think on this, I understand why David said over and over in the Psalms to shout for joy, praise Him with the cymbals, dance before Him. Our words are not enough to express our joy and gratefulness!
As we come to the end of another year and take a few minutes to reflect on 2017, can we take the time, and maybe find a different way to “praise the Lord” this year to express our gratefulness for how He has loved us?