Tag: joy
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Finding harmony with nature in creation’s chorus
Praise the Lord!Praise the Lord from the heavens;praise him in the heights! [Psalm 148:1] Psalm 148 is a great psalm of joy and praise to God. It is exhilarating to read, especially when read aloud. After reading through it several times and meditating on the exhortation, I had two thoughts. Who am I? In the…
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To be near God
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. (Psalm 73:25) What a great verse! And one we are probably too quick to quote and sing, without carefully thinking through what it says. Do we really mean these words when we say them? The first part is…
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Rejoicing In Who God Is
The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. (Psalm 58:10) This is not a popular sentiment. It strikes us as wrong somehow. Yet here it is, in scripture. The context of the entire psalm makes clear this is God’s vengeance against the wicked.…
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Awake the Dawn
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! (Psalm 57:7-8) Here’s a guy who intends to make so much noise praising God, as to “awake the dawn”. Notice he didn’t say he was going…
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God Glorified Through Sickness
Imagine with me walking around in a constant “brain fog”, unable to think clearly, feeling like your head was full of cotton. You know, the way you can feel after taking Benadryl – dazed and not thinking well. Imagine feeling exhausted every single minute of every single day, regardless of how much sleep you get.…
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Joy in Trusting, Not Taking
Restore to me the joy of your salvation (Psalm 51:12) This is one of my favorite psalms. David wrote it after being confronted, and convicted, by the prophet Nathan. Nathan fingered David as “the man” in a plot that would make Hollywood drool. A king, a beautiful girl who happens to be another man’s wife,…
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Sight and Joy
I have set the Lord always before me; (Psalm 16:8) Psalm 16 is a prophetic psalm, speaking of Jesus’ future death and resurrection. Here in verse 8, this phrase caught my attention. What does it mean to “set the Lord always before” you? What did David mean? How did Christ fulfill this? What does it mean…
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How Majestic Is His Name!
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1, 9) David both begins and ends this psalm with that declaration. It’s not a question. It’s an exclamation! God’s name is majestic because God is majestic. He is beautiful beyond our reckoning. In the seven verses in between these twin…
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Rejoice with trembling
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. (Psalm 2:11) Here’s a verse you won’t see on a coffee cup anytime soon. To the modern christian, fear of the Lord is something that belongs to the Old Testament, along with the law. Now, God is love and we don’t think, or talk, about fearing him.…
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eat the word
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16) The context of this verse is that the nation is full of false prophets who are speaking lies and…