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Read Psalm 143:1-12 How should we pray when we are going through trouble? We find several requests in David's prayer, and if we follow his example, God will lead us through our difficulties into blessing. First, he says, "Hear my prayer" (v. 1) and "answer me speedily, O Lord; my spirit fails!" (v. 7). We don't have to shout to God; we don't have to argue with Him. We simply can come to Him and say, "Lord, hear me." When a child comes to his father or mother, the parent has h

Read Psalm 144:1-8 Why should Almighty God pay attention to us? Who are we that we should receive His mercy? David asks these questions in verse 3. "Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?" What are we that God should pay any attention to us? Are we smart? I don't think so. Are we strong? Some animals are much stronger than we are. Are we righteous? No, we have sinned against God. Are we faithful? Too often we disobey

Read Psalm 144:9-15 "Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!" (v. 15). That's the way David concludes Psalm 144. In the first half of this psalm, he cries out to God for help. In the last half, he sings praises to the Lord because of the help He gave him. "I will sing a new song to You, O God; on a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You, the One who gives salvation to kings, who delivers David His servant from the deadly sword" (vv. 9,10). This shows David's perso

Read Psalm 145:1-13 This psalm has special meaning for me. Several years ago a drunken driver hit me going 80 or 90 miles an hour. When I woke up in the intensive care ward of a hospital with broken bones and lacerations, this is the verse that went through my mind: "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable" (v. 3). Let's praise God for His greatness. The psalmist says His greatness is eternal. "I will extol You, my God, O King; and I wi

Read Psalm 145:14-21 "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth" (v. 18). Isn't that a great promise? It's one you can put to work today. Let's look at it more closely. First, God is near to those who are stumbling. "The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down" (v. 14). You may have stumbled and fallen. Perhaps you just didn't do what you should have. Maybe you stumbled in your job, and you are embarrassed and w

Read Psalm 146:1-10 "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God" (v. 5). This tells us that God is all we need for today--and for tomorrow. When you know God, you have happiness, help and hope: happiness in walking with Him, help for the burdens of the day and hope for the concerns of the future. What more could you want? Who is the God of Jacob? First, He is the creator. Verse 6 says He is the One "who made heaven and earth, the sea,

Read Psalm 147:1-11 The God of the galaxies is also the God of the brokenhearted. That's what David tells us in verses 3 and 4: "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name." The contrast we see in these two verses--between the heavens and the broken heart--ought to encourage us. God made the heavens. He spoke and it was done. His creation stood steadfast. The God who made the heavens is concerned about yo

Read Psalm 147:12-20 I wonder if the Old Testament people of Israel realized how privileged they were. This is what the psalmist addresses in today's passage. He's telling the Jewish people to praise the Lord because of all He had done for them. "For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you" (v. 13). He gave peace in their borders. He fed them. He gave them His Word and His Law. He gave them land. "He has not dealt thus with any nati

Read Psalm 149:1-9 "Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song" (v. 1). We have a tendency to want to sing the same songs in church, and there's nothing wrong with that. The psalmist isn't telling us to buy a new hymnbook. He means we should have a new experience with the Lord so that we will have a new song of praise to give to Him. Every new valley that we go through, every new mountaintop we climb, every experience of life ought to be writing on our hearts a new song o

Read Psalm 150:1-6 The hymnbook of the Bible is the Book of Psalms, and the last psalm summarizes what God wants us to know about praise and worship. The Christian faith is a singing and praising faith. No other religion has praise and singing such as we have, because we have the song of the Lord in our hearts. The psalmist answers some important questions about praise in this psalm. Who is it that we praise? "Praise the Lord" (v. 1)--not the church, not the preacher, but the