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Read Psalm 78:9-20 The children of Ephraim mentioned in Psalm 78 failed the Lord, and they failed their fellow Israelites when their help was badly needed. "The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God; they refused to walk in His law, and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them" (vv. 9-11). What a tragedy it is when people fail in their warfare. Jesus warned us about those who

Read Psalm 78:21-33 The history of Israel in the Old Testament is really the history of all Christians. Like Israel, we have been redeemed through the blood of the Lamb. And like the people of Israel, we are heading for the Promised Land. What is the one thing you need most on the journey from earth to heaven? Love? Yes, that's important. Hope? That's important, too. But I think faith is needed most. The one thing you must do is trust God. That's what the psalmist talks about

Read Psalm 78:34-39 Flattery is not communication; it is manipulation. We flatter people because we want something from them. It's bad enough to flatter people, but it's even worse to flatter God. "Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongue; for their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant" (vv. 36,37). How do we flatter God? First, when we praise Him but don't mean it. It is so easy to stand in c

Read Psalm 78:40-53 The older we get, the more we forget. This is especially true when it comes to our relationship with God. The people of Israel often remembered what they should have forgotten and forgot what they should have remembered! "They did not remember His power: the day when He redeemed them from the enemy, when He worked His signs in Egypt, and His wonders in the field of Zoan" (vv. 42,43). How amazing. The Jews had seen God perform ten miracles on their behalf i

Read Psalm 78:54-64 There is only one direction for Christians to travel--forward. We must not think back or look back or turn back. We must move ahead, out of the old life and into the new. That's the picture of the Israelites. God delivered them from Egypt. He brought them into the Promised Land, yet when they got there, they failed Him. "Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, and did not keep His testimonies, but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathe

Read Psalm 78:65-72 We know that David committed adultery and that he made a man drunk and had him murdered. In addition, he once took a census of the Israelites out of disobedience to God--70,000 people died as a result. But David is still a great man. God forgave him and used him in a wonderful way. David was a man of humility. "He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His peo

Read Psalm 79:1-13 There are days when we look around and it seems as though the Enemy has won. That's the way Asaph felt when he wrote Psalm 79. He looked around and saw defilement. "Oh God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps" (v. 1). Asaph refers to the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem. We, too, can look around today and see defilement in people's minds and hearts. Then Asaph

Read Psalm 80:1-7 "Restore us, O God; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved" (v. 3). We find this prayer three times in Psalm 80. Christians ought to pray this every day. We certainly ought to pray this in times of affliction. The people of Israel were going through the affliction of God. He was angry with them and had to chasten them. The psalmist says, "You are feeding us with the bread of tears. We are drinking our tears. We are a strife to our neighbors. Our ene

Read Psalm 80:8-13 One of the greatest tragedies in life is wasted opportunity--not making the most of what God has given us. We came into this world with certain abilities, and when God saved us, He gave us gifts and the grace to exercise those gifts to help others, to build our own lives and to glorify His name. This is why God puts us through certain experiences. Asaph said, "You have brought a vine out of Egypt; you have cast out the nations, and planted it. You prepared

Read Psalm 80:14-19 Look at two important words in Psalm 80. One is return. "Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine" (v. 14). The other word is revive. "Then we will not turn back from You; revive us, and we will call upon Your name" (v. 18). God had departed from His people. He had planted this vine, the nation of Israel, in the land of Canaan. He had cast out the other nations to make room for Israel. The vine took root an

Read Psalm 81:1-16 Life is made up of things that were, things that are and things that might have been. We find all three in Psalm 81. First, we find the things that were (vv. 1-10). The psalmist talks about the God of Jacob and says, "Let's get our orchestra together. Let's get our trumpets and let's sing to the Lord. He gave us a statute. He delivered us from Egypt." He reflects on and rejoices in the past. But the things that were did not last long, because the people r

Read Psalm 82:1-8 When we watch the news on television or read it in a magazine or newspaper, we may think that the unjust are winning and the just are losing. We get the same idea when we read Psalm 82. But this psalm also says that God is part of the judicial system. God attends court. "God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods" (v. 1). The word gods means "the judges." When the judges get together in court, God is there whether they recognize H

Read Psalm 83:1-18 Christians are strangers living in enemy territory. Our enemies are those who do not love Jesus Christ, His Church or His Word. What shall we do about our enemies, who also are God's enemies? Follow the example of the psalmist and turn them over to the Lord. "For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head" (v. 2). He refers to Israel's enemies--the Edomites, the Ishmaelites, the Moabites and other heathen nations ar

Read Psalm 84:1-4 Psalm 84 expresses the thoughts of a man who wants to go to Jerusalem for a feast but cannot. We do not know why. Perhaps he is ill, or there is some problem at home. He writes, "How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God" (vv. 1,2). His great desire was not to go to Jerusalem solely to observe a holy day. Instead, he wanted to go to the temple a

Read Psalm 84:5-7 At the time this psalm was written, every Jewish man was required to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast three times a year. Whole villages would make their pilgrimage together, singing along the way. "Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; every one of them appears before God in Zio

Read Psalm 84:8-12 The psalmist yearns to go to the courts of the Lord. But as he meditates on Him, he realizes he can have God's blessing right where he is. He does not have to go to the temple. "The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly" (v. 11). Grace--that's how the spiritual journey begins. We are saved by God's grace. We trust Jesus, and in grace God saves us. Glory--that's how it e

Read Psalm 85:1-13 "Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?" (v. 6). This prayer has been set to music in the song "Revive Us Again," and it's a prayer we need to pray. Who needs revival? Unsaved people can't be revived because they never had life to begin with. The unsaved person is dead in trespasses and sins. But Christians, through faith in Jesus Christ, have been raised from the dead. We've been given eternal, abundant life. Unfortunately, some

Read Psalm 86:1-10 "For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You" (v. 5). What a promise to claim today! Just two verses later the psalmist says, "In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, for You will answer me" (v. 7). The psalmist gives a number of encouragements to pray. First, remember who God is. Never forget His attributes. The better we know Him, the better we are able to pray. What kind of God are we praying

Read Psalm 86:11-17 Here is a good prayer for you today. "Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name" (v. 11). The whole person is wrapped up in this prayer. First, we see an open mind. "Teach me Your way; . . . I will walk in Your truth." Is your mind open to God's truth? Do you really want Him to teach you His way? He revealed His ways to Moses and to the Israelites. He will do the same for you also. We need people today who will

Read Psalm 87:1-7 Most of us have places in this world we love in special ways. It might be an old home or perhaps a school. It might even be a church or a place in that church building where God met you in a significant way. God also has a place He loves especially. "The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (v. 2). The psalmist refers to the city of God. Zion is important to Christians also. Of course, our citizenship is in the heavenly Zion ( P

Read Psalm 88:1-12 There are days when it's difficult to rejoice. Oh, we talk about having the joy of the Lord and walking in the sunshine of His countenance. We are grateful for days like that, but there are also difficult days. The author of Psalm 88 penned these words when he was having one of those difficult days. He tells us about his problems. First, he is struggling with unanswered prayer. "O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You. Let my

Read Psalm 88:13-18 When nothing seems to go right, when people are neglecting you and God seems to have forgotten you, don't stop praying. This troubled psalmist did not cease to pray. "Lord, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You" (v. 9). Even though the light is not shining, don't stop praying, because God will answer. Start each day with the Lord. "But to You I have cried out, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer comes before You" (v. 13). Alwa

Read Psalm 89:1-10 Have you thought lately about the faithfulness of God? Too often we are prone to focus on our own faithfulness and our own faith. Our living a victorious Christian life indicates that we are trusting a faithful God who cannot fail, not that we are faithful to Him. How should we respond to the faithfulness of God? First, sing of His faithfulness. "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generat

Read Psalm 89:11-29 "Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they rejoice all day long, and in Your righteousness they are exalted" (vv. 15,16). That describes how God's people ought to be. We should walk in joy. Throughout the year the people of Israel heard joyful sounds. The trumpets would call them to a feast or remind them of the faithfulness and goodness of God. The psalmist is talking here abou