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Read Psalm 136:1-9 Psalm 136 magnifies the mercy of God. Every verse ends with the refrain, "For His mercy endures forever." I would like to have heard this psalm sung in the Jewish temple. One group of priests would say, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!" (v. 1). Then the priests on the other side of the court would answer, "For His mercy endures forever." Mercy and grace go together. God, in His grace, gives me what I don't deserve, and God, in His mercy, does n

Read Psalm 119:1-8 What would your Christian life be like if you had no Bible? Would that make any difference? After all, what is the Bible supposed to do for our lives? God gives us some answers to those questions in this Psalm. Almost every verse in this long psalm in some way refers to the Word of God. The psalm is arranged according to the Hebrew alphabet. The first eight verses all begin with the Hebrew letter aleph; the next eight verses start with beth; the next eight,

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 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

Read Psalm 119:89-96 Have you ever noticed that very little gets settled in this world? Few things are resolved politically. We sign treaties and contracts, and then they're broken or reinterpreted. Nothing seems final. Your life may be unsettled because of a situation or person. If that's the case, consider verse 89: "Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven." My word--or anyone's, for that matter--is not settled. I've changed my opinions and my beliefs on certain thi

Read Psalm 9:17-20 The humanist sings, "Glory to man in the highest." And sometimes it looks as if man is prevailing and God is a failure. You recall the slogan that was popular a few years ago that proclaimed "God is dead." Then the philosophers decided God was not really dead; He was simply sick and infirm and couldn't do much about what was going on in the world. This mindset began in Genesis 3, when Satan said to Adam and Eve, "Look, why should you be a man? You can be li

Read Psalm 128:1-6 We don't hear much these days about the fear of the Lord. All too often the Lord is looked upon only as a heavenly friend, someone who walks with us and smiles on us constantly. But verse 1 says, "Blessed is every one who fears the Lord." What does it mean to fear the Lord? It means to be in reverential awe of Him. It means we don't tempt Him. We don't jest with Him. We don't try to make Him do things He will not do. The Israelites did not fear the Lord. Th

Read Psalm 110:1-7 It is not usually polite to listen in on other people's conversations, but in Psalm 110 we can do that. We hear God the Father speaking to God the Son. "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"' (v. 1). This is quoted often in the New Testament. It talks about when our Lord Jesus Christ returned to heaven and was enthroned at the right hand of the Majesty. What does this Father-Son conversation say to us? Fir

Read Psalm 119:129-136 Have you ever faced the problems of dullness, darkness and dryness? Certain days come to us that are simply dull. There may be sameness and tameness about them. And sometimes we have to go through periods of darkness, and we wonder what in the world God is doing. Or we experience dryness--we are so spiritually dry, hungry and thirsty. What is the answer to dullness? The Word of God. "Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them" (v. 129)

Read Psalm 139:13-18 Since the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, more than 21 million babies have been killed. These verses are an amazing statement about conception, growth and birth. When a baby is aborted, what really happens? First, a miracle is interrupted (v. 14). Fearfully means "I am trembling with astonishment." By thinking about birth, David also was contemplating God's attributes. The world has cheapened sex, conception and birth to the point that it treats

Read Psalm 107:16-21 Psalm 107 contains four vivid pictures of sin and salvation. In today's passage, the psalmist likens sin to a disease and God's Word to medicine: "Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted.... He sent His word and healed them" (vv. 17,20). Disease starts secretly. It enters your body secretly and grows secretly. Then it begins to sap your strength, rob your appetite and weaken you. Unless something is done, it

Read Psalm 105:16-23 How wonderful it is to receive an answer to prayer. But there is something even more wonderful--to be an answer to prayer. Have you been an answer to prayer lately? Joseph was. In verse 17 we read, "He sent a man before them--Joseph--who was sold as a slave." At the time, Joseph could not see what God was doing. But God was preparing him to be an answer to prayer. He was going to use Joseph to protect the people of Israel. If Joseph had not done this, the

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 135:1-12 "Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; praise Him, O you servants of the Lord!" (v. 1). That's the way Psalm 135 begins. It's strange that the psalmist has to instruct us to shout hallelujah, but he goes on to tell us why. First, we should praise God because of His goodness. "Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praises to His name, for it is pleasant" (v. 3). We sometimes take God's goodness for granted. He is good, and His goodness is unse

Read Psalm 129:1-8 Verse 3 is a vivid description of personal suffering: "The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long." Many other pictures of personal suffering are found in the Word of God: going through the storm, going through the furnace, going through a battle and carrying a burden. Why would the psalmist use plowing as a picture of personal suffering? For one thing, he felt as if people were treating him like dirt. They were saying, "You're just like a

Read Psalm 100:5 Praise is the highest use of man's faculties. When we contemplate the attributes of God, we can't help but thank and praise Him. This verse speaks of three of God's attributes that make Him worthy of our praise. First, we see His goodness. It's part of God's nature to be kind and benevolent. He is not frowning upon us; He's smiling on us through Jesus. We see His goodness in creation ( Gen. 1:31 ; Ps. 33:5 ), even though man has wrecked it ( Rom. 8:19-23 ). G

Read Psalm 139:13-18 The greatest evidence of God's power is human birth. When a baby is born, there is promise, potential and excitement. David considered babies to be miracles from the hand of God. Eugene Peterson has said, "In the presence of birth we don't calculate, we marvel." As we ponder these truths, what should be our response? We worship God. The word fearfully means "I am shuddering with astonishment; I am trembling with awe" (v. 14). I fear that today people have

Read Psalm 2:7-12 A third voice we hear in the world is the voice of declaration-- God the Son (vv. 7-9). He runs the universe by decree, not by democracy. He knows everything, is everywhere and can do anything. God's decrees will succeed. Puny, foolish men with their godless living will not eradicate or hinder His decrees. God decrees that Jesus Christ is His Son. Jesus is God, and He is King by nature, by conquest and by His Resurrection. He is reigning today, and we can re

Read Psalm 115:1-8 Psalm 115 tells us about the blessings we have because our God is the living God. He's not one of the "idols of the nations." "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands" (v. 4). How true that is today also. Many people worship silver and gold as their god. They think money can do anything. We do need money for some of the practical things in life. But what good are the things that money can buy if you don't have the things that money can't bu

Read Psalm 117:1-2 Psalm 117 is the shortest of the psalms--only two verses. "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! For His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!" What a tremendous psalm of praise this is; it's short but deep. We don't find too much difficulty in thanking people for what they have done for us. Even when we pay someone to work for us, we still say thank you. But sometimes we ta

Read Psalm 124:1-8 "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Paul asked in Romans 8:31 , and we know the answer. No one can be against us if God is for us. That's the theme of Psalm 124. "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us" (vv. 2,3). Because God is on our side, men cannot devour us. The psalmist compares his enemies to ferocious lions or bears who migh

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 7:1-9 This psalm was born out of a sad experience David had with Cush, a Benjamite (see I Sam. 24-26 ). Cush was one of Saul's spies. And because of what David did, Cush caused the deaths of innocent men. Whenever David had a problem with persecution or with people, he would run to God. "O Lord my God, in You I put my trust; save me from all those who persecute me; and deliver me" (v. 1). David's enemies were pursuing him. But the first thing he did was examine his

Read Psalm 118:10-18 "The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation" (v. 14). This also is found in Exodus 15:2 and Isaiah 12:2 . The Israelites sang these words when they were delivered from Egypt, as they saw their enemy drowned in the sea. And Isaiah 12 promises that Israel will sing this song in the future when God restores her and establishes His kingdom. We, too, can rejoice for what these words mean for us today. God is our Strength. That takes care