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Read Psalm 106:34-48 It has been well said that the one thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history. Anyone who has raised children or is trying to help raise grandchildren knows this. Somehow the new generation doesn't believe that the older generation knows anything. Psalm 106 certainly bears this out. It is a record of how the people of Israel were blessed and then sinned. God helped them repeatedly, and they repeatedly sinned. We see one cause of their

Read Psalm 119:121-128 I have a large library, and I've written a few books myself, but I cannot point to the books I've written or collected and say that everything in them is absolutely right. In fact, I've been embarrassed to find typographical, factual or other kinds of errors in the ones I've written. Only one book can carry an unqualified endorsement, and that is the Word of God. That's why the psalmist writes, "Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consid

Read Psalm 119:81-88 Some days everything seems to go wrong. Every phone call brings bad news. The mail is nothing but bills. The children come home from school with some kind of injury or a bad report. Work is frustrating. What do you do when you have one of these days? "My soul faints for Your salvation, but I hope in Your word. My eyes fail from searching Your word, saying, 'When will You comfort me?' For I have become like a wineskin in smoke, yet I do not forget Your sta

Read Psalm 6:1-10 All of us know what it means to sin and to confess our sin. Psalm 6 is the first of the seven penitential psalms. Occasionally God has to remind us to confess our sins. In verses 1-5 David pleads for God not to rebuke him or to chasten him. God's chastening is not punishment. It builds our Christian character. Hebrews 12 talks about chastening, and the word used means "child training." It's the picture of a child learning how to be a good athlete. God chaste

Read Psalm 108:1-13 "O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise." David begins this psalm by reminding us of the importance of a steadfast or "fixed" heart in the Christian life. What is a fixed heart? First, it trusts in the Lord for salvation. Jesus died for us on the cross. If we have trusted Him, we have fixed our hearts upon Him, and we have experienced His mercy. "For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds" (v. 4). A f

Read Psalm 139:23,24 The most important knowledge in the world is the knowledge of God. The second most important is the knowledge of yourself. To know God, we must know Jesus Christ as our Savior ( John 17:3 ). In his prayer, David makes two basic requests that should also be our prayer. Our prayer should be that we want God to know us. This doesn't mean we want God to get information about us; it means that we have nothing to hide from Him. We hide from God with our words.

Read Psalm 102:1-11 One day I phoned a friend of mine who is in the ministry and asked, "How's it going?" His quiet reply was, "Well, I'm having one of those days." The next time you're having one of those days when everything seems to be going wrong--your plans are falling apart, you don't feel well, there are problems and burdens, and it seems as if all of the forces of the enemy are against you--read this psalm. "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to You. Do not h

Read Psalm 107:16-21 Yesterday we learned that the Bible is the only medicine that can cure the disease of sin. Now let's consider the Great Physician, who administers the medicine. Jesus Christ came to call sinners to repent, and only He can save them. There are false physicians in this world today. What they offer does not solve the problems of the soul. The false prophets of Jeremiah's day were guilty of applying salves when they should have performed surgery ( Jer. 8:11 ,

Read Psalm 107:1-8 One phrase is repeated four times in Psalm 107: "Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" (v. 8). The psalmist gives us five vivid illustrations of what God has done for us and why we should praise His name. He talks about wanderers, prisoners, hospital patients, mariners and people seeking to build the city and sow the seed. About wanderers the psalmist writes, "They wandered in the w

Read Psalm 114:1-8 Have you ever seen the sea flee? Have you ever seen the mountains skip like rams or the hills run like lambs? That's the vivid description the psalmist gives of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. "The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.... Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of w

Read Psalm 126:1-6 The context of this psalm is II Kings 19 and Isaiah 37, when Hezekiah, king of Judah, was attacked by Sennacharib and the Assyrian forces. The enemy forces surrounded Jerusalem, so the Jews had to protect their food supply. They already had lost an entire season of sowing and reaping. Grain was precious. When the people went back to their farms after being delivered, they had to make a decision. Should they use the grain to feed the children, or should they

Read Psalm 106:6-15 Sometimes an unanswered prayer is the best thing for us. The psalmist says, "And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul" (v. 15). The Israelites had prayed selfishly. God was feeding them with manna from heaven, angel's food, but they wanted meat. All they had to do every morning was step out of their tents, stoop down and pick up the precious, clean, sweet, life-giving manna. But after a while their old appetites came back. They sai

Read Psalm 130:1-8 The next time you feel at rock bottom, read Psalm 130. "Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord" (v. 1). Three basic requests in this psalm echo the concerns in our hearts today. First, the psalmist says, "Lord, hear my voice!" (v. 2). Why? "I can't swim; I am in the deep waters, and they are coming over my head. I am drowning, and I'm afraid I can't make it." No matter how far down you may go or feel, God always hears you. Then he says, "If You, Lord

Read Psalm 119:9-16 How does a person keep clean in this dirty world? The psalmist asks this question in verse 9: "How can a young man cleanse his way?" The answer: "By taking heed according to Your word." Of course this doesn't apply only to a young man. The same is true for a young woman, a child or an older person. We are living in a dirty world, and because of the pollution around us, we have to walk in the Word of God. The psalmist gives us several instructions to follow

Read Psalm 112:1-10 Psychiatrists call the fear of certain things phobias. There are people who fear heights (acrophobia) and people who fear closed-in places (claustrophobia). There are people afraid of water, dogs and even other people. But there is one fear that drives out all other fears, and we find it in Psalm 112. "Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments" (v. 1). All kinds of fears are taken care of if we fear th

Read Psalm 9:7-12 This passage teaches a great truth: The safest and strongest protection we have is the name of the Lord. "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You" (v. 10). As I read those words, I'm reminded that God forsook His Son for us. Jesus said from the cross, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" ( Matt. 27:46 ). Has it ever occurred to you that the only person God ever really forsook was Hi

Read Psalm 104:5-13 People who live in the city sometimes forget that God is the God of creation and nature. In the United States alone, more than 2700 acres of pavement are laid each day. Before long, God's creation might be completely covered by concrete and asphalt. We need to pause and get reacquainted with the God of creation. "You who laid the foundations of the earth, so that it should not be moved forever, You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters sto

Read Psalm 104:1-4 Have you thought lately about angels? We usually don't think about them because we don't see or hear them. But God's Word tells us they are His special messengers. "Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire" (v. 4). We have a fire of God at work--His angels, accomplishing His will. The angels have always served God. They sang at creation. They visited Abraham. They came to Hezekiah when Jerusalem was under attack, and one angel destroyed 1

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 103:13-18 Our God remembers what we often forget. Sometimes we forget the things He wants us to remember, and that gets us into trouble. Have you remembered lately what you are made of? "As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust" (vv. 13,14). God took the dust of the ground and made Adam. Then He breathed into Adam the breath of life, and he became a living soul. Physically, we are

Read Psalm 119:137-144 Whenever we buy appliances, we want a guarantee that they're going to work efficiently. So we look for those special seals of approval that indicate the product has been tested. Similarly, when we buy food at the store, we want to be sure that the ingredients are safe for consumption. God's Word has been tested and found true. It is guaranteed. "Your word is very pure [refined]; therefore Your servant loves it" (v. 140). It has gone through the furnace.

Read Psalm 120:1-7 Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers" ( Matt. 5:9 ). But not everybody in this world is a peacemaker. Some people are troublemakers. They enjoy making trouble, and sometimes we have to live or work with them. That's the kind of situation the psalmist found himself in when he wrote Psalm 120. "In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue" (vv. 1,2). He continues, "My soul has dw

Read Psalm 106:24-33 Moses wanted one thing that God would not give him: the privilege of entering the Promised Land. You'll remember that Moses had sinned against the Lord and therefore was not permitted to go into Canaan ( Num. 20 ). He brought the nation right up to the border and then had to go up on the mountain and die. The Israelites were partly to blame for Moses' sin. "They angered Him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses on account of them; b

Read Psalm 139:1-6 Psalm 139 is a short course in theology, the science of God. In the first six verses the psalmist says, "God knows everything; don't try to fool Him." "O Lord, You have searched me and known me" (v. 1). In these first six verses we find 13 personal pronouns. God knows us personally. Few people can recognize us in a crowd, but God does. With Him there are no crowds, only individuals. At times you may feel lonely and say, "Nobody knows me. Nobody cares about