Psalm 18 W/ Journalin Today

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God Bless You Today, Lena B

Psalm 18

For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the LORD. He sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul.
1 I love you, LORD; you are my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold.
3 I will call on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, for he saves me from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death surrounded me; the floods of destruction swept over me.
5 The grave F18 wrapped its ropes around me; death itself stared me in the face.
6 But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry reached his ears.
7 Then the earth quaked and trembled; the foundations of the mountains shook; they quaked because of his anger.
8 Smoke poured from his nostrils; fierce flames leaped from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He opened the heavens and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
10 Mounted on a mighty angel, F19 he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind.
11 He shrouded himself in darkness, veiling his approach with dense rain clouds.
12 The brilliance of his presence broke through the clouds, raining down hail and burning coals.
13 The LORD thundered from heaven; the Most High gave a mighty shout. F20
14 He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies; his lightning flashed, and they were greatly confused.
15 Then at your command, O LORD, at the blast of your breath, the bottom of the sea could be seen, and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.
16 He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He delivered me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
18 They attacked me at a moment when I was weakest, but the LORD upheld me.
19 He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me for doing right; he compensated me because of my innocence.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
22 For all his laws are constantly before me; I have never abandoned his principles.
23 I am blameless before God; I have kept myself from sin.
24 The LORD rewarded me for doing right, because of the innocence of my hands in his sight.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.
26 To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the wicked you show yourself hostile.
27 You rescue those who are humble, but you humiliate the proud.
28 LORD, you have brought light to my life; my God, you light up my darkness.
29 In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect. All the LORD's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
31 For who is God except the LORD? Who but our God is a solid rock?
32 God arms me with strength; he has made my way safe.
33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer, leading me safely along the mountain heights.
34 He prepares me for battle; he strengthens me to draw a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand supports me; your gentleness has made me great.
36 You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.
37 I chased my enemies and caught them; I did not stop until they were conquered.
38 I struck them down so they could not get up; they fell beneath my feet.
39 You have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
40 You made them turn and run; I have destroyed all who hated me.
41 They called for help, but no one came to rescue them. They cried to the LORD, but he refused to answer them.
42 I ground them as fine as dust carried by the wind. I swept them into the gutter like dirt.
43 You gave me victory over my accusers. You appointed me as the ruler over nations; people I don't even know now serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they submit; foreigners cringe before me.
45 They all lose their courage and come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock! May the God of my salvation be exalted!
47 He is the God who pays back those who harm me; he subdues the nations under me
48 and rescues me from my enemies. You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies; you save me from violent opponents.
49 For this, O LORD, I will praise you among the nations; I will sing joyfully to your name.
50 You give great victories to your king; you show unfailing love to your anointed, to David and all his descendants forever.
FOOTNOTES:
F18: Hebrew Sheol.
F19: Hebrew a cherub.
F20: As in Greek version (see also 2 Sam 22:14); Hebrew adds raining down hail and burning coals.

Lena's Journalin'

Let’s pull out a few ideas for us to consider together today as we read through what a man who is expressing His love and appreciation for the Lord wrote in His journal to share with us over the ages.
Why do we love God?
How do we express it to Him, and to those He made and loves?
What has led us to love and follow Him and His will, if we are at that place yet?
The question I’m really seeing as I read this journal is: How much of Him have we come to see and know?
What do we realize about Him?
Do we see Him in the earth, in ourselves, our family, others?
Do we observe the work of His hand in our day to day life?
If we do not yet see it, or are not yet at a place to speak of it, this doesn’t mean He’s not at work, it could mean we just do not yet see it, it has not yet been revealed to us.
When someone doesn’t give God thanks it is not because He hasn’t done anything to be thankful for. It may mean the person has not yet seen what to be thankful in or how to give thanks in everything or for something.
Who is God to you?
How great is He in your life?
Do you know it is the praiser who chooses to give the praise to whomever he choses? It is the exalter, who decides to exalt and how high?
We know the Bible says, God is great and greatly to be praised, but on a personal level, we have a free will to decide what and how and how much praise we are willing to give to Him.
For peace, strength, value, help, etc. Do you call on God first, or other things? Such as friends, substances, work, etc?
Do you hear His voice? How loudly? Is it small and quiet and polite or can you hear it like thundering waterfall? Is it a strong commanding voice you both hear and heed? Or a gentle offering voice, where you take options?
The Psalm says they cried to Him and He didn’t answer. Why would that be?
Do you ever ask yourself these types of questions?
It has to do with honor and respect. When He asked something of you through His word, what did you do with that?
Those who do not welcome His presence ( or as they may deem – His intrusions), accept His invitations, or take His words as options, do not get as much assistance. For there’s no living relationship there.
It’s not what, but who we know.
Relationship brings favor, for trust has been built into it, by giving and receiving of and from one another.
How’s your relationship with the Lord? Is it give and receive, or just receive?
If you are not seeing promises fulfilled, is it not because He’s not there or chose some other lucky person, or doesn’t especially care about you. These are all lies and deceptions that are offered to anyone who starts to grow in Christ. Ideas that come against God’s words of truth offered to us as disciples.
Let me ask you something. How much do you care about what He truly cares about? Ya know, people who really love one another and are friends or like family, totally care about each other’s stuff.
If you only care for Him as God, whenever He shows care for you by blessing you, then the relationship is very shallow, and barely there.
Do you know why prophecies do not come to pass? We look at them as though they are magic words given to us from magicians for God or something. This is not how it “works”.
Prophecies are God’s ideas for us expressed to us out loud through a vessel, a messenger, to confirm an idea we had in our own hearts that seemed just a good idea to us without the prophetic word.
When God speaks it to us, He is offering us something to put our faith in and start a new direction walking towards, if we have faith for it or if we “take Him up on His offers”.
If you were in a time of prayer and you said in your heart, I’d really like to play the piano, but I feel so untalented etc…and a prophetic word was given to you that you’d play music for the Lord. The word may seem absurd to others who know you do not play and were not born with the talent to play, but you said this in your heart and God was showing you He heard it and if you really want it, He’s willing to give you abilities beyond your own strengths and if you want it, andf put your faith into action on it, it can really happen for you.
So you go through life on the same road you are on now and you let years go by and you wonder why no musical abilities have just been supernaturally poured upon you, you blame the word as not being God or God not caring. This is not the case, He’s waiting for you to act on the word in faith – Go get lessons and play everyday and then, and only then, will you see the word come to pass.
Serving and loving God is all about taking responsibility.
If He says it and we believe it, enough to act upon it, it will happen for us. If we don’t act, we may not really believe and we won’t see it happen. Who’s “fault” is that?
God is not magical at all. He is responsible.
Are we? We were created just as He is and need to become as He is everyday of the rest of our lives. It is our turn He awaits our response to His words Today.