II Samuel 22-23

God, I come to you in desperate need of you every day. You are working in my life. I know you are growing and making me what you want me to be. We were able to see another grandson get married. I thank you for caring for my family over all the travels yesterday. I ask you to work on this day as well. 

You are all I have. I will call on you because you are worthy. I call because you hear and answer prayer. When I am in trouble, there is no one else to turn to but you. I await you and your timing to take care of my adversaries. You will deliver me when you have finished your work in me. 

You will work in me because of who you are. I will trust you. You work in the lives of those that trust you. Give me strength for the battle and the wisdom to learn the lessons you are trying to teach me. 

God, thank you for the friends who loved me during this trying time. I know you, and you alone have made that possible. 

Psalm 57

God, be merciful to me because I am trusting in you. I will stay under the shadow of your wings until all this passes. I will cry unto you, God above everything. You are that God that does everything for me. I know you will send from heaven and rescue me from the shame and reproach they are using to swallow me up.

I know you will send forth your mercy and truth. I am living in the middle of lions that want to destroy me and all that is about me. They want to destroy all the work that you have done in Peru and at Vision. They are using their tongues like swords. 

God be exalted. Keep your glory above it all. They are preparing traps for me. I am low and beaten right now. They have dug pits for me to fall into. I pray you will let them fall into their own pit. 

I fixed my heart on you. I will sing and praise you. God, wake up and move. How long before you step in? I will praise you among your people. Your mercy is higher than the heavens. Your truth is up to the clouds. Be exalted. Shine above it all. God, please work. I trust you.

We serve a God that you can cry out to in your time of need. There is a God that works in your life. He will do for you what you need to do. God is the great, almighty God. He is not a god you made with your hands, but the God of all creation. 

What is so beautiful in this verse is that He is the One holding you together. He is the One answering your prayer. He is the One meeting your needs. 

He is a personal God, doing things for me. He is God whom I can cry out to in prayer and expect Him to meet my needs. Who has a God like the God of Heaven?

I love God. He isn’t just the God of the Jews or the church, but the God of all the universe. He is the creator God. 

God, I will praise you. I will magnify you for who you are and all you do. I will thank you because you are so great.

Everyone will be told about you by me. I will make it my ministry to make you known. I will tell all the nations everywhere about you and how great you are.

I know you are for me, and I am for you. I will tell the world about Jesus. I will pray for those that carry the gospel. I will give money so that others can take the gospel. I will praise the Lord.

God, I know the day will come when all the attacks are part of the past. Please give me mercy till that day comes. I need you. I have nowhere else to turn. They wish to trap me in every way they can, and I have given them plenty of evidence against them. 

Psalm. 95

You are a great God, above all, the Creator. All that I can do to worship you, I will do. I know that I am in a testing time, and I do not want to allow my heart to get hard or bitter. I want to learn, grow, and serve you. I want to be right with you from the heart out. 

I want to sing to you and get others to do the same. I want to sing to you that is my foundation, salvation, and everything. I come to you thanking you and praising you for you are worthy. You are a great God. A great king above all gods. You own everything, including me. I know that you have made it all, and it is yours. I belong to you. You can do with me as you wish because you made me and bought me again after my sin. 

I come to worship and call others to do the same. I want to bow before you, God, my Lord, my creator. You are my God. I belong to you. I am just one of your sheep, and my life is in your hand to do with as you see fit.

I do so want to hear your voice. I long to have you speak to me. I do not want to harden my heart towards you, as I have done in the past. I do not want to challenge you or think I have a right to tell you anything.

I know I have not been what I should be, and I have grieved you. I know that I have erred in my heart. I know that I have not known your ways or even lived in your ways that I knew. God, that means I might not get all the blessings I could have had because I have failed you so much.

I know I am in Christ, and my sins are forgiven. I do not want to hinder your work in my life. I want to see you bring me to whatever you have in mind. I will praise you for all you do. I am so very sorry for how I have failed you.

God wanted His people to love Him and to serve Him. He did not want them to wander off from Him. He did not want them to disobey Him. They sought other gods. They rebelled against Him. 

Notice several things; God was grieved. That is clear enough. He hurt because of what they did. This was not His doing but theirs. What they did hurt Him. They hurt Him.

They erred in their heart. These people erred in their hearts. It is the people that do err in their hearts. It is the people.

They did not know His ways. They had heard. They simply chose not to know. They do not walk in His ways.

Let’s be clear. This psalm says the people chose not to do what God wanted, and it hurt Him. He was grieved. They did it. He hurt.

Psalm 97

You are God and the Almighty One. I know you are in control of my life. After all that has happened, you will turn to my best. You are making and forming me. I understand that and want to grow from it. 

I listened yesterday to a book that said that character came from the word chisel. It had to do with the forming of character. God, I know you are at work forming my character. 

God rules over all the earth. That is enough for us to rejoice. We should all be happy to know that He is in charge. He is above all in the clouds, and doing right is who He is. 

Fire goes out and burns His enemies. The whole earth knows to fear Him. Nothing and no one can stand in His presence. All creation declares how good He is. Those that serve idols are confused. They boast about the gods they have made while He made the world. 

Israel is happy because God is their God. God is above all. He alone is God. We love Him, and loving Him means we hate evil. God preserves those that are His. He does not let the devil and His crowd destroy them. 

As God’s people, we live in light and joy. We rejoice in the Lord. We give thanks just thinking of how holy and good He is.

Today, I worship you. I give you my life to do with as you please. I know ’t need my permission, but I yield. I want to do what you want to be done. I need the grace to understand, and so I ask you to work in my life so that I might enjoy your plan.

As I read this verse, I think about all I saw in Nepal. Idols on every corner, scary idols. People turning prayer wheels and lighting incense. People put red ashes on their foreheads as a sign of their devotion. 

The gods they served were images made with men’s hands. They were very proud of their images. They are proud of the worship of their images. They ring bells and find other ways to try to call their gods. 

There is only one God, and He made you, not the other way around. It is time for you to worship God, the creator. It is time to know you need the God who made you; turn to Him today.

You really can’t do one without the other. If you love God, then you will hate evil. We can’t have a friendship relationship with sin and say we love God. Loving God means loving right. Loving God means loving light. Loving God means hating the wrong. Loving God means hating darkness.

God takes care of us. He will give us victory. Sin can not have victory over us. We love the One that saved us from sin and destruction. We love Him and hate what He hates.

Sin and evil are the opposite of our God. We love Him and hate all that stands against Him and His truth!

Psalm 98

I know I will soon sing a new song. I will have seen your deliverance and be happy. You will get me the victory. You have not forgotten me. You have not left me. I know you will show your power in my life. I will praise you because I will see you yet work in my life. 

I want to sing you a new song. I know that you have done marvelous things. You have gotten the victory again. Your salvation is obvious. You have shown your righteousness in all the earth. The pagans have seen it. 

As I read this, I ask you to work in my life. Do something marvelous that I could never have expected. Get the victory. Give me the victory. This is being sung because you did something great for your people, and I am asking you for something great for me. I do not even know what to ask you for. 

God, they saw you had remembered to have mercy towards them. I ask for mercy. The truth is something I ask for. I want all to be astonished at what you do in my life. I come to you asking for you to work. Please hear my prayer and answer. 

God, I want the world to know you and how great you are. I want the world to sing your praises. I want beautiful Christ-honoring praise to be lifted all over the world. God, move over all your creation. God, give joy, I pray.

I also pray that you will come soon and take us from this earth to heaven. I pray you will judge over the affairs of man. I pray you will judge fairly. Those who have judged me are throwing the first stone. They are trying to hurt me by showing how terrible I am. I know I am not good, but I pray you will judge both sides. I give my life to you to be lived for your honor and glory. Do with me whatever is best. I want you.

He has made known His salvation—He uncovered his righteousness in the heathen's sight. It would appear that God wants to make known His salvation. He is concerned about the salvation of the world. It is about time that we also got concerned about how to get the gospel message to the world. 

Psalm 99 

God, I know you rule over all the earth. You are the Almighty. I have no doubt about that. I belong to you. For your pleasure, I am here. I know you treat me right and are only working my life to make me what you choose and what will be best for me. I ask you to work like never in my life. I want you to use me in any way that you choose. 

The Lord reigns. He is king over everything. We tremble knowing who He is and what He can do. The planet He created is not as stable as he is. He sits in heaven between the cherubim and is king over all. He is great above all people, even His people. 

I praise your awesome name. You are great. You are holy. You are to be feared and reverenced. I know you are all-powerful and love to do the right thing. You love right, impartial judgment. You love to make it right and fair. You rule, and you judge among your people. 

God, I ask you to bring about more fairness in all the judgments that have been brought against me. I have not had a fair chance. There has been no allowing me to speak. Those who attacked me did it unfairly, yet your people believe them. I am asking you to work and move and will praise you.

I worship you. I lift you up on high. You are holy and I bowed before you.

God, your men in the past have called on you, and you have heard and answered. You spoke to them.

I ask you to speak to me. I hurt. I need a special touch from you. Please help me. I have asked you in prayer daily and all day, yet I have not seen you move yet. I will not walk away. I will not quit believing, but I beg you to hear and answer. Do something for me, your son, who has done much wrong and failed you many times, but I am still here and will not be leaving. I love you.

God, they asked, and you forgave them. You were hard on their sin, and you have been on mine. Please see that I have suffered, and have mercy on me. Please forgive me. Please work in my life again. 

I will worship you. I will stay at your feet, begging you to do with me as you, please. I love you. I thank you for saving me. I ask you to continue to work.

His name is terrible. That word terrible is more like our word awesome today! He is great and beyond comprehension. We praise Him because of who He is. He is holy.

There is no mention of what He has done here. It is not praising Him for being good to me or doing things for me. It is praising Him for who He is. He is God. He is above all. He is my maker, my creator. He is my Savior and Judge. He is all. He is God. He is holy, without sin. 

He is right. He is, and His name tells us who He is.