Good morning y’all. Today we are looking at Psalms 14.

I will be reading from Contemporary English Version

Be blessed 🙂

Psalms 14:1 : Only a fool would say, “There is no God!” People like that are worthless; they are heartless and cruel and never do right.

I concur with David that only a fool will say there is no God, because God is real. He exists and is in control of everything. Even creation tell of his marvellous works. All we need to do is look around us and we will see that God exists. Who made the heavens and the earth? who told the sun to come out during the day and the moon at night? Who set the stars in the skies and knows each one of them by name and none is missing? Don’t be fooled by some big bang theory, God is real and alive.

Psalmist says the heavens tell of his glory and their expanse declares the works of his hands (Psalm 19:1-6). Jeremiah tells us He is the one who placed the sand as a boundary for the sea (Jer 5:22). Matthew says He even clothes the lilies of the field (Matt 6:28-29). Isaiah says he has ears and can hear us (Isaiah 59:1). Job says He lives (Job 19:25)

Friends, take a moment this morning to appreciate our God for He is real and alive. HE Is the only true and living God. There is no other God besides him.

Psalms 14:2 : From heaven the Lord looks down to see if anyone is wise enough to search for him.

Its comforting to know that God is looking down from heaven, for anyone wise enough to search or seek Him. Wise, in the sense that they know God exists and long to know him. He is constantly looking for those who truly want to know him. Why would He do that, unless He also longs for the fellowship and wants to reveal himself to us. In Jer 29:13 he says: “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”

Psalms 14:3-4 : But all of them are corrupt; no one does right.  Won’t you evil people learn? You refuse to pray, and you gobble up the Lord’s people.

This is so true of the world we live in today. Our government and people in authority have started rejecting God. In their own eyes, they can rule and govern without His help. We see how they have removed God from schools and hospitals. These people are fools according to today’s psalms. They are proud and and do that which is evil. When will they learn, that you can get rid of God? He is everywhere. Whether they accept it or not, God exists!

Psalms 14:5-6 : But you will be frightened, because God is on the side of every good person.  You may spoil the plans of the poor, but the Lord protects them.

The foolish ones will be frightened. God will shake and frighten them to remind them, that He is God and the one in control. I am reminded of King Nebucadnezzer in the book of Daniel. God brought him to his knees. This king felt he didn’t need God. In his mind, he had arrived and could do without God. God humbled and showed him who exactly is in control. After his humbling experience, below are the words of King Nebucadnezzer:

“After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’ “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.” (Daniel 4:34-35, 37 NLT)

I pray we will humble ourselves before God of our own accord as opposed to God having to humble us. Nebucadnezzer had opportunity to have humbled himself but he didnt and God did it 4 him. Needless to say, it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

God is on our side…whoop! whoop! Even though the enemy may try to thwart our plans, the Lord will surely protects us and make sure their plans don’t succeed. I’m reminded of Romans 8:31 which says “What can we say about all this? If God is on our side, can anyone be against us?” Hallelujah!!!

Psalms 14:7 : I long for someone from Zion to come and save Israel! Our Lord, when you bless your people again, Jacob’s family will be glad, and Israel will celebrate.

David was sure God will show up hence his statement ‘when you bless’. He didn’t use ‘if’  which would have suggested a probability of God showing up to deliver them. When is certain…

Friends, Hold on! Help is on the way. God is at work and will show up at the right time. He is never a second, minute, hour or day late. He is always on time. Be encouraged 🙂

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today. Thank you for reminding us that you are God; the God who sees, hears and speaks to us. Thank you for reminding us that you are on our side :). Lord we pray you open our eyes  to see you in all that we do and help us be aware of your existence as we go about our days. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name. Amen

Thanks for joining today

Have a blessed day and remember God is REAL 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Good morning y’all. Happy Monday :). Today we are in Psalm 13. This psalm has only 6 verses, but there is a lot in those six verses :).

I pray for as many that are going through a tough situation, that God will comfort you through this psalm. He will help you know that He is nearer than you can imagine. He will open your eyes to see him working on your behalf. He will wrap his arms of love around you. In Jesus Name. Amen

I am reading today’s psalm from the Good News Translation.

Be blessed 🙂

Psalm 13:1-2 : How much longer will you forget me, Lord? Forever? How much longer will you hide yourself from me?  How long must I endure trouble? How long will sorrow fill my heart day and night? How long will my enemies triumph over me?

Here, David was in distress. We see a man who is weak and tired; a man who feels forgotten. He is asking God “how much longer will you forget me…”. That statement makes me believe David has been praying and asking God for a particular thing and it seems to him, God is not forthcoming; it seems God is hiding from him. He felt deserted by His God.

I can relate with David in this psalm. There are moments in my life that I ask God the same question David did here. It feels like God has left town and completely forgot about me. I don’t know if you are in the same situation today, I want you to know this morning that God has not forgotten you. His silence doesn’t mean He has moved shop. God is still God and He can never lie nor fail.

It’s not a bad thing to tell God how we feel or ask him what’s going on. What we shouldn’t do, is dwell on the negatives and wallow in self pity. David was sincere and honest with God. He wasn’t pretending at all or lying to God about his feelings. He took his feelings to the ONE he knew could help. He turned to God in all sincerity and brokenness. He told God exactly how he felt. I want to encourage us today to be open and honest with God. I believe this is one of the reasons why God said David is a man after his own heart. He wasn’t doing eye service or pretending with God. His relationship with God was real. He was honest to God about his feelings.

David wanted to know timing. Isn’t that what we all want? Most times its not that we question whether God can answer or will answer our prayer. Our greatest question is WHEN will He do it. And that was the same for David in this psalm. It wasn’t a case of him doubting God’s ability to deliver him but that of When God will you deliver. When is this salvation going to come? When am I going to get healed? When is the husband or wife or children you promised me coming? When will I get the promotion?

Is it a case that God himself doesn’t know when it will happen? No, that’s not the case! GOD knows everything. He even knows the end from the beginning. The reason why God doesn’t always tell us when, is because He wants us to learn to trust him even when we don’t know the full details . He wants us to believe that He has good plans for us and won’t fail us. He wants us to know that our future is secured and safe in him.

Look at Abraham,  God didn’t tell him when the promise will come to pass, all he was told is that He would have a son. He waited 25yrs for that promise to be fulfilled. He knew God who promised was faithful. Now, does that mean he didn’t have doubts along the way? Oh! yes he did. He got with Hagar and had Ishmael. Even when the 3 angels came, and they reiterated the promise again, he laughed at them, yet Romans 4:18 tell us that Abraham hoped against hope. He trusted God and it was counted unto him as righteousness (Romans 4:3).

Another point I want to stress here, is that those verses are all about feelings. David felt forgotten, he felt God was hiding his face. Now, does that mean His feelings were a true reflection of the truth? No, what he felt and what is true are two completely different things. The truth is that God never leaves us or forgets us even though we might feel that way. Isaiah 49:15 puts it this way: “…Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you“.

What more do we need to hear God tell us this morning, for us to know how special we are to him. This is the Creator of the universe; The Almighty God; the One who spoke and it all came to existence telling us that He will never forget us or forsake us. He even went as far as saying in verse 16 of the same Isaiah 49 that “I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” ! (I’m excited 🙂 )

Friends, let’s be honest and open with God. There is no need to hide from him. Truth is He already knows how we feel but He needs us to talk to him. Let him know what’s on our mind and ask for his help and the grace to trust him more.

Oh! I am so glad the psalm didn’t end with verse 1 and 2. Let’s see what David did after questioning God regarding the timing of his suffering,

Psalm 13:3-4: Look at me, O Lord my God, and answer me. Restore my strength; don’t let me die.  Don’t let my enemies say, “We have defeated him.” Don’t let them gloat over my downfall.

David is asking God to look at him because he feels God is hiding from him. Petitioning him to turn his face towards him and answer him so that his enemies won’t gloat over his downfall.

David must have been weary and tired from all the stress and trouble he was facing. He knew God was the only one who could restore his strength. He also didn’t want to die; he wanted to continue living but not with all the troubles surrounding him and he felt if God didn’t answer him on time, he was going to die

In verse 4, he didnt want his enemies to think they have won. He needed God to show up to silence his mockers. He didn’t want them to think His God didn’t have any power, hence why he was petitioning God

Friends, we can’t give up on God. It is not over until God says so. Cry out to him and He will surely answer us. He won’t allow our enemies triumph over us.

Psalm 13:5-6: I rely on your constant love; I will be glad, because you will rescue me.  I will sing to you, O Lord, because you have been good to me.

Notice, how Davids tune has changed in these verses. This is now a man that knows his God is on His way to rescue him; a man that has been encouraged and confident in his God’s ability to save and deliver him; a man expressing his faith and trust in God.

Friends, it’s time we start encouraging ourselves in God. Lets start telling our situation how big our God is. That’s what David was doing here.

Let’s expand a bit more on his words in verse 5 and 6

“I rely on your constant love…” –  Here is a man who in verse 1 said he was forgotten and 5 verses later, he is saying he relies on Gods constant love. Focus on the word constant pls. According to google,  constant means ‘a situation that never changes’. That is, Gods love is always the same no matter what time or day or year it is. Irrespective of our feelings God’s love is constant! 🙂

“I will be glad because you will rescue me….” – oh my! oh my! see how confident David is here. What a drastic change from verse 1 and 2. He is making a choice to be glad. Notice he didn’t say, I will be glad after you rescue me, he said “I will be glad because i know you will rescue me:. David wasnt going to wait to be glad after the promise was fulfilled. No, he chose to be glad even while waiting cos his confidence, is that his God will rescue him.

Where and what is your confidence based on today? David could bodly proclaim “I will be glad…”, cos he knew and had a relationship with his God. We too can know this God and experience the kind of gladness, David had while he was waiting for his answer.

We have a choice to make: either to continue in self pity or to start praising God in advance for the victory. Bible tells us ‘God inhabits the praises of his people’. That is, when we praise him, He shows up and comes right down into the situation. I once heard a pastor say praise brings God down. Friends, praise your way through today. Decide to praise instead of complain. I am reminded of Paul and Silas while in the prison. They praised their way through, till the prison doors shook and opened for them (Acts 16:25-34).

“I will sing because you have been good to me…” – again a choice to be happy cos he could see God’s goodness in his life. How many of us stop to thank God for all He has done. We let the things He hasn’t yet done, take away our joy and thanksgiving for the ones He has done. If not for Him, where would we be and what would have happened to us.

Friends, God has been good to you. The fact that you are alive today and able to read this blog is enough proof that God is good to you. Some people didn’t get a chance to wake up this morning or some did and are paralysed or even in hospital.  So you have every cause to thank God.

What are you waiting for? Come on! get to praising your God 🙂

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today. Thank you for your love that is constant in our lives. Give us the grace to trust you more. Thank you Jesus. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Thank you for joining today.

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***