23 Sunday Oct 2022
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Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here. 
23 Sunday Oct 2022
Posted in Psalm 118
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Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord — photo by David Kitz
![BGBG_v4.3_150[1818]](https://davidkitz.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/bgbg_v4.3_1501818.jpg?w=529)
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
22 Saturday Oct 2022
Posted in Psalm 118
Photo by David Kitz
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
21 Friday Oct 2022
Posted in Psalm 130
Tags
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
21 Friday Oct 2022
Posted in Psalm 130
Reading: Psalm 130:5-8
I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the LORD
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins (NIV). *
Photo by David Kitz
Reflection
Psalm 130 can be divided into three distinct sections: the confessional approach, the wait, and the LORD’s response. In yesterday’s reading, we looked at the confessional approach. The psalmist came before his God and poured out his heart. In desperation he pleaded for mercy and forgiveness. At the same time he acknowledged the extreme mercy of God. He knows full well that this God forgives the undeserving.
Now, the psalmist waits: “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”
This is the step that is most frequently missing in our communion with God. We cannot wait; we rush on. We have things to do, people to see, a life to live. We have no time to wait for the LORD’s response. But without waiting, we cannot hear the LORD speaking to our hearts. The rush of life takes over. We do not hear our Savior speak the words of divine pardon. Prayer is reduced to one way communication. We speak into the silence, and allow no time for the God of silence to answer back.
But in his time of silence, the psalmist heard from God. In this third section of the psalm, the author is no longer addressing the LORD in prayer. Now he addresses us. The wait is over. God has spoken, and now the psalmist rises to his feet. He has a message from the LORD for us—the Israel of God.
Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
For Israel, there was a long wait. The promised Messiah was a long time in coming. The centuries slipped by. Generation after generation passed on, but the word of the LORD stood firm. A Redeemer was coming. With an uncanny accuracy the Old Testament prophets foretold the coming of the Christ. Many of those prophetic words are found within the Psalms. The Lord Jesus is our fount of hope—our Redeemer. He is love and the source of unfailing love. It is he who with his blood redeemed us, body, soul and spirit. In the person of Jesus, God took on human flesh. On the cross he fulfilled these words. “He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.”
Response: Father God, I thank you for your prophetic word because it points to Jesus. Lord Jesus, thank you for laying down your life to redeem me, and all those who bow before you in repentance. Amen.
Your Turn: Are you taking time to listen for the voice of God in prayer? How has the Holy Spirit spoken to you in the past?
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
20 Thursday Oct 2022
Posted in Psalm 130
Tags
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
20 Thursday Oct 2022
Posted in Psalm 130
Reading: Psalm 130:1-4
A song of ascents.
Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD;
LORD, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
If you, LORD, kept a record of sins,
LORD, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you (NIV). *
Photo by David Kitz
Reflection
Psalm 130 is a perfect example of a psalm that brings us into the private inner sanctum of communion with God. Here is a portrait of a fallen man—a man on his knees before his Maker, the eternal One. Hear him now as he agonizes in prayer, “Out of the depths I cry out to you, O LORD; O LORD, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.”
The opening lines of this psalm leave little doubt as to what has transpired. The psalmist has failed; he has missed the mark. He has transgressed, yet again. There is an abject poverty of spirit reflected in these words—a poverty that almost makes us cringe.
We do not know what sin, or list of sins has brought the psalmist to this wretched state. The transgression is left unstated. Was it anger, malice, or unbridled lust? Was it pride, greed or willful dishonesty? Was this a transgression of the mind, of the tongue, of action or inaction? God knows.
I am always somewhat skeptical of those who claim they could never commit this or that sin. I think we rarely comprehend the depravity of our own hearts. Pushed into wrong circumstances, in the wrong environment, with the wrong peer group, who can plumb the depths to which a man or woman may sink? I can identify with the psalmist. I have added my own pile of dung to this world’s heap of moral filth. I too have found myself in the psalmist’s position, sobbing out these words, “Out of the depths I cry out to you, O LORD; O LORD, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.“
But despite my failings, despite my moral poverty, this great God—this God of holiness—is approachable. He is a God of mercy. The psalmist reminds himself and the LORD of His merciful nature with these words: If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, LORD, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
I need daily reminders of God’s forgiveness and mercy. God the moral accountant is also the LORD of forgiveness. No one does forgiveness better than God. When we confess our sins, He destroys the record. What accountant does that?
Response: Father God, I thank you for forgiveness. I have failed you many times, but you are rich in mercy. You are a patient God. Thank you for destroying the record of my sins. Thank you for the blood Jesus shed so I could be washed clean. Amen.
Your Turn: Have you been guilty of digging up the record of your sins—sins that have been forgiven? What do you do to be reminded of God’s mercy and forgiveness?
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
19 Wednesday Oct 2022
Posted in Psalm 129
Tags
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
19 Wednesday Oct 2022
Posted in Psalm 129
Reading: Psalm 129
A song of ascents.
“They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,”
let Israel say;
“they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory over me.
Plowmen have plowed my back
and made their furrows long.
But the LORD is righteous;
he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.”
May all who hate Zion
be turned back in shame.
May they be like grass on the roof,
which withers before it can grow;
a reaper cannot fill his hands with it,
nor one who gathers fill his arms.
May those who pass by not say to them,
“The blessing of the LORD be on you;
we bless you in the name of the LORD” (NIV). *
Photo by David Kitz
Reflection
A few years back I had a conversation with a Jewish friend about what it means to be numbered among God’s chosen people. I found his response quite surprising.
“Most people see being God’s chosen as a great honor or a blessing. The reality is quite different. The reality is persecution. The reality is envy and hatred by your neighbors. The reality is six million dead in the Holocaust. We are God’s chosen people. Is that a blessing? Sometimes it feels like a curse.”
Psalm 129 reflects the truth of my friend’s words: “They have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me. Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.”
Often, we make the assumption that being chosen by God will bring great blessing. But being called and chosen does not mean trouble free. The apostle Paul was God’s called and chosen messenger to the Gentiles, but fulfilling his mission involved tremendous suffering, beatings, imprisonment and ultimately martyrdom. See 2 Corinthians 11:22-33. Paul makes this observation about his calling: For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings (1 Corinthians 4:9).
Genuinely following Jesus in the world today can lead directly to persecution. Amnesty International reports that 80% of the systemic persecution in the world today is targeted at Christians. There is often a price to pay for being God’s chosen.
Response: Father God, I pray for those who are facing severe persecution, whatever their faith may be. But I pray especially for my brothers and sisters in Christ. Have mercy on them for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Your Turn: Do you see yourself as chosen by God? How do stories of suffering and persecution affect you? Is there something you can do to help those in need?
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
18 Tuesday Oct 2022
Posted in Psalm 128
Volume I of Psalms 365: Develop a Life of Worship and Prayer won the Best Book of the Year Award from The Word Guild, and Volume II has won the Best Devotional of the Year Award. For those who love God’s word, this three-book series is an ideal way to daily meet with the Lord. To purchase or for a closer look click here.
I love the Psalms 