Psalm 119:81-82

Psalm 119:81-82

My soul longs for your salvation;

I hope in your word.

My eyes long for your promise;

I ask, "When will you comfort me?"

Our souls' greatest need is God. It is when we are in distress, feeling distant from Him, that we begin to realize our need of Him. When we lack of Him, we call to Him. It is for Him we long.

But on what premise can we rightly trust God? How do we know He is faithful? Our hope comes from His word. We know God stands because His truth stands; it is unbound perfection (v. 96). His word will never fall (Is. 40:8).

As Jacob persisted for a blessing (Gen. 32:26), so our prayers must also be persistent in times of adversity. Let us always be hoping in God's word and longing for His promise and comfort. May we never give up seeking Him. Rather, long for Him, for in seeking we shall find.

Psalm 59:16

Psalm 59:16

But I will sing of your strength;

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been to me a fortress

and a refuge in the day of distress.

God is a refuge (Ps. 62:8), a stronghold for His own. No matter what the circumstances in a person's life, God's children can always run to their loving Father and find His faithfulness proven. No task is too difficult for God (Job 42:2; Dan. 4:35), and no earthly or heavenly power is so great as to dismantle His.

A great hope for God's people - indeed, the hope - is that God is strong. It is because of God's strength that He offers grace in redemption (1 Cor. 1:18) and in preservation (2 Cor. 12:9-10; Ps. 42:8). God's might is the very song we sing, our only prayer (Ps. 42:8). We are totally dependent on the power of God for all things (2 Pet. 1:3-11).

These precious promises are our full assurance. All we are and all we have hangs on the power of God, and God does not fail. Therefore we rejoice, we praise Him, we love Him, we seek. And we sing. From the dawn of each day, our hope is secure, so at every sunrise we have every reason among every creature to sing.

Psalm 108:4

Psalm 108:4

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples;

I will sing praises to you among the nations.

It is the duty and delight of man to give thanks to God. The LORD is the One who is worthy of our thanksgiving, for we exist in Him (Acts 17:28), and all good things come from Him (Jas. 1:17). Everything we possess is from Him (1 Cor. 4:7); therefore, He is the Benefactor of all gifts in all circumstances.

In the demands of what He has given, what He has promised, what He is working, what He has completed, and who He is, our assignment is to praise Him on the earth. For He is worthy, and He is worthy of nothing less than all of our thanksgiving and praise.

And our thanksgiving and praise to Him at all times should be specifically and intentionally focused on reaching the ears of all people in every place with the intent that God be glorified everywhere by everyone. He is the Creator and Giver of everything, and He is worthy.

Psalm 106:7

Psalm 106:7

Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works;

they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,

but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.

Time and time again in the Psalms, God's works are mentioned. They are contemplated much because the reason people rebel against God is because they forget His works, namely His love toward all He has made (Psalm 145:13, NIV84). When we sin, we deny God's saving work in the Gospel, forget the faithfulness of His promises, and ignore His love in creation.

The person with an obedient, humble heart meditates on God's works. He considers them (Psalm 8:3) and realizes his insignificance (Psalm 8:4). And at last, the faithful slave beholds God's love toward man (Psalm 8:5-8) and is led to heartfelt worship (Psalm 8:9).

Meditate on God's loving works, lest we forget and rebel.