July 31, 2024
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in selections from Psalms and Proverbs? Here’s today’s reading:
Psalms 13-15 (NIV)
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?……Continue Reading
I can’t help thinking of the time we are in when I read Psalm 14. How vile people are that don`t know Jesus in their heart. Only Jesus can change their hearts. The world is so foolish thinking that they don`t need Jesus; yet scoff at Jesus and true believers. I guess we shouldn`t be surprised for Jesus said that the world would hate Him and because we are His followers the world also hates us. Such is the rebellious heart of mankind thinking that they don`t need to answer to anyone because they only care about number one. { themselves}. This is making themselves their own god. A false religion known as humanism or secularism. There is no hope for mankind beside Jesus. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Rom. 3:23. Psalm 15 is a huge contrast to Psalm 14. In Psalm 15 people are abiding in the Lord and want to come to the Tabernacle to worship. They are walking uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. Vs 1,2. He is a man of his word even when it hurts, he honors those that fear the Lord. vs 4. He doesn`t do dishonorable things such as backbitten, not evil to his neighbors, doesn`t take up a reproach against his neighbor, he doesn`t put out his money to usury, taketh not a reward against the innocent. vs 3,5. Then God says that this person will not be moved. vs5. He will remain steadfast in his walk with the Lord for his desire is to worship the Lord and to have fellowship with Him. God bless all who desire to walk with the Lord.
Psalms 13-15
Psalm 13 Boy don’t we feel like that often like the darkness all around us is winning but then in verse 5 David reminds us that when we trust in his unfailing love we will rejoice in the salvation he gives and sing praise’s even when it’s hard.
Psalm 14 they have rejected God, they have turned their backs on him they think they don’t need him, they have become corrupt, as today there is so much corruption and greed that distracts people from God.
Psalm 15 David asks who will dwell in God’s sanctuary and on his holy hill, and God gives his guidelines for living a blameless life, our standards for living should not be what the world around us is doing but what God’s word tells us to do, walk in the truth, have no slander from our mouths, our words should always be uplifting.
5 But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
”But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.“
Psalms 13:5-6 NKJV
”Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the Lord? There they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the righteous. You shame the counsel of the poor, But the Lord is his refuge.“
Psalms 14:4-6 NKJV
This is right after the verses that say there is no one righteous, no not one, that is a proof text for “total depravity”. I believe that this is hyperbole. Not that man is unable to walk in righteousness or make right choices, but rather that the majority are in fact wicked but there are those, His people, the generation of the righteous. Of course, we all need Jesus’ righteous to come before the living God and live eternally.
”Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart;“
Psalms 15:1-2 NKJV
It’s not just about what a person does outwardly, but what he speaks “in his heart”.
Proverbs 3; Psalms 13-15
At times it is tempting to think that God has forsaken us and truly where would we be without Him. But it is in these times that we cling to the promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. And as David says, we can trust in His unfailing love. But as we cling to that faith, we live in a world that is going in the opposite direction. They think nothing of God or His standards and think of themselves in what they do and what they promote. They take advantage of people rather than helping them. But the one who God approves is the exact opposite. They honor God in all aspects of life and that certainly translates to how they treat people. Loving God and loving others goes hand in hand. You can’t do one without the other.
Psalms 13-15
Psalms 13-15
Psalms 13-15