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Psalm 9:1

Published by S.M. Wibberley on February 1, 2020
 
A Psalm of David, 9:1 “I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;”
 
[You, O Lord God–Triune, Triumphant and Tremendous in grace, goodness and power–are worthy of praise. As you have loved me, cleansed me, transformed me, adopted me, delighted in me, giving me the opposite of what I deserve, how can I but respond with love, with praise, with admiration, thankfulness and whole-hearted rejoicing in you.
 
You are my Lord and my King, my Shepherd and my Rock, my Savior and my Shield; I rejoice in the great privilege of knowing you. You are worthy of praise no matter what comes into my life, so I will whole-heartedly exalt you both now and forever in eternity!]
 
“I will tell of all your wonders.”
 
[Great and many are your wonders, Lord God, beginning with your character: you are Love, Light and Life; in you there is Purity, Perfection, and Power; Greatness, Grace and Goodness; Righteousness, Justice and Mercy. You are Immortal, Invisible and Invincible. You are Mighty, Magnificent and Marvelous. You are God, Lord and Sovereign, the Most High who rules forever. You are without beginning, without end and without time.
 
You are a wonder, and we have not even come to your works: speaking all into existence–the heavens, the earth and all that is in them; holding all together; holding back the tide of evil; providing salvation for all your enemies.
 
In addition, you are willing to suffer disappointment, pain and grief every day as you shepherd your professed children, who often willfully disobey, disbelieve and disrupt. You wait patiently for the right time to faithfully, lovingly and firmly correct; you always act from pure motives and consistently do the right thing in the right way. You persist in making us lie down in green pastures where we can feed on your Word, mature and grow.
 
You weave all together into your plans to bring history to a conclusion, to eliminate evil and usher your children into an eternity of light, love and life. Your wonders are great and you are worthy of praise!
 
Help me to be a glory-giver today, taking every opportunity, positive or negative, to honor you by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and thereby fulfill the life purpose you have given me.
 
Alert me when I am about to be a glory-stealer by complaining, whining or feeling sorry for myself. In the light of your marvelous and majestic presence, what’s there to feel sorry about!!!? Honor yourself in my life today.
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Psalm 8:5-8

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 30, 2020
Psalm 8:5 “You made him [man] a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”
 
[you made us for a specific position in your creation, higher than the animals and lower than the angels and in this you granted us glory and honor because you loved us, giving us significant roles:]
 
Psalm 8:6 “You made him ruler over the works of your hands;”
 
[You gave us position and power, meaning and might, dominion and direction. You called us to partnership with you in administrating what you created. And this is still true, even after the fall, even though we are twisted and imperfect, for you are gracious and good, wanting us to have meaningful work and productive purpose.]
 
Psalm 8:7-8 “you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.”
 
[You are so gracious to give such a broad range of responsibility to humans whom you knew would fail and fall. This is true both in what Adam did, and in how we fail to treat your creation with respect and care—and I praise you that you will restore us to pristine purity again so we may rule further and righteously with you in the new heaven and earth!]
 
“O LORD, our Lord,”
 
[Again, you make yourself “our Lord:” the personal, present, passionate, powerful and perfect God, Ruler of all, Lover of all, Redeemer of all–even though you know that many will not accept the forgiveness you have purchased at great cost.]
 
[Truly] “how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
 
Your name is majestic in perfection, in creation, in redemption and in salvation. Therefore, you are worthy of worship from every being throughout all the earth, throughout all the universe, throughout all eternity. May that worship be seen now in us giving honor through praise to your majestic name in whatever you allow in our lives throughout this day. Amen.
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Praise in All

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 29, 2020
“I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. “ Psalm 34:1
 
Psalm 23 is very familiar to everyone, but recently the Lord has shown me some new, very interesting points in it from the perspective of praise. Praise in and for all things is really the act of surrendering to the Lord at that moment and in that situation. In addition, it is resisting the devil and his suggestion that “this situation is just awful! Poor me!”
 
Psalm 23 says, “The Lord is my shepherd.” That means He is watching over me all the time, with great care and attention, holding at a distance what is truly bad.
 
He “makes me lie down in green pastures.” That is, He finds for me the situations which are profitable for growth and brings me there. He doesn’t ask if I like it, nor does He ask my opinion. He MAKES me lie down there until I’ve learned what is needed. In this I can cooperate with Him by praising Him for what He is doing whether I like it or not.
 
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death….” This refers not just to physical danger and death, but to other aspects, such as dying to self, to ego, to my plans and desires and opinions. This can mean having my plans fail, my vision perish, my hopes dashed.
 
“I will fear no evil for you are with me…” The difficult happenings in this “valley” are not evil but are allowed by God for my good—being all-powerful He could easily prevent them, especially since He is with me all the time, but He allows what He knows is useful for my growth and for my giving Him glory.
 
Thinking through this Psalm in terms of praise has brought great joy to me and removed some of my natural thought patterns (the tendency to resent what is hard, to complain, to fear being hurt or rejected)–patterns which make it difficult to praise in and for all things.
 
Take a look at the rest of Psalm 23 from this perspective and see what things you can find to encourage you to praise Him in and for all.
 
Prayer: “Lord, keep opening my eyes to your view of things; speak to me through your Word as I read it daily; move me forward in the discipline of praise. Amen.”

Picture: a portrait a friend/discipline of ours did from a picture. If you’d like him to do one for you (you, or your children or grandchildren), let me know at stevewibb@pobox.com

 

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Psalm 8:3-4

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 28, 2020
Psalm 8:3 “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place…,”
 
[Last night walking back home after dark, the stars were wonderfully bright and clear, and the sliver of a new moon so distinct in the sky—and this despite the light pollution of the nearby city. It was a stimulating sight, a reminder of how vast the universe is, of how small and insignificant we are.
 
As we view the unimaginably immense stretches of the heavens (billions of light years across), and think of the incredible, amazing size and number of stars (trillions), galaxies (billions) and formations of galaxies—all created by you, Lord–we get a small idea of how infinitely great and powerful you are. And this makes us ask:]
 
Psalm 8:4 “what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”
 
[We are so little, so unimportant, so insignificant–just minuscule creatures hidden away on a tiny speck of cosmic dust tucked under one arm of an insignificant galaxy. Yet you not only think of us, you value us and desire a relationship with each one, in spite of our being twisted by sin and selfishness. And you were willing to pay a huge price to be able to take us into your family.
 
The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;…he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth…” (Ps. 33:13-14)
 
Praise you, Lord God, that you are consistently mindful of us and you care deeply for us, in spite of what we are naturally. Praise be to you for your grace, giving us undeserved goodness; for your kindness, returning blessing when we hurt you by disobedience and unbelief; and for your faithfulness, correcting us over and over again as we stumble through life.
 
You are a marvel, Lord, majestic in grace, mighty in love and most worthy of worship by all of your creation. May I give you honor today by giving the sacrifice of thanksgiving in all that comes.]
 
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Willful Praise

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 28, 2020
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
 
[From EDIFIED! Written in 1982]
 
The Lord has been giving us a lot of direction these last few weeks—direction on the need to praise Him more, to praise Him in and for all things. To me it is both amazing and wonderful how He can bring a thing to our attention and then give us needed information on it, “coincidentally” bringing it to us at the right time.
 
For instance, on a day when I was suffering from a nice, strong headache, I lay down for a moment to rest and picked up a book on praise I’d been reading. Opening to the page where I left off, the next paragraph started with this sentence, “For years I’d been suffering from migraine headaches….” And the author went on to tell how God taught him to praise him for these and how, when the lessons were learned, the Lord took the headaches away.
 
Praise is a great privilege, and a great responsibility. To praise in and for all things is expressing faith in a God who controls everything for our good and His glory. Praise is certainly the gateway to surrender and freedom in Christ. As you already know, such praise comes by the working of the Holy Spirit through the Word and flows out as we obey what we know to be true.
 
James 4:7-10 has taken on a new depth for us as we see the importance of praise:
–“Submit yourselves, then, to God [by praise].
–Resist the devil [by praise], and he will flee from you.
–Come near to God [by praise] and he will come near to you.
–Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded [repent of complaining and griping while we claim to trust God].
–Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom [treat grumbling and complaining as the serious sins they are and repent in sadness].
–Humble yourselves before the Lord [by praising in faith], and he will lift you up.”
 
Prayer: “Lord, help me to humble myself through praise, trusting you with my lips when I don’t feel like it in my heart. May you be honored today by my willful praise. Amen.”
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Up From The Fall

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 25, 2020
The operation on Barbara’s broken wrist didn’t take long. The surgeon put the bone back where it belonged, shot in three “nails” in to hold it in place and then put a temporary cast on it. She was in and out in an hour.
 
We both slept poorly because of all the noise in the hospital, plus we had visitors at about 2 am! Our friends, Freedom and Falcon, had heard about Barbara’s accident and walked all the way from downtown—about four miles—to give their condolences. Very nice, very Turkish, very late!
 
The next morning after breakfast the surgeon checked Barbara once more and then sent her home. Her face was now nicely multi-colored with bruises from the fall, including a blue “moustache” bruise where her face had hit the floor!
 
When we got home, I took her clothes out of the bathtub, and we were surprised and pleased to see that all the blood stains were gone. A nice Jesus sighting, a touch of God’s love.
 
Barbara’s front teeth were loose from the impact, so I decided to call a dentist we knew. She gave us an immediate appointment, and then sent us for a special x-ray.
 
After looking at the results, she shook her head. “You will have to have root canals on all your front lower teeth because the trauma will kill the nerves,” she announced.
 
Because the impact of her fall had pushed Barbara’s front teeth back in quite a way, she couldn’t bite properly, so the dentist, without telling us what she was doing, filed off the inside edges of the teeth to make them fit better! We decided not to go back to her.
 
Thankfully, in the end, none of Barbara’s teeth needed a root canal. She did need braces to bring the teeth back into place, but because they were injured in an accident, our insurance paid for it. Another nice provision from the Lord.
 
As we returned home, from the dentist, we found that our way of life had to be altered considerably as Barbara was now greatly hampered with her broken wrist. I became her valet, helping her get dressed, buttoning buttons and brushing her hair. The hard part for me was putting in bobby pins—there is a certain skill needed for that, and for some reason I had never developed it!
 
This kind of “serving” was so far from the masculinity my father had emphasized. I often could hear his voice in my head, “That’s women’s work!” I chose, however, to reject his evaluation and to think instead of Jesus’ words in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve….”
 
It was clear that one of the many things God did in me through this accident was to free me further from fear of man. But for Barbara the question still remained: “Why did God allow this accident to happen?”
 
We both knew intellectually that what He allows He does so for good reasons, that He has a plan; but these are often hidden for a while and some we will never know about in this life. It would be two years before we found out about one very important reason God had for allowing this accident.
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Psalm 8:1

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 24, 2020
 
Psalm 8:1 A Psalm of David.
 
“O LORD,”
 
[You are Yahweh, Jehovah, the great I AM, who exists from eternity to eternity, having no beginning, no end–the Creator of stars, Spinner of the earth, Bringer of the dawn. You are great and glorious, powerful and pure, the Lord of all.]
 
“our Lord,”
 
[You are both THE LORD and OUR Lord. You stoop down to enter our little lives, to walk with us, work with us, watch over us. You invite us to join you in your majestic plans, making meaningful work for each of your children, tailored lovingly to fit our abilities, gifting and situation.
 
In being my Lord you are present, alert, watching, ruling, protecting, guiding and deeply involved in every detail of my life. You I can trust, you I can be sure of, you I can praise in every incident because you are good, through and through.]
 
“how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
 
[Your name, O Eternal God, is pure and powerful, high and holy. You move with majesty, unrushed, sure, full of grace and glory. You are majestic and mighty, the only One with no beginning and no end. You are the One to be extolled and lifted up before all creation.
 
Truly, your name is to be exalted above all in all the earth, above the heavens, in all the universe. It is to be honored by our reverence, our obedience, our awe and worship. You are to be exalted throughout the whole earth, by every person in every place at every moment, for all of time and beyond–for you are worthy.]
 
“You have set your glory above the heavens.”
 
[You who spoke and created the stars, who stretched out the heavens with your hand, who set the limits for time and tide, you are far beyond the heavens, you are outside of time, you are beyond human comprehension.
 
Your glory is far above us, far beyond what we can imagine, yet in your grace you give us glimpses into the beauty of your character. I see echoes of your glory in Springtime with the wealth of flowers, each more lovely than the last. I see your glory in their colors—bright and gentle, rich and wonderful; in their shapes—varied and pleasant, crisp and smooth; in their scents—pleasing and positive, pure and powerful.
 
So it is with you, Lord: you are beautiful, lovely, colorful, richly scented, wonderfully complex and grandly inspiring—and much more so than anything we can imagine in our earth-bound understanding. Truly your glory is great, stretching far beyond the limits of the universe.
 
Help me to remember this and to continually stand in awe of you, to honor you today by wholehearted obedience to what I know to be true.]
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Psalm 7:17

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 23, 2020
 
Psalm 7:17 “I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness”
 
[Yes, to you, O Yahweh–Jehovah, King of glory, the great I AM, the Holy One–to you we bring praise because you are righteous, pure, positive and perfect. You alone are worthy of worship, honor and glory.]
 
“and [I] will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.”
 
[You are the utmost Authority, the final Decider, the great Judge of all. Your decisions are right, made in full knowledge, measured against your own pure character, filled with lavish love on one hand and heavenly hatred for evil on the other. You a holy love for goodness and justice.
 
You have a powerful desire to end all evil, to establish the reign of good, having a gracious commitment to bringing as many as possible into your Kingdom–that is, all who are willing to receive your gift of forgiveness and bow before you as King of all–before you bring the final judgment.
 
In the light of your presence we must bow before you, Lord Jesus, bask in the greatness and power of your love, rise up to obey you in all today. May you be pleased in our obedience, done in the power of the Spirit and according to the wisdom of your Word, for You alone are worthy of worship, worthy to receive songs of praise, hymns of exaltation and words of glory.
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Lifted Up

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 22, 2020
 
“Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.” Psalm 113:1
 
This morning I came to Psalm 113 in my reading. I was tired, had a busy schedule before me and was unhappy with some things that had occurred. The day looked bleak from a human perspective. So, I chose to look up and away to the Lord, to get His perspective, to remember what He is like and what He does.
 
Verse seven of Psalm 113 especially spoke to me: “He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap….” That perspective turned my day into a much better one.
 
You reminded me, Lord, that although I am poor and needy, stranded in the dust and dirt of this world, you are going to do some “lifting up” for me today. This immediately encouraged my spirit and gave me a tangible hope for a positive day with you.
 
In you, Lord, we have a powerful God. I just marvel at the way you used your Word to empower me with the kind of encouragement and uplift I needed. Our part is to take the time to look and listen, and you certainly will meet us with what we need to hear.
 
Praise be to you, Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. Glory be to you for your goodness, greatness and grandeur. We are your children and as such are not to view life as being only a series of small, everyday events.
 
We need to have the bigger picture, to remember that you have involved us in your great and grand scheme to redeem, release and re-form the universe. Keep this grand vision ever before us to give us perspective for the day and help us to fulfill our responsibilities as a part of this great plan.
 
You, Lord God, are wise and loving, patient and perfect, powerful and persistent. We can trust you as you strongly sweep us up in your arms, your family, your plans, your purpose. You are moving history to a conclusion and taking us with you and we praise you for it!
 
Prayer: “Help us today to see the unseen, to live in the invisible, to think by faith, praising you, Lord God, in and for all things, for you are worthy of such praise. May we listen, grasp and respond to what your Word tells us. Amen.” –Edified!
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Psalm 7:12-15

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 21, 2020
 
Psalm 7:12 “God is a righteous judge….If he does not relent,”
 
[and you, Lord, are our faithful God, who follows through. You will not hold back from dealing with evil, but at the right time bring judgment on all evil and those who persist in it.]
 
Psalm 7:12,13 “he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows.”
 
[You have readied all for the final judgment of the world, of sin, of the devil and his forces as well as those who refuse to bow before you. It is certain that You will bring the transformation of all creation that has been warped by sin, returning it to the pristine conditions of the original creation as the New Heaven and New Earth. In the meantime, judgment comes every day on those who persist in evil:]
 
Psalm 7:14,15, “He who is pregnant with evil and conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment.”
 
[doing and being evil brings emptiness, not fulfillment.]
 
“He who digs a hole (like in the picture below) and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made. The trouble he causes recoils on himself; his violence comes down on his own head.”
 
[Evil brings evil to the perpetrator. This is the unchanging law of your justice, Lord. In the end this always happens: think of Hitler, Stalin and Mao; think of Idi Amin of Uganda, Saddam Huseyin of Iraq, Mubarek of Egypt; think of me when I make selfish and unkind decisions.
 
I praise you, Lord, that you do not tolerate evil, that you have prepared the answer to evil and will eliminate it, while all who accept your solution to evil (the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ) will live in sinless and joyful relationship with you forever.
 
In the midst of the evil of people and devils today, of ISIS, Boko Haram, Hamas and Al Kaida, you, Lord. are at work and we can rest in that, joining you in returning good for evil, blessing for cursing, prayers for persecution, kindness for cruelty. Guide us in doing that today.]
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