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Psalm 9:10

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 11, 2017

Psalm 9:10 “Those who know your name will trust in you,”

Your name, Elohim (God), means the strong and faithful One, and you have shown your strength in creation and your faithfulness in providing salvation through Christ for all who will believe .

Your name, Adonai (Lord), means the powerful Authority who has the right to demand obedience, and along with that, promises complete provision of all we need to live for and obey you.

Your name Yahweh (LORD), means the holy One who is utterly independent of your creation and utterly committed to caring for it. You are the Hater of sin, the Judge of evil and the Lover of your sinful creatures.

You are the great I AM, with no beginning and no end, ever existent, ever powerful, ever present.  You are absolutely, utterly, completely, eternally trustable. To not trust in you is a great sin, denigrating your mighty, majestic, magnificent Name.]

“for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

[The record speaks! You have come to the rescue of all who have called upon you: Adam, Able, Abraham, Moses, the Children of Israel (many, many, times), the Judges of Israel, David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, the Apostles, Paul–and us.

As we seek you, call out to you, you are faithful to answer. As it says in Psalm 34:4-8, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

“Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.

“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

So let us take refuge in the Almighty One who will never forsake us and helps those who take refuge in Him.]

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Psalm 9:9

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 10, 2017
Psalm 9:9 “The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,”
 
[Praise you, Yahweh, the great I AM, Creator and Sustainer of the the heavens and earth, the sea and all that is in it, who, while being involved with the whole universe, is aware of each of the oppressed and calls every one of us to yourself for refuge.
 
People are oppressed first and foremost by the devil as he keeps them enslaved by fear of death, by desire and deception, by division and distraction. And he oppresses through evil people, evil persuasions, evil purposes. Then we are also oppressed by our own negative nature where selfishness, pride, lust and greed successfully seek to rule us.
 
But you, Lord Jesus, have opened a door out of this miserable mess of darkness and despair into the Kingdom of Light where you are our very personal refuge and strength so we may give you ever increasing glory.]
 
The Lord is “a stronghold in times of trouble.”
 
[In you we are safe during the destructive attacks of the enemy, able to turn these assaults into opportunities for growth and helping others. In you we can find comfort and rest, salvation and protection. In you we find love and grace, goodness and help. In you we find forgiveness and pardon, cleansing and transformation.
 
In you there is loving chastening, firm correction and certainty of rebuke when needed. In you there is deliverance from deception, lust, selfishness and stubborn, destructive independence from you. You are our protector in all troubles, as long as we dwell in your shelter.
 
As it says in Psalm 91:1-4 “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’
 
Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” ]
 
Lord, help me to willfully take shelter in you today, my mighty Rock and my Refuge.
 
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Psalm 9:5-8

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 9, 2017
Psalm 9:5-6 “You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever. Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished.”
 
[It is your intent to eliminate sin, to cleanse the universe of rebellion, so you justly punish wickedness and those who refuse the forgiveness and cleansing you offer.
 
You first rebuke and give opportunity for repentance, just as you did with all the nations in the promised land—Rahab being the example of what could have happened with each one of them if they had responded with faith—and when they refused to come to you, they remained under judgment and were destroyed. You are just, you are consistent, you are righteous.]
 
Psalm 9:7 “The LORD reigns forever;”
 
[Praise be to you, the forever One, who has no beginning and no end. Being eternal, you are able to follow through on your promises, your plans, your purposes because you never tire, never flag, never fade. You are the everlasting I AM, ever pure, ever holy, ever triune.]
 
Psalm 9:7b-8 “he has established his throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.”
 
[Praise you that in you alone there is true justice and righteousness. They are certainly found nowhere else in this world. We long for them, but fear them at the same time, for we know innately that we are subject to judgment and are found wanting in ourselves.
 
Praise you for your great mercy towards us, that in Christ we stand cleansed, forgiven, transformed, adopted and dearly loved.
 
We bow before you now, O Lord, exalting your name, your Word, your grace, your goodness. You are totally worthy of love, of obedience, of thanksgiving, of praise.
 
Therefore, we rise up from our worship to enter this day as your children, desirous of living a life worthy of you and of pleasing you in every way. May your Spirit fill us and overflow from us into the lives of those around us, bringing you more and more honor.]
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From my worship journal

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 7, 2017

From my worship journal.

Praise be to you, Lord God, that yours is a full-orbed character, shining brightly into our lives. On one side you are love it self, while on the other you hate what is evil.

I praise you for your hatred of evil, your anger at injustice and your wrath against sin–because, your justice makes restoration possible; your wrath against sin makes salvation possible; hatred of evil makes a sinless heaven possible.

I praise you, Lord Jesus, that you took the wrath of the Father fully upon yourself, so that all who choose to believe might be  saved in your goodness, sheltered in your love, protected in your grace and transformed in your power.

Thank you that you have given us life from your suffering, love from your heart and light from your Truth. Praise you for qualifying us to enter your Kingdom, for adopting us into your family and giving us purpose, meaning, hope and a sure future, along with joy, peace and power to live a godly life.

But thank you most of all for giving us a rich, real and righteous relationship with you. Thank you for loving us unconditionally, wholeheartedly, eternally. This is to be the focus of our lives: You!

And in this wonderful relationship with you, you give us all we need: forgiveness, cleansing, acceptance, affirmation, attention, love and grace. I am thankful for these, but they are not the focus: You are.

I worship you as the Lord of love, the Giver of good and the God of grace. To you be glory and honor in all my life today. Amen.

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Psalm 9:2-4

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 6, 2017
Psalm 9:2 “I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.”
 
[Yes, I will rejoice in you, for you are wonderfully worthy, graciously good, powerfully persistent, righteously just, lovingly strong and readily forgiving. Praise is your due, praise is our privilege.
 
How can I not praise you in and for all things—pleasant or painful, nice or negative—when you are so magnificent in your pristine, perfect triune character? Glory be to you now, today and forever, for you are worthy!]
 
Psalm 9:3-4 “My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you. For you have upheld my right and my cause;”
 
[Praise be to you, O warrior God, who fights for your children. You fight against Satan, sin, selfishness and sinners who attack your children. Such help is not our right but a powerful privilege. I am not right, but your Word is right, you will is right and you Son is right—and you have made me righteous in Him. I praise you that out of your grace you fight for me, for us, for your Word, for all that is right.
 
As I “commit my way to the Lord, I will trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass, He shall bring forth my righteousness as the light and my judgment as the noon day sun” (Ps. 37:5-6). He who delights in and meditates on your word “will prosper in whatever he does.” (Ps. 1:3).
 
So, I can rest in what you will do in the pressing debates before me concerning how to biblically proceed with our work, for you are faithful. Things may not work out the way I desire, but I know that you will do what is right.
 
“you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.”
 
[We may be unsure, have only part of the information, be prejudiced by our preferences and preconceptions, but you have none of these restrictions. You, Heavenly Father, see all perfectly, you have every detail of information, you even understand our motives and the intents of our hearts. You know Truth totally and you will judge in full Righteousness.
 
Praise be to you, Lord God, for your goodness and graciousness, your greatness and glory. I praise you today, bowing before you, accepting whole-heartedly whatever results you bring out of the conflicts around me.]
 
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Psalm 9:1

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 5, 2017
Psalm 9:1 “I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;”
 
[You, O Lord God–Triune, Triumphant and Tremendous in wisdom, 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; 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; Riches, Rightness and Reigning. 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 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 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 April 4, 2017
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, 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 you knew would fail and fall, 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 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 begin today by us giving honor through praise to your majestic name in whatever you allow in our lives throughout this day. Amen.
 
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Psalm 8:3-4

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 3, 2017
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, 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, think of the incredible, amazing size and number of stars, galaxies 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 tiny creatures hidden away on a 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.
 
You are consistently mindful of us and you do 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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Psalm 8:2

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 2, 2017
Psalm 8:2 “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise”
 
[You give the weak, the unrecognized, the unimportant the great possibility of giving glory to you—such a significant task your grant them! Praise you that you give the privilege of praise to all, even infants. May we join them in giving peons of praise to you throughout the day.]
 
“because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”
 
[What a wonder: you use the praise of the weak to defeat your powerful enemies, starting with Satan, the avenger, and his forces! What an amazing thought! The deliverance of king Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20 comes to mind.
 
As the king faced a great coalition army, he came to you for help, “O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” (2Ch 20:12)
 
Then after a prophet foretold that God would deliver them, in faith “Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD” (2Ch 20:18).
 
The king then followed the unusual strategy of sending out singers, a choir, before his army as they set out for battle. How would you like to be in an unarmed choir between two armies about to fight? It was a big step of faith for the choir, as well as the king. And God honored this faith.
 
“As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated” (2Ch 20:22).
 
God responded to this praise of trust in Him and sovereignly defeated the enemy. Such praise is a pure act of faith, for there was no discernible reason to praise, except for knowing the powerful and good character of God.
 
So it is with us. As it says in Psalm 50:23, “He who offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving [giving thanks when we don’t want to], honors me [fulfilling the purpose of our lives] and opens the way that I may show him the salvation of the Lord.”
 
Praise opens the way for God’s help; complaining closes the door. May we follow king Jehoshaphat’s example of going immediately to God, seeking His help and praising Him for it before any answer comes. This honors our Lord greatly and defeats the enemy whether we can see it or not!
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Psalm 8:1

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 1, 2017
Psalm 8:1 For the director of music. According to gittith. A Psalm of David.
 
“O LORD,”
 
[You are Yahweh, the great I AM, who exists from eternity to eternity, having no beginning, no end–the Creator of stars, Maker of the earth, Bringer of the dawn. You are great and glorious, powerful and pure, the Lord of all.]
 
“our Lord,”
 
[You are THE LORD and you are also 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.
 
You are my Lord: 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, holy and great. You move with majesty, unrushed, sure, full of grace and glory. You are high 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, 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 time, 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 small 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 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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