Psalm 115
1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
2 Why do the nations say,
"Where is their God?"
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by the hands of men.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but they cannot see;
6 they have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but they cannot smell;
7 they have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but they cannot walk;
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.
9 O house of Israel, trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield.
11 You who fear him, trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield.
12 The LORD remembers us and will bless us:
He will bless the house of Israel,
he will bless the house of Aaron,
13 he will bless those who fear the LORD—small and great alike.
14 May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
16 The highest heavens belong to the LORD,
but the earth he has given to man.
17 It is not the dead who praise the LORD,
those who go down to silence;
18 it is we who extol the LORD,
both now and forevermore.
Praise the LORD.
I am not one for posting scripture. Frankly, most of the time if I read a blog or devotional, I skim the scripture and read the newly written thoughts on it. However, as I was asking the Lord what to write tonight (since I've written two lengthy entries only to erase them), I had the wild idea of posting scripture. When I opened Bible Gateway, it was already to Psalm 115, which is a chapter the Lord has had me in this week. Throughout the week different parts have caught my attention. Tonight something new caught my eye.
Notice with the idols their nose, mouth, ears, and eyes don't work. They have no sense. The question struck me: what senseless things are in my life?
Maybe the Lord would have you ask the same thing. I'll let y'all work that out. For now, I need to talk to Him about that question. I'm sure He has some insight He'd like to share.
Have a glorious and sensible day learning to be like Jesus!
I love when He asks questions like that! Awesome post!!
ReplyDeleteI love questions like that! Simple and to the point yet so soul searching.....
ReplyDeleteAwesome post!
This is one of my favorite passages. The Lord is our help and Shield. He remembers us. :)
ReplyDeleteJennifer, I really like these questions, too. I prefer simple and to the point. What I also like is that these questions are not for milk-fed Christians. These are for the Christians who can be trusted to ask more questions and get closer for the answers rather than run away.
ReplyDeleteOne night last week the Lord woke me up about 2:00 am and told me to pray for someone. I was so tired, and I sort of lay there debating the idea of dragging myself out of bed. My flesh really wanted to sleep. Suddenly, the Lord said in that clear and audible voice, "I only ask these things of people I know I can trust to do them." Debate over. I was up and in the living room praying in seconds.
Isn't it a different thing when we know God sees us as mature and reliable? I have a quote that says people will amazingly become the people they know you expect them to be--good or bad. The same is true of God's children. When we know He expects more because He knows what we are truly capable of, then I believe we become those people. I'm not saying we don't still get gravel in our knees periodically, but as a whole, the way we see ourselves change, and we act accordingly.
Jan, when the Lord has me camp out on a scripture, I just print it out, tape it in my journal and write and highlight and mark it all up. The part about being our Shield was one of the first things I underlined. Like everyone we know--and as every season in life--we have an area that the Lord is cleaning up. We talk about the enemy attacking us, but really the Lord is just revealing and making us aware of our weak spots. He's showing us areas He wants to strengthen, cover in peace, and bless.
As with every other time the Lord does that, it hurts. It makes us cry and scream, and YET, we willingly submit because during the demolition of the old, we hide in Him from falling debris, and during the construction, we hide in Him so we get a vision of what He is doing. He simply has us covered.