This past week I continued reading in the Psalms each morning. Each psalm brought this assurance – God is always with us, therefore, we can walk in confidence.
- Psalm 16 – “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever” (verse 11, NLT). In that verse, “joy” means an attitude of happiness & cheerfulness stemming from jubilance of a relationship with God. Seeing as I don’t use “jubilance” or “jubilant’ at all, I looked that word up in dictionary – – “cheers from victors” & that is who we are – victors in and through Jesus Christ. We can have a cheerful attitude, even in the midst of difficulties, as we remember Christ has already won the victory.
- Psalm 17 – “I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray” (verse 6). I LOVED the imagery of God bending down to listen as I pray. Much the way I bend down, or squat low, to hear when one of my grandchildren is speaking to me, our God bends to listen to each of us. Heaven bending to meet earth. I googled these words (“picture of bending down to listen”) and the first five hits were Scriptures which contained the imagery of God bending down to listen. Even google knows! Remember He is bending low to give you His ear.
- Psalm 27 – “My heart has heard you say, ‘Come and talk with me.’ And my heart responds, ‘Lord, I am coming’ (verse 8, NLT). May we look deeply and determine how well we are doing with responding to Him. Am we coming to Him? Are we showing up when He beckons us?
- Psalm 31 – “So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord! (verse 24). It will take strength and courage to hope in Him when things are going against us. But we have the promise that “when we are weak, he makes us strong.” For He gives us His strength.
- Psalm 34 – “The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord come to the rescue each time” (verse 19, NLT). We are not told that we will not have trouble in this life. But we are assured of His Presence with us each and every time we face trouble.
“Hope can see heaven through the thickest clouds.” (Thomas Brooks)
Today I am joining … #SmallWonder and Inspire Me Mondays and Playdates With God and Create With Joy and Making Your Home Sing and Motivate & Rejuvenate Mondays .
This is great. I like your thoughts on each scripture. I pinned the picture too.
How was your weekend?
Do have a blessed week.
The picture was shared by the Hello Mornings Bible Study. Glad you liked it & shared it. May you have a blessed week as well.
Oh I love this! I just never tire of reading the Psalms and you listed a few of my favorites! Yes and Amen to the imagery of God bending down to hear our prayers! LOVE this!
Reading of God bending down to hear me always brings me such comfort as sometimes our prayers are barely whispered. And He hears them still.
I’ve felt God bending down to listen to me a lot this past month :). I, too love the Psalms and how they speak to us when our hearts agonize and rejoice with us in victory.
I can always find encouragement & strength when I turn to the psalms. So grateful He hears us every time, Anita.
The Psalms are so, so rich, indeed. Thank you for linking at Small Wonder.
I really like how you are taking a psalm each day and then reflecting on a verse here. I didn’t know about Jubilance either and the image of God bending down to hear our prayer is powerful. That image will stay with me for awhile. Thanks!
Jean, the image has stayed with me. Amazing to think how intently He listens to each word we utter. May you & yours have a blessed Easter!