In Psalm 63, David calls out to God and doesn’t hesitate to use the possessive form. How great is it to be able to say “You are my God” in a prayer?
God will be your God, but you have to do something first – You have to seek him diligently. Read Matthew 7:7-11 to understand how.
Seeking
Asking
Knocking
Three ways to get God to uphold us in his hand (Psalm 63:8)
When you skip church, you aren’t doing yourself any favors. (Psalm 127:1, 1 Corinthians 9:27) Did you know you are affecting others when you choose to skip worship?
Here’s just a quick thought to take away after reading Romans 1:21-22 – man gets only one major life defining opportunity. We get a choice of believing in God and honoring him and his commands or not. Those who choose “not” no longer have anything relevant to contribute to eternity. Finish the chapter to see how that lifestyle turns out.
Faith wasn’t exactly Moses’ strong suit when he first spoke to God. God had to give Moses the power to do miracles and then he had to use Aaron to speak for him. (Exodus 4:10-17)
Luckily we have the benefit of hindsight. We have the Gospel – which is the power of God. (Romans 1:16) The revelation of the Gospel is the source of faith, built from faith (Romans 1:17)
Reading the Scriptures living by faith easier than it ever has been in history.
When King Saul was pursuing David to kill him, David prayed only to be delivered – He did not seek the death of Saul, God’s anointed king. Psalm 59:5-15.
How do we handle our enemies?
We can take the opportunity to be like Christ and love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48)
Enemies seem powerful because they have no fear of God. Rebuke or warnings do no good because they have no belief. We just trust that God will take care of it. (Romans 12:17-21)
David reacted by singing. No matter how much talent you have, singing to God from the heart is an excellent strength building exercise. (Psalm 59:16-17) Peter and Silas made it famous while in jail one night. (Acts 16:25) Worship God and wait for Him.
In our New Testament world we take the “loving” approach to sinners and our enemies. (Matthew 5:43-48) This worldview makes David’s request for God’s swift judgment in Psalm 58 sound a little harsh.
In Psalm 58:6-7 the request from the psalmist is to make the enemy powerless. Let’s think about Jesus in the wilderness countering the temptations of Satan. (Matthew 4:1-11) He turned every attack into harmless chatter with no substance. To follow this example is to teach the scriptures, discredit false interpretation of the Bible and try to make sinners see the way.
In the end, when we pray for others (especially those we care about) that are sinners, we cannot pray for God’s to make an unrighteous judgment. We need to pray for their conversion because God is a righteous judge.