more psalms....

Havent been updating, cos busy with school work and weekend were burned with activities, but i hope we have been doing our psalmy days... and growing closer to the Lord even through sanctification and spending time with Him. Here's just a quick summary of the psalms.

Psalm 76
Vs 1-3 referred to God, His name, tabernacle, dwelling place etc... But vs 4-1 referred to God as You. Seems like Asaph was first praising God, then moving closer to have a dialogue with God, addressing Him as You. Perhaps this is something we need to do too.. we can praise God for who He is, but learn to draw nearer so that we have talk to Him as our friend/Father.

Psalm 77
Here Asaph started with crying out to the Lord to bring his requests before Him. vs 1-10 was all his cries, "I-s". Then vs 11-12, he was reminded of what God has done, and from vs 13 on, his focus was shifted to God, to worshipping Him, "You-s". Similarly, when we pray, there is a tendency for us to focus on ourselves, God i need this. God, help me. God, see my situation and deliver me. God, answer my prayers. But as we pray, He will shift our focus to Him, His power, His deeds... and we can have faith in Him.

Psalm 78
Familiar story of God's glory. He delivered the people from slavery, parted the red sea, provided food for the people, guided them through the desert. Yet the people rebelled and were not faithful to Him. The kept making demands, testing God, turning away from Him, didnt follow God with their hearts. In the end, God did not bring them into the promised land. They wandered 40 years in the desert. Only the later generation entered.

Are we like the stubborn and rebellious people? God has been blessing us, guiding and providing for us. Are we faithful, obedient and listening to His word? Let this story of the Israelites remind us not to be unfaithful towards God who gave us so many miracles.

Psalm 79
In times of difficulties, cry out to God. Dont be angry with God, He never plan to harm us, only to bless us. If we continue to trust in him, we will see that in the end, He will turn things around. We must learn to go through time of trials so that our characters are built in the Lord.

Psalm 80
A prayer for revival and restoration after destruction. God is our only hope for salvation. Well, we need to be in the constant process of humbling ourselves and repenting from our sins, then receiving His forgiveness and find ourselves being restored.

Psalm 81
HAHA. It is recorded that this is a holiday psalm. But i guess it means for us to remember God's goodness. Just like how Israel remembers how God delivered them while they were unfaithful, we should remember what God has done during Christmas, Good friday and Ester.

Psalm 82
God judges.

Psalm 83
A prayer for God to show Himself to all the nations. All may know that God alone is the Lord!

Psalm 84
I like this psalm. =) "How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!" "Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You. Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage." "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elesewhere"

God's presence is the best place to be, there is great joy and peace, and we will grow in strength, grace and glory.

But does that mean that we need to be in church everyday to be in God's presence? I'm learning that God's presence is always around, because He is everywhere. He is with you in class, at home or even on the bus. Entering into His presence is to recognise that He is with you, and you can talk to Him, hear from Him and fellowship with Him, everywhere!

Psalm 85
God can be angry with us. especially when we sin and refuse to obey Him. But there will be a fear because we know that God will deal with us, that reverence will turn us to God and seek Him. When we seek and obey Him, He will forgive us, and restore us with His love.

Psalm 86
I like this too. =) I guess the whole psalm is summarise by 2 verses. "Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours" Praise God!

"Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name."

Psalm 87
The city of God, Zion, where all believers will one day gather. Will you be there?

Psalm 88
Written by Heman, a son of korah. When there is no relief in sight, everything is bad and getting worse, and you are so low in life that you are depressed and upset, you can tell God. This is a psalm you can use. And it is one of the few psalms that gives no answer or expression of hope. hopeless. But it's ok, you may not be cheerful and positive always, depression and hurts take time to heal. Just talk to God...

Psalm 89
This psalm records God's promise to preserve David's descendants. But we see that Jerusalem was eventually destroyed and there was no kings from David's line. But this can actually be talking about Jesus' reign... His kingdom, glorious and established forever.