Category: “Listening to God” Devotional

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+075

 

Psalm 75 (ESV)

God Will Judge with Equity

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

1 We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, for your name is near.
We recount your wondrous deeds.

² “At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity.
³ When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,
it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah
⁴ I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
⁵ do not lift up your horn on high,
or speak with haughty neck.’”

⁶ For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
⁷ but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.
⁸ For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup
with foaming wine, well mixed,
and he pours out from it,
and all the wicked of the earth
shall drain it down to the dregs.

⁹ But I will declare it forever;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
¹⁰ All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

 

REFLECTION:

1. This thanksgiving psalm anticipates a victory in Israel when God as Judge would destroy the wicked and establish the righteous. God judges when He decides the time is right, and He judges fairly.
2. God as the Sovereign Judge forces His enemies to drink all the wine of judgment that He has prepared for them. One may choose to act against God by doing evil, but then he or she has to accept the consequences of rebellion against God and harming His people.
3. The psalmist concluded by praising God publicly, and in song, for judging His enemies. The horns symbolize strength. Israel’s enemies would lose their strength, but God’s people would grow stronger.
4. Though we might encounter hardship from others, we have the confidence that God will judge and is near to His people.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

We Give Thanks – www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPwR-6H6KNY

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+074

 

Psalm 74 (ESV)

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

A Maskil of Asaph.

1 O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
² Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
³ Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

⁴ Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs for signs.
⁵ They were like those who swing axes
in a forest of trees.
⁶ And all its carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
⁷ They set your sanctuary on fire;
they profaned the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
⁸ They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

⁹ We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
¹⁰ How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!

¹² Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
¹³ You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
¹⁵ You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
¹⁶ Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
¹⁷ You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and a foolish people reviles your name.
¹⁹ Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.

²⁰ Have regard for the covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
²¹ Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.

²² Arise, O God, defend your cause;
remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
²³ Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!

 

REFLECTION:

1. This psalm poses a question that each of us is driven to ask at times. Why is God silent? Why hasn’t He acted? Why does He seem to reject His people? The psalmist described Jerusalem’s destruction and questioned God why He allowed the enemy to mock Him as such.
2. What are we to do when we too feel crushed, puzzled, and anguished because God permits us to suffer?
3. It is at such times, we are often driven to pray and intercede. We become aware of the consequences of sin and the destructive power of evil. And know that we need God’s help otherwise we will have no hope for restoration.
4. What event in your life has caused a crisis in faith for you? How did you handle it? Is the problem resolved? How can your cell group or the church help?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Oh God, Why? – www.youtube.com/watch?v=snpH-JHMC2g

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+073

 

Psalms Book 3 – The Dark Book

Psalm 73 (ESV)

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
² But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
³ For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
⁵ They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
⁷ Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
⁸ They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
¹⁰ Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
¹¹ And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
¹² Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
¹³ All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴ For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

¹⁶ But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
¹⁷ until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

¹⁸ Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
¹⁹ How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
²⁰ Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
²¹ When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
²² I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

²³ Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

²⁷ For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
²⁸ But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

 

REFLECTION:

1. In this psalm, Asaph related his inner struggle when he compared his life, as one committed to Jehovah God, with the lives of his acquaintances who did not put God first. He confessed discouragement. On further reflection he realized the sinfulness of his carnal longings. Finally, he explained that the contrast between these two lifestyles enabled him to keep a proper view of life in perspective.
2. Envious of the arrogant is something we can all understand. If the wicked prospers and God’s people suffer, this begs the question, “What good is faith, anyway?” “All in vain have I kept my heart clean” (v13).
3. The key and turning verse is verse 17. He was carrying his anger, discouragement, bitterness, and puzzlement “until I went into the sanctuary of God.” What exactly takes place in the sanctuary? Asaph had a changed perspective. He realized the troubles he experienced were gifts from God, and that the easy life granted the wicked was actually “slippery places”.
4. Have you ever felt as Asaph did in this psalm? Read the whole psalm as your own conversation with God. Spend some time in the “sanctuary” (v17) and converse with God with verses 21-26. Tell God what comes up in your mind and heart. Listen to what God wants to say to you.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Whom Have I in Heaven But You – www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN91ZTTG8Ig

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+072

 

Psalm 72 (ESV)

¹ Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the royal son!
² May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
³ Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
⁴ May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!

⁵ May they fear you while the sun endures,
and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!
⁶ May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth!
⁷ In his days may the righteous flourish,
and peace abound, till the moon be no more!

 

REFLECTION:

1. Silence – Read/Listen – Meditate – Pray – Contemplate
2. What is the word or phrase that touches you today as you read and meditate on this passage? What is your emotion as you read this word or phrase? How is that related to your current situation? What does God tell you to do?
3. This psalm is regarded in Jewish and Christian tradition as “messianic”. One day a coming King will “judge your people in righteousness” and “defend the afflicted”.
4. Can you honestly say that God is your ruler? If not, who is? If so, how does your life reveal God’s rule? What does it mean to have God as King?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 
HYMN:

Psalm 72 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=4emHqdIK7iY

 

 

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+071

 

Psalm 71 (ESV)

⁹ Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.
¹⁰ For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who watch for my life consult together
¹¹ and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”

¹² O God, be not far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
¹³ May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who seek my hurt.
¹⁴ But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.
¹⁵ My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge.
¹⁶ With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷ O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
¹⁸ So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Silence – Read/Listen – Meditate – Pray – Contemplate
2. What is the word or phrase that touches you today as you read and meditate on this passage? What is your emotion as you read this word or phrase? How is that related to your current situation? What does God tell you to do?
3. What do you fear most about growing old: (1) failing health? (2) losing independence? (3) failing mind? (4) death?
4. What would you like to declare to the “next generation” (v18)? Why not start this week?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Psalm 71 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk5xfMvK2UM

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+070

 

Psalm 70 (ESV)

¹ Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!
² Let them be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
³ Let them turn back because of their shame
who say, “Aha, Aha!”

⁴ May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
⁵ But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!

 

REFLECTION:

1. Silence – Read/Listen – Meditate – Pray – Contemplate
2. What is the word or phrase that touches you today as you read and meditate on this passage? What is your emotion as you read this word or phrase? How is that related to your current situation? What does God tell you to do?
3. Have you ever asked God to “hasten” in replying your prayer? What was it? Did God oblige you? If not, did you still praise Him? Or did you become impatient, even spiteful?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Psalm 70 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRtYA–EwuU

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+069

 

Psalm 69 (ESV)

⁵ O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

⁶ Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
O Lord God of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
O God of Israel.
⁷ For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s sons.

⁹ For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
¹⁰ When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
¹² I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Silence – Read/Listen – Meditate – Pray – Contemplate
2. What is the word or phrase that touches you today as you read and meditate on this passage? What is your emotion as you read this word or phrase? How is that related to your current situation? What does God tell you to do?
3. Fasting (v10): The voluntary abstention from an otherwise normal function—most often eating—for the sake of intense spiritual activity (Spiritual Formation Bible). When was the last time you fasted in order to seek God’s guidance, healing, forgiveness or revival?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Psalm 69 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWhMztaLa-4

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+068

 

Psalm 68 (ESV)

⁷ O God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
⁸ the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
⁹ Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
you restored your inheritance as it languished;
¹⁰ your flock found a dwelling in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

¹¹ The Lord gives the word;
the women who announce the news are a great host:
¹² “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”
The women at home divide the spoil—
¹³ though you men lie among the sheepfolds—
the wings of a dove covered with silver,
its pinions with shimmering gold.
¹⁴ When the Almighty scatters kings there,
let snow fall on Zalmon.

¹⁵ O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;
O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
¹⁶ Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,
at the mount that God desired for his abode,
yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?
¹⁷ The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands;
the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
¹⁸ You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Silence – Read/Listen – Meditate – Pray – Contemplate
2. If time permits, read through the whole psalm for today. God is praised for His triumphal march through history, in scenes that recall the exodus, His appearance at Sinai, the thunderstorm that defeated Sisera in Deborah’s time, and the rains that made the Promised Land a place of blessing.
3. What is the word or phrase that touches you today as you read and meditate on this passage? What is your emotion as you read this word or phrase? How is that related to your current situation?  What does God tell you to do?
4. Briefly review your personal “salvation history”. What was your Egypt? Your exodus?  Desert? Promised Land?   Kingdom expansion?  What evil had to be rooted out of your life?
5. Read this passage again with your own history in mind. Praise God as you read along.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Sing Songs – www.youtube.com/watch?v=uihzbujmr1k

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+067

 

Psalm 67 (ESV)

¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
² that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
³ Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!

⁴ Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
⁵ Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!

⁶ The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, shall bless us.
⁷ God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him!

 

REFLECTION:

1. Silence – Read/Listen – Meditate – Pray – Contemplate
2. What is the word or phrase that touches you today as you read and meditate on this passage? What is your emotion as you read this word or phrase? How is that related to your current situation? What does God tell you to do?
3. Blessing causes us to praise God. And praise, our appropriate response to His gracious provision, maintains that intimate relationship with God that guarantees the blessing.
4. What blessings has God brought into your life? For whose benefit? In your daily prayers, how much percentage is devoted to praising God? Why?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Psalm 67 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QtP48vDl9g

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+066

 

Psalm 66 (ESV)

¹³ I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will perform my vows to you,
¹⁴ that which my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
¹⁵ I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

¹⁶ Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
¹⁷ I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
¹⁸ If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
¹⁹ But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

²⁰ Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!

 

REFLECTION:

1. Silence – Read/Listen – Meditate – Pray – Contemplate
2. What is the word or phrase that touches you today as you read and meditate on this passage? What is your emotion as you read this word or phrase? How is that related to your current situation? What does God tell you to do?
3. The psalmist is thankful that God has listened and answered his prayer and continued to act in steadfast love. As a result, he came to the temple a fully committed man.
4. What could you say God has done for you lately? What sacrifices should you make this week for the Lord? What would be your equivalent to “bulls and goats”?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Let All the Earth Cry Out to God – www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwMsFonMSmo