Category: “Listening to God” Devotional

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+016

 

Psalm 16 (ESV)

¹ Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
² I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”

³ As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.

⁴ The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.

⁵ The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷ I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
⁸ I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰ For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

 

REFLECTION:

1. This is a psalm of joy. David delighted in the Lord as “my” Lord. And he knew that without God he would not have anything (v2). David delighted in the people of God (v3).
2. David took joy and comfort in the fact that God was the portion of his inheritance, and he knew that he had a good inheritance (vv5-6). David described the benefits of always setting the LORD before him (v8). This decision brought gladness and glory to David’s life (v11).
3. Judging from your appointment calendar this past week, what do you “delight” in? How can you turn your delight from other things to God?

 

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:

No Good Apart From You – www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjMB2dMapVo

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+015

 

Psalm 15 (ESV)

¹ O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

² He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
³ who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
⁴ in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the Lord;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
⁵ who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.

 

REFLECTION:

1. David presented a question: Who can come before God? It’s those who “walk straight, act right, tell the truth” (v2).
2. David described the life that lives in the presence of God; who walks in close fellowship with God because the heart, the mind, and the life are all in step with the heart, mind, and life of God.
3. Read over the psalm and use it as a good checklist against which to measure yourself. Any reminder? Any areas that need correction?
4. Celebrate with the last verse: “He who does these things shall never be moved”. Thank God for such a promise! And ask God to help you “walk” closely with Him.

 

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:

Never Be Moved – www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJZuUcl0nNM

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+014

 

Psalm 14 (ESV)

¹  The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.

² The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.

³ They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

⁴ Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?

⁵ There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
⁶ You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.

⁷ Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

 

REFLECTION:

1. The Hebrew word for “fool” describes a person whose heart is closed to God and whose life is characterized by gross immorality. It reminds us of Paul’s teaching that anyone who does not acknowledge God will become corrupt and does “vile” deeds (Rom 1).
2. When the fools say “No” to God, they are actually telling God that they know better and are more powerful than God. Thus, they are cutting themselves off from the abundant life and blessings God intends to give them.
3. The most stupid thing a person can do is to keep God outside of his life. Think about those in your family and friends who are avoiding or denying God.  Pray for them that God will enlighten them to know and experience God’s love for them. Ask that God will make you a living testimony to this truth.

 

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:

Fools – www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ96kZuuKAs

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+013

 

Psalm 13 (ESV)

¹ How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

³ Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
⁴ lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

⁵ But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Read this psalm slowly. Do you find similar feelings as you read the psalmist’s cry for God’s attention?  Pause and ask:  “What am I asking of God”?  Identify your want or need from God.  Look closer to see what deeper desire might be behind it.
2. Now think of a name for God that is most meaningful to you with respect to the desire just identified. Use this name of God in your prayer for this desire. For example: Powerful God, give me justice; Great physician, heal my hurts from …; Loving Father, forgive my sin of ….
3. Throughout the day, pray your phrase as often as possible. At the end of the day, think about how God responded to your desire.

 

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 13 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMy9CoDkxDA

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+012

 

Psalm 12 (ESV)

¹  Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
² Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

³ May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
⁴ those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

⁵ “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
⁶ The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.

⁷ You, O Lord, will keep them;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
⁸ On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

 

REFLECTION:

1. This psalm emphasizes words spoken by men vs. those spoken by God. David lamented to God the disappearance of the godly and the faithful. Everyone lies, flatters, betrays and boasts; doing anything that will advance their own benefit.  They even plunder the poor.  They proudly think that they could do all that they wish and God has no power to stop them.
2. In contrast, God’s promise is pure words without pretense and deceit. God’s Word has gone through trials and is never changed for God is faithful.  God also knows His children and desires to help them and protect them.
3. Have you ever been troubled or surrounded by lies and pretense? Read this psalm again slowly. Paying attention to men’s words and God’s. Tell God your confidence in His Word—the Bible.

 

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 12 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8L2vjUMdUg

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+011

 

Psalm 11 (ESV)

¹ In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
² for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
³ if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”

⁴ The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord’s throne is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
⁵ The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
⁶ Let him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their   cup.
⁷ For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.

 

REFLECTION:

1. This psalm records well-intentioned, but faithless, advice of David’s friends when he was a fugitive from King Saul. David lifts his eyes to the Lord to find faith in a time of testing. He knew the safest place to stand was in radical trust in God.
2. Have you ever felt that your foundations were being destroyed and you wanted to run away?
3. Remember, running to God is always safer than running away. Besides, the wicked will surely receive God’s judgment.

 

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 11 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF0GdhAxX2k

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+010

 

Psalm 10 (ESV)

¹² Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.
¹³ Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
¹⁴ But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.

¹⁶ The Lord is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
¹⁷ O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
¹⁸ to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

 

REFLECTION:

1. This passage describes the helplessness of the victim that leads him to turn to the Lord. God hears and responds to the victims and will judge the wicked and defend the oppressed. The passage also recognizes the fact that injustices may exist for a time. But the people who persecute us will surely be punished.
2. Prayer in suffering brings us to God to understand His will, and it also teaches us to care for the needy around us.
3. Do you know anyone who may be in trouble or suffering? Pray for that person and pray for specific actions you may take to help that person.

 

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 10 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL23VYHg6rU

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+009

 

Psalm 9 (ESV)

¹ I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
² I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

³ When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before your presence.
⁴ For you have maintained my just cause;
you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.

⁵ You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
⁶ The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
their cities you rooted out;
the very memory of them has perished.

⁷ But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for justice,
⁸ and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.

⁹ The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰ And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

 

REFLECTION:

1. David celebrated the Lord, for he knew God not only reigns forever, but “he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness”. This enables a person who is oppressed or in trouble to find refuge and hope now.
2. Trust God may not change our circumstances, but it changes us! The mere fact that we can experience peace despite persecution is the most convincing evidence that God is real.
3. Bring your troubles and heartaches to God with full confidence that God rules and He judges.

 

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 9 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaMXjLQYJRY

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+008

 

Psalm 8 (ESV)

¹ O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
² Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

⁵ Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
⁶ You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
⁷ all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
⁸ the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

 

REFLECTION:

1. Read this passage aloud slowly. As you read, think of the things and how they relate to each other in this psalm: babies babbling vs. the antagonist words of enemies and foes; vast universe vs. tiny human; the Creator vs. ordinary livelihood, etc.
2. What thoughts come to mind as you read and think of these things? Tell God your thoughts and feelings. Close it by joining the psalmist in praising God: “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

 

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:

In All the Earth – www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIC7ZVt4OKg

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+007

 

Psalm 7 (ESV)

¹ O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
² lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

³ O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
⁴ if I have repaid my friend with evil
or plundered my enemy without cause,
⁵ let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
and let him trample my life to the ground
and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

⁶ Arise, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
⁷ Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
over it return on high.

⁸ The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
⁹ Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God!
¹⁰ My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
¹¹ God is a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Have you ever felt falsely accused? How did you appeal your case? Like David?
2. Would you want God to judge your righteousness or the integrity of your heart? Why?
3. Speak candidly to God about your thoughts, emotions and desires at this moment. Wait for God to respond 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:

Psalm 7 – www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu8Vgw9HsfM