Daily Encouragement

AUGUST 3, 2008 - Security On The Rock

Meditation on Psalm 61

In time of anxiety and dispersement, King David cried out to God for security and protection. He prayed that God will "lead me to the rock that is higher than I." (v. 2 NIV)

This rock can represent the giant rock in the wilderness that provides shade and hiding place. Spurgeon's commentary considers this rock as the safe shore from the pounding waves. But one thing for sure, this rock represents Christ, the spiritual Rock. (1 Corinthians 10:4) Christ Jesus is our refuge. Through prayers we can be led to Him who is higher than all of us.

David continued to use several images to illustrate God's provision of security in the past and will be in the future: shelter, strong tower, tabernacle, shelter of Your wings. God has protected His believers and will be our refuge and defense. We can trust in his guidance and direction as we worship Him continuously. (v. 3-4)

What God has allotted to us will be ours as we pledge our thanksgiving to Him and honor His name. (v. 5)

Verse six and seven had far more implication than on David himself. He was inspired to prophesy the Greater David, the Messiah who will reign forever.

For such security in Christ, we can praise His name forever and honor Him daily. (v. 8)

AUGUST 4, 2008 - Pour Out Your Heart Before Him

Read and meditate on Psalm 62

Just as the psalmist, you as a believer should pour out your heart before God. (v. 8) When you have discovered that you have been lied to, or opposed for no fault of yours, or schemed to bring you down from high place, you can tell all about it to God. Sometimes we would try to rally others to speak for our cause or fight back with our inappropriate manner. It is of no use. The best way the psalmist teaches us is to wait on God by praying to Him and trust in His mercy. For God is our Rock and our defense.

Under God's inspiration, the psalmist informs us that relying on man is useless when you are under attack. Telling God all your needs and expressing your trust in His salvation and power is the best. He says, "Surely men of low degree are a vapor, men of high degree are a lie; if they are weighted on a scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor." (v. 9 NKJV)

Does it mean that our work does not count at all? For salvation, yes it has no effect. But God does pay attention to whether we will follow his instructions after we receive his mercy.

Have a terrible heartache? Pour out your soul to Jesus who is your friend. He has covered you with His righteousness through His blood on the cross. Be strong in Him. You are standing on the rock.

AUGUST 5, 2008 - God's Lovingkindness Is Better Than Life

Please read and meditate on Psalm 63

Many of us love to sing the chorus, "Thy lovingkindness is better than life, (repeat) my lips shall praise Thee. Thus will I bless Thee; I will lift up my hands in Thy name." These words come from verse three and four of this psalm. (KJV) They manifest a deep satisfaction of the soul for God. And therefore the psalmist praises God.

Interestingly this kind of spiritual satisfaction came at a time of difficulty and wondering in the wilderness experienced by King David. It was in this tough period that pushed him to seek after God more. His thirst in the wilderness caused him to long for God!

God was good to David. He answered David's prayer and helped him at the critical situation. So he rejoiced in God. He saw how even his enemies were defeated.

So are you these days. If you are in an unbearable moment, look to the LORD. He will help you and satisfy you so you will love Him even more.

His presence is with you.

AUGUST 6, 2008 - Preserve My Life From Fear

Read and meditation on Psalm 64

In this meditation of David, he asked God to preserve his life from fear of the enemy. (v. 1) Fear can disable us from spiritual living and services today.

Who is our enemy then in our sphere? It is not flesh and blood. It is the devil, who plots wiles against the Christians. He manufactures all kind of fears against us. One of his favorite wicked schemes is to put words in people's mouth to attack us. We should learn from David who recognized that and asked for God's intervention and His defeat of people's tongues.

In Ephesians 6:10 to 18, the apostle Paul uses a series of imperative verbs to command us put on the whole armor of God to stand against the devil and rulers of darkness of this age.

When we do all of that, we will not fear the devil and his wicked power. But like the psalmist, "The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and trust in Him, and all the upright in heart shall glory." (v. 10 NKJV)

One of the great hindrances for Christians to evangelize others is again, fear. We dare not share with others about Jesus because we are afraid of what our friends would think and say about us.

Fear not, "shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Ephesians 6:15.After you have prepared to share Christ, You will be bold.

Let us pray and stand strong!

AUGUST 7, 2008 - Harvest Song

Please read Psalm 65 and meditate upon it.

Scholars agree that this was a song composed to praise God for the harvest He granted. Christians have also loved this psalm and shared it often. My mother-in-law has often written verse 11 on cards or bookmarks to bless her friends and relatives during New Year celebration. It says, "You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance." (NKJV)

The great God who granted water and growth of grain is also the God who guided our path. He has also blessed our pastures with flocks. (v. 9-10, 12-13)

But it is much more than that. God hears our prayers and provides covering for our sins. (v. 2-3) God is the one who chooses us and causes us to approach Him so we can be satisfied with the goodness of His church. (v. 4)

He provides salvation and confidence for praying people all over the world because He is righteous. (v. 5)

He has created the earth and regulated it. (v. 6-8)

He is the all powerful and majestic God and Savior who grants us goodness and cares for all our beings. He is the LORD of physical harvest as well as spiritual harvest. Therefore we should make vow of allegiance to Him and praise Him in His church among His people. (v. 1)

AUGUST 8. 2008 - Praise His Rule

Please read Psalm 66 and meditate upon it.

Many times when we sense that God has done great things for us, we should not keep quiet about it, but call on others to praise Him.

For examples, we should thank God for the success over terrorists so far and His protection for us in the U.S. We should give thanks for the willingness of North Korea to remove their nucleus arsenal. We can praise God for the many nations who join together in the peaceful competition at the Olympics. We should give God the glory for the report that there are close to 100 millions of believers in China right now and they are the fastest growing churches in the world. Especially, we should praise God for how he has answered our prayers personally and in our churches...etc.

The 66^th Psalm calls us to "Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious." (v. 1-2 NKJV)

God's work is awesome!

We need to examine what He has done and see that God rules. His eyes observe the nations the psalmist says.

The very fact that we are living is the cause for us to bless God.

Since God rules, he tests and tries us. He sometimes has caused our enemies to humiliate us in order to bring us out to rich fulfillment. (v. 10-12)

We do need to pay homage to God by giving Him genuine offerings through worship often. (v. 13-15)

We must testify to others what God has done for our soul individually.

Each of us should continue to pray to our Ruler without sinful thought in one's heart.

Let every believer exalt God with his tongue!

AUGUST 9, 2008 - All Should Worship

Meditation on Psalm 67

This short psalm is a powerful psalm calling all people everywhere to worship God. This psalm also proves to us that the psalms were written not just for one nation but also for all nations. There are ten times in this psalm uses word to include all people at the ends of the earth.

God is interested in our worship. God commands and requires our worship. We should never take worship lightly by neglecting it or not putting our hearts into it.

When we worship, God will be merciful to us, bless us and smile upon us. (v. 1)

When we worship, God's name will be proclaimed and people can be saved. (v. 2)

When we worship, we shall look forward to the reign of Messiah. (v. 2-4)

When we worship Him, God will cause rich harvest for us. (v. 5-6)

(Please see God's promise in Leviticus 26:3-5)

As other people see God is blessing upon us, they shall worship Him too.