Daily Encouragement

AUGUST 17, 2008 - God Is Near

Meditation on Psalm 75

This psalm is an answer to Psalm 74. Even though God is angry with His people, but actually He is still near. He would not destroy His people as this psalm is entitled "Do Not Destroy".

God is near because His wondrous works declare that His name is near. (v. 1) The psalmist senses that God is about to intervene for His people.

Things may look bad all around, but God says that He is the one who set up the foundation of the earth. He will judge the world at His proper time. (v. 2-3)

The boastful enemies will be taught a lesson on not to lift up their own horn. (v. 4-5)

God will pour down the strong wine of judgment upon the wicked. (v. 6-8)

Therefore God's people shall thank Him and praise Him forever. They will be exalted finally. (v. 9-10)

Let us give thanks to God.

AUGUST 18, 2008 - What To Do After Victory

Meditation on Psalm 76

This psalm was composed after a national victory over the enemy. I believe that psalm 76 can be applied to all Christians and Christian congregations.

Verses one to three indicate that God abides in his congregation, the church. God will use his church to overcome satanic attack as Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 that the gate of hell will not overcome the church.

The translation of the New International Version (NIV) of verse four make our understanding easier. It says, "You are resplendent with light, more majestic than mountains rich with game." In the ancient context, we can see how they appreciate God's majesty more than any thing. For God gave them all the supplies they need.

From verse five to nine, we find the result of God's angry judgment on the behalf of His people under affliction.

The translation of verse 10 by NIV helps us understand its meaning for it says, "Surely your wrath against men brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained." It is not that God likes to get angry. But God does use our enemy to accomplish His will for disciplining purpose. Also, when God brings his wrath upon the wicked, His glory can be manifested.

Therefore after we get the victory over our enemies, we should make vows to the LORD and give offering to Him. All should be humble before Him.

AUGUST 19, 2008 - When We Are Spiritually Down

Meditation on Psalm 77

There could be time in our life personally that we are depressed. As the musician expressed in this psalm, we may even refused to be comforted! That's way low in our feeling. It may be some kind of emotional problem we have due to troubles relationship, or some death, health issue in the family, or divorce, or lost of an important job, etc. We are so broken heart that we don't even know how to face the days ahead. What are we going to do?

First of all, we need to cry out to God even though we may not feel like it at the beginning. (v. 1-3)

Then we must do our best to remember what God has done for us personally in the past and continue to meditate upon His word and music. (v. 4-6)

Ask ourselves, “Who are we believe in and remember the loving character of God?” (v. 7-9)

When you look into God's Word and consider His redemption and miracles in the past, you will be encouraged to know that He will be able to deliver you from your stress and discouragement. (v. 10-15) His congregation will be able to encourage you too.

As God's path is not known in the sea, we may not know how He is helping you now. But He loves you and will lead you like He led His people in the wilderness. (v. 16-18)

The voice of the nature to the psalmist is but the voice of God. He will alert you and do mighty work for His people.

AUGUST 20, 2008 - How To Teach The Next Generation

Meditation on Psalm 78

At the Civic Forum of Saddleback Church, an early question asked by Rick Warren to McCain and Obama, the two presidential candidates was something like this: “What was the greatest moral failure in your life?” I suspect that Pastor Warren want them to admit their own serious mistake and learn from it so they would not repeat it.

Psalm 78 was taught by the chief musician to the young generation so they would remember the Word of the Lord and His mighty work so they could praise the Lord. But looking into the content of its teaching, we find that mostly it talk about the failures of their older generation.

One of the best ways to influence our youth is to share with them in an intimate environment our failure in the past and how we overcome it. The psalmist emphasized to the next generation how God had loved them, performed miracles on their behalf, destroyed their enemies, and established them. But the older generation had not been faithful to God and had been rebellious and stubborn toward His command. Therefore they had experienced many tragedies and defeats in their national and personal life.

Even God had been very gracious to them, still blessed them and re-established them; they continued to provoke God and tested God many times in the wilderness after they got out of Egypt. Finally God had to choose a different leader with integrity to lead them.

God's love is unconditional. But our failure does have consequence. Let us not test God and provoke his anger, but to trust and obey Him. Also, we can even use our own failure to teach our children.

AUGUST 21, 2008 - Acknowledging God's Punishment

Meditation on Psalm 79

Hebrews 12:3-12 tells us that God does discipline His own children. When we recognize His punishment for our sins, we should turn to Him like the psalmist and pray for His deliverance from our present trouble.

When the church has strayed from God's command like the Israelites did, God would leave us alone or even spill us out from his mouth. Then our suffering would be like those in the world who have no Savior.

The solution is the crying out to God like the psalmist in repentance and asking God's atonement and forgiveness.

As the psalmist asked, "How long Lord, will you be angry forever?" (v. 5 NKJV) We can pray in the expectation that God will not leave us alone for too long but will return to show His mercy upon us. We can learn from the psalmist to appeal to God's honor and the fact that we are His children and His sheep. He will see all our troubles and strike against our enemy even more harshly than we have been hurt.

1 John 1:9 says that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (NKJV) When our relationship with God is restored, we will give thanks and show forth His praise to all generation!

AUGUST 22, 2008 - We Need Revival

Meditation on Psalm 80

Three times in this psalm, the writer says, "Restore us O God; cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved!". (v. 3, 7 and 19 in NKJV). Then in verse 18, he pleads, "Revive us, and we will call upon Your name." The nation of Israel was in a shamble. They knew they had to call on God's help.

Similarly our nation and our churches need revival. God had blessed us very much in the past. But now we are under constant threat of the terrorists. Our society is full of problems. Our economic situation is depressed. We have to work very hard to get by and still very worry about the future. Our churches are not growing as we ought to. People are not seeking the Lord. Spiritually and socially we are in decline.

We need to get together to pray and repent of our sins. We must seek God's hand upon us. We need a visitation of the Holy Spirit. May God smile upon us and strengthen us. May He help us to bring salvation to all men.

AUGUST 23, 2008 - Open You Mouth Wide

Meditation on Psalm 81

Have you watched some mother who was feeding her young child? The boy runs around to play or to do his own thing. So the mother chases after him to feed him with a spoon in one hand and the bowl of food on the other. But the child refuses to eat. She has to keep asking him to open his mouth so she can shuffle the food into his mouth.

So often Christians have many interests of their own, therefore they do not pay attention to the eating of spiritual food. As a result it leads to their spiritual thinness and immaturity.

Psalm 81:10 says "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open you mouth wide, and I will fill it." (NKJV) Like the Israelites, we have been redeemed and given new birth. We are not under the bondage of Satan and sin no more. We belong to Him who covered us with His blood on the cross. As a result we need to open our mouth to eat the food God gives us daily.

We are called to worship, first of all. We should celebrate Jesus' redemption for us and to recall his miracles and teaching. (v. 1-7)

We should put God first in our lives and get rid of idols that take away our devotion to Him and the feeding of His Word. (v. 8-10)

If we don't listen to His voice, God will abandon us to our stubbornness. (v. 11-12)

However, those who would obey Him, they will have God's help to overcome their difficulties and enemies. (v. 13-14)

God does know who the pretenders of faith are. They will suffer an eternal fate. (v. 15)

But those who would open their mouth wide will be fed the finest and will be satisfied fully even in unlikely places. (v. 16)