Sunday 5 May, 2013

1 Lord, I will praise you with all my heart. I will tell about all of the miracles you have done. 2 I will be glad and full of joy because of you. Most High God, I will sing praise to you. 3 My enemies turn back. They fall down and die right in front of you. 4 You have proved that I haven’t done anything wrong. You have sat on your throne and judged fairly. 5 You have punished the nations. You have destroyed evil people. You have erased their names from your book for ever and ever. 6 The enemy has been destroyed forever. You have leveled their cities to the ground. Even the memory of them is gone. 7 The Lord rules forever. He has set up his throne so that he can judge people. 8 He will judge the world in keeping with what is right. He will rule over all of its people fairly. 9 The Lord is a place of safety for those who have been beaten down. He keeps them safe in times of trouble. 10 Lord, those who know you will trust in you. You have never deserted those who look to you. 11 Sing praises to the Lord. He rules from his throne in Zion. Tell among the nations what he has done. 12 The One who pays back murderers remembers. He doesn’t forget the cries of those who are hurting. 13 Lord, see how badly my enemies treat me! Show me your favor. Don’t let me go down to the gates of death. 14 Then I can give praise to you at the gates of the city of Zion. There I will be full of joy because you have saved me. 15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug. Their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. 16 The Lord is known to be fair. Evil people are trapped by what they have done. Higgaion. Selah 17 Sinful people go down to the grave. So do all the nations that forget God. 18 But those who are in need will always be remembered. The hope of those who are hurting will never die. 19 Lord, rise up. Don’t let people win the battle. Let the nations come to you and be judged. 20 Lord, strike them with terror. Let the nations know they are only human. Selah

David writing again of what he knows God has done for him! David does a great job of remembering exactly what God has done and celebrating it. He also does a great job trusting God – he believes that God is in control and

that God’s plan is playing out and that the wicked will not be rewarded. Sometimes looking at the world that is hard to believe but in David’s time things looked just as grim as they do now – the rich and powerful were in charge and everyone else had to put up with it.

I am not great at remembering what God has done in my life and celebrating it is definitely not my forte. David did it over and over again. He didn’t let himself forget. He wrote it down regularly – given how many Psalms there are it seems like he took pen to paper every time he even thought of what had happened in his life and God’s part in it. (He probably didn’t actually do the writing but he came up with poems that he could remember and pass on to others.) Writing things down is such a good idea and we all seem to have gotten out of the habit – I know I have. Do you keep a record of God’s interventions in your life? Do you think it might help you remember, trust and celebrate more?

Verse 9-10 of this Psalm in The Message says “God’s a safehouse for the battered, a sanctuary during bad times. The moment you arrive, you relax; you’re never sorry you knocked.”

What a beautiful description! Do you remember to knock?

Praise you Lord for all that you do in our lives. That you help us even when we don’t see, that you hold us even when we don’t feel it and that you save us from our enemies. Help us to notice and remember and to celebrate!

Written by Therese Manning