Psalm 70- Magnify the Lord

 Psalm 70- Let God be Magnified

Psalms 70:1-5 (NKJV) 

1 To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm ]of David. To bring to remembrance. [Make haste,] O God, to deliver me! Make haste to help me, O LORD! 2 Let them be ashamed and confounded Who seek my life; Let them be turned back and confused Who desire my hurt. 3 Let them be turned back because of their shame, Who say, “Aha, aha!” 

4Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; And let those who love Your salvation say continually, “Let God be magnified!” 5 But I [am] poor and needy; Make haste to me, O God! You [are] my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.

Do you ever feel like “they” are out to get you? You know what they say; “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that they are NOT out to get you!”. At any rate, the psalmist here had some enemies pursuing him. Today, our enemies typically don’t have arrows and spears, but use words and accusation. Of course we know the true source of accusations against us.

Revelation 12:10 (NASB95)

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ havecome, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

John the revelatory tells us that Satan accuses the brethren day and night, but one day soon he will be cast down. I. The meantime, how should we respond? The psalmist tells us to rejoice and be glad. We should magnify the Lord continually. The New Testament agrees with this advice.

Philippians 4:4 (NASB95)

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

1 Peter 1:6 (NASB95)

In thisyou greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

Peter tells us to rejoice, even when we are distressed by various trials. That is. Ot always the easiest thing to do,  it is the only sure way out of despondency. So. I matter what problems you have today, rejoice, again I say rejoice, and let God. be magnified!

Hope

 Hope,  Psalms and Other Scriptures

It seems that hope is something that is short supply lately, so I looked at what the Psalms and other scriptures say about hope. So here are a few scriptures on hope without commentary as the Word speaks for itself.

Psalms 31:24

Be strong and let your heart take courage,

All you who hope in the LORD.

Psalms 33:17-18

A horse is a false hope for victory;

Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.

18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,

On those who hope for His lovingkindness,

Psalms 38:15

For I hope in You, O LORD;

You will answer, O Lord my God.

Psalms 39:7

“And now, Lord, for what do I wait?

My hope is in You.

Psalms 42:5

Why are you in despair, O my soul?

And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him

For the help of His presence.

Psalms 42:11

Why are you in despair, O my soul?

And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.

Psalms 62:5

My soul, wait in silence for God only,

For my hope is from Him.

Psalms 71:5

For You are my hope;

O Lord GOD, You are my confidence from my youth.

Psalms 71:14

But as for me, I will hope continually,

And will praise You yet more and more.

Psalms 119:49

Zayin.

Remember the word to Your servant,

In which You have made me hope.

Psalms 119:116

Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live;

And do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

Psalms 119:166

I hope for Your salvation, O LORD,

And do Your commandments.

Psalms 130:5-8

I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,

And in His word do I hope.

My soul waits for the Lord

More than the watchmen for the morning;

Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the LORD;

For with the LORD there is lovingkindness,

And with Him is abundant redemption.

And He will redeem Israel

From all his iniquities.

Psalms 131:3

O Israel, hope in the LORD

From this time forth and forever.

Psalms 146:5

How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the LORD his God,

Proverbs 10:28

The hope of the righteous is gladness,

But the expectation of the wicked perishes.

Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 23:18

Surely there is a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 24:14

Know that wisdom is thus for your soul;

If you find it, then there will be a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 26:12

Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 29:20

Do you see a man who is hasty in his words?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Ecclesiastes 9:4

For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.

Romans 5:4-5

and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 12:9-13

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Romans 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 13:13

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Ephesians 1:18

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

1 Thessalonians 2:19

For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?

1 Thessalonians 5:8

But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

1 Timothy 4:10

For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

1 Timothy 6:17

Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

Hebrews 6:19

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,

Hebrews 11:1

The Triumphs of Faith

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Psalm 56- Tears in a Bottle

 Psalm 56- Tears in a Bottle

Psalms 56:8

You have taken account of my wanderings;

Put my tears in Your bottle.

Are they not in Your book?

Psalms 39:12

“Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry;

Do not be silent at my tears;

For I am a stranger with You,

A sojourner like all my fathers.

Have you ever wondered whether God the Father really cares for you? Have you cried in the night, having wandered off of the path, and fearing that all is lost? Have you ever felt like a stranger in a stranger land, when even you family seems to have deserted you? You are not alone in feeling this way.

The psalmist, in psalm 56, acknowledges that God has taken account of his wanderings. The Father has heard his cry and has put his tears in a bottle. Can you comprehend the love of a Father that would do such a thing?

It is not wrong to cry out to the Lord. He sees our tears; whether of sadness, or pain, or rejection, or remorse, or of mourning, and takes note of our pain. He cares for you. 

The psalmist recognizes this at the end of psalm 56 and lifts up his voice in praise. He proclaims “I shall not be afraid, What can man do to me?” Whatever pain men have inflicted on you, the Father is able to deliver you.

Psalms 56:10-13

10 In God, whose word I praise,

In the LORD, whose word I praise,

11 In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

12 Your vows are binding upon me, O God;

I will render thank offerings to You.

13 For You have delivered my soul from death,

Indeed my feet from stumbling,

So that I may walk before God

In the light of the living.

It is not wrong to cry when you are overcome with emotion. The psalmist was not shy about crying and lifting his complaints to the Lord. But in the end, he acknowledged that the Father cares and can heal and deliver, no matter what the evil one has done to you.

A Beautiful expression of the final results of a time of shedding tears, is found in Psalm 126:

Psalms 126:5-6

Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.

He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,

Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

God the Father is able to turn around any circumstance, and convert tears of sorrow into shouts of joy. In fact, he says here that tears are like seed that are sown in the ground, but the crop the grows is not more sorrow, but is in fact joyful shouting, after the Father redeems and heals the pain.

The penultimate expression of this is found in the book of Revelations where we wee the final outcome of all of our sorrow, when it is finally taken away.

Revelation 21:3-4

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Oh what a joyous day that will be! No more mourning, or crying or pain! But as wonderful as that is to look forward to, I think that we can see a measure of that here and now. Jesus instructed us to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and that includes healing and deliverance in this present age. There will be a glorious Kingdom some day, where all will be made right, but we can begin now to proclaim he Kingdom. Many tears can be wiped away and much pain can be healed in this present age. So go ahead a shed a tear or two, for there is still trouble in this life, but don’t stop there. Look to the Father who loves you and can put those tears in a bottle so you can remember how he healed you and replaces the pain with joy.