by Maria Hartman

Psalm 118 has some really great advice. Listen with me.

v.1: Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.                                                                                                                      Do you hear the excitement?

v. 2-3: Let Israel now say, His mercy endures forever. Let the house of Aaron now say, that His mercy endures forever.  What doesyour house say? This is what EVERY home who loves the Lord needs to declare.

v. 4: Let them that fear the LORD now say, that His mercy endures forever. This is an everlasting promise.

v. 5: I called on the LORD in distress; the LORD answered me and set me in a broad place. It is my responsibility to call…….it is your responsibility to call. God won’t respond to a call that has never been made. He’ll never leave me but I won’t have an answer without the call to Him. We have available to us a broad place of safety and security……nobody can come near to us without His permission.

v. 6: The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can ___________ do to me? The word of God says ‘man’ in the blank. I left a blank so you can fill in the name of the man or woman who causes you to fear. There is power in this truth, however it must be believed and claimed.  

v. 7a:The LORD is for me among those who help me. God Himself is there in the midst of any who help me, because all help ultimately comes from Him. What would our outlook be like if we remembered this, that whenever someone ministers to us, God is literally among them.

v. 12: They surrounded me like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. This is kind of a different way to look at a verse like this, but as I read through this Psalm a few times, I saw this verse as it applied to me today. I don’t have physical enemies that are surrounding me; there aren’t nations specifically against me……..I am nowhere near that important. But I have many thoughts that surround my mind ….discouraging, negative, self centered, ungodly thoughts……….that can swarm like bees….the ‘voice’ of temptation that desires that you and I doubt the goodness and mercy of our great and mighty God. Take courage: IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, you and I will destroy those thoughts. Do you know of the power that is in the name that holds all power? I don’t think I really truly understand it as I ought. Do you call upon that name? I wonder how many evidences of God’s power and influence I have missed simply because I didn’t remember the victory that is possible IN THE NAME of the LORD. And not for just big things, but for the everyday things we deal with time and again.

v. 28: You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. My will is so necessary for the right focus. What will I do? What I feel or what I will, based on what I know of the God who loves me? And what will you do?

      Oh give thanks to the LORD for He is good!