Today's Reading

Today I read from a couple of different psalms.

Psalm 52

1Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
2Your tongue plots destruction,
like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
3You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking what is right.
Selah

4You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.

5But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

6The righteous shall see and fear,
and shall laugh at him, saying,
7"See the man who would not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and sought refuge in his own destruction!"

8But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.
9I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.

and Psalm 57

1Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.
2I cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
3He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah

God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

4My soul is in the midst of lions;
I lie down amid fiery beasts--
the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords.

5Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!

6They set a net for my steps;
my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my way,
but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah

7My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast!
I will sing and make melody!
8Awake, my glory!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!
9I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
10For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.

11Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!

I read these two Psalms and I thought...wow...the first shows how the righteous know the folly of trusting in one's own thing. How in some ways we can laugh at the foolishness of those who do trust in their own thing and give no real thought to God. Though I must say personally, a good part of me weeps for those who just don't know the richness of knowing God.

The second Psalm just spoke to my heart today. Reminding me that I do need to call upon God for mercy. That I do need to praise God at all times, in various ways, that showing God's glory is a huge part of what I am to do in my daily life as a believer. I give thanks to God for all the mercy he shows me because I so often fail to do what he has called me to.

Do these Psalms speak to you at all?