Psalm 33:3

A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.

    1 It is good to praise the LORD
       and make music to your name, O Most High,

    2 proclaiming your love in the morning
       and your faithfulness at night,

    3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
       and the melody of the harp.

    4 For you make me glad by your deeds, LORD;
       I sing for joy at what your hands have done.

    5 How great are your works, LORD,
       how profound your thoughts!

    6 Senseless people do not know,
       fools do not understand,

    7 that though the wicked spring up like grass
       and all evildoers flourish,
       they will be destroyed forever.

    8 But you, LORD, are forever exalted.

    9 For surely your enemies, LORD,
       surely your enemies will perish;
       all evildoers will be scattered.

    10 You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox;
       fine oils have been poured on me.

    11 My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries;
       my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.

    12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
       they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;

    13 planted in the house of the LORD,
       they will flourish in the courts of our God.

    14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
       they will stay fresh and green,

    15 proclaiming, “The LORD is upright;
       he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Psalm 92:1-15 TNIV

The first three verses talk about how great it is to praise God. Then it talks about the great things He’s done. Then refers to the outsiders, those senseless, foolish wicked evildoers who will all go away.

In the mean time, He strengthens us, gives us confidence, then gives us the promise that he will stay with us through old age, doing miracles like making fruit grow on old trees.

The passage ends with the declaration that God is the opposite of those fools, and therefore a solid foundation to stand on.

Sounds like a great pattern for a song, maybe to be sung on Sunday.

What do you think?

Share

9 If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
       and you make the Most High your dwelling,

    10 no harm will overtake you,
       no disaster will come near your tent.

    11 For he will command his angels concerning you
       to guard you in all your ways;

    12 they will lift you up in their hands,
       so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

    13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
       you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

    14 “Because they love me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue them;
       I will protect them, for they acknowledge my name.

    15 They will call on me, and I will answer them;
       I will be with them in trouble,
       I will deliver them and honor them.

    16 With long life I will satisfy them
       and show them my salvation.”

Psalm 91:9-16 TNIV

I’ve noticed a lot of emphasis in our society about belief in angels, ‘don’t drive faster than your angels can fly’, etc.

I think it’s important to understand the role of angels, and how we have the protection of angels.

This passage makes it quite clear that your focus has to be on recognizing that God is in control, acknowledging Him, seeing Him as our refuge. Not the angels.

His angels are under His command, and we have no authority over them.

So stop thinking about angels as autonomous beings that have no master but you because of your ‘good works’ or good intentions.

They are part of God’s plan to envelope us in his love.

Now answer this, why does God need angels to take care of us instead of directly watching over us?

Share

Incredible Beauty of Math

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn’t it?

And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Now, take a look at this…

101%

From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:

What Equals 100%?
What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?

We have all been in situations where someone wants you to
GIVE OVER 100%.

How about ACHIEVING 101%?

What equals 100% in life?

Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help
answer these questions:

If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

If:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R- K

8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%
And:

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E

11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%
But:

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E

1+20+2 0+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%
THEN, look how far the love of God will take you:
L-O-V-E-O-F-G-O-D

12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4 = 101%
Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:

While Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will
get you there, It’s the Love of God that will put you over the top!

Share

“This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:2-3

Are you a Fortune Teller?

In the second half of verse of Jeremiah 33:11, it says

“Give thanks to the LORD Almighty,
       for the LORD is good;
       his love endures forever.”
      For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the LORD. 

No, I don’t think these verses talk about us becoming mystics and fortune tellers, but God does tell us mystical things that we can’t divine on our own, and he does know what our finances will be like in the future.

The first section tells us who to call when we don’t have the answers, which is much of the time. He says, go to the One who started all this, not someone that’s just a participant, like a ‘mystic’ or a ‘fortune teller’.

Now some might say that they visit fortune tellers, get their palm read or view their horoscope for entertainment purposes only.

That may be in fun, but consider what your creator “the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name” thinks about this.

Another way to look at this is to consider something that we as humans may create, such as a child. Yes, I know we don’t actually do the creating, but this is for illustration only.

So we create a child, train it up in the way it should go, and that child says it doesn’t like your training, it wants the training of someone else who’s more fun. How do you feel about that child.

This may spark conversation about how our children will do just that, as it says in Proverbs 22:15 “A youngster’s heart is filled with foolishness,”

We have been compared to children and sheep, so we should consider what we do in that context, listen to our Father and our Shepherd.

Feel free to add your comment…

Share