Happy Saturday!
This morning I woke up, not knowing what time it was and had this pull to go write down keys scriptures on notecards for myself. I sat there in bed, thinking, feeling pretty awake and yet in fear of the fact that it might be 3 am and I should be sleeping. Then I started thinking about the benefits of being the only one awake in the house. Soon my work to do list started scrolling through my head but, for the first time in a few weeks, it didn’t overwhelm me. Instead it was a bit encouraging. Still, I didn’t want to get up for fear it was 3 am.
Soon I heard my husband stir. We talked a bit and I took a look at my watch. (yes, watch and not phone– I’m a little old-fashioned in that regard) It was just a bit after 6, which is an absolutely acceptable time to wake.
I read my Psalm for the day, Psalm 71, and was amazed at how every single verse spoke to me. I read it to my husband and now, I will share it with you.
Please read it slowly. Soak it in.
Psalm 71:
1In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
2In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
3Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4″Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
5For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
7I have been a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
9Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.
10For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who watch for my life consult together
11and say “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
12O God, be not far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
13May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt.
14But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.
15My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge.
16With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
17O, God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those who come.
19Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
20You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
21You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
22I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23My lips will shout with joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul, also, which you have redeemed.
24And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.*
God amazes me. He loves me. He wants me to know He is here and that He hears me. Every single verse packs a punch for me in this one.
As I was reading, I thought of several of you, too, who have reached out to me. I am not the only one facing demons and struggles. We are in this together and the redeeming part of it all is that HE is in it with us, too. He loves YOU, too, (every single one of you) and wants to go to bat for each and every one of us. I think that is pretty powerful stuff.
Today I’m not going to post SOAP about Psalm 71.
Instead I am going to print the Psalm out on a piece of paper and then take a pen and make every single verse of it mine by writing my thoughts for each verse in the margins. Then I will take that sheet and either tape it up on my bathroom mirror, or place it into a binder of prayers and scripture that I will begin filling today.
Today is a new day. It is HIS. And He is going to see me through. He is giving me all the ammunition I need.
My tongue will talk of his righteous help all the day long, for they been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt.
He is in this with me. I have some super strength in Him. Because of that, evil WILL be overpowered.
AMEN!
(PS: As a child of God, you have his strength, too. Call on it!)
*Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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