Psalm 65 (NRSV)
God silences the seas
Praise is due to you,
O God, in Zion;
and to you shall vows be performed,
O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.
When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
you forgive our transgressions.
Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.
By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.
By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.
You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
Those who live at earth's farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.
DEVOTION
Doesn’t today’s Bible passage make you feel positively giddy?! What a wonderful psalm of praise to Almighty God!
Just think about all of the wonderful things that God does for us every day! God is the Lord of Creation. It is because of God’s creativity as expressed through nature that we have air to breathe, water to drink, food to harvest and eat, natural fibers with which to make clothing, and wood and stone to build our homes. Absolutely everything that we need to stay alive comes to us as a gift from the loving hands of our generous God!
But, God doesn’t stop there! God goes above and beyond our expectations by providing not only for our physical needs, but also for our emotional and spiritual ones too!
When we talk, God listens. When we ask for the forgiveness of our sin, God grants our petition. When we desire to worship God corporally; God’s Spirit meets us in a special way in our community of faith and when we are in trouble, God comes to our rescue!
Now that think about it, I have an awful lot to thank God for! I thank God for my loving husband and my beautiful kids! I thank God for the beautiful flowers that adorn my lawn. I thank God for my friends who bring joy and laughter into my life and I thank God for you—my GOOD NEWS family!
I could go on and on, but now it’s your turn! In today’s scripture, the psalmist takes time to praise and thank the Lord for the many ways in which God provides for us!
Will you take the time to thank God today? I bet if you start counting your blessings, you’ll never be able to stop!
Today the scripture says, “Praise is due to you, O God in Zion.” Later it says, “By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.”
Wow, hallelujah! The psalmist was right!
But from our perspective, this side of the cross, we can truly see that God does answer us with deliverance and salvation!
Aren’t you glad that God’s answer to our sin was, is, and will ever be, JESUS!
God loves the world so much that God gave Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sin and gift us with eternal life!
I’m really happy about the air I breathe and the food I eat. I’m really appreciative for the clothes I wear and the house I live in. But, most of all, I am so eternally grateful for God’s love revealed to me in Christ Jesus!
Of all the gifts that God has granted to us, JESUS is the best! Jesus is the door that leads to a reconciled relationship with God, forgiveness of sin, and eternal life in the Heavens!
It just doesn’t get better than this my friends!
Will you take the time today to thank God for JESUS, as well as all the other wonderful blessings in your life?
Holy One, you are generous beyond measure. Thank you for loving me so much! Thank you for JESUS and for His life, death, and resurrection! Thank you for providing for all of my daily needs and many of my wants! You are an awesome God! I love you and I want others to love you too! Please help me to share Your love with others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Congratulations to all of those people who have recently put all of their hope in Jesus! Welcome to the Christian family! We love you and we are praying for you even now in Jesus’ Name!
If you would like to put all of your hope in Jesus today, please visit my blog entitled, “Putting All Your Hope In Jesus” located at
http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com/2009/04/putting-all-your-hope-in-jesus.html
If you have additional questions about how to become a friend and follower of Jesus, please see the devotion entitled, "Come to Jesus"
http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/come-to-jesus.html
Pastor Yolanda is now publishing another blog entitled, “A Spoken WORD” in celebration of Holy Hip Hop, Gospel/Christian Rap and Spoken Word. Please check it out @ http://aspokenword.blogspot.com/
You are invited to follow Pastor Yolanda on Twitter www.twitter.com/PastorYolanda
Good News has now added a Prayer Ministry. http://www.kindlejoy.com/groups/goodnews
You are invited to leave comments or questions regarding today’s devotional. These comments are public.
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Thanks for reading and please come again. Pastor Yolanda extends a very special welcome to all of our friends reading outside of the United States of America! We are honored that you are sharing with us today.
From Pastor Yolanda's blog http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com
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