Category: A Door of Hope

Psalm 118:1 – O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.

There are days when we despair of life. It seems useless to keep trying. We continue to fail. The shame seems endless. We feel like the Lord has surely run out of mercy for us.

Five times in this chapter the Psalmist reminds us: “his mercy endureth for ever.”

Look, life is full of mistakes…and failure…and bad choices. It can feel hopeless. But do you realize that the secret to escaping the despair is found in this chapter?

Notice these steps the Psalmist took when he was “in distress” (verse 5):

1. Recognize that the Lord is good. And believe that His mercy never ends. (verse 1)
2. Call out to the Lord for deliverance. (verse 5)
3. Don’t be fearful of those around you, because the Lord is on your side. (verse 6)
4. Put your trust and faith in what the Lord can do. (verses 7-13)
5. Praise the Lord for what He has done and is going to do in the future. (verses 14-18)
6. Obey the Lord and do right as soon as you’re given the next opportunity. (verses 19-24)
7. Trust the Lord for deliverance. (verses 25-28)

Verse 27 is particularly interesting to me: “God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.”

I believe it refers back to Genesis 22:7-13, when Abraham took Isaac up to sacrifice him to the Lord. This is the only other verse I have found that mentions a sacrifice being bound with cords to the altar.

It’s as if the Psalmist is likening his willing heart of praise to the Lord as a sacrifice like Isaac. He was willing to bind himself to the altar for his God. And he follows with this:

“Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.” (verse 28)

It seems to be a recurring thought that our praise requires sacrifice. Sometimes that is most sharply felt when we offer up thanksgiving in the midst of our defeat and distress. But this was the key to the Psalmist’s victory and confidence.

I encourage you to follow these steps with the Psalmist to thank your way out of distress and into thanksgiving!

Psalm 116:17 – I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

We’ve talked a few times already about this “sacrifice of thanksgiving.” It was a sacrifice that was not required. It was to be offered freely, whenever a person wanted to express their thanks to God.

As many times as the Psalmist has told us to give God praise and thanks, the Lord wants it to be our own idea. True thanksgiving isn’t prompted. It should well up from our own mind and heart in an unstoppable gush.

The fact that we have a brain/mind that can consider our blessings and choose to thank the Lord is in itself another reason to praise Him!

Our mental abilities are incredible blessings. Our personality, creativity, work ethic, logic are all gifts from the Lord. While they may be nurtured by those around us, the ability of our brain to do so is from His hand. Our mind is just as much of a gift as are salvation and a comfy bed!

I know there are times when we are not very impressed with our mental acuity. I remember in sixth grade, my parents had to hire an after-school tutor to get me through the beginning lessons of geometry. Area, distance, circumference, square feet, etc. just all seemed to slip through my mental grasp. Thankfully, the tutoring succeeded and in high school I was able to pass Geometry with no problem.

But the very fact that we can wrestle with a new concept and get it, or study something hard until we understand it, is an incredible blessing from God! It’s also a blessing when our brain tells our heart to beat and our lungs to breathe without our conscious thought!

Sometimes, we take much of this for granted, especially when we are young. As we start to age, and thinking becomes more of a chore, it should generate gratitude for all our mind has accomplished to this point in life. We should be so grateful for a developing working brain.

As we think about these things, I pray that it causes a river of gratitude to rush through our hearts AND minds; and that we respond with voluntary sacrifices of thanksgiving to the Lord, that are all our own idea…from our blessing of a brain!

Psalm 107:22 – And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

Continuing in chapter 107, we notice more recurring phrases in verses 8, 15, 21 and 31.

“Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”

It’s repeated almost as a lament, as if the Psalmist wishes that men would, but knows that they don’t.

After the first two repeats of this verse, he follows up with an explanation of how God dealt with each circumstance that led the children of Israel to cry out to the Lord.

Verse 9-PROVISION RENDERED: “For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”

The Lord brings an abundance of spiritual blessings when we cry out to Him in repentance. His peace would be one of the very firsts of these blessings.

Verse 16-PUNISHMENT REMOVED: “For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.”

The Lord will also, at some point after our reconciliation, remove much of the weight of our punishment. He will not stay angry with us forever.

After the second two repeated verses, the Psalmist tells us how to respond in praise to the Lord’s work and where to praise the Lord.

Verse 22-PRAISE RECOMMENDED: “And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.”

After our deliverance, it’s good to give thanks for the Lord’s goodness. But often, we may find that difficult. It might be a sacrifice of our pride and our privacy to tell others how God blessed us. We don’t need to make sin look enticing or tell all the details, but even a general explanation may cause others to think less of us. And that’s ok! As long as everything else we say makes them think more of Jesus!

Verse 32-PROCLAMATION RECEIVED: “Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.”

Similar to verse 22, it is important for us to give thanks publicly. Those who have been praying for us will be thrilled to see God at work in us!

God gives His peace and forgiveness. We give Him thanks. It’s as simple as that!

Psalm 107:1 – O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

The Psalmist of this chapter beautifully enumerates the works of God for His people, Israel. As we read his words, it brings to our minds God’s work of salvation in our own lives:

“They wandered in the wilderness…found no city to dwell in…hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted…THEN THEY CRIED unto the LORD in their trouble…”

“Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death…because they rebelled against the words of God…he brought down their heart…they fell down, and there was none to help. THEN THEY CRIED unto the LORD in their trouble…”

“Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they drew near unto the gates of death. THEN THEY CRY unto the LORD in their trouble…”

Do you remember a day when you cried out to the Lord?

I don’t mean did you cry for rescue from a bad situation, or to get a job, or even “Heal me!” when you got a bad diagnosis.

But do you recall the day you realized you were a sinner, and that you were lost, wandering with no direction? Remember when your soul was hungry and thirsty, but nothing filled the gnawing chasm in your soul? Were you in darkness and felt Death’s shadow hovering? Was your rebellious heart brought low? Did you feel utterly alone, with no one to help?

That’s the day I’m referring to.

Did you cry out to the Lord that day? Did you surrender your heart to Him? Did you accept that His death and resurrection were for you?

Are you sure that Heaven is your home because you cried out for salvation?

If so, you understand our verse today! I pray that your life exemplifies it. Pray for me, that mine will too!

If you do not remember a time when Jesus saved your soul, please get in contact with me. You can send me a message on FB or IG, or you can contact me via this link: m.me/157557811021626 You can also leave a comment on the blog: http://www.obtainingmercy.com

I would be so happy to help you meet the One Who can save you. Please don’t stay in darkness for one second longer. Come to Jesus today!

Psalm 106:47 – Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

You’ve got to hand it to the songwriters of Psalms: they knew what it would take to bring their people back into favor with God.

The Psalmist here begins and ends this chapter with the exhortation to the children of Israel that they needed to praise and give thanks to their God.

If they’d maintained the attitude of gratitude, they would’ve never started the slow slide away from Him.

The litany of sinful behavior in chapter 106 begins with their forgetting the mercies (verse 7) and works of God (verse 13); and they forgot that He was their Saviour (verse 21). The rest of the chapter chronicles their increasingly wicked acts against God.

I truly believe that a thankful heart keeps us away from sin. Gratitude is a deterrent to a myriad of sinful behavior and it protects our mind from patterns that are self-destructive.

Whenever you find yourself allowing thoughts that are sinful, unkind, wicked, frightening, worrisome, etc., you need to STOP THOSE THOUGHTS.

Find something that you can genuinely praise and thank God for. Maybe we should be thankful that nobody else can read our minds!

Begin to undo years of stinkin’ thinkin’ by filling your heart and mind with gratitude to your God. It will transform you from the inside out.

Psalm 106:1 – Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

God is good. Webster’s 1828 dictionary has over 40 definitions of the word “good.” Basically, God is perfect, and will act perfectly every single time.

Even in His judgment, we can see His goodness. That’s what Chapter 106 is about.

Repeatedly, God’s people forgot His goodness and works, and disobeyed God. They even learned the ways of the heathen around them, began to worship idols and ultimately began sacrificing their children to the idols.

Verse 40 says that God’s wrath (violent anger) was kindled against them so much that He abhorred (to hate extremely; to despise) His own people.

That’s when He let the heathen capture them, kill and torture them, raze their cities and destroy their temples.

But verse 44 tells us that He always heard their cry!

In verse 45 we find: “And he remembered FOR THEM his covenant, and REPENTED according to the multitude of HIS mercies.”

He literally had to remember His covenant FOR THEM, and feel sorrow and remorse FOR THEM when they were too far gone in their sin to remember or care!

It’s important to note that the covenant God made with Israel wasn’t sworn to Abraham. God put Abraham into a deep sleep while the covenant was being made. Hebrews 6:13 tells us “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,”

It wasn’t up to Abraham and his seed to keep their side of the covenant. It was up to God to keep the covenant with God. He swore to Himself to keep the covenant.

What a precious thought!

When I am so absorbed with my sin that I don’t even remember that I’m His, and when I forget the pit that He dug me out of, He will remember FOR ME and hear me when I cry out for help. He will be sorrowful FOR ME. He will save me according to the multitude of HIS mercies.

There will be sowing to do for my sin, but over and over again God provides the means of forgiveness and reconciliation for me.

That alone is enough to follow the instructions in verse 1 and give thanks and praise to God for His goodness and enduring mercies!

Psalm 105:1 – O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.

God’s calling on the life of a Christian is always multifaceted; but He does make our purpose quite clear:  we are to make known His deeds among the people.

The most important of those deeds is, of course, His sacrificial death on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins.

But since the Psalmist wrote this before Christ’s coming to earth, he was led by the Spirit of God to write of practical steps the children of God can follow to be a witness to those around them, and ways to encourage themselves in the Lord.

Verse 1 – The more we thank the Lord out loud, the more people will hear about His work in our life.

Verse 2 – The more we sing about Him and talk of His wondrous works, the more people become curious about our God.

Verse 3 – The more we “glory” in God’s name, the more we “exult with joy” and “rejoice” in His character, the more those around us learn about Who God is.

Verse 4 – The more we seek the Lord and His strength and His face, the more our lives reflect the mind of God.

Verse 5 – The more we reminisce on God’s marvelous works, His wonders and His judgment, the more we see that He is a God worthy of our thanksgiving.

It is an amazing upward spiral of thanksgiving leading to salvation of others and more thanksgiving in our own lives!

Start your journey today of thanking God for Who He is and for all He has done in your life. It not only helps your heart, but it will draw the hearts of others to your great God!