Psalm 28:6-7

 Today I've pondered why the Psalms are full of reminders that God hears us? My quick search found 11 in the Psalms alone.

In verses 6 notice the word because. David's praise to God had a reason. Spurgeon said, “Real praise is established upon sufficient and constraining reasons; it is not irrational emotion, but rises, like a pure spring, from the deeps of experience.”

You might want to read that twice. We are so busy trying to work up emotions in order to praise God, when there is enough to praise Him for in our daily living.

As a young girl when my mom got sick I asked my Grandmother, "Why us?" Why had cancer come to our house? Hadn't we prayed? Her answer was classic Alice and has stuck with me all my life, "Why not us?"

I spent a good five years running from God instead of to Him. As the old saying goes, "I couldn't see the forest for the trees." And only when I, like David, cried out to Him, acknowledging who He is did I find Him to be my strength and shield.

Friend, He is either God of all things or God of nothing. And as the Psalm goes, "My heart trusted in Him and I was helped."

Psalm 54:2

 Things aren't going great for David when we get to Psalm 54, but know what he does at the beginning of the Psalm.

"O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth." (54:2)

Alice used to say, "Where are you going to go but to the Lord?"

One of my favorite verses is in Jeremiah 12:5, “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?"

So friend what are you going to do if the Jordan gets deep? Well the Psalms tell us what David did, he went to God for help and he gives us the assurance over and over that God heard him.

Life can throw us curve balls and plot shifts all the time, but the one thing we know is God is consistent and unchanging. The God of David is our God. What a privilege it is to call on Him and know He hears us.

Psalm 34

 Psalm 34 is one of my favorites maybe because I sing it every morning going to work. It is hidden in my heart.

On those morning rides I'm sure I sound like the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. However, one day I will join the heavenly choir singing it unto Him. What a day that will be!

Yesterday, I watched the NFL Hall of Fame induction. I was inspired by DeMarcus Ware giving credit to God and the testimony he shared. I was saddened that the others gave little or no mention to Him, it was all them and their work ethic.

These were Men used to accolades and roaring crowds, yet what they have experienced will be nothing in comparison to heaven.

Philippians 2:9-11 says, "Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Yes, my friend, one day, if we are saved, we will all sing this with new meaning. Why? Because praise God, one day this poor girl cried and the Lord heard me and it made all the difference in the world.

Psalm 6:9

Psalm 18:6

 As I watch our world spiral I wonder why God would bother with us. Then I read these verses and am overcome with the thought God hears me, He not only hears but answers.

Matthew Henry stated, "David was a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did."

The use of the word "speed" gave me pause, so I went and looked it up. It means, "make prosperous or successful."

If we pray like David we will be successful. What loving-kindness our God has toward us. Such grace and mercy are hard to comprehend.

My own children, over the years, have done and said things that cut deep in my mother's heart. Yet, I never stopped loving them, caring for them, or wanting them to succeed. Now my love for my own children is so minute compared to God's love for us.

So when we have a God who loves us endlessly, why do we fail to set aside time to talk to Him, commune with Him, and catch a glimpse of His immense love for us.

Friend, I keep going back to the thought, that we don't understand who He is. The only way to fix that is read our Bible's and pray to Him to reveal Himself to us. Are we really too busy for that?

Psalm 66:19

 Sinclair Ferguson is quoted as saying, "If Christ abides in us and we abide in him, as his word dwells in us, and we pray in his name, that God hears us (Jn 15:4-7). But all of these expressions are simply extensions of the one fundamental idea: If I am united to Christ, then all that is his is mine. So long as my heart, will and mind are one with Christ's in his word, I can approach God with the humble confidence that my prayers will be heard and answered. "

I can't think of a greater blessing than to know the Creator of the Universe hears me. Matthew Henry wrote, "And when we pray in simplicity and godly sincerity, our prayers will be answered. This will excite gratitude to Him who hath not turned away our prayer nor his mercy from us. It was not prayer that fetched the deliverance, but his mercy that sent it. That is the foundation of our hopes, the fountain of our comforts; and ought to be the matter of our praises."

Years (I mean years) ago I went to a Bible Study on A.C.T.S. an acronym to teach us to pray.

A- adoration

C - confession

T - thanksgiving

S - supplication

Notice this type of praying starts acknowledging who God is and our need for His grace and mercy long before we ever get to our request. The psalmist understood this.

RC Sproul said, "Unfortunately, we often spell our prayer life something like S.C.A.T., because we start with supplication and spend very little time, if any, on adoration, confession, and thanksgiving."

How true that is! We are more like the Babbie Mason song,

"So gimme this, I want that

Bless me, Lord, I pray

Grant me what I think I need

To make another day

Make me wealthy, keep me healthy

Fill in what I miss

On my never-ending shopping list"

Instead of acknowledging God we just want Him to fix it (whatever it is).

Keith Green wrote a beautiful praise song that looks at prayer from God's point of view:

"For when I hear the praises start

Oh, I wanna rain upon you

Blessings that will fill your heart

I see no stain upon you

Because you are My child and you know Me

To Me you're only holy

Nothing that you've done remains

Only what you do for Me"

Oh Friend, when was the last time you spent time just praising God for who He is. I still think life with Jesus would change dramatically if we grasp a fraction of who He is.

Like the Apostle Paul, " Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14-15)

Why does it matter? Because I want to be a pleasing child until that final day.

The Word of the Week is Salad!

 I am two weeks into a week of trying new salads. Our local nutritionist, Jen, is sponsoring it. So far it has been interesting. 

I have known for a while that I've got to get my anti-oxidants up, or a least figure out why I can't get the numbers to move!

Day 1 salad

Day 2

Day 3