Please read Psalm 70 (5 verses)

The Psalmist is in a state of panic because his enemies are closing in on him fast. He asks God to intervene quickly and to make haste to help him. He asks specific things about the enemies that they will be confused and not be able to carry out their plans, maybe some infighting that will deflect the potency of their attacks on him. The writer asks that they are confounded in their planning of their wicked schemes so that none of them turn out to be successful. Let them be overcome with cowardice and turn back from their attacks on him and their scoffing to be directed at themselves, as the Lord will scoff at the wicked in their wickedness.

On the opposite emphasis, the psalmist asks that those who seek the Lord will be filled with rejoicing and hope and faith, so that the arrows of the wicked do not infiltrate their lives and mindset. The uplifting of the name of the Lord is the antidote to the panic and depression the righteous feel when under the attack of enemies. As we rehearse the majesty and power of God, we remind ourselves of His ability to rescue and protect us and that we are surrounded by His mighty love.

The psalmist finishes with the admission that he is poor and needy and is ready and waiting for the deliverance of the Lord. He knows his future is with the Lord and his victory is secure in the Lord his God.

Please read psalm 69 (36 verses)

The psalmist cannot fight any more. His life is empty and his psyche has worn very thin. There is no human comfort and no place to turn for satisfaction. He is at his wits end. So many people hate him and are wanting to destroy him though he has done nothing to them. He has bourn reproach for the sake of the Lord and has become like a stranger to the people around him, such is his devotion to the Lord his God. Zeal for the things of God, the presence of God and the dwelling place of God have consumed him. Those who hate the Lord also hate him and sit at the city gates and revile him. The psalmist has become a reproach to the people and though he mourns for them and weeps in his soul, it makes no difference. They are against him.

But the prayer of the writer is to God. He asks God to extend His tender mercies to him and draw near to his soul to comfort him. God knows the shame and dishonour that he has suffered at the hands of other people, and the heaviness that dogs his footsteps. The psalmist looks for someone to have pity on him, but there is no one. He turns only to the Lord, for only the Lord has the comfort he needs. Thought he is poor and sorrowful, yet the Lord lifts him on high and causes him to be able to magnify the Lord. His preoccupation is to be a blessing to the people of God and not a shame to them. He asks that they are lifted up because of him and be helped by his situation. His prayer is that those who love God will be regarded and those who hold grudges will be stopped and shown for what they really are.

The psalmist prays against those who hurt others and gossip about the grief in the lives of the people of God for their own edification. He asks that they be blotted out of the book of the living and that they will never be associated with the righteous. He acknowledges his sorrow and poverty and his total dependence on the Lord. He sees that the whole earth and heavens praise the Lord and that the Lord will give the inheritance of the land to his own people. All who love the name of the Lord will dwell in it.

Please read Psalm 68 (35 verses)

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The Lord who made us is all things to all people. He orders all things and supplies the needs of all. Those who have no families, He will be a family to them, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Those who have no father or mother, will have the benefit of the care of the Father of all as their protector and provider. The Lord leaves none of His people destitute or alone, but supplies every need they have at the right time. We wait on Him to supply all we require and bless us.

The psalmist wishes the righteous to be happy and joyful before the Lord. We are happy when we are close to the Lord, for He is our home and our comfort. To be out of fellowship with Him because of our sin, is unhappy and unsettled for the believer. Therefore we rehearse His blessings to us to maintain our heart of gratefulness and indebtedness to the Lord. We forget and wander so easily and our sinful flesh hankers after the things of this life, we forget what spiritual blessings we enjoy and our heart becomes harder and less able to feel and know the Lord. We stay close to Him that we may dwell in His holy habitation.

On the other side of the coin, the psalmist speaks against the wicked, that they and their ways will be forgotten, that they will vanish like smoke and all who contaminate God’s world will be scattered and rendered powerless. Those who hate the Lord will flee from Him, for no one can stand against Him.

The blessing of spiritual rain falls on the earth when the Lord moves. Kings and armies flee at His presence and the mountains smoke with the power of the Lord. He will lead all his enemies captive and even the rebellious will come to Him. We bless the Lord who ladens us down with so many daily benefits and is the God of our eternal salvation. Those who adore Him will lead out the procession into the sanctuary where we will perpetually praise the Lord. Everyone who submits to Him will be have strength and power to overcome all their failures and sins and be able to praise Him.

We sing to Him who rides in the heavens and shows his strength in the clouds, for His deeds are awesome to those who believe and pray to Him.

Please read Psalm 67 (7 verses)

The Lord is merciful and kind to all who live on the earth. The psalmist asks the Lord to bless His people so that the kindness of the Lord will be seen and the praises of His people will be heard. We testify to the Lord in the peaceable way that we live our lives and acquiesce to the commandments of the Lord in humility and obedience. The writer asks for blessing so that all the nations of the earth are blessed. This blessing of peace comes only because of Christ, and the day will soon come when His glorious reign will be over all. Sin and death will not exist anymore, as the eternal kingdom will have fully come.

The land will yield its harvest and there will be blessing for all the redeemed people of God. All wickedness will have finally passed and righteousness will prevail. This is the destiny of our planet and the glory of the people of God. Despite how things might appear and how we might feel about situations, the Lord is in control of all circumstance and peoples. He directs the rulers of the earth and raises them up and sets them down in His perfect will. God guides the leaders of all the big multinationals and allows success and failure according to His over-riding purposes and the destiny He has decided.

The psalmist prays for the leaders that they will be blessed and guided for the benefit of all who labour under them. The people are blessed by these mercies of the Lord and we are able to praise Him. All people will see the salvation of the Lord and fear the God who is over all and who is so ready to bless and prosper us.

Please read Psalm 66 (20 verses)

The voices of praise that resonate around the whole earth sings to the glory of the Lord. The whole earth is full of His glory, even though it struggles with sin and death. All the earth bows down to the majesty of the Lord and sings praises to His holy name. We are invited to come and see the greatness and deliverance of the Lord for His people. The people of God walked through the sea on dry land by the might of the power of the Lord. All physical laws and processes are in God’s hand and He controls all of them by a word. We are invited to rejoice.

The Lord keeps the feet of His people from slipping and preserves them. The Lord will test us like silver and at times seems to allow the enemy to ride over our heads and oppress us. God will take us through fire and water that we might appreciate the place of abundance that He brings us to. This blessing can be in this life but ultimately speaks to us of the blessing of heaven.

Our appropriate response to His mercies is the sacrifice of our whole life to Him that we might know the liberty of life in Christ and have the opportunity to fulfil all our vows to the Lord. We serve Him in peace and humility.

The psalmist calls on the people of God to listen to his testimony so that he can give public praise to God. The Lord has heard the cries of the psalmist because he has not hidden his sin nor cherished it in his heart. His relationship with the Lord is honest and sincere and the Lord will honour him and give him a voice of testimony. The Lord does not withhold His love from His people, but deals with us so that there is no hypocrisy in our hearts and we have a heart like His heart.

Please read Psalm 65 (13 verses)

How good it is to belong to Christ and be a Christian. The psalmist is so thankful for the personal relationship he enjoys with the living God. God has done everything for his temporal and spiritual good. God has forgiven us all our sins already and the price has been paid to buy our souls for Him. We will enjoy the glory of heaven with our dearly Belovèd, Christ when all our vows to the Lord are fulfilled. We rejoice to know Him, to enjoy the filling of our souls with all good things, and the constant answer to our prayers.

God answers our requests with awesome deeds far beyond our reckoning or desire. He has done mighty things for us which we contemplate in joy and gratitude. He alone is the hope of the earth, for He has armed himself with power. He stills every storm and stops every war by His strength and the whole earth is a wonder to His majesty. We are without excuse in not believing in Him, for He resides in the morning dawn and the evening shades. The seasons and times call forth songs of joy, so why not the heart of the creatures God has made?

The Lord cares for all our needs. The rain falls, the crops grow in abundance and we are richly blessed. All the shelves are full in the shops and we can access everything we need and much more. We live in lands of abundance and have health and strength to work and get what we need. We rejoice in the Lord for His temporal blessings. Even if we have less than we think we want, or must struggle to trust God for our provision, yet He does provide for us. Even if we have very little of this world’s goods, the Lord gives us all we need to be healthy and survive. To know His bounty is a great blessing and makes our hearts sing for joy to Him. How sad to have no loving God to be grateful to, and no mighty love to surround us and make us whole. We lift our hearts in praise and adoration to Him who gives all.

Please read Psalm 64 (10 verses)

Why does God allow the wicked to prosper? The psalmist is raising his voice of complaint to the Lord, for he is suffering acutely with the attacks of wicked people, speaking and acting out evil.

The wicked are described as the rebellious and workers of all kinds of iniquity. They complain and gossip at will and shoot bitterness into the collective mindset of the community. They have no fear of God nor the consequences of what they do and say. They are never sorry, but encourage themselves to continue in their evil ways and lay traps for those who seek to walk uprightly before the Lord. They think creativity and come up with all sorts of wickedness to get their own way and to think of ways to always get what they want out of life. They think they have great success and are mighty, because they have such wicked skills directed against the will of God and all righteousness. These treacherous people use the strategy of disseminating fear and holding other people in emotional chains to keep them compliant to the will of the spirit of the age.

The thoughts and intentions of the human heart are very deep in terms of ability and hidden motivation. We can hide from ourselves and trick ourselves about our intentions. But these things are nothing to God, for He sees the heart of man in all its wickedness and is never taken in by any of it. He reveals it to those He loves and protects their psyche from the onslaughts of the enemy of their souls. The Lord will bring them down to size and show the ungodly up for what they are. They will stumble over what they say and be caught in the lies that they live, with their wicked intentions and motivations.

God will display wickedness for what it really is and people will flee from it. We see the same principle in our own hearts and know that moment when we see our own wickedness and turn and run away from pursuing it. This is the work of God in our life. People will see the works of the wicked and how ugly they are and will run away and reject them. They will not follow the folly of the ungodly but seek the goodness and mercy of the Lord. This is why God raises the wicked, that they might testify to his truth and glorify His name. The anger of the wicked will praise the Lord. The righteous will rejoice at the triumph of all goodness and will glory in the fact that righteousness is victorious.

Please read Psalm 63 (11 verses)

What do you think about in the sleepless watches of the night? The psalmist uses the opportunity to meditate on the ways of the Lord and how the Lord has given him refuge under the shadow of His wings. God is the Lord and it is personal. Whatever our situation, the Lord is involved with us and will bring us safely through and strengthen us in it.

What do we remember in the dark night? Perhaps we rehearse the ills that have befallen us or we sort out the thought processes that have troubled us in the daytime. Perhaps we think of others and their relationships with us and we try to sort out difficulties and differences. Whatever we might think our souls should follow closely behind the Lord and we put our troubles with other people on the mercy of the Lord and rely on His wisdom to help us. All enemies will be put away and will suffer the destiny they deserve, but the psalmist rejoices in the Lord for he knows that all lies will be stopped.

If we hear about the Lord in our early years of life, it is good to put our trust in Him in those early days and walk with God through our whole life. We find ourselves thirsting for God and longing in our flesh to be with the Lord, as life appears so disappointing and heartbreaking. The Lord keeps us in his lovingkindness or we could not walk the vain roads of this fallen world. We bless the Lord and lift up holy hands to Him and are satisfied with His kindness and love towards us. It compounds the blessing and we find ourselves with joyful lips, able to rejoice even on dull days and years.

We look for the Lord in His sanctuary and there see displayed for us in the service and communion and fellowship of the saints, the power and glory of the Lord. This is our spiritual home and the rejoicing of our heart to be in the presence of God and His people. This is the longing of the redeemed heart, and to have this fellowship is to be treasured and guarded. As we seek the Lord our issues somehow vanish and we rejoice in our salvation. Those long watches in the night become opportunities to spend time with God and commune with Him. He draws close to us when the clamour of the day is over and we can have peace.

Please read Psalm 62 (12 verses)

There is a place for waiting in silence and meditation on the Lord. As we sit quietly, we think of our salvation and the enormity of what God has done for us. We meditate on His perpetual lovingkindness to us as His people and the fact that no one can move us from our blessed estate. We consider our own weakness and the oppression of the wicked who seek the destruction of the woman of God and the constant onslaughts of the enemy that would bring us down. We are no more that a tottering fence that must bear with the insults and degradation that is meted out to the righteous. We humble ourselves before the Lord and wait for deliverance.

We trust in the Lord and pour out our hearts before Him. He is our rock and deliverer and there is no point in seeking help from other sources. We spread out our needs, our woes and wants before our Lord and God and He fills us with good things. He is able to hold the righteous and cover over all their wounds. We cannot be moved away from Him, for the keeping power of the Lord is constant. Is does not matter how we feel, but we come before His presence with singing and He rejoices our hearts in His presence.

We do not trust in humankind, nor in the extent of our resources. People have lives that are only a vapour before the Lord and those who rule and Lord it over others are a lie. Our lives are lighter than vapour and we get nothing by oppression or the acquisition of riches. All power belong to God and He decides our lives and our pathway in Him. The Lord is also merciful and does not treat us as we deserve. He will judge our mindset, our work and our motivations and decide our reward. This is a great comfort to the believer, because we do not depend on the judgement of others, but on the one who sees all and can judge fairly and justly.

Please read Psalm 61 (8 verses)

It is a wonderful situation to be in, to know that the Lord will be with you, no matter what you are facing in your life. We know we can call out to the Lord when we are overwhelmed by the trouble and beyond coping. We can cry out to Him whatever our circumstances and wherever we may be in the scheme of things in any part of this world, for He is the Lord of all. He is the rock that is higher than all other seeming comforts or sources of strength, and therefore is the pinnacle of our refuge and hope.

The psalmist knows he can depend on the Lord for He has proved the Lord in the past events of his life and knows that the Lord is a strong tower for him. He can shelter under the wings of the Lord, for there is great comfort there. He seeks the constant presence of the Lord and to dwell in the house of the Lord at all times. He has full assurance that he is part of the heritage of the Lord and belongs to the household of faith. God is not going to shorten his life and deliver him into the hands of his enemies, but will protect his life so that he will see good days and the outworking of the mercy of the Lord.

The life of the believer is hid in God and that fact will preserve him forever. This fills the psalmist with great joy and he praises the name of the Lord and will respond to the faithfulness of the Lord by daily fulfilling his promises to the Lord, and being a faithful servant. He is faithful because the Lord is faithful to Him and a constant source of strength in his life. His daily vow is praise to the Lord his God.