herbcotton.org

The Word of God says:

Psalm 95:1-7 (NASB)
¹ O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
² Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
³ For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods,
⁴ In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also.
⁵ The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land.
⁶ Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
⁷ For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

My reflections on the Word of God:

In times like these it is so wonderful and comforting to know that the God that we serve is a great God. In this Psalm the psalmist calls upon the people of God to greatly praise our great God.

This Psalm is also a call to prayer. There is nothing that prepares our hearts more to approach our heavenly Father in prayer than to begin our prayers with praise.

When we pray we have the privilege of coming into the very presence of God. It does not get any better than this. You can not go any higher than His throne room.

Psalm 95:2-3 (NASB)
² Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
³ For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods,

Let’s prepare our hearts for prayer today by using the Word of God to praise the name of our great God who is a great King above all gods.

Psalm 145:1 (NASB)
¹ I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever.

Psalm 150:1 (NASB)
¹ Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse.

My prayer in response to the Word of God:

Our Father in heaven, I praise You for Your greatness and Your goodness. Father, I praise You for Your wonder and for Your works. Father God, when I enter Your presence I am in awe of You. Lord, from the depths of my heart I burst forth with joyful singing extolling Your greatness and Your goodness.

“Great is the Lord and worthy of glory! Great is the Lord and worthy of praise. Great is the Lord; now lift up your voice, Now lift up your voice: Great is the Lord! Great is the Lord!” {Michael W. Smith and Deborah D. Smith}

Father God, we come to You today to intercede for our family, friends, and all of the people in the city of New Orleans.

Lord, we call upon You because You are a great God, and because nothing is impossible with You. We ask for grace and for mercy for the sake of Your people who are powerless and helpless in the face of this powerful hurricane.

Lord, please help, is our plea and our prayer.

Father I Stretch My Hands to Thee (Lyrics):

 FATHER, I stretch my hands to thee,
No other help I know;
If thou withdraw thyself from me,
Ah! whither shall I go?

The Word of God says:

Psalm 43:1-5 (NASB)
¹ Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
² For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
³ O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places.
⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God.
⁵ Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

My reflections on the Word of God:

This Psalm is a continuation of Psalm 42. Although separate they are one poem written by the same poet.

In this poem the psalmist pleads for his God to vindicate him, and to plead his case against those who were oppressing him. This unduly focus on the past contributes to his distress of mind and heart.

The psalmist heart was open to God. His heart was tender toward God. However, he spent too much time living in the past. He wrongly attributed his current circumstances and the talk of other people as being rejection by God. We can see this in Psalm 42 and in Psalm 43.

Psalm 42:4-6 (NASB)
⁴ These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
⁵ Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.
⁶ O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

Psalm 43:2 (NASB)
² For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

All is not lost in spite of the present circumstances and the depression and oppression the psalmist is experiencing. He turns from the unduly focus on the past, and his present circumstances. Out of his fixation on the past and his present circumstances he turned to God and looked to the future.

A song of praise came forth from his mouth. He remembered that God was his Rock. It is amazing the peace of heart and mind you can have when God is your rock. The tipping point for the psalmist was when he turned from the past, and the present to the future. The key words are “praise”, and “Hope in God”.

Psalm 43:5 (NASB)
⁵ Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

My prayer in response to the Word of God:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I pray that by faith in You, I will be able to look to the future, and place my hope in the unchanging God of my salvation.

Father God, You are my deliverer, my provider, and my strength. My hope is rooted in You, and in Your promises as revealed in the Word of God.

The Solid Rock (Click on link below for lyrics and midi):

http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/The_Solid_Rock/

The Word of God says:

Psalm 42:9-11 (NASB)
⁹ I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
¹⁰ As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
¹¹ Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

My reflections on the Word of God:

In his prayer the Psalmist acknowledges that God is his Rock. In spite of this, he still had this pressing question on his mind, “Why have You forgotten me?”The Psalmist had known the nearness of God.

Psalm 42:4 (NASB)
⁴ These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

God was the Rock of the Psalmist, yet, he had to deal with his adversaries and his depression. His adversaries attacked his faith and his God.

Psalm 42:3 (NASB)
³ My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Psalm 42:10 (NASB)
¹⁰ As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

The psalmist closes with the refrain that is a repeat of Psalm 42:5 and Psalm 43:5. In this refrain we find the answer to the question that filled his days and troubled his nights.

Psalm 42:11 (NASB)
¹¹ Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

My prayer in response to the Word of God:

O my God, my dear Father, my heart leaps for joy when I consider that the Sovereign God of the universe, who is the maker and keeper of my soul, that He is my Rock.

O God, my Rock, I am so thankful and blessed to have a refuge to run to when my soul is cast down. And for that I can move forward with hope in my soul and a song of praise with my mouth.

Psalm 27:1 (NASB)
¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?

I Need Thee Every Hour (Click on link below for lyrics and midi):

I Need Thee Every Hour

The Word of God says:

Psalm 42:6-8 (NASB)
⁶ O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
⁸ The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.

My reflections on the Word of God:

This first verse of this passage is the beginning of the second stanza of this Psalm. The Psalmist laments his deep depression, and he cries out to the Lord in prayer.

This Psalm should be a constant reminder to the people of God that no matter what circumstances we may face in life, and no matter how deep our souls may sink into depression, that there is a God who is the maker of the heavens and the earth who knows our situation, and he is as near to us today as when He first came into our heart.

There are some things about the past that we should not dwell upon. We should cast them from our memory as much as is possible. However, the nearness of our God is something that we should never forget. In this the Psalmist found hope.

Psalm 42:6 (AMP)
⁶ O my God, my life is cast down upon me [and I find the burden more than I can bear]; therefore will I [earnestly] remember You from the land of the Jordan [River] and the [summits of Mount] Hermon, from the little mountain Mizar.

Everything becomes different when we remember to bring God into our lives. The Psalmist had a history with God. That is why he was able to say to God when he prayed, “O my God”.  He remembers the God that had been with him on the mountain and in the valley. Therefore he had hope, and in faith he cried out to his God.

Psalm 42:8 (NASB)
⁸ The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.

My prayer in response to the Word of God:

O my God, my dear Father, I praise and thank You that You are God in the good times, and that You are God in the bad times.

I am so glad that I can say with confident faith based on the Word of God, and by personal experience that You are God all the time, and that You are God all by Yourself.

God On the Mountain (Click on link below for lyrics and midi):

http://www.ziplo.com/GodOnTheMountain.html

The Word of God says:

Psalm 42:1-5 (NASB)
¹ As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?
³ My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
⁵ Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.

My reflections on the Word of God:

The psalmist is going through a time of depression in his life. The Psalmist asked himself the question, “Why are you in despair, O my soul?

The psalmist was facing depression in the depths of his soul. He longed for God. Why was he so depressed?

The focal passage shows that the Psalmist had not lost his faith in God. Notice how his enemies taunted him saying, “Where is your God?” He may not have lost his faith, but he lost his joy, and he longed for fellowship with God.

When the psalmist looked to his past he was depressed (verse 4). When the Psalmist focused unduly on his present circumstances (verse 3) he was depressed.

It was only when the Psalmist turned to God and looked to the future that he found the thing that he hoped and prayed for. The Psalmist found that God is never far from His people.

Isaiah 41:10 (NASB)
¹⁰ ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Hebrews 13:5 (NASB)
⁵ Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

My prayer in response to the Word of God:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I praise and thank You that You are always near to Your people even though we may feel that You are so far away.

Father God, I pray for the faith to look to the future, and never lose sight of Your nearness. For You are a God who is always faithful, and has the power to do great and might things, and has the compassion to do good things to those who wait on You, and who trust in You.

Never Alone (Click on link below for lyrics and midi):

http://biblestudycharts.com/SH_Never_Alone.html

The Word of God says:

Psalm 19:12-14 (NASB)
¹² Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
¹³ Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

My reflections on the Word of God:

Today will conclude our reflection on Psalm 19. We had a wonderful trip to Seattle, and are glad to be home.

David closes out this Psalm with a prayer. When David looked at the law of God it revealed to him that he was a sinner, and like every sinner he needed the Lord. He needed a rock and he needed a Redeemer.

David prayed for a complete cleansing so that he would be blameless in the eyes of the Lord. In this prayer he prayed for unpremeditated sins and for premeditated sins. There are sins that may be in our life that we are not conscious of.

1 Corinthians 4:4 (NASB)
⁴ For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.

Because of the Law David was acutely aware of presumptuous sins.

Deuteronomy 17:12-13 (NASB)
¹² “The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.
¹³ “Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again.

What then did David do to realize his desire to be blameless in the eyes of the Lord? The answer for David was in the Word of God and in Jesus.

Psalm 119:133 (NASB)
¹³³ Establish my footsteps in Your word, And do not let any iniquity have dominion over me.

Psalm 32:1-2 (NASB)
¹ How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!
² How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

My prayer in response to the Word of God:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I praise and thank You that You knew my needs before I was ever born into human flesh. You knew that I was a sinner and would need a Savior.

Romans 3:22-23 (NASB)
²² even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Dear loving heavenly Father, I can never say it enough of how grateful I am for the love and compassion that You have for me, and not only for me but for the whole world.

John 3:16 (NASB)
¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

I Will Sing of My Redeemer (Click on link below for lyrics and midi):

http://www.biblestudycharts.com/SH_I_Will_Sing_of_My_Redeemer.html

The Word of God says:

Psalm 19:10-11 (NASB)
¹⁰ They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
¹¹ Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.

My reflections on the Word of God:

In our focal passage for today we see David revealing his personal reaction to the perfect Law of God. Listed below is the passage he was responding to.

Psalm 19:7-9 (NASB)
⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
⁹ The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.

David found the law to be desirable and delicious. He compared them to gold and honey. He found the law to be more desirable than gold, and sweeter than honey. Keeping the law was not a burden to him. Rather, keeping the law was a blessing to him. He found in keeping the law there was great reward.

The more we read, meditate; study the bible, the more our lives will be enriched by the Word of God. The law should not be a burden to believers who are seeking to please their Lord.

Proverbs 6:22-23 (NASB)
²² When you walk about, they will guide you; When you sleep, they will watch over you; And when you awake, they will talk to you.
²³ For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life

My prayer in response to the Word of God:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I am so grateful for the Word of God. I pray that I will be willing to learn from Your Word, and do what it says so that I may be pleasing in Your eyes.

Psalm 43:3 (NASB)
³ O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places.

Trust and Obey (Click on link below for lyrics and midi):

http://www.biblestudycharts.com/SH_Trust_and_Obey.html

The Word of God says:

Psalm 19:9 (NASB)
⁹ The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.

My reflections on the Word of God:

In this verse we see the Psalmist describe how the law teaches us to have reverence for God. The judgments or ordinances of the law teach us what is true and what is right.

The law serves a useful purpose when God’s people learn to fear God. The people of Israel knew God’s power, and they had received His blessings. That had received God’s Word. They were of all people blessed by God immensely. This is the background that Moses made this appeal to them.

Deuteronomy 4:10 (NASB)
¹⁰ “Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’

The law has a lofty objective for God’s people. The Psalmist points out in our focal verse that the law is clean, true, and righteous. The law’s purpose is to create in God’s people obedience and righteous living.

Psalm 111:10 (NASB)
¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.

1 Samuel 12:24 (NASB)
²⁴ “Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.

My prayer in response to the Word of God:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I praise and thank You for the Word of God. I thank You for its high and holy purpose of producing obedience and righteousness in Your people.

Father God, I ask that every time I read the bible that it will accomplish Your purposes in my life. Lord, Your Word is wonderful, and I love to sing Your praises.

Wonderful Words of Life (Click on link below for lyrics and midi):

http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh600.sht

The Word of God says:

Psalm 19:8 (NASB)
⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

My reflections on the Word of God:

Today we continue to look at the individual verses from this Psalm that gives us directions for living in this world to please our Lord, and to receive directions for reaching our heavenly home.

This world is not our home.  The bible says that we are just strangers down here. God has a place, and the bible says it is a prepared place, and that is our permanent home.

Psalm 119:19 (NASB)
¹⁹ I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me.

John 14:2 (NASB)
² “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

The bible is God’s instructions book for living in this world. Our focal verse says, “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart”, and “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes”.

As pilgrims in a strange land we need the guidance and directions that the bible provides to be able to make it safely to our heavenly home. It requires more than a casual or a one time reading to get the benefit that the bible provides for living life in a manner that will get you to God’s intended destination. It takes reading, studying, meditating, and obeying the Word of God.

James 1:22-25 (NASB)
²² But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
²⁴ for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
²⁵ But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

My prayer in response to the Word of God:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I praise and thank You for the bible. It is such a precious book that You have written to give directions and guidance to Your children. Today we have seen how it rejoices the heart and enlightens the eyes.

Yesterday, we saw how it restores our whole life and how it gives wisdom for living a holy life in the unholy world in which we are strangers.

Father God, I thank You that You have not left us alone to learn and understand what this book says. As we also saw in yesterday’s lesson that You have given us the Holy Spirit to be our teacher and helper. Imagine a private tutor at no cost to us. What a blessing and what a helper He is in my life.

In The Sweet By and By (Click on link below for lyrics and midi):

http://www.my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis2/byandby.html

The Word of God says:

Psalm 19:7 (NASB)
⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

My reflections on the Word of God:

In this verse the name given to the Word of God is law and testimony. The name law means the Word of God is perfect and without fault. It can change the lives of those who read it and obey it.

The ministry of the law is to change the whole person. It restore the soul, it makes you into the person that God intended you to be.

The name testimony is a sure revelation of who God is, what He has said, what He has done, and what He wants us to do. The testimony is sure. Therefore, if you believe it you will receive what God promises in His Word.

The simple referred to in this passage are those who with childlike faith believe what God says in His Word.

Matthew 11:25 (NASB)
²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.

My prayer in response to the Word of God:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I praise and thank You for the Word of God, which is perfect and sure.

Father God, I pray that I might have the childlike faith that believes the Word so that I might receive all of the promises that You make in the Word regarding Your born again children.

2 Timothy 3:15-17 (NASB)
¹⁵ and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
¹⁷ so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Holy Bible, Book Divine (Click on link below for lyrics and midi):

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/o/holybibl.htm