Category: Weekly Word of Encouragement

Rise up, O God, judge the earth,for all the nations are your inheritance. Psalms 82:8 (NIV) This Psalmist is asking God to judge the earth, especially rulers who are partial to the wicked and support oppressors. Like the Psalmist we all want such practices to end permanently. Then the Psalmist declares a most encouraging word. “All the nations are your inheritance.” This means that ultimately the nations will belong to God. How will this happen? After he judges the citizens of all nations, those who pass judgment will remain with God. And God will gather members from every nation to himself. These people will be the true representatives of their nations and the truly redeemed and restored citizens of those nations. At the end of this age all these nations will be reunited with God in his community: After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that Continue Reading →

And I said, “This is my fate;the Most High has turned his hand against me.”But then I recall all you have done, O LORD;I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. Psalms 77:10-11 (NLT) The Psalmist felt that God had abandoned him, that the Lord had rejected him and would no longer love him: Has the Lord rejected me forever?Will he never again be kind to me?Is his unfailing love gone forever?Have his promises permanently failed? Psalms 77:7-8 (NLT) But then he thought back to God’s great deeds of the past. He remembered that God miraculously brought Israel through the Red Sea (vv. 16-20). Likewise, if you wonder if God is with you and cares for you, remember what he has done in the past. Remember supernatural events that only God could have done. Remember how he rescued you from the kingdom of darkness. This is enough for your faith. It Continue Reading →

God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked,but I will increase the power of the godly. Psalms 75:10 (NLT) God is not willing that anyone should perish but desires that everyone comes to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). But what if they never come to repentance? Should they be allowed to live with the righteous forever? Should God preserve them so that they can rebel against God for all eternity? Should they have the freedom to corrupt God’s eternal community of love with his followers? Because of his love and mercy toward his people, as well as for the sake of the radiance of his goodness, God must “break the strength of the wicked” one day. If they persist in their self-focused lives until they die, then their “freedom” to infect God’s creation must come to an end. This frees his people to live in peace and harmony with Continue Reading →

Whom have I in heaven but you?And earth has nothing I desire besides you.My flesh and my heart may fail,but God is the strength of my heartand my portion forever. Psalms 73:25-26 (NIV) Whom have I in heaven but you?I desire you more than anything on earth.My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,but God remains the strength of my heart;he is mine forever. Psalms 73:25-26 (NLT) We have presented this passage in two versions in order to get a better understanding of it. Asaph, the Psalmist, exclaims that the only thing he has in heaven is Yahweh, and the only thing he truly desires on Earth is Yahweh. Ultimately, all we really have anywhere, any time, is God. Everything else we have is dependent on God. Then the Psalmist reminds himself of God’s commitment to him. Even though his body gives out, and his heart – his Continue Reading →

I was so foolish and ignorant—I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.Yet I still belong to you;you hold my right hand.You guide me with your counsel,leading me to a glorious destiny. Psalms 73:22-24 (NLT) Who hasn’t felt foolish and ignorant in their walk with God? Who hasn’t gone down the wrong path, listened to the wrong teacher, or said the wrong thing to others? We have all done these things and sometimes we have unknowingly done them for years. But God does not distance himself from us. He does not send us to our room and tell us to get our act together before he will talk with us. For we still belong to him; he will still “hold my right hand.” He stays connected to us and guides us with his counsel. He is the Father who is always there, accepts us with our weaknesses and Continue Reading →