We cry out and sing “God bless America” sometimes as if we are the only country who desires God’s blessings as we see blessings. Many times, even as a child singing the song with my friends in a mighty children’s chorus on special holidays for our nation; I wondered even then if the lyrics were backwards. Maybe our song should be, “Hey America! Bless God!”
Let us stand and give God all the blessings of praise, honor, and glory with humbled, grateful hearts because of His gift of salvation, relationship, and restoration through reconciliation with Him! God saved us from ourselves and our own sins by sacrificing His One and Only Son, Jesus—the One perfect without sin to pay the price and set us free from the payment we owe! Jesus took away the sins of all the world so we could be debt free! We need only to believe that He did! But that’s not all, when the Enemy of God thought he had won when Jesus died; God raised Jesus from death to life in victory on that beautiful, miraculous third day! Yes, to all who believe—Jesus is not only Savior, He becomes the Lord of all we think, say, and do. That is our prayer.
God promised and He delivered our rescue. But that’s not all; God reconciled (reconnected) our relationship with our Creator in what Jesus accomplished on our behalf as our Advocate! But that’s not all; God knew, after our forgiveness and restoration, we would need a Helper 24/7. So, as promised, His Holy Spirit came immediately to take up residence way deep in our souls to be with us always. Holy Spirit is our guide to Truth as we wade through a world of lies. God’s Holy Spirit convicts, corrects, comforts, and compels us to keep our feet on a rock-solid foundation of faith in our God/Jesus/Holy Spirit relationship—in our daily prayer of surrender.
The Psalmist sings words of blessings for God. David is well versed through experience and relationship with God which prompts his praises and blessings! David saw the Lord’s presence on Zion as a blessing first of all to those who were burdened and in danger; just as Jehovah our King bears our burdens and defeats our enemies. Certainly, David saw the Lord win great victories for Israel so his heart, mind, and soul was bent thanksgiving for God!
David also includes a prophecy of the King, namely Jesus, who will come riding on the clouds in rescue on The Day of His return! It is easy for us to jump to this foretaste of the glory of Jesus’ return as David describes the Gentile nations submitting to Jehovah, the God of Israel, and bringing Him their worship. These references help us to understand—
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed; “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord’” (Isaiah 2:2-3)
Later, John, disciple of Jesus, wrote what God enabled him to envision; “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” –Revelation 21:22-27
Imagine the Day when the Gentile nations will join Israel in blessing God by singing praises to the Lord, extolling His majesty and power!
Read, pause, then bless God for all He has done, is doing, and will do in our lives!
Psalm 68, The Message
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. A song.
1-4 Up with God!
Down with his enemies!
Adversaries, run for the hills!
Gone like a puff of smoke,
like a blob of wax in the fire—
one look at God and the wicked vanish.
When the righteous see God in action
they’ll laugh, they’ll sing,
they’ll laugh and sing for joy.
Sing hymns to God;
all heaven, sing out;
clear the way for the coming of Cloud-Rider.
Enjoy God,
cheer when you see him!
5-6 Father of orphans,
champion of widows,
is God in his holy house.
God makes homes for the homeless,
leads prisoners to freedom,
but leaves rebels to rot in hell.
7-10 God, when you took the lead with your people,
when you marched out into the wild,
Earth shook, sky broke out in a sweat;
God was on the march.
Even Sinai trembled at the sight of God on the move,
at the sight of Israel’s God.
You pour out rain in buckets, O God;
thorn and cactus become an oasis
For your people to camp in and enjoy.
You set them up in business;
they went from rags to riches.
11-14 The Lord gave the word;
thousands called out the good news:
“Kings of the armies
are on the run, on the run!”
While housewives, safe and sound back home,
divide up the plunder,
the plunder of Canaanite silver and gold.
On that day that Shaddai scattered the kings,
snow fell on Black Mountain.
15-16 You huge mountains, Bashan mountains,
mighty mountains, dragon mountains.
All you mountains not chosen,
sulk now, and feel sorry for yourselves,
For this is the mountain God has chosen to live on;
he’ll rule from this mountain forever.
17-18 The chariots of God, twice ten thousand,
and thousands more besides,
The Lord in the lead, riding down Sinai—
straight to the Holy Place!
You climbed to the High Place, captives in tow,
your arms full of plunder from rebels,
And now you sit there in state,
God, sovereign God!
19-23 Blessed be the Lord—
day after day he carries us along.
He’s our Savior, our God, oh yes!
He’s God-for-us, he’s God-who-saves-us.
Lord God knows all
death’s ins and outs.
What’s more, he made heads roll,
split the skulls of the enemy
As he marched out of heaven,
saying, “I tied up the Dragon in knots,
put a muzzle on the Deep Blue Sea.”
You can wade through your enemies’ blood,
and your dogs taste of your enemies from your boots.
24-31 See God on parade
to the sanctuary, my God,
my King on the march!
Singers out front, the band behind,
maidens in the middle with castanets.
The whole choir blesses God.
Like a fountain of praise, Israel blesses God.
Look—little Benjamin’s out
front and leading
Princes of Judah in their royal robes,
princes of Zebulun, princes of Naphtali.
Parade your power, O God,
the power, O God, that made us what we are.
Your temple, High God, is Jerusalem;
kings bring gifts to you.
Rebuke that old crocodile, Egypt,
with her herd of wild bulls and calves,
Rapacious in her lust for silver,
crushing peoples, spoiling for a fight.
Let Egyptian traders bring blue cloth
and Cush come running to God, her hands outstretched.
32-34 Sing, O kings of the earth!
Sing praises to the Lord!
There he is: Sky-Rider,
striding the ancient skies.
Listen—he’s calling in thunder,
rumbling, rolling thunder.
Call out “Bravo!” to God,
the High God of Israel.
His splendor and strength
rise huge as thunderheads.
35 A terrible beauty, O God,
streams from your sanctuary.
It’s Israel’s strong God! He gives
power and might to his people!
O you, his people—bless God!
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
We sing with glorious thanksgiving as we humbly walk with our Lord God and Savior!
To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
so loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
and opened the life-gate that all may go in.
Refrain:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,
and give Him the glory, great things He hath done…
(Composer: Fanny Crosby, 1875)
Lord,
Thank you for your thoughts that will dwell in our hearts all day long from reading Your Word with grateful hearts. Help us to live Your Word out loud today so others will know and see your glory reflected from our faces! “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me”…
In Jesus Name, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 