Psalms – Prayers of Honesty and Praise
There is an old song, “I Only Have Eyes For You”, by the Flamingos, that is rattling around in my weird brain this morning as I read our next psalm. It goes like this with a lot of Sha bop sha bop’s in between the lyrics which is the precursor to the sound of the Pentatonix! (Maybe.)My love must be a kind of blind love
I can’t see anyone but you
Sha bop sha bop
Sha bop sha bop
Are the stars out tonight
I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright
I only have eyes for you dear
Sha bop sha bop (Imagine synchronized dancing here.)
The moon may be highSha bop sha bop
But I can’t see a thing in the sky
I only have eyes for you
I don’t know if we’re in a garden
Or on a crowded avenue
Sha bop sha bop
You are here
Sha bop sha bop
And so am I
Sha bop sha bop
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you…
THIS is the kind of love that belongs in our intimate, growing, focused relationship with Jesus Christ! If we only have our eyes on Him, focused on Him, following His Holy Spirit’s voice of guidance we turn our eyes from the evil trying to trap us so easily. We are more alert to anything that is not of God with eyes only on God.
Psalm 141, The Message
A David Psalm
1-2 God, come close. Come quickly! Open your ears—it’s my voice you’re hearing!
Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising;
my raised hands are my evening prayers.
3-7 Post a guard at my mouth, God,
set a watch at the door of my lips.
Don’t let me so much as dream of evil
or thoughtlessly fall into bad company.
And these people who only do wrong—
don’t let them lure me with their sweet talk!
May the Just One set me straight, may the Kind One correct me,
Don’t let sin anoint my head.
I’m praying hard against their evil ways!
Oh, let their leaders be pushed off a high rock cliff;
make them face the music.
Like a rock pulverized by a maul,
let their bones be scattered at the gates of hell.
8-10 But God, dear Lord,
I only have eyes for you.
Since I’ve run for dear life to you,
take good care of me.
Protect me from their evil scheming,
from all their demonic subterfuge.
Let the wicked fall flat on their faces,
while I walk off without a scratch.
FROM THE HEART…This weekend in Santa Cruz, Bolivia (and in other parts of the world), evil will come out of hiding to do it’s best work in and through people over the next four days. Innocent people will be hurt by it. Children will be left unattended to roam the streets. Drugs and alcohol will flow. Eyes will turn away from God and all that is holy to do evil with it’s schemes and partying.
Where are our eyes? Who do we look to first? How will be cope when other’s eyes are focused on evil? What do we say? Do we run from it? Do we hide out and hope for the best? Do we help others avoid it? These are the questions I am pondering this morning.
My eyes are on God, only on God. My heart belongs to God. My soul rests in God alone. My mind is focused on Jesus and what He told us to be. I only have eyes for you, Lord. Thank you for your eyes always being on me.
In Jesus Name, Amen
When evil has a hay day all around us and fights break out when we least expect it, what do we do first? Who do we run to for help…first? So many times our independent selves try to fix it ourselves. But we soon learn that we cannot, that we are not in control and that we don’t have what it takes to solve the hate and violence that is going on around us in the imperfect world. 
1-5 God, get me out of here, away from this evil;
9-11 These troublemakers all around me—
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
FROM THE HEART…
There are times in our lives when God works out problems with solutions before we recognize that we have a problem. He knows before we know what we will go through, how we will respond, and provides exactly what we will need for this part of the journey. God is sovereign!
1-3 Thank you! Everything in me says “Thank you!”
Psalm 137, The Message
“Remember” and “forget” are used a total of five times in these nine verses. The American humorist Elbert Hubbard said, “A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness.” Sometimes we must remember to forget. 
Sitting was the official position for mourning, and the Jewish exiles felt and acted like mourners at a funeral. The two major rivers were the Tigris and the Euphrates, but Babylon had a network of canals that helped to turn the desert into a garden. Perhaps the Jews gathered by the canals because they needed water for their religious rituals (Acts 16:13). Whatever else they may have left back in Judah, they brought their harps with them, for music was important to their worship of the Lord (81:1-3). Music was also one way of expressing their grief and seeking the help of the Lord “who gives songs in the night” (Job 35:10 nkjv). 
At least one man made a vow when he was in exile, that he would always remember Jerusalem and make it the highest priority and greatest joy in his life. By “Jerusalem,” of course, he meant the Lord Jehovah, the temple and its ministry, the city and its people, and the ministry of Israel to the world. 
This weekend in Santa Cruz many will be put in harm’s way by revelers full of liquor and drugs to celebrate carnivale (mardi gras in our country). It is more of a ritual where evil has a hay day. All good is put aside. Evil no longer hides but comes out in the open with pride and arrogance. Lives will be lost or maimed in the process. Children will be left alone to run unattended in the streets. Vandals will throw paint at passersby and on the businesses they frequent themselves. The city will not be safe to travel to or do business. So, since the Babylonian evil, how far has society come?
Sometimes you just have to stop and look back at all God has done, is doing and will do. If you camp long enough, listening to His Holy Spirit, you will discover that you may have wanted to quit, you were on the verge of quitting, or may have quit a few times until God took over once again. 
1-3 Thank God! He deserves your thanks.
Split the Red Sea right in half,
Who do you trust? This was a game show about a million years ago from my childhood. I wasn’t a big fan but it came on before a show I really wanted to watch so I sat through it with my parents. Three couples competed on each show. Contestants were always a man and a woman chosen for their unique backgrounds; the announcer would introduce couples one at a time. In the quiz portion, the comedic emcee would tell the male contestant the category of the upcoming question; the man would then have to decide whether to answer the question himself or “trust” the woman to do so. It was all in fun and the real “entertainment” was in interviewing the man and wife, trying to trip them up.
Our writer of Psalms 135 is praising God for all He has done and is doing and will do in the lives of His people. He also writes a phrase that pops out to me this morning.
1-4 Hallelujah!
He struck down the Egyptian firstborn,
God’s people have always gotten into deep trouble when they put their trust in anyone or anything else other than God. It angers God when His people bow to anyone but Him. Hence the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me”. (This commandment is a hard and fast RULE, not a mere suggestion!) 
Trust begins by loving God. We trust in God who led us here. It is God who provides the means to live here for awhile. It is God who saves us. It is God who brought this far and will not leave us. It is God, and always will be God, who gives us all we need at the right time to do his work when invited to do it. 
Don’t be jealous, but this day is beautiful here in South America for we are below the equator from where our northern friends and family reside. This day, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia is beautiful because, no matter the weather where we are, you and I, God made it, provided for it, is in it and and in control of it. Let us rejoice and be glad! 
1-3 Come, bless God,
Jesus really nails us when he says when you do these things to the least of these, you are doing it to me. Wait, what?! YES, every time we gossip or put down another human God has created we are doing it to Jesus. How we treat others is a direct correlation to how we treat God. Stop and think about that for awhile. Take all the time you need. I am.
Psalm 133, The Message
132 1-5 O God, remember David,
Let’s worship at God’s own footstool!”
This work does bring God’s people together for one purpose or goal. God is honored and praised for the completion of the mission to build it. Does this building keep God first in their lives? We find later that it does not. In fact, Jesus, who is God in flesh, comes to visit what should have been a house of prayer to God, to find a “den of thieves”, using the Temple courtyard as a way to make money while cheating people in the process.
