Psalms – Prayers of Honesty
Sometimes I sing my prayers to God while doing chores around the house. As I go to sleep knowing God is with me, He is my song in the night. When I wake up, another salvation song fills my mind. So, I understand David’s hallelujahs of honest praise and prayer to God. Music soothes the soul and reminds us how much we are loved. David’s words can be found in the songs we sing today. Hallelujahs and salvation songs are ways to “tell everyone we meet” about the God who made a way for us to love and commune with Him by sending His Son to redeem us. Enjoy the next song that comes from a grateful, loving heart for God.
Psalm 9, The Message
A David Psalm
1-2 I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart, I’m writing the book on your wonders.
I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy;
I’m singing your song, High God.
3-4 The day my enemies turned tail and ran,
they stumbled on you and fell on their faces.
You took over and set everything right;
when I needed you, you were there, taking charge.
5-6 You blow the whistle on godless nations;
you throw dirty players out of the game,
wipe their names right off the roster.
Enemies disappear from the sidelines,
their reputation trashed,
their names erased from the halls of fame.
7-8 God holds the high center,
he sees and sets the world’s mess right.
He decides what is right for us earthlings,
gives people their just deserts.
9-10 God’s a safe-house for the battered,
a sanctuary during bad times.
The moment you arrive, you relax;
you’re never sorry you knocked.
11-12 Sing your songs to Zion-dwelling God,
tell his stories to everyone you meet:
How he tracks down killers
yet keeps his eye on us,
registers every whimper and moan.
13-14 Be kind to me, God;
I’ve been kicked around long enough.
Once you’ve pulled me back
from the gates of death,
I’ll write the book on Hallelujahs;
on the corner of Main and First
I’ll hold a street meeting;
I’ll be the song leader; we’ll fill the air
with salvation songs.
15-16 They’re trapped, those godless countries,
in the very snares they set,
Their feet all tangled
in the net they spread.
They have no excuse;
the way God works is well-known.
The cunning machinery made by the wicked
has maimed their own hands.
17-20 The wicked bought a one-way
ticket to hell.
No longer will the poor be nameless—
no more humiliation for the humble.
Up, God! Aren’t you fed up with their empty strutting?
Expose these grand pretensions!
Shake them up, God!
Show them how silly they look.
SOMETHING TO CHEW…Yes, how great is our God?! David sings his hallelujahs to God for victory over Israel’s enemies. His aim was to honor the Lord, not to glorify himself. His joy was in the Lord, not just in the great victory that he had been given (Phil. 4:4), and he wanted to tell everybody about God’s wonderful works.
HEART CHECK…
When life victories come to us, who do we praise first? How do we praise him?
Do we sing hallelujahs to God and salvation songs about God to others?
How do we tell others? Do they have to guess and wonder by observing the way we live our lives?
“I’ll be the song leader; we’ll fill the air with salvation songs.” Hallelujah to the God who saves!
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this prayer of honesty and devotion to you, the Victor and Savior of our very own lives. We praise You for all you have done, are doing and will do in our lives each day. I love you, Lord with all that is in me.
In Jesus Name, Amen
And I’m singing…Who am I that the highest King
Would welcome me?
I was lost but He brought me in
Oh His love for me
Oh His love for me
Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes I am
Free at last, He has ransomed me
His grace runs deep
While I was a slave to sin
Jesus died for me
Yes He died for me
Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God
Yes I am
In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God
Yes I am
I am chosen
Not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me
Not against me
I am who You say I am….
I look around my back yard and I thank God for the way He delicately and intricately made everything–absolutely everything. I praise God for His power and might and His right to judge coupled with tender mercy and grace, like no one on earth can do. I thank God, again, for saving my soul. I thank Him for a forever future with Him. 
5-8 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
In praying, we get to know God more. It’s like our conversations with our best friend on earth. We know we can be honest with a friend who listens without responding to us immediately with an answer. God truly listens and waits for us to “talk it out” with Him until WE see His right way to go. We see that David does that readily. David is a “man after God’s heart” as he is described by God in scriptures, so David is comfortable with being honest before God. 
HEART PROBE…
As a pastor in God’s church, we can feel overwhelmed when the demands of His people do not match the commands that God is telling us to be and do. We fall down when we are overwhelmed and make bad choices just to make people happy. Making others happy, avoiding God’s direction, so you will be lifted up in the eyes of those you minister alongside, face to face, is sin and will bite back. God will take us to the “woodshed” when we take the easy road and say what others want to hear instead of saying what God wants. We will suffer now and later for playing the “must please others” game. Even the fickle ones we are trying to please will eventually turn on us! Crazy, right? But true.
A David Psalm
SOMETHING TO CHEW…
HEART CHECK…
We get discouraged in this world as we work alongside others who seek self promotion and glory. We wonder why they get ahead even though they lie and cheat to get the coveted position. Their favorite phrase is “fake it ’til you make it”. Their actions behind the scenes are despicable and hurt people who get in their way. 
SOMETHING TO CHEW…
Rest assured…
David asks a great question of all of us on this earth today, “Why is everyone hungry for MORE?” “More, more,” they say. More in the bank account. More family. More houses. More vehicles. More things to enjoy. More time to enjoy it. We always want a little bit more.
SOMETHING TO CHEW…
Sometimes we run for our lives from dealing with perplexing problems in serious encounters of living this life. Sometimes we try everything to avoid it or deny it is even happening. When we finally face it and realize it’s too big for us to handle, we cry out. Humans typically cry out to family first because they are right there in your home. When that does not satisfy, we might cry out to our coworkers in frustration hoping they will console us, sympathize with us, “be our our side” and help us get through it. We see them every day, why not? 
Psalm 3, The Message
HEART CHECK…
Heart Check
I’ve met Eugene Peterson and heard him speak. This work comes from the heart of a caring pastor. The Psalms is where The Message paraphrasing began…with teaching his congregation to pray honestly. God’s work, through Peterson, a humble man of God, with first the Psalms grew rapidly and exponentially to people seeking God all over the world. Peterson then tenaciously worked through the entire Bible, first with the New Testament and then, book by book paraphrasing the Old Testament into the language of the day. This is why I use The Message in my own devotions and writing of Daily Manna with Your Mug so extensively over the past year. I want to understand more. I want others to know God more, too. I want us to learn to communicate honestly with God.
Psalms 1, The Message
Prayer of honesty….
In our last passage of the revelation of Jesus Christ and His coming we find the same “call” is made to John (and us). However, commands from Jesus and his messenger angel accompany the “call” so we will know what to do, in the wait on the Coming of Jesus Christ. 
17 “Come!” say the Spirit and the Bride.
Yes! Come, Master Jesus!
