DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR WEDNESDAY JUNE 20:
WORD OF WISDOM
Some people are so busy chasing happiness that they don't recognize it when
it sneaks up behind them.
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DAILY DEVOTION
A Command for All Who Breathe
"Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and
harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed
instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon
the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD.
Praise ye the LORD."
Psalm 150:3-6
The story goes that a man traveling for business ended up attending a church
that was much more formal and liturgical than his regular place of worship.
At one point when the preacher said something that really touched his heart,
he said, "Praise the Lord" out loud. The congregation was shocked by the
unexpected interruption. One man leaned forward and whispered to him, "We
don't praise the Lord here." Another congregant responded, "Yes we do. It's
on page 15 of the Lectionary."
Praise is not something that is supposed to be uncommon. As long as we have
breath in our lungs, we should praise God. In every situation and every
circumstance we have something to be grateful for, and it should not be kept
hidden. Too many times we only praise God when everything is going the way
we think it should. But even in our worst moments, His praise should fill
our mouths. After being unjustly arrested, beaten and thrown in jail, Paul
and Silas had reason to complain. They did not. "And at midnight Paul and
Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them" (Acts
16:25).
Praising God is not restricted to Sundays at church. It should be part of
our conversation with others and part of our thoughts. The words of praise
that come out of our mouths are proceeded by thoughts of gratitude that
build in our hearts until they cannot be contained. The praise we offer to
God outwardly will not be what it should unless it is the overflow of what
we are focused on internally.
When we praise God, it pleases Heaven, changes us for the better, and
encourages others around us.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Psalm 81-85 The Message (MSG)
An Asaph Psalm
81 1-5 A song to our strong God!
a shout to the God of Jacob!
Anthems from the choir, music from the band,
sweet sounds from lute and harp,
Trumpets and trombones and horns:
it's festival day, a feast to God!
A day decreed by God,
solemnly ordered by the God of Jacob.
He commanded Joseph to keep this day
so we'd never forget what he did in Egypt.
I hear this most gentle whisper from One
I never guessed would speak to me:
6-7
"I took the world off your shoulders,
freed you from a life of hard labor.
You called to me in your pain;
I got you out of a bad place.
I answered you from where the thunder hides,
I proved you at Meribah Fountain.
8-10
"Listen, dear ones-get this straight;
O Israel, don't take this lightly.
Don't take up with strange gods,
don't worship the latest in gods.
I'm God, your God, the very God
who rescued you from doom in Egypt,
Then fed you all you could eat,
filled your hungry stomachs.
11-12
"But my people didn't listen,
Israel paid no attention;
So I let go of the reins and told them, 'Run!
Do it your own way!'
13-16
"Oh, dear people, will you listen to me now?
Israel, will you follow my map?
I'll make short work of your enemies,
give your foes the back of my hand.
I'll send the God-haters cringing like dogs,
never to be heard from again.
You'll feast on my fresh-baked bread
spread with butter and rock-pure honey."
An Asaph Psalm
82 God calls the judges into his courtroom,
he puts all the judges in the dock.
2-4
"Enough! You've corrupted justice long enough,
you've let the wicked get away with murder.
You're here to defend the defenseless,
to make sure that underdogs get a fair break;
Your job is to stand up for the powerless,
and prosecute all those who exploit them."
5
Ignorant judges! Head-in-the-sand judges!
They haven't a clue to what's going on.
And now everything's falling apart,
the world's coming unglued.
6-7
"I commissioned you judges, each one of you,
deputies of the High God,
But you've betrayed your commission
and now you're stripped of your rank, busted."
8
O God, give them their just deserts!
You've got the whole world in your hands!
An Asaph Psalm
83 1-5 God, don't shut me out;
don't give me the silent treatment, O God.
Your enemies are out there whooping it up,
the God-haters are living it up;
They're plotting to do your people in,
conspiring to rob you of your precious ones.
"Let's wipe this nation from the face of the earth,"
they say; "scratch Israel's name off the books."
And now they're putting their heads together,
making plans to get rid of you.
6-8
Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia and the Tyrians,
And now Assyria has joined up,
Giving muscle to the gang of Lot.
9-12
Do to them what you did to Midian,
to Sisera and Jabin at Kishon Brook;
They came to a bad end at Endor,
nothing but dung for the garden.
Cut down their leaders as you did Oreb and Zeeb,
their princes to nothings like Zebah and Zalmunna,
With their empty brags, "We're grabbing it all,
grabbing God's gardens for ourselves."
13-18
My God! I've had it with them!
Blow them away!
Tumbleweeds in the desert waste,
charred sticks in the burned-over ground.
Knock the breath right out of them, so they're gasping
for breath, gasping, "God."
Bring them to the end of their rope,
and leave them there dangling, helpless.
Then they'll learn your name: "God,"
the one and only High God on earth.
A Korah Psalm
84 1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
I've always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
where I could sing for joy to God-alive!
3-4
Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
How blessed they are to live and sing there!
5-7
And how blessed all those in whom you live,
whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
at the last turn-Zion! God in full view!
8-9
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
O God of Jacob, open your ears-I'm praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.
10-12
One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I'd rather scrub floors in the house of my God
than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn't scrimp with his traveling companions.
It's smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
A Korah Psalm
85 1-3 God, you smiled on your good earth!
You brought good times back to Jacob!
You lifted the cloud of guilt from your people,
you put their sins far out of sight.
You took back your sin-provoked threats,
you cooled your hot, righteous anger.
4-7
Help us again, God of our help;
don't hold a grudge against us forever.
You aren't going to keep this up, are you?
scowling and angry, year after year?
Why not help us make a fresh start-a resurrection life?
Then your people will laugh and sing!
Show us how much you love us, God!
Give us the salvation we need!
8-9
I can't wait to hear what he'll say.
God's about to pronounce his people well,
The holy people he loves so much,
so they'll never again live like fools.
See how close his salvation is to those who fear him?
Our country is home base for Glory!
10-13
Love and Truth meet in the street,
Right Living and Whole Living embrace and kiss!
Truth sprouts green from the ground,
Right Living pours down from the skies!
Oh yes! God gives Goodness and Beauty;
our land responds with Bounty and Blessing.
Right Living strides out before him,
and clears a path for his passage.
