Can you believe it? This is the last posting for the Summer in the Psalms Gatherings! I need you to know that I have loved every minute of our Summer study, it was just as brand new a format to me as it was to you, and I am so thankful that you persevered and participated right along with your sisters - each one of you are as dear to me as could be possible and I have valued the depth of your insights and your commitment to finish WELL!This last week of study has been just plain, sheer JOY to my soul! Taking to heart "...let the high praises of God be in their mouth" and knowing with all my heart, mind and soul, that even the ability to praise Him, comes from Him, "...for from Him and through Him and to Him are ALL things"!
In synagogues today, Psalms 145-150 are known as the 'Great Hallel', and these particular psalms are sung at all morning services... What a great way to begin our days! This week I enjoyed beginning and ending my day with these psalms, and throughout the day, as God called many of the verses back to mind, placing me once again in an attitude of worship.
I also began to sing so many of the old hymns of praise, which in turn led me to sing new songs of praise that came directly from my soul to my God. This has actually been occurring with me throughout our Summer in the Psalms, much to my delight! These songs of praise are encouragements to our souls; many times, throughout the psalms of David, we see him actually addressing his soul - 103:1 is a good example of this, where we hear David actually commanding his soul (and all that is within him) to BLESS the LORD and HIS HOLY NAME. David then goes on to recount to his own soul the benefits and righteous deeds of the LORD, so that his soul will in turn begin to once again praise God.
And that is what this week has been ALL about - recounting the benefits, the attributes, the deeds, the righteousness, the faithfulness of God.
Which leads me to ask, what is the most frequent song that you are singing right now to your own soul to encourage perseverance and faithfulness and to stir up hope within your heart? Think about what most frequently fills up your mind and mouth throughout your day, what song of praise can you begin to sing to encourage your soul on to victory? One old hymn of praise is "Oh for a thousand tongues"... now, I'm letting you know right now that that particular hymn would not be in my top ten, only because I know myself well enough to know that if I HAD a thousand tongues, I could just get myself into a whole lot of trouble! I have enough with just taming the one I have! However, there are many others, modern and old that I sing frequently throughout my day that simply recounts to my soul WHO my God is through the praising of Him... POWERFUL!
My memory verse for this week is from Psalm 147:1... "Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant and praise is becoming." I have always chosen to memorize verses that speak to where I am at a particular time and season of my life, so that the Word will minister mightily to that place in my soul that needs what the Lord would have for me at that time. I strongly hold that Scripture selection for memorizing should, for the most part, be a personal and intimate ministry to your soul of the Word of God in due season, not simply an intellectual pursuit.
I took my own personal study of these psalms this week quite deep, looking at the many occurrances of praise throughout the Bible, such as Moses and Miriam, Hannah and Deborah. I looked at the collective chorus of praise that was sung as Solomon brought the ark of the covenant into the temple, and I studied what the Word of God tells us about the praise that is due God and also at some of the ways that praise to God is described throughout Scripture, such as "the fruit of the lips" Heb 13:15, "the voice of praise" Ps 66:8, "the voice of triumph" Ps 47:1, "the garment of praise" Isa 61:3, "the sacrifice of praise" Heb 13:15, and "the sacrifices of joy" Ps 27:6 - however, it is the simplicity of praising our God that I would leave with you today.
As God Himself inhabits the praises of His people, in Spirit and in Truth girls, ... Let's Praise Him!
With love,
5 comments:
Like you Cathie I have so enjoyed studying the Psalms throughout the Summer. I learned to love and appreciate the Psalms when we attended a Church where they were read and sung regularly. We now in our house Church sing the Psalms and some of the doctrinal hymns.
The Psalms this week were all praise Psalms and we so need to praise our God for ALL His benefits and blessings to us.
The Bible often says it so much better than I can express my praise to God that I find it helps to sing or talk Scripture back to God.
I thought Psalm 150 was A pattern of how God wants all His creation
to woship Him.
Where: in His Sancuary
and the Firmanent (heaven and earth)
What for: His mighty acts and excellent greatness
With what: trumpet lute harp timbrel stringred instruments flutes cymbals and dance.
Who: Everything that has breath.That is corporate worship but I also want to worship God in the 'common round and daily task"
It seems as though we are all heading in the same direction and that is PRAISE! We have meditated on "His Word" and thanked Him for His "goodness and faithfulness". What better way to end the summer than in praise and worship. Thank you Takako for sharing your joy in Psalm 148. When I read it I pictured a Glorious Symphony and can only wait in anticipation of what that will sound like!!!
It is really true that you see with fresh eyes each time you read and today I am struck by the power of Psalm 148: 5-6 Let them praise the name of the Lord. for He commanded and they were created. He set them in place for ever and ever; He gave a decree that will never pass away. What an AWESOME GOD we have!...AND...HE delights
and takes pleasure in us.
Cathie, you asked if we were singing any particular songs and I have two. Both of them are old but so timely. They came to me from a dear friend of mine who wanted to share them with me and I think they
say so beautifully what is in our
hearts.
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How Great Thou art, How great Thou art!
The second song Sharon started to sing and I immediately recognized it as a song I dearly love and hadn't sung in years and together we remembered the words...
He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
My summer has been completely different than I envisioned it to be but my HEAVENLY FATHER KNEW! Each one of us has been so uniquely and individually ministered to during our "Summer in the Psalms." It has been a wonderful gift to have been able to share "our hearts" desires and longings with each other. Tikako,
we continue to hold you close in
prayer to the ONE who says "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For MY yoke is easy and MY burden is light."
Matt 11:28-30
Thank you Cathie for sharing your calling with us. Thank you to all who shared in the "comment cafe".
Most especially Thank You! To our LORD and SAVIOUR!
Hi everyone,
These last psalms of praise have been wonderful for me to read. From them I can take many things to explain to my non believing friends about what a wonderful God we have and all the things he does for us.In these psalms alone there are well over 30 things that we can praise God for. Ps 145 is a great reminder to me that I should praise God EVERY DAY. It also reminds me what a magnificent God we have. This is a pslam that is close to my heart and I will try to read it regularly just to help remind me to praise our wonderful King. Unfortunately I can't say that any song comes to my mind and I feel badly about this but I am learning and eventually I hope to be able to have my own favorite songs that come to mind. My favorite verse was Psalm 147 gvs:5 "Great is our Lord and might in
power
his understanding has no limit"
Hi Cathie,
These summer readings have been such a blessing to me. I don't think words could ever convey how much they have done for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and I am anxiously awaitng the next step in my journey. I need these studies so much and realize that they are an absolute necessity in my life. I am putting my faith in God rather than worrying about what will happen next. I found a little saying that has really helped me in times of stress: "worry replaced by prayer equals trust in the Lord" Cathie, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
Debbie - you are so welcome sweetheart!
Two things I want to say to you, firstly, about feeling badly that a particular song didn't come to mind...darlin' you are a continual NEW SONG to the Lord, each and every time you express your love and adoration and thankfulness to Him, that in itself is a new song being sung unto the Lord!
The second thing is that I do not, for one moment, take for granted the powerful blessing that has been derived from this past Summer in the Psalms. To be honest, just in the past week I have been convinced, more than ever, that it is time to begin using all the technology that God has placed in our hands and begin to use it for His Kingdom purposes.
I have been greatly encouraged and led of God to begin to make changes to improve and expand the puposes and ministry of this blogsite. You will soon see what I am talking about in a few days and I am so certain that you will be as excited and exhilerated as I am!
So looking forward to getting together with you and the other 'local' girls in just a few days...
Love you BIG!
Cathie
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