Read Psalms 118:26  This week is a special week in our calendar.  It is called Passion week because it was when Jesus Christ demonstrated His love to us in giving His life for us on the cross of Calvary.  During the Jewish passover time, all of the Jews were supposed to go to Jerusalem for that special occasion.  Passover celebrated when the Children of Israel left their slavery in Egypt and headed for their Promised Land.  When Jesus came into Jerusalem to join in on the celebration, He was welcomed by all of the people as the coming Messiah.  The people shouted their happiness and threw down their coats and palm branches as a pathway for Jesus to ride into the city on.  That is why the Sunday before Easter Sunday is called Palm Sunday.  In Matthew, Mark, and Luke; the people were quoted as saying, "Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord."  Isn't it interesting that that is exactly what was said in our verse here in Psalms 118!  But Psalms was written 950 years before the people welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem!  That is called prophecy - foretelling what would come to pass.  And it did!

Read Psalms 118:21&22  Our second verse also appears in Mark 12:10 where Jesus quoted it.  During His last week upon the earth, when Jesus taught the people in the Temple, the religious leaders were jealous of Him.  They wanted the people to like them, but they did not teach as good as Jesus taught.  This verse shows us a word picture of builders choosing the stones to put into the growing wall.  They would look at a hole and choose a stone that would fit.  But, the most important stone in the entire wall was the corner stone.  When the builders put the corner stone down, all of the other building stones had to fit up against the corner stone.  All of the wall stones had to line up with the corner stone so that the walls would be straight and tall.  Jesus, the person that the religious leaders didn't like, died for us and has become the main person in our salvation.  He is the most important person in our lives.  He is our corner stone that all of the other stones must line up with.

Read Psalms 118:8  Our verse says that it is better  to trust in God than to trust in man.  That is good advice. People can let you down and disappoint you.  But God will never let you down.  He will never disappoint you.  God will always do what He says He will do.  Of all of the verses in the Bible, this is the middle verse.  It is good to remember that God is trustworthy.  I love God, don't you?

Read Psalms 118:8  Our verse is talking about which side you are on.  When I was a little boy in the 4th grade, we usually played softball at recess.  There were about 20 boys in our class.  When we went outside the first thing was picking sides.  Usually the two most popular boys got to be the captains.  Then we had to decide who picked first. So the two captains took the bat and took turns grabbing hand over hand up the bat until only one could grasp the bat by the handle.  That one got to pick first.  I wasn't a very good player, so I didn't get picked very early in the choices.  But I didn't care as long as I got to be on Robert Domby's side.  He was quiet and not a leader, so he was never a captain.  But when he hit the ball,  he would smack the cover off of it!  He hit a home run every time!  So, even though I wasn't a very good player, I always won when Robert was on my side.  When we have God on our side, we will always win.  So we must try to decide what God likes and dislikes, and try to be on His side.  Then we will be a winner!

Read Psalms 118:5  Distress is a hard word to understand; but is has a lot of meaning to it.  When a ship is out on the ocean and a strong storm blows up, that ship is in distress.  When a puppy gets lost and is far away from home, that little dog is in distress.  In our verse David said that when he was in distress, he called upon the Lord, and the Lord answered him.  God not only answered him, but God put David in a good place.  Not only a good place, but a large place with plenty of room and lots of green grass for David's sheep and plenty of cool water for David's sheep to drink and to be refreshed.  God heard David's distress and answered and helped him.  When you have a problem - a big problem - pray to God and He will hear, and He will help.  You can count on God to help you!

Read psalms 111:10 This verse begins with a scary word: fear.  You don't want to be afraid of anything.  But it is actually good to be afraid of some things.  For instance, electricity.  Electricity is used to cook our food.  Electricity is used to keep our milk cold in the refrigerator and to pop popcorn in the microwave.  We have lights on the ceiling and in the lamps so that we can see at night - all made to work by electricity.  But, if you put your finger into the electrical outlet, you can get burned really badly.  Electricity can hurt you, but it is intended to help you.  That is the way with God.  God is holy and can't allow sin.  But He has made a way for us to have our sins forgiven by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.  God punishes sin, but He also loves us and does many good things for us.  We should be careful with electricity.  Our verse says that if we fear God, we are beginning to be wise.  And that is a good thing.

Read Psalms 107:8, 15, 21, 31  Did you think that you had made a mistake?  Did your mother or father seem to be repeating themselves when they read these verses?  Well, that is because these four verses are exactly the same!  So why do you think God used up the space of four verses to repeat this one verse four times?  If God says something once, do you think it is important?  But what if God says the same thing four times?  Isn't that really important?  I think so.  So, what does God say in these verses?  God says that we should praise, or thank Him for two things: for His goodness and for the wonderful things that He does for us.  Do we thank God for all of the things that He does for us, or do we thank God for loving us and just being a good God to us?  Which is more important: the toys that our parents buy for us or our parents?  That's right, our parents.  If we didn't have parents, would we have the gifts that parents buy?  Well, no, of course we wouldn't.  If we wouldn't have God, we wouldn't have the gifts that God gives to us.  God is way more important than the gifts that He gives to us.  Let's stop and pray right now and thank God for just being our God.

Read Psalms 107:1&2  We are reminded in verse 1 that we should thank the Lord because He is good and his mercy endures forever.  Forever is a long time!  Think of the biggest number that you can.  God's mercy will last longer than that many years!  Then verse 2 says that if God has redeemed us, we should praise Him.  Redeemed means to buy back.  There are stores called pawn shops.  If someone is short on money, they take something of value to the pawn shop and the people will give them a loan for that thing.  They have to pay the money back and some extra money, and then they can get their thing back that they pawned.  They have to redeem that thing.  God made us and He owned us.  But we rebelled against God and became the slaves Satan and sin.  God redeemed us, He bought us back from Satan, our enemy, and now we belong to God.  I would rather be a follower of God than the slave of Satan.

Read Psalms 104:24-26  These verses tell us that God is great and has made the huge seas.  It also tells us that God made the creatures in the seas, both great and small.  Verse 26 mentions leviathan as one of the creatures that play in the sea.  Leviathan is also mentioned in Job 41.  It is mentioned as a great and powerful sea creature.  This is probably the ancient dinosaur sea creature, the plesiosaurus. God made everything in the six days of creation.  He made the sea creatures on day 5 and the land creatures and man on day 6.  Wouldn't it be fun to swim on the back of a plesiosaurus?  I'll bet he could go fast!

Read Psalms 104:5-9  These verses that tell the story of the hydrological cycle.  That is a big word!  But it is really a simple idea:  God causes water in the ocean to evaporate up into the air as clouds.  When your mother makes tea, she puts a pot of water on the stove to boil.  When the water gets hot and begins to boil, you can see the water vapor rising up from the pot.  That is called evaporation.  Winds pick up the evaporated water from over the oceans and blows it over the land.  The evaporated water is called clouds.  When the clouds get over the land they rain and the water nourishes the land which helps our crops to grow.  The extra water then runs off the land into creeks, and then rivers, and then finally back into the ocean once again.  That is called the hydrological cycle. It is amazing that God knew all about this many many years before scientists figured it out!  God is much wiser than the scientists!  He makes it rain so that the crops will grow so that we can have food to eat.  What is your favorite food?  I like green peas.

Read Psalms 103:17  Do you remember mercy and grace?  God's grace is giving us something that we don't deserve.  What is God's mercy?  God's mercy is God not giving us the punishment that we do deserve!  One of the greatest things about God is that He is eternal.  Our verse says that God's mercy, His forgiveness, is eternal; it is from everlasting to everlasting.  Imagine you are standing on top of a huge mountain.  You look as far as you can see in one direction.  Then you turn around and look backwards in the opposite direction as far as you can see.  That is a picture of God's mercy to us!  Our verse says that God's mercy is from everlasting - as far as we can see in one direction, to everlasting - as far as we can see in the opposite direction!  But God can see really, really far in each direction!  That is how great His mercy, His forgiveness, is to us!  Let's stop and thank God for His forgiveness!

Read Psalms 103:13,14  Our verses today show us the kindness and love of God.  God knows that we are not as smart as He is.  He doesn't expect a lot out of us.  But He does expect us to love Him right back and to obey Him.  David uses a word picture here to show us with words what our heavenly Father is like.  David says in verse 13 that just like earthly fathers love and take care of their children, God loves and takes care of us.  As fathers, we don't expect our children to pay the house payment every month.  We don't expect our children to pay the water bill and the electric bill.  We don't expect our children to pay for the gas when we stop our car at the gas station.  But we do expect our children to obey us and to do what we tell them to do.  As fathers we only what what is best for our children, so we only have good rules to follow in our house.  God is our heavenly Father, and He knows us.  He knows that we are just humans.  We don't understand everything that He does - and we never will.  He knows that He created us just like He created Adam and Eve.  We need to remember that God made us, He owns us, and He wants what is best for us.  God knows what is best for us and we should obey Him!  We need to thank our heavenly Father for taking care of us every day!

Read Psalms 103:12  This interesting verse was written over 2,000 years before scientists knew that the earth was round!  The ancient men, including David, did not know that the earth was round. But God did!  And He is the one who told King David what to write!  The directions mentioned in our verse are called the cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west.  David knew these directions, but he didn't know what was special about them.  You see, east and west goes around the equator and are directions.  But north and south are exact points on our earth: there is a north pole and there is a south pole, and they are exactly 7,901 miles apart.  But east and west are directions, not points!  You can go east, and go east, and go east, until you go all the way around the equator, and you are still going east!  There is not a point on the earth that is called the east pole or the west pole.  Isn't it wonderful that God said that He would remove our sins as far as the east is from the west, and not as far as the north is from the south!  God has removed our sins so far that no one will ever find them.  I am glad that God is so great that He can actually forget our sins!  Isn't He good!  Get your mother or your father to show you a globe, which is a model of our earth, and explain our verse.

Read psalms 103:10,11  This psalm is full of the benefits that God gives to us as his children.  God's mercy is here in verse 10.  You may remember that mercy is God not giving us something that we do deserve, like punishment.  God gives us forgiveness instead.  David said that God did not deal with us after our sins, but He forgives us and gives us His grace.  Sometimes we don't understand why God is so good to us.  Verse 11 tells us that God is good because He is so much wiser than we are.  He is tremendously smarter than we are.  Verse 11 says that as high as the heavens are above the earth, so much greater is God's mercy to us.  Wow!  God is really way smarter than we are.  But the best part is that God's mercy is so much more than our human mercy and forgiveness!  Verse 11 says that as high as the heavens are above the earth, God's mercy is that great to us!  He is so forgiving and so merciful!  God's forgiveness is amazing.

Read Psalms 103:1&2  David commands us to bless the Lord in these two verses.  Bless means to thank the Lord or to say nice things about Him.  David says that we should bless the Lord in verse 1, but then he tells us why we should bless Him in verse 2.  In verse 2 David said that we should not forget all of the Lord's benefits.  Benefits are the good things that we get from someone.  God is good to us.  He gives us many things.  But we should not love God because of all of the things that He gives us; we should love God because He loves us and cares about us.  We don't love our parents because of the things that they give us, we should love our parents because they are our parents.  We should love God, not just because of the stuff He gives us, but because He is God and loves us so much!  What are some good things that God gives us?  What are some things that God does for us that we can't see or touch?  For example, we can pray to God when we are afraid at night and we are in the dark.  But that isn't something that we can see or touch.  What are some of the good things that God is to us?

Read Psalms 101:5-7  David was the king of Israel.  As the king, he needed to have people around him that could help him rule the country.  Our president is like that.  He needs good people to give him advice.  Advice means to tell someone what we think the best thing is to do.  But King David knew that there were wicked people who wanted to be around him just to have a good job or to wear fancy clothes and to be in an important place like the palace of the king.  So King David carefully watched his advisers.  Those who were trustworthy and honest, he listened to.  Those who lied and were proud and snooty, he got rid of.  The word slander is used in verse 5.  Slander means to talk about someone in a hurtful way.  We should be careful with what we say about someone.  The words that we use can hurt someone's feelings.  It may be better to think about saying something first, and then not say it than to say something hurtful and then to be sorry for saying it.  James 3 says that we should guard our tongue.  We need to be careful not to slander someone.  Then David talks about someone who works deceit in verse 7.  Deceit means to trick someone in a bad way.  David said that someone who used deceit would not stay near him.  King David wanted only honest and truthful advisers in his palace.  King David sounds like he was pretty smart.  How about you?  Do you have truthful friends or deceitful friends?  What kind of friends will help you to become a better person?  Let's take a lesson from King David.

Read Psalms 101:3  David said that he needed to be careful about what he saw.  David said in this verse that he would "set no wicked thing before his eyes."  When you see something wicked, you remember it, even though you don't want to.  Satan will come to you later and tempt you to remember what you saw.  And you will.  That is why you should be careful in the first place about what you choose to look at.  David goes on to say that he hates the wicked people.  He doesn't hate them, he hates their wicked ways.  And then finally, David says that their wicked ways will not cleave unto him.  That means that their wicked ways will not stick to him.  When someone throws a ball of mud at you, it splats and sticks to your clothes.  That is what David is talking about.  Just like you do not want mud to stick to you, David said that he did not want wickedness to stick to him.  Wickedness is just as bad as mud!

Read Psalm 100:1-5  There are so many good things in this psalm.  The psalms were written to be sung - they were actually songs that David and the others sang.  The first two verses talk about singing.  We are commanded in verse 1 to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.  We should be happy when we sing. Verse 2 says that we should come before God with gladness.  We should be glad because God takes care of us and protects us and loves us.  We don't have to take care of ourselves.  Verse 3 says that evolution is false - we did not make ourselves - God made us!  Since He made us, he owns us.  And since He made us, He is smarter than we are.  We are reminded in the last part of verse 4 to be thankful.  The reasons we are to be thankful are found in verse 5 and there are three.  Read verse 5 aloud once again and see if  you can find the three reasons that we should be thankful to God.

Read Psalms 96:6  These are powerful words in our verse today that describe God!  First of all, David said that honor and majesty describe God.  Honor means someone whom you respect or think greatly about them.  They are an important person who we should be respectful to.  Majesty refers to the glory and fanciness of a king.  God is the King of heaven.  He is called the King of kings.  The kings of this earth are kings of countries.  But God is the King over them all!  Then in the last part of our verse, David described God as having strength and beauty.  That is an interesting combination of words.  These two words are actually opposites.  If you have a pair of blue jeans, they are strong and sturdy.  But if you have a nice, pretty dress, it has a lot of lace on it.  It is beautiful.  But usually, you don't have the two together.  Either it is sturdy or it is beautiful.  But both strength and beauty refer to God.  He is glorious and majestic and also strong and powerful.  I am glad that I serve a powerful God who is also kind and gentle.

Read Psalms 96:2-5  In these verses David said that God is the only real God.  David said in verse 4 that God is to be feared above all of the other gods. But in verse 5 David said that all of the other gods of the other nations were just idols; they are not really other gods, they are just things that are made by someone out of wood or silver or gold, or stone.  Someone made the idol, but God made everything!  I would much rather obey a God Who made everything (including me) than a god that I made myself!  It is so silly to think that someone would make something out of stone, and then bow down to it.  But then people are silly.  I am glad that I can trust in the true God who made the heavens and the earth and me!

Read Psalms 90:12  Although this verse is not at the end of Chapter 90, it is the conclusion of all of the verses that we have read already.  Because God is eternal in verse 2, because God is outside of time in verse 3, because our lives are soon over in verse 10 - David asks God in verse 12 to teach us to number our days.  We need to realize that we only have just a few days to live.  We had better use our lives for God than to waste them on useless things.  And the reason that we should be careful and number our days is that so we will be able to live a wise life: so that we will live lives pleasing to God.  Do you want to obey your parents?  Do you want to obey God?  If you do, ask Him to teach you and to direct your life.  You will be happy if God is in charge of your life!  Did you like the picture of the old lady and young lady?

Read Psalms 90:10  David said that God would give us 70 years to live - may be even 80 if we take care of ourselves.  But even if we live to be an old, old person, death comes way too soon.  Sometimes we think that we have a long life to live and we can just take our time doing things for God.  We'll just do what we want to now and then do something for God later.  But it seems like so very soon, our life is suddenly over.  Our life goes by so quickly!  The last part of verse 9, which is just before our verse today, says that our life is just like "a tale that is told."  When we read a little story book before we go to bed, that is what our life is like!  No longer than it takes us to read a little story, our whole life is over!  The end of our verse says that our life is soon cut off and we fly away.  When we are cut off, where do we fly to?  If we are born into God's family, we will fly away to heaven to live with God forever and forever!  What a blessing!

Read Psalms 90:4  Yesterday we saw that God is eternal and outside of time.  That is very confusing to us.  We can't wait for tomorrow to come, but we have to.  But God doesn't have to wait - He is in tomorrow and yesterday and today - all at the same time!  Only He could do that because He is God!  Our verse today says that a thousand years is just like yesterday to God!  The verse goes on to say that for God, the thousand years are just like a watch in the night.  During King David's time, the soldiers would stand guard in the night.  They took two hours each, so there were 6 watches each night.  One soldier would stand guard for his two hours and then he would come and wake up the next soldier to stand his guard.  Then the first one could go to sleep safely, because his friend was standing guard over all of the soldiers.  The next morning, they would all wake up and march on to the next camp.  But when there weren't too many soldiers in a camp, they might have to stand guard a couple of times in the same night.  The first soldier would stand guard for his two hours and then would wake his friend up to take the next watch, and then he would go to sleep.  But after two hours, this second guard would wake up the first soldier and then he would get a couple of hours of sleep.  But when this first soldier would be awakened by his friend, it would seem like just a brief moment that he had been sleeping.  That is what the second half of our verse says about the thousand years to God.  The thousand years to God they were just like the brief nap that the first guard had before his friend woke him up.  To God a thousand years is a brief time, but to us it is a loooooong time!  Aren't you glad that God is eternal?  Isn't it great to be able to depend upon Him?

Read psalms 90:2  This is a wonderful verse for me.  When I was in college many years ago I had a good friend named David Rodman.  David ran cross-country with me and I hung around with him at his house.  But the best thing was that David was a good Christian friend.  David knew it was good to memorize Bible verses.  He encouraged me to begin a Bible memory program.  This verse was one of the verses that I memorized!  When I read this verse, I think of David and pray for him.  He is a missionary in the jungles of Venezuela.  I like the end of this verse because it tells us that God is in control of time.  We think of time in three ways: past, present and future.  We remember what happened in the past, we are doing things now in the present, and we look forward to what will happen in the future.  But God is outside of time.  God is ever present!  God is in the past right now, God is with us right now in the present, and God is in the future right now preparing things for us!  It is hard for us to think about, but God always is.  Isn't it wonderful to know that God is in charge of everything!  And He loves us!

Read Psalms 89:11  This verse says that God made the heavens and God made the earth.  Therefore, they belong to Him; they are His.  The last part of our verse says that God founded the heavens and the earth.  Did you know that underneath the ground of every house there is a lot of concrete?  This buried concrete is called the foundation.  Why would someone waste so much money by pouring all of that concrete underneath the dirt?  Well, your house is very heavy and one corner or another might break apart, so you need something underneath of everything to hold your house together - your house needs a foundation.  Our verse says that God founded the heavens and the earth.  This means that God Himself is the foundation of everything!  Just like the verse yesterday, we can always depend upon God's faithfulness.  The Lord is the foundation  - the strong part underneath of everything!  We can go to sleep tonight and not worry, because God is in control of everything!

Read Psalms 89:1  David said that he would sing unto the Lord for two reasons:  First David would sing to the Lord because of God's mercies.  Do you remember the difference between mercy and grace?  Grace is God giving us something good that we do not deserve, and mercy is God not giving something bad that we do deserve.  God's mercy would be Him not punishing us when we deserve to be punished.  Then secondly, David said he would sing unto the Lord because of God's faithfulness.  Sometimes we are not faithful, but God is always faithful.  Have you ever forgotten something important that your mother or father told you to do?  I have.  One time I was supposed to pick up grandma Poppie at the bus station, but I completely forgot.  She was standing there at the bus station waiting for me and I was hanging around at home.  When she called to see where I was, I was so embarrassed!  I got into my car and hurried right down to the bus station!  God never forgets us!  He is always there when we need Him.  That's because He is faithful.  We may forget, but God never forgets.  Isn't that wonderful!  I think I'll sing a song to God right now.  Can you think of a song that you could sing to God right now?  Why not just sing it!

Read Psalms 85:4-7  David was reminded that although God is good and loves us, God also hates sin.  God is pure and nothing evil is ever near Him.  David knew all about his sin and knew that God was against sin.  When David repented of his sin and was sorry, he asked God not to be angry with him anymore.  David asked God to revive him and forgive him and to show mercy and to give him salvation.  A few days ago, we talked about grace and mercy.  Do you remember?  You may remember that grace is God giving us something that we do not deserve.  God gives us salvation.  But here in verse 7, mercy is God not giving us the punishment that we rightfully do deserve.  God withholds punishment.  I agree with David.  I am glad that God gives us salvation and does not give us punishment!  Isn't God good!

Read Psalms 84:10,11  In these two verses David compares his days spent serving God to days that were used for himself.  Sometimes we think our best days are when we get to do what we want to.  But those days are not our best days, those are selfish days!  We should obey God's Word, the Bible and listen to what God says to do in His Bible.  Only those days serving and obeying God will we look back on and say that they were our best days!  David said that he would rather live 1 day in God's presence obeying God than 1,000 days living his own ways!  Wow!  That is a big difference!  David goes on to say that he would rather be a lowly doorkeeper in God's house than to enjoy living in pleasure in the tents of the wicked.  David said that doing evil was not near as good as serving God as His janitor!  Then David said that God will give grace and glory to us if we follow after the Lord.  If we obey God, He will not withhold anything good from us!  That sounds like a much better deal that Satan has to offer.  Our selfish way does not lead to lasting happiness.  The ways of the wicked only lead to guilty feelings and sorrow.  If we want to be happy, we must follow God's ways!

Read Psalms78:6  Our verse for today says that it is important that we teach our children about how God was good to us.  Our children need to know that God has been good to us and has blessed us because they don't know the blessings that we have had.  We have to tell our children about the blessings.  Before I was born, there was a preacher in West Virginia by the name of  Brother Garten.  He was the preacher at Shady Springs Community Church.  Someone gave him a subscription to a Christian magazine, the Sword of the Lord.  He read the magazine and became excited about God's Word and began serious preaching at his little country church.  My father and mother attended that little church and got saved only months before I was born in 1949.  Because of their decision to follow God, when I was born, they took me to church and I grew up learning about God.  So, I was saved when I was only 6 years old because I was taken to church every Sunday.  When each of my children were born, my wife and I took them to church where they learned about God and where they were saved at an early age.  That is called a Godly heritage.  We are not saved because our parents are saved; we are saved because we go to church and learn about God and decide for ourselves that we are sinners and need to be saved.  What a wonderful heritage to pass on to our children and grandchildren!

Read Psalms 77:11&12  Sometimes when we are having a bad day or when we are in trouble, it is easy to forget that God will take care of us.  When our troubles are right there in front of us, we forget how God has taken care of us before.   That is why David reminds himself in these verses to remember the works of the Lord.  David knew that we need to remember that God has taken care of us in the past, and He will take care of us in this trouble as well.  That is why we can trust in God.  That is why we must remember.  If God has taken care of us in the past, and if we remember that He has, we will not worry when trouble comes again.  God will take care of us again, just like He has done many times before.  Then in verse 12 David reminds himself to meditate on the works of God.  Meditate means to think about it.  Meditate means to keep on thinking about the wonderful things that God has done for us.  It's like this: If God has taken care of us in the past - and He has, and God loves us so much - and He does, then He will take care of the trouble that we are in today - and He will!  Our job is to remember God's care and goodness!

Read Psalms 73:2,3,17,18,26  Wow!  We have a bunch of verses we have to read today!  Psalm 73 tells a story.  When you have a story, you can't leave much of it out and still have the story to make sense.  That is true of our story in Psalm 73.  In verses 2 and 3 David said that he was discouraged.  Have you ever had a bad day when everything seemed to go wrong?  Verse 2 even says that David was so discouraged that he was almost ready to give up.  He said that his "feet were almost gone and his steps had almost slipped."  Have you ever been in a slippery place?  May be in some ice or mud?  It makes you nervous, doesn't it?  David said that he was discouraged because it seemed to him that the wicked people were getting away with their evil ways and that he was serving God for nothing.  It didn't seem fair to David.  But in verse 17, when David went into the house of God, God explained to him why the wicked seemed to be getting away with their wickedness.  When The Wicked person dies, they face eternity and hell.  But when the Righteous person dies, they go to heaven.  Then that is fair.  The wicked person might as well enjoy life now because they will certainly not be happy when they die.  When the Righteous person lives according to God's Word and God's ways, he has to obey God now, but when he dies, he will be happy for all eternity!  David finally said in verse 26 that although his heart failed, although he was discouraged, God was his strength.  We can trust in God and know that He will lead us through life and safely into heaven!  I am glad that I have chosen God's way, aren't you?

Read Psalms 67:19  In our verse today, David says "Blessed be the Lord."  That means that David is thanking the Lord for who He is and what He does.  God is good to us every day.  Even when we have trouble, God is still there using our trouble to help us to learn a lesson and to become better people.  David says that God is blessed because of all the things that He does for us every day.  These things are the benefits from God.   David goes on to say that the Lord not only gives us benefits, but he says that the Lord loads us up with benefits.  God gives us plenty and plenty of good things.  But David says that the greatest benefit that God gives to us is our salvation.  Truly, that is God's greatest gift of all: our eternal life that He gives to us.  Our verse ends with the musical word, Selah.  In Hebrew selah means "think about it."  We have learned three wonderful things from this one little verse.  Now think about that!  Or, selah!

Read Psalms 68:11  David said in this verse that it was God who gave us the word, the Bible.  But it was people who published it.  Publish means to print the Bible on paper and then to collect the pages together in order, and staple them together with a cover.  Many years ago, I copied the books of John and Romans in Romanian and printed them to take to Romania so that people could have their own copy of God's Word.  I published the Word.  It was exciting to print God's Word!

Read Psalms 66:18-20  Verse 18 is a conditional verse.  That means that if we do something, then God will do something.  It also means that if we do not do something, then God will not do something.  We would like to know that God will hear our prayer.  But verse 18 says if we are disobedient and have sin in our lives, then God will not listen to our prayers.  This does not mean that God cannot hear our prayers; it just means that God will not listen to our prayers because we are not listening to God.  But then verse 19 says that God will hear our prayer because we obey Him.  Finally in verse 20, David blesses the Lord for listening to and answering his prayer.  We should obey God because we love Him.  But we should also obey God because if we don't, when we need Him to hear our prayer, He will not listen to us.  It is much better to obey God and to know that He is listening to us.  Isn't it good to know that God loves us?  We need Him to hear our prayers.

Read Psalms 66:5-7  In our verses for today David is reviewing the mighty things that God did for the children of Israel.  God led them out of Egypt in a wonderful way.  But as they were leaving, Pharaoh changed his mind and went out to recapture them with his army.  Moses trusted in God, but the people he was leading were fearful.  They came to the Red sea, but they had no way to get over to the other side.  Then they saw a cloud of dust behind them that was being stirred up by the Egyptian army chasing after them.  They were stuck in a hard place:  drowning in the sea ahead of them or death from the Egyptian army behind them.  But David reminded his people how that God had piled up the waters of the Red sea on one side and on the other and then dried up the mud so that all of the people could walk across!  What a wonderful miracle!  Then David said in verse 7 that God rules over the nations.  God is watching the nations all the time.  The nations had better not be rebellious toward God, because He sees all and knows everything.  Did you know that God sees you every day and every where?  If we obey God, we are happy that He is watching.  If we disobey God, we should repent and ask His forgiveness.  I am glad that I am on God's side and that I am not one of God's enemies!  Are you on God's side?

Read Psalms 63:1  Have you ever been outside in the summer time when it was hot?  May be you were busy playing  and didn't notice, but suddenly you realized that you were so thirsty.  Or may be you were playing baseball and you were out in the field and couldn't get a drink until the inning was over.  Or you were in church or in Sunday school and couldn't get up and get a drink.  Didn't it seem like your tongue was sticking to your mouth because you were so thirsty?  Here in our verse, David says that he longed for the Lord just like he longed for a cool drink in a dry and thirsty land.  I can imagine that David got into some dry places when he was a soldier fighting the Philistines.  A soldier can't just stop and get a drink whenever he wants to.  He has to keep fighting!  Here in our verse David says that his soul really wanted to pray to God and to read His Word, the Bible.  I want to learn more and more about God.  I hope you do too!

Read Psalms 55:22  Have you ever carried something very heavy?  Have you carried it for a long distance?  It gets heavy doesn't it?  It makes you feel tired and weak, doesn't it?  When we have a problem in our life,  we can get tired of carrying it all by our self.  Our verse today says that we can cast our burden upon the Lord.  He will hold us up and lighten our load.  Our verse goes on to say that God will never let us be pushed down by our burdens.  Do you have a problem?  Pray to the Lord about it.  Do you have something that is bothering you?  Talk to God about it.  Are you afraid of something?  Do you need something?  God will lighten that load - He will carry your heavy load!  Isn't it good to know that God knows all about our secrets and cares about how we feel?   The Lord will help you!  Don't be afraid!

Read Psalms 53:1  This is an interesting verse, but a hard verse.  Name calling is not good.  We should not call people names like stupid or dumb.  But one of the worst names to call someone is to call them a fool.  A fool is not just someone who is not very smart, a fool is someone who will not listen to someone else.  A fool is someone who thinks that they know everything.  But we should listen to other people and learn from them.  God gave us two ears and only one mouth.  Do you know why?  Because we should listen twice as much as we talk!  You never learn anything by talking; you only learn by listening.  Think about that!  But the most foolish thing is to say that there is no God.  Just because we can't see God does not mean that he is not there.  God is a Spirit and we cannot see Him; but He is still very real.  Only a fool says that there is no God.  I don't want to be a fool; do you?  I believe in God; do you?

Read Psalms 51:12  Yesterday we talked about being in trouble.  When we do something wrong we usually get into trouble for it.  But sometimes we do something wrong and we get away with it.  But, we get away with it just for a little while.  If your mother tells you to clean your room and you just hide all of your clothes that are on the floor in the closet, your room looks clean.  But when she opens the closet door... well you are in trouble.  When we disobey, we usually get caught.  But when we disobey God, He sees and knows everything!  We never get away from God.  When we are in trouble we feel bad.  We feel like we are not loved.  But this bad feeling is because of us.  We feel guilty.  God loves us and wants us to obey Him and love Him right back.  When we sin, we do not feel loved, even though God still loves us.  David asked God to give him back his joy.  When we disobey, we do not feel loved even though we are.  After we admit that we are wrong and ask forgiveness, then we can have our joy  back and then we can get a big hug from our mother - and from God!

Read Psalms 51:10  This is a good verse to remember when we have been in trouble.  I get into trouble a lot of the time.  Do you?  Sometimes my trouble is not my fault; but usually it is.  When I was a boy, I used to get into trouble.  My cousin would dare me to do things and I would do them.  But soon, one of the other kids would tell my father what I was doing.  Then I was in trouble!  In our verse, David was in trouble.  He knew he needed 2 things from God:  he needed God to clean his heart and he needed God to give him the right spirit about his trouble.  It is important that we have the right attitude about our trouble.  It is easy for us to blame someone else for our trouble.  But we are the one to blame.  Our trouble is our own fault!  That is the right spirit - don't blame someone else.  But most important of all, we must admit our sins before God and ask His forgiveness.  Then God can give us a clean heart and get us back in to fellowship with Him.  After we admit that we have done wrong, isn't it good to feel forgiven?  Isn't it good to be back where we belong?

Read Psalms 51:7  David felt really bad about his sin.  Sometimes we feel bad about our sin only because we were caught.  David was caught in his sin and Nathan the prophet told him so.  But David was truly sorry for his sin.  In the Old Testament, the Jews had to offer a lamb as the sacrifice for their sins.  The person would bring the lamb to the Temple to the priest.  The person would then lay his hands upon the head of the lamb and then the priest would kill the lamb.  That is a picture of our sins because the lamb did nothing wrong to deserve to die; the lamb died as a sacrifice for the person's sins.  Then the priest would take some of the lamb's blood in a bowl and dip a small branch from the hyssop bush into the blood and sprinkle the blood before the Lord.  That's why in our verse David asked the Lord to purge him with hyssop.  And then David said that when the Lord cleaned away his sin, he would be as clean as snow.  Isn't it great to know that you are forgiven of your sins.  When you are forgiven, you feel clean inside.  That is because God has cleaned your sins away and you are back to getting along with God as your best friend.  Tonight, let's pray and thank the Lord for cleaning our heart and for taking away our sins!

Read Psalms 51:2&3  We found out yesterday that David had sinned and that God had told Nathan the prophet to go to him and let to him know that he was not going to get away with his sin.  When someone, like Nathan the prophet, comes to us and shows us that we have done wrong, we have 2 choices:  We can lie about our sin and try to get out of it, or we can admit that we have sinned and ask forgiveness for our wrong.  If we try to get out of our sin, we are just going to get into more trouble.  If we lie about our sin, we still have our sin and the lie we told to try to cover up for our sin.  It is never a good idea to lie about our sin.  It is much better to admit that we are wrong and to ask forgiveness.  When we admit our sin, it is as if God is washing us in His bathtub.  David said that his sin was open and before him all the time.  He couldn't stop thinking about it.  But verse 2 says that David wanted God to wash him and to clean him up from his dirty sins.  Isn't it good to feel God's washing forgiveness when we admit our sin?

Read psalms 51:1  King David sinned against God.  So God sent Nathan, the prophet to tell David that he was guilty.  David had two choices:  He was the king and could have done anything that he wanted to do.  He could have gotten mad and had Nathan thrown out of his palace.  But David did the right thing,  He was sorry for his sin and repented before God.  This entire psalm is about David's sorrow and repentance.  There are two words that are similar, but very different, and both describe God's goodness  and forgiveness.  They are grace and mercy.  David asks for God to have mercy on him here in our verse.  Mercy and grace are like the two sides a coin: they are different sides, but still the same coin.  Grace means that God gives us something good that we don't deserve.  God gives us forgiveness and a home in heaven when we die.  Mercy means that God gives us forgiveness and does not give us punishment in hell that we really do deserve.  God's grace gives us His goodness that we don't deserve and God's mercy gives us forgiveness that we don't deserve.  Either way, God is good.  When you get into trouble and deserve a spanking, do you need mercy or grace?  When your mother takes you to get a cookies-and-cream blast at Sonic are you getting mercy or grace?  I am glad for both God's mercy and grace!

Read Psalms 48:1&2  When David became the king, he chose Jerusalem as his capital.  The capital is the place where the government of the country is.  In the very center of Jerusalem is a small hill known as Mt. Zion.  Mt. Zion is where David's son, Solomon built the first Temple.  It was destroyed and rebuilt 2 times.  Herod's Temple was built of pure white marble stone and was the Temple that was in Jerusalem when Jesus lived here on earth.  Herod's Temple was destroyed just a few years after Jesus' death.  Later, an Arab mosque, one of their churches, was built on Mt. Zion where the Temple used to be.  One of the Temple walls is still there in Jerusalem, and the Jews still go there to pray.  Jesus will come back to earth one day and set foot on Mt. Zion!  Our verses say that God is great and that He should be praised!  God is great and the city of His Temple is a great city too!

Read Psalms 45:6  We don't have kings here in America.  We have presidents and we have governors of the states that we elect.  A king rules differently.  He is not elected; he is the king because his father was the king.  When a king grows older, his son is in line to become the next king.  If a king has several sons, they are all known as princes.  But the oldest is known as the crown prince because he will soon be the next king.  Sometimes kings reign for a long time, but they eventually die and the throne passes down to one of their sons.  But our verse today says that God's throne is forever.  He never grows old and He never dies.  He never has to prepare for the next king because He has always been the King, and He will always be the King!  God lives forever.  Isn't it good that we can trust in a God Who never grows old and Who will never die!  The scepter  is the thing that the king holds that is the symbol of his authority.  God is forever on His throne and his scepter is for ever and for ever!

Read psalms 42:1  It is rare to actually catch sight of a deer.  They hide in the thickets where they bed down in the daytime and they only come out in the early evening, at night, and in the early morning.  They always look around first to be sure that no danger is near before they step out of the shadows.  They will only drop their heads to eat grass if they feel secure.  But even in dangerous situations, after a while, the deer gets thirsty and will have to come out of the forest to get a drink.  Here in this verse the deer is called a hart.  David says just like the deer is thirsty for a cool drink of water from a forest brook, so is he longing to be near to God.  David couldn't wait to read about God in the Scriptures and to pray and talk to God, his heavenly Father.  I love God and want to be near to Him.  Do you love God?  Do you want to please Him and make Him happy?  I hope you do.

Read Psalms 40:1-3  King David was going through some trouble.  Have you had days when it seemed like you kept getting into trouble.  On days like that everything you do seems to be the wrong thing.  But sometimes we make our own trouble.  When we don't listen to our mother, we will soon get into trouble.  She may say, "Don't take out the trash just yet," because she is peeling potatoes for supper.  She is putting the peelings in the sink and will throw them all away soon.  She wants you to wait so that you can take those peelings out with the bag that is almost full.  But all that you hear is "take out the trash."  So you do.  But then your mother fusses at you for taking out the trash before she had a chance to put the peelings in the bag.  You caused your own trouble by not listening.  David did 3 things in these 3 verses: first, he waited for the Lord.  He knew God was in control.  He knew God would not forget about him.  Second, David let God solve his problem.  It was God who brought him up out of the horrible pit.  God will take care of our troubles if we let Him.  Then last, David sang praises to God for delivering him out of his troubles.  We should thank the Lord for helping us.  When we do, we will be joyful and have a song in our hearts and a song on our lips.  Pretty soon others will see that we are happy in the Lord.  I hope you are happy in the Lord today!

Read Psalms 37:25  In this verse David speaks as an old man.  You are young and have not been grown up yet.  When you grow up like your mother and father, you still have many more years to go before you are old like me.  :<)  But in this verse David says that he is old and has noticed something.  He has never seen God forget his followers.  God will never forget his children.  God will never desert us and make us so poor that we have to beg for food. No, God will always take care of us!  What a wonderful promise to remember.  Go may not always give us everything that we want, but He will always give us everything that we need.  We may want cake and ice cream to eat, but God may give us green beans and peas to eat.  God knows what we need.  We do not need cake and ice cream; we need vegetables to help us to grow big and strong.  God gives us what we need, not always what we want.  I pray that we will be satisfied with what God gives us and not grumble or complain that we do not have all that we want. 

Read Psalms 37:24  Our verse yesterday said that God leads us in the right way to go.  Sometimes when you go on a walk with your family - or may be with your Granddaddy - you follow a path.  Then may be you come to a place where the path is faint and hard to follow.  You may walk around in the woods looking for the pathway.  You may be going through some briers and stickers and stepping over some rocks.  Isn't it good to be able to hold onto someone's hand?  When you stumble, they will hold you up until you can get your footing back.  This verse tells us that God is holding our hand and will not let us fall.  It is true that we may stumble, but God will not let us to completely fall.  Our verse says that though the good man falls, he is never completely "cast down."  When you are holding onto someone's hand you may fall, but you won't completely fall down, because you are being held up!  You may for a moment be swinging by one arm, but you will quickly catch your balance and stand right back up.  Have you ever stumbled and fell when you were alone?  Did you get a cut or get your clothes dirty when you fell?  Isn't it much better when you are holding onto someone who can keep you steady?  Isn't it good to hold onto God's hand?

Read Psalms 37:23  Sometimes we do things just because we want to.  But sometimes there are things that we have to do.  When your father says it is time to go to church, you have to get ready and get into the car.  And then sometimes your mother says it is time to take a bath and to brush your teeth and you have to.  But sometimes you go outside and you can do absolutely anything that you want to.  You can play on the swing set or play in the sand box or throw rocks into the woods.  You don't have to do anything.  But this verse says that sometimes without knowing what you are doing, God will get you to do things that He wants you to do.  He will "order" our steps.  This verse does not say that God makes us do things against our will.  God does not force us to obey Him.  But this verse does say that if we decide to obey God and to do the things that He tells us in his Bible, then He will direct our path; God will "order our steps" as our verse says.  If we chose to go God's way, He has promised to lead us in the right way.  Just like you may lead your dog in the way that you are going to walk, God will lead us in His way.  Isn't it good to know that God knows what is going to happen tomorrow and next week, and that He is the one who is leading us?  That is, if we will follow Him.