Read Psalms 127:3,4&5  This is a great analogy.  Do you remember what an analogy is?  It uses a story to teach us something about real life.  This story is about arrows and a mighty archer.  But the real life story is about a man who has children.  King David used a story about an archer who had several arrows in his quiver (his arrow bag) to show that a man who has several children is blessed.  When an archer went into battle, he had to be prepared.  He didn't take just one arrow with his bow, he took all the arrows that he can hold in his quiver - his arrow bag. It took the archer a long time to make his arrows.  He had to be careful when he put the steel arrowhead onto the wooden shaft.  He had to put the feathers on the other end just right so the arrows would fly straight to their intended target.  Just like the archer took great care with his arrows, I  had to take great care raising my 4 children.  Alex has 3 children.  Eric has one child.  And soon, John will have one child.  Raising good children is hard work.  As a dad, I had to take the time to correct them and stay onto them to do the right things.  "Have you done your homework?" I used to say.  "Did you take out the trash?"  "Did you make your bed and clean up your room?"  I was constantly working on my children.  But now I have 4 grown up adult children who have children of their own.  And now, as parents, they know what to do.  The care that the archer took to make his arrows is just the care that I had to take to help my children grow up the right way.  But now, they are a blessing to me.  Someday you will be a blessing to your dad.  Work hard at growing up right and make your dad proud!

Read Psalms 127:1&2  There are 3 stories here in our 2 verses, but all 3 of them talk about the same thing.  The first story says that unless God builds the house, it is a waste of our time to try to build it ourselves.  We can work hard, but it is actually God who builds our spiritual house. The second story says that even though there is a watchman who is looking out over the city wall watching for the enemy to come, God is actually the one who protects the city from the enemy.  The third story is about us staying up all night worrying about what might happen tomorrow.  If God is powerful, and if God never sleeps, and if God is watching over us, we might as well just go to sleep and let God keep us safe.  After all, He can do a much better job of taking care of us than we can!

Read Psalms 126:6  This verse is usually used when someone is talking about getting someone else saved and going to church.  When you use a story to describe something else, that is called an analogy.  The story that we have here in verse 6 is of a sower who takes his seed and goes out into the field and plants the seed.  It is hard work and makes you weary.  But if you go out and plant the seed, much later, you will be able to go out and to reap a tremendous harvest.  It is hard work planting the seed; it is hard work pulling weeds out from around the new plant; but when the crops are produced by the plants, well that is a great time!  So the analogy is when we invite a friend to come to church, we are scared that they might laugh at us.  But if we keep asking them, they might come to church, and they might listen to the teacher, and they might trust Jesus as their Savior!  That would make us very happy!  The story about a farmer planting seed is like us asking someone to come to church. The last part of the verse is the good part: the farmer will come rejoicing bringing the crops with him.  We will be glad that our friend is coming to church with us too!

Read Psalms 126:3  This verse reminds us that God has done great things for us.  Sometimes we think that only the President does great things.  Or we think that only a great baseball player does great things.  But sometimes when we are afraid to do something - and we still do it - well that is a great thing.  When we have a part in a program and we are afraid, but we still say our part, that is a great thing.  When we are supposed to stand up in front of everyone at church and we are scared to do it - but we still do it - that is a great thing.  Or when we have to say our part in our kindergarten graduation program - like Sophie had to Friday night - well that is a great thing.  Then there is the last part of the verse: when we do that great thing, we are glad.  When my grandchildren stand up and say their part in the program, or play their best in baseball, or do their best in school - well, that makes me glad.  And that makes the Lord glad too!

Read Psalms 124:8  There are 9 men on a baseball team and all of them are important.  Sometimes the players play defense - they try to keep the other team from scoring runs.  The pitcher needs to strike out the batters and the fielders need to catch the ball and throw the runners out.  But in order to win, the players have to play offense - they need score runs when it is their turn to bat.  When it is getting late into the game everyone gets nervous.  The team doesn't have much time left to score runs.  As the game gets closer and closer to the last inning, the pressure is on the players to score a run in order to win.  But as the pressure builds, some players can't take it as well as other players.  It is interesting that as the game gets closer and closer to the end and the team gets more and more nervous about winning, some players get scared but other players get excited.  Some players can't handle everyone yelling at them with the entire game ridding on each pitch.  But there are some players who actually like the pressure.  Some players can handle the pressure and even enjoy the pressure of winning or losing with each pitch of the ball.  Coaches call these players a go to player.  That means that when things are difficult and so much is at stake, the manager can go to them and they will not let him down. The manager can go to them and they will be confident and carry the team on to victory.  That is the way God is.  We can always count on Him.  He never gets worried; He never gets nervous; He is never scared.  We can trust in the Lord - He is always our help.

Read Psalms 122:1  Sometimes we are bored at church.  So sometimes we may think that what the preacher says is for adults and not for us.  But here in our verse King David had the right attitude.  He was glad to be able to go to the house of the Lord.  Sometimes there are things that I have to do.  I do not enjoy them, but I must do them.  So, I decide that if I have to do them, I am going to have fun and enjoy doing them.  You see, we are in charge of what we think.  We can choose to be grumpy or we can choose to be glad.  I usually feel much better being glad than grumpy.  But really, we should enjoy going to the house of the Lord.  But if we don't seem to enjoy going to church, we should at least make ourselves like to go to the house of the Lord.  Because after all, going to the house of the Lord is the right thing to do.  So we might as well enjoy it.  Why not make yourself be happy.  Try it!

Read Psalms 121:7&8  The word preserve is an interesting word that appears 3 times in these 2 verses.  When I was a little boy, we usually only went into town once a week on Friday afternoon.  Most of the food that we ate we grew in our garden.  Growing a small garden is fun, relaxing, and good exercise.  But growing a big garden - well now, that is hard work!  Beginning in the middle of the summer those vegetable plants began to produce.  I used to love eating fresh tomatoes and cucumbers right out of the garden.  But soon, that big garden was producing much more than we could eat.  That was when my mother and grandmother began to preserve the food.  They would put the tomatoes, green beans, and corn into jars for canning.  It was a lot of work!  The cucumbers had to be made into jars of sweet and dill pickles.  There was no time to waste.  If those vegetables weren't preserved in the jars right away, they would spoil.  All of those jars were used later in the fall and winter and on into the spring until next year's garden began to produce.  God has promised to preserve us.  He will not let us be spoiled by Satan.  The Lord will keep us from being wasted.  That is if we will let Him.  God does not make us to do anything against our will.  He is loving and kind and wants us to let Him take care of us - to preserve us for all of eternity.  Verse 8 says for evermore.  Isn't God faithful and good?!

Read Psalms 121:1&2  In ancient Israel, there were different times of the year. They had to plant their crops in the spring.  They had to prune the grape vines.  That means to trim them back, so they would produce more grapes. Then the fall was the time to harvest the crops and to bring them in to the barns.  After this busy time of the year was an easier time.  This was the time when they went out to war, and this was the time when they protected their cities from their enemies.  Most of the warfare took place out on the flat plains where their soldiers could move around and horses and chariots could move around.  But many times, the king would keep some soldiers in reserve.  He kept them back and hidden in the surrounding hills to be used when he needed them.  If the king's armies began to be lose the battle, the enemy would get excited and think that they were about to win.  That was exactly the time for the king to call his reserve soldiers out of the hills to reinforce the weary soldiers who were being defeated by the enemy.  When the king's tired soldiers heard the war cry of their friends rushing down from the hills to rescue them, these weary soldiers would forget their fear and tiredness and gain the encouragement to fight the enemy once again.  The enemy, who thought they were about to win, would become totally discouraged with the fresh soldiers rushing down on them from the hills.  In our verses, King David said that he was looking to the hills - not for reserve soldiers - but to the Lord.  David knew that his help was not from reserve soldiers, but his help was from the Lord God who made everything!  You can depend on God's help.  When you get discouraged, be like those weary soldiers.  Look up to God who "made heaven and earth."

Read Psalms 119:165 Wow! Isn't it strange to be reading verse 165?  That is because Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible.  But, like we found out yesterday, most of the verses in this loooooong chapter talk about God's Word, the Bible.  The first half of our verse is odd because it about people who love God's law.  Do you like rules?  Do you like to be told by others what to do and what not to do?  But rules are not made to make us unhappy.  Rules are not made to make us do things that we don't want to do.  Rules are made so that we can get along with people.  Your Dad may like to drive on any side of the road that he wants to - but he may run right into someone else and have a bad accident.  That is why the rule is to drive on the right side of the road.  If your Dad obeys the rule, and the other drivers obey the rule, each car will stay on their side of the road and go along safely.  Rules are made to help us - rules are not made just to be bossy and to make us unhappy.  That is the same with God's rules.  God made us and He knows what is best for all of us.  If we obey God's rules, we will have peace in the world and we will all get along with each other.  Don't be afraid to tell anyone that you obey God's rules.  Be proud that you love God and tell all of your friends that God's way is the best way to live.

Read Psalms 119:105  Like our verse yesterday, this verse also talks about God's Word.  Actually, all of the verses in Psalms 119 except for 4 of them talk about God's Word in one way or another.  Sometimes God's Word is called the law, the commandments, God's testimonies, or God's precepts.  So many different words are used to describe God's Word.  But here in our verse for today, God's Word is called a lamp and a light.  If you have to get up and go to the bathroom at night, isn't it good to have a little night light in the hallway so that you can see which way to go?  If you don't have a light, you might stumble or trip on a toy that someone has left out.  It is good have a little light to be able to see things that might hurt you.  God's Word shows us things that will hurt us - things that will cause us to stumble or to fall.  God's Word lights our way so that we won't stumble - so that we can walk safely through life.

Read Psalms 119:9  Have you ever been outside playing on a hot summer day?  May be you were playing baseball and got all hot and dirty.  When you came inside, your mother said, "Take off those filthy clothes and get right into the bath tub."  Didn't it feel so good to get nice and clean?  Didn't it feel good to wash off all of that dirt and then to see that dirty water going down the drain?  Cleaning off dirt takes water, but cleaning a dirty heart takes more than water.  Our verse says that we clean our ways by washing with God's Word.  What is another word for God's Word?  When we read the Bible, God shows us what sins are.  God shows us that we are wrong.  But just like a good bath, God's Word shows us how to clean up our life.  We can be a better person by reading to God's Word and obeying what the Bible says to do.  Ask God to show you where you are dirty on the inside and ask Him to help you to be better tomorrow.  Get clean by reading God's Word, the Bible!

Read Psalms 118:29  This verse gives us 2 attributes of God.  An attribute is like saying "Sally is always late," or "You can always depend upon Daddy to pay the bills."  When we say someone's name, and just by saying their name, we think about something, that is an attribute of them.  There are good attributes and there are bad attributes.  It is kind of sad when someone thinks "lazy" when they say our name.  It is sad when someone thinks "looses their temper" when they say our name.  Wouldn't it be much better to think of  the attributes that are mentioned in our verse for today?  Read verse 29 again.  What are the 2 attributes of God here in this verse?  God is ___; His ___ endures forever.  I sure would like someone to say that I am good and that I am merciful.  Wouldn't you like someone to say you are good and merciful?  Then ask God to help you to be merciful and kind every day, and eventually that will become one of your attributes.  Wouldn't that be great?