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The book of Psalms is an
Anthology of hymns and prayers, which were composed between the tenth or to the
third or even second century BC. The Psalms grew from the aspirations,
vicissitudes, humiliation, and hopes of a people who adored God. Not only in good times but also in
times of trouble, the people adored the God
of their salvation with music and with their songs. 150 Psalms are on record.
Of these, 50 are by anonymous writers. One of them, Psalms 90 was written by
Moses. Two others Psalms 72 and 127 were written by Solomon. David wrote 73,
with the remaining 24 divided among Asaph who was David’s choir leader, and the
sons of Korah a family of official musicians. Without question Psalms is the best
loved book in the Bible. Whenever you are feeling down and something is
weighing heavy on your heart, open up the Psalms. When you feel like you don’t
know which way to turn or who to turn to, Open up the Psalms. Somewhere in
there you’ll find words guaranteed to speak comfort to your soul. The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not
want. The Lord is my light and my
Salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord
is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid? Fret not thyself because
of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
Sometime in this live your foot might slip, and you find yourself in a mess.
Ask Him to have mercy on me O God according to thy loving kindness,
according to the multitude of Thy
tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine
iniquity and cleanse me from my sins. Create in me a clean hearth O God, and renew a right spirit within
me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. The Psalms have a way of speaking
comfort to the soul, especially to those who truly know God. In the text the Psalmist encourages us to believe, with
everything that’s within us, that God
is able to supply our every need, and that whatever we need He’s got it. Notice if you will that
this writer speaks of himself in the first person singular. He refers to
himself as the one in need of help. He say’s, “I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills”. Next he asks the question, “from whence cometh my help”? Then he
answers his own question, “my help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth”. As long as things are going
well, and everything is smooth sailing, one seldom thinks about needing help.
But let the storms of life start raging believers as well as non believers call
on the Lord to have mercy. But the
true believer, the one who has a personal relationship with God, the one who stands firm on His promises, knows he can depend on God to supply his every need. Without God I could do nothing.; without Him I would fail; without Him my life would be rugged like a ship
without a sail. I need Him every day
of my life. I tell you when God
becomes real in your life, you want to praise and thank Him. Even before trials and tribulations come, you want to praise Him. Praise Him in the morning, praise Him
at noon day, and praise Him when the
sun goes down. When God has become
real to you, you want to tell it every where you go. You can tell others, just
look where He brought me from. Maybe
He took you out of the country and
planted you in the city. Maybe He
brought you out of the cotton fields, and planted you in (**) hills. Maybe He took you off the horse’s back and
you in a Cadillac. God may have
brought you out of the country but you haven’t forgotten those old houses you
used to live in when you were in the country. Some of those houses had floors
that had holes in them. Sometime you could look through those holes and see
chickens running around under the house. Sometime you’d have to go under the
house and gather eggs the chickens had laid, so you could eat them for breakfast.
Just look at you now, look where you live, look at the house you live in, look
at the car you drive, Look at the place where you work, look at how much money
you make. Just look where He brought
you from. And all He asks of us is
that we thank and praise Him for
every blessing large and small. Praise Him
for letting you go to sleep at night, but don’t forget to thank Him for waking you up in the morning.
Praise Him because the bed you slept
in was not a cooling board, but don't forget to thank Him that the four walls of your room, were not the four walls of
your grave. Praise Him for the
sunshine, but don’t forget to thank Him
for the rain. You ought not mind praising and thanking God for His goodness.
The more you praise and thank God,
the more you want to; the more you want to, the more you will do; the more you
will do the more you will see that you can’t thank and praise Him enough. This 121st
Psalms is listed among the pilgrim hymns or the travelers hymns. An argument
came up between logic and reasoning, Logic said that
this ought to be called a soldier’s hymn and not a travelers hymn. The reason logic says, is that every where
the soldier went, he was always exposed to danger. Therefore he’s the one most
in need of the Lord’s help. But reasoning raised an objection in
the argument by stating, both soldier and traveler are exposed to danger. But
when the soldier goes into battle, not only does he expects danger, but he is
armed and dangerous himself. He even wears battlefield gear. He has his lions
girt about with truth. He wears the breastplate of righteousness. His feet are
shod with the preparation of the gospel. He has the shield of faith with him.
He’s wearing the helmet of salvation and armed with the sword of the Spirit. The soldier goes into battle
expecting danger. Reasoning
went on to say that the traveler is the one exposed to the greatest danger and
therefore most in need of the Lord’s
help. He goes on to say that when the traveler least expect it, danger jumps
out of nowhere. It attacks, robs, and wounds him. Then danger throws him into a
ditch besides the road and leave him for dead. When a certain Priest comes down
that way and sees the traveler, the Priest will pass on by on the other side of
the road. Later on a Levite will come the same way, look on the traveler, and
like the Priest, will pass by on the other side of the road. The traveler need
help. He needed somebody to stop by who would have compassion on him. He needed
someone to bind up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. He needed somebody to
set him upon his own beast, take him to an Inn, and care for him there. And
when he would leave the next day, give the host money to care for him. And when
he returned if there was any additional cost, take care of that too. Just about
the time reasoning thought he
had the best of the argument, another voice spoke. This voice said that both logic and reasoning raised good points, but that they both were
talking about danger that’s seen. There is, this voice said, a danger that is
unseen. The unseen danger is universal and affects everybody. Wherever babies
are born and people die, the unseen danger is there. Then the voice reminded logic and reasoning that as a result of this unseen danger we all need
the Lord’s help. In a restricted sense, we lost our image of the Creator. Becoming guilty, corrupt, and
falling under the sway of death. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. By
disobeying divine orders, Adam yielding to Satan’s temptation, eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. This single action alone, gave death a
universal reign. It does not care who you are, what you have, or where you came
from, death is an enemy not a friend. The only friends it has are hell and the
grave. Isaiah 5:14 says that hell has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth
without measure. Hell is a place where misery will have no end. There Satan
will meet you and demons will greet you. there fire will torment you and you’ll
wish someone would dip the tip of their finger in water and cool your tongue.
It’s a place where those who enter, never get out Ecclesiastes 9:10 says,
whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work,
nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest. The grave
is just waiting for all types of folks. Small folks and tall folks; young folks
and old folks; ignorant folks as well as intelligent folks; poor folks and rich
folks. Graves are waiting for black folks, and red folks, white folks and brown
folks, yellow folks as well as multi ethnic folks. There’s a grave waiting for
you and there’s a grave waiting for me. The
first Adam by yielding to Satan’s temptation, he disobeyed divine instruction,
causing sin to set foot in the lives of all of his descendants. Because of what
Adam did, we are all born in sin and shaped in iniquity; sinners by birth. But
God showed us His great love, by sending Jesus to die for us while we were yet
sinners. If we confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus, and believe in our
hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved. When Jesus saves
you, He save you to the uttermost. He delivers you from danger seen and danger
unseen. And when life’s journey seems to deal you a bad hand, and everything
seems to be going wrong, He’ll lead you besides the still water, and restore
your soul. He will never leave you nor forsake you, He promised never, no
never, never to leave you alone. Let me share a little story with you about two
children that were in a spelling contest in school. When it got down to the two
finalist there was a little white girl named Susie and a little black boy named
Johnny. Little Johnny was one word away from winning, but little did he know
that the judges didn’t want him to beat out little Susie. So they gave little Johnny
a word that wasn’t on the study list. For his final word they ask him to spell
the word appliances. It looked bad for little Johnny, but little Johnny knew
that he could depend on the Lord in times of trouble. So he bowed his head and
said these words, “ I will lift up mine eyes unto the hill, from whence cometh
my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. And about
that time little Johnny looked out of the window, there was a truck waiting for
the red light to change. On the side of that truck were these words, furniture
and appliances. Despite being dealt a bad
hand, little Johnny went on to win that spelling contest. He knew to look to
the hills from whence cometh his help, he knew that all of his help come from
the Lord which made heaven and earth. As I close, what hill should you look to?
What about Mt. Sinai (no), what about Mt. Nebo (no), what about Mt. Carmel
(no), what about Mt. Transfiguration (no), what about Mt. Olivet (no), Mt.
Calvar y (SURELY HE DIED ON CALVARY)