Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments  His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever. Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

I wonder how many times that precious short phrase exists in Scripture that begins with “Blessed is the …..” Not just for a count but for meditation upon the phrase and its applications. One of the understandings that is coming out of this exhaustive study of the Psalms is the beautiful clinkage between them—no contradictions only a linkage which brings the relationship between the members of the Trinity. The LORD, God, the Almighty.

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 149, Noon Psalm 119:9-16, Evening Psalm 44

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

A continuation of yesterday’s praise; especially that last sentence. Modern English speakers have to read that sentence as beginning with "The understanding of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." We associate fear with fright, where a closer word is awe. The element of understanding tinged with awe is coming closer.

But to really horn in on what is needed, we need to turn to those precious words of Ish Elohim, in Psalm 119:9-11 “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 148, Noon Psalm 119:1-8, Evening Psalm 43

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant. He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen. The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.

Quite often, as I putter my way through the Psalms, I will find a sentence or two that nails the intent of a section of that Psalm, or even occasionally, the entire Psalm. O, glorious event. Here’s one of the latter jewels, I wold even go so far as labeling it one of the cornerstones of the Book of the Psalms. “The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.” Sit back, grab a hot cup of your choice, feet up, relax and absorb the beauty of those two sentences.

It is indeed a mighty God we serve.

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 147, Noon Psalm 119:169-176, Evening Psalm 42

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.

“The works of the LORD are great” OK, but how do I identify them? Firstly, Romans 8:28-29 provides essential clues “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Any time we see that alerting phrase, “all things” we must stop and think about which things are excluded from the all. Or am I willing to except that “no” thing is the only thing excluded from the all.

Secondly, am I included in that set of individuals who love God and are called according to His purpose? How about Romans 10:9 “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believein your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Yes, I am a stumbling, bumbling believer, but I am assured that the effectiveness of the belief depends upon His work on the Cross, not my performance in present day America. Hallelujah, praise the LORD for His goodness to the children of men.

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 146, Noon Psalm 119:161-168, Evening Psalm 41

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.

Praise the LORD! How? With my whole heart! Where? In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. Why? Stick together as we begin to look at this precious psalm and look into this all important question.

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 145, Noon Psalm 119:153-160, Psalm 40

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

CAPH. My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word. Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me? For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes. How many are the days of thy servant? When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law. All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts. Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.

There’s the key to life in the presence of the LORD, God, the Almighty. Do you see it? Does it jump off the page? All lit up in neon letters, pulsing for attention? “I hope in thy word”,” yet do I not forget thy statutes”,” All thy commandments are faithful”,” help thou me”,”but I forsook not thy precepts” No matter who, what, when, or where, the precepts of the LORD stand between me and those that persecute me wrongly—including my own stubborn pride.

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 144, Noon Psalm 119:145-152, Psalm 39

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

I found this passage to be very perplexing, but a commentary from F.B. Meyer is very helpful,

“The offices of priest and king were jealously kept apart in the old Hebrew monarchy, so the psalmist has to travel into the childhood of the world to find the type of a priesthood. Jesus is King and Priest after a more ancient and abiding order, which, it is testified, is based on a timeless life. Our Lord shall come to the throne from the battlefield. He shall bruise the serpent’s head, but He needs the refreshment of our love and faith. That is the wayside brook.”

Could F.B. be correct? The LORD needs the refreshment of our love and faith; that we are the wayside brook? What a heartwarming thought.

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 143, Noon Psalm 119:137-144, Psalm 38

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

An invitation; a beautiful and gracious invitation. The LORD, God, the Almighty inviting an unnamed king of the world to join Him in ruling at His side. It is an irrevocable invitation without caveat or limitation, naming him as a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Who but our Lord Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God?

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 142, Noon Psalm 119:129-136, Psalm 37

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust. My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads. Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy: That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.

The Psalmist steps bravely forward, acknowledging it is his shortcomings that have led to this disgraceful situation, BUT…….He bravely stands before the LORD claiming His mercy and grace to restore him.

When will I learn, yes, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that it was my failings that created the mess. However the big question is when will I learn to swallow my pride and admit my failings, pleading for the LORD to rescue me once again.

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 141, Noon Psalm 119:121-128, Psalm 36

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

Whew! When the Psalmist sets out to breath wrath and curses upon an enemy, he does so with venom spread with broad brush strokes. Very creative; look at those last few lines as calls for curses and withholding of blessing is called for upon the head of the wicked man.

But is this the approach our LORD asks of us? Are we not called to love our enemies, to pray for their restoration, to serve as His Ambassadors of Reconciliation?

Yes!

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 141, Noon Psalm 119:121-128, Psalm 36

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

One of these days, I’m going to flip through the Psalms just to see how many times David calls for curses to be poured out upon an enemy's head. He is efficient and through, no tiptoeing through the tulips rather a through threshing with verbal cacti. So much more effective when the LORD, God, the Almighty takes up the defense of His own.

But the question that should be addressed is whether or not is this is the proper approach for me as one called to be an Ambassador of Reconciliation in the Kingdom of Heaven? (2 Cor. 5:18-19) How about some feedback?

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 140, Noon Psalm 119:113-120, Psalm 35

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth; That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me. God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver; Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph. Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts?

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.

The Psalmist continues praise the LORD, God, the Almighty and moves into a series enumerating the helps and successes provided by Him. The conclusion that the help of man is for naught, but that of the LORD is a true source of success.

Join the Ailbe Community

As a member of the Ailbe Community you join a movement of men working for revival, renewal, and awakening, built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification. The Ailbe Community is devoted to practicing the Kingship of Jesus in every area of our lives. Go to www.ailbe.org/about to learn more.

Reading

Morning Psalm 139, Noon Psalm 119:105-112, Psalm 34

An alternate Reading Plan is based on 7 chapters/day from 7 sections of the Scriptures. My groupings are: Genesis-Joshua, Judges to Esther, Job to Song of Solomon, Psalms breaking 119 into convenient sets, Isaiah to Malachi, Matthew to Acts, Romans to Revelation.

Or set your own reading schedule up in convenient groupings as fits your study habits. But a daily time in the Word of the LORD is an absolute.