God’s Precious

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King James Bible Study[Mark 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]

Date: Saturday, April 30, 2022
Chapters: PSALMS 102-104
Study: God’s Precious

Hello My Friend,

I took my car to get serviced as it desperately needed it, was expecting to have to pay hundreds of dollars, but by the grace of God, who had sent me to that place, it was so reasonable, that I even asked them to double check to make sure there was nothing missed. As I was driving home, the ride was so smooth that I did not hear any rattling, and even the speed bumps in the road were more gentle to pass over. Tears came to my eyes as I remembered that God is so faithful, even when I fail Him, and especially when I get so hard on myself that I convince myself that He has given up on me, [Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. – Psalms 139:16-18]

It is incredible to think that God, with all the billions of people in the world, takes the time to consider my every need, in fact, everything in my life, including the teardrops, was used by Him to transform me into who I am today. With all my failures, bad decisions, and the occasional, what I thought was His will, turned not to be, His thoughts are still precious concerning me. How great of a God do we have that He is with us every night that we close our eyes, and when we awake, He is still with us? He is an incredible and Almighty God, for sure. We have the tendency to think that everyone of faith written in the Bible had this great faith all the time and never feared anything or questioned God. That is a myth, they were no different than us who are faithful today. And as we return to the reading of Psalms, we find a prayer for those who are overwhelmed with those teardrops.

[A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. – Psalms 102:1-7]

[I am like a pelican of the wilderness:] One of the most astounding things about God is that, even when we get overburdened with life and feel like giving up, He wants to hear our cries. Think about it, a pelican, who’s life is found near the water would be completely lost in the woods, likewise, an owl, who’s life is found up in the trees would be completely lost in the desert. Now, the saved, born again Christian, who’s life is found in Jesus Christ, is never alone, and yet, there are times when we do feel like that little sparrow on top of the roof. There are really no words that can express how that reminder can bring to light the fact that He hears our cries.

[When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD. For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD. – Psalms 102:16-22]

[When the people are gathered together,] This reminds me of what Jesus said, [Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. – Matthew 24:29-31]

One day, all of our pain will be over, and when things get much worse than they are now, we will not be here. Our own bodies, should they turn to dust, will raise from the dead, unite with our souls and we will be caught up in the air. I do not know about you, but if God is willing to make sure that our dead bodies are not on the earth during the tribulation, I would say that we are pretty precious to Him. Not to mention, how bad it will be that He does not even want to expose our dead flesh to it, [For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. – 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17]

How incredible is that thought! And for the life of me, it took God an hour to get me to focus on anything this morning. I have been feeling so terrible lately, and on top of work and more studies for work, I am barely getting anything done. Then as soon as I get back to the devotion, all of this just pours out. I guess, God had a great reminder for me, and it is all written right here in this Psalm.

[A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. – Psalms 103:1-4,8-12]

[He hath not dealt with us after our sins;] An entire devotion can be written from this Psalm alone, and God’s mercies are so great that we are not truly given the punishment we deserve. These words, [great is his mercy toward them that fear him] are the same as God saying that He works everything out for good to those who love Him. Let me tell you, it does not matter how long, close, or faithful we are to Christ, we discover just how wretched we still are, and just how much mercy He does have toward His precious people, [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. – Romans 8:28]

How many times do we ask God for something, and He sort of allow it, only to show us that it was not the way to go? You would be surprised to find out that that number is quite high. I swear, these past couple of years, I have seen the way that God has, I would say, intercepted the ball, and showed me why He said no in the first place. We are so precious to Him that He literally does weigh out every request that we make, and sees what the outcome would be if we really did receive the things we wanted so badly. So, why does God go through such great lengths when we fail Him so much? He is our Father, and knows that we are, but dust.

[Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. – Psalms 103:13-18]

[To such as keep his covenant,] This is the same thing as Jesus saying, [As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. – John 15:9-12] Jesus just added a twist, [love one another, as I have loved you.].

The love that we have for Christ truly does supersede any other love that we have for anyone else, it is a different love, one that the flesh would never be able to pull off on its own. However, the love of Christ in us, that is what enables us to love as Christ loves. I always say that we do not need to like everyone, but we do need to love them. You see, every soul is precious to God, after all, He brought them into the world for a reason, and He sent His Son to save all, but that is a choice that each and every one of us has to make on our own. Jesus is counting on us to show them His love toward even the vilest of sinners, some of which we were at one time as well, [Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. – 1 Corinthians 6:9-11]

I have to admit that when I pray it is not always genuine, prayer becomes so routine that you just pray because it is what you do. That is why I try to set aside an hour just to speak to Him one on one, but when life gets busy that hour becomes minutes. Do not get me wrong, God likes to hear our prayers, He knows our heart and that is what gets His attention. We do not even have to speak a lot of words for Him to hear us, but let me tell you when we really pour our heart out to Him, He listens. That is why we need to praise Him, and let Him know that, even when we are so exhausted or ill that we can barely get out of bed, that we trust Him.

[Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. – Psalms 104:1-7]

[the waters stood above the mountains.] This reminds me of what the disciples said when Jesus calmed the sea, [And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? – Mark 4:38-41]

Exactly what kind of man is this, that all He has to do is speak and it be done? Oh, Jesus is not some “kind” of man, He is God Himself, in the flesh, and part of the great Godhead that makes up the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We may not understand completely the significance in having the Godhead, but each and every person of God plays just the right part. Without Christ, we would still be offering up lambs and bulls to seek atonement for our sins. Without the Holy Spirit, we would not even know what to pray about. And without God, we would all cease to exist.

[For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 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. – Romans 8:2-3,11,26,29]

Today’s Prayer: God, Everything You created has a purpose and is often used to show us just how precious we are to You. The grass, the flowers, the animals, and even the planets know their place and let You guide them in they way they should go, and they do it naturally because they trust and obey You. We too have a purpose, and since we are much more precious than grass, we are going to face challenges to show us that only by trusting and obeying You, will we receive the promise, and much more than we ever imagined, especially eternal life with You. What an amazing thought! Lord, lead me and guide me, nourish me with Your Word, keep me faithful by feeding my spirit with the spiritual food that I need to keep it healthy. Teach me to love all like Christ, and give me Your mercy and grace to light the way. I love You and need You, and ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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