Psalm 81 If Only God's People Would Listen

Daily Bible Study for Wednesday October 19, 2016

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around The Globe”

Chapter Reading for Today: Please read in your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their wording. I hope this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version, that is fine. I am studying from the KJV, but for the purpose of this study, I will keep it with the New King James Version.

One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my own writing. I am adding red to the letters when it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.

Bible Gateway Verse of the Day

Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 81

If Only God’s People Would Listen

Day after day we can marvel at the wonder of God and His word to us. I sit here constantly amazed at what He shows me each day. How He can take flesh and work miracles like He does is far beyond our comprehension. The Lord is so good and He wants only that which is good for His people. How many realize that when He tells us to do something, it is always going to be for something good? Yet people refuse to listen to Him thinking their own way is better. That’s so SADD-U-CEE! Let’s pray… 

Heavenly Father:

We gather together to praise You for Your great love toward us. Praise is beautiful to Your children and You are worthy of all our praise. Father, today we want to come before You with our hearts wide open. Lord, we want You to fill us with the finest that You have to offer us. We know that what the Psalmist said above is true; when we delight ourselves in You (Your will and Your ways) that You will give us the desires of our hearts. Lord, we ask You today to help us. We ask You to change the desires of our hearts from that of selfish fleshy desires to that of heavenly kingdom desires - the things that bless Your heart. Open wide our understanding as we study this lesson. Father, I ask You to give me the anointing and utterance to speak Your word exactly as You want it said; with boldness and accuracy. Draw people from around the world to this message in this blog and show them what You want them to see. Father, we will purpose in our hearts to be a doer of the word of God – with Your help, and not forgetful hearers. Thank You for watching over Your word to perform it in our lives when we really do trust You and do what You tell us. Make this message reach out unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or my flesh. Thank You in advance for the answers to this prayer. According to Your word we believe we receive it when we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

The first two verses in this chapter give one of many powerful reasons there are to praise the Lord. Praise is a beautiful thing to the Lord’s heart. It blesses Him. When someone says something nice to us, it blesses us, right? Well, it is no different with the Lord. He is sensitive to this like us. After all, we are made in His image. We should be saying the nicest things to Him on a regular basis. He enjoys it.

There are special times that should be set aside for God’s people to come together and praise Him. He set this up for us as a law – a standard to abide by. These gatherings in and of themselves are a testimony to the world to show that God has done great things for His people. Folks who had not been helped by someone would certainly not gather to praise them. But when people get together on a consistent basis to praise the Lord for all He has done, it is a sign and a testimony to the lost people around us. Just look at the procession of praise back in David’s time…

1 Chronicles 16:7-36

⁷ On that day David first delivered this psalm into the hand of Asaph and his brethren, to thank the Lord:

⁸ Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!
⁹ Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works!
¹⁰ Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
¹¹ Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore!
¹² Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, ¹³ O seed of Israel His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

¹⁴ He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.
¹⁵ Remember His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, ¹⁶ the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, ¹⁷ and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel for an everlasting covenant, ¹⁸ saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance,” ¹⁹  when you were few in number, indeed very few, and strangers in it.

²⁰ When they went from one nation to another, and from one kingdom to another people,
²¹ He permitted no man to do them wrong; yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, ²² saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm.”

²³ Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. ²⁴ Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.

²⁵ For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods.
²⁶ For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
²⁷ Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and gladness are in His place.

²⁸ Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength.
²⁹ Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! ³⁰ Tremble before Him, all the earth.
The world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved.

³¹ Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” ³² Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; let the field rejoice, and all that is in it.
³³ Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth.

³⁴ Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
³⁵ And say, “Save us, O God of our salvation; gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise.”

³⁶ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! And all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord.

It can be the same for us today, right? Those of us who know Him as the Lord and Savior of our lives have countless reasons to come together to praise Him corporately a well as privately – amen! A testimony is a powerful thing to the people looking on. When they see us truly praising God and rejoicing in Him, they are going to want to know what all the fuss is about. Hallelujah! Moving on, when the people cried out to the Lord in their time of great trouble, He heard their cries and came to their rescue. How many can testify to this in your own lives? I sure can! Praise His name forever! Then when He brought the people out of the bondage they were in, He brought them to a time of testing. What was He testing? Their hearts of course. Was their desire for Him sincere, or were they just looking for a “scapegoat?” 

Deuteronomy 32:10-18

¹⁰ “He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
¹¹ As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, ¹²so the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him.

¹³ “He made him ride in the heights of the earth, that he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock; ¹⁴curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs; and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the choicest wheat; and you drank wine, the blood of the grapes.

¹⁵ “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; you grew fat, you grew thick, you are obese!
Then he forsook God who made him, and scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
¹⁶ They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger.

¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear. ¹⁸ Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you.

We can see the test and we see the failure. Sadly, the people only cried out for someone to “toss them a life line” with no intention of honoring their Savior following their rescue. This world is filled with the same kind of people today. God has come to the rescue of sinful man again and again, only to be “slapped in the face” as thanks. The Lord wants our hearts. He is not looking for a phony relationship that is superficial. He wants us to love Him deeply. He loves us so much and wants to do good things for us. He is so big and powerful, yet He is so loving and tender.

Personally, I have failed many tests with the Lord. Even after He brought me out of the worst possible nightmare I have ever experienced in this life, I have still rebelled against Him. And why? Because I was living more by the desires of my selfish flesh than by the leading of His Spirit. As a result, even as a born-again child of God whom He has loved all along in spite of my rebellion, I have suffered many unnecessary trials. It is painful to even think about, but it is the truth.

The next thing we see in our chapter today, after the test is the command. What did the Lord command His people to do? He told them to listen to Him and to stay away from idols. When we think of the idols in the Old Testament, we cannot allow ourselves to limit what those idols represented compared to our lives today. We may not have fashioned a golden calf out of our old jewelry sitting unused in our jewelry boxes, but we certainly have made a host of idols in our lives. Many are attached to people in their lives. It can be a spouse, a child, or a parent. It can be things like hobbies, sports, shopping, food, drugs, sex, alcohol, gambling, you name it. The list is so long I cannot type them all.

Anything in our lives that we give more importance to than the Lord is considered an idol. It was something that God made clear in the Ten Commandments. He will not share His glory with another. Nothing and no one but God deserves all the glory. Only He could do the marvelous things that He has done for us. People and things in this earth cannot help us. They cannot comfort us or heal us, and on and on we could go. There is one God and He is worthy of all our praise – just like we started out saying in the beginning of the chapter.

We have to remember that these Old Testament events that really took place are here for our learning. We see what to do and what not to do. That is, if we will listen. And isn’t that what the Lord was saying here today? If only My people would listen. How many times have you said to yourself in the past, “Oh, if only I had listened to Him! I wouldn’t have gone through all that turmoil, loss and confusion!” But we of our own selves cannot do it right. We must be led by His Spirit to have success. And He has given us everything in the new birth to make it happen. The trouble is, most folks do not really believe God, or His word and they certainly do not trust Him. Ask me how I know! Been there - done that myself!

In our Psalm today, the Lord goes on to say to us;

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt;

It seems the people needed a “reminder” of who it was that got them out of the scrape they were in. They had a case of spiritual amnesia. I am sure most everyone reading this can relate! The next sentence in verse 10 is an open invitation from the Lord Himself. He wants the people to open their hearts up to Him. He is telling them that if they will do this, He will fill them. How many times He has told me this and I did not give this word from the Lord the attention and honor that I should have.

While I sitting there eating more than I needed (trying to comfort myself), His word was sitting right there opened to this very verse. Time and again He was trying to call me to come to Him and let Him fill up my empty, broken heart. But I was so foolish. I was afraid. I did not really trust Him.  I was rebellious. I did not want to give up my idol completely – not yet. I was holding on to the last shreds of what I could physically touch as a source of comfort, while the only true Comforter was right there in the house with me inviting me to come to Him…

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Hmmm. There I was feeling lonely, or sad. And there was the Master. Picture it. He was sitting there in the living room with me; or the kitchen. His heart must have been so sad. While I was trying to put a band aid on a gaping wound, He was sitting there, the Lord of all creation with an abundance of love and rich food for my soul that would have left me overflowing with His goodness and completely forgetting about the natural food. Here is what He tells us in Matthew and Luke, both the same chapter and verse (Do you think He wants us to get it?)… 

Luke 4:4

But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

We will talk more about this in a minute. In verse 11, the Lord said that His people wouldn’t listen. So, what did He do? He let them have their own way, of course. He will not force anyone to do anything – not ever! This popular saying that is going on all over the world today saying that “God is in control” is false! Friends, this is a lie from the pit of hell! He is not controlling everyone or everything that is going on. The devil wants people to think He is so they will blame Him for all the death and destruction that is going on around us. But God is not the murderer. He is not the thief. He is not the destroyer. The devil is.

Satan and all his host of demons that are under his authority are the ones that bring the destruction. But as we will clearly see from our study today as we continue on, the Lord would have been able to spare His people from all the terrible destruction that has come to their lives – if only they had listened to the Lord. (See Psalm 91) Obedience and being in His perfect will brings God’s perfect protection. When people “have it their way” they get a lot more than a greasy hamburger at the drive through. Ok, we all need to laugh right now. Laughter doeth good like a medicine – amen! Smile!

Disobedience allows the devil, aka, the destroyer access into our lives. It is that plain and simple. So, if you have been getting robbed lately, it would be a really good time to draw near to God and find out what you may be doing wrong. He will be happy to redirect you in the right way to go to get loose of the devil’s entrapment. We can have it our way alright, but the end results will not be good. 

You see, that’s the thing I was thinking about as I walked my sweet puppy and thought about today’s chapter before I began to type it up. I thought of the many times the Lord had shown me the right way to do something, yet I chose to do it my own way. In the end, it always caused me a problem. Sin always brings death of some form or another. Loss of time, money, joy and peace, you name it. The list is extensive.

This brings us to verses 13 and 14. As you read them you probably had many of your own thoughts about things you wish that you had done differently in the past. I am with you all the way on that my sweet friends. But let’s remember to look at that past through rose colored glasses – the color of blood – Jesus’ blood. That past is washed under the blood. It should never come up again to “haunt us” because that’s not how God operates. Once it is confessed and forgiven, He forgets about it. So should we!

Let’s look at a group of people in the New Testament who ignored the Lord’s instruction and see what happened to them…

Acts 27 The Entire Chapter

27 And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment. ² So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us. ³ And the next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care. ⁴ When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. ⁵ And when we had sailed over the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. ⁶ There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board.

⁷ When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmone. ⁸ Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

Paul’s Warning Ignored

⁹ Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them,¹⁰ saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.” ¹¹ Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. ¹² And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there.

¹³ When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete.¹⁴ But not long after, a tempestuous head wind arose, called Euroclydon.¹⁵ So when the ship was caught, and could not head into the wind, we let her drive. ¹⁶ And running under the shelter of an island called Clauda, we secured the skiff with difficulty.¹⁷ When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship; and fearing lest they should run aground on the Syrtis Sands, they struck sail and so were driven. ¹⁸ And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. ¹⁹ On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands. ²⁰ Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.

²¹ But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. ²² And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve,²⁴ saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ ²⁵ Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. ²⁶ However, we must run aground on a certain island.”

²⁷ Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. ²⁸ And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come. ³⁰ And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow,³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off.

³³ And as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you.” ³⁵ And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat. ³⁶ Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves. ³⁷ And in all we were two hundred and seventy-six persons on the ship. ³⁸ So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea.

³⁹ When it was day, they did not recognize the land; but they observed a bay with a beach, onto which they planned to run the ship if possible. ⁴⁰ And they let go the anchors and left them in the sea, meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes; and they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore. ⁴¹ But striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves.

⁴² And the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape. ⁴³ But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, ⁴⁴ and the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship. And so it was that they all escaped safely to land.

Talk about a mess! Look at all that loss and trouble! If only they had listened to wise counsel! But they were stubborn and refused to use wisdom. I can see myself in this so much in my own life. I have been a far more stubborn cuss than I ever thought I was! I used to falsely think myself to be a pretty submissive person – ha! That is until I started diving into the deep waters of the word. And the longer I swim there, the more clearly I see the bottom of the waters in my heart. They have been very dark and cloudy for a very long time; a lot of “muck” at the bottom. Little by little though, like the waters at Meribah, the Lord Jesus has turned the bitter into sweet, one step at a time. Hallelujah!

Friends, we just have to trust God! I mean really trust Him. He will never ask us to do something that is not good for us spiritually, morally or any other way. Sure, we may experience some hardships as a good soldier. Ask Paul and Silas about that. But those sufferings are a reflection of the sufferings that Christ endured for us so we would not have to spend an eternity in the fires of hell, constantly in torment. So, if Jesus suffered in the flesh, we should also be willing to do the same.

If we make it a point to do what the Lord tells us to, we can depend on Him 100% to help us by defending us. He can only do it when we are doing what He said. Weapons will surely form against us as His children. We have an angry devil on our hands to contend with in this life. But thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph through our Lord Jesus Christ! Hallelujah! He will never leave us or forsake us. And if God be for us, who can (successfully) be against us?

We are going to put verse 15 on hold for a minute and go right to verse 16. In continuing our discussion about what Jesus would have done for me when I was trying to fill up my spiritual heart with too much physical food to try to comfort myself like a baby sucking their thumb, the Lord was sitting there waiting to give me His best – the finest food. Oh my. What I must have missed on so many occasions. I was either too busy or I had no real trust in my Savior is what it all boils down to. We have to be honest. What is stopping us from going to the Lord to receive these precious promises He has given us? Why are we reading the verses in church on Sunday and then going right home and forgetting them on Monday through Saturday?

When the Lord tells us in verse 16 that He would have given us the finest wheat, we can think of Jesus – the Bread from heaven. That is like no wheat we will ever find on this planet. No muffin, twinkie, or donut will ever satisfy our hearts like the Bread that comes down from heaven in the desert of our souls. The Lord knows when we are parched in the desert. He knows we need water from the Rock. He knows when we are spiritually hungry and need the only True Bread that will fill us up in our souls.

Why do people go to the refrigerator several times in the day and just open it to look inside? Have you ever done that? I have. They are showing that they are spiritually hungry. They are really not physically hungry but they know they are needing something. They just do not know what. But Jesus knows. Oh yes, He knows exactly which heavenly delicacy that will hit the spot. But we have to exit the kitchen and go sit with Him – like Mary did. She didn’t care about the cooking and cleaning. She was hungry for the True Bread. We can’t even imagine how full she felt when she left the meeting that day. Praise the Lord!

Can you imagine honey from Jesus to satisfy your sweet tooth? Let’s look further…

Psalm 19:7-11

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
⁸ The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
⁹ The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
¹¹ Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward. 

Psalm 119:103

How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Proverbs 16:24

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.

Ezekiel 3:3

And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.

Luke 1:53

He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.

How’s that for a heavenly pastry?! Praise the Lord oh my soul! He would give us the best thing and we would be so full we would have to go give some of that sugar to other people. Then they will know that we are His disciples indeed – if we love one another and shower them with the sweetness we ourselves have received from him. What a deal, as my “sweet” husband would say (pun intended!). This is a good time to tell you that one of the greatest things I have ever discovered about Jesus has been in the past many months since coming to our new church. Jesus is really sweet! I mean really, really sweet!

Have you ever met someone that was so sweet to you that when you walked away all you could say was, “Wow, he/she is so sweet!” Well my friends, if you get to know Jesus more intimately by dining with Him, you will find out just how sweet He is. The Lord our God has been given a very bad reputation by the devil working through religious people. They try to make Him out to be some sort of monster. It’s a lie from the pit! He is amazing! He is loving. He is so kind. He is everything good! And He is really, really sweet! I know! I have seen it for myself. Hallelujah!

Here is one more verse I was led to show you about God’s word…

Psalm 119:162

I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure.

Finally, let’s flip back to verse 15. This is a good time to talk about what our testimony would do to those who hate the Lord. There is plenty in that category – more than those who really do love Him, unfortunately. If God’s people had been obedient, back in Israel and as well as right now today, then those who do not know or love God would see something that would cause them to stand up and take notice. 

They would see a group of people who never get sick, have wealth and riches in their bank accounts and the finest clothing, cars, houses, and equipment for their businesses. They would see these people being used by the Lord to perform signs and wonders in the earth. They would see them blessing others like we cannot even begin to imagine. They would see the blessings of the Lord that makes rich and adds no sorrow to it.

Let’s look at a passage in Micah before we close. The Lord showed me this passage today and it parallels our Psalm today perfectly – of course…

Micah 7:15-20

¹⁵ “As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them wonders.”

¹⁶ The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall put their hand over their mouth; their ears shall be deaf.
¹⁷ They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth.
They shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of You.

¹⁸ Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.
¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
²⁰ You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old.

Rightly dividing God’s word of truth is an exciting journey! It all ties together and fits perfectly like a hand in a perfectly sized glove – glory to God! Can you see how this matches what we have been talking about in Psalm 81 today? When people see us doing well, they will see their own sin and they will not be “happy campers” we can be certain! Oh, but the Lord is rich in mercy! He does not want any to perish. He wants our testimonies and our praises to ring out across the globe. Wherever He sends us, He wants us to make His praise glorious. Then others will surely be drawn like a magnet to the word of truth – sweet Jesus! 

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father:

Thank You for showing us today how good Your intentions are for us. Father, I ask You to forgive me for the times I did not listen to You and broke Your heart. Help me to remember the things You have tried to show me. Bring me back to the place where I belong in You. Show me Your comforts that delight my soul. Allow me to feed on Your finest meal – the Bread of heaven as I purposely open the door of my heart right now to You. Lord, I am inviting You to come in and bring all Your goodness. Change me on the inside so that the outside can see Your praises pouring out of my life at every turn. Thank You in advance for helping me to make the changes I need to make. I want to be a light to others so they make a decision to lay down the lies and darkness to pick up on Your truth, light and sweetness. I ask and I believe I receive my answers right now Father in Jesus precious name. Amen.

There are three main points to consider from today’s study…

There are many good reasons to gather together and show forth God’s praises

The Lord is looking for a people who will listen to Him and take Him at His word

Doing things God’s way makes our lives sweet, safe and full

Questions:

What did this chapter mean to you personally?

How has this study changed your thinking about the Lord?

In what ways will you become more obedient to the Lord?

What will you do differently overall as a result of this study?

Who can you share this study with?

Will you listen the next time the Lord tells you to do something?

And God Said… You fill in the blanks.

Deuteronomy 7:9

 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;