Let Me Not Wander

Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever. (NIV) Down to the last verse of this chapter. The author, though he could have gone on much longer, focused most of his attention on Israel's history. In the last verse he thanked this loving God for daily provision for all creatures. In this verse he simply tells us to "give thanks..." and that is exactly what we should do. I know, from personal experience, and from the experiences of others, that this simple idea of thankfulness can be so elusive at times. There are days and situations that seem so overwhelming that giving thanks just doesn't seem sane . But we give thanks to God, not just because of the bad things that He rescues us from. We give thanks because of WHO God Is. He is the creator, He is the rescuer and the redeemer, He is the sustainer, He is the God of Heaven! If you only give thanks to God when He does things the way you think they should go, then He is not really your God, yo...

and who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. (NIV) The author of this Psalm has brought us from the timeless past before creation right to today in today's most basic need. The Psalmist can write of these things because that is the God that he is writing about. A God whose Love Endures Forever! He is not a God that simply created us and then kindof let us go on our merry way. He is not a God that simply exists in some sort of transcendent state, just sortof in everything. He is not a fickle God whose love comes and goes with our behaviors towards Him. He is like no other god that men could think up for He is the true God. The God whose love has endured and is enduring even today. While today is still today... Praise Him!

and freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever. (NIV) Each of these verses has told us an evidence of God's love, and how it endures forever. As men, we can only evidence this eternal love by starting as far back as we know. We know that just before creation, there was God. He has always been, and He always will be. We know that He is (and always was) good. That is where the Psalmist started in verse 1. Then the Psalmist states that this good God was THE God and THE Lord. Then He begins to discuss our entrance into the picture through His creation. As the author progresses through the Psalm, he relates some of the history of the children of Israel. And now he has brought us to the author's own life as he talks of how God has freed him (and the people) from their enemies. As you think of God today, think back through the freedom He has freely given you. Think back to how He worked in the lives of the apostles and the prophets and the patriarchs. Think b...

to the One who remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. (NIV) God remembers. He will not forget your situation. He will not forget your hardships. He will not forget your hurts. He will not forget where you are and where you have been. He remembers.

an inheritance to his servant Israel; His love endures forever. (NIV) God fulfilled His promise to His people when they entered the land. They received their inheritance. God took back from the petty kings of this world and distributed to His people. There is an inheritance for God's people still. We don't have to wait till heaven to receive our inheritance, it is available to us now, as we pass through the land. The petty kings of this world state that they own happiness, fulfillment, joy, contentment, and peace, but those lands belong to the King of Kings. He offers those places to us as belonging to part of His Kingdom. Let us join in the inheritance today.

and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever. (NIV) I don't want to stretch a verse too far. I know from experience how easy it is to make a verse say what you want it to say, so when I come to scripture, I am always trying to come open to the Spirit of God. I am always asking to be taught, in that moment, with that verse. With that said, on to the verse... This Psalm was just talking about these kings that opposed God's way, and God took them out. Now we get to see what God did with their lands. He made their lands part of the inheritance. It is important to understand at this point that it was all God's to begin with. They didn't really own the lands, so it was always His to give. But these kings claimed these lands as their own and refused God's way. On a non-political scale, I believe that this is still happening today. I believe that culture and society have claimed several items that belong to God. They have perverted these ...

Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever. and Og king of Bashan— His love endures forever. (NIV) These two kings opposed the children of Israel as they were trying to enter into the Promised Land. They came out in all of their splendor, with their entire army, to stand against God's plan. Needless to say, it was a disaster for them. I think that it could best be understood in the final verse of Numbers 21, So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land. (NIV) This is how our loving God will deal with all those "kings" in our life that oppose Him and stand in His way. He will prevail as the one and only Lord of our lives.

who struck down great kings, His love endures forever. and killed mighty kings— His love endures forever. (NIV) We call Him the King of kings and Lord of lords, because that is exactly what He is. All through Israel's history, at least when they were seeking after God, we can see examples of how God is in control of all things. If there is a king that He wants to take out, He will use whoever He wants to use to make that happen. He isn't done taking kings out of the picture. Because of His great love for us, He will continue to take those kings out of the way. Even down to the little kings that are all over the place. Ourselves. Even after we claim Him as Lord, so often we continue to be the kings of our own lives. We continue to make rulings and pass amendments and make judgments, but the great King, who knows much better than us, wants His throne. He will throw down the king of selfishness and pride and take His place. But just as He has always done, He c...

to him who led his people through the desert, His love endures forever. (NIV) Once again we are reminded of God's leading. He leads us in the good times and in the harshest of times. It seems like we always want His leading the most when times are bad. But the next hard time that comes up, we have already forgotten His guiding hand from the last time.

but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever. (NIV) What a great end to such a stubborn pharaoh. To watch his entire army wash away. Pharaohs believed that they were gods. And to have some hebrew slave come in and tell him that the God of gods has demanded to let His people go. It is no wonder the pharaoh kept saying no. Why should the god of the Egyptians give in to the God of the Hebrews? It made no sense to him. But pharaoh was no god. Neither are we. We cannot stand up against the God of the Universe. We try to set ourselves up as our own gods in our own hearts. We try to run our lives, but the one true God will wash all of our defenses away, like He washed Pharaoh's army away, and take his rightful place. (or He will leave you to your devices and let you destroy yourself.) C.S. Lewis once said, There are two kinds of people, those who will say to God, "Thy will be done." or those to whom God will say, "Thy will be don...

and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever. (NIV) There are so many times that God does not just pop us out of our situation. That is usually what we want to happen, we want relief, and we want it now! But God leaves us in the midst of the trial. All through scripture, we can see this idea. We see Daniel left in the midst of the lions and his three friends in the midst of the flames. We see Jonah, who tries to get out of the midst of his enemies, but God sends him there by putting him in "the midst" of a whale. There is Elijah oh his mountaintop experience, in the midst of the Baal worshipers. Jesus Himself who rides in on a donkey, amongst those who He knows will kill Him. And the Good Shepherd prepares a table in the presence of our enemies. God, believe it or not, works in the midst. If you are in the midst, don't seek "out" , see God .

to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever (NIV) For the Children of Israel the events of the exodus stand out so significantly. There is alot of meaning there, both for the nation of Israel, but also as individuals. The story of the nation of Israel is a parallel to the life of a Christian. Slavery in Egypt is pre-salvation. The dividing of the red sea, and all of the events that lead up to it, is salvation. The promised land is the living that a Christian should be experiencing. The wilderness wandering is where most of us end up living instead of enjoying the promised land. The conquest is where we start cleaning house, booting out all of the false ideas and idols. And just like most of us, Israel maintained a certain amount of idolatry throughout that time and the time of the kings. And it continued until the captivity. Sometimes for us as well, it takes a significant trial to rid us of idolatry. Here we have the nation of Israel leaving the lan...

with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever. (NIV) We can know from other places in the Bible that God is spirit. He is not a physical being sitting around somewhere, like the old Greek or Roman gods. Jesus says quite specifically, "God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." ( John 4:24 ) God is spirit, but He is not some sort of ethereal spirit that is just permeating the things that are. Truly He is sustaining all things. Not only physical existence, but it is also by Him that nations rise and fall and kings come and go. We can see in this verse, that even though God does not have a physical hand or a physical arm, He is active. That is the essential teaching from a verse like this, He is not a passive God.

and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever. (NIV) Truly we have a deliverer. The saving of the Israelites from the land of Egypt is such an example of our own salvation. We also were in bondage. We also were slaves to sin and self. And just as the Pharaoh believed himself to be a god, so also we were born seeking to be our own gods. Christ comes to set us free. He is desiring to bring us out from among them, but it doesn't take ten plagues to set us free. Just one amazing sacrifice, the first born of God, for true freedom.

to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever. (NIV) In ancient Egypt, the other plagues could almost have been dismissed as natural occurrences. We know that they are not, but the blood water, the locusts, the darkness, the boils... even though each can show how vain and empty the Egyptian religion was, the pharaoh wasn't swayed by any of them. He was a god, both to himself and to his people, and there was no way that he was going to bow before the God of the slaves. Most of us are like that. We are our own god and the god of our own little world, but The God of Heaven and Earth will have His rightful place. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. For some, it won't happen until the end. For others, the trials (or for the Egyptians, the plagues) that are always pointing to God, will bring them to God. The Pharaoh recognized, at least temporarily, that the death of each first born could not have been a ...

the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever. (NIV) It doesn't take you long, when looking up at the stars, to begin to feel very small. The sky is so vast that it can overwhelm the mind. David put it this way, When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Psalm 8:3,4 (NIV) Maybe it has been a while since you paused and looked at the night sky. I would like to recommend this tonight. Take a moment out of your busy day and marvel at God's wonderful lights.

the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. (NIV) I have been teaching a history class at my school, and we are currently talking about the ancient Egyptians. These people, along with many other ancient civilizations and even many primitive tribes, would worship the sun. It reminds me of Romans 1:18-25 which talks about this exact thing. I won't quote the entire thing right now, but I do want to at leas put up part of verse 25, which says, " They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator ." That is exactly what they were doing. Worshiping something that was created. I have been watching a show on the Discovery Channel lately called The Universe. And I have to tell you, the modern day, atheistic, evolutionary scientist isn't such a far shot from those ancient Egyptians. They both ignore the creator, they both ignore the one that set the sun up for the day. The sun God made to rule the day ...

who made the great lights— His love endures forever. (NIV) Before the sun, there was light. Before any of the stars were made, there was light on this earth. There were plants basking in that light and oceans reflecting that light. Then, once it is clear that this earth is dependent on God and God alone and that even though we are not the physical center of anything, we are the focal point of His creation... He makes a Sun and a moon and stars to fill up that vast expanse of sky. Did He make the "great lights"? Yes, just to declare His glory and to let us know that His love endures forever. When you look at creation, and you marvel at God's abilities, don't stop there. Remind yourself why He created all of this.

who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. (NIV) The Psalmist has said that He is God, He is Lord, and that He does Great Things. Then to back these statements up, he has begun to go through, starting from the beginning, and list some evidences that show Godship, Lordship, and Wonder. We know from reading Genesis that God's creative acts were done through His Word. He spoke, and it was. He spoke time and space into existence. Then He begins to speak matter into existence. In this verse we are reminded that He has brought every square inch of earth and every drop of water into existence. He created a planet that points to Him! I have talked of the immensity of the universe, but frankly, I still get amazed at the expanses of the ocean. I can remember the first time I saw the ocean, it made me feel so small. It was almost scary thinking of that much water, and its depths. The World is His, and everything in it. His Love Endures Forever.

who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever (NIV) With knowledge and understanding God made the heavens. Look at the Sombrero galaxy and consider the understanding of God. Now consider the sheer number of other galaxies that are in the heavens. This picture was taken when the Hubble space telescope pointed at a seeming empty part of the sky. It reminds me of when God told Abraham to look up at the stars of the sky and count them. Then He says, "if indeed you can..." Consider the understanding of God. And yet this universe is not as big as His love.