REPOST Today’s AMI QT Devotional is a reprint of Kate Moon’s blog originally posted on December 25, 2014. Kate continues to serve the Lord in E. Asia.
Devotional Thought for This Morning
“Merry Christmas”
Psalm 144:1-5, 9
Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. 2 He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. 3 Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them? 4 They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow. 5 Part your heavens, Lord, and come down . . . 9 I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you . . .
Come to think of it, it kind of sounds a lot like what people long for when they have a crush on someone: That the object of their affection would know they exist. That they would even think of them. That they would care for them. Yet this is how the Bible says it is, as impossible as it may seem, with the God of the universe and us. We are on His mind. (v. 3)
God is a personal God, and the way David addresses Him in the opening lines of Psalm 144 reflects how personally he experienced God throughout his life. For us this morning, is God just “a” loving God or really “my” loving God?
If it has been a while since we have felt his personal touch in our lives, let’s ask God to help us to be sensitive to His loving presence once again, for it is not that He has stopped loving us but perhaps that we have stopped looking in His direction.
Let’s also ask God to bring to mind all the good things He has done, to remind us of how personal His goodness has been, to even give us fresh revelations of situations in which He was present in His love but we didn’t realize it. And as the remembrances and realizations wash over us, let’s release our hearts in praise to Him. For hasn’t He been good to us?
Prayer: This Christmas morning, as I meditate on my loving God, my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer (v. 2), the one who parted the heavens and came down for me (v. 5), I command my soul to sing and wait for the song in my heart to arise (v. 9). Consider singing a new song from your heart to the Lord today. Wait upon Him, and let it rise. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Luke 1-2
Lunch Break Study
Read Psalm 144:9-15: “I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,10 to the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers his servant David. From the deadly sword 11 deliver me; rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. 12 Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace. 13 Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; 14 our oxen will draw heavy loads. There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets. 15 Blessed is the people of whom this is true; blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.”
Questions to Consider
- What is David’s situation in Psalm 143? What about in Psalm 144?
- What story do these two psalms tell when they are read side by side?
- What are his main concerns in Psalm 143 versus in Psalm 144?
- As we see God’s faithfulness in fulfilling his promise and call on David’s life, what hope can we have for our own?
Notes
- Where Psalm 143 is the desperate cry of a man on the run, Psalm 144 is the battle cry of the leader of a nation.
- Taken from two very different periods of David’s life and here juxtaposed, these two psalms tell the story of how after all the hard times, King David finally comes into his own. He has gone from being a fugitive to being a king, and this is evidence of God’s personal goodness and faithfulness to David in his life.
- In Psalm 144, David is no longer asking for God’s deliverance as one being hunted down; instead, he is now calling on the Lord for victory over foreign nations (v. 11) and blessings for an entire people (vv. 12-15) from the position of being their king (v. 10). Though there are different seasons we go through in life, once we get through difficult stages, our prayers can be less focused on personal struggles and turn more towards establishing God’s kingdom and bringing its benefits to others.
- God is mindful of us. Though our lives are like a mere breath or shadow compared to His eternal existence, His desire is for us to live it in a significant way. In addition to being thankful for what He has done in the past, let’s continue to hope in God for his future goodness towards us, His faithfulness to fulfill his promise in us.
Evening Reflection
As I celebrated Christmas today, was it a busy day? Was there a moment that I had with the Lord where I felt true joy and celebration in my heart over who he is, what he has done and what he will do? If not, it’s not too late – take a moment in quiet celebration with him even now.