Day 16 Morning Psalt Intake
Psalm 79 continues in the pattern of complaint, prayer, and promised thanks for relief. I am so thankful that the Bible records the real struggles of real people. It allows me to be real as I live in a fallen world on a broken planet. I don’t have to pretend that I have it all together, I have Jesus, who holds it all together for me.
Psalm 79
A Psalm by Asaph.
1 God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. 2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth. 3 Their blood they have shed like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them. 4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us. 5 How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? 6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you; on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name; 7 For they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland. 8 Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need. 9 Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake. 10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let it be known amongst the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out. 11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death. 12 Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord. 13 So we, your people and sheep of your pasture, will give you thanks forever. We will praise you forever, to all generations.
Cause Your face to shine…
Psalm 80
For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm by Asaph.
1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out. 2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might! Come to save us! 3 Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved. 4 LORD God of Armies, How long will you be angry against the prayer of your people? 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure. 6 You make us a source of contention to our neighbors. Our enemies laugh amongst themselves. 7 Turn us again, God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved. 8 You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations, and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root, and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shadow. Its boughs were like God’s cedars. 11 It sent out its branches to the sea, Its shoots to the River. 12 Why have you broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it? 13 The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it. 14 Turn again, we beg you, God of Armies. Look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine, 15 the stock which your right hand planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself. 16 It’s burnt with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke. 17 Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, on the son of man whom you made strong for yourself. 18 So we will not turn away from you. Revive us, and we will call on your name. 19 Turn us again, LORD God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Psalm 81
For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. By Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God, our strength! Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob! 2 Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp. 3 Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. 4 For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. 5 He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out over the land of Egypt, I heard a language that I didn’t know. 6 “I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket. 7 You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.” Selah. 8 “Hear, my people, and I will testify to you, Israel, if you would listen to me! 9 There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god. 10 I am the LORD, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11 But my people didn’t listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me. 12 So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels. 13 Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! 14 I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries. 15 The haters of the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. 16 But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.”
