Prayer
Thou [art] my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah (Psalm 32:7) Amen!
Today’s Hymn
Words: James Montgomery, Christian Psalmist, 1825. Music: Martyrdom, Hugh Wilson, 1800; arranged by Ralph E. Hudson, circa 1885
James Montgomery
ACCORDING TO THEY GRACIOUS WORD
Click here for tune.
According to Thy gracious word,
In meek humility,
This will I do, my dying Lord,
I will remember Thee.
Thy body, broken for my sake,
My bread from Heaven shall be;
The testamental cup I take,
And thus remember Thee.
Gethsemane can I forget?
Or there Thy conflict see,
Thine agony, and bloody sweat,
And not remember Thee?
When to the cross I turn mine eyes,
And rest on Calvary,
O Lamb of God, my sacrifice,
I must remember Thee;
Remember Thee, and all Thy pains
And all Thy love to me;
Yea, while a breath, a pulse remains,
Will I remember Thee.
And when these failing lips grow dumb
And mind and memory flee,
When Thou shalt in Thy kingdom come,
Jesus, remember me.
Thought Provoker
Mr. Bradford, martyr, speaking of Queen Mary, at whose cruel mercy he then lay, said, If the queen be pleased to release me, I will thank her; if she will imprison me, I will thank her; if she will burn me, I will thank her, etc. So saith a believing soul: Let God do with me what he will, I will be thankful. Today in verse 1 we are called to praise God continually for all of His fresh mercies!
Dad’s Study
Ver. 1. I will bless the Lord at all times. He is resolved and fixed, I will ; he is personally and for himself determined, let others so as they may; he is intelligent in head and inflamed in heart –he knows to whom the praise is due, and what is due, and for what and when. To Jehovah, and not to second causes our gratitude is to be rendered. The Lord hath by right a monopoly in his creatures praise. Even when a mercy may remind us of our sin with regard to it, as in this case David’s deliverance from the Philistine monarch was sure to do, we are not to rob God of his meed of honour because our conscience justly awards a censure to our share in the transaction. Though the hook was rusty, yet God sent the fish, and we thank him for it. At all times, in every situation, under every circumstance, before, in and after trials, in bright days of glee, and dark nights of fear. He would never have done praising, because never satisfied that he had done enough; always feeling that he fell short of the Lord’s deservings. Happy is he whose fingers are wedded to his harp. He who praises God for mercies shall never want a mercy for which to praise. To bless the Lord is never unseasonable. His praise shall continually be in my mouth, not in my heart merely, but in my mouth too. Our thankfulness is not to be a dumb thing; it should be one of the daughters of music. Our tongue is our glory, and it ought to reveal the glory of God. What a blessed mouthful is God’s praise! How sweet, how purifying, how perfuming! If men’s mouths were always thus filled, there would be no repining against God, or slander of neighbours. If we continually rolled this dainty morsel under our tongue, the bitterness of daily affliction would be swallowed up in joy. God deserves blessing with the heart, and extolling with the mouth–good thoughts in the closet, and good words in the world (C.H. Spurgeon)Click here for Matthew Henrey’s Commentary
Truth in Practice
Today’s Psalm can be personalized by answering the following five questions:
Who? “I”.
Family Worship
What? “Will bless”.
Whom? “The Lord”.
When? “At all times”.
How? “With my mouth”.
Praise God today as a family in your prayers, testimony, hymns and spiritual songs.
Greg Bailey
Catechism Question : 73
Q. How is the Word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation?
A. That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend to it with diligence (Pr. 8:34; 1 Peter 2:1,2), and prayer (Ps. 119:18) receive it with faith (Heb. 4:2), and love (2 Thes. 2:10), lay it up into our hearts (Ps. 119:11), and practise it in our lives (Jas. 1:25). through faith to salvation (Rom. 1:16).
