Quiet Time : "Beautiful for situation"

Psalm 46 (KJV)

1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Footnote: A refuge provides shelter from danger. Strength gives us courage in danger. Very present help. Can also have the idea of "well-proved help." God's help is both present and proven, ready and reliable.

My thought: This goes to show how meditating on how God has helped me in the past (shown Himself to be Faithful), helps me to trust Him with the future.

10Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Footnote: Be still (i.e., cease from warlike activities) and acknowledge God's supremacy.

My thought: This is the one verse that popped into my head about 2 years ago, when God was really speaking to me. It helped me when I was struggling with things. It's a pretty well known verse, but I meditated on it a lot!

Psalm 47 (KJV)

4He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

My thought: According to the foot note, the inheritance is the Promised Land of Canaan. This verse made me think of God as a definite authority figure. Have you ever noticed how we humans always rebel against an authority figure? How we resent that they think they know better than we do? As with unbelievers, who reject God's good plan for them, who see it as an imposition to the point of denying Him.

Psalm 48 (KJV)

2Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

Footnote: On the sides of the north. In heathen lore, the abodes of the gods. See note on Isa 14:13-14. Thus this is a claim that Jerusalem is the place where the true God reigns.

My thought: I really like "Beautiful for situation." NIV says "It is beautiful in it's loftiness." ESV says "beautiful in elevation." Read what Spurgeon had to say about this verse (and Psalm) here -"The elevation of the church is her beauty. The more she is above the world the fairer she is."

Speaking of Spurgeon, definitely check out this morning's Daily Dose of Spurgeon. It's about God's Love and Faithfulness -

"When thou hast thus looked back upon the love of the Lord, then let faith survey His love in the future, for remember that Christ's covenant and blood have something more in them than the past. He who has loved thee and pardoned thee, shall never cease to love and pardon."

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Quite Time : Belated

I'm a little behind on my quiet time posts, but am quite sure no one is waiting with bated breath for them! However, here is one verse that I meant to look into more, and well, now is as good a time as ever.

Psalm 44:19 (KJV)

Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.

Check out what Spurgeon has to say about this Psalm and verse -

"To be true to a smiting God, even when the blows lay our joys in ruinous heaps, is to be such as the Lord delighteth in. Better to be broken by God than from God."

Here's another commentary (see comments on verses 17-26) by Matthew Henry -

"While our troubles do not drive us from our duty to God, we should not suffer them to drive us from our comfort in God. Let us take care that prosperity and ease do not render us careless and lukewarm. The church of God cannot be prevailed on by persecution to forget God; the believer's heart does not turn back from God. "