relationships (Psalm 145:1-21) Having the Best Dad Ever!

(Psalm 145:1-21)

1   I will exalt You, my God, the King,
     And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
2   Every day I will bless You,
     And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
3   Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised;
     And His greatness is unsearchable.
4   One generation will praise Your works to another,
     And will declare Your mighty acts.
5   On the glorious splendor of Your majesty 
     And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
6   People will speak of the power of Your awesome acts,
     And I will tell of Your greatness.
7   They will burst forth in speaking of Your abundant goodness,
     And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

8   The Lord is gracious and compassionate;
     Slow to anger and great in mercy.
9   The Lord is good to all,
     And His mercies are over all His works.
10 All Your works will give thanks to You, Lord,
     And Your godly ones will bless You.
11 They will speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
     And talk of Your might,
12 To make known to the sons of mankind Your mighty acts,
     And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
     And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
     The Lord is faithful in His words,
     And holy in all His works.

14 The Lord supports all who fall,
     And raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to You,
     And You give them their food in due time.
16 You open Your hand 
     And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
     And kind in all His works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on Him,
     To all who call on Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
     He will also hear their cry for help and save them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love Him,
     But He will destroy all the wicked.
21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
     And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

How could anyone not want to know the Lord personally after reading this passage?  The Lord is powerful and great beyond all measure, doing mighty acts!  He is holy, righteous and truth.  He is gracious, compassionate, merciful and faithful!  He is kind, abundantly good to all, and satisfies desires!  This is so that people might taste the Lord and see that He is good and worthy, so that they can make an educated decision as to whether or not they will make Him Lord and Savior of their life.  But if they reject His free gift of forgiveness and salvation, one has to understand that, because He is holy, He cannot have a relationship with sin, and because He is just, He will destroy the wicked.  

Recently I met yet another person who believes that all people are born as children of God, and therefore everyone has God in them, and therefore everyone will go to heaven.  If one takes verses 6, 9, 14, 16 and 21 out of context, it might be easy to believe that.  But from many other verses, we know that we are created in the image of God, but because Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, this separated us from the Lord.  Therefore, we are born with a sinful nature, and all fall short of God's glory.  But, because He desires that all come to know Him, He came in flesh to accomplish His work on the cross so that we can be reconciled to Him.  We can be born again and become a child of God, forever.

Verses 14, 15, 18, 19 and 20 tells us about all the advantages we have when we become a child of God.  The Lord nourishes us and fulfills our desires.  The Lord will be near, watch over us, hear, help and raise us up.  As our heavenly Father, of course He is going to give us extra special treatment!  Because He helps those who are weak/humble, who rely on and call upon, and look to Him.  He works in the lives of those who bow down to exalt, bless, praise and thank Him, because they fear and greatly respect, honor and love Him.  And out of our thankfulness, our desire and response to His love and greatness, we will listen and mediate on His words, then speak, tell, and declare them loudly so others will hear this good news.

Imagine that we are a child again, and we have this most awesome Dad who loves, helps and cares for us.  He is the kind of Dad we just want to be around, to get his advice, hear his stories and do things together.  And we know that we can go to him with anything.  No problem is too big or too small.  So when we are out on the playground, and the other kids start bragging about how big their dads are, of course we are going to chime right in and say just how awesome our dad is!  Well, with God, it's like that, but far, far more so!!!