Worship for Today: Joy, rejoicing, blessing and favor in the Lord!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 5:11-12,

"Let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may
rejoice in you. For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you
surround them with your favor as with a shield."

In these verses, David tells of the gladness, joy, rejoicing, blessing
and favor the righteous experience at the hand of the Lord. But not
all have this experience. Indeed, all of us had not seen this
wonderful state of things prior to being born again and those who are
not born again yet today do not experience them.

David speaks of those the Lord abhors as "the arrogant", verse 5, and
"those who do wrong". Liars and "deceitful men" are used to describe
the wicked. Such were all of us. Paul, in Romans 3:13, describes all
of us before coming to Jesus Christ from this psalm, "their heart is
filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their
tongue they speak deceit", verse 9. Their end is seen in verse 10,
"Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you."
Banished!

But David also speaks of another future. A future for those who have
sought refuge in the Lord. He says, "let all who take refuge in you be
glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely, O Lord,
you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a
shield."

In his letter, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Paul reminds us, "that is what some
of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of
our God." How wonderful is this love our Lord has for us that he sent
us his Son! Here is the cause for gladness! Here is the grounds for
joy! Here is the reason for rejoicing! Here is where true blessing and
favor is found!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: It is good, pleasant and fitting to praise God!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 147:1,

"Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how
pleasant and fitting to praise him!"

Here is a wonderful observation. The psalmist tells us that it is
good, pleasant and fitting to praise our Lord. I suspect most of us
who have embraced the Lord in faith can identify with this sentiment
and have likely experienced this very thing on many occasions. The
appropriate and sincere worship of our God is an activity which moves
us to the appointed purpose of life our Creator designed us for. When
God created mankind, he did so that he would have fellowship with
members of his creation designed after his own image. In his love we
were made with an intellect, the ability to emote and a free will to
choose to love our Creator in return.

As God's redeemed children, we are not free to worship God in just any
way we may think of. Our God requires us to worship him in spirit and
in truth, John 4:24. We are also to worship him acceptably with
reverence and awe, Hebrews 12:28. Given these guidelines, worshipping
our Lord, praising him is good, pleasant and fitting.

Those who have responded to God's offer of salvation and who take the
time to gaze upon our God find One who is worthy of our praise, of our
worship and adoration. The love he has expressed to us in sending his
Son to take our punishment on himself draws us to him. His
faithfulness in following through on all of his promises and in the
way he takes care of us brings to our hearts the thrill of knowing
someone who is transcendent and yet has our very best as his
intentions toward us. The certainty of his judgment brings an awe and
respect for the Judge who will bring about justice for all sin and
wrong doing. All of these things find their satisfaction in the good,
pleasant and fitting praise of our Lord.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Lord provides us all we need when tempted.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalms 141:8,

"My eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge—do
not give me over to death."

In this psalm of David, he expresses a certain urgency in his request,
"O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me." Verse 1. He asks the Lord
to keep him from sin and his request suggests in my mind he may have
been struggling with a certain temptation at the time he penned these
words. He says, "Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take
part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of
their delicacies." Verse 4. He also asks that the Lord keep him from
the snares, the traps that evildoers have set for him. Verse 9. One
wonders if David was drawn to return whatever evil favor his enemies
intended to treat him to, in the same way, and yet felt it might not
be right before God.

In spite of the conjecture, something comes through very clearly in
this psalm. David looked to the Lord to help him in the midst of
temptation and/or trial. It is to the Lord that David seeks help, his
immediate help. I am reminded of Paul's words to the church in
Corinth, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you
can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so
that you can stand up under it." 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Like David, who knew to look to the Lord, who assured the Lord that
his focus was on him, "My eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord...",
verse 8, Paul also encouraged all to fix their attention on the Lord
in struggle against sin. In keeping ourselves from sin Paul says,
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on
things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set
your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and
your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your
life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to
death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature... "
Colossians 3:1-5.

Rather than looking to the law in dealing with the temptation to sin,
we are asked to look to the Lord. He can bring relief from the
temptation to sin. As God's children and as those who have a desire to
please him, to grow into spiritual maturity, we have to look no
further than to the Lord himself, to fix our eyes on him. He will
bring us the ability to overcome the temptation to sin. After all, he
has freed us from our enslavement to sin and set us free to live a
life worthy of him!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Lord is loving and faithful!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 117:1-2,

"Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For
great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures
forever. Praise the Lord."

In this very short psalm we are enjoined to praise the Lord. The
grounds for this are two: the Lord's love and the Lord's faithfulness.

We know that the Lord is loving and merciful toward all he has made.
In his premiere disclosure of himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai he says,
"The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to
anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to
thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." Exodus
34:6-7. David tells us in Psalm 145:13, "Your kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all
generations. The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving
toward all he has made."

It is the love of the Lord for us that makes him the desire of our
hearts. Here is the motivation that drives him to seek our good in all
that happens, "And we know that in all things God works for the good
of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28. As Paul points out a few verses later, "Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ?" Verse 35. No one!

But what if God had a change of heart? What if we woke up some morning
only to hear God say that he had a change of heart. His love was no
longer ours and that he was going to leave us behind? Where would that
leave us? What a horrific thought! But, God's love is underscored by
the remarkable reality that he is faithful! His faithfulness endures
forever! We will never see the day when God's love for us is
diminished in any way! Not only that but his faithfulness to us
insures we all who have embraced him in faith will arrive in the
resurrection safely, as we read in 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, "He will keep
you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his
Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."

How wonderful is this! No greater expression of this has been made
than the day he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to planet earth to live
and die for us that we might have life in him!

Merry Christmas!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God has done a work in our lives!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Palms 112:1,

"Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds
great delight in his commands."

In this beatitude, the psalmist speaks of the blessedness of the one
who fears the Lord, delighting in his commands. How does one arrive at
this disposition? Do I just wake up some morning and say, "I am going
to fear the Lord today so I can get blessed!"? How do I delight in the
Lord's commands? Who enjoys obeying someone else's commands? The
psalmist goes on to say that the man who does these things will have
very specific blessings bestowed on him: his children will be mighty,
wealth and riches, righteousness that endures forever, light in the
darkness, he will never be shaken and be remembered forever, etc.

John tells us in 1 John 3:21-22, that our confidence before God and
the grounds for which our prayers are answered lies in obeying his
commands and do what is pleasing to him. As a matter of fact, John
goes on to say that our obedience to God is a demonstration that we
have a relationship with God. He says, "Those who obey his commands
live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in
us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us." Here is also the answer to
the question of how we develop a fear of the Lord and delight in his
commands: it is because he has given us the Holy Spirit. In 2
Corinthians 5:17 we read, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

The man who fears the Lord and takes great delight in his commands is
blessed because he is a man who has become a "new creation". This new
creation is due to the presence of the Holy Spirit who has come to
dwell right within our hearts and changes us from within, as Paul
tells us in Galatians 5:22-24, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and
desires."

Indeed, Paul tells us in Romans 8:9-10, that all of us who are God's
children have received his Spirit. "You, however, are controlled not
by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in
you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not
belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because
of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness." All of us
who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith are blessed as the psalmist
says. We are changed from within and now have a fear of the Lord and
take great delight in his commands. How wonderful our God has wrought
this work in our lives!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Lord brings joy in anxious times!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalms 94:19,

"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."

The psalmist calls out to the Lord to avenge the righteous and "pay
back to the proud what they deserve." Verse 2. In his great anxiety,
he recounts that the wicked "band together against the righteous and
condemn the innocent to death." Verse 21. The Lord brought him
consolation and joy as the psalmist recognized that the Lord "will
repay them for their sins and destroy them for their wickedness".
Verse 23.

For me today, I find whatever there may be that generates anxiety
within me, the Lord's consolation always brings joy! Paul speaks to
the very same thing in his second letter to the Corinthians. "We do
not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we
suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far
beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened
that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."
2 Corinthians 1:8-9. Paul precede's this account by explaining,
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our
troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort
we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of
Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort
overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation;
if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you
patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer." 2 Corinthians
1:3-6.

In Psalm 73:16-17, Asaph was vexed with seeing the prosperity of the
wicked, but the outcome of his anxiety gave way to relief when he
turned to the Lord, "When I tried to understand all this, it was
oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I
understood their final destiny."

A wonderful advantage of being a child of God is that when we face
those anxious times, it is right there we find a consolation from the
Lord that brings a joy to our lives!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Our faithful heavenly Father is always with us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalms 88:13-14,

"I cry to you for help, O Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before
you. Why, O Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?"

This psalm by Heman is a litany of complaint. In it he speaks of his
soul being full of trouble, verse 3, that his life draws near the
grave. He is like a man without strength, set apart with the dead,
forgotten by the Lord, cut off from his care, verses 4-5. And so the
complaint goes.

I suspect if we were honest, most of us would admit to those times
when, even as children of God, we have felt distant and estranged from
the Lord, abandoned by him. As Heman expresses, "Why, O Lord do you
reject me and hide your face from me?" I see something of this in
Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth. There he says, "We do
not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we
suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far
beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death." 2 Corinthians
1:8-9. I wonder if, in Paul's circumstance there, he may have called
out to the Lord in a similar way as Psalm 88.

There is more to the story that Paul provides us. We find that the
Lord had purpose for the hardships that Paul and his company
experienced. He says, "this happened that we might not rely on
ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." 2 Corinthians 1:9. What we
learn is that life as a believer has both those times of intimacy with
the Lord and times of difficulty. All of these experiences we face
because our loving Lord has his own agenda he is carrying out in our
lives. As it turns out, when Paul was in despair he was not abandoned
by God at all, but was in fact going through an important lesson God
had for him. This is what I see in God this morning: our God is
faithful to us even in the times we feel distant and estranged from
him. When we seem to be facing threats all on our own, when we might
feel abandoned by him, our loving heavenly Father is actually right
there with us, carrying out his agenda in and through us.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God is there and he is not silent!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 83:1,

"O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still."

Asaph calls out to God to take action against the enemies of Israel.
He asks God to not keep silent or not be still. He calls to God to do
to Edom, etc. what he had done to Midian, verse 9.

As I think of Asaph's call to God to not be silent against his
enemies, I think of all God has done since that time. Since then God
has been anything but silent at the times of his own choosing. After
the captivity of the remnant of Israel in Babylon and a period of 400
years or so, God sent a prophet, John the Baptist, who proclaimed the
Lord's coming. The Son of God entered the human race and while we were
God's enemies, he took our punishment on himself!

While here, Jesus laid the foundation for a new entity, the church.
After the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, he
sent his Holy Spirit to give birth to the church and enable it with
gifts to extend the Lord's offer of salvation to all men. God raised
up prophets in the early church, apostles who carried the gospel
message and wrote new Scripture for the church to use in its mission.
As Peter says in 2 Peter 1:20-21, "Above all, you must understand that
no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own
interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man,
but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

Imagine that! Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the
Holy Spirit! God is there and he is not silent!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: God listens!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 77:1,

"I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me."

In this psalm written by Asaph for Jeduthun, Asaph begins with a cry
to God. His cry is for help and he does so for God to hear him. As
simple an observation as this is, it is profound to me: God listens!

The psalmist writes of distress, verse 2, with a need to be comforted.
He then sets his mind to remember the works of the Lord. He says, "I
remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew
faint." Verse 3. "I thought about the former days, the years of long
ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart mused and my spirit
inquired..." Verses 5-6. Asaph goes on to say he will remember the
deeds of the Lord, his miracles of long ago, verse 11. From there he
recounts God's holy ways, his mighty deeds, his miracles, the display
of his power, the redemption he wrought, and how the creation itself
writhes in a visceral reaction to God's very presence.

I find this very instructive for me! When I call out to God, I know he
listens. When I do so, as the psalmist, I know it is good for me to
recount the wonderful works of the Lord. So much he has done for me, I
have much to draw from! As Asaph says, "To this I will appeal: the
years of the right hand of the Most High."

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: In God I trust, of what shall I be afraid?

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 56:3-4,

"When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?"

From the title of this psalm we learn that David wrote it when he was
siezed by the Philistines in Gath. He speaks of the fear that would
also seize him except for one thing: he trusts in God. This trust he
has in God is squarely centered on God's word. No less than three
times in this psalm David points to God's word as that which he
praises and is the foundation he stands on that removes the fear he
would otherwise have due to his enemies. In verse 4 he says "In God,
whose word I praise, In God I trust; I will not be afraid." In verses
9-10 David twice tells of God, "whose word I praise".

It is God's word to David that provides him a confidence in which he
has no fear of the danger he faces. It is God's word that is the basis
for David's trust in the Lord.

The Lord has also provided a word to me. As I spend time reading my
Bible I find that I have nothing to fear as I trust in what God says
to me. I have no fear of the challenges I face in this life! I have no
cause for fear of the world, I have no cause for fear of Satan or
demons or any harmful spiritual entity, I have no cause for fear of my
own sinfulness! I have no cause for fear of the eventual physical
death I face, I have no cause for fear of God's judgment. I have no
cause for fear!

God has promised me a wonderful hope. God has promised me a wonderful
inheritance in his kingdom, at his table as a son and co-heir with
Jesus Christ! God has promised me an eternal, abundant life with him,
living in his presence and his glory! His promises to me are all
contained in his word to me that I praise! How wonderful he has
provided these to me in the pages of Scripture!

What do I have to fear?! "In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord,
whose word I praise- in God I trust; I will not be afraid." Verses
10-11.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

--
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Lord has done wonderful things for us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 52:9,

"I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will
hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your
saints."

David promises the Lord he will praise him forever because he
flourishes like an olive tree in the house of God as opposed to what
the evil man, Doeg the Edomite, experiences. For Doeg, an evil mighty
man, verse 1, the Lord will bring him to "everlasting ruin", verse 5,
and snatch him from his tent, from the land of the living.

David says he will praise the Lord for what he has done. As I consider
the wonderful things the Lord has done, I find myself in the same
disposition as David. I think we all do when we give serious
reflection to the wonderful things the Lord has done for us.

As I read Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 1:8-9, "He [God] will punish
those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord
Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out
from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power". This
was me! I was destined for this very thing!

But in his kindness, the Lord saved me! "When the kindness and love of
God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things
we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing
of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us
generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been
justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of
eternal life." Titus 3:4-7. What a kindness! What a love! What mercy
my Lord has had on me!

How can I not but praise him forever for what he has done for me?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: Our God of judgment and mercy!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalms 50:16-22,

"But to the wicked, God says:... 'These things you have done and I
kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke
you and accuse you to your face. Consider this, you who forget God, or
I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue...'"

The terror of facing God's angry judgment is horrific! So many assume
that because we all have our "issues" that God is not going to be hard
on any of us. How misguided! The writer of Hebrews reminds us, "We
know him who said, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again,
'The Lord will judge his people.' It is a dreadful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:30-31. Also, "Our 'God is a
consuming fire.'" Hebrews 12:29. Woe to the man that falls into the
wrath of God's judgment!

We learn from Scripture that our God is both a God of judgment and
also a God of love, mercy and kindness. We never want to confuse the
two. God is an angry God when it comes to sin and he will judge all
sin. God is also a God of love and mercy. That love and mercy never
comes at the expense of his judgment. The wrath that was due all
mankind fell on the shoulders of our wonderful Savior our heavenly
Father sent. We read in Isaiah 53:5-6, "He was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that
brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We
all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own
way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." God's wrath
for our sins was sustained by Jesus Christ. Only those who embrace him
in faith have their sins paid for. All others will face God's judgment
on their own.

I shudder as I contemplate the wrath of God, and I marvel at the love,
kindness and mercy this terrifying judge has expressed in his sending
of his Son to take my punishment on himself!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 41:12,

"In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever."

In Psalm 41 David seeks the Lord's mercy, verse 10. His enemies report
that he has a "vile disease" that he won't recover from, verse 8.
David asks the Lord to raise him up, to have mercy on him, that he
might repay his enemies. In the psalm David reflects on the events of
his life that demonstrate the Lord's favor on him. He says, "I know
that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me."
Verse 11.

David recounts the blessings the Lord bestows on those who are
pleasing to him. "Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord
delivers him in times of trouble, verse 1. David says the Lord will
protect him and preserve his life, and sustain him on his sickbed,
verses 2 and 3. While many today misunderstand or misread the Lord's
love and acceptance based on the circumstances of their lives (note
the hardships of Paul's life, who was working squarely in the midst of
the Lord's will), for David, on his side of the crucifixion of Jesus
Christ, these were demonstrations of the Lord's active expression of
his favor on a person's life.

Verse 12 catches my eye this morning. David says the Lord will set him
in his presence forever because of his integrity. David is not saying
he is a perfect man. On the contrary, he freely admits he is a sinful
man, "O, Lord, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against
you." Verse 4. My perspective is that David knew something of what
Paul would tell us later in Galatians 5:22-23, that those who belong
to the Lord manifest something of the Lord in their lives.

That David speaks of the Lord setting him in his presence, causes me
to think of what that might be like. To be set in the Lord's presence!
What will that feel like? We are told in Scripture that we will all
be set in the Lord's presence at some time. For those who have found
themselves in the Lord's presence, or near it, they speak of a fear
that seizes them. Isaiah, Moses, Peter, James and John were all
gripped with fear as they found themselves in the blinding brilliance
of the Lord's piercing presence.

While I contemplate the thought of being set in the Lord's presence,
it certainly brings a certain fear to me. But I am assured by Jude's
observation, that the event will be one of joy! "To him who is able to
keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence
without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory,
majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before
all ages, now and forevermore! Amen." Joy awaits us there as the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, that we will appear before
him as without fault! How wonderful is that?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: How wonderful the things the Lord has planned for us!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 40:5,

"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you
planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of
them, they would be too many to declare."

What a wonderful observation David makes here! David says he waited
patiently on the Lord and the Lord turned to him and heard his cry,
verse 1. That the Creator of the cosmos listens to us at all is
astonishing! He listens to our prayers! As I think of that simple
reality, I just marvel at it this morning! If that were not enough,
David makes his further observation: the Lord's wonders, the things he
has planned for us, no one could recount!

This was the very theme of worship in our worship gathering yesterday.
In Psalm 31:19 David says, "How great is your goodness, which you have
stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men
on those who take refuge in you." How true is David's observation,
that the great goodness the Lord has stored up for us, the things he
has planned for us... are simply too many to declare! No one could
recount them all! Yesterday we took a sampling of a few that Paul and
Peter provides us:

Ephesians 1:3-14,

God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual
blessing in Christ, verse 3.
He chose us in him before the creation to be holy and blameless in his
sight, verse 4.
He predestined us, in his love, to be adopted as his children, verse 5.
God has freely given us his glorious grace in Jesus Christ, verse 6.
God has given us redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ, verse 7.
God lavished the riches of his grace on us through the forgiveness of
our sins, verses 7-8.
God made known to us the mystery of his will: to bring all things
together under Jesus Christ, verses 9-10.
In his predestination, God chose both Jews and Gentiles for the praise
of his glory, verses 11-12.
God marked us in him with a seal, the Holy Spirit, verse 13.
The Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until our
redemption, verse14.

1 Peter 1:3-9,

God has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, verse 3.
God has given us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil of fade,
kept in heaven for us, vs 4.
We are shielded by God's power until our coming salvation, verse 5.
God refines our faith, which results in praise, glory and honor, verse 7.
God fills us with an inexpressible and glorious joy as we receive our
salvation, verses 8-9.

Many are the wonders the Lord has done, has planned for us! How great
is the Lord's goodness he has stored up for all of us who have
embraced him in faith! How wonderful is our Lord!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The wonderful promises of the Lord!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 22:4-5,

"In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered
them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were
not disappointed."

As David cries out to the Lord, his plea becomes prophetic of the
suffering servant of the Lord we read about in Isaiah 52 and 53. Here
we have a window into the very soul of Jesus Christ as he hangs on the
cross. We are told in the gospel account that Jesus began to quote
this psalm as he hung on that cross. In this psalm we read of the
suffering and agony our Lord experienced in the horrific death he took
to pay for the sins of all mankind. "My heart has turned to wax; it
has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth." Verses 14-15.

In his plea, David reminds the Lord that the patriarchs placed their
trust in him and the Lord delivered them. The patriarchs cried out to
the Lord, they trusted in the Lord and were not disappointed. Paul
tells us in Romans 4:20-24 , that this is the very kind of trust that
brings righteousness to man: to the patriarchs, to those in Paul's day
and to us as well today. Paul says, "He [Abraham] did not waver
through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in
his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had
power to do what he had promised. This is why 'it was credited to him
as righteousness.' The words 'it was credited to him' were written not
for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit
righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from
the dead."

This is the theme that runs through my mind this morning. The Lord is
faithful. He has the power to do all that he has promised and will
fulfill his every promise! My salvation is certain based on his
promise to me. It is just as certain as I sit here and think about it!

How wonderful the Lord has the power to do all he has promised! How
wonderful our Lord is in his faithfulness that he will do all he has
promised! How wonderful are the promises of the Lord!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Lord is my refuge!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalms 17:7,

"Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand
those who take refuge in you from their foes."

David speaks of the "wicked" that assail him, verse 9. He cries out to
his Lord who has become his faithful and reliable refuge from his
enemies, his foes. David had very real enemies that sought to destroy
him.

The greatest enemy I have faced in my life is the Lord himself. He was
set to destroy me. As a fallen member of the human race I faced the
wrath of God's judgment for my sin. Coming into this life I was
confronted, not only with the certain prospect of eventual physical
death at some unknown time, but also God's certain wrath and judgment.
As someone who was not fit for life in eternity lived with our
Creator, I faced the Great White Throne Judgment with my inevitable
destination in the Lake of Fire.

Facing a foe in Jesus Christ, who comes to "tread the winepress of the
fury of the wrath of God Almighty", an offer of incredible love was
extended to me! My enemy came to die for me, to take my punishment of
judgment on himself! I marvel as I read the words of Isaiah 53:5-6 ,
"He [Jesus Christ] was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed
for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all." He who saves by his right hand saved me when I
embraced him in faith!

What a love this is! What a refuge our Lord has become for me! Just like David!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The words of the Lord are flawless.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalms 12:6,

"The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace
of clay, purified seven times."

Purifying silver in a furnace of clay removes impurities resulting in
perfect silver, without any defect of an object it is made into.
Perfection, no flaw, pure, true and pristine in every sense. I have to
think that purifying silver seven times is overkill and would result
in a totally flawless batch of silver long before the seventh
purification was underway. David tells us God's word is just this
flawless. It has no impurities, it has no flaw.

Not every source of information we are exposed to these days is
flawless. We seem to be living in a day when whatever is published in
a newspaper or periodical needs to be read with a cautious eye. What
passes for news today on broadcast television and radio has to be
understood in terms of distortion, inaccuracy and error.

How wonderful and refreshing it is to have a source of information
that is as flawless as silver refined seven times! As God's word, the
Bible has inherent authority because it is authored by our Creator.
Because it is authored by One who is perfect in every sense, what it
has to say is always true, it is always without error, it is always
flawless!

"Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came
about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its
origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried
along by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1:20-21.

How wonderful our Creator has communicated to us in terms that are
flawless, without error and just as true as he is!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Lord upholds our cause!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalms 9:4a,

"You have upheld my right and my cause..."

In this psalm David acknowledges the Lord's favor in his life. As the
righteous judge, the Lord upholds David's "right" and "cause". Because
of this, David's enemies turn back and stumble before the Lord, verse
3.

We understand that because our Lord is a Lord of justice, all will
receive their due from him. In verse 16 we read, "The Lord is known by
his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands."
However, what cannot be missed is David's appreciation for the Lord's
care and concern for him. This care and concern is evidenced in the
Lord upholding David's cause.

We, likewise, acknowledge the Lord in his upholding our cause. I often
think of the lack of grounds for this in my own life and it draws me
to a deep appreciation for what we call the Lord's grace toward us.
There is certainly nothing within me, from my perspective, that would
warrant the Lord favoring me, upholding my cause. Yet I read in Romans
8:28, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who
love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

God works for our good! Nothing I earned, nothing I merit, nothing
that is due me! For an inexplicable reason, apart from the loving
heart of our wonderful God, he lavishes his grace on us! He sent his
Son to die a miserable death for us! He has made us his children,
providing us a place at his table! He has given us the Holy Spirit as
a comforter and companion! He has made a new creation of us! He has
brought us a wonderful and exciting hope in the resurrection!

Astonishing is the grace of our wonderful God which he has so freely given us!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Worship for Today: The Lord brings joy!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him in Psalm 4:7,

"You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and
new wine abound."

David speaks of joy in this verse. As he calls out to God in his
distress, verse 1, he finds a great joy in God. He says the joy the
Lord brings him is greater than the joy the "many" in verse 6 have
when they experience abundance in their harvest of grain and wine.

I'm sure the celebration an abundant harvest brought to folks in that
day a joy something akin to what may be the current reaction of a home
town to a World Series win or a Super Bowl win. Maybe a family's
sweepstakes or lottery win. The birth of a child, a marriage or a long
sought-after job obtained. The fortunes of a people in that day were
certainly tied to the success of the annual harvest. An abundant
harvest was cause for great celebration and joy.

Joy is one of those emotions in life that reflects the greatness of
something or someone encountered, a deep longing fulfilled or a
wonderful experience. Joy is an emotion reserved for experiencing the
best in life. One of the complaints that might be lodged is the
absence of joy often found in people's lives today. In an age of
affluence and a high standard of living, joy is something that some
folks pursue in futility. Even the word itself, "joy", doesn't seem to
enjoy much currency these days.

But joy is the chosen word of those who have had an experience, an
encounter with our Lord. Those who have had first-hand dealings with
the Lord report back to the rest of us with a reverence and a joy that
grips their hearts. I am reminded of Peter's observation, "Though you
have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him
now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and
glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the
salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:8-9. As David found his joy in the
Lord when in distress, we too experience a deep joy as we "fix our
eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy
set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2. We need look no
further than here for encountering "an inexpressible and glorious
joy"! Our Lord is like that...

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd
love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com