The inspiration for today is set in Psalm 62:1-8. Here David in this chapter addresses the music director Jeduthun! He says that God is his rest, his salvation, and his fortress. This is his declaration against the gainsayers taunts. He states he will not be shaken for his God is The Rock! Perhaps we can learn from him and maintain our faith.
David declares his soul rests in the Lord. May we all, each one of us, be able to learn from him. Let’s trust God in every situation that He’s got our back!
Be blessed today!
“Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down— this leaning wall, this tottering fence? Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.“ Psalms 62:1-8 NIV.
Soar like an eagle to the Rock of your salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ!
by BG O’Neal
*This is the place where eagles dwell when their strength is renewed! They go their own rock! Just as you and I must depend upon Christ, the solid Rock on which “we” stand!
Allow me to divulge my thoughts on the following scriptures. Hear my cry indicates the severity of David’s innermost anguish. He would lean on the Lord in his moments of weakness. He prays lead me to the Rock that is strong whose precipice extends into the heavens! I call God my Rock! He’s my support and strength more powerful than I am. I am insufficient without His mighty power!
His mindset in prayer was found in reminding God that He was always his refuge! I believe that most likely he remembered all the times He had delivered him! David was a man after God’s own heart. He knew he could trust Him! He had trusted Him many times before!
Let me dwell in the safety of your covering is what’s meant by “dwelling in tent of the Lord.” He desired to be hidden under the secret of God’s wings to be protected from the attacks of the enemy! But God! He who is gracious, merciful, and compassionate! Pause, and think on this!
”Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer;“ “from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah“ Psalm 61:2-4 ESV.
I will rise on eagle’s wings!
Prayer: Oh God would you be with me? Strengthen me in my weak moments. I trust that your ability is the greatest for you are stronger than the mightiest! Lord, I have seen you come through too many times. I believe you will do it again this time! I thank you Father! I know your power is the greatest! I honor you the Most High God!
My refuge is under the covering of your wings! Your word spreads over me like an eagle’s wings. You, Holy Spirit, speak your peace to me in every situation! You help me, you strengthen me, and you guide me! For this I am thankful! I thank you Father for hearing my petition as I declare your wondrous work in my life! In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, I pray – Amen!
Well, it’s not but it could have been. To be truthful, I have struggled with how to present it.
It is a story of David reflecting on his conflict with the Arameans. Have you ever felt conflicted? Has God seemed so distant? Ever felt like your earth is shaking under your feet? What do you do? Would you cry out to God for immediate help?
It would definitely be a horrible gut feeling to think for one moment that God has rejected you. Not only that but to think he has broken you! You are going through hardship. Your world reels to and fro from the wine you are made to drink: socially, politically, religiously, and economically!
David cried out to God to restore them! He was feeling defeated, rejected, and fearful yet he still trusted his God. We don’t understand all the winds that blow around us. Instead of blaming the world, let’s be truthful and admit we have made wrong choices! In these times learn to reverence God and allow him to wave his banners over you!
His banner of love! His banner of joy! His banner of peace! Trust him! Rely on him! He has major purpose for you right where you are. God has a place for you! He calls us to be ministers of reconciliation. May we reach as much of humanity as we possibly can while we live! And move and have our being in Christ! Now that’s poetic!
“You have rejected us, O God; You have broken us; You have been angry; restore us! You have shaken the land and torn it open. Heal its fractures, for it is quaking. You have shown Your people hardship; we are staggered from the wine You made us drink. You have raised a banner for those who fear You, that they may flee the bow. Pause and think about it. Respond and save us with Your right hand, that Your beloved may be delivered. God has spoken from His sanctuary: “I will triumph!” Psalms 60:1-6a BSB Berean Study Bible.
Commentary: You go through all the trials you do! You don’t understand it all. The whys, the hows, the whos! Just to hear that still small voice from heaven speak peace to you, your God will triumph! He heard you Daniel, 21 days ago! Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He does “always” cause us to triumph in Christ!
Rest now! The battle is the Lord’s! He has won! He has gotten the victory! I pray your heart is touched and the peace of God rules your life! May His Shalom be upon you, with you, and in you! As my pastor says in closing, “Peace be with you!”
When the Savior reached down for me, He had to reach way down for me!
by BG O’Neal
Here again we have an excerpt of four verses from another of David’s Micthams in Psalm 59. It is his song for deliverance! He sings because Saul has sent men to watch his house in order to kill him!
Does anyone is this present age feel the powers of oppression? It seems like maybe to you the world is out to get you. False accusations are made to destroy men’s character! Everything feels like it closing in on you. You see no relief in sight!
Here is the answer that has never changed throughout the years! It is time to seek the Lord. Trust Him! This is our recourse! Prayer and fasting have been our source of help and still are! We continue to trust God no matter the situation, attacks of gossip; or, whatever it is that we face!
I believe David found help in the time of need! He trusted God’s protection! I hope we all can do the same! Call on the Lord! He is ever near! Don’t stop praying until you find that bright light at the end of the tunnel.
Know that God goes before you! He walks with you! He guards you all the way around. He is worthy of all the praise and honor we can possibly bestow on him!
Worthy is the Lamb “Jesus,” to receive glory and honor! And today, we say Welcome Holy Spirit! We sow the word in us as we read it. Now, let’s allow the word of God to read us! May our great concern be that others see “Heaven,” in us!
“Deliver me from my enemies, O God; be my fortress against those who are attacking me. Deliver me from evildoers and save me from those who are after my blood. See how they lie in wait for me! Fierce men conspire against me for no offense or sin of mine, Lord. I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Arise to help me; look on my plight!“ Psalms 59:1-4 NIV.
Commentary: The favor of God be upon you this day, this very moment!
Studying God’s word; blocking out the world and its ideas!
by BG O’Neal
Here is a Michtam of David, poem or song, To Not Destroy! He simply asks questions of the conscience. We are informed that we come into the world speaking lies. But, what can we learn of his comments concerning the deaf adder? Please read the commentary at the end once you’ve read the scripts below:
“Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly? No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear, so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.“ Psalm 58:1-5 ESV.
“John Gill’s Exposition on the deaf adder found in verse 4:
they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; the adder is a kind of serpent, in Hebrew called “pethen”; hence the serpent “Python”. This is not, deaf naturally, otherwise it would have no need to stop its ear, but of choice; and naturalists observe, that it is quicker of hearing than of sight.
Jarchi indeed says, when it grows old it becomes deaf in one of its ears, and it stops its other ear with dust, that it may not hear the voice of the charmer; though others say it stops one ear with its tail, and lays the other to the ground; but these seem fabulous.
David speaks of it figuratively, that it acts as if it was deaf, regarding no enchantments, but bites notwithstanding; these having no influence on it, which, if they had any, could not be hindered by its deafness; and he compares wicked men to it, who are wilfully deaf to all good counsel and advice given them.
*My Commentary:
Perhaps we can garner needed advice from the questions asked at the beginning! We do better if we judge righteous judgments. We speak the truth as born again believers in Christ. Our hearts are not filled with evil apprehensions and intensions to act upon!
As for the deaf adder we learn they typify those who refuse good and sound counsel. It was said they cover one ear with the tail and put the other ear to the ground to deafen the effects of the charmer! Let’s turn this notion flip side and plug our ears to the charmers of this world.
Deconstruction of good values, Moral relativism, new age agendas, etc and turn from all deceitful speech. Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves in a perverse generation! In the meantime, let’s unplug our spiritual ears to hear the words of the Lord. Allow Jesus to guide us with proper instruction as to our Christian walk. The words he speaks are spirit and they are life!
So, we understand there is a time to turn a deaf ear and there is always time to have open ears to hear what God will speak:
”I will hear what God the LORD will speak: For he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: But let them not turn again to folly.” Psalm 85:8 KJV.
Psalm 57 is a michtam, poem or song, of David when he was fleeing Saul. Can you relate to this story being in this world yet having the indiscribable feeling of wanting to escape? I want to be like David and take refuge in the Most High. My heart is fixed to trust God through it all and in everything!
I pray that my readers in the United States will join me in earnest prayer concerning the elections and welfare of our country. Meanwhile, let’s trust God for his best in all things! Be blessed today!
”Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah!
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts— the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth”Psalm 57:1-11 ESV.
Commentary: Yes, be exalted oh God above the heavens!
Ever seen a grown man cry? You are reading after one that has had shed his share of tears! Here are a few instances of times I have cried. On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. I was a mortal mess! I had just turned 10 years old on October 18th. I cried and cried with the adults.
I remember thinking the world was coming to an end and I wouldn’t get to grow up. Our president had been killed and life was over. Then, fast forward to 14 years old when I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit so strong. One night in an old country church I cried my eyes out on an altar of repentance. I was 14 that day on October 18, 1967 and knew I needed Jesus as my Savior.
The next traumatic event is at age 24. I get the call at work that my Grandpa O’Neal had passed that day on my birthday, October 18, 1977. I was devastated and asked to leave work and be with my family. Then, it was on December 1, 1980 that my dad Billy Jackson O’Neal succumbed to a massive heart attack! He was only 48 and I was 27 and thrust into the role of head of household. I was scared but I fulfilled it gladly being the eldest of six remaining siblings.
Then, on September 2, 2001 I lost my wife of 28 years, Barbara Ann “Wilson” O’Neal, 47 years old, to aggressive cancer. It was nine days before the infamous terror attack on America on 9-11-2001. I wasn’t sympathetic until several days later with New Yorkers and really prayed for them. I was dealing heavily with my own grief and circumstances!
It was heart rendering and I thought I would just go crazy. I lived in fear, pain, extreme hurt and rather much an emotional breakdown! I carried an undue guilt to every function I attended that I was alone and did not present her with me. It was a horrible experience for me with very few family or friends following up with me! I felt like I had died in a sense! But God’s grace was sufficient for me!
However, I am not asking here for a pity party. Grown men cry! Real men cry whether privately or publicly. There’s nothing wrong with that! The realization for me is that God was always there! There were times I cried for my failures and sins against God, yet he has been my mainstay. I can’t quit serving him for any reason. A few times I have cried myself to sleep. That is ok too!
Through it all I like to think God was bottling my tears and then in so many ways poured them out into blessings. My prayer is that today you will trust Him in every situation. Remember this – Tears are a language God understands. He is the God of all comfort! Allow him to be just that!
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.“ Psalm 56:3-4, 8, 10-11, 13 ESV.
God Understands!
“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”Psalm 30:5 KJV.
David sings this maskil, a song of enlightenment of which I have shared portions. I highly suggest you read the whole chapter and observe that it somehow identifies with the present. This author is always pushing us into trust. The era was different but many issues remain the same. It is high time we seek the Lord in every area of life.
He knows my name, every step that I take, every move that I make, every tear that I cry. When I’m overwhelmed by the pain – He knows my name!
”God, hear my prayer. Don’t ignore my cry for help. Please listen and answer me. Let me speak to you and tell you what upsets me. My enemies shout at me and threaten me. In their anger they attack me. They bring troubles crashing down on me.” Psalm 55:1-3 ERV.
”If it were an enemy insulting me, I could bear it. If it were my enemies attacking me, I could hide. But it is you, the one so close to me, my companion, my good friend, who does this. We used to share our secrets with one another, as we walked through the crowds together in God’s Temple. I will call to God for help, and the Lord will save me.
I speak to God morning, noon, and night. I tell him what upsets me, and he listens to me! I have fought in many battles, but he has always rescued me and brought me back safely. This one who was once my friend now attacks his friends. He is breaking every promise he made. His words about peace are as smooth as butter, but he has only war on his mind. His words are as slick as oil, but they cut like a knife.
Give your worries to the Lord, and he will care for you. He will never let those who are good be defeated.” Psalm 55:12-14, 16-18, 20-22 ERV.
Commentary: Friends may come and friends may go. The pain may linger as we well know! But the Savior knows my name, it’s sweet on his lips! That’s what matters! He is El Shaddai!
Unlike David, I am not calling down disasters on my enemies. My battles are not with the flesh of others as much my own! I have fought battles in my mind that never ever happened. I was duped by the lies of the enemy. This one and that one are against me! I just don’t feel right around them! All the while, it was my fears and inhibitions that held me back. The mind will play tricks on you! So, like David, I choose to condemn my enemies so much so that they flee from me!
I am now a free man and the Lord has set me free! What were my enemies one might wonder? I can say that anger, evil surmisings, desire for wrath, bitterness, wishing malice on offenders, etc was among my list! The list could go on and on. But, I have traded my list for God’s bliss. I have joy and peace because He set me free!
He set me free! He broke the chains of bondage for me! I’m glory bound my Jesus to see for glory to God, he set me free! My battles were just as real and emotional as David’s and the next man’s! Yet today I can sing, To God Be The Glory! Great things he has done! An attitude of gratitude will change your latitude and longitude.
Isn’t it a wonderful thing when your horizons meet the heavens? Unexplainable is this marvelous grace of God!
Now let’s read of David’s dilemma when he faced backlash of the Ziphites running their mouths to Saul. They were giving up David’s hiding place. We have a hiding place that the enemy can’t touch! He that dwells in the secret place of The Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty!
”God! Save me by your name; defend me by your might! God! Hear my prayer; listen to the words of my mouth! The proud have come up against me; violent people want me dead. They pay no attention to God. Selah But look here: God is my helper; my Lord sustains my life. He will bring disaster on my opponents.
By your faithfulness, God, destroy them! I will sacrifice to you freely; I will give thanks to your name, LORD, because it’s so good, and because God has delivered me from every distress. My eyes have seen my enemies’ defeat.“ Psalms 54:1-7 CEB.
Commentary: Perhaps you can identify with David in some areas. All the bellyaching you can do won’t change things! It is time to trust the Lord like never before! Ask the Lord to one more time fill you with the Holy Spirit! He will do it! Be blessed! Enjoy this fresh new song:
God looks to see if there are any who have understanding and discern spiritual things. Can we not understand how important it is for Christ to dwell in us by the Holy Spirit? How important it is to receive revelation knowledge from the Holy Spirit!
”For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.“ Romans 8:5-10 ESV.
Key verses: “God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.“ Psalm 53:2, 6 ESV.
*Commentary on Psalm 53:6 from John Gill’s Exposition invites an in depth look into further discussion! Perhaps we will catch a greater glimpse of this wonderful salvation through Christ!
“O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!…. Or, “who will give out of Zion the salvation of Israel?” The Targum adds, “except the Lord”; and this is a request to him for it: and, as in Psalm 14:7, it may be a wish for the first coming of Christ, to work out salvation for his people; here it may be expressive of the desire of the church for his coming in a spiritual manner,
in the latter day, to take to himself his great power, and reign; to destroy antichrist, and deliver his people from bondage and oppression by him; when the Gentiles shall be gathered in, the Jews will be converted, and all Israel saved; see Romans 11:25. It is in the original text, “salvations”; denoting the complete salvation of the church;
when all her enemies will be destroyed, and all peace and prosperity shall be enjoyed by her; See Psalm 14:6.
When God bringeth back the captivity of his people: who have been carried into it by antichrist, Revelation 13:10;
Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad; for now the kingdoms of this world will become Christ’s; the marriage of the Lamb will be come, and the bride made ready, through the calling of the Gentiles, and the conversion of the Jews; which will occasion the twenty four elders,
the representatives of the Christian church, to give thanks to the Lord God Almighty, and cause many voices to be heard in heaven, expressing great joy on this occasion, Revelation 11:15.”
NOSH POSH - A Delicate~Morsel! 
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