"Know God, know yourself and PRAISE the LORD!"

Day #60:  Daily Bible Reading - February 26th 

Scripture Reading:  Psalm 24 - 26 ...

I know that many people think of David and immediately think of how he killed Goliath with a slingshot and a stone, or perhaps of his sin with Bathsheba or of his great wealth and many possessions ... but none of those things describe who David WAS!  He was the King of Israel, the father of Solomon and the conqueror of much of the world ... but that's not who he was.  David was a man after God's own heart.  David was a man in love with God.

Many of the Psalms take us right to the heart of what it truly means to know God and to love Him.  The Psalms in our reading for today certainly take us to the heart of David's relationship with the LORD, the only true God, the great "I AM!"  David loved God; he trusted God; he worshiped God!!

Psalm 24 testifies to the greatness of God, declaring "the earth is the LORD's, and everything in it!" (24:1).  I remember memorizing this Psalm when I was a young boy and the cry of David, "Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! ... Who is this King of glory?  ... The LORD Almighty - HE is the King of glory!!" (24:7,10).  Who can approach the King of glory?

Today people think they can come to God any old way they choose and God will receive them.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  David understood his own sin when he asks his own question:    "He who has clean hands and a pure heart ..." (24:4).  Does that describe you?  No one can approach God except for His mercy and grace in providing a Savior!  David knew God ... and he knew himself.  He knew he needed mercy and grace, and he knew he could trust God to save him.

Psalm 25 is amazing, because as you read the first fifteen verses you might think that David was having a really good day and a really wonderful life.  He testifies that he trusts in the Lord and he know his hope is found in Him.  He thanks God for for His mercy, His love and His forgiveness.  David knew God and he knew himself and he was moved to praise the LORD!  "All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful!" (25:10).  It makes you want to say, "God is good!!  All the time!!"

Then verses 16-21 reveal that David was actually going through a difficult time of persecution and affliction.  He was testifying in the midst of a storm!  THAT's faith.  So many today praise God when things are going well and then question Him when trials come, but not David.  Instead, David turns to God with confidence and with hope:  "May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you" (25:21).

And finally, Psalm 26 points out David's firm foundation.  "I have trusted in the LORD without wavering" (26:1).  "Your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth" (26:3).  David said that he proclaimed aloud the LORD's praise and "I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells" (26:8).  No wonder that David arrives at verse 12:  "My feet stand on level ground; in the great assembly I will praise the LORD."

David was a man after God's own heart.  David was a man in love with God.  He was a sinner, like you and me, and for a moment in his life he stumbled ... but God lifted him up and used David in amazing ways to glorify Himself.  He can and will do the same in your life and mine if we will seek the Lord as David did.  God has made a new way to approach Him through His Son Jesus Christ.  As you and I come to Him by faith, trusting in Him, we, too, will find God loving and faithful, and our hope in Him will not disappoint.

Then, together with David, we will PRAISE the LORD!

"O LORD, our God, You are great and greatly to be praised!  You ARE the King of glory, before whom all the earth will bow down.  May those who trust in You give thanks at all times as we rest in You, for we shall not be moved!  Together, we will sing Your praise FOREVER!  In Jesus' name, Amen"