Sing unto the Lord!

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness, come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Psalm 96:1-4

O Sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.

1 Chronicles 16:23-26

Sing unto the Lord, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations. For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.

It looks an awful lot like we are to sing unto the Lord and to declare his wonderful works to all people.

Today a friend was telling me about a verse he had been meditating on in 2 Chronicles 16. I flipped through my Bible to find the verse and was looking at verse 23 of 1 Chronicles 16 rather than 2 Chronicles. The funny thing is that I wasn't even in the right verse...even if it was 1 Chronicles. Later on this evening I wanted to turn to the scripture he really was referencing to 2 Chronicles 16:9. Again, my eyes were caught by this verse in 1 Chronicles 16.

A few minutes later I was reading from the passages in my One Year Bible. The reading from the Psalms today was Psalm 95 and 96. I couldn't believe it and I suddenly realized that God was trying to tell me something. :D

I really need to let these verses sink in before I know what God is trying to say to me. One thing I know is that I need to stop being so self-absorbed and look to my creator. After reading all these verses about singing unto the Lord and showing forth his wonderful works I was prompted to go to the ever familiar Psalm 100.

I love when the Psalmist says, "Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."

"it is he that hath made us, not we ourselves" There's so much to take from that one verse. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. God knows our innermost being as much as our outer being. He knows every thought. He's aware of our every intention or motive. He is in control.

What I get from that tid bit is what is also said in Isaiah: His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. I spend too much time thinking about what I can do to change things; about what I can do to make God love me more; about what I want for my future. It is God who made me...he can change things with one word as he calmed the storm by saying, "Peace, be still!" No matter what I do, he could never love me any more than what was displayed on the cross. And he has the future all planned out and it is a good future. I get from that statement, "it is he that hath made us, not we ourselves", that I need to stop trusting in myself and start trusting in him ALONE.

I can testify of God moving after I decided to trust him alone for my life, for my future and well for everything. One day I am saying, "It's in your hands", and the next he's changing things in my life that I couldn't change on my own.

"we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture"...sheep have got quite the life. They are led by the shepherd into fields to graze and eat freely until the shepherd leads them to safety at the end of the night. They don't have to worry about their life, food, or shelter. That is how it is with our Great Shepherd. If we yield to his great care we have nothing to worry about. And again...that goes back to trusting God. Trust. It's easier than we think, I think. :D I'm working on it.

God Bless!

Update

I am home in Belmont. Funny; how you can make plans and then things change in a blink of an eye.

I'm working at Chase's Daily two days a week and am looking for a full time job for during the week; preferably an admin job. I'm praying for a good paying job that can help me earn enough to be able to get my own apartment. It would be nice if it was somewhere between Belfast and Bangor. I'm hoping to get involved in my home church in Bangor again and it would be nice to be closer so that I can do that.

Tomorrow morning I am going to the bank and will be getting a loan to buy my very first car of my own. My parents bought me a car several years ago and since then it was totaled but still because it was bought by my parents it really never felt like it was mine. This will be my very own car. God has been good. I don't deserve his favor...I'm far from perfect...yet he has given it freely. This car is a part of his plan for the moment...I know that.

I'll tell more later. It's late and I need to be going.

God Bless!