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June 27 - Morning
"Praise be to the Lord my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me...
...I will sing a new song to you, my God;
on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,
to the One who gives victory to kings,
who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword"
- Psalms 144:1-2, 9-10 |
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Sing For the Victory |
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In Psalm 144 David or a king of Judah composed this Psalm or used this song in the midst of a military conflict where he was facing an attack that involved broken international treaties (144:7-8, 11)
In 144:2 there imperial overtone of the God and his King conquering and ruling over the nations. This is similar to other royal Psalms where the Lord empowers the king to subdue people in conquest. (See similar lyrics in Psalm 18:46-50 and 2 Samuel 22:47-51.)
The king recognizes that it is the Lord who has trained and prepared his hands and fingers for battle. The hands would, of course, be used to hold the shield, sword and bow. But, the fingers? Specifically, the fingers would be used to draw, hold and release the bowstring to accurately launch arrows (missiles). In verse 144:9 these same fingers are used once again on strings, but this time on the strings of a ten string lyre (harp) to sing of the very concepts of this Psalm.
In this setting of broken treaties and a military invasion the king needs help. He basically beseeches the Lord for a theophany, a historical appearance of the Lord, to interrupt time and space in order to set things right and deliver the king (Psalm 144:5-7).
Being fully aware of the Lord’s righteous nature the king assures the Lord that integrity and covenant faithfulness have been the king’s modus operandi, but those who attack are liars and deceivers that have instigated this problem.
In Psalm 144:9-10 the king seems to have turned this prayer into a song and begins to recite again his request, expectations, faith and thanksgiving in lyrics that make up the rest of this Psalm (144:11-15). |
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"Live in such a way that those who know you but don't know God will come to know God because they know you!" |
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Key findings and statistics on religion in America show that more than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all.
If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation
See a chart showing the percent of Americans
in each of the
Major Religious Traditions
in the United States HERE
(source here) |
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Right words for
the right moment |
Stand firm in face of opposition and persecution |
IPERS |
India |
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Reps & Sets is a daily Bible devotional for Christians from Generation Word Bible Teaching used each morning and evening. |
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