Thursday Psalms: Truly God Has Listened!

In Psalm 66 God assures us that He uses all things, even hardships, ultimately for our good.  The psalmist encourages us by his own experiences, that God keeps us alive and keeps our feet on solid ground, especially when we are tested.  

  PSALM 66:8-20

⁸ Bless our God, O peoples;

      let the sound of His praise be heard,

⁹ who has kept our soul among the living

      and has not let our feet slip.

¹⁰ For you, O God, have tested us;

      You have tried us as silver is tried.

¹¹ You brought us into the net;

      You laid a crushing burden on our backs;

¹² You let men ride over our heads;

      we went through fire and through water;

            yet You have brought us out to a place of abundance.

¹³ I will come into Your house with burnt offerings;

      I will perform my vows to You,

¹⁴ that which my lips uttered

      and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

¹⁵ I will offer to You burnt offerings of fattened animals,

      with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;

            I will make an offering of bulls and goats.

¹⁶ Come and hear, all you who fear God,

      and I will tell what He has done for my soul.

¹⁷ I cried to Him with my mouth,

      and high praise was on my tongue.

¹⁸ If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,

      the Lord would not have listened.

¹⁹ But truly God has listened;

      He has attended to the voice of my prayer.

²⁰ Blessed be God,

      because He has not rejected my prayer

                or removed His steadfast love from me!

Reading verse nine, I'm reminded of an experience I had years ago, hiking with my family while on vacation in Utah.  I was following my young & athletic sons up the narrow and dangerous trail to Angels Landing.  As the trail got more challenging, I could not stop looking down and thinking of the horrible outcomes of my foot slipping.  In this moment of weakness, I swallowed my Dad-pride, returned to safety and worked on my explanation for when my sons returned.  

Left on our own to walk the narrow trail of our daily lives, we slip on temptations and would plunge to the sinful death we deserve.  But we don't face the narrow trail of temptation on our own; God strengthens us and often keeps us from falling.  When we do slip and fall into sin, we fully deserve our heavenly Father's wrath & punishment.  We fully deserve the eternal death our sins deserve.  This is certainly more frightening than any hiking trail!  

But we don't face testing alone, God is with us and will never abandon us!  When we cry out our prayer of confession, truly God listens and attends to the voice of our prayers!  God may not answer all your prayers in the way you would like, but God ALWAYS answers your prayers of confession with His forgiveness!  Give thanks to God for His endless mercy and grace today!  Truly, God has listened, and always does listen to your prayers!

Peace to you!

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS    Burton, Michigan

     We are Pilgrims with a Purpose:  

        Sharing God’s Love & Mercy with Each Other & the World.

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Soli Deo Gloria

"My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth."  Psalm 121:2