{"id":3776,"date":"2020-09-01T17:28:02","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T00:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=3776"},"modified":"2020-09-01T17:28:17","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T00:28:17","slug":"hobart-herd-devotionals-psalms-103-104","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=3776","title":{"rendered":"Hobart Herd Devotionals – Psalms 103-104"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hobart Herd Devotional \u2013 Psalms 103-104<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   This great Psalm is full of choruses that we\nuse to bless, praise, adore and honor our Great God!   Psalms\n103:1        Bless the LORD, O my soul;\nand all that is within me, {bless} His holy name. 2         Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits;(NAS)  This worship chorus that we often sing is\n\u201cBless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me bless His holy\nname.\u201d  Verse 2 reminds us of the reason\nwhy we must worship Him.  All the\nbenefits, all the things He has done for us throughout our lives.  God\u2019s first words to man, in Genesis is His\nspoken blessing.  Throughout scripture He\nhas continued to bless us with His promises, truths, forgiveness, and\nsalvation.  Our greatest response is to\npraise, adore and honor Him with our words and actions.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Some of the greatest words of encouragement\nto our hearts are that in His mercy and grace, God forgives us through the\nblood of His Son, Jesus Christ. We have a Lord who pardons, redeems, heals,\nsatisfies, renews, and does it all with loving kindness compassion, and\ngrace.(vs. 2-9)  The greatest gift of all\nis His gift of forgiveness.  He forgives\nlike no other person and god of this world. \nPsalms 103:10-13, 10         He has\nnot dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our\niniquities.  11 For as high as the\nheavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who\nfear Him.  12  As far as the east is from the west, so far\nhas He removed our transgressions from us. \n13      Just as a father has\ncompassion on {his} children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.(NAS)  We struggle with forgiveness because we can\u2019t\nremove what has happened from our hearts and minds, but when we seek God\u2019s\nforgiveness He totally destroys the guilt and destruction of our hearts and\nminds and puts in its place His love, compassion, and care.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   As in Psalms 102, the theme of the Lord\u2019s\neverlasting lovingkindness, righteousness and sovereignty allows us to have\nfaith and trust that He will make all things right in the end.  Whatever we see or experience in this world\nof sin will be judged righteously, justly, and graciously if we turn to Him in\nworship, honor, adoration and praise.(vs. 17-19)  We can fulfill what we were created for and\nenjoy His blessing on our lives returning the blessing, with adoration and\nglorification of our Great God and King!(vs. 20-22)  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is\nwithin me bless His holy name!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Father, thank You that Your heart has always\nbeen to bless us and receive the honor and glory that is due Your name.  Thank You that Your forgiveness is so\npowerfully complete, that You remove my sin as far as the east is from the\nwest, never to be remembered again as I turn to You in repentance for\nforgiveness.  May everything that is in\nme bless Your holy name!  In Jesus Name,\nAmen!  Pastor Rob<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalms 104<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   As I was doing devotions today, I was\nlistening to some great music and the song, \u201cHow Great Thou Art\u201d was played\nwith orchestra and choir.  I think when Carl\nBoberg wrote the words to this great hymn, he may have been reading this Psalm\nof great majesty and glory to our God. \nWhile Psalms 103 blesses the Lord for all the things He has done for us,\nPsalms 104 blesses the Lord for all He has created, and all He does to reveal\nHimself and receive glory from all He has created.  He is clothed in the majesty of His creation,\nHe rides the wind, He is everywhere and the sounds and sights of His creation\nreveal His greatness and awesome power. \nWe live in one of the most beautiful places in God\u2019s creation, and I\nnever see the mountains, or the ocean but I have my breath taken by the beauty\nand wonder of it all.  How can our heart\nno be full of blessings, praise and honor as we get a glimpse of our Great\nGod?!(vs. 2-9)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Another picture of our Great Creator is the\nworld of animals and birds.  They all\nreveal and sing His glory.  This time of\nyear is a great time in Hobart.  We wake\nup to the sound of the birds chirping, elk bugling, coyotes howling, geese\nhonking and all the wonderful sounds that surround us.  The smell of fresh cut hay, and the cows and\nhorses, goats, chickens and pets we are able to see and enjoy.  I love when my grandson comes in the door\nsaying, grandpa, I saw the cows, I saw elk, I saw the goats, all on the way to\nour house.  The thrill in his 3 yr. old\nvoice and the wonder in his eyes remind me of the wonders of all that God has\nplaced around me that I sometimes take for granted.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Maybe the key verse for me is: Psalms\n104:24  O LORD, how many are Thy works!\nIn wisdom Thou hast made them all; the earth is full of Thy possessions.(NAS)  Even the great fish and mammals of the sea\nbring awe to our hearts.  We have the\nOrca\u2019s that visit us in the sound each year, the big whales that we sometimes\nsee, the salmon runs that we witness every year as we try to fish and catch a\nfew.  All of this shows the wisdom, and\ngreatness of God and all the \u201cpossessions\u201d that He has given us to enjoy for\npleasure and food.  How many of us enjoy\nthe great fresh seafood that we can catch, or purchase and eat?  Psalms 104:27-31, 27 They all wait for Thee, to give them their food in due season. 28        Thou dost give to them, they gather {it}\nup; Thou dost open Thy hand, they are satisfied with good. 29  Thou dost hide Thy face, they are dismayed;\nThou dost take away their spirit, they expire, and return to their dust. 30 Thou dost send forth Thy Spirit, they are\ncreated; and Thou dost renew the face of the ground. 31     Let the glory of the LORD endure forever; let the LORD be glad\nin His works(NAS)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   My response to all of this is: Psalms 104:33  I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I\nwill sing praise to my God while I have my being.(NAS)  May my heart and voice sing the greatness of\nmy God and the awesome creation that He has allowed me to enjoy and see.  As long as I have breath, I will honor and\npraise His name.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Father, forgive me for taking for granted\nthe greatness of all the creation You have put around me.  I go about my life without being in awe of\nYou and what You have provided for me to enjoy surrounding me.  Make my heart more aware of You and Your\npresence in my life, and may I never forget to praise You with my voice and\nheart.  In Jesus Name, Amen!  Pastor Rob<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hobart Herd Devotional \u2013 Psalms 103-104    This great Psalm is full of choruses that we use to bless, praise, adore and honor our Great God!   Psalms 103:1        Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3777,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776\/revisions\/3777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}