The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” —Luke 17:5 Here are insights on today’s passage from J.C. Ryle: Faith is a grace which admits of degrees. It does not come to full strength and perfection as soon as it is planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit. There is “little” faith and … More J. C. Ryle: Faith is a grace which admits of degrees.
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! C. H Spurgeon, commenting on Psalm 150, in our final psalm reading for this year: There is nothing little about God, and there is nothing great apart from … More There is nothing little about God
Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me…… I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed … More Who gives victory to kings?
Psalm 141:1 O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! Charles H. Spurgeon on prayer: This is my last resort: prayer never fails me. My prayer is painful and feeble, and worthy only to be called a cry; but it is a cry unto Jehovah, and this ennobles … More Spurgeon: “This is my last resort”
I say to the LORD, You are my God; give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O LORD! O LORD, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle. —Psalm 140:6-7 (today’s Psalm reading) Spurgeon, in the Treasury … More The Lord was David’s own by deliberate choice
I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; —Psalm 138:1 ESV We need a broken heart to mourn our own sins, but a whole heart to praise the Lord’s perfections. If ever our heart is whole and wholly occupied with one thing, it should … More Spurgeon: We need a whole heart to praise the Lord’s perfections
Psalm 137:1-3 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” The Christian cannot sing in captivity. So it was … More Every heart that has been made new is turned into a harp of praise
Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! In John 17, Jesus prays for us as believers to have this unity, that we should be one. And in Acts 4:32, we read that, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.” As in music, … More Sweet harmony
Psalm 132:16. Her saints shall shout aloud for joy. It would astonish and amuse a European stranger to hear these natives sing. They have not the least idea either of harmony or melody; noise is what they best understand, and he that sings the loudest is considered to sing the best. I have occasionally remonstrated with … More How loud do you sing the praises of Jesus?
In Psalm 129, we come to yet another instance of an “imprecatory” Psalm. Theopedia.com explains: Imprecatory psalms are those those psalms that contain curses or prayers for the punishment of the psalmist’s enemies. To imprecate means to invoke evil upon, or curse. Psalms 7, 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 79, 109, 137 and 139 all contain … More Spurgeon on the imprecatory psalms
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 