1 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good:
because his mercy endureth for ever.
2 Let Israel now say,
that his mercy endureth for ever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say,
that his mercy endureth for ever.
4 Let them now that fear the Lord say,
that his mercy endureth for ever.
5 I called upon the Lord in distress:
the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place.
6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear:
what can man do unto me?
7 The Lord taketh my part with them that help me:
therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes.
10 All nations compassed me about:but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them.
11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about:
but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
12 They compassed me about like bees;
they are quenched as the fire of thorns:
for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall:
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and song,
and is become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous:
the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted:
the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
17 I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the Lord.
18 The Lord hath chastened me sore:
but he hath not given me over unto death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness:
I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord:
20 This gate of the Lord,
into which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise thee:for thou hast heard me,
and art become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders refused
is become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the Lord 's doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.(Prophecy concerning Jesus)
24 This is the day which the Lord hath made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord:
O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.
27 God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light:
bind the sacrifice with cords,
even unto the horns of the altar.
28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee:
thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
29 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good:
for his mercy endureth for ever.
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Comments by Joan Boney
10 All nations compassed me about:but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them.
11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about:
but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
12 They compassed me about like bees;
they are quenched as the fire of thorns:
for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall:
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and song,
and is become my salvation.
Sometimes the troubles comes in waves "compassing us like bees".
Sometimes waves of people are like bees coming at us ... Bees sting and hurt ...
But we turn to God and HE performs miracles for us just as HE did for the children of Israel when HE brought them out of Egypt.
God makes us darkness to them and gives us light about them so God separates us from them as HE separates darkness from light so one does not come around the other! This is the mercy of God toward us.
Another mercy of God toward us is that God even provides for the darkness so we don't have to feel guilt in not providing for them.
An example: My cousin's husband died. She called me and told me about this. She hadn't called me for over two years. I had no idea her husband was ill. But when he died she called me. I was glad I didn't know of her husband's illness. Even in that God protected me from being drawn away to this cousin for had I known of the husband's illness my mind would have been on them and there was nothing profitable I could have done in this case but I would have felt I should try to help and that would have been needless and futile. I know I am separated from this cousin by God. She views me as "darkness" ... and she leaves me alone for I am trouble to her.
After the husband died and my cousin called me, I was burdened by her. But God freed me by showing me this cousin has plenty of people to help her with fleshly things and she does not want spiritual things. She has two adult sons, an adult aged granddaughter, friends living in the area of the country where she lives.
God provides for the just and the unjust. And this is mercy to the just because they do not have to see the unjust in physical need. Therefore we are freed from them by the physical provisions God has given them.
Like bees they compass us about ... Bees sting and cause you pain ...
But God makes a way of escape for HIS people.
Ex. 14 ... 19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these:so that the one came not near the other all the night.
Darkness does not want to be around light. When light comes darkness disappears. God causes us to be light so they disappear from us when we speak in godly ways. And they will not want to come around us because their darkness cannot flaunt itself when there is light.
They come with their words, boasting of themselves and other men of this world. They delight in their cleverness. They delight in man and in the power man seems to have. But they do not want to hear of the great power of God. As long as we speak of man and his power, they will want to hear us. When we speak of what God has done, they do not want to hear us. When we speak in godly ways, the light we give showing God kills them, diminishing them in their boasting.
We are separated from them by the light God has given to us, to HIS people. We are joined together with other light. They are joined with other darkness.
We go separate ways just as light and darkness go separate ways.
And when they try to boast in our face, like David, we say: How dare you, an uncircumcised Philistine defy the armies of the living God? I Samuel 17
And when we speak as God gives us, they flee from us and hide in their darkness.
Thus God has HIS great mercy on us as HE did on the children of Israel when HE delivered them from the Egyptians who afflicted them and burdened them.
There is a woman I met when I played bridge. After I left bridge she continued to call me from time to time wanting me to go to lunch with her. This woman is very religious but is not born again. She loves to tell me about going to church (Catholic) and about many works she does which she considers good but I see as fleshly. (darkness flaunting itself before light)
Finally I had enough. I cried out to God to deliver me from this woman. I didn't want to do anything my own way. I wanted to do what God would show me to do.
After a day of crying to God, HE awoke me with a message for this woman which I delivered by email: "The time will come when you will see you have been going totally the wrong way and when this happens you will be ashamed."
She quit calling me, for a season, after this message. God delivered me by the word HE had me give to her.
Then her mother died and she called me. She told me an abominable story in which she was so proud. The bishop had agreed to read mass over her mother. She was so proud the bishop was going to do this. I listened quietly, saying nothing. But the next day my grief over this was enlarged and I wrote and told her I was sorry she had told me this story about that bishop and it was all an abomination, thinking to exalt one man over another. After that, she quit calling me.
Some would be tricked by devils into thinking, "You should continue with her and speak things of God. Maybe she would be saved."
But when I spoke things of God she didn't want to hear. She wanted to hear about man doing good works, thus she read newspapers telling of man, she wanted TV telling of man, she spoke with other people telling of man. She did not want to hear when I spoke of what God had done. And she was pulling me off my assignment for I was finding I was so grieved by her stories I could hardly read the Bible after being with her.
Do not be deceived: The people of God want to hear about the works done by God. The people of this world do not want to hear of God doing the works. They want to believe the human does the works and they delight in the human works.
For example: When my cat died, I was so grieved. I cried out to God in the night saying I need help. Immediately, I had the thought (from Holy Spirit) to get on Internet and buy a Siamese kitten.
The next morning I found a breeder on Internet that I liked and ordered a kitten and she shipped the kitten by air and I had the kitten by the next Wednesday. After I ordered the kitten, all grief over my previous cat was gone and I never grieved over her again.
When this Catholic woman told this story, she said I went to Internet and bought a Siamese kitten. She always left God out of the story.
I saw her do this over and over. At one point God showed me to change from a TV that was giving me trouble. I told how God showed me to do this. She told the story that I bought a new TV, leaving God out of the story.
God showed me to change from gas logs in my fireplace to wood, because I love wood fires. This woman thought it was such a good thing to change to wood when she saw how much I enjoyed the wood fires. But she told the story that "I" did this. She always left God out.
The world does not want to hear about the works of God. They want to hear about the greatness of man and the "great" things man does.
I Jn. 4 ... 5 They are of the world:therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God:he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
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They come flaunting their own goodness which is of their flesh. They defy the army of the living God just as the Philistine defied David, as they speak the way of this world to us. How dare they do this? But God will stop them and deliver us, HIS people, that we can go forth in peace from God.
This is the mercy of God toward us.