"Psalm 66:13-20
Love God
When you are in trouble do you ever bargain with God? Do you ever make a promise that if God were to answer your prayer you will do something (… or you won’t do something ever again!)? The psalmist made such a promise – and when his prayer was answered he fulfilled his promise. He wrote, ‘I will … fulfil my vows to you – vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble’ (vv.13–14).
God loves you. He does not withhold his love from you. The psalmist praises God: ‘He stayed with me, loyal in his love’ (v.20, MSG). Your love for God and others is a response to his love for you, ‘We love because he first loved us’ (1 John 4:19).
God, in his love for you, hears and answers your prayers. If you want to enjoy God’s love to the full, experience answered prayer, and show your love for him, there is one thing you need to avoid. The psalmist writes: ‘If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened’ (Psalm 66:18).
If there is sin in the past, you can confess it and repent of it and be forgiven. What really blocks our relationship with God is if we deliberately plan to sin in the future. Then we cannot come into God’s presence with a clear conscience. This blocks the experience of his love.
It is because God, in his love ‘has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer’ (v.19), that in response the psalmist wants other people to listen to him. ‘Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me’ (v.16). It is so encouraging to hear other people’s testimonies about what God has done in their lives. It inspires the rest of us and increases our faith.
Lord, thank you for your forgiveness, mercy and love. Thank you for the many times when you have listened and heard my voice in prayer (v.19). ‘Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!’ (v.20)."
1. Thank You, indeed, for your forgiveness, O, Lord. I cannot just thank You enough.
2. Thank You for continuous learning.
3. Hallelujah for a free movie ticket! =D
