November 25 – Being at Home - Always

“Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.” Psalm 90:1 (NASB)

And this day many are traveling home after their visit with families or other travels on the busiest travel day in some countries. Going home is often a wonderful trip no matter what the reason. This is a very short verse today from a Psalm written by Moses. He was writing about his own experience and the experience of other people of faith who lived before him. We believe his words can describe our experience today as well. We like the picture of the Lord as being our dwelling place. It is like saying that the Lord is our home. Isn't it true that when we trust in Him we do feel at home? Our Lord does want us to feel at home with Him. It is so comfortable to be able to trust Him and to sense His fellowship. So let's always remember to come home to the Lord because that is where we belong. He is and He always will be throughout all generations for those who believe and accept Jesus. That is something we can be very thankful for today...tomorrow...forever.

 

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November 12 – Unending Song To Sing

 “I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.” Psalm 89:1-2 (ESV)

 

Today we look again at a psalm the people of Israel sang to express their feelings of devotion and thanksgiving to God. The Covenant God made with David is the focus of this Psalm. It is not attributed to David but to Ethan the Ezrahite who was a Levitical singer (1 Chronicles 6:42).  Ethan’s wholehearted belief that God is faithful was the basis for his appealing to the Lord in his dilemma. As we think of God's love for us we too can be inspired to sing with real joy.  When we remember how faithful God has been to us, always keeping His promises we can be inspired to share that with others.  This is what and how the psalmists shared God's faithfulness with their mouth.  This is how we too do so when we sing praises, spiritual songs, and hymns.  God's love and His faithfulness are not just temporal but they are eternal and have always been and will always be. Those of us who believe and have received God's gift of salvation know the  blessing of singing about it and the promise that we will continue singing the praises to God in heaven.

 

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December 19 – Generation to Generation

“For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him.” Luke 1 49-50  (NASB)

When we sing at Christmas time we usually think of the singing of angels at the time Jesus was born. They were not the only ones who sang. There is a song recorded in the Gospel of Luke from which our verses today are quoted. This is commonly known as The Magnificat. This is a song which Mary, the mother of Jesus sang several months earlier.  We're so glad for the promise of His Mercy upon all generations. They show us that Mary was not thinking only of what God was doing for her in choosing her to be the mother of our Savior. She was praising God for what He was doing for others, even for us. Yes, in Jesus, God was showing His mercy and love for us. She sang of what He was doing for people from generation to generation. Many generations have lived since that time and the promised truth is that God's mercy has been and is available to us all. Mary knew that God was using her to do this and what she knew became the glorious gift of Christmas. 

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December 18 – The Humility of God’s Chosen

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”   Luke 1:46-49  (ESV)

These are the words spoken by Mary when she visited Elizabeth to tell her of God’s plan for her.  It is known to many as “The Magnificat” and this, we can see how. It was through the Holy Spirit; Mary understood a most remarkable thing about God.  He was about to change the course of all human history. With the birth of John to Elizabeth the Barren and the birth of Jesus to Mary the Virgin, the most important three decades of all time were to begin.  Two obscure, humble women are presented by Luke in this Gospel as wonderful heroines. Writing his gospel for a person named Theophilus, probably a nobleman of some sort, both Elizabeth and Mary are attributed cheerful humility in submission to their God.  Indeed God is magnificent and deserves this honor and respect.  Elizabeth and Mary acknowledged their lowly estate and God’s magnificence overwhelmed them. This is what it takes to truly appreciate the greatness of God in our lives and His greatness  in the lives of others.  Mercy, strength, subjection of those who are  proud and think they are mighty. These and more are included in the full Magnificat. (Luke 1:46-55) 

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October 19 – Ever Before to Ever More

“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:1-2 (ESV)

Our promise today is one that is beyond our ability to fully understand on this side of heaven. This is a prayer of Moses. This is a tremendous promise to meditate on. From eternity past, which has no beginning, God has been the dwelling place of all who believe. This was true before God formed the earth in creation. It is difficult for us to comprehend how our position in God began before He created the world. But it is true as God is from everlasting (eternity past) to everlasting (eternity future). We may find it strange to speak of ‘past’ and ‘future’ in respect to eternity for it is a concept that has no beginning and no end and just is. Time and the marking of time is a part of the creation of God and began when the World was created. God gave us this because as yet our understanding is incapable of really processing the truth that God has always been without beginning and will always be without end. But we can rejoice that we will be with him just as in His planning we have been with him from before the foundation of the world. 

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November 17 – Avoiding Frustrations

“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.”  -  Psalm 33:10–11 (ESV)

As each election period approaches, wherever we are, we begin to hear all that the candidates say they plan to do for the people.  It always sounds so good to some and to others it may sound like the end of the world. Each government promises to develop good plans for the advancement of their nation, country, state, province, city, village, tribe and so forth. But we learn from our passage here that the only plans that will last for all generations are the ones that God has made and promises that they are from His heart.  The plans the people make will be frustrated as they always are, and the deliberations of the leaders of the nations even when gathered together in counsel will come to nothing.  For that reason, God calls it wisdom to not trust what your politicians promise. Instead, we are called to trust in the promises of the Lord whose counsel stands forever. For they come from His heart and benefit generations after generation.  

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August 20 – Remembering Our Faithful God

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”  Deuteronomy 7:9  (NIV)

How many times do we need to be reminded that the Lord our God is The only faithful God?  As many times as it is necessary and as many times as it takes until God joins us with Him  in heaven. Deuteronomy is a book of reminders.  The Children of Israel were reminded again and again that the Lord God was their God and He was their faithful God.  All other so called gods do not keep what they supposedly have promised, they don't exist except in the minds of those who follow the false teaching.  Since the beginning of time and creation of humans, God has revealed Himself to His creatures.  He has made promises and covenants and never broken any of them.  Our promise today is that God's covenant of love is true to a thousands generations of those who Love God and in faith believing keep the commandments He has given us.  Truly, we can trust our God for He is real, He is the faithful God, our faithful God forever. 

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January 8 – Promising Forever Promises

“He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac.”  Psalm 105:8 (NASB)

Our verse today from the Book of Psalms specifically mentions the covenants, the promises, God made with Abraham and Isaac.  When this psalm was written both Abraham and Isaac were ancient history to the psalmist.  They were long gone but the covenants were being remember as a forever lasting promise God made.  If we think of the many centuries that have passed since this psalm was written we can be impressed with how it is for us ancient history as well.  But God's word never changes and His covenants that He makes with His people are forever kept for a thousand generations.  God's promises which we take just a few seconds each day to consider have lasted and will  last for a long time.   They will each be fulfilled.   So many centuries have passed since God made these covenants and it is good for us to remember that it is just as if He made them to us today.  They are still good.  He promises that His promises will be forever.  

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November 12 – Singing Forever

“I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever; To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.”  Psalm 89:1 (NASB)

Today we look again at a psalm the people of Israel sang to express the their feelings of devotion and thanksgiving to God.  As we think of God's love for us we too can be inspired to sing with real joy.  When we remember how faithful God has been to us, always keeping His promises we can be inspired to share that with others.  This is what and how the psalmists shared God's faithfulness with their mouth.  This is how we too do so when we sing praises, spiritual songs, and hymns.  God's love and His faithfulness are not just temporal but they are eternal and have always been and will always be. Those of us who believe and have received God's gift of salvation know the  blessing of singing about it and the promise that we will continue singing the praises to God in heaven. 

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August 20 – Faithful Forever

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”  Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV)

The words in today's verse were delivered by Moses to the children of Israel, God's people, near to the end of his time with them. What Moses said about God is still true.  It was a very long time ago that Moses wrote these words but it was not as long ago as a thousand generations which would be a much longer.  A generation in the Bible might be 40, 70, or even 100 years.  Imagine then that God is faithful to keep his covenant of love for 40,000 years, or even 100,000 years.  What Moses meant was that God keeps His promises forever.  God  has promised to love us forever and He always will love us as we respond by loving Him and by obeying Him.  And why shouldn't we respond that way?  If we remember today that God loves us we will want to respond by loving Him more and more by doing what pleases Him.  We can rest in this promise today and it will help us to face whatever is before us because God is always with us.  

How long is a generation in the Bible?

Note: If you have found hope and encouragement in these daily blogs, please share them with your friends.  

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January 7 – Never Ending Love Covenant

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,” Deuteronomy 7:9 (ESV)

There are many reminders in the Bible about the character and nature of our God. We have in our verse today some words by Moses addressed to God's people reminding them of what their God was like. How long does Moses say that God would keep His promise to love those who love Him? He said for a thousand generations.  How long would this be? If we think of a generation as being about 30 years (average between 25.5 for women and 34.5 for men*) there have been a little more than a hundred generations since the time of Moses. So a 1000 generations would still be a very long way into the future, wouldn't it?  What Moses really meant, of  course is that God's love for us is eternal. We have a promise from God we can trust.  

* See GENERATIONS:

December 16 – Generation to Generation

“For the Mighty One has done great things for me; 
And holy is His name. 
And His mercy is upon generation after generation
Toward those who fear Him.” Luke 1 49-50  (NASB)

When we sing at Christmas time we usually think of the singing of angels at the time Jesus was born. They were not the only ones who sang. There is a song recorded in the Gospel of Luke from which our verses today are quoted. This is a song which Mary, the mother of Jesus sang several months earlier.  We're so glad for those last words. They show us that Mary was not thinking only of what God was doing for her in choosing her to be the mother of our Savior. She was praising God for what He was doing for others, even for us. Yes, in Jesus, God was showing His mercy and love for us. She sang of what He was doing for people from generation to generation. Many generations have lived since that time and the promised truth is that God's mercy has been and is available to us all. That is the glorious gift of Christmas. 

November 23 – Being at Home - Always

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” Psalm 90:1 (NIV) 

This is a very short verse today from a Psalm written by Moses. He was writing about his own experience and the experience of other people of faith who lived before him. We believe his words can describe our experience today as well. We like the picture of the Lord as being our dwelling place. It is like saying that the Lord is our home. Isn't it true that when we trust in Him we do feel at home? Our Lord does want us to feel at home with Him. It is so comfortable to be able to trust Him and to sense His fellowship. So let's always remember to come home to the Lord because that is where we belong. He is and He always will be throughout all generations for those who believe and accept Jesus. That is something we can be very thankful for today...tomorrow...forever.

July 21 – He Has Done Great Things

“From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.” Luke 1: 48b-49 (NIV)

These words are part of a song which Mary sang.  She was singing about the wonderful works that God was doing in her life. She had learned that she would become the Mother of Jesus, the Messiah and she realized that it was God doing it. Our experiences are different than Mary's but we can praise the Lord just like she did. God does do great things for us and He is ready to do such things for us every day. We need to remember that He is the Mighty One – the Almighty One. That is why His love for us is so great. So whatever we are facing today, you and I can know, my friend, that God is able to take care of it for us. Let's trust Him because He has promised.