Psalm 26

THOUGHT OF THE DAY-

As Plato said it long ago: "The unexamined life is the life not worth living" and the unexamined religion is the religion not worth having. It behooves us all to always examine what we do in light of the authority of the Word of God.

PSALM 26

EXAMINE YOURSELF (1‑5). Is your life what it ought to be? Let God test your mind and heart (Ps. 139:23‑24). In your walking, standing (v. 12), and sitting, are you keeping yourself clean (Ps. 1:1)? Sometimes God allows the enemy to attack us just to make us take time for a personal inventory.

FOCUS ON THE LORD (6‑10). If you look at others, you will be upset, and if you look at yourself too long, you may get discouraged, SO FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION ON THE LORD. Match your defects with His perfections and claim what you need from Him.

KEEP SERVING THE LORD (11‑ 12). The enemy wants nothing better than to upset you and get you on a detour (Neh. 6:1‑14). CONTINUE TO WALK WITH THE LORD AND SERVE HIM, COME WHAT MAY. Bless the Lord and don't complain. God will vindicate you in His time and in His own way.

With the Word - Warren W. Wiersbe

Thomas Nelson Publishers

Nashville

“Used by permission of Thomas Nelson, Inc.”

The mind is a garden that could be cultivated to produce the harvest that we desire.

The mind is a workshop where the important decisions of life and eternity are made.

The mind is an armory where we forge the weapons for our victory or our destruction.

The mind is a battlefield where all the decisive battles of life are won or lost.

HOW TO APPROACH WORSHIP

I have a 95-year-old grandmother. No one has heard me preach more than three times without hearing a story about my grandmama. The saddest thing I can probably say about you is that you'll not get a chance to meet Sweetie Pie. She lives in New York City, and we are lovers. I am the second born of her 65-year-old daughter, and she makes me happy.

We talk on the phone every Sunday night no matter where I am in the world. When I talk to her or when I see her, as I will next week, it's not drudgery for me to enjoy her presence.

Over these last forty-three years, I have simply bathed in the sunlight of her presence. I don't say "Oh, I've got to go see my grandmother." It's "I get to see Sweetie Pie."

Until you stop coming to worship as if you have to see God, you'll never know what the Psalmist is talking about. He says it ought to be your delight to come up into Papa's face and enjoy his presence. It presupposes a relationship that makes you want to be there. He says, "When we have the festival, when we have our Sabbath, when we have our convocation, we ought to come with a certain gladness of heart because God is God.

¨ Richard Allen Farmer, "The 'What's' and the 'Why' of Worship," Preaching Today, Tape No. 150.

(Psalms 26 NIV)

O LORD, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. {2} Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; {3} for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth. {4} I do not sit with deceitful men, nor do I consort with hypocrites; {5} I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked. {6} I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, O LORD, {7} proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. {8} I LOVE THE HOUSE WHERE YOU LIVE, O LORD, THE PLACE WHERE YOUR GLORY DWELLS. {9} Do not take away my soul along with sinners, my life with bloodthirsty men, {10} in whose hands are wicked schemes, whose right hands are full of bribes. {11} But I lead a blameless life; redeem me and be merciful to me. {12} My feet stand on level ground; in the great assembly I will praise the LORD.