Hold in my heart

Our Daily Bread
I must admit that I don't "ponder" or "hold things in my heart" very well.  I usually figure things out pretty quickly, so I don't take the time to ponder.  I usually blurt things out, sometimes at inappropriate times, instead of holding them in my heart.  It is so hard being me at times!  ha!

The devotional reinforced what I wrote about the psalm below (I wrote that section first this morning).  I suggested writing your own psalm with historical references of when God worked in your life.  Pondering the psalms and other scriptures can assure us that God is with us.  Reading our own history, like when the people of Israel read theirs, reminds us that God did work over and over.  We often forget.  Let's try to do a better job of remembering?

Lord, please help us write our own psalm of history and praise.  Thank you for working in our lives over and over!

Psalm Sunday
Another beautiful psalm today!  I love the way the psalmist wrote so many of them to remind the people of Israel about how God performed his mighty works in their history.

OK, I admit that I forgot to write something like this for today.  I will do it this week since I have a lot of time on my hands!

Psalm 106

1 Praise the Lord.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.
2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord
    or fully declare his praise?
3 Blessed are those who act justly,
    who always do what is right.
4 Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people,
    come to my aid when you save them,
5 that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,
    that I may share in the joy of your nation
    and join your inheritance in giving praise.
6 We have sinned, even as our ancestors did;
    we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
7 When our ancestors were in Egypt,
    they gave no thought to your miracles;
they did not remember your many kindnesses,
    and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
    to make his mighty power known.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
    he led them through the depths as through a desert.
10 He saved them from the hand of the foe;
    from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.
11 The waters covered their adversaries;
    not one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his promises
    and sang his praise.
13 But they soon forgot what he had done
    and did not wait for his plan to unfold.
14 In the desert they gave in to their craving;
    in the wilderness they put God to the test.
15 So he gave them what they asked for,
    but sent a wasting disease among them.
16 In the camp they grew envious of Moses
    and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord.
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
    it buried the company of Abiram.
18 Fire blazed among their followers;
    a flame consumed the wicked.
19 At Horeb they made a calf
    and worshiped an idol cast from metal.
20 They exchanged their glorious God
    for an image of a bull, which eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them,
    who had done great things in Egypt,
22 miracles in the land of Ham
    and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
23 So he said he would destroy them—
    had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him
    to keep his wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they despised the pleasant land;
    they did not believe his promise.
25 They grumbled in their tents
    and did not obey the Lord.
26 So he swore to them with uplifted hand
    that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
27 make their descendants fall among the nations
    and scatter them throughout the lands.
28 They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor
    and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;
29 they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked deeds,
    and a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
    and the plague was checked.
31 This was credited to him as righteousness
    for endless generations to come.
32 By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord,
    and trouble came to Moses because of them;
33 for they rebelled against the Spirit of God,
    and rash words came from Moses’ lips.
34 They did not destroy the peoples
    as the Lord had commanded them,
35 but they mingled with the nations
    and adopted their customs.
36 They worshiped their idols,
    which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed their sons
    and their daughters to false gods.
38 They shed innocent blood,
    the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
    and the land was desecrated by their blood.
39 They defiled themselves by what they did;
    by their deeds they prostituted themselves.
40 Therefore the Lord was angry with his people
    and abhorred his inheritance.
41 He gave them into the hands of the nations,
    and their foes ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them
    and subjected them to their power.
43 Many times he delivered them,
    but they were bent on rebellion
    and they wasted away in their sin.
44 Yet he took note of their distress
    when he heard their cry;
45 for their sake he remembered his covenant
    and out of his great love he relented.
46 He caused all who held them captive
    to show them mercy.
47 Save us, Lord our God,
    and gather us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
    and glory in your praise.
48 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord.

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We are far from perfect, but despite our mistakes and our sins, we will never abandon the Lord and he will never abandon us - adapted from a statement about Abraham from the EfM Training Guide