Project 119: Psalm 113 & Psalm 114
| Project 119 | Amy Hirsch
Morning: Psalm 113
Who Is like the LORD Our God?
1 Praise the LORD!
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD!
2 Blessed be the name of the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore!
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the LORD is to be praised!
4 The LORD is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!
5 Who is like the LORD our God,
who is seated on high,
6 who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the LORD!
Lord,
I praise You and give You glory - You are worthy of all honor and worthy of our worship: You, God Almighty, who call me one of Your servants. What a high calling and what a privilege - to serve the Ruler of the universe and the
Creator of the cosmos. Help me see the weightiness and the joy of this responsibility.
Even as I praise You, my heart’s desire is to see You praised by all people, at all times, in all places; just as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, my hope and prayer is that all people everywhere will come to know You and
will lift their voices in praise to You. I pray specifically for those in my life who do not profess faith in You, that the eyes of their hearts may be opened to see the hope of the gospel. I lift up prayers for missionaries who serve You faithfully and witness to the lost, that You would give them boldness and favor. And Lord, would You work in my heart, to produce a spirit that offers praise at all times - in grief and in joy, in fear and in jubilation, in peace and in distress? I confess that my praise is easily offered on some days and all too scarce on others.
Father, we magnify Your name and lift You up because You are high above all nations, and Your glory is above the heavens! No one is like You, in heaven or on earth or under the earth. To give my worship to anyone or anything
else is false worship. Forgive me, for without You, my heart is a constant idol-making factory. As the hymn says, would you let Your goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to You?
And Lord, I praise You because, though You were high and lifted up, You chose to come down low and to enter into my human affairs. Scripture testifies that You are a God who breaks into time and space and history to intervene and help His people. This psalm would have traditionally been read before the Israelites commemorated Passover and remembered how You saw them in slavery. You heard their groaning, and You knew their pain. You freed them from bondage in Egypt and brought them to the promised land. You heard Hannah’s cries as she
longed for a child in her barrenness, and you gave her Samuel.
And You saw me, in bondage to my own sin and shame, and You came down to rescue me through Christ. Christ, who did not consider equality with You a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing. Christ, who took on the form of a servant for my sake. Christ, who poured out His life for me. You see me in my brokenness and discontentment. You hear my cries, and You know, and You lift me up. You may not satisfy all of my earthly desires, but You promise to meet me in the midst of those desires, and You promise that every earthly longing will
ultimately be fulfilled when I see You face to face.
Father, I pray for those who are discouraged, for my loved ones who have unfulfilled desires, for the poor and needy. Would you encourage them today with the reminder that, just as You saw and heard the cries of the
Israelites in slavery, so You also hear our groans? Would You remind them that You came near in Christ, and You took on flesh for our sake? You identify with us in every hurt and in every pain! And Lord, would You intervene,
for their good and for Your glory? Would You raise them up and lift them from the ash heap? I trust that You are mighty and can do all things. And, I trust that, if You choose not to intervene, Your purposes are higher than
mine. Help me to cling to the great hope that tragedy is not the end of the story for those who love You - that, because You have raised Christ, so You too will raise us up in glory! Amen.
Evening: Psalm 114
Tremble at the Presence of the Lord
1 When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled;
Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 What ails you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
6 O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water.