Lord, You have been favorable to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin. Selah. (Psalm 85:1-2) This psalm begins on a very interesting note; it connects the fertility of...

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11) As stated above, God will not withhold good things from His people. But this notion prompts the question: What do we...

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. (Psalm 84:10) In verses leading up to this statement, the psalmist considered that those privileged to dwell in God's House...

Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young. (Psalm 84:3) The Jewish commentator Ibn Ezra provides a unique perspective on this verse. He interprets the Hebrew word דרור d'ror -- rendered above as swallow -- to...

Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young. (Psalm 84:3) As was mentioned in the previous devotion, many living things have a connection to certain places that satisfies certain needs -- in this case, where a...

How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (Psalm 84:1-2) In the Hebrew version of the Bible, the very first letter of the Scripture is the letter ב...

Pursue them with Your tempest, and frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O Lord ... that they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth. (Psalm 83:15-16, 18) Many are the...

Deal with them as with Midian, as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the Brook Kishon. (Psalm 83:9) In the verses leading up to this statement, Asaph lists ten nations who entertained thoughts of taking for themselves “the pastures of God for a possession” (Psalm 83:12)....

For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You: the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites. (Psalm 83:5-6) As we mentioned in the previous devotion, this psalm identifies the many nations who have, throughout history, exhibited great...

For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You: the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites. (Psalm 83:5-6) In these verses, Asaph begins to list the nations who have “taken crafty counsel” against God's people; nations with a long...

They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” (Psalm 83:3-4) Before we move on, I felt it...

They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” (Psalm 83:3-4) Embedded within these verses...