Great Jehovah.( John 20 v 28 )

 Scroggie points out that throughout the OT  the name Jehovah has a descriptive  affix,in other words something fastened to it .'Jehovah- Rohi meaning the Lord is my shepherd . Jehovah - Shalom ,the  Lord my peace, Jehovah- Ropheka, the Lord my health. Jehovah- Tsidkneu,the Lord my Righteousness,  Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord my Companion, Jehovah -Nissi,the Lord my Victory, Jehovah- Jireh,the Lord my Provision.David sees God in all of life, such a great God,as the hymn writer puts it ,'How great Thou art'.David was under the Old Covenant ,but we of the New Covenant are also blessed because of Jesus,in Him we have a twofold peace,we have peace with God and the peace of God that passes all understanding, in Jesus we have health that comes from Him,we stand before a holy God in the righteousness of Christ,the Lord,He is our constant companion, through Christ we have the victory,through Christ all our needs are met ,as children of the New Covenant we are truly blessed.Remember all that Jehovah is in the Old Covenant, is ours as children of the New Covenant.

                                             ' For this God is our God for ever and ever;

                                                 He will be our guide even to the end.'

                                                                 Psalm 48 v 14 

Our Guardian. ( Psalm 91 )

 Let us consider further thoughts from Psalm 86 ,v2 reads ,'Guard my life',and of course God did guard Davids life,from wild beasts,fearful enemies,and his fellow Israelites. But we could go further than that,from the moment he was conceived in his mothers womb God preserved him.I am convinced like David I was preserved from my mothers womb till now,I believe I was premature,and as a young lad I was  saved from drowning. Everyone has a destiny,death will come  in God's time for the word of God reminds us ,our times are in His hands,that includes the time of our death.All humanity lives in the shadow of death we can't escape it, God will preserve us until He see's fit.Now I read daily of so many Christians dying violent deaths,the word to them would be, to be faithful unto death (Revelation 2 v10) Many have experienced it,and many more will ,may we remember all those who are living  with that threat hanging over them,may they be given grace to not only to live for Christ but to die for Him .David was not to die as a  martyr, he was chosen to become Israels king,no one and nothing would stop that. God has got a purpose for all our lives ,no one,and nothing can prevent that happening.In Psalm 91 v7 we have these words ,'A thousand shall fall at your side ,but it will not come near you'.

                                                       'Never let us not forget  that our God

                                                                      is Sovereign'

Just as I am. (Matthew 5 v 2) 1

 Psalm 86 is a prayer of  David, a prayer that God would  hear and answer him, he comes with  a right attitude for he declares,'For I am poor and needy'.We are talking about, the man after God's own heart, but the important thing is this,when we come to God, we are still in this body of flesh.Here is what the apostle Paul wrote i Romans 7 v 18,'For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is,in my sinful nature'. He is not exaggerating he considers God  in his total holiness,and then he honestly considers himself.The hymn ,' Just as I am without one plea', was written by a Christian, Charlotte Elliott,who suffered from ill health.One day confined to her home,feeling depressed, useless and lonely,she recalled what someone once said to her,'Come to Jesus just as you are', That inspired her to write that hymn,which has blessed many people.Although it is associated with  evangelistic meetings, someone has said 'It is suitable  for altar calls, and also during Holy communion'. Here are some of the words from this hymn,to unsaved sinners, and saved sinners.

                                 'Just as I am without one plea,but that Thy blood was shed for me,

                                  And that Thou  bidd'st  me come to thee , O lamb of God, I come!

                                  Just as I am,poor,wretched,blind; sight,riches,healing of the mind,

                                  Yea all I need,in Thee to find,O Lamb of God I come!

Without Him. ( Mark 10 v 17 ff)

 Recently a couple won 61 million pounds on a lottery,my goodness that's a lot of money,there are many people who do the lottery.One day a man came up to Jesus ,he wanted eternal life,he was religious,and this is what he asked Jesus,' Teacher ,what good thing must I do to get eternal life? Jesus quizzed him,and then He gave him the answer to his question ,'he was to give away all his wealth to the poor, then come follow Him'. He got his answer, it was plain and simple,but not for him,he was very wealthy, and all that meant must have flashed through his mind,and it was a bridge to far.He didn't say a word,but he turned away and a sadness took hold of him. Was Jesus not asking to much of this young man  after all who wants to be poor, no He wasn't. Jesus loved this young man,but this young man did not love Jesus,or the poor for that matter,so he went away rich in material wealth,but not rich towards God, David Hanson wrote a song,here is a verse from it.

                                                    'O what emptiness without the Saviour  

                                                    Mid the sins and sorrows here below,

                                                    And eternity how dark without Him!

                                                    Only tears and endless woe!

                                                    When I come to die,how would it be?

                                                    O to face the valley's gloom without Him!

                                                    And without Him all eternity.'

I am the Lord thy God. ( Psalm 100)

One of the nicest person I know has Parkinson,he is a lovely Christian and served the Lord in his local church,and was a full time worker in a mission,and then in child evangelism. I am long enough as a Christian to know that the nicest of people cannot escape illness of the most sever type.The word of God makes that plain , it could be disease,persecution, and it may cause us to ask the question ,'why',and the truth is we often do not know.Job's friends  thought they knew but they were wrong.I don't think Job did,he declared 'Surely I spoke of things I did not understand',(Job 42 v3), The book of Psalms deals with many of God's people suffering severely, and unjustly,likewise in the New Testament we have suffering in many places. In Psalm 77 the writer Asaph.is suffering ,and it was getting to him,he prayed earnestly,and he appeared to get no response.also he could not get any sleep.He finds himself  asking questions v 8-9,'Has the Lord rejected him?,will He never be kind again?,has He removed his love for ever?,has His promises failed forever?, has God ceased to be gracious,has He in anger shut up his compassion, questions,questions, ,questions.What does he do?,he looks back, as to how God delivered Israel,and how God is one who does wonders, no one can be compared to Him.He has not changed ,we His children can rest assured that as He who was with us in the past ,He is with us in the present, and He will be with us in the future.

                                                  'He leads His dear children along'

                                                                 'TRUST HIM'

An Undivided Heart. ( Matthew 22 v 37 ) 3

 Let us consider Davids prayer in Psalm86 and a sentence from v11,''give me an undivided heart',sad to say that the history of  Israel shows that they sought to worship God and other gods.They did this often,one example is seen during the time of King Ahab (1 Kings 16-22),he married a woman called Jezebel who was a princess a daughter of a gentile king,and through her influence the foreign gods were introduced into Israel.There influence became so bad that God sent a judgement on them,no rain for  3yearsand 6 months,and so it happened,but eventually there was a stand off on Mount Carmel ,between Ahab and the false prophets, and Elijah.Elijah stood forth and challenged Israel with these words (1 kings 18 v 21) How long will you waver between  two opinions? If the Lord is God,follow Him; But if Baal is God ,follow him'. In  Exodus 20 , God tells Israel ,'You shall have no other gods before me'there is in essence only one God,In Isaiah 45  we read,'There is no other God v7 likewise in v18/22/23. God will not stand for a divided love, with him .it is,' all or nothing'.David cries unto God for an undivided heart,Christian is your heart an undivided heart? there are so many things that can cause us to have an undivided heart.Hear is a prayer we can all pray ,from a hymn by Philip Doddridge.

                                                       'Do not I love Thee, dearest Lord?

                                                       Behold my heart and see;

                                                       And cast each hated idol down

                                                       That dares to rival Thee' 

Feeling confused? (Psalm73)

The author of Psalm 73 Asaph ,and the prophet Habakkuk, found it hard to come to terms with certain things, and for they both  found themselves questioning God. Asaph struggled as to why the wicked prospered?,they appeared to get away with so much,they had no consideration for man or God,they sat back and gloated,and did not appear to have a care in the world.They appeared to get away with all sorts of evil,enjoying life so much ,always at ease and accumulating more wealth.Then it starts to become very personal Asaph asks the question ' did I keep my heart  pure for nothing?Did I keep my self innocent for no reason? I get nothing but trouble all day long; Yet he keeps it to himself,I have listened to a minister who aired certain things that he was struggling with,and it unsettled people, Scorggie says ,'Tell your certainties to others, but keep your doubts to yourself', Asaph did that v 15.But it does not finish there, in his troubled state of mind,He retreats to God and had a revelation,and he realised how foolish he had been. God revealed to him  their final destiny, that they were on a slippery path that in a moment they will be cast into a lost  eternity.The sad thing is that most people just take the short view, blind as to the uncertainty of life that death is certain and so is judgement. Asaph's spirit revived,he realised  true security and satisfaction  can only be found in the living God,and I would add Jesus Christ His Son.