Pastor Mike Impact Ministries

Today we want to look at verses 18-27, that we find right in the middle of Psalm 68. The theme of this passage is the unity that God blesses His people with. The nation of Israel was made up of 12 tribes from the 12 sons of Jacob. As you know from the book of Genesis, these sons did not always get along with each other. After they came out of Egypt with Moses and went through the wilderness for 40...

Psalm 68 is a Psalm of praise and celebration. When the God of creation comes down to us and dwells and abides in the midst of His people, we have great reason to worship and praise Him! This is a Psalm, which is also a song, that looks back in history at God’s protection and provision for His people as they victoriously marched through the wilderness defeating all their enemies on their way to th...

It is possible that David wrote Psalm 68 as he was remembering the time and occasion when he took the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Obed-edom, and he led the joyful procession of God’s people up to Mt. Zion to place it in the tabernacle he had set up there.  This is a Psalm of praise that ties the history of God’s presence and victories for Israel to their present glorious time under the l...

Happy Father’s Day! It is amazing how this Psalm and these first six verses of it coincide with the day that we celebrate fathers. No doubt, many of us had amazing fathers who were a part of our growing up years. But is possible that many are reading this that did not have this wonderful and much needed experience. Well, verse 5 reminds us that our great God, YAH, is a perfect heavenly Father, who...

“God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us!”   As I prepared to do today’s chat, the old invitation hymn “Trust and Obey” came to my mind. The first verse and chorus goes like this: “When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there&#39...

I’m convinced that true worship comes from a heart full of the Word of God, and the purest worship is when we read or sing God’s own words of praise back to Him. Jesus prayed in John 17:17 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” In verses 1-2, the psalmist is praying for “God to be merciful to us and bless us….”. Notice the emphasis on “us”. He is asking for God’s blessings and glory to...

Psalm 67 is a beautiful Psalm of Praise! Except for verses 1 and 6, each verse in this brief psalm mentions "all nations" or "all peoples," and in that respect fits in with Psalms 65 and 66. Like the preceding Psalm, from the title we know that the writer of this one is also anonymous. Some commentators believe that it too seems to belong to the sudden period of joy, release, a...

Today, we are going to complete our chat on Psalm 66. Whoever the palmist is, he is encouraging us to join with “all the earth” to “make a joyful shout to God”. The first seven verses are a global invitation for all of creation, and all the creatures in it, including us, to praise the Lord! Now, in verses 13-20, we go from “we/us/our” to “I/my/me”. Notice, “I will go into..”, “I will pay…” (v. 13)...

We might not know whether it was King David or King Hezekiah who wrote this Psalm after a great deliverance and victory over their enemy, but we know this, that whoever wrote it had a heart full of praise and worship for the LORD! This is a Psalm that helps us to come before the LORD with our own heart overflowing with praise and prayer, and to give Him the glory that is due to His name! We should...

Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious. Say to God, "How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. All the earth shall worship You And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name." Selah Psalm 66 is classified as a “Praise Psalm”.  From the first two v...

For years I have called Psalm 66, “The Invitation Psalm”. In verse 5 we are invited to “come and see the works of God”. In verse 16, we are again invited to “come and hear, all you who fear God”. First, come and see God’s awesome works. God’s mighty deeds on behalf of Israel is a testimony to us concerning the power of God to deliver us from the enemy of death. Second, come and hear about what God...

You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, For so You have prepared it. I don’t know about you, but I need a Psalm of praise every now and then, especially in a time when the world and our country are in so much chaos and confusion. There is strife and division on every hand and there appears to be no hope that it will chang...

Iniquities prevail against me; As for our transgressions, You will provide atonement for them. Blessed is the man You choose , And cause to approach You, That he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Of Your holy temple.” Psalm 65 is the first of four psalms (Psalms 65-68) that focus on praising the Lord for His manifold blessings in nature and for His gr...

Psalm 65 is a beautiful Psalm that I look forward to reading and meditating on the fifth day of every month! From the title we know that this is another of David’s Psalms. It is called “a song” and it was written to be sung or led by the Chief Musician as the people came together to worship the LORD at the temple. It appears that it might have been written to be used during or after the harvest (v...

But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they shall be wounded. So He will make them stumble over their own tongue; All who see them shall flee away. All men shall fear, And shall declare the work of God; For they shall wisely consider His doing.  Psalm 64 is about a battle, the battle of words. David is writing this Psalm as he is facing a fierce attack on both his life physically and...

Psalm 64 is the psalm of the poisonous tongue. All we really know about this psalm is that it was one of David's. Opinions differ as to when he wrote it. Some place it during his youthful, fugitive days when he fled from Saul. David's spectacular rise to prominence in the kingdom, after his conquest of Goliath, earned him as many foes as friends. His marriage into the royal family likewise...

"But those who seek my life, to destroy it, Shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword; They shall be a portion for jackals. But the king shall rejoice in God; Everyone who swears by Him shall glory; But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.” The more I read this Psalm, study, and meditate on it the more it means to me. I told my wife yesterday; “I...

I never realized until we started this series of chats in the Book of Psalms, that David wrote so many of them when he was in the depths of despair, in the greatest time of crisis in his life, as he was fleeing from his son Absolom’s rebellion. In the first verses of Psalm 63, David is determined to seek the Lord and desire Him with his whole heart! In a place where there is no water, his soul thi...

The title of Psalm 63 tells us that David wrote this psalm and that he was in the wilderness of Judah. As you read through this psalm you will notice the progressive experiences David had as he sought for the Lord’s guidance and help at a difficult time in his life. You first find David seeking and desiring God in verses 1-2! He acknowledges his relationship to God. He proclaims, “O God, You are m...

O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Over the years Psalm 63 has become one of my most favorite Psalms, among all my other favorite Psalms! I’m sure we could spend several weeks studying and meditating on this great...

Welcome to the first day of a new month! For some reason, I get motivated by thinking about the “first day”! God gives us the first day of the week, the first day of the month, and the first day of a new year! Our God is the God of “new beginnings”. Today is the first day of the rest of your life! In a way, that is what Psalm 62 is about. We are not sure of the circumstances behind this psalm. It...

Spurgeon called Psalm 62 The “Only” Psalm!  This is another of David’s psalms that could have been written on any number of occasions. It might have been written when David was fleeing from King Saul in his early years. Or it could have come out of the time David was in Hebron for seven years right after he was anointed king over the tribe of Judah and there was still conflict with the other eleve...

"Lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Spurgeon called Psalm 61 a pearl, little but precious!  David could have written this psalm during any of the many times he was in danger, but perhaps the best context is the rebellion under Absalom (2 Sam. 15-18). David prayed about a foe (v. 3), protection for his life (v. 6), and the security of his throne (v. 7, where "abide" mea...

Psalm 60:1-12 To the Chief Musician. Set to ‘Lily of the Testimony.’ A Michtam of David. For teaching. When he fought against Mesopotamia and Syria of Zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. Ever since sin entered the human race there has been conflict. It is the battle of the ages, and it has never changed because it is the conflict between good and evi...

So far, we have learned from the title of Psalm 59 that David is in danger of his life. But David, already has learned by experience that he can depend on God to defend him from his enemies. We can learn from David that God's people can always turn to the Lord in times of danger and testing because He hears our prayers (vv. 1-2), and because the Lord knows our hearts (vv. 3-4). David begins th...