Daily Devotional for Monday, August 19

The Psalmist’s Prayer

“God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations,” Psalm 67:1, 2.

The day of Pentecost must have been quite fascinating for all who were present at that great meeting. The church body had come together as they had many times before, but this time was different. They received power from the Holy Spirit and began to speak in various languages as the Spirit gave them the ability. This generated a great multitude of diverse nationalities to come to hear the Word of God in their own language. Peter preached a great sermon, and thousands were saved, baptized and added to the church that day (Acts 2:1-41). Amen. This was just the beginning. Soon the gospel would go forth into all the nations.

God’s people became a blessing and a witness to others. The psalmist prayed for the Lord’s mercy and blessings upon the nation of Israel so that God would be known and exalted throughout the earth. As long as the people of Israel obeyed and served the Lord faithfully, they would receive great blessings (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). The nations would see this and fear the God of Israel. The psalmist prayed that all nations would give praise to the Lord God above and be blessed.

As we know, Israel did not remain faithful and missed out on many of the great blessings God desired to give to them. Sadly, this also hurt their witness to the nations around them. The Lord’s churches have been given a commission along with wonderful promises for obedience. But have we lost our excitement for the Lord and His work? If we are not enthused about the gospel of Christ, then why would the lost see a need for Him? We need to pray for revival within our nation and in His churches. A revival starts within our hearts.

REFLECTION
“Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6).

Darla Goodrum