What a heart of love for the Lord the Psalmist had.  He declares for all to hear, that when he thinks of the Lord, the thoughts will be ones that are sweet and lovely, pleasant and full of gladness.  Only one who is truly joined to the Lord in salvation can have such thoughts.  Throughout the world there are those who view God with contempt and bitterness.  This can only be because they do not know the Wonderful God of love and grace who has saved our souls and given us every good and perfect gift.  They have never experienced God’s peace and direction in their lives and, therefore, they have only wrong concepts of Him.  As the redeemed of the Lord, we can know Him, Who to know is life eternal.  It is a life filled with sweetness and glad rejoicing.  Each day, as we pause to meditate on the Lord, to think deeply about Him and His Word, that time should be sweet to us.  Our verse demonstrates one way this sweetness can be a reality.  The secret is found in the little punctuation mark, the colon (:).  Colons can sometimes be read as the word "because."  The Psalmist’s meditations were sweet because he had decided to be glad in the Lord.  The concluding portion of Psalm 104 is filled with the determination of the writer.  He was determined that his heart attitude would be one of gladness in the Lord.  His gladness grew forth in his heart as a result of the gratitude he felt for the Lord, his joy in knowing who God is and what He had done for him.  The verse contains two very strong verbs.  The Psalmist’s meditations shall (absolutely will) be sweet.  No halfway commitment is found in the word shall.  Then he determined that I will be glad in the Lord.  Look at the verse just before this one in our Bibles, it has the same resolve of purpose: I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. (verse 33)  The commitment had been made in the writer’s heart and a covenant spoken to the Lord.  The verses are a double vow, first towards God and then towards the Psalmist’s own heart and mind.  Perhaps many of our moods would depart if we made the same strong determination, the same double vow!  In modern life it seems so deceptively simple to go about our everyday duties without singing praise to the Lord, perhaps without even pausing to meditate on Him.  Our "fast food" type of life may have allowed Satan to slip in his design to tempt us to leave God out of the equation of our moments.  But God has a different design.  He would include in His marvelous plan for our lives, times in which we pause to meditate on His Word and linger to reflect on His person.  He knows that it is sweet and healing to our busy minds to come aside and spend quality time with the God of all peace and comfort.  Not only will we experience His sweet rest, but we will also sweetly grow in our knowledge of Him and of His ways.  To think deeply about the Lord is sweet indeed, it will give joy and gladness within.  Only a shallow and bitter Christian can not say that he will be glad in the Lord.  He must have made a determination to turn away from such joy.  I do not want to be that type of Christian and I am certain that you do not either.  We should want to be Christians as sweet as our Lord.  We should want to have joy and gladness in just thinking about Him.  These attitudes could change our day!  Let us stop, meditate, and be glad in the Lord.  Let us find out how really sweet He can be, and what sweetness He can bring into our lives!

The Scriptures are a good teacher of how to be a blessed person.  Our verse contains new items to add to our list of requirements that enable us to be truly blessed.  The two items cited in this verse are: (1) we must keep judgment and (2) we must do righteousness at all times.  God’s standards are much higher than the standards of the world.  The commitment requirements of judgment and righteousness are an evidence of that fact.  Most people think that they are doing pretty well if they do good once in a while, or choose the right way most of the time.  But God says that we need to do righteousness at ALL times.  It would appear that God has a pretty high estimation of what He thinks a believer can be like!  His estimation is not unrealistic, as some would try to purport.  That is because God’s estimation is based on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who is to be our Standard bearer and our example, the One who will enable us to walk in His way and choose His righteousness and His judgments.  God knew that we, as mere humans, could not keep such standards in our own strength.  The fact that no one could keep the Law of God is ample evidence of this fact.  We would "all fall short" of any area of godly expectation in our own power.  In salvation, God has guided us and made us alive to the things of the Spirit.  He also, in this New Testament era, has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit, living within the believer, available for us at any moment and in any situation to enable us to do righteousness and choose judgment.  The Lord that saved us and that lives within is, after all, the LORD our Righteousness. (Jeremiah 33:16)  What does it mean to keep judgment?  The Scripture gives us some hints: Deuteronomy 16:20 says: That which is altogether just shalt thou follow.  Proverbs 21:3 adds, To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.  To keep judgment is to follow the only thing that is altogether just, the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word.  It is also to realize that there is a higher standard than that of ordinary man or of the world, the standard of God, that says it is more important to keep His eternal laws and judgments than any other duty we have.  There are no justifications, so situation ethics with God.  Our choices are clear.  We can choose our own way or follow the judgments of God.  Knowing our weaknesses, God made the decision simple and plain, with no complications.  He gave us an eternal Guide, the Holy Spirit, and an eternal Guide Book, the Bible.  While clear and simple, God’s judgments are also far reaching and infinite in their character.  They include obeying God’s law, walking as Jesus walked, living in love, choosing good over evil, making wise discernments, spending time with the Lord and in His Word.  The list could go on, but it all boils down to a simple statement: to keep judgment means to live as God intended for us to live, choosing His way and will for our lives.  Lord, I want to be blessed of You today.  Help me to keep judgment today.  Help me to think with the mind of Christ and to see things from Your godly perspective, then to act on those things in the way You would choose for me.  And then, Lord, even though it sounds impossible by worldly standards, help me to do righteousness at all times today.  I know I can only do this by being totally dependent on You.  Work in my heart and in my life so that I will learn the way of the blessed man, the way You desire for me.

Have you ever been in the place where you felt like you had a longing soul?  Perhaps it was when you were first saved, or when you were in deep distress, or after a tragedy.  In times like those, there was only One who could satisfy your needs, the wonderful Lord Jesus, for He satisfieth the longing soul.  We need to remember that we have to be the ones who come to Him with that longing.  Many young people have testified that they got into trouble because they felt a deep need and longing in their lives for something more.  They neglected to turn to God for that something and sought to find it instead in the world, in drugs or with bad company.  I have seen little children so longing for love that you could see it in their eyes.  The Lord is ready to fill that longing with His marvelous love, but so many times there is no one to tell or show the little ones real love, and they go on empty, until they can become as cold and non-caring as adults in order to shield themselves from the void inside.  God gave us the ability to feel longing so that we would be drawn to Him.  Satan knows that fact and tries everything to substitute for the real satisfaction.  Adults can also try to fill a longing soul with the wrong things.  How many second generation young adults do you know who have become nominal Christians?  They have not been taught to fill their souls with the things of the Lord.  They try to compensate by material values, success, family, or possessions, for the longing within.  But still the only true satisfaction will come from the Lord.  We need to also realize that it is not just in salvation that we need to fill a longing, but also in our needs for everyday.  Many Christians become only half-hearted in their commitments to the Lord because over the years they have learned how to substitute other things to satisfy their longings.  When the heart and soul cry out for them to spend time with the Lord, many women go shopping, make themselves busy or get involved with some "worthy cause."  We need to listen to our soul’s cries and come quickly to the Lord for His satisfaction.  Our soul is hungry for the Lord.  Often times, when we had run out of milk in our home, my daughter and I would absolutely crave the taste of milk.  When we finally purchased some, it seemed we just could not get enough.  Our soul should crave the things of the Lord in that same way.  If we ever go a day without being filled, we should experience a deep soul hunger that can only be satisfied with a deep drink at the well of His love.  God says He will not only fill us, but He will do it with goodness.  We do not have to be satisfied with crumbs from the Master’s table, we are given the best: His goodness, rich and sweet, warm and enticing.  Be filled with His goodness today, allow Him to satisfy your every longing and need.  But remember, you must come and you must choose His delights above the delights of the world.  The best the world can offer will never satisfy, but Jesus always will.

Psalm 107 recites some of the things that men on the earth do and also the things that God has done for man.  Throughout the Psalm, at the end of each thought group, the Psalmist cries out, Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.  This Psalm shows us the contrast between the redeemed of the Lord and men who have not turned to Him in salvation.  The Psalmist reminds us that the redeemed of the Lord are rescued from the hand of the enemy and from the life style of the futility of the world.  The redeemed, before their salvation, were like those wandering in a wilderness, but when they cried out to the Lord in their distress, the Lord delivered them.  They were as ones sitting in a dark place and in the shadow of death, rebelling against the Lord, and the Lord brought them out of darkness and...death. (verse 14)  They were foolish and God sent His Word to save them from utter destruction.  They were like men who labor on sea going ships, tossed and unstable in their steps, and God gave them quietness in their storms and brought them unto their desired haven. (verse 30)  They were hungry and thirsty but God provided for them and they were blessed.  What a complete change God wrought in all our lives when we became part of the redeemed.  Sometimes we seem to forget who we were and where we were going before the Lord in His grace reached down and saved us.  We seem to be able to go about our everyday lives without pausing to consider what great things the Lord has done for us.  We get so used to being a Christian that it starts to become common place to us.  "Oh, Lord, don’t ever let my Christianity become common place to me.  Let me never forget what You have done for me.  Lord, I was like those in Psalm 107, without hope in a wilderness of sin, and You gave me the riches of Your blessings and Heaven, too.  I love You, Lord, let me ever praise You."  On the night after I started to review this Psalm, I could still hear the heart cry of our verse(s) for today.  Read it again and feel the plea of the writer as he cries out: Oh, that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.  The first two uses of the verse in our Psalm are followed by a verse that tells why men who are of the redeemed should praise the Lord.  Verse nine says: For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.  The world can never give the satisfaction the Lord can give, only God can fill our hungry soul.  Praise His name!  Verse sixteen says: For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.  Brass in Scripture usually speaks symbolically of judgment.  Let’s reread the verse with that in mind: "For God has broken the gates of judgment that surrounded us and cut and smashed asunder the iron bars of sin that held us captive."  Only Jesus Christ can set the captive sinner free from the certain death of sin!  Praise His name!  The second two uses of the verse are followed by verses that tell what the praising men should do in response to their knowledge of this great God.  Verse twenty-two says: And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.  We need to be a thankful people, to the extent that our thankfulness becomes an offering given totally to the Lord.  We need to openly witness and joyfully declare His works to others.  It is the outgrowth of praise.  Verse thirty-two declares: Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.  Oh, Lord, are we exalting You enough in the congregation of the people?  Is all our praise and worship directed towards the glory of Your Person?  Help me to praise you with my lips, my deeds, my life, and help others to sense the plea of Psalm 107: Oh, that men would praise the LORD for His goodness!

When we first read this verse, we can see the positive commands.  The Psalmist is saying: "Whoever is wise amongst you, and is willing to obey God’s ways, they will absolutely be promised the understanding of the lovingkindness of the Lord."  What a positive encouragement to obey the Lord!  But with every positive admonition, there is always the understood negative implication of what will result if we do not give heed to the command.  It is uplifting to think we will be counted amongst the wise if we observe these things, but think of the double meaning of the verse: if someone does not acknowledge the lovingkindness of the Lord, they are become as fools.  If we refuse to obey the Lord and observe God’s commandments, then we really do not understand the love of the Lord, either.  Disobedience by a Christian makes them foolish, just as foolish as a lost person who refuses God’s love.  It is incredible to contemplate, but it is sadly true, that often each one of us chooses the foolish way of thinking we know more than God, that we can do something in a better way than He directs, or that we should question God’s commands to us, His beloved children.  Wouldn’t it be better for us to be wise!  Let’s discover from our Psalm how we can be known as a person of wisdom, the type of person we should desire to be.  Our verse tells us, we must observe these things.  There are many things mentioned in Psalm 107 that we should remember and those things should affect our behavior.  Here are just a few of those things, plus thoughts on how we should react, knowing them:

    1)     We must be thankful to the Lord and say so. (verses 1_2)

    2)     When in trouble, we need to pray to the Lord and then walk in the right way, the way He leads.(verses 6-7)

    3)     We need to spend time in His Word and follow it. (verse 20)

    4)     We need to be quiet before the Lord and trust Him in the midst of our trials. (verse 30)

    5)     We need to praise the Lord for His goodness. (verse 8)

    6)     We need to exalt the Lord in the congregation of the people. (verse 32)

    7)     We need to go to the Lord for our spiritual hunger to be fulfilled. (verses 34_36)

    8)     We need to witness (the words are really pretty here: we are to prepare a city for habitation, sow the fields, and plant the vineyards.) (verses 36-37)

    9)     We need to follow righteousness and rejoice. (verse 42)

    10)     We need to obey the Lord. (verse 43)

It may sound like a long list, but it really isn’t.  It is just the minimum requirements of a born again, blood bought child of God.  In exchange for our obedience, the Lord will make us wise, let us understand His lovingkindness and bless us!  What a marvelous reward for obedience!  On the other end of the scale, are all the disasters and troubles we bring upon ourselves when we foolishly disobey the Lord and fail to be the people He desires.  "Lord, I want to be wise, but I know I can only gain that wisdom as I obey You.  My weakness daily demonstrates to me that I cannot even obey You without Your divine assistance.  Your lovingkindness is so rich and deep, it thrills my soul.  Yet I know even this I cannot understand without Your help.  As I learn to obey, Lord, I know that You will open up my mind to understand more completely Your lovingkindness.  It is exciting to consider how You will do this, Lord.  Perhaps You will give me an unexpected blessing, or more joy or greater spiritual richness.  Perhaps You will use trial and difficulty with Your guiding care.  Whatever it is, Lord, I know that it will be very special, from Your heart to mine, because You are the God of lovingkindness."

Can’t you tell just by reading this verse that David wrote it!  We have been in many of the Psalms written by other writers, but suddenly David’s words echo like a song.  Hearing the words, we begin to know the heart of the writer and to grasp the wonder of why the Lord loved David in a very special way.  Perhaps the first part of this verse holds the secret to David’s spiritual success: he had determined that no matter what, his heart would be fixed.  The word fixed is so important to our understanding of this verse and the heart attitude that God would desire of us, that I looked the word up to find the full meaning.  While in our everyday language, we use this word merely for something that is repaired from a broken state, there are many more meanings: to make firm or permanent; firmly implanted; set or intent upon something; steadily directed; definitely or permanently placed; stationary; definite, not fluctuating or varying; put in order.  Let’s think for a moment about this interesting word and how it relates to us.  Starting with our common use of the word, it is marvelously true that God fixes our hearts, first in salvation and then many times afterwards.  Before salvation, our heart was desperately wicked and dark with sin.  It was as if we had a fatal disease of our spiritual heart.  Then at the moment of salvation, God, the Great Physician, applied His healing work in our hearts and fixed them.  He gave us more than a transplant, He remade that which was diseased and dead.  He shone His brilliant light within and filled our hearts with the Holy Spirit to superintend the working of this new marvel, a recreated heart.  We can cry out with David, in gratitude to the Lord who has done all this, "My heart is fixed!"  Then even after salvation, many times we will experience a broken or wounded heart.  Perhaps it is because we now have a new sensitivity within, so that even with a spiritual perspective on life, wounding of our hearts will often happen.  In tragedy or loss, through trials or circumstances, the ache within will almost seem unbearable.  When we come for healing at the feet of our gracious Savior, He will apply the Balm of Gilead deep within and fix that which has been wounded.  Just as the young person who has a broken heart in love, we will find a greater Source of love with the Lover of our soul, who will help us to go on to that better thing He has for us.  This area of fixing our heart is God’s work.  Think of the other applications of the word fixed.  Here is where we must take the responsibility.  WE must determine that our heart will be firmly planted on the things of the Lord, that it will be so set, firm and permanently decided, that nothing can sway us.  We will not be an up and down Christian, vacillating between opinions or riding the roller coaster of half hearted commitment, because our heart is fixed.  Then we will be intent upon the Lord, steadily directed towards Him.  Our devotion will be unquestioned, our desire ever toward Him.  We will not fluctuate in this devotion or allow the things of the world to creep in and steal some of our love, time or commitment to the Lord.  We can only do this IF we have made our stand for the Lord’s preeminence in our lives a permanent and definite decision.  Just as so many marriages fail because the partners do not understand the permanent commitment of the relationship, many Christians lead a half way life for the Lord because they have failed to see the importance of full commitment to the Lord and His Word.  Let us each make that decision to have a fixed commitment, realizing that day by day we will need to ask the Lord for help to put our lives in order for His glory and for our own spiritual success.  Because he had this determination, it is no wonder David could say that he would sing and give praise to the Lord!  He would do it with his glory, the very best that he could be and do, because of the glory of the Lord, the "Fixer" of his and our hearts!

When we take this verse out of context in Psalm 109, we may have to read it twice to understand its message to us.  But as we do, suddenly the meaning comes right down "home" to our lives.  David is saying that there are those people who are his enemies because of his love for the Lord and for no other reason.  Haven’t you ever had the experience of someone who was so against you that they became your adversaries, and you just could not figure out why?  As you searched your mind, you knew that there was nothing you had personally done to offend them, and yet they were your enemies.  Perhaps it was not you, dear friend, but it was a spiritual battle.  These people, knowingly or unwittingly, were being used by the devil in his war against the saints of God.  This realization has helped me many times in my life.  As soon as I became a Christian, it seemed that I fell under this type of attack from others.  Former friends were no longer close, even relatives were distant.  As a young missionary, I had many instances like David’s.  Just because we were Christians and represented the loving Lord with His Gospel of peace, we had many enemies in our city.  Plots were laid to prevent us from getting a building and when we did, our adversaries set fire to it.  The windows of our bus were shot out and the seat cushions slashed.  Threats came on the phone that were very violent and those from people we had never met.  Why would all this happen when we had just come to share the news of salvation that could give anyone who responded joy, peace, victory and eternal life?  Why were we surrounded with enemies when we had come to share our lives with them?  It was because of "our love," the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is a real spiritual battle that goes on around us everyday.  Even in our work place we can feel it, sadly sometimes even in our family.  We can often feel it when we walk down the street of our neighborhood, it can even interrupt the quiet of our home.  Next time you are so attacked, stop and consider what David’s response was: he gave himself to prayer!  We can not fight back with force or angry words and expect to win this kind of battle, and we will certainly not please the Lord in the doing.  No, it will only end in bigger defeat for us.  Remember King David was a mighty soldier, the general of his army, the defeater of physical giants, yet he knew this battle must be won on his knees.  To scheme or try to retaliate will only make us look to be the one who is wrong.  It is God’s battle, He knows that He is the One being attacked and that His child is caught in the crossfire!  Let us use the most important weapon we have, heartfelt prayer, and leave the strategy to the Captain of our Salvation!  He will win the victory because of HIS LOVE for us!  Let’s read the first four verses of Psalm 109 and see the real life applications:

    Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise.   (Lord, help me, I have committed to praise You, I know You are the only One who can help me)

    For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue...and fought against me without a cause.   (Lord, I have examined my heart and life, I now know this is not of my doing, but Lord, it hurts so much to have this kind of attack)

    For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.  (Lord, I am Yours, I love You with all my heart.  I am relying on Your Word which warns me of the spiritual battle that surrounds me.  I will not be hasty, I will not react in the flesh, I will not became as the world.  Oh, Lord, I throw myself at Your feet and give myself totally to prayer in this matter.  No self effort, Lord, I leave it totally and completely in Your hands.  I trust You as the Lover and Defender of my soul and my testimony.  Help me, Lord.)

Does this sound personal, up to date and true to life!  "Oh, Lord, help us to be women after Your own heart, to be ones who trust You as the Captain of our salvation and of our life’s battles.  Help adversaries and adversities drive us to our knees.  Help us to be women of prayer."