Morning, April 25
Jump to: BLTyndaleSpurgeonDaily LightRdg plan

Click for Video Devotionals
Bible League: Living His Word
To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

There are only two ways you can lift up your soul. You can lift it up to the biblical God of heaven and earth, as David does in our verse for today, or you can lift it up to an idol (Psalm 24:4). You can lift up your soul to the God who created and transcends heaven and earth, or you can lift it up to an idol that is itself merely a created being. There are no other options, because there is nothing other than God and His creation.

What is the soul that is lifted up? According to the Bible, each individual human being is made up of a material side and a spiritual side, a body and a soul or spirit (Genesis 2:7; Matthew 10:28). The soul is that side of every individual person that departs from the body and continues to exist after death (Genesis 35:18; Ecclesiastes 12:7). It is the very core of what it means to be an individual human person.

What does it mean to lift up one's soul to the Lord? The phrase indicates that someone has turned away from everything else and has focused the inward core of their very being on the Lord God of heaven and earth. Instead of looking to an idol or something else from within the created order, a person consciously turns to and focuses on God. The Lord God is "high and exalted" and lives in a "high and holy place" (Isaiah 57:15). It is necessary, consequently, to lift up one's soul in order to come before Him.

What does one do after lifting up one's soul? The possibilities are many. There could be worship, praise, prayer, petition, confession, and any of a number of other things. In David's case in Psalm 25, it was to petition the Lord to "Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me" (Psalm 25:2). David lifted up his soul to the Lord because he believed that only the Lord could help in his time of trouble.

A person lifts up their soul to the Lord God because they believe in faith that He exists and because they want to be in relationship with Him. Lift up your soul to the Lord and come before Him, for He alone is worth the effort.

Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
2 Samuel 13, 14


2 Samuel 13 -- Amnon and Tamar; Amnom Killed by Absalom

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


2 Samuel 14 -- The Widow of Tekoa; Absalom Recalled

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


New Testament Reading
Luke 20:1-26


Luke 20 -- Jesus' Authority; Parable of the Tenants; Give to Caesar; Marriage at the Resurrection

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
A quarrelsome wife is as annoying
        as constant dripping on a rainy day.
Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind
        or trying to hold something with greased hands.
Insight
Quarrelsome nagging, a steady stream of unwanted advice, is a form of torture. People nag because they think they're not getting through, but nagging hinders communication more than it helps.
Challenge
When tempted to engage in this destructive habit, stop and examine your motives. Are you more concerned about yourself—getting your way, being right—than about the person you are pretending to help? If you are truly concerned about other people, think of a more effective way to get through to them. Surprise them with words of patience and love, and see what happens.
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
Songs 2:10  Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.

Lo, I hear the voice of my Beloved! He speaks to me! Fair weather is smiling upon the face of the earth, and he would not have me spiritually asleep while nature is all around me awaking from her winter's rest. He bids me "Rise up," and well he may; for I have long enough been lying among the pots of worldliness. He is risen, I am risen in him, why then should I cleave unto the dust? From lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations, I would rise towards him. He calls me by the sweet title of "My love," and counts me fair; this is a good argument for my rising. If he has thus exalted me, and thinks me thus comely, how can I linger in the tents of Kedar and find congenial associates among the sons of men? He bids me "Come away." Further and further from everything selfish, grovelling, worldly, sinful, he calls me; yea, from the outwardly religious world which knows him not, and has no sympathy with the mystery of the higher life, he calls me. "Come away" has no harsh sound in it to my ear, for what is there to hold me in this wilderness of vanity and sin? O my Lord, would that I could come away, but I am taken among the thorns, and cannot escape from them as I would. I would, if it were possible, have neither eyes, nor ears, nor heart for sin. Thou callest me to thyself by saying "Come away," and this is a melodious call indeed. To come to thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labor, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes. But Lord, how can a stone rise, how can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? O raise me, draw me. Thy grace can do it. Send forth thy Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my heart, and I will continue to rise until I leave life and time behind me, and indeed come away.

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Matthew 1:21  "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

John 3:5  Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

1 Peter 2:24  and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Hebrews 7:25  Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Isaiah 53:5,6  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. • All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

Luke 24:46,47  and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, • and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Hebrews 9:26  Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Acts 5:31  "He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

Acts 13:38,39  "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, • and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.

1 John 2:12  I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Evening April 24
Top of Page
Top of Page