In Psalm 66 the psalmist presents many works of God. He also calls us to bless Him "and make the voice of His praise to be heard," because He "holdeth our souls in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved." He also declares that God has proved us, that is, "tried us, as silver is tried."

Plainly he is writing about what we call sanctification, which means making us holy. And that is the truth we should appreciate more than we do. The unbeliever likes to be saved from the punishment of sin. And that is a great blessing. But if we do not want to be purified, made holy, as silver is by fire separated from its dross, we are adding to our sins. Sanctification makes us spiritually pure. And it is that that we should intensely desire.

The psalmist had that desire and was thankful to God for having it wrought upon him. That is why in Psalm 66:16 he wrote, "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul."For in his soul God had wrought sanctification, that is, had made him holy.

The question therefore is whether you want that purification. Do you want to have pure thoughts and desires? Do you want greater love for God and for things spiritual? Do you have disgust and hatred against sin?

There is another question here. The psalmist says, "Come and hear." The question then is whether you do want to hear the kind of preaching of which the psalmist speaks? Are you interested in being taught about our being made holy? Do you want to sing about that wonder work of God? Is that a very important part of salvation for you?

Only if we desire the salvation of our souls will we be assured of salvation of the body. We must be tried as silver, be purified in our souls. Only such will be delivered from the punishment of sin.

Read: Psalm 66

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:

2 Samuel 18 
2 Samuel 19:1-10 
John 20:1-31 
Psalm 119:153-176 
Proverbs 16:14-15

Daily Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism

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Quote for Reflection:

"Ah, dear child, to think that you must be raised up and will shine as the stars, yea, like the sun. I am joyful in spirit, but I am sad according to the flesh. The flesh doesn't take kindly to this. The separation caused by death troubles me above measure. It is strange to know that she is surely at peace and she is well off there, very well off, and yet to grieve so much." ~ Martin Luther, at the death of his daughter Magdalene

Psalm 131:3

    If there is one word that is abused and wrongly taken upon the lips of a child of God very often in this day and age, it is the word hope. Much of the time we say, "I hope so" and all that we mean thereby is, ''I would like to see it happen.'' However, the word hope means "to desire with expectancy and believe that it is attainable." And the hope of the child of God, as presented in Scripture, always has both of those elements in it, namely, desire or longing and expectation or assurance that the object hoped for will come.

    Thus when in Psalm 131:3 David writes "Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever,"  he means that we should desire salvation and its blessings, which God promises us, and live in the confidence that He will fulfill all of His promises in the minutest detail. Thus our versification has (PRC Psalter):

    Ye people of the Lord,
    In Him alone confide;
    From this time forth and evermore
    His wisdom be your guide.

    All this fits in so beautifully with David's previous words that his heart is not haughty, and that he has behaved and quieted his soul (The Hebrew word is soul rather than myself.).  He is now like a child weaned, weaned away from his former silly and haughty notions that he knew better than God what was good for him.

    What about you and me? Do we hope in God? When it comes down to it, you and I cannot hope in God's promises without conviction that they will be fulfilled. We hope, do we not, that Christ will return? We hope that He will lift us up above the curse which now rests upon this earth. But we also hope that He will deliver us completely from the power of sin, so that in the new Jerusalem it will be impossible for us to sin. We will awake with Christ's likeness and forever be satisfied (Psalm 17:15). But we hope for all this in the expectation of its coming. We hope because we are confident that it will take place.

    Use the word hope that way. And live in that hope, which in Romans 5:5 Paul says ''maketh not ashamed.''

Read: Romans 5 
Psalter versification: #366:3

Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
II Samuel 17 
II Samuel 16 
  John 19:23-42 
Psalm 119:129-152 
Proverbs 16:12-13

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Quote for Reflection:

Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 4: "The hindering of good work is that which bad men aim at and promise themselves; but good work is God’s work, and it shall prosper."

Psalm 131:2

    When in Psalm 131:1 David confessed that he is not haughty and his eyes were not lofty, one might be inclined to say that his very words reveal pride and conceit. If you please, he says to God that he is not haughty.  He says this to one Who reads the heart and from Whom nothing can be hid. Do not such words then show both pride and ignorance?

    His words in the next verse seem to reveal even more pride. For there he states. "Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child," Psalm 131:2. Is that not boasting of what he did, and that, before the face of God?

    No, David's reference to a mother reveals his humility.  For he is speaking of what state a mother brought her child unto, not what he achieved by his own strength or ingenuity. Rightly understood he confesses here that unto which God brought him. He trusts in God and calmly rests in the assurance that God will take care of him. He has a childlike contentment given to him and worked in Him by God. As our versification sings it (PRC Psalter):

    With childlike trust, O Lord,
    In Thee I calmly rest,
    Contented as a little child
    Upon its mother's breast.

    David is therefore confessing what God did to him. The fact that he begins the Psalm with the word Lord reveals that. The Psalm speaks of a divinely wrought humility, a childlike faith in God, And his use of the pronouns my, mine, myself, me, and I do not reveal pride but are used that he may express what God did to him.

    Can you say that with David? Can you humbly say this is true of you as well as it was of  David? Are you weaned from your fleshly desires so that you are content with whatever God sends you, assured it works together for your good? And, if you please, David could confess that long before the cross of Christ. Do we not have more reason than he to walk in childlike trust in God? If you cannot walk that way, then pray for the grace to do so.

Read: Psalm 130 
Psalter versification: #366:2 

Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
II Samuel 15:23-37 
II Samuel 16 
  John 18:25-40 
John 19:1-22 
Psalm 119:113-128 
Proverbs 16:10-11

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Quote for Reflection:

John Calvin on God's promises:

·     “Whatever God promises, belongs to his elect, not to all.

·     Promises are related to the covenant as their only source.

·     The efficacy of God's promises depends on Christ alone.

·     We ought not to judge of the promises of God from our condition, but from His truth.

·     Faith cannot stand, unless it be founded on the promises of God.

·     The only cure for covetousness is to embrace the promises of God.

·     We cannot rely on his promises without obeying His commandments.

·     The main thing in the worship of God is to embrace His promises with obedience.”

Psalm 131:1

    Psalm 131 is another brief Psalm being only one verse more than Psalm 117 which is the shortest chapter in the Bible. And in verse 1 the psalmist declares, "Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or things too high for me." Our versification helps us understand this when it says (PRC Psalter):

    Not haughty is my heart,
    Not lofty is my pride;
    I do not seek to know the things
    God's wisdom has denied.

    The things "too high for me'' are things God's wisdom had denied him knowledge of in this life. And to be haughty and proud is to act and think that we know better than God what ought to happen,

    How about it? Were you fully satisfied with what God did yesterday? Are you willing to leave all things up to Him today? We must bow before His will. We do, without much thought, often pray "Thy by will be done,'' but only a few minutes later we are so apt to pray that He will change things to satisfy our plans and ambitions.

    Yet when God performs works which we do not understand, we should go in our thoughts to the cross of Christ. Many devout children of God stood around that cross wondering why it had to happen and wishing it had not taken place. But after the day of Pentecost they understood; and so do we.

    There are those events that we call accidents. There are works of God that touch our families and lives and seem to deny His love and make us question His wisdom. But by all means do not in haughtiness and pride think for one moment that you could have run the world better, or ordered in greater wisdom the things in your life. Be sure that all God's works are wrought n inscrutable wisdom. Never did He make a mistake. Never did things slip out of His control.

    There are things too high for us. But in childlike meekness leave all things in God's hands. He knows the best means and the best way to fulfill all His promises to us. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Read: Romans 8:28-39 
Psalter versification: #366:1

Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
II Samuel 14 
II Samuel 15:1-22 
  John 18:1-24 
Psalm 119:97-112 
Proverbs 16:8-9

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Quote for Reflection:

"This aspect of obedience to the Fourth Commandment is threatened today. There are leaks in the dike. There are those who attend only infrequently, missing entire Sundays or consistently missing one of the services every Sunday ("oncers"). There is the growing practice of missing the worship services, now and then, because they interfere with our pleasures, e.g., our vacation-plans. The Lord's Day is completely forgotten. It is used for traveling or for sightseeing, just as though it did not belong to the risen Christ, but to ourselves. The strange notion is found in the Church that the Fourth Commandment may be broken occasionally. Men suppose that, if they remember the Lord's Day 51 weeks of the year, they are warranted in forgetting it one week. What would these same people say if others would adopt this thinking in regard to the commandment against stealing, or the commandment against murder?

"But the Lord's Day gets in the way of my pleasures," says the man determined to enjoy his weekend vacation. Yes, the Law of God has a way of doing this. Throughout the Old Testament, the Sabbath-Commandment "interfered" with Israel's pleasures; and for this reason they broke it (cf. Isaiah 58:13 and Amos 8:5). May we bend and twist the Law to suit our pleasures? Or are we to plan our lives according to the law and to find our pleasure in doing what it says?

Our would-be vacationer persists, "But I work hard during the year, and I need some rest." To be sure, we need rest; and this needed rest is the rest of the Lord's house and the Lord's Word."

"Remembering the Lord's Day", Prof. David Engelsma