Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 45-51.

The first of today’s psalms was written for a royal wedding, but it still contains some thoughts on which I want to write.  In reading the praise which it gives the king, we see some characteristics we should seek in leaders. Leaders should strive to promote the cause of truth, humility, and justice.  They should love righteousness and hate wickedness.  If they do not exhibit these characteristics we should not follow them.   As we continue in today’s passage, the psalmist tells us to come and see what the Lord has done, to be still and know that He is God.  He calls all nations to praise and exalt Him, not because He demands it of us, but because of the great and wonderful things He has done.  The psalmist goes on to remind us that we need not fear deceivers or other wicked people when we put our trust in God, because God shines forth from where the sun rises to where it sets.  Which brings me to a thought that should make you realize how great the area where God can be found is: since the earth is a globe, there is no place where the sun does not shine so there is no place where God’s presence cannot be felt.  When danger threatens, God will come and will not be silent.

Finally, the psalmist calls on God to cleanse him from his sin, to purify his heart and strengthen his spirit.  He asked God to restore the joy which he got from knowing God and to cause him to willingly serve God.  I seek to make the psalmist’s prayer mine.  Once God has cleansed us and renewed us we will be able to teach sinners His ways so that they turn back to Him.  When we read that we can easily fall into the trap that we teach sinners because we are better than they, but really the sense here is that we were just like them and are now only different because of God’s actions.  God cleansed and renewed us.  We only have something to teach others because of what God has done to, and for, us.  Our current status as followers of God has nothing to do with how great we are, instead it serves to illustrate how great God is.  If God transformed us, He can transform others.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.