Today's Reading: 1 Chronicles 25, Psalm 131, 138-139, 143-145

Scripture Read or referenced:

• 1 Chronicles 25:7
• Psalm 131 (all)
• Psalm 138:2, 3, 8
• Psalm 139 (all)
• Psalm 144:12
• Psalm 145:4
• Philippians 1:6
• Psalm 143 (various)

Listen to the Again Podcast episode with GraceAnna Castleberry.This episode of The Dwelling Place Podcast explores worship, motherhood, God’s sovereignty, biblical parenting, and the sanctity of life.

Stephanie reflects on the role of music and worship in the temple, the beauty of families serving the Lord together, and the comforting imagery of resting in God like a child in the arms of a loving mother.

This episode dives deeply into the powerful message that every human life is fearfully and wonderfully made by God from the moment of conception.

If you are seeking Christian encouragement for motherhood, biblical wisdom for parenting, peace for anxious hearts, or a deeper understanding of God’s love and purpose, this episode will strengthen your faith and point you back to Scripture.

In This Episode:

• 1 Chronicles 25 and worship in the temple
• Why David required skillful musicians for ministry
• Families serving God together
• Psalm 131 and finding rest in God
• Quieting anxious thoughts through trust in the Lord
• Psalm 138 and God’s faithfulness
• Psalm 139 explained
• Fearfully and wonderfully made
• Biblical motherhood and parenting
• The sanctity of life and God’s design for children
• Raising sons and daughters with purpose
• One generation declaring God’s works to another
• Prayers for wisdom and guidance as parents

Connect with Entrusted Ministries

Learn more about the ministry and additional resources at Entrusted Ministries

Listen, subscribe, and share The Dwelling Place Podcast to encourage more women and families with biblical truth, Christian discipleship, and gospel-centered motherhood.

Do you feel hopeless, discouraged, or anxious in your parenting? Can God redeem those mistakes and give peace and hope for the future? Yes, He truly can! Entrusted with a Child's Heart can encourage you to embrace the fresh start God has for you. This quick episode explains how this biblical parenting study can guide moms, bless your church, and actually help the leaders! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-for-christian-moms-encouragement-in/id1700555502

Don't forget to check out the Again Podcast! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-for-christian-moms-encouragement-in/id1700555502

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary, Spurgeon's Treasury of David

Welcome to The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

2

I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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Today we'll discuss I Chronicles

25 and several of Davids Psalms in

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I Chronicles 25, David continues

to organize and assign the roles

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needed for service in the temple,

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there are about 4,000 instrumentalists

assigned, and you may notice a couple of

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references to these musicians prophesying.

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A good definition for the prophesying

done here is proclaiming the truth,

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and they were doing it through music

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Verse seven confirms that David required

those that were skillful and trained.

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Remember, he's a musician himself

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Throughout the Psalms, we're told to make

a joyful noise to the Lord And we're not

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exempt even if we can't carry a tune But

those that were leading in the temple

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We're gifted by the Lord to do so

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I realize this is another chapter full of

names, but it stood out to me how often

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the phrase, and his sons and his brothers.

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These families were doing ministry

together, and I'm sure I'm not alone

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that that's a thought and a hope

I've had that maybe my kids would

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someday serve the Lord together

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Let's turn to Psalm 131.

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This Psalm of David is brief,

but the verses are so tender,

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especially for a mom's heart

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" Oh Lord, my heart is not lifted up.

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My eyes are not raised too high.

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I do not occupy myself with things

too great and too marvelous for me.

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But I have calmed and quieted my soul

like a weaned child with its mother.

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Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

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Oh, Israel, hope in the Lord from

this time forth and forevermore."

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When I think back to comforting my

babies, when I would hear them give

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that deep sigh of relief as they rested

their head on my shoulder, it's one

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of the best feelings in the world.

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Here David is saying our trust in the

Lord can bring such peace to our heart

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That we can know my dad's got it.

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When there's so much information

available to us, we can often get

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caught up in searching out solutions

and answers and thinking that God

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requires our vigilance in an area.

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But this chapter also cautions us that

sometimes there are problems we can't

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solve, and we need to trust in the Lord

and surrender to Him These are some verses

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I'm gonna call to mind again when I

feel my mind racing and going ahead of

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where the Lord has called me to focus

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These are some verses that stood out

to me in Psalm 138, also written by

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David: " I bow down toward your holy

temple and give thanks to your name for

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your steadfast love and your faithfulness.

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For you have exalted above all

things your name and your word.

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On the day I called, you answered me.

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My strength of soul you increased."

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We can rejoice at the ways God

has protected His Word, and that

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there is no other name under

heaven by which we must be saved

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and we can be confident that the

Lord will give us the strength

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to do what He's calling us to do

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The chapter concludes, " The Lord

will fulfill His purpose for me.

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Your steadfast love, O

Lord, endures forever.

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Do not forsake the work of Your hands."

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Does that remind you of when Paul

writes in Philippians that, "He who

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began a good work in you will be

faithful to complete it until the day of

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Christ Jesus"?

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Psalm 139 is one of

the most quoted psalms.

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And as much as I delight to dig for

treasure amongst the verses that are

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often neglected, I can't deny that

this psalm is infamous for a reason.

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I'm gonna read it in its entirety

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because as Betsy unfolds in Entrusted

with a Child's Heart, this chapter

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is pivotal for our understanding

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of the sanctity of life

And the way we as believers

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should value and protect all

of God's creation, beginning

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from the point of conception

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As I read, notice how David meditates

on God's omniscience, which means that

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He is all-knowing, His omnipresence,

which is the fact that He is

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everywhere, and His omnipotence,

which means that God is all-powerful.

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O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

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You know when I sit

down and when I rise up.

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You discern my thoughts from afar.

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You search out my path and my lying down,

and are acquainted with all my ways.

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Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

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You hem me in behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

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Such knowledge is too wonderful for

me; it is high, I cannot attain it.

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Where shall I go from your Spirit?

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Or where shall I flee from your presence?

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If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if

I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

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If I take the wings of the morning and

dwell in the uttermost parts of the

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sea, even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me If

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I say, surely the darkness shall cover

me, and the light about me be night,

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even the darkness is not dark to you.

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The night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

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For you formed my inward parts.

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You knitted me together

in my mother's womb.

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I praise you, for I am

fearfully and wonderfully made.

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Wonderful are your works.

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My soul knows it very well.

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My frame was not hidden from you when

I was being made in secret, Intricately

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woven in the depths of the earth.

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Your eyes saw my unformed substance.

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I awake, and I am still with you.

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Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God.

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O men of blood, depart from me.

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They speak against you

with malicious intent.

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Your enemies take your name in vain.

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Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?

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And do I not loathe those

who rise up against you?

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I hate them with complete hatred.

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I count them my enemies.

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Search me, O God, and know my heart.

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Try me and know my thoughts And see

if there be any grievous way in me

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and lead me in the way everlasting

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After a lengthy meditation

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On God's attributes and the care

with which He took to create us.

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David rebukes those who

speak against the Lord.

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He has that righteous

indignation we talked about.

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How wrong it is for God to love us so

deeply and so perfectly, and for Him to

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be treated so hatefully by His creation

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But I love the way the Psalm ends, that

David, after saying that God knows all

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things and that he can't hide from God,

asks the Lord to search him, convict him

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of his sin, and lead him in righteousness.

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When we are aware of God's love for us, we

don't run in shame But we can run to Him

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Desiring to be refined by His

perfecting love When it mentions

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that we were formed in the depths of

the earth, this isn't a geographical

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term, but it refers to the womb

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life matters to God

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From that first moment of conception.

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I delight in verses 17 and 18 that

declare that God's thoughts toward us

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are innumerable and cannot be counted.

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And lest you think that this

is a poetic device, let me

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read what Spurgeon had to say.

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" This is not the hyperbole of poetry, but

the solid fact of an inspired statement.

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God thinks of us infinitely.

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There is a limit to the act of creation,

but not to the might of divine love."

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This is true of the frequency of God's

thoughts about you and your kids.

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And when we have a right view of the Lord

and His love for us, it makes it easier

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to have our hearts quieted like a child,

as we read about in Psalm 131, doesn't it?

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Speaker 58: But I want us to be careful

that even as we focus on God's intricate

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care and love for us, that we don't

walk away thinking it's all about us

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We were made with purpose and intention,

but our ultimate goal is to bring

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glory to this majestic creator.

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Steph: As we move on to Psalm

144, there's a verse I hadn't

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noticed until I interviewed the

delightful Grace Anna Castleberry.

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She wrote a wonderful book called A

Vision for Motherhood, and she was on

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our Again podcast, which I'll link to

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She inspired me to think more about

verse 12, which says, " May our sons in

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their youth be like plants full-grown,

our daughters like corner pillars

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cut for the structure of a palace

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This verse is saying, even from their

youth may our boys be like strong trees.

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Can you picture them like a solid

oak tree so rooted in the Lord?

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And our daughters like a pillar

in a palace, which would indeed be

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beautiful and intentionally crafted.

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But as this verse indicates, it

was important for the structural

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integrity of the building as well.

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Grace Anna explained that God calls

our men to be strong and to stand

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firm, walking in self-control.

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And women are often the glue

that holds families together.

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They're essential it reminds

me of one of our first episodes

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when I explained that God took a

part of Adam's side to make Eve.

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That word for side in the Hebrew is

the same word that's used when

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referring to the side of the temple

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This word denotes worship and necessity

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we wanna see the Lord training our sons

to bring strength and courage, and our

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daughters to bring unity and support.

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They're equal but unique roles

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Another verse we're particularly fond

of and interested is from Psalm 145.

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Verse four says, " One generation

shall commend your works to another

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and shall declare your mighty acts."

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The Psalm talks about how

creation itself speaks

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But David repeatedly declares

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that he will proclaim the

works of the Lord as well

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and that God uses these methods

to speak to the children of man.

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Verses 18 through 20 tell us, " The

Lord is near to all who call on Him,

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to all who call on Him in truth.

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He fulfills the desire of

those who fear Him; He also

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hears their cry and saves them.

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The Lord preserves all who love Him,

but the wicked He will destroy."

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These are beautiful promises for

those that rightly evaluate their

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hearts, Walking in the fear of

God and loving Him above all else

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And for our prayer today, we're gonna

use Psalm 145 for wisdom and guidance.

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And if you're like me, this is

one of the biggest things you

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pray for as you parent your kids.

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Hear our prayer, O Lord, and

give ear to our pleas for mercy.

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In your faithfulness, answer us.

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no one living is righteous before you.

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So we pray for your mercy answer us

quickly, O Lord, when our spirit fails.

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Hide not your face from us.

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Let us hear in the morning of your

steadfast love, for in you we trust

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Make us to know the way we should

go, for to you we lift up our soul.

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Teach us to do your will,

for you are our God.

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Let your good spirit

lead us on level ground.

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For your namesake, O Lord, preserve

our lives, and in your righteousness

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bring our soul out of troubles

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Lord, we are desperate for your wisdom

and your guidance to order our days well

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and to make decisions for our families.

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We thank you that you offer your spirit

to lead us in the way we should go

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I pray as David did that you would

search us and know us so that

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when we are praying for wisdom, we

can have pure motives before you.

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That your namesake and your glory

is our every aim and expectation.

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And we pray that even when we're weary,

our mouths would consistently praise you

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And set this model for our families.

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It's in the name that is above every

name, Jesus Christ, that we pray.

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Amen.