Shalom,


Psalm 54 reveals four stages of David's experience. Verse 1 shows David crying out to God for help:


1 SAVE ME, O God, by Your Name; judge and vindicate me by Your mighty strength and power.


Verses 4 shows David's great confidence in the One, True God to deliver him:


4 Behold, God is my helper and ally; the LORD is my upholder and is with them who uphold my life.


Verse 6 shows David praising God:


6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks and praise Your Name, O LORD, for it is good.


Verse 7 shows David declaring the wondrous works of God in his life!


7 For He has delivered me out of every trouble, and my eye has looked [in triumph] on my enemies.


Keep that "formula" in mind the next time you face a situation or have a need! Never forget to declare His wondrous works so that others may be drawn to Him! 


In Mark 4:1-2 we see this:


1 AGAIN JESUS began to teach beside the lake. And a very great crowd gathered about Him, so that He got into a ship in order to sit in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was at the lakeside on the shore. 2 And He taught them many things in parables (illustrations or comparisons put beside truths to explain them), and in His teaching He said to them:


I found an interesting explanation of a parable in the Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament:

A parable begins innocently as a picture that arrests our attention and arouses our interest. But as we study the picture, it becomes a mirror in which we suddenly see ourselves. If we continue to look by faith, the mirror becomes a window through which we see God and His truth. How we respond to that truth will determine what further truth God will teach us.



Jesus explained to them why He taught them in parables. He used parables to both hide AND reveal the Truth of His Word! Those who weren't really interested in hearing the Word for the purpose of obeying it would not understand it. Those with a genuine hunger for the Word, and for the things of God, would give diligence to what they heard, ask for better understanding and receive the revelation from the Lord! That is STILL how the Word works today! Notice that the word "hear" is used 13 times in this chapter! Pay attention to HOW you hear and WHAT you hear! Develop a real hunger for the Word of God. He will see to it that the understanding comes! Thank You, Jesus!


If you read the Amplified Bible for Mark 4 you will notice that every time it speaks of the seed, after the first time, it says [of the same kind]. The difference in the results of the seed being sown was NOT the seed! The seed was always the same good Word! The difference was in the soil. Make sure that your soil is ready to receive the seed of His Word! Confess known sin, stay in fellowship with Him, pray for the understanding BEFORE you open the Word, then make it your determined purpose to OBEY the Word that you hear! Any good gardener will tell you that preparing the soil is vital for proper growth of any seed! 


I found another interesting things to share concerning Isaiah 21-22 from the Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament:

"Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you!" The Premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, made that statement to a group of Western diplomats on November 18, 1956. But Khrushchev is dead, and the Soviet Union no longer exists. Khrushchev's boastful prophecy was not fulfilled.


Is there a pattern to history? Is anyone in charge? The British historian Edward Gibbon called history "little more than the register of crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind." But the American missionary leader Arthur T. Pierson said that "history is His story." Which one is right?


The Prophet Isaiah would stand with Pierson, for these eleven chapters are certainly evidence that God is at work in the nations of the world. In these chapters, the prophet reveals God's plan not only for Judah, but also for ten Gentile nations. President James Garfield called history "the unrolled scroll of prophecy," and Isaiah unrolls the scroll for us to read.


World leaders need to learn the lesson that Nebuchadnezzar learned the hard way, that "the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses" (Dan 4:25, NKJV). Paul made the same declaration to the Greek philosophers in Athens: "[God] determined the times set for [the nations] and the exact places where they should live" (Acts 17:26, NIV). Indeed, "history is His story."



Here is song that agrees by declaring that History IS "His Story! Hillsong's "Run":

Shalom in Him!