Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 01 27 2024 Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land

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01 27 2024 Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
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  food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
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  some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna the word of God to keep
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  us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change all
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  of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need to
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  live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host,
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  author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good morning.
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  It is Sabbath, January twenty seven, twenty twenty four. Hello,
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  my name is El David Harris. I am your host, and this is
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  your Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single day, and today
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  is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series through the Book
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  of Psalms, and our caption for today is singing the Lord's Song in a
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  Strange Land. Singing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land. We'll get into
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  that in just a moment, but first I'd like to say welcome to you
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  and ask you to please go over to your Daily Portion dot com and join
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  our online community that is one of the ways that we continue to build faith
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  and fellowship at your Daily Portion dot Com. Let's go ahead and pray,
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  and then we will get into the lesson study. Father in Heaven, thank
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  you for giving us the privilege this Sabbath morning to open up your word and
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  to see what it's like to still sing unto the Lord a new song,
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  to still sing even when we are in a strange land or situation. And
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  I'm asking you, Father, to give us the heart of thanksgiving, the
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  heart of singing and praise, so that we can serve You with everything that
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  we have, everything that we are in Jesus name, I pray, Amen
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  and Amen again. Singing the Lord's Song in a strange land? Okay,
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  So the Bible reads here in the Book of Psalms, chapter one hundred and
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  thirty seven, in verse for how shall we sing the Lord's Song in a
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  strange land? Yeah, it has been difficult sometimes over the years for God's
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  people, so many of the times because of things that we have chosen,
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  like decisions we have made about our relationship with God, how we process trials
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  and troubles, how we process temptations when they come to us at times that
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  we need to make a decision like Okay, should I follow God or not
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  follow God? Like should I serve him when my money is low? Or
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  should I try another route? Like should I serve him when my relationships seem
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  to be going sour? Or should I go another route? You see what
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  I'm saying. And so the people of God over the years, even as
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  they were being delivered out of captivity, and God was showing them by means
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  of miracle day after day, the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar
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  of fire by night, he was showing them that He was with them.
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  And yet and still the people of God many times made the wrong decisions.
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  Now, there were times that they did make the right they did make the
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  right decisions. But what I'm saying is, in those moments that they were
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  in the strange land, many of those times it was because of poor decisions
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  related to their relationship with God. And so this was one such case.
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  But let's not drill too deeply into that before we go into what the lesson
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  writer is offering for the Sabbath morning. It reads, we do not need
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  to get deep into the book of Psalms in order to discover that the Psalms
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  are uttered in an imperfect world one of sin and of evil, suffering,
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  and death. The stable creation run by the sovereign Lord and his righteous laws
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  is constantly threatened by evil. You see, we don't have to look too
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  far except into our own experiences to see that there is a controversy between God
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  and the enemy right in our own lives, in our own thoughts. Even
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  now, some of you are struggling with thoughts that are not related to worship
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  in just these few minutes that we have dedicated to corporate, if you want
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  to say, around the world through digital means worship, you are struggling with
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  thoughts. Some of you, some of us, are struggling with all kinds
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  of difficulties because the enemy is pressing in upon our psyche at all times,
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  trying to get us to go the wrong direction. And the lesson writer continues.
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  As sin corrupts the world more and more, the earth is increasingly becoming
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  a strange land to God's people. Can I just say that God intended,
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  as he said in or as it is recorded in the Book of Matthew chapter
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  five, that the meek will inherit the earth. It is not the earth
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  as it is today. It is the earth as it will be when there
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  is a new Heaven and a new Earth. Right when the first heaven in
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  the first Earth are passed away, God wants to give us this earth created
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  in the way that He intended when he created it in the first place,
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  when Adam and Eve were placed in the garden of Eden. He intended for
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  this entire planet to be perfect, a mirror of the character of God.
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  But because of Adam's sin, Where's where where he he? You know?
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  He entered death upon all things on planet Earth. You see. And this
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  is the blessing of the plan of salvation. That though we are in the
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  strange land, though Adam sold us down the river and put us in a
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  position where where sin is always at the door, it's always around, always
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  always knocking at our door. The Bible teaches us that God has a way
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  to get us through. Now, I don't want to preempt myself. Let's
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  continue the lesson as we already have seen. The Psalmists acknowledge God's sovereign rule
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  and power, as well as his righteous judgments. They know that God is
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  the everlasting and never failing refuge and help in times of trouble. For this
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  reason, the Psalmists are at times perplexed, who isn't and by the apparent
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  absence of God and the flourishing of evil in the face of the good and
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  sovereign Lord. Is it true that God is absent? And I don't even
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  want to entertain the question. Really, it is absolutely untrue. He is
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  always watching, He is always there. He is our present help in times
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  of trouble. And so I ask with the psalmists, like, why why
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  art thou cast down, Oh my soul, Why art thou disquieted within me?
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  Hope thou in God. That's what the Bible teaches us. We need
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  to be hopeful in God and never be in a position where we think that
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  He is sleeping. Just like the writer of the song penned, he never
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  slumbered, like he never sleeps, He never slumbers. He watches me both
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  night and day. He never sleeps, He never slumbers. Our God is
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  always with us. And the lesson writer continues. The paradoxical nature of the
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  psalms as prayers is demonstrated and the Psalmist's responses to God's seeming silence. He's
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  not silent. In other words, the psalmist respond to God's perceived absence as
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  well as his obvious presence. I think I'm going to read now from the
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  Book of Psalms. I did mention it, but I'm going to read directly
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  now from the Book of Psalms, chapter forty two, and the Bible reads,
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  beginning at verse one, as a heart panteth after the water brooks,
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  So my soul panteth after thee Oh God. You see. So the Psalmist
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  did not need to be thirsty. But in this moment, the Psalmist decided
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  that he could not find connection with God. I said, he decided that
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  he could not find connection. Why couldn't he find connection? Well, let's
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  keep going, And the Bible reads here verse two. My soul thirsteth for
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  God, for the Living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
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  My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say,
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  unto me, where is Thy God? You see in these moments,
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  it is very difficult. It is very difficult, and so I'm just asking,
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  I'm just asking that you will continue to see that God is still good,
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  like he has not changed. He is still good. My tears have
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  been my meat day and night, and while they continually say, unto me,
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  where is Thy God? When I remember these things. I pour out
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  my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude. I went
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  with them to the House of God with the voice of joy and praise.
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  And so the Psalmist found his connection to God again. Yes, joy and
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  praise, gone with the multitude, with the multitude to keep Holy day.
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  Why art thou cast down on my soul? And why art thou disquieted within
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  me? Hope thou in God, or I shall yet praise Him for the
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  help of his countenance. And so I'm thankful that this Psalmist recognized that he
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  could find God's song even in a strange land of his life. Thanks for
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  joining us listening to friends. Always remember we cannot live by bread alone,
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  but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This has been
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  your daily portion with el David Harris, Make it a great day. Yeah,