⁵ God has gone up with a shout,
    the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
⁶ Sing praises to God, sing praises;
    sing praises to our King, sing praises.
⁷ For God is the king of all the earth;
    sing praises with a psalm.^[a]

⁸ God is king over the nations;
    God sits on his holy throne.
⁹ The princes of the peoples gather
    as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
    he is highly exalted.

Reflection
When I read this psalm, a song from my childhood comes rushing back.  We used to sing it at summer camp and in Sunday School.  “Clap your hands, all ye people.  Shout unto God with a voice of triumph.  Clap your hands, all ye people.  Shout unto God with a voice of praise.  Hosanna!…”. That tune will be fixed in my mind throughout the day now.  And that’s ok.  There are times when we need to have those childhood songs or those first memory verses resurface to remind us how deep our faith goes.  I find myself resting in the peace of a faith taught to me by those saints who have gone before.  What a gift I, and many of us, have received because someone shared faith with us, taught us to sing, taught us memory verses, led us through the rituals of baptism and communion.  I am thankful for those faithful saints who taught me to sing and clap my hands.

Prayer
Everlasting father,  we offer thanks for those who have gone before us, who lived their faith honestly and with commitment.  We offer thanks for what they have taught us by example.  We know we have stepped into their shoes and now live as an example for others, seeking your grace, and living our discipleship.  Help us to grow in the areas in which we need help, and help us to share our strengths to help us others.  Help us, today, to remember the old lessons of our faith which have shaped us and led us to where we are today.  Help us to rely on you as we continue to grow in our faith.  Thank you for giving us time and opportunity to grow.  Amen.

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit?
    Or where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light around me become night,”
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is as bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
    Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
¹⁵     My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
    all the days that were formed for me,
    when none of them as yet existed.
¹⁷ How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
    I come to the end^[a]—I am still with you.

¹⁹ O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
    and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
²⁰ those who speak of you maliciously,
    and lift themselves up against you for evil!^[b]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
    And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²² I hate them with perfect hatred;
    I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any wicked^[c]way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.^[d]

Prayer

You have made this day, Almighty God. Help us to live into your grace as the day unfolds. You have loved us beyond imagination. Help us to love our neighbors. You stand with those who are lonely, grieving, outcast, and in poverty. Help us to stand with you and with those in need. We offer thanks for your many blessings including….       We offer prayers for those people and issues weighing on our hearts….  Amen.

⁵ Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
    your judgments are like the great deep;
    you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.

⁷ How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house,
    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

¹⁰ O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your salvation to the upright of heart!
¹¹ Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
or the hand of the wicked drive me away.
¹² There the evildoers lie prostrate;
they are thrust down, unable to rise.

⁸ There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
    nor are there any works like yours.
⁹ All the nations you have made shall come
    and bow down before you, O Lord,
    and shall glorify your name.
¹⁰ For you are great and do wondrous things;
    you alone are God.
¹¹ Teach me your way, O Lord,
    that I may walk in your truth;
    give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
¹² I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever.
¹³ For great is your steadfast love toward me;
    you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

¹⁴ O God, the insolent rise up against me;
    a band of ruffians seeks my life,
    and they do not set you before them.
¹⁵ But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me;
    give your strength to your servant;
    save the child of your serving girl.
¹⁷ Show me a sign of your favor,
    so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame,
    because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

The old hymn “I Need Thee Every Hour” echos the psalmist’s prayer  Below is a video of that hymn which can your prayer of the day.

⁵ For I know that the Lord is great;
    our Lord is above all gods.
⁶ Whatever the Lord pleases he does,
    in heaven and on earth,
    in the seas and all deeps.
⁷ He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth;
    he makes lightnings for the rain
    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

⁸ He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
    both human beings and animals;
⁹ he sent signs and wonders
    into your midst, O Egypt,
    against Pharaoh and all his servants.
¹⁰ He struck down many nations
    and killed mighty kings—
¹¹ Sihon, king of the Amorites,
    and Og, king of Bashan,
    and all the kingdoms of Canaan—
¹² and gave their land as a heritage,
    a heritage to his people Israel.

¹³ Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
    your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.
¹⁴ For the Lord will vindicate his people,
    and have compassion on his servants.

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
    the work of human hands.
¹⁶ They have mouths, but they do not speak;
    they have eyes, but they do not see;
¹⁷ they have ears, but they do not hear,
    and there is no breath in their mouths.
¹⁸ Those who make them
    and all who trust them
    shall become like them.

¹⁹ O house of Israel, bless the Lord!
O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!
²⁰ O house of Levi, bless the Lord!
You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
²¹ Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
he who resides in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!

³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
    and blameless when you pass judgment.
⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty,
    a sinner when my mother conceived me.

⁶ You desire truth in the inward being;^[a]
    therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and put a new and right^[b]spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence,
    and do not take your holy spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and sustain in me a willing^[c]spirit.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you have no delight in sacrifice;
    if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
¹⁷ The sacrifice acceptable to God^[d] is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
¹⁹ then you will delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

⁶ The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
    and all the peoples behold his glory.
⁷ All worshipers of images are put to shame,
    those who make their boast in worthless idols;
    all gods bow down before him.
⁸ Zion hears and is glad,
    and the towns^[a] of Judah rejoice,
    because of your judgments, O God.
⁹ For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
    you are exalted far above all gods.

¹⁰ The Lord loves those who hate^[b] evil;
    he guards the lives of his faithful;
    he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
¹¹ Light dawns^[c] for the righteous,
    and joy for the upright in heart.
¹² Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
    and give thanks to his holy name!

⁷ Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre.
⁸ He covers the heavens with clouds,
prepares rain for the earth,
makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹ He gives to the animals their food,
and to the young ravens when they cry.
¹⁰ His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;^[a]
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.

⁴ These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,^[a]
    and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
    a multitude keeping festival.
⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my help ⁶ and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
    therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
    from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
    at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
    have gone over me.
⁸ By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
    and at night his song is with me,
    a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I say to God, my rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
    because the enemy oppresses me?”
¹⁰ As with a deadly wound in my body,
    my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
    “Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

⁴ For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
    evil will not sojourn with you.
⁵ The boastful will not stand before your eyes;
    you hate all evildoers.
⁶ You destroy those who speak lies;
    the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

⁷ But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
    will enter your house,
I will bow down toward your holy temple
    in awe of you.
⁸ Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies;
    make your way straight before me.

⁹ For there is no truth in their mouths;
    their hearts are destruction;
their throats are open graves;
    they flatter with their tongues.
¹⁰ Make them bear their guilt, O God;
    let them fall by their own counsels;
because of their many transgressions cast them out,
    for they have rebelled against you.

¹¹ But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
so that those who love your name may exult in you.
¹² For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover them with favor as with a shield.