SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone, it's Wednesday, and this is Nancy with your daily walk.
SPEAKER_00: We finished our study from Nehemiah this past Sunday by reading how the people of God celebrated his goodness in their lives, how he made a way for them to return to Jerusalem, to rebuild the walls and the temple, to restore their homes and their lives together.
SPEAKER_00: Their hearts overflowed with love and praise to God.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Aaron shared a portion of Psalm 9 in our staff prayer time yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: And as he read, I thought back to the Israelites praising God for what he had done for them.
SPEAKER_00: I think this would have been a fitting song of praise.
SPEAKER_00: It was written by David.
SPEAKER_00: Listen as I share the first eleven verses of Psalm 9.
SPEAKER_00: I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart.
SPEAKER_00: I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
SPEAKER_00: I will be glad and exalt in you.
SPEAKER_00: I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
SPEAKER_00: When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence, for you have maintained my just cause.
SPEAKER_00: You have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.
SPEAKER_00: You've rebuked the nations, you've made the wicked perish.
SPEAKER_00: You've blotted out their names forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins.
SPEAKER_00: Their cities you rooted out, the very memory of them has perished.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord sits enthroned forever.
SPEAKER_00: He has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness, he judges the peoples with uprightness.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble, and those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
SPEAKER_00: Sing praises to the Lord who sits enthroned in Zion.
SPEAKER_00: Tell among the peoples his deeds.
SPEAKER_00: The Israelites knew there were challenges yet to face, battles with their enemies yet to fight, uncertainties ahead.
SPEAKER_00: And yet they believed the God of yesterday who provided for them is the God of today who brought healing and restoration, and the God of tomorrow who would continue to love, to lead, and to provide.
SPEAKER_00: They sang with joy-filled hearts of his love and his great faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: I heard a statement just this morning and it's been lingering in my mind.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to draw from it and from this psalm as a prayer for us this day.
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, let what we can see in the work of your hands in our lives build our faith for what we cannot see as we put our trust and our hope in you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, may we give thanks to you with our whole heart.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.