by Robert Fudge

1 Answer me when I call to you,
O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.

2 How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame ?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods ?
Selah

3 Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD will hear when I call to him.

4 In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Selah

5 Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the LORD.

6 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

7 You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.

8 I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD,
make me dwell in safety. (NIV)

---

When we turn to God and serve Him, He will hear our call. But notice this means we must leave the false gods that take up so much of our lives. God must indeed be first in our daily lives. When we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us, Peter says.

Also, serving Him means that we must learn to control our tongue and our temper. There are times that the best thing we can say is nothing at all; but how hard that is to do!

Then He says that we are to “offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD. We are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and the fruit of our lips to His praise.

When we do this, we can have the joy that he talks about in this Psalm. This is the same joy that Paul tells us about in the book of Philippians when he says for us to “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say, rejoice... And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:4-7

And, we know that God “works all things together for good to those that love the Lord.”

Let’s each of us determine to have a wonderful day as we show the love, joy and peace of God in our lives to those we come in contact with today.