GOD IS...(8)

Oh boy, this is almost a week late getting published. That's why I'm never going to promise how much or how often I'll post. I said I'd try to get an edition of GOD IS out weekly but apparently I'm too busy for even that! So this post is really from last week's reading.

In GOD IS #7, I said I intended to start reading Psalms and Proverbs over the summer. I almost forgot how much I love reading Psalms. If you are at a point where you'd like to start reading the Bible or reading it more, these are great books to start. They are easy to understand and are relevant to everyone.

So I did start Psalms but never did start Proverbs. But before I get right into it, I have one little clarification, in case its not obvious. For verses that are in all quotes, I'm writing the entire thing word for word, usually out of the New International Version of the Bible. If I don't begin with quotation marks, then I'm paraphrasing, but trying to keep as much of the language exactly the same - just shortening it to get to the point about God. And if there are quotes in the middle its because I'm only quoting what someone said, and if it happens to be what God said, and then that's definitely word for word and not paraphrased.

Without further ado...

Psalm 2:1-6 The One enthroned in heaven laughs and scoffs at the nations that conspire, the peoples who plot in vain, the kings of the earth who take their stand and the rulers who gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Then He rebukes them in anger and terrifies them in His wrath saying, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill."

Psalm 3:8 "From the Lord comes deliverance."

Genesis 26:12-14 The Lord blessed Isaac by causing him to reap one hundred fold what he sowed, to become rich, and to have wealth that continued to grow.

Genesis 39:2-3 The Lord was with Joseph and caused him to prosper, to have success in all he did, and to find favor in his master's eyes.

Deuteronomy 16:15 The Lord blessed the people's harvest and the work of their hands and gave them complete joy when they celebrated the Feast that the Lord commanded them to.

Job 1:8-10 "Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears [respects/reveres] God and shuns evil.' 'Does Job fear God for nothing?' Satan replied. 'Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.' "

Psalm 29:11 "The Lord gives strength to His people, the Lord blesses His people with peace."

Acts 4:24 The Sovereign Lord has made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea and everything in them.

Ezekiel 34:26-27 "I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land.  They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them."

Psalm 3:3 The Lord is a shield around you; He bestows glory on you and lifts up your head.

Psalm 3:4 When you cry aloud to the Lord, He answers you from His holy hill.

Genesis 1:1-10 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day,' and the darkness He called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day. And God said, 'Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.' So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse 'sky.' And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day. And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so. God called the dry ground 'land,' and the gathered waters He called 'seas.' And God saw that it was good."

Psalm 4:1 God is righteous.

Psalm 4:3 "Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord will hear when I call to Him."

Psalm 4:6-8 The light of the Lord's face can shine upon you. He can fill your heart with greater joy than when new grain and wine abound. When you lie down and sleep in peace, the Lord alone will make you dwell in safety.

Jeremiah 10:12-13 "But God made the earth by his power; He founded the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightening with the rain and brings out the wind from His storehouses."

Psalm 33:6-7  "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars and puts the deep into storehouses."

Psalm 33:9-11 "For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations."