Day 10

You Are Steadfast

from the Psalms of Gratitude reading plan


Psalm 118:1-29

BY She Reads Truth

Text: Psalm 118:1-29

n this 2-week reading plan, we are assuming a posture of thanksgiving before the Lord by meditating on ten Psalms of Gratitude. Rather than provide a written response to each Psalm, we have offered a simple yet meaningful activity designed to help us recall God’s mercies to us and through time. So grab a journal, and let’s create our own songs of thanksgiving to God.

Psalm 118
Thanksgiving for Victory

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
Let Israel say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”

I called to the Lord in distress;
the Lord answered me
and put me in a spacious place.
The Lord is for me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
The Lord is my helper,
Therefore, I will look in triumph on those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in nobles.

All the nations surrounded me;
in the name of Yahweh I destroyed them.
They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me;
in the name of Yahweh I destroyed them.
They surrounded me like bees;
they were extinguished like a fire among thorns;
in the name of Yahweh I destroyed them.
You pushed me hard to make me fall,
but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.

There are shouts of joy and victory
in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!
The Lord’s right hand is raised.
The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!”
I will not die, but I will live
and proclaim what the Lord has done.
The Lord disciplined me severely
but did not give me over to death.

Open the gates of righteousness for me;
I will enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous will enter through it.
I will give thanks to You
because You have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This came from the Lord;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Lord, save us!
Lord, please grant us success!
He who comes in the name
of the Lord is blessed.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.
The Lord is God and has given us light.
Bind the festival sacrifice with cords
to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will give You thanks.
You are my God; I will exalt You.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.

Dig Deeper:

Our circumstances change, but God and His faithful love remain unchanged. Use the structure of verses 1-9 in David’s psalm to write a personal song of thanks to God. Contrast the unique details of your changing life with God’s unchanging truth.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.

Let ____________ say,

“His faithful love endures forever.”
Let the house of ____________ say,

“His faithful love endures forever.”
Let those who fear the Lord say,

“His faithful love endures forever.”

I called to the Lord in________________;
the Lord answered me

and ______________________________.

The Lord is for me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

The Lord is my helper,

Therefore, _________________________.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord

than to_____________________________.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord

than to ____________________________.

(adapted from verses 1-9)

The details change. God remains the same.

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Post Comments (156)

156 thoughts on "You Are Steadfast"

  1. Jessica Thomas says:

    His love remains unchanged! No matter what we do, his love remains unchanged. In this crazy world that brings me peace!

  2. PamC says:

    Checking in here as well as the Kingdom study. I’ve only had intermittent access to the internet this past week while I’ve been with my mom. I have day at home to replenish supplies, meds, & do laundry. Then I get to go back to sit with my mom some more. I’m not sure what she’s clinging to at this point. We were turned down for home health care for her because the house is such a pit. The hospice nurses…Jesus’s hands & feet…I’m so grateful for them. My sister is so angry. She works for the Reno school district & they are giving her grief, threatening to fire her for any more time taken off…what a mess. We have both told Mom it’s ok to let go. Your prayers, sisters, would be greatly appreciated. Prayers that my sister would soften her heart and that Mom would let go, quit fighting & suffering. That I can accept God’s will. Thanks to you all.

  3. Lehua K. says:

    CEE GEE: What a powerful commentary on Exodus 15:20! I’ve never thought about it before to seek God as our strength and make Him the primary focus. While there are great things out there to bring strength, it is important as believers to seek God as our source of strength, through prayer with Him (not only sharing but listening, which I struggle with), meditating and studying His Word, and fellowship with other believers (like what we are doing here!) ❤️

    MICHELLE PATIRE – Always appreciate your prayers and insights! I would love for you to “take us to church” lol ❤️

    THERESA – oh, dear sister, I pray that you will be able to receive God’s blessings and know that there is so much room for ALL of us to enjoy His blessings ❤️ I can relate to having this mindset at times too, where I hold myself back more than anything. Where I feel others deserve it more than me. But God… God is able to do EXCEEDINGLY and ABUNDANTLY more than we can ask or think (paraphrasing Ephesians 3:20, emphasis mine). I heard a Sunday message on this verse recently by leadership expert John Maxwell, and I wish y’all could have heard it. It touched me. The original words used here to describe “exceedingly and abundantly” is like an overflow, spilling over. That’s how much God wants to bless us, with so much abundance, and He can do it! ❤️

  4. Lehua K. says:

    SARAH D – Praying for your situation ❤️ as I read through this past week, I was praying that your interview would go well, and for your health. Not sure if your interview happened yet but praying for a good outcome. God has you in His capable hands.

    RHONDA – I love that example of Amazon.. such good things to reflect on. I see the same in the mentorship/leadership business I’m a part of – when my husband and I share with others and they get really excited because they have a chance to turn their lives around, then they get started, and a little while later they just go missing… I’ve heard it said that many forget where they’ve come from, how far they’ve come (but that the journey isn’t over and to keep going), and to hold on to the Why (the reasons) why we started in the first place. Not to judge at all, because even for me, I sometimes forget the amazing blessings of knowing who we know and what we’re a part of, and how our business has even brought me and many others closer to God… it’s so much more than a business. To me, it’s a calling, and my God-given purpose. I never want to forget why I started, and why I’m still going, both in my faith walk and in our business. There’s lots of parallels which help me in both areas. ❤️ Love your insights and heart, and praying for God to continue to use you in a mighty way in the ministries you’re involved in. Also praying for your migraines, even though those are fewer and far between, those aren’t fun – I hope yours went away by the time I post this!

    KIMBERLY Z – what a beautiful testimony and blessing that your dad now goes to church ❤️ and I love the term “God winks” ;)

  5. Lehua K. says:

    KATIE L: Praying for level headedness, protection and a victorious outcome/miracle that this situation your family is in will bring others closer to God. To Him be the glory ❤️

    HEIDI – I can relate to you a bit, being in a season where you wonder if it can all get done. I’ve heard a spiritual leader describe it as the “God gap” – where our limits are as human beings, and our ceiling, that is His floor! How amazing is that?! I’ve been learning to see this “God gap” as a way to bring glory to Him, because MANY things certainly could not have been done in my strength alone. (It might have been called the God room… lol I can’t remember at this early hour). God can exceedingly and ABUNDANTLY do more than we ask or think. I love the song “Breakthrough” which has been a daily repeat for me in this season. “There will be victory here”… we will have victory, we know that in God’s hands we are protected.. what are we afraid of? Why do we worry? I know for me, it’s because I can’t see HOW it will happen. In my eyes it doesn’t seem possible. But I think about God and how He sees the situation and from His eyes ANYTHING is possible, if He wills it to be so. It’s tough for me to let go of wanting to know HOW but thinking on these things and verses brings peace ❤️ my heart goes out to you in this time of busyness and stress, because I can relate so much to what you’re going through… (what I shared above was just as much speaking encouragement to myself too)… praying you come out of this with strengthened faith and belief in Him that He’s got you, He is FOR you, and that all will be well ❤️❤️ praying for Kin as well.

  6. Lehua K. says:

    I finally made some time to catch up a bit and comment! (I’m only a day behind ;) and I started reading at 2:30am lol…)

    Ladies, it has been a really busy season. I just started training one of my best friends at work (who was hired on as my assistant) and fortunately it has been such a blessing so far. Thanking God for it all. It’s just a little challenging to juggle my tasks with training but it feels nice now that she has taken some of the tedious tasks off of my plate, so I can focus on the meat of my work. Still learning to prioritize and delegate well. May God be glorified as He steps in the gap to fill in for my weaknesses, and may I learn to trust Him through this season. ❤️

  7. Katie L says:

    Just wanted to post a follow-up to my prayer request – God is so good you guys!! He sees us personally and knows our situation and what it will become! I am so thankful for your prayers for me today, I definitely felt the peace of the Lord and had some pretty remarkable “coincidences” happen (but we know they weren’t coincidences )!

    Now that I have a little more time I wanted to share the details of my situation:

    My ex husband and I have one son (he walked out when our son was about 9 months old), he lives about 2 hours away so our son goes to visit him every other weekend, I have always had full legal and physical custody (he is now 9). My ex-husbands mother is a very flighty, untrustworthy person (history of drugs, domestic violence, child neglect, etc. I don’t know that any of it is documented this is just what I’ve heard from my ex-husband, she does have a very abrasive personality) but grandma has had open access to visit her grandson whenever she chooses (which ends up about 1-3 times a year, no phone calls or communication between). She usually announces she will be visiting a couple days before she arrives and demands everyone drop everything to accommodate her, and is very upset if we had plans and can’t make a visit work. Once our son started staying over at his dads house about 5 years ago I cut off contact with his mom since she didn’t need to go through me anymore to see her grandson, she could work with her own son. He has remarried and has 3 stepchildren who his mother doesn’t recognize as her grandchildren since “they aren’t blood.” It’s made visitation for them very uncomfortable since she makes it very clear that our son is the favorite because he is “blood.” She has always lamented having to coordinate with us to see him and wants to have more freedom to take him on trips (a privilege she hasn’t earned and with how little our son really knows her this would be scary and upsetting to him). So she’s taken it upon herself to file a court case over the situation, asking to be made a party to our 8.5 year old divorce case and awarded visitation rights. She’s requesting to take our son on 3 multi-day trips per year (she has never spent time alone with him let alone had him overnight).

    This whole situation has been incredibly nerve wracking, I cannot understand that my authority as his parent to decide what is safe and unsafe could be taken away. My ex husband and I are in complete agreement that unsupervised visitation with her is NOT in our child’s best interest but the judge is a “bleeding heart” according to the lawyer I’ve spoken to.

    Today I had a call with the lawyer that did our divorce, he said he doesn’t have experience with this kind of case because it’s very unique and he recommended another attorney. He did say that grandma will probably be granted her request to be made party to the divorce because all she needs is a relationship with the child and the court defines relationship loosely. I didn’t feel any better or any worse after this call.

    But then!! Later today we got a call from Family Law who had scheduled our mediation appointment for this coming Tuesday weeks ago. They said they’d jumped the gun and scheduled our mediation before they knew if her request to join the case had been granted so they need to wait until our trial on June 21st to see if they grant her request THEN we will do mediation. I am very glad that I have more time before we have to do all this and it also gave me hope that – what if – what if they DIDN’T grant her request to join the case? I don’t know the likelihood of that happening but would you sisters pray audaciously with me that her request is not granted and this case is thrown out??? If it is granted on the 21st then we will go to mediation on the 27th.

    I’m sorry this is the longest post I’ve ever seen or done, but it is a complicated situation and I wanted you to be able to specifically pray with me ❤️ I am so so so grateful for this community. I pray for you all often, and the lack of a sick feeling in my stomach through all of this reminds me that you’re praying for me too!! Pray for level heads for all parties, my ex-husband and his wife are taking this all with a lot of anger and frustration and I think that will hurt our chances of an outcome in our favor.

    If you read all of this – wow. Thank you!! I appreciate you ❤️

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