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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily

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Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day

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Speaker 1: to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Grace Fox, author of Names of God.

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Speaker 1: Growing Strong and after this short word from our sponsors,

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Speaker 1: will dive into today's Bible verse, Psalm one, nine verse one.

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Speaker 1: Today's Bible verse is Psalm one and nine verse one,

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Speaker 1: God of my praise, do not remain silent. My youngest

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Speaker 1: daughter recently sent me a video of her five year

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Speaker 1: old son wearing an impish grin as he told of

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Speaker 1: having a bad day, like the child in the book

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Speaker 1: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, no good, very bad Day.

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Speaker 1: My little grandson ended his story by declaring, I think

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Speaker 1: I'll move to Australia. Sooner or later. We'll all have

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Speaker 1: a very bad day or season. We pray for what

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Speaker 1: feels like forever, for a strained relationship to heal. Chronic

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Speaker 1: pain SAPs our energy and leaves us with little reserve

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Speaker 1: to do much of anything. Financial struggles, politics, and concerns

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Speaker 1: about our prodigals take a toll. We too might feel

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Speaker 1: like my grandson and the storybook boy Alexander moved to Australia. Sure,

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Speaker 1: why not buy a ticket board a plane. Let's go

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Speaker 1: somewhere anywhere to outrun our problems, I suspect. David felt

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Speaker 1: the same when he penned the words in Psalm one

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Speaker 1: hundred and nine. His situation was very bad. Indeed, he

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Speaker 1: wasn't celebrating a military vicary or enjoying a sense of prosperity.

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Speaker 1: He was under attack. People he loved had repaid him

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Speaker 1: with hatred. False accusations surrounded him, and he felt deeply

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Speaker 1: wounded and betrayed. Later in the chapter, he writes, for

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Speaker 1: I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded

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Speaker 1: within me. I fade away like an evening shadow. I'm

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Speaker 1: shaken off like a locust. My knees give way from fasting.

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Speaker 1: My body is thin and gaunt. I am an object

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Speaker 1: of scorn to my accusers. When they see me, they

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Speaker 1: shake their heads. David seems to be at his wits

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Speaker 1: end humanly speaking, he had every reason to become bitter, discouraged,

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Speaker 1: or consumed by self pity. Instead, he cried to the

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Speaker 1: Lord for help, using one of God's biblical names. Doing

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Speaker 1: so fortified his faith and empowered him to remain steadfast

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Speaker 1: in the storm. The name David used is found in

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Speaker 1: today's key verse. In Hebrew, it is alohi tlat t,

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Speaker 1: which means God of my praise. It's interesting to note

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Speaker 1: that David declared who God was before he described his circumstances.

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Speaker 1: That order matters. He had learned to view his circumstances

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Speaker 1: through the lens of who God is, rather than the

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Speaker 1: other way around, viewing the character of God through his circumstances.

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Speaker 1: David understood something that's vital to our faith. That is,

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Speaker 1: praising God does not minimize our pain, nor does it

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Speaker 1: pretend our problems don't exist. Scripture never asks us to

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Speaker 1: deny reality. Instead, praise lifts our eyes above our challenges

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Speaker 1: and fixes them on God's unchanging character. Circumstances fluctuated emotions

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Speaker 1: rise and fall, but God remains faithful, wise, sovereign, loving,

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Speaker 1: and good. Praise shifts our attention from the size of

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Speaker 1: our problem to the greatness of our God. That's why

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Speaker 1: it strengthens our faith. So long as we stare only

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Speaker 1: at our difficulties, those difficulties seem to grow larger. But

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Speaker 1: when we intentionally rehearse God's attributes, like his power, wisdom, faithfulness,

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Speaker 1: or see and love. We remember that nothing we face

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Speaker 1: is greater than the one who walks with us. Ruth

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Speaker 1: Bell Graham wisely said, worship and worry cannot live in

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Speaker 1: the same heart. They are mutually exclusive. We cannot simultaneously

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Speaker 1: magnify God and magnify our fears. One will always replace

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Speaker 1: the other. So being intentional about our response is of

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Speaker 1: vital importance. Throughout Scripture we see this demonstrated. Here's another

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Speaker 1: example from David's life. In Psalm thirty four to one,

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Speaker 1: he wrote, I will extol the Lord at all times.

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Speaker 1: His praise will always be on my lips. He penned

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Speaker 1: those words while trying to escape the jealous King Saul

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Speaker 1: by hiding in enemy territory and pretending to be insane

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Speaker 1: to save his own life. Talk about dire and yet

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Speaker 1: amid the chaos, David chose to praise the Lord. If

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Speaker 1: you're having a very bad day or a terrible season,

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Speaker 1: take your cue from David. Begin where he began. Call

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Speaker 1: on Loe t la T. Tell God honestly about your

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Speaker 1: fears and disappointments. He welcomes your honesty. Then intentionally praise

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Speaker 1: him for his character, Praise him for being faithful even

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Speaker 1: when you cannot see the outcome. Praise Him because he

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Speaker 1: is sovereign. When life feels out of control, Celebrate his goodness,

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Speaker 1: his wisdom, his mercy, his power, and his unfailing love.

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Speaker 1: You may discover that praise doesn't immediately change your circumstances,

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Speaker 1: but it changes you. It has a remarkable way of

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Speaker 1: turning our eyes from today's challenge to God's eternal character.

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Speaker 1: And when our focus shifts to who He is, our

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Speaker 1: faith grows stronger. We begin to remember that the God

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Speaker 1: who has carried us before will carry us again. So

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Speaker 1: let's not try to outrun our problems. Instead, let's learn

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Speaker 1: to praise God in the midst of them. Let's praise

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Speaker 1: Him in the sunshine and in the storm. Let's praise

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Speaker 1: Him when the the answer comes quickly, and while we're

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Speaker 1: still waiting. Let's make praise our first response rather than

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Speaker 1: our last resort. Because God is worthy of our praise

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Speaker 1: at all times. Let's pray God, you understand the challenges

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Speaker 1: we face and the emotions we feel as a result.

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Speaker 1: Even though our circumstances and feelings change, you remain the same.

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Speaker 1: You are consistently good, wise, faithful, sovereign, merciful and all powerful,

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Speaker 1: help us view our bad days and terrible seasons through

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Speaker 1: the lens of who you are, and help us Thank

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Speaker 1: you in advance for fortifying our faith in the process,

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Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Amen,