Weekly Devotional 25th of July 2025
by Bruce Billington
Weekly Devotional 25th of July, 2025
We will continue our series on hearing God through the Psalms by examining Psalm 145, a Psalm of David.
Psalm 145:18-20 – “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. 19 He will fulfil the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. 20 The LORD keeps all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.”
God does not abandon those who confess His name when they pray and cry out to Him. He does not leave them to struggle with the world alone; He is always by their side. He is a very present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). Notice in Verse 18 the word “truth” is mentioned. To pray in truth, we must have a genuine heart and hold the truth in our hearts; then we must be humble and sincere. Pride is a falsehood; God sees through this.
He understands our hearts, our motives, intentions, and true desires. When we pray selfishly or with impure motives, He does not respond. But when we call on Him sincerely and with a pure heart, He is ready to assist us.
Verse 19 makes a remarkable promise. It says that He will fulfil our desires! Of course, this does not mean the desires of our fallen, sinful nature. Such desires must be put to death at all times. The Psalmist is referring to righteous persons who are seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). These are people who have embraced the way of life spoken of by Micah when he said, “what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
These are the people whom the Lord will hear and save. The fear mentioned here is a reverence for God. It means we submit to Him and obey Him. We acknowledge that He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the almighty, majestic God of all creation. All things are possible for Him.
At this point (V20), God now shifts His focus to love. He promises to keep all who love Him safe. He watches over, protects, and surrounds those who genuinely love Him with a hedge. He maintains them in His love, and in turn, they will keep Him in theirs. Love represents true godliness. Besides His creation, God also shares His character with those in His kingdom. He is never unfair, and He is never wrong. In everything God does, He is holy (chasid), which can also be understood as gracious, loving, or kind.
In contrast, the wicked, who will face God’s just judgment, will perish. Wickedness offends all holy beings, and therefore, those determined to persist in it must be removed. Their sin, which often bears disastrous fruit in their own lives, cannot be tolerated forever in the Kingdom of God.
This doesn’t mean God desires anyone to perish. He wants all people to understand His truth and come to a saving knowledge of salvation. The earth is brimming with evidence of His goodness (Psalm 33:5). Our lives are supported on this earth by His generous hand. Therefore, God wants every individual to recognise “the riches of His goodness” so they might turn in repentance and faith to Him (Romans 2:4).
His love and care are shown even more by the fact that He gave His one and only Son so that we might be forgiven for our sins and receive eternal life. The salvation God offers is the ultimate expression of His love. Above all that He gives us, we need to proclaim this salvation to the world.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington