Year 2, Day 212: Psalms 73-74

Psalm 73

I can really understand Asaph’s opening words within Psalm 73.  How many times can I claim to have stumbled because someone who I believe doesn’t deserve it gets rewarded?  How many times have I seen the doers of evil actually get undeserved praise and glory?  Sometimes it really burns me up to see the ways that the ungodly seem to prosper.

I can really understand the long section that follows the opening stanza.  It seems at times as if Asaph is jealous of their lifestyle.  They don’t seem to have any concerns.  They are fat and happy (meaning that they are living a prosperous life).  They increase in their wealth.  They don’t have to worry about doing anything any way but their own.  It is easy to feel jealousy towards those people who chose to live their life as thought they are their only authority.

Then we get to verses 16-17.   I think these are my new two favorite verses for the week.  What do these verses tell us?  When Asaph struggled with life, he went to God’s house.  Oh the truth that those simple verses unpack!  Asaph knows truth is found in God.  Asaph knows that it is in God that answers are found, not in ourselves.  How many of us – me included – genuinely consider God’s house the place to go for answers to life?  If we do, what does it say about our quest for truth if we only show up once a week – or not even that often?  These two verses are brilliant in their simplicity!

Then we get to the wisdom that Asaph learns in God’s house.  God reminds Asaph that the pleasure of the wicked is fleeting.  Their lifestyle is a slippery slope.  Their joy turns to pain as life constantly falls further out of their grasp.  They end up chasing an unattainable dream.

Finally we understand true faith.  God has set Asaph straight, and Asaph repents.  Asaph knows that his thinking was bad.  Asaph knows that he was not right in being jealous of the lifestyle of the wicked.  It is understandable, but it isn’t right.  So Asaph repents.  Then he gives God the glory.  Again we see the importance of humbling ourselves before God.  We will certainly make mistakes.  But when we make mistakes we should be able to come to God and repent and give Him the credit for helping us overcome our mistakes.

Psalm 74

Psalm 74 is a great psalm for thought.  It begins with Asaph calling out for help.  Once again the Hebrew people are in national disaster.  Once again they have fallen away from God.  Once again they need someone bigger than themselves to come in, pick up the pieces, and put life back together again.  I feel like I just paraphrased Humpty-Dumpty!

As I began reading this psalm, I asked myself why is it that God should be expected to do anything about it – or us, for that matter.  After all, He isn’t the one at fault for our falling away.  He hasn’t done anything wrong.  He certainly is blameless when we find ourselves in the midst of our sin!  Why should God do anything about us at all?

Then I continued on reading through Asaph’s words.  There are no strong prophets who can speak to the people.  The people are rebellious and have forgotten God.  The reason that Asaph has to turn to God is because God is the only one big enough to do anything about it!

In a way, that’s a bit of a back-handed complement.  Shame on the Hebrew people – or us, for that matter – for allowing things to get that bad.  But kudos to a remnant of them for realizing that God is the only one who can right that ship!  Kudos to them for asking God to remember His covenant even though the Hebrews haven’t lived up to their end of the bargain.

What a powerful psalm, especially as a follow-up to the first psalm we read today.  What a power time to realize that God is the only one who can truly help.  What a powerful time to realize how gracious God is when He breaks into our life of sin and saves us when He really isn’t obligated to do so at all!  What a mighty and gracious God He is – powerful to save.

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Year 2, Day 211: Psalm 71-72

Psalm 71

Psalm 71 begins as a psalm of protection, but it turns out to be a psalm of glory.  The first four verses clearly speak of protection and prevention from being forsaken.  It is clear that the psalmist is concerned about his relationship and status in God’s kingdom.

However, the psalm quickly turns to become a psalm about glorifying God.  In fact, one of the neat things about this particular psalm is that it is a psalm of tracing the testimony and witness of a person from youth to adult maturity.  This psalm is an intentional witness from one generation to the next about how a relationship with God fits in every stage of life.

In verse 5 we begin with youth.  Notice that the words that the psalmist uses are trust and hope.  In our youth, our whole life is before us.  We have much to which we can look forward.  We have many expectations.  Our dreams are big.  It makes sense that when we are young we focus on God from an angle of trust and hope and even anticipation.

In verse 7 we begin to perceive a shift in the psalmist’s perspective.  Now the psalmist seems to be speaking as he looks back into the past.  He has been a portent – or a sign or even a testimony – to others.  People have learned about God from him.  He has told people about God’s faithfulness.  As we mature, we begin to realize that there is more to life than that which lies ahead of us.  Life can be about the generations that follow.  A good bit of life is the process of understanding how God has been with us and then teaching those stories to the generations so that they can mature in the faith as we have.  As we mature, we see a relationship with God that still embraces hope and trust and it also embraces the concepts of faithfulness, mercy, grace, and promise.

This brings us to the major point of the second half of the psalm.  Throughout our whole lives, we should be beacons of God’s love to us.  We should live so that we can claim what the psalmist claims in verses 17-18.  We should be about proclaiming His wondrous deeds and announcing His might to the generations.  We should be that witness built on His foundation.  Throughout our whole life we have something we can learn from God and something we can take to the world.

Psalm 72

Psalm 72 is a psalm of Solomon, written after he has become king of Israel.  At first, the psalm reads very much like an “Oh God, give me” kind of psalm.  I do think that there is precisely that potential danger for misuse within this psalm.  More than once does Solomon make a comment such as “May the gold of Sheba be given to him (the king … IE, Solomon).  More than once does Solomon ask for his name to be remembered forever.  If we are not careful about our study of this psalm, it is quite simple to turn this psalm into the next work in the “Prayer of Jabez” prosperity-gospel line of thinking.

Our relationship with God should not be about God giving to us.  Our relationship with God should not be about manipulating God into doing our will.  Our relationship with God should be about our humbling ourselves to His will.  It is in that light that we need to read this psalm.

Under the light of the supremacy of God’s will and its superseding our human will, we can see what it is that Solomon actually desires.  Solomon is asking for a life in which people respect each other and God is praised because of it.  Solomon is asking for a life where God’s blessings are so prominent that His name can’t help but be praised.  Solomon is asking for a life where righteousness is a quality to be praised and valued.  Solomon is asking for a life where we see each other as refreshing influences to life rather than as challenges to the accomplishment of our own personal agendas.  These are all very good things.

However, I do think we have to be careful about which we ask.  Solomon got his request.  He was the wisest and wealthiest king of the Hebrew people.  But he fell into the worship of other gods.  After his reign the Hebrew people split into two different kingdoms.  For me, looking upon this psalm through the lens of history causes me to really ponder the old cliché, “Be careful what you wish for.”  We should place more importance on actually discerning what God desires of us than we put on what we think would be good for us.

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Year 2, Day 210: Psalms 69-70

Psalm 69

Psalm 69 opens with a good thought.  It seems at first that David is trying to accuse God for being slow to protect him – after all, he does claim that his eyes grow dim while waiting for the Lord’s response.  Yet, David does confess his sinfulness in the few verses following.  David acknowledges that it is because of his folly that he is in this predicament.  Furthermore, David acknowledges that the things that he has done wrong are absolutely not hidden from God.  Not only is David guilty of sin, but God knows exactly how guilty!

This comment is a foundation to the Christian life.  It is so easy to get upset with God because He isn’t exactly doing what we think He should be doing.  But when we consider that what we typically think He should be doing actually falls into the category of “saving ourselves from our own mistakes,” we tend to experience a shift in perspective.  If we put ourselves into a predicament, we should be grateful that He is there to help at all!  Thus what we can see is that while the first third of the psalm initially seems to be about impatience on David’s behalf, it actually boils down to gratitude for God’s presence.

Verses 7-8 also caught my attention.  “For it is for Your sake that I have born reproach … I have become a stranger to my brothers.”  When I heard this, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus’ teaching in Mark 10:29-30 or Luke 14:26-27 or even Matthew 10:34-39.  All of these are difficult passages, but they really come down to a single piece of Biblical truth.  Are you more allied to your family or to God?  Who would you forsake first: God or your blood relatives?

Of course, I’m not advocating forsaking either.  In an ideal world we can be united with family in our devotion to God.  You noticed that I didn’t say devoted to our family, right?  There will come times when we will have to choose.  All of us can only serve one master.  David is confessing here in this psalm that he has chosen God over family.  Jesus teaches us in the New Testament that any true follower of God will be more allied to God than their own family.  It is a difficult teaching to understand, but it is an absolutely necessary one.  All the more reason to impress upon our own families the importance of following God! In our devotion to God may we unite with our families!

In fact, look at what David says in verse 9.  John quotes it in John 2:17.  Zeal for God’s house consumed him.  Zeal for God’s house!  Not zeal for his own house.  Not zeal for his progeny or his ancestry.  Zeal for God’s house has consumed him.  Oh, that we would all be consumed with zeal for God’s house.

This leads us into the ending of the psalm.  As David once more progresses through his need of salvation and his own culpability, David finally turns to giving the Lord praise.  As he should, by the way.  What event in life cannot ultimately lead to giving God glory?  Even in our darkest hour we have reason to give God glory and recognize His greatness.  In our moment of greatest sin we can still turn and give glory to God for who He is.

Psalm 70

As long as Psalm 69 is, Psalm 70 is short and to the point.  This is a great point to realize.  Sometimes we have the time to make grand petitions to God.  Sometimes as our world crashes around all we can do is offer up the immediate “Save me!” kind of prayers.  Both have their place.  We should have confidence to know that we can call out to God in an emergency.  We should also take the time and relate to God in more ways than in the emergency.

As we look at Psalm 70, I don’t plan on saying too much – for most of what could be said has already been said over the last three or four psalms.  But I will say this.  Notice that even in this “Oh God, save me!” kind of psalm that roughly a quarter of the psalm is still devoted to giving God praise and glory.  David was in tune with speaking to his God enough that even in an emergency praise came out of his mouth.  That’s a neat point – one to which I know I can strive towards!

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Year 2, Day 209: Psalms 67-68

Psalm 67

In Psalm 67 we are met with a really familiar passage – especially to those of us who worship in a liturgical style.  The opening stanza of this psalm is a paraphrase from Numbers 6:24-26.

I love coming upon scripture that I know inherently.  It’s like sitting before a warm fire and cuddling into a familiar blanket.  Okay, maybe that isn’t the best analogy for July.  Let me try a different one.  Coming upon familiar scripture is like sitting down at a park bench and sipping your absolute favorite flavor of milkshake.  For me lately that has been cherry.

There is a warm fuzzy feeling that comes over me when I come upon scripture that I know forward and backward.  I feel like I “fit” within scripture.  I feel like an old friend has come to greet me once again.  Perhaps the neatest part of this experience is that I can remember back to the last time I heard the scripture and affirm that the Lord has been with me since I last heard it.  I can be comforted by saying, “It was true then, and it is still true.”  Meeting familiar scripture is part of the process through which I know that God is unchanging in His agenda.  He is true to His Word.  His Word is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

So what does this psalm tell us?  What is so true about this psalm?

• The Lord is gracious to us, blessing us in many ways. 
• The ways of the Lord are known among the nations. 
• We as human beings have been invited to praise God and to do the absolutely unthinkable – to be in a relationship with the perfect God. 
• The Lord does guide us and judge over us. 

As I read this psalm, I am filled with an overall desire to go praise Him and thank Him for all that He has done for us.  I am also filled with a desire to tell people that He is not done acting, either!  There is still more to see and experience in God, so let’s keep praising His name!

Psalm 68

Let’s now look at Psalm 68.  This psalm starts us off in a completely different direction than Psalm 67.  It is a bit unfortunate, because the feeling welling up inside of me from the prior psalm was a great feeling.  So I’m going to have to be intentional about recapturing that feeling once I am done reflecting on Psalm 68.

I say that because I am troubled by the opening stanza of Psalm 68.  I’m not troubled because the words are wrong – I am troubled because the words are true.  God has enemies.  God has people who hate Him.  God has people that are driven from His presence.  There are people who will melt before Go like wax melts on a candle. 

This line of thinking saddens me because I know that it is true.  There are plenty of people in this world who are so wrapped up in their own existence that they do not desire to know the love of God.  They become His enemies because they care more about themselves than anything else.  Once more we see the self-monger rise again and interfere with humanity’s relationship with God.

Blissfully, after discussing the enemies of the Lord the psalm turns to giving praise to Lord.  God is praised because He can deliver us from His enemies.  He can rescue us from those that would work against Him.  He can trample the self-centered underfoot.  He can bring us home from captivity.  He can bring rain when we are parched {physically or spiritually speaking…}. 

There is reason to praise God in spite of the sadness regarding the myriad of peoples who make God their enemy.  God is great regardless of who rejects Him and who rejects us because of Him.  Yes, we should weep for those who will never come to His presence in humbleness.  But our mourning for the lost should never interfere with the praise that we ascribe to His name.  For He is indeed a great and mighty God!

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Year 2, Day 208: Psalm 65-66

Psalm 65

In the other blog that I write daily, I just finished speaking about false teachers and the concept of anathema.  How great is the dichotomy between the words that Paul says in Galatians 1:6-10 versus what the psalmist says here in these opening versus of Psalm 65?  In Galatians, Paul spoke about false teachers and people who are perverting the Gospel.  Paul was speaking about how there are people out there who don’t trust God enough to simply proclaim the message that God has asked them to proclaim.  There are people out there that feel the need to add requirements for this, that, and the other.

On the other hand, the psalmist tells us that those who follow God are pretty simple.  They are the ones who know that God hears our prayer.  They are the ones who recognize that what is important is that God provides for our atonement.  They are the ones that recognize that it is God who draws near to us or who draws us near to Him; it is not we who out of our rules and regulations draw ourselves near to Him.  The ones who are truly of God recognize that His work is far more important than our own work and we should be simply willing to praise Him for His work.

Think about His works for just a moment.  Has He ever spoken words of truth into your life that were precisely what you needed to hear at that time?  Has He ever arranged things to happen so precisely right that His foresight is displayed so majestically?  Has He ever brought the circumstances of your life together in just the right way that you meet the right person at exactly the right time?  Has He ever brought you through the storms of life?  Has He ever tamed the evil around you and brought you safely through?  As the psalmist says toward the end of the middle stanza of this psalm and at the end of this psalm, should we not be in awe of His works and shout for joy at the sound of His name?

Psalm 66

We now turn to Psalm 66.  Psalm 66 continues the voice of praise that we glean from Psalm 65.  In fact much of the thrust is the same.  We should give praise to God for His mighty deeds.  We should give praise to God for the way that He works in our life.

However, in Psalm 66 we pick up another avenue for praising God. Here we pick up the idea of being genuinely thankful for the interaction between God and the generations that came before us.  Did you hear the reference in the psalm to remembering the period of the Exodus – specifically the crossing of the Red Sea?  The psalmist praises God for His faithful example in ages past.

This is an important concept to hold onto.  If God is faithful in the past, we can believe that He will be faithful now.  If we can believe that God will be faithful now, we can trust that God will be faithful in the future.  Identifying with past faithful experiences with God can help us remain faithful and confident in our walk with God in the present.

As I ponder this concept, I have to wonder what past faithful experiences between God and humanity for which I am grateful.  Of course, the top of that list is being thankful for Jesus Christ.  I am thankful for the work of His disciples and apostles, especially the faithful work of the Apostle Paul.  I am also thankful for the brave work of Lutheran reformers: Martin Luther and Dietrich Bonheoffer come to mind.  I am thankful of the early monastic faith in the Catholic Church: Augustine, Aquinas, and Francis of Assisi come to mind here.  I am thankful of the American spiritual reformers of the Great Awakening, preachers who pushed a spiritual response among the people and not just an academic response: preachers like George Whitefield and Jonathon Edwards.  If God can be with all of these people, can He not also be with us?

Through the witness of history, we can see how God takes His people and tries them.  He purifies them like silver.  He takes us out and leads us forth.

So I ask you today much like the psalmist asks.  Will you come and hear what God has done for me?  Will you be willing to join my story of what God has done for me and add to it what God has done for you as well?  Can we speak together about how God has listened to our needs and how He has fulfilled His promises?

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Year 2, Day 207: Psalms 63-64

Psalm 63

Psalm 63 is just what the doctor ordered today.  A few minutes ago I posted a comment on my blog post on Psalm 60-61 about how remembering to praise God is sometimes difficult for me.  Praising God is not difficult; remembering to praise Him is difficult.  Sometimes I get so caught up in my life: the schedule, the routine, and the things that get me off-track and behind schedule.  Sometimes I simply forget to praise God.

No sooner did I finish writing that comment when I turned to Psalm 63 and heard about how easy it is for David to turn to God and give Him praise.  So I paused for a second and I asked myself, “Why?”  Why can David seem to praise God whenever he wants?

I think I found an answer.  Certainly not the answer, because I believe there are many reasons as to why some people have an easier time praising God than other people.  But I do believe I found an answer: David – like Jesus – saw an opportunity to get in touch with God in everything around him.  {I realize I may be giving too much credit to David – but not Jesus!  David certainly had his moments of flawed weakness.}

Look at this psalm’s title.  This is a psalm when David is out in the wilderness running for his life.  Had I been there, it would have been easy for me to say, “Woe is me.  I’m thirsty.  I’m hungry.  My life really isn’t going that well.”  And I’m probably not giving myself enough credit here, but I am trying to make a point. 

It is far too easy to focus on our own life and how our life is affecting us.  It is far too easy to forget that God is with us in the dark times as well as the good times.  Remember that classic reflection called “Footprints in the Sand” about when we look back and only see one set of footprints in the sand?  It is at those times that God is actually carrying us!

That’s what I love about this psalm.  David has an incredible ability to look at his thirst and his desolate surroundings and turn it into a reminder about just how much he thirsts for God! David turns his wilderness experience into a reminder of just how much he is satisfied with the fullness of God’s presence.  David is a master of spinning life back onto a reflection of God – especially through his poetry in the psalms.  In today’s vernacular, David is a Spin Doctor for Spirituality.

So why shouldn’t we praise God?  Why shouldn’t our soul thirst for Him and be satisfied by Him?  Why shouldn’t we bless His name?  Why shouldn’t our hands be lifted up in praise to Him?  Why shouldn’t our lips sing His praises?  He is a great and mighty God, worthy of all our praise!

Psalm 64

As we now turn to Psalm 64, the focus is now completely different.  Psalm 64 is not a psalm of praise.  It is a psalm of petition.  David needs protection, and he is not ashamed to ask of it from God!

As with most psalms of protection, we also hear a great perspective on humanity.  How does David speak about the human beings around him?  Human beings plot secretly amongst ourselves.  We wet our tongues with bitter words.  We ambush the blameless with no concern for what we are really doing.  We hold fast to our evil ways.  We lay snares for one another.  We seek out injustice.

That’s not really a very cheery perspective on humanity – which should be no surprise to us.  Without God, human beings are pretty rough creatures.  When our self-centeredness is allowed to rise up to the surface we can absolutely be difficult people to be around.  One of the reasons that I love psalms of protection is because they all become healthy reminders of why we need God in our life.  We all need to be reminded of the people that we become when God is not present in our life.

Of course, it is also healthy for us to remember that God can and does protect us.  He does fight our battles for us.  He does give us the strength to fight with Him.  He does foil the plots of the enemy.  We can and should take refuge in Him!

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Year 2, Day 206: Psalm 62

Psalm 62

The opening verses of Psalm 62 brings comfort.  The Lord is my rock, my salvation, and my fortress.  In Him I will not be shaken.  What a powerful statement!

Yesterday I opened with an extended analogy of the road map, and I enjoyed the mental pursuit of that analogy.  Today as I thought about the rock, salvation, and fortress ideas I thought about a lighthouse.  Lighthouses are typically built on the edge of shore where the ocean meets rock.  Time and time again I have watched waves crest and break upon the rocks.  Time and time again I have watched the lighthouse stand under the relentless assault of the waves.

God is like that lighthouse that stands regardless of whether it is the ocean, rain, sleet, or snow that is battering it.  In Him – like the lighthouse – there is salvation from the world around us.  He guides us to safety and salvation.  God is indeed good.

As I hit verse 5, I find an incredible challenge as I often do in psalms of praise.  The words are tough.  For God alone my soul waits in silence.  Is this true of me?  Is God my ultimate desire for which I wait?  Is God the thing in my life that brings the most pleasure to me?

These are challenging questions.  These are questions for which I know what my answer should be: “Yes!” 

But then I also have to look at my life.  How many hours do I spend on various internet pursuits yearning for attention?  Do I crave attention more than God?  Or how many hours do I spend escaping life by pursuing things like video games or television?  Do I crave an escape from life more than I crave God?

Of course, we all need our escapes.  We all need our moments of down time.  We all need a vacation.  We all need our hobbies that help us focus on something besides the main goal for a time.  My fear is not that I have distractions – for distractions actually help us focus stronger when the time for focusing is needed.  My concern is making sure the distractions don’t become so strong that they actually become the focus.  That’s where danger rests.  When we put something else higher than God in our prioritization structure we will have trouble.

Then we come to the end of this psalm.  David reminds us that both the low and high in stature are but a fleeting experience on this earth.  What is wealth compared to the love of God?  What is power compared to God’s power?  What is stature compared to being a part of the family of God?  What is control next to relying upon God to be in control?

These also are challenging questions.  We as human beings pursue so many things that God can offer in greater quantities if we are just willing to pursue Him instead of these things.  For me, I believe this is the lesson for the day.  When I put my mind on pursuing Him, He will deliver to me what I really need, not what I desire.

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Year 2, Day 205: Psalms 60-61

Psalm 60

As I began to read Psalm 60 today, I began to think about a road map.  Let me explain.

A few days ago I was comparing the routes between Atlanta and Pittsburgh.  You can go northwest up 75 to Tennessee, then jump on 81 to Wytheville, jump on 77 to Beckley, 19 to Flatwoods, and then 79 to Pittsburgh.  Or, you can take 85 northeast to Charlotte, jump on 77 to Beckley, and then follow the same route described earlier north of Beckley.  These are two completely different routes in the beginning.  They take you in completely different directions.  They take different amounts of time and go across different amounts of mileage. 

But there is one thing that is true about both of them.  Neither is precisely direct.  If I wanted a direct route from Atlanta to Pittsburgh I’d probably be better of flying on an airplane with no stops – but that wouldn’t guarantee an exactly direct route either due to air currents, storm fronts, other flight plans for that day, etc.

Why am I talking today about direct routes?  Well, so often we think of history as times of “good” and “bad.”  There are the times when particular nations had “evil” periods.  I’m thinking of France under Napoleon, Germany under Hitler, Rome under Nero, Judah under Manasseh, Israel under Ahab, etc.  Then, there are the good old days.  We think of “good” times such as England under King Richard, the United States under George Washington, Rome under Constantine, and Israel under David.  But the truth is that in none of those times were any of those countries completely good or completely bad.  They weren’t on a direct path of goodness or evil.

Under Hitler there was a resistance, and the same is true with Napoleon.  Under King Richard, there were the supporters of King John.  When Ahab was leading Israel astray there was the work of the prophets Elijah and Elisha to call people to truth.  As well as George Washington is remembered, there were problems like slavery and unequal voting rights for women at work in the system.  Even under David, Israel was not the beacon of righteousness that we tend to remember it as.

History is kind of like traveling.  I will remember getting to the destination, but I may not always remember how circuitous the route happened to be.  We may remember a time period as “good” or “bad,” but the truth is that it is likely that there are times of being on track and there are times of actually heading away from the desired destination or agenda.

Having taken this long time to set up the psalm, let’s now look at it.  What I explained above is actually the thought behind David’s opening lines. David looks to God and confesses that the Hebrew people have been wandering away from God.  They have strayed from the path.  They are on a more circuitous route than a direct path when it comes to their relationship with God.  As David says, they are in need of restoration.  They are in need of God to put aside His righteous rejection and embrace them with gracious love.  Even though David is remembered as Israel’s greatest king and the time period of David’s leadership is often thought of as one of the highest spiritual points of the kingdom, the truth is that they got away from the truth periodically – perhaps even often!  We remember it as a golden age, but it was just as flawed then as we are now.

But thanks be to God that there were prophets of truth among the people then.  David was calling the people back to God.  Prophets and priests like Nathan were there to teach and guide.  It would be possible to turn this wayward people around.  It would be possible to remind the people that with God we can do valiantly!  It is possible to remind people that it is only through the grace of God that we triumph!

Psalm 61

The thoughts of Psalm 60 lead us naturally into Psalm 61.  Psalm 61 is a psalm of praise.  God is the strong tower.  It is under His “wings” that we can find shelter, refuge, and protection.  It is in His tent that we can dwell forever!

I love the tenor of this psalm – especially knowing that it is from David and knowing how circuitous his own relationship with God was from time to time.  Here is a man who repeatedly makes big mistake after big mistake; yet he also repeatedly makes big success after big success through his faith, too.  David – whose family was fraught with interpersonal conflict, sexual sin, and all-around self-mongerism – is able to sing God’s praises.  He promises to sing them forever, even!  This same man whose life is filled with sinfulness is able to declare to God that he will fulfill his vows.  David – this sinful king after God’s own heart – is able to yearn for God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him.

We all live lives that sometimes are on the direct path with God; yet sometimes we also find ourselves straying from God’s truth, too.  Regardless of which scenario we find ourselves in, there is always reason to turn to God and give Him praise.  There is always reason to look upon God and realize that he can lead us to a rock that is “higher than I.”  Confession, repentance, forgiveness, and praise should be a cycle that we never abandon throughout our whole life!

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Year 2, Day 204: Psalm 59

Psalm 59

Psalm 59 continues the theme of the previous two psalms.  David once more compares the people around him to the righteousness of God.  Did you notice again some of the similar imagery?  We hear about the people as having sharp swords in their lips.  {Can’t help but think of the Nexu again!}  We hear about them prowling about the city as if to devour whatever they find.  We hear about their bloodthirsty nature.  Again David gives a fairly low impression of humanity – especially those people who aren’t abiding in God’s ways.

Let’s spend some time comparing the behaviors of the “evil” people and the behaviors of God.  The evil people lie in wait for David.  They watch him in order to bring any injustice to him.  They roam the streets arrogantly thinking that nobody will see them, hold them accountable, or be able to stop them.  They utter curses.  They speak lies.  They growl if they do not get their fill of whatever it is for which they happen to be looking.  Can you see the arrogance and self-centeredness of the human race?  We so easily become drunk with our own power and control!

On the other hand, let’s look at the behaviors of God.  God delivers us from enemies.  He protects us.  He saves us.  He comes to meet us.  He rouses himself against our enemies.  He laughs at the evil and the arrogant.  He looks with derision upon those who are drunk with the power of the world.  He is a fortress.  He is steadfast.  He is our strength and our refuge.

Do you see the difference?  God’s nature is love and compassion.  God’s nature is to look to the other.  God’s nature is to call us unto Him so that our nature might become like His nature.  God knows the evil that lies in our hearts and He desires us to abandon that natural evil and adopt His nature.

I am always amazed at the great difference between God and His creation.  In today’s culture, we cling more than we should to the fact that “we are made in the image of God.”  While certainly this is true, I think we have heard that stated so much that we have genuinely come to believe that God is like us.  I think this is actually a theological paradox.  We are certainly made in the image of God, but He is nothing like us.

It has to be this way.  Remember what the word “holy” means?  Holy means “separate.”  Holy means “different.”  It means “set apart.”  It means “consecrated.”  {The Hebrew word is qadash and the Greek word is hagios – these words mean the same thing in their respective languages.}  If God is by definition holy, then by definition we are saying that He is separate and different from us.

When we look at psalms like this, one of the things we should come face-to-face with is this concept of just how different the nature of God is from us.  Yes, we are made in His image.  But our flesh is corrupted by sin.  Our desires are rooted in the self-monger.  We are blessed to be made in the image of God, but that does not give us permission to remake God in our image.  God is not like us; we are to become like Him.

I think this is what makes David such a neat character in the Old Testament.  In Christian circles, we know the process through which we become more like God: sanctification.  We become like God as the Holy Spirit comes within us and dwells among us.  But David did not have evidence to this process in God’s Word like we do.  David knew this process through life.  David knew this process because God was with Him and was sanctifying Him.  We know this because David is always able to look at humanity and see the difference between God’s nature and our nature.  David knows that God is different than us, and David desires to shed the differences and become more like God.

We should sing praises to God.  He has done marvelous things.  He will do marvelous things.  He will do these things because He is righteous and holy.

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Year 2, Day 203: Psalm 58

Psalm 58

I think Psalm 58 is a great psalm to follow Psalm 57.  So much of the imagery is similar, but from a different perspective.  Again we have a reference to humanity as young lions.  Again we have a reference to mouths filled with sharp teeth.  It seems as though this psalm is also meant to focus us on the ways that we can devour one another if we are not careful.

However, David pushes the envelope a bit further in this psalm.  Look at the scathing remark that David lays out against humanity in verse 3.  The wicked are estranged from the womb at birth, going astray from birth while speaking lies.  At birth!

Now, this is not a concept that is really all that strange to people who accept the spiritual truth of God’s Word.  The Bible teaches that all people are in need of God’s grace.  We are taught that there is not even one person who is righteous apart from the blood of Jesus Christ.  In fact, as cute as little babies can be – the innate self-centeredness of humanity can be seen just as clearly in an infant than anywhere else.

Did you know that among mammals, the human is the most inept of species at birth?  Look at other animals.  In most animals the young can walk from moments after birth.  In those that can’t walk, they can usually crawl up into a marsupial pouch or onto their mother’s back.  What can human infants do for themselves?  Our brains are not yet fully formed and many of our bones haven’t even been joined together!

Then there is the whole feed me, change me, pick me up, put me down, let me sleep, pace the floor with me routine.  Don’t get me wrong.  Most parents I know are happy – in the long-run, at least – to care for their children.  But the reality is that the baby is inherently self-centered.  In fact, science tells us that babies don’t even recognize the existence of anything but themselves for several months!  Babies don’t retain a concept of people existing outside of their view for quite some time.  In other words, babies know who you are and recognize you when you are in their line of sight.  But when you go out of their line of sight they don’t think about whether or not you exist.  They just know you aren’t “present” anymore.

Forgive my foray into infant psychology there, but I think this really does tie in with what David is saying.  Our nature is sin, our flesh is corrupt.  It is that way from birth.  We need Christ from birth – whether we can recognize it or not!  Thus, David can say with genuine sincerity that wickedness and evil begins among us at birth.

As has been consistently true about the psalms, it is good to see where David turns as he works through his situation.  Of course, he turns to God!  Look at the middle of the psalm.  David recognizes that it is God who blunts the arrows of the enemy.  It is God who defangs those who seek to harm us.  It is God who dissolves their evil ways.

Even as I write those words and know the truth of them, I stand convicted of them.  Yes, I know that it is fully God upon whom I should rely.  I know that God is capable of protecting me like no other, even myself!  But do I always live like it?  How often do I try and save myself without looking to Christ first?  It is sad to confess, but I am guilty of forgetting to turn to God from time to time.  Again we have an opportunity to thank God for His forgiveness and His deliverance.

This is a great place to turn to the end of the psalm.  The righteous will rejoice at the work of the Lord.  Even the difficult and horrible work of God’s judgment will cause the righteous to rejoice.  The Lord is righteous in all His ways.  The Lord is just in all of His decrees.  The Lord is perfect in every way – even the ways that we fail to understand.

That’s an interesting place to stop for the day.  We as human beings are corrupt from moment one.  God is righteous forever.  We have no reason to think we should be able to dwell in God’s presence.  But He loves us anyway.  He embraces us.  He makes it possible for us to find our way out of the evil of humanity and into His ways.  God is indeed great!

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Year 2, Day 202: Psalm 57

Psalm 57

Have you ever watched the movie Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones?  In that movie, the character Padmé is attacked by a cat-like creature named a Nexu.  I couldn’t help but think about the Nexu as I read through David’s description of humanity within Psalm 57.  If you haven’t seen a Nexu, go ahead and look it up online.  You’ll find a picture on the Star Wars Wookipedia – I love that name – among other places.

  

Take a moment to look at the pictures, even if you aren’t a big fan of the Star Wars series.  That animal is all mouth.  Teeth like razors and spears and arrows.  It’s just like David describes the “children of man” in the psalm.

I’ve felt what it was like to be cut by another person’s words – or even by a look.  I’m sorry to say it, but I am sure that I have done my own share of misguided cutting with my own words, too.  The tongue is a sharp instrument – perhaps our most deadly.  Sure, our feet can kick and our hands can strangle.  But with our tongue we shape and destroy other people.  Our tongues and our words affect people in ways that we can honestly never fathom.

Notice how David describes life right before he talks about the children of man?  “My soul is in the midst of lions, I lay down among fiery beasts.”  Again, I can’t help but think of the lion-like Nexu.  It largely fits the description.

Is that really what it is like to live in this world?  I think we have to answer, “Yes – especially when dealing among people who do not actively reflect God’s ways.”  There is a reason we have a saying that goes like this: “It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.”  We live in world that looks to devour us. 

As an aside, looking at the Nexu and hearing David’s description of humanity makes me think about 1 Peter 5:8, in which we are told that Satan roams around the earth like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  Can there be any doubt that if Satan seeks to devour us that we who are in this world would not likewise learn from him and seek to devour each other, too?  Only by the grace of God do we overcome the nature of this world!

David’s depiction of humanity and what it is like to live in this world is startling.  But it is not paralyzing.  Although he is in the midst of people that make him feel as though he is lying among lions, David turns to the Lord.  David exalts the name of the Lord!  Though his enemies have horrible venom, David is ready to rely upon his God!

Though the people work against him, David’s heart is steady.  He is absolutely prepared to give praise to his God.  He is ready to welcome the dawn and begin a new day giving glory to God.  He confesses that the righteous shall rejoice in God.  The righteous will be lead to confess that surely there is a God who judges on earth.

This is a dog-eat-dog world.  Most people think about themselves before they think about God or the other.  Most people look like the Nexu to their enemies – mouths filled with spears and a tongue that can cut sharply.  But it is not that way for the God-fearer.  God brings justice.  God brings righteousness.  God defangs us and dulls our tongue.  God turns our weapons into implements of His love, grace, and mercy.

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Year 2, Day 201: Psalm 56

Psalm 56

Afraid. 

The word rings twice in Psalm 56.  “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.”  “In God I trust, I will not be afraid.”  David felt fear.

Haven’t we all felt fear?  As I am writing this, I think about the times in my life when I was genuinely afraid. 

A few years ago, I was driving on a back road in Pennsylvania just after a rainfall.  It was spring, and there was a place in the pavement where the ground had heaved underneath.  For about a hundred feet along the road, there was a place where the road on the left was a full inch or more higher than on the right.  As I drove up that road, my tire fell off that ledge.  As the tire hit the wet road below, the car began to fishtail.  I slammed into the guardrail having done a 270 turn across the road.  I bounced off of the guardrail and came to rest facing the wrong direction in the far lane of the road.  Immediately I go out of the car and started directing traffic to slow as I collected pieces of my car that had broken off.  It was then that I got a good glimpse of the sheer eighty foot drop on the other side of the guardrail.  Had that guardrail not been there, I would surely have died.  I felt fear.

I remember one night after midnight when my cousins and I were visiting my grandparents in Upper Michigan.  We snuck out of the house and headed into town just to get out and talk without anyone hearing us.  We didn’t do anything wrong, but on the way back home we had to walk about a mile without very many houses near to us.  It was dark, foggy, and we constantly heard noises behind us.  We felt like we were being watched.  About halfway home, the three of us decided to just run for the house.  I doubt there was anything there except some deer or maybe a dog.  But I felt fear.

Fear is all around.  In some cases, fear helps keep us safe.  A healthy fear of death has turned me into a better driver as I have learned many lessons behind the wheel.  A healthy fear of the dark and deserted places has kept me safe on many occasions.  But in other cases, fear paralyzes us.  There are things I wouldn’t try because I was so afraid of failure that I was genuinely afraid to even try.  There are people who have been slandered in my presence because I was too afraid of peer pressure to speak the truth.  Fear is all around us, and it can be for the good or for the bad.  The real question becomes, what do we do with the fear that is around us.

What does David do?  David senses the fear and turns to the Lord.  He knows that he cannot prevent the fear from coming.  But he can go to the Lord to help minimize the fear and maybe even use it to his advantage.  Through the fear, David’s relationship with God grows.

I love where David goes towards the end of the psalm.  He echoes the point that he makes in the first stanza.  If we are with God, why let fear affect us negatively?  What can man do to us that God cannot make right?  Even if I should die, cannot God deliver me into His promised eternal life?

This is reason to praise God.  This is reason to enter into service to God.  He can deliver us from fear so that we might walk in His light.

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Year 2, Day 200: Psalm 55

Psalm 55

Psalm 55 is a psalm that should be near and dear to the hearts of anyone who has felt betrayed.  This is a psalm that David wrote when a friend plotted against him.  We don’t necessarily know who the friend is, but certainly David had plenty of trusted allies around him.  Given human nature, not all of them would be fiercely loyal to him beyond measure.

The first thing that we encounter is the wound of betrayal.  A person thinks another to be a friend.  A person thinks another to be someone who can be trusted.  A person thinks another to be someone who genuinely looks out for your interests as well as their own.  Then suddenly all of that is betrayed.  Suddenly, the deception of the human heart is revealed and the betrayal is exposed.

Fundamentally, have you ever thought about what the root cause of betrayal is?  Sure, the general answer of sin can be spoken of here.  But what sin?  Where is the sin rooted?

Betrayal ultimately comes from a person’s selfishness and self-centeredness.  You guessed it.  Betrayal is the rearing of our old enemy the self-monger.  We betray our friends because our own interests, beliefs, gain, and desires are more important than looking out for our friends.

Think about a few Biblical examples.  Judas.  He handed Jesus over to the Jews.  Why?  For money?  Perhaps, but we also know Judas tried to give the money back.  Was it because Judas thought of Jesus as a political Messiah and was trying to force Jesus to forcibly resist death and rise up against Rome?  Probably.  Either way, Judas was either thinking of his own pocketbook or his own ideals above God’s ways and what was good for Jesus Christ.

What about Doeg, the man we discussed a few days ago?  Doeg turned on David and went to Saul’s side to report David’s location.  Why?  Money?  Perhaps.  Personal increase in status?  Probably.  Personal access to the king – the highest authority in the land?  Almost certainly.  Doeg betrays David to Saul for personal gain.

Time and time again we can go through this line of questioning and I think the results are the same.  Betrayal happens when we are more interested in ourselves and our own gain than we are interested in the people around us – and especially in God.  Of course, that’s true for all sin, not just betrayal.

As we come back to the psalm, we really can see the pain of the betrayal in David’s words.  If David was up against the wall with an enemy, he could understand it.  If David was backed against the wall with a known adversary, it would be bearable.  But the fact that this betrayal is personal in nature really makes it hurt even more.  David had once enjoyed this person’s counsel.  David once considered this person an equal and a partner.  He was a friend.  They used to be together in God’s house.

For me, that’s really the one that stings the most.  Here are people that used to go to God’s house together.  They used to worship God side by side.  There is no reason for betrayal.  If they were both following God’s will, there would be absolutely no reason for betrayal because they would be on the same page.  But they aren’t on that page anymore.  One of them has jumped off of God’s page and has jumped onto their own page.  Again we see the pain of the self-mongerism that lives within us.  It is when we turn to our own desires that we really do get into trouble!

But where does David ultimately end up?  In spite of the fact that David feels as though his friend has violated their covenant, David turns to God.  God hears David.  God will respond.  God will humble the betrayer.  It is God who delivers.

In spite of the pain of betrayal, David’s faith increases.  His love for the Lord increases.  His reliance and his dependence upon the Lord increases.  This is how we should all respond when confronted by the sin of another.  It is also how we should respond when we are confronted by the consequences of our own sin, too.

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Year 2, Day 199: Psalm 54

Psalm 54

Psalm 54 is a neat psalm to follow Psalm 53.  In this psalm we open with a genuine confession.  David needs to be saved.  He is in a position of desperately needing a way out of the pursuit of King Saul.

Where the pursuit comes from is irrelevant.  Are we not all in a place of needing salvation?  In Psalm 53 did we not see and hear that nobody is good?  Whether the persecution is external or from our own internal failings, are we not all in need of salvation?  Do we not all need God to hear our prayer?

The prevailing truth of the Bible is that God is able to help us.  Time and time again God is there to help and save His servants.  He saved Abraham and Lot.  He saved Jacob and his sons.  He saved the descendants of Abraham in Egypt.  He saved the Hebrew people in the time of the judges.  He saved David.  He saved Elijah and Elisha.  He saved Judah under the time of Josiah and even under Hezekiah.  When things got really rough under the Babylonians and Assyrians, He saved a remnant of faithful even there!  Certainly the list of Christian disciples that God has saved from the time of Christ to now is not exactly small either!  The Bible tells us that God is a God of salvation.  God loves His creation and He does save.

What a wonderful thought coming immediately after Psalm 53.  Nobody is good without God {Message of Psalm 53}.  God is a God who desires to save us in spite of our condition {Message of Psalm 54}.  Those messages go so perfectly well together.

God is indeed our helper.  He alone is the one who upholds our life.  He is the only one who can fairly judge and repay the evil ones for their ways in a righteous manner.

Of course, this realization should lead us right to where it leads David.  If God is the only genuine source of salvation to which we have access, does He not deserve our praise?  Should we not come to God with thanksgiving in our hearts?  Should we not desire to give God a freewill offering of our time, talents, and treasures and avail ourselves to the accomplishing of His will?  Of course we should.

As we saw with Psalm 53, all of this is rooted in our ability to put ourselves aside and understand our true nature.  We are in need of salvation; God saves.  We are in need of deliverance; God delivers.  We are in need of righteousness; God is righteous.

He deserves our praise and thanksgiving because of who we are and what He desires to do for us in spite of who we are.

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Year 2, Day 198: Psalm 53

Psalm 53

As I read Psalm 53 with my wife, this was my first reaction: “Well, that’s a cheery one.”  In case you missed it, that quote was supposed to read with sarcasm.  Psalm 53 presents a very bleak and gloomy perspective on humanity.

There are people in this world who say, “There is no God.”  Hopefully without sounding judgmental and holier-than-thou – the psalmist has a single word to describe a person who takes such a stance: “fool.”  I want to be careful here, because I don’t really want to insult anyone.  Every single human being is guilty of this label.

Sure, there might be people out there who can honestly confess that they can’t ever remember a time in their life that they didn’t believe in God.  I’m one of those people.  I can honestly say that as far back as I remember I can confess to believing that God is real.  But, that doesn’t mean that I always lived like it.  Quite often, God has been some academic construct in my head to whom I attributed belief but in practice I lived as though He wasn’t really there.  Just because I confessed to believing that God is real does not mean that I lived that way. 

So, the label in verse one applies to me, too.  At those times in life when I am not living as though God is my sole authority I am a fool.  There is no way around it.  Furthermore, I am confident that every person who has ever lived has had moments in life where they have lived as though God was not their authority.  So we are all guilty of being a fool at some point in our life.  Verse 1 is not a condemnation against some of humanity, it is a declaration against us all at one point or another in our life.

This conversation leads us nicely into verses 2 and 3.  I’m going to be blunt.  I think we should really take these verses to heart.  This is one place where the Bible is absolutely authoritative and we as humans tend to ignore it.  We need to stop that and embrace the truth that these verses confess.

God looks down from heaven to see if there are any people who genuinely seek after God.  But then you read verse 3 and hear those words.  There is nobody who is good.  There is nobody who does good.  There is nobody who makes good happen.  The Hebrew language is clear on this point.  Neither anybody nor anything is, does, or makes good.

Now, that can be some pretty hard truth to embrace.  Nobody is good.  So the next time you go to a funeral and hear, “He was such a good person,” you can know that the statement is a lie.  The next time you hear someone talk about themselves and say, “I’m a good person at heart,” you know that statement is a lie.  The next time you think that you are such a good person you can know that thought is a lie.  The reality is that there is nobody who is good.  That’s just honest theology right there.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that I don’t occasionally do something good.  It doesn’t mean that the same isn’t true for you.  We do occasionally speak truth and do what is right!  But the only reason that this happens is because of the presence of God in our life.

To return to my earlier examples, it is proper at a funeral to say something like, “God really shone through him,” or even, “God’s goodness was evident in him.”  Or it is proper to hear someone say about themselves, “God is really trying to transform me into something good.” 

It is certainly proper to think of oneself as a person in whom God is trying to accomplish good.  But hopefully you see the difference.  When we accept that there is nobody who is good, it forces our language to shift so that the glory goes to God and not to us.  Isn’t that really what worship of God is all about anyway?  Why would any of us feel better about calling ourselves good when we could take the opportunity to proclaim God’s goodness instead?  Is my goodness anything next to god’s goodness?

The psalm ends with a great prophecy that is much in line with what I’ve already said.  Oh that salvation would come out of Zion – and has!  Jesus Christ has come so that we can be redeemed.  Jesus Christ has comes so that we can be forgiven.  It is through Jesus Christ that we can have the understanding that while there is nobody who is good on the planet – there is absolutely good that happens when God works through us!  We may not be inherently good; but through the grace of God, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, and the real presence of the Holy Spirit we can know goodness and we can seek after Him!

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