“What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.” – Psalm 116:12-13
“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” - II Corinthians 9:15
Listen to the cry of the psalmist: “How can I give anything to God that would come even close to expressing my gratitude for all His blessings. What can I bring Him that He has not first given me?”
"I cannot even describe the matchless gift He has given,” Paul seems to say, “but I thank God.”
Here is the power of our commitment to give of our resources and our selves: God's indescribable gift. It is His gracious "givingness" that informs, inspires, and infuses us with the wherewithal to be giving people with the capacity to make and keep commitments. In fact, any commitment we make to God is in the form of a trust. We know that we are incapable of the necessary follow-through, but He is and is faithful to continue His work in us as we express the desire of our hearts to Him in commitment. First, He gave and then He lights a fire of grace within us that makes us giving people who are committed to Him.
What shall we give Him? Let us bring Him hearts that are prepared to receive His grace. Let us offer our old lives in exchange for His new life. Let us take the gift of salvation and call upon His Name. We can bring Him no greater gift than our willingness to receive all that He offers through His love.
We cannot begin to speak of His saving goodness, but we can give Him thanks in spirit and in word. On this day, thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!
I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: (2 Cor 4:13 ) We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak ... Psalm 116:10
When did believing begin for you? Can you trace its progression through the stages of development? Can you identify a moment or an hour when all came to fruition and declare that as the hour you first believed?
For most of us the progression is a series of disjointed memories, but we can go back to a time when we made a statement of faith, a profession of our belief. That was, for us, the hour we first believed and in that hour, grace was most precious.
Let us return to that hour and renew our faith. Let us return to that moment and reaffirm our commitments. Let us return to that time and recommit our lives to Jesus Christ. Let us go back and remember how precious that grace appeared.
Let us gaze upon the beauty of grace as we once beheld it.
Let us receive grace anew with joyful hearts.
Let us be thankful again, as we once were, for the marvel of it all. Undeserving, unlovely, unrepentant, unbelieving as we were, grace invaded our lives. Everywhere we turned, we encountered grace. We sought to flee from its pursuit only to be hunted down at every turn by the Hound of Heaven.
And then we stopped running. That was we hour we first believed. And as Francis Thompson testified, we heard His voice:
"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."
And we joined in the song of Charles H. Gabriel,
“How marvelous, how wonderful! And my song shall ever be.
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior’s love to me.”
Our generation has venerated slander and consecrated verbal abuse. We feel fully justified to speak ill of our neighbors as long as we perceive them to be ideological enemies. We have the audacity to think that when our words are graceless, they can be godly, that we are somehow like Him or he like us when we speak against another with venom, half-truth, misquotes, presumptive assumptions, anger, or malice. Such speech has nothing to do with God. God is not like us that way.
“You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you."-Psalm 50:19-21 ESV
Paul refers to the outer accouterments of our religious traditions and does not dismiss them, but he also warns against letting them be standards for judging people because,
"These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ."-Colossians 2:17 ESV
What is the substance of your faith?
Our God is loud, but never noisy. The still, small voice also thunders. The subtle nudge can exercise complete abandonment of ambiguity. His breath of fire clears a path before Him. He is no simple sentimental decorative deity to be hung above the mantle and admired. He is far more than that and every so often, we hear Him and know that He is still paying attention. I gives us a strange comfort.
“Our God comes; he sdoes not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest." - Psalm 50:3
A self-sufficient God is the only sort of God we can fully trust. God does not need our affirmation or anything at all from us. All of His vulnerability is voluntary and temporary. We see it in incarnation, but even then, it is the vulnerability of service and love.
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine." - Psalm 50:12
We get so impressed with ourselves, our titles, positions, and curricula vitae. We adorn ourselves with fading splendor and gaudy honor. We fancy our bodies indestructible and our minds bright and permanent. Yet ...
No matter how differentiated in minutia our DNA may be from that of the beasts, we fade, we falter, we fall, we die.
We go down to the pit of death with all of our confidence, boasting, and self-deception for we are dust and our pomp is but the costume jewelry of our silly make-believe games of childhood.
If it is all we have, we have nothing. Death is our shepherd.
But God has something else in mind for us, a rescue from Sheol, a ransom of our souls, a renewal of our lives, and an ignition of our significance and reason for being.
His intention is to receive us.
He is a receiving God.
" Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish. This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. Selah Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell. But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah"
To him or her who has been entrusted the souls of seekers and the stewardship of influence, there is a blessing and a struggle and yet more blessings and some of the blessings are actually embedded in the struggle. It is an embodiment of glory and glory's core meaning, doxa, is weight.
We used to say it instinctively in the 60s, "Heavy, man!"
This is a heavy load, but heaviness is glorious.
" To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
What percentage of our prayers reflect this level of desperate, corporate cry from the community?How many of ours are sugar-coated and listless? Do I dig deeply into my soul to pray with honesty? Do I allow myself the passion of knowing and giving voice to my own pain and the pain of the people with whom I walk this planet?
" Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame; let the poor and needy praise your name."
1 I love you, O LORD my strength, * O LORD my stronghold, my crag, and my haven.
"With strong, hearty affection will I cling to thee; as a child to its parent, or a spouse to her husband. The word is intensely forcible, the love is of the deepest kind. "I will love heartily, with my inmost bowels." Here is a fixed resolution to abide in the nearest and most intimate union with the Most High. Our triune God deserves the warmest love of all our hearts. Father, Son and Spirit have each a claim upon our love. The solemn purpose never to cease loving naturally springs from present fervour of affection. It is wrong to make rash resolutions, but this when made in the strength of God is most wise and fitting. "My strength." Our God is the strength of our life, our graces, our works, our hopes, our conflicts, our victories. This verse is not found in 2 Samuel 22, and is a most precious addition, placed above all and after all to form the pinnacle of the temple, the apex of the pyramid. Love is still the crowning grace." - Charles Spurgeon
And so, David, who has been in grave danger, recognizes the protection of his God in the midst of the crags and sings a song of victory.
Psalm 18:2 - The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
The psalmist reaches deeply into his reserves of imagery to describe the security, stability, and solidity that God brings to his life. He uses, in this verse, only one image to describe his own response: “in whom I take refuge.” There is only one possible response to the trustworthiness and faithfulness of a strong and mighty God who loves us. That response is trust. From the place of faith and trust we proceed to praise, obedience, consecration, and rightful fear. Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. (Job 13:15)” Whatever the circumstances of our lives, the intensity of our senses, or the severity of our emotions, God is our stronghold and trust is our way of saying “yes” to Him.
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. – Psalm 18:2
It was 1999 and a tornado had ripped through Moore Oklahoma. Homes had been destroyed. Families were devastated. The need was great.
One of the most recognizable architectural features in town was the high and visible cross at the First Baptist Church. It was also the location of an emergency center.
The word went out to all who needed help, “Go to the cross.”
Churches have often been adorned with steeples, towers and crosses. They are present so that the buildings will stand out and remind the community of the majesty and strength of God in redemptive love and unswerving power.
It is God Himself who is our fortress, deliverer, and high tower. He is our strength. He is our shield. He is our salvation.
We can go to Him.
We understand the love of God and how we benefit from His love. What we sometimes overlook is how dependent we are on His strength. No matter how much He might love us, if He were not strong enough to keep His word and save us, it would all be for naught.
But alas, He is strong and loving and we can go to Him.
Psalm 18:3 - I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
There are three vital touch points in this verse. One is the vocal and volitional response of the trusting heart to God. The next is of greater importance. It is the acknowledgement of the worthiness of the One to whom all trusting souls call. The third and least important is the resulting salvation for all who call to God in faith. In what sense and with what intensity have you been calling to the Lord in recent days? Have your desperate and passionate prayers been bathed in a sense of the wondrous worth of God? Have you been going for God and His glory and letting deliverance follow or have you been shifting the focus to the resulting salvation of your life. Keep your perspective in prayer. It is always all about God. Out of that salvation always follows.
Psalm 18:4-5 – The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.
There is a graver danger than death. It is the denial of death. The psalmist is not seduced by its subtle and intoxicating lure. He looks around and sees, eyes open, the threats that surround him. He does not avoid confrontation, but brings these issues honestly and forthrightly to God. Adopt a strategy of brutal honesty in your life of prayer. In doing so, you bring your awareness of God front and center in the midst of the perils of life and death. Peace and victory are very near the soul that can look death in the face without turning away.
Through Many Snares
(Psalm 18:5) The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
There are snares of the devil and snares of death and snares of those who are threatened by the path we travel. And all such snares are designed to divert us from that path, the way of the Master. We all face them and some of us come through them.
Just turn the word “through” over and over in your heart and mind. Then celebrate. Celebrate because the snares did not finish you off. Celebrate because you either avoided them or, with God’s help, managed to break free of their clutches. Celebrate deliverance. Celebrate strength in times of trial. Celebrate grace!
The psalmist knew the snares of death. He saw them as road blocks. But he also saw them in the past tense. He had come through.
Of course, some of them have caught you. Whether they caught you off-guard or whether you moved headlong in their direction, eyes wide open, the same grace is for you. Others simply hindered you and brought you discomfort and disquieting, sleepless nights. Whatever the circumstances, look in the mirror. You are still here. You have come through.
What next?
How will the snares of the past prepare you for the snares of the future? Are you wiser in Christ? Are you stronger in Him? Do you have a greater hope and a more solid faith? Is your resolve more resolute than ever before now that you have stared down the snares of death?
You can make it because you have made it. You can make it because others have made it. You can make it most of all, because you have a forerunner, Jesus Christ, who has finished the race and stands at the finish line to welcome you.
Neither hell nor death, nor the defeated one who wields them as weapons against the elect of God can defeat you. You are passing through the snares. They are not eternal. Nor are they all powerful. You are much more than a conqueror through Him who loved you.
Psalm 18:6 - In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.
It is not stress that threatens our souls, but distress. And even distress is not the end of the matter for one who is working out his or her trust in God. “That soul who on Jesus hath leaned for repose …” is not hesitant to cry out to God for help. The lessons from the Twelve Steps of A.A. are modified to say that we admitted we were powerless over sin and human frailty - that our lives had become unmanageable and came to believe that only God in Jesus Christ, who is far greater than ourselves, could restore us to sanity. In my distress and out of my distress, my cry is to God who hears me. Let these words challenge and comfort you.
Psalm 18:7 - The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.
God is not to be toyed with. When He hears the distressed cry of those whose trust is in Him and releases His power to deliver, there are repercussions. Peter Marshal once preached that prayer is a very dangerous business. Things get shaken. The quaking of the earth is an awesome voice, but it is the voice of God that truly gets the attention of a complacent world. Don’t stop praying, but never succumb to the delusion that prayer is merely a benign exercise of religious sentiment. It is not. It is a trigger that may release the anger of God through agreement with Him and His purposes. Though His wrath is ultimately redemptive, its delivery can be very frightening. When you pray, be prepared to tremble with the earth.
Psalm 18:9 - Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
God wants us to know some things about Himself that we may tend to overlook if the extent of our theology is “Jesus loves me; this I know.” That is a true and faithful summary statement, but it is amplified by the prior knowledge that He is a holy and awesome God who is intolerant of anything that goes against Himself, His purposes, and yes, His love. Again, do not toy with God. Do not reduce Him to a simplistic formula or a divine, cosmic grandpa. We must know enough to fall down prostrate in His presence before we can crawl into His lap as beloved children. The two may happen simultaneously, but one will never be without the knowledge of the other. He is God and we are not.
Psalm 18:10 - He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
God is not sequestered in Heaven. Neither is He confined to a dogma or a domicile. At any time, He can and does part the Heavens to come in judgment, deliverance, and grace. This image of God “coming down” is not a contradiction to the truth of the immanence of His presence. This is a functional description of His intervention in our affairs in response to the cry of a trusting soul. God responds to your response to Him through prayer. Never minimized in your mind the significance of your prayers. When you pray, you are on holy ground.
Psalm 18:11 - He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
The heart thrills at the music of these words. The vision of God mounting the cherubim and soaring on His very wind is dramatic, inspiring, and comforting at the same time. In the previous verse we saw dark clouds under His feet. That tells us that this vision of “God-to-the-rescue” can only be seen by the trusting soul whose sight penetrates the darkness and views reality from the eyes of faith. Let us number ourselves with such as they whenever we look upon the deathly dangers and antagonistic arrogance around us. Thus we shall prayerfully maintain our focus while the world stumbles in despairing darkness.
Psalm 18:12 - He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky.
Darkness is not a characteristic of God. However, He clothes Himself in darkness. He does not fully disclose Himself for to do so would overwhelm even the faithful. Through the eyes of trusting faith, we receive His self-disclosure of light and truth, but only through a glass darkly. Apart from faith, all we see are dark rain clouds. Do not be deceived – not all that is obscured is the harbinger of death. Behind the clouds, there is light. Learn to look for God in every crisis of belief. He is present.
Psalm 18:13 - Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
It is no wonder that God clothes Himself in darkness. His brightness is so brilliant that no human could bear the storm. Someday, we will be enabled to see fully as we are seen and to know fully as we are known. Until then, we view with unveiled face through the glass, the glory of the Lord. Unlike the great and mighty Oz who was merely a mild mannered professor from Kansas behind the veil of thunder and lightening, our God is so very much more that we can see or know. As Rich Mullins, who now sees very clearly, sang, “Our God is an awesome God.”
Psalm 18:14 - The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
Sound is a phenomenon, in the natural world, that is centered in vibrations of various frequencies. These vibrations cause ripples in time and space that reverberate and resound to the human ear. Like thunder, vocal sound gets our attention. The voice is refined sound. God’s voice is heard because God will not be silent and has something to say to us. If we will listen, His voice will thunder in our ears. Otherwise, we will deafen those same ears to truth and love. We must remain alert, even if that makes us vulnerable to be startled, for in that startling, we are awakened to hear God at new frequencies of reality.
Psalm 18:15 - He shot his arrows and scattered [the enemies], great bolts of lightning and routed them.
With the same conviction that we affirm that God is not to be toyed with, we are reminded that God does not toy with us. His anger at sin is unambiguous. His wrath is without prejudice. It is not an emotional outburst from a temperamental potentate, but a proportional response to all that blasphemes His name and oppresses His people. Evil is a bully. Its only strength is in numbers. Only truth stands alone and God is truth. When the oppressors of all that is godly “gang-up” on God’s children, He comes with arrows, lightening, and all that is in the arsenal of truth to scatter them and render them impotent. Do not be afraid of Satan though he commands a host of demons. One Word of God will route the enemy. Align yourself with Him and be secure.
Psalm 18:16 – The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
The poetic imagery speaks for itself, but the truth is grasped in meditation. Nothing can withstand God’s rebuke. He has the final word
on all matters: moral, ethical, spiritual, and intellectual. He will not bow to our perceptions or opinions and He will not withhold His judgment. He breathes truth. All that comes forth from Him is true and sometimes that truth scrapes away the veneer of falsehood with such ferocity that the effect can only be described as wrath. But with His relentless insistence upon fidelity to Himself, His purposes, and His ways, He breathes also, love. And when we behold it, we know that it is the real thing.
Psalm 18:17 - He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.
Here is God, breaking through the resistance, piercing the darkness, rebuking all deceit and wickedness, and relentlessly pursuing His purpose. Here is God, thundering forth His voice, blasting the clouds with bolts of lightening, God who is pure and fully integrated, God who judges all that is against His ways. This God stoops low to lift us. He bursts through the clouds to rescue His beloved. He draws us out of the deep waters where we are drowning. He is the God who saves. We have come to appreciate His anger. Now we can fully appreciate His saving love.
Psalm 18:18 - He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.
Think for a moment of the strong enemies I your life whether they are habits, attitudes, discouragements, or addictions. How often have you underestimated their power over you and your powerlessness over them? What have been the results of overestimating your strength? Christianity is not about us being strong; it is about God’s strength within us. Pride is that enemy which empowers every other enemy to conquer our souls. Release pride. Expel it from your life. Admit your powerlessness and trust in God to rescue you from your enemies within and without today.
Psalm 18:19 - They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.
When you are down, you are also vulnerable to every enemy that lives around you or inside you. Temptations surface when our pain is most acute and our weakness most profound. Satan comes to accuse, deceive, and allure in our disaster. The foes of our souls are looking for opportunities to get in our faces and sneer us into subjection. But the Lord is our support. Consider it today and rely upon it. Make it the subject of your prayer and stand in the assurance.
Psalm 18:20-21 - He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
God’s delight in His children is what moves Him to rescue us. As we would seek to protect the ones we love, so He reaches out to us. It is about a relationship. That’s what righteousness is – something being rightly related. Our filthy hands are made clean because of our relationship to God through Jesus Christ. It is on that basis that we are rewarded. It doesn’t seem fair because it is not. It is grace.
Psalm 18:22-24 - For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God. All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.
Perhaps the psalmist felt he had done no wrong. Perhaps his definition of “doing no evil” was limited. Or maybe he understood blamelessness in terms of a fresh and up-to-date righteous relationship with God where God’s mercy and grace make up for the deficits in our spiritual accounts. A Christian reading these words must filter them through the teachings of Jesus and the reality of the cross. All have sinned; all have turned away; and none is blameless. However, God is willing to see us as blameless through a right relationship with His righteous Son. The important factor is that we are turning to God and He gives us confidence in His presence by His own merit. Thus we can understand a pray the prayer of the psalmist with calm assurance.
Psalm 18:25-26 – The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
The difficulty with this verse is the same as the previous. From what we know from the rest of scripture, our righteousness does not carry enough clout to purchase a reward. Our cleanest cleanness is filthy. Our faithfulness is fleeting. We have much blame. But that is not the whole story. The slightest overture of response toward God, the tiniest demonstration of faith, the simplest suggestion of sincere seeking is met with God’s adequacy and provision. God rewards the little we bring to Him by supplying all that is deficient in us. It is the song of grace that resounds from these verses and it is a precious song indeed. He makes us righteous, clean, faithful, and blameless that He and we might enjoy a relationship of love and joy together.
Psalm 18:27 - to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
Our purity comes from God. Having said that, let us consider purity as an attitude through which we approach God. The idea of purity evokes images of brilliant light shining through a diamond revealing the full spectrum of colors. It calls to remembrance the embrace of a child, the song of a sparrow, and the penetrating sincerity of an eager student on the first day of class. Purity is a condition of the heart, focus of the mind, and consecration of the body. It is undiluted devotion and singular commitment to a one and only center which gives everything else meaning and perspective. The pure in heart will see God because God is pure. Ask God to purify your soul and spirit today.
Psalm 18:28 - “For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.”
The psalmist declared that God’s Word was his light and his lamp. John declared that in Jesus, Light came into the world when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Jesus illumines the world with His coming and illuminates the Word of God with His very presence.
Just one candle, Jesus, lights the world with brilliance and truth.
These are days of escalating attempts at spectacular light shows – synthetic lights, exploding lights, psychedelic lights – all designed the baffle, amaze, and bewilder.
Yet, when Jesus came, aside from one great burst of glory with a shepherd audience and a star that only some wise men noticed, He presented Himself as one tiny candle, a baby. And that was enough to light the world as John said, “the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5)
In shining forth as a candle in the dark, Jesus made sense of hundreds of years of sacred scripture, He revealed the mystery of the ages, He brought hope to the dark hearts of men, and He called us to join Him as the light of the world, not to be hidden under a bushel. He was and is just one candle, but out of that one, many. As you light your Christmas candles, remember that it only took one to light the world forever.
Psalm 18:28-29 – You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
Humility is a prerequisite to salvation. No one who is promoting her own resume of righteousness can expect to benefit from mercy. No one bragging about His lack of need will find the place of neediness needed to receive grace. Haughtiness may impress those whose mantra is to win by intimidation, but it commands no respect from God. God will have none rise except those He raises. He will exalt none but Himself and those who He brings alongside Himself. Our only aura is darkness, but God turns the darkness of the humble into the light of Heaven. Humble yourself before God today and He will lift you to the realm of eternal inextinguishable light.
Psalm 18:30 - With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.
My great grandfather, we are told, was at Gettysburg in Pickett’s charge. He survived that blood bath though scores of Confederates fell around him. As they ran up that hill against a line of blazing guns, they must have been chilled with fear and numbed with dread, but for some reason, they proceeded – as did the freemen in South Carolina immortalized in the film, “Glory” and the heroes of Normandy. At the command of a leader and for love of country or cause, many a soldier has advanced against a troop and scaled a wall that required more strength, courage, and skill than he or she possessed. In life, in our battles and skirmishes with sin, self, and sickness, we are called upon to give more than we have and extend beyond our abilities. It is then that God helps us with His external encouragement and internal power.
Psalm 18:31-32 - As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?
God’s perfection is the only hope of any person for anything that approximates perfection. His flawless word is the standard by which all truth may be evaluated. He is God, pure and simple and for those who come to Him to find refuge and help, He never falters or fails. He is steady; He is sure; He is solid; and He is faithful. He is the Rock. In prayer today, put absolute trust in Him for He alone is trustworthy.
Psalm 18:33 – It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.
The psalmist was never bragging. He has known all along that his blamelessness, faithfulness, and righteousness all come from God. He understands that God’s perfection is the essence of any personal holiness that might ever be visible in our lives. His strength is all that can make us strong. Paul came to know this reality when he declared that when he was weak he was strong because Christ’s strength could be made manifest. Only God can equip us for the challenges, battles, and difficulties we will face in this life. Only God can complete our lives as we draw upon His perfection and strength. Live in faith and dependence today.
Psalm 18:34-36 - He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.
Who would not opt for solid ground upon which to stand in every situation? Only fools love battle and seek out conflict. Having made both of these statements, one must acknowledge a contrasting truth: only cowards always flee and only chronic whiners always require ideal conditions in their lives. Our spiritual feet are made for the rugged places of life. Our arms are trained for battle. God is preparing us for the adversities of life, not for virtual ease. He knows what we must face and He knows that we must face it with Him or fail. Greatness does not result from minimalist thinking or avoidance of adversity. Greatness comes as the God of the universe stoops low to lift us up in the midst of fiery trials and contentious circumstances.
Psalm 18:37-39 - You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn. I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.
As we pursue the enemies of truth - prejudice, lust, discouragement, bitterness, and so many others – we do so with ruthless commitment to follow through to the end. We perform beyond our capacities and with courage that we do not possess in and of ourselves. We are assured of an ultimate victory that may often appear allusive and distant. So often we sense that something beyond our sight is occurring to straighten the way before us. At times we have been running with patience and speed and our ankles have turned throwing the balance of the race to our opponents. This does not need to be the case in our spiritual battles. God protects us against frivolous injuries to the end that we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Do not be afraid of freak accidents along your spiritual path God is winning this thing and He is doing so through you,
Psalm 18:40-42 – You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet. You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. They cried for help, but there was no one to save them-- to the LORD, but he did not answer.
God ‘s strength is an awesome thing indeed. David was a military man, but only by necessity. By profession, he was a shepherd who was called upon to shepherd a nation. Immediately, he was besieged by the foes of God and forced to take up battle. He paid a high price for being a man of war. But sometimes, he saw a reality that escapes the self-sufficient: God goes to war before us and for us. He has the capacity to fight our battles and cause our enemies to cringe with fear and turn away. Satan is our great enemy-accuser and we are equipped to go to battle with him. He will bow at our feet, but not because our strength is so strong; God is strong and His strength makes us strong. It is out of our relationship with God that we may call upon Him when we are under attack and He hears. No other cry reaches His ears. Stay up-to-date with God and you will be prepared for anything.
Psalm 18:43-45 – I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind; I poured them out like mud in the streets. You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations; people I did not know are subject to me. As soon as they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cringe before me.
Never underestimate the power of God at work in and through you. You will be utterly amazed at what He can accomplish through your life and the impact that it will have upon others. If it is your goal to impress people with your own strength, agility, cleverness, and wit, you will be disappointed. If you desire wealth, fame, power, or respect you might be tempted to work toward those ends. You will fail or find a miserable success. However, if you seek God and His ways, He will bring you more than you could ever hope for and broaden your influence beyond your wildest imagination.
Psalm 18:46-48 - They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds. The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me.
Loss of heart is inevitable for those who oppose God. Exaltation is the shared inheritance of the saints. Praise God and lift up your head. Resist the temptation to avenge yourself against injustice or assert your own dignity. God is your champion. You will not win your spiritual battles through clever speech, biting comments, or skillful rhetoric. You will not be exalted through a show of human strength. Your hope is in God. Seek to understand His power and glory in the context of an intimate relationship with Him and leave all of your issues to Him.
Psalm 18:49-50 - Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name. He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.
We are establishing a pattern of reflection, praise, and thanksgiving on the last day of the month. Let this be no exception. Meditate upon theses words and apply them to God’s providential acts in your life. Record them in your journal and sing unto the Lord with all your heart and soul. His unfailing kindness is praiseworthy. So praise Him!
It is hard to describe John the Baptist. I am going to call him "rustic" here. He is described as a rough-cut prophet who pulled no punches and made no effort to cater to people of power.
Luke spends some time with his setting and his preaching. Here are some reflections.
World Context
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, - Luke 3:1
In the arena of Gods activity, there are always multiple events transpiring at the same time. Everything happens in context.
Christian awareness has a true north focus on the activity of God in the world, but it cannot ignore the world around it. To do so would be to deny that God uses world events to establish a context for His message.
God is aware of our world. He knows its culture, politics and trends. When His Word comes to us, it is in context. The Christian who shuts his or her eyes to the world is going to miss part of what God is addressing in time and space. Not to acknowledge context is to make God’s Word simply an esoteric nicety with no punch.
Removing Impediments
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. – Luke 3:5-6
God called John to be a smoother and a “straightener”. In many ways, John’s role was nothing more than to clear away the obstacles that might impede the message of the one who would come after him.
He was a voice.
He was a voice in the wilderness.
And he cried out with passion and conviction removing excuses and uncovering facades.
He was the one to come before Jesus who could really move some mountains and clear some paths. John was a co laborer with God as we are called to be and His mission was simple:
To be an agent through whom all flesh might see the salvation of God.
God has no desire to hide His salvation. He wants all to see it. He wants all to receive it.
We have the task of removing the impediments.
What kind of impediments are there? Sometimes mountains are too high, valleys are too low, and roads are too crooked and rough. We can cooperate with God to change that.
One impediment to people seeing God’s salvation is our tendency to speak religious jargon that no one understands. We mask the grace of God in a jungle of theological language and church talk.
Another is our insistence on traditions that have lost their meaning. Or it may be our own negativity or the contradictions of our lives – the dichotomy between what we profess and what we practice.
We have to remove the obstacles that keep people from coming to Christ or even hearing the Word of God. The problem is not so much that people don’t want to hear as much as they sometimes cannot hear over the irrelevant chatter. Remove the impediments and let everyone see the salvation of God.
Fruits of Life Change
Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Luke 3:7-8
From the fruitless, John required fruit. From a brood of vipers, he demanded an answer. From complacent religionists, he called for a willingness to get real. Just because they had enjoyed the benefits of covenant, it did not mean that could not be replaced. Everyone is dispensable – even those who think they are not.
Multitudes had come to be baptized. John was not impressed with his own ability to draw a big crowd. Crowds filling space do not equate to revival. Something more was necessary.
If he had had a headquarters to report to, his report might have been quite impressive, but as we said, he was not impressed. He was looking for something more because God is looking for something more.
John was preaching the possibility and necessity of life change.
Why did they come? Was it a curiosity? Was it a desire to follow the crowds? Was it a fad? Or was it fear of being left out or worse – wrath?
Some come out of wrong fear and some out of right fear. If you do not know the difference, read the book of Proverbs or visit the Grand Canyon. Right fear is awe and reverence; wrong fear is manifested in fight or flight reflexes. It is concerned only with self preservation and avoidance of trouble.
John knows there is something more and so should we. Fruits of repentance are those changed attitudes and deeds that reflect faith in the possibility of life change. They grow out of lives that have been moved by a deep desire for a more fruitful life.
Abject terror will not change our hearts. Judgment is real, but fear of judgment will not, by itself, bring us to repentance. God can do that inside of us and He is ready and willing to do so, but we must desire it and believe that it can happen.
Showing Up
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. - Luke 3:9
Once a thriving industrial plant, the factory had ceased to be productive. Chaos was the order of the day. Supervisors could not predict who would show up for work and when. Even the unions were in a state of panic.
The problem was attendance. It was the first time I’d ever heard of an adult business with an attendance committee. People were not showing up for work; but neither were they quitting or getting fired. Because of contractual clauses, they were remaining on the company and union roles and bleeding both dry in benefits.
They wanted to be employees, but they didn’t want to show up for work. They wanted the benefits of employment, but none of the obligations. They didn’t even show up.
That is the way John viewed the “generation of vipers” who came to be baptized. Some of them wanted the benefits of association with God and the symbols of covenant relationship, but they did not see the relationship between that and being useful.
Fruit trees exist to bring forth fruit. That is their nature and that is their function. God’s people exist to bear fruit as well. It is both the nature and function of covenant people to be useful in the kingdom of God.
John was harsh. He knew what orchard owners did with barren trees. They cut them down to make room for more productive crops. He considered it presumptuous of people to think that they should be allowed to continue being useless and not be replaced.
Remember that John was preparing the way for the Lord. He was the voice that God used to flatten hills and make crooked roads straight. And he was telling it straight. He, like the law, was a schoolmaster to prepare the way of the message and messenger of grace. His role was to amplify the need for repentance and make it plain that God was not pleased with the status quo.
We need to hear this word today. God wants our lives to bear fruit. If they don’t we are simply occupying space on Heaven’s roster. Show up!
Asking the Question
And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? - Luke 3:10
John got the response that he must have hoped for. It was the right response. It was the only logical response from a people who had been touched and pierced by the penetrating Word of God:
“What shall we do?”
It is a word of hope and desperation. It is a word that reflects sincerity and contrition. It agrees with The messenger of God that all is not right and needs to be made so.
What shall we do when we look at our lives and see no fruit? What do we do when we realize that we are part of the problem, obstructing rather than constructing, reaping benefits without bearing responsibility, failing to live out the true purpose of our lives?
What do we do when it becomes clear that we are keeping our names on the roles, but doing nothing to be productive?
We ask the question.
When we ask the question, we take a giant leap forward because it is pregnant with contrition and intention. The question opens us to what God wants to do in us and through us. It expresses repentance and prepares us for adventure.
We can be more, do more, experience more, receive more. When we ask the question, we are on the verge of discovery that the real benefits of covenant relationship are intertwined with its obligations and opportunities for service. The real privileges come with embracing our calling.
What we must do is ask what we must do.
God loves the question and has an answer prepared, but He cannot or will not deliver it to us until we ask because we will not receive it.
The application to the Christian life is the call to serve – more so, to BE servants, available, cheerful, ready, willing, even eager to be co-opted into His program.
The good news is that God wants you. The questions is: Are we ready to ask the questions?
Live Simply and Share
He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. - Luke 3:11
Sometimes we are ready for a really complicated answer to the big questions and all we get is something like this.
It’s like Fulghum’s book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”
Live simply and share what you have.
We’d really like it to be more complicated than that – and in some ways it is. But this was a start. It would certainly be a major change for the folks John was addressing as it would be for many of us.
God always starts where we are. He doesn’t try to overwhelm us. He gives us small bites first and eases us into complexity and difficulty.
For instance, when Thomas wanted to know where Jesus was going and to understand the way, Jesus simplified it for him as if He was saying, “Thomas, you don’t have to figure it all out – All you need to know is that I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. If you want to get to come, just come by me and only by me.”
He was simplifying things for Thomas and for all of us.
John is saying that he would like to see some small indicators that folks meant business – indicators of a change of heart and mind which he could call repentance. “Show me,” he declares.
What must we do? We must do something in character with heart change. Somehow, our lives, once moved by a new relationship with God, must reflect a transformation of values.
Suddenly, there is something more important than having more than we need. Maybe one coat is enough – or one car per driver or a few less toys.
Turning our lives over to God is not rocket science. It is not a burden that none can bear. The Christian ethic is simple: Live simply and share what you have. Do the right thing.
Zeroing in and Meaning Business
Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. - Luke 3:12
There are different things that different folks must do – but it is always very simple to take the first step.
Stop doing the most blatant thing you are doing wrong. In the case of the hated publicans/ tax collectors: Stop cheating.
To receive this message meant that they had to agree that they had been cheating – even extorting from their own people on behalf of a foreign power for their own enrichment. To do so would have been to come clean and mean business with God.
Life change for the publicans would be a radical departure from the norm. As simple as the command was, it was not easy. They had valued profit above all else like the “Ferringis” in Star Trek – a race of humanoids who were the most cunning and ruthless merchants in the galaxy. They lived by “The Laws of Acquisition,” one of which might be paraphrased, “Love is good, but money is better.”
The publicans had to learn that love is best and everything else is a distant second.
Part of repentance is to recognize that you are doing wrong and stop doing it. But we say, “I just can’t; It is too hard; it is too engrained into my identity; it is who and what I am.”
John says, “Hogwash! You can change. Life change is possible. Repentance is the norm. Stop cheating people.”
Every sector of society has its own inherent temptations to sin. Every individual has a unique set of hot buttons that create pitfalls and weaknesses of the flesh. For each of us, fruits of repentance take on a different color and flavor, but they all share one thing in common – Possibility.
We can do with God’s help and by His grace. The salvation that He wants all to see comes with the possibility of change. If we mean business, and zero in on our own vulnerabilities, we can embrace it.
Life Change in Public Life
And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. - Luke 3:13-14
There were men of influence and power who came to John to be baptized, men who wielded authority over common people, who carried the sword and were authorized to use it to subdue, torment, and enforce.
These men also had the capacity to abuse their power, to punish their enemies, to extract unfair compensation, to be bribed, to extort, ad to oppress. No one would challenge them. They had free reign to inflict violence and abuse people.
John tells these soldiers to be very careful how they used their power. They would need to humble themselves and realize that they were called to live by a higher power than that of their captains or their swords. Having power would no longer be a license for them to misuse it to their own selfish ends.
It is an awesome responsibility to have authority. It takes more grace to carry greater power. To be a covenant man or woman in a position of great influence requires fruits of repentance reflected in a servant’s attitude.
One’s coworkers and fellow soldiers/officers may not be willing or able to reinforce such life change. Only God can and he will.
We all have arenas of temptation that are unique to our stations in life. The same call is present for each: Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance: Stop doing what is wrong; live simply; share what you have; live for God.
“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. “ Psalm 119:18
Before you read, pray.
This grand and simple prayer is an expression of expectation and faith. Our level of discovery in scripture will seldom exceed our level of expectation. It is seekers who find according to Jesus. David expected wonderful things from the law of God. He, in turn, found wonders beyond anything he could have dreamed.
Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”
Dr. King, approached the scriptures to be instructed and informed. As he formed his philosophy of non-violence from the example and teaching of Jesus, so we must be willing to be shaped and molded by words we have never read along staircases of truth we have never traveled.
Dr. King also said on the night before his death, “I just want to do God's will”
In the same way, we must approach God’s Word in search of His will with a desire to receive it and do it whatever it may command.
Dr. King once wrote, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
Much worse is willful ignorance and arrogant stupidity. Our prayer over scripture and our reading of the same must not be arrogant and all-knowing. We come to God for instruction and apart from that instruction, we remain willfully ignorant. We must come humbly, willingly, and prayerfully. The psalmist speaks of his own longing for God’s Word in verse 20 and of God’s rebuke for the arrogant who think they already know it all in verse 21.
In verse 24 he speaks of God’s laws as his counselors. Because that is so true, we bow before God before we even open his Word, asking that He guide us and teach us. Martin Luther King is but one example of what God can do through the life of a person who comes prayerfully to the scriptures for instruction and enlightenment.
Psalm 14:1 - The fool says in his heart, “There is no god.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.
There are many reasons why this statement is so obviously true. Denial is not a river in Egypt. Denying God will not make God go away. Whether or not you believe in God or confess Him as God will not change who He is and that He is the sole determiner of what is wrong or right, corrupt or authentic, pure or vile. The fool, according to the psalmist, is not a theoretical atheist or philosophical agnostic. It is not someone who is struggling with the existence of God on the intellectual level, but the man or woman who has, in his or her heart, determined to be a practical atheist – to live as if there were no God or as if His existence did not matter. He is concerned with how this statement of the heart manifests itself in our lives. Now the question: Is there some area of your own life, where in your heart, you are declaring, “There is no God?” Have you pushed Him to the side in your deliberations and decision-making? Have you excluded His influence in areas where there is conflict with your own desires and lusts? God calls that foolishness and identifies the results as corrupt and vile- rotten and degraded to the core. Do business with God today in this area of your life and allow Him to scrutinize you and bring you healing grace.
Psalm 14:2- The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand any who seek God.
Well, what does He find in me? That is the question I must answer. That is the question you must ask yourself. When he looks down upon me does He find understanding and seeking? Some don’t understand and don’t know that they don’t understand. Some understand and have locked their understanding into a formula and have stopped seeking. Others know that they don’t understand but have acquiesced to a position of irrational hopelessness and have given up seeking. None of these responses pleases God when He looks down upon the sons of men. There are others who both understand and seek. They understand enough to know that there is much that they do not understand and so they seek in those areas. When God gives some understanding, they don’t stop seeking and become self-satisfied with their limited knowledge, but they keep seeking – even more earnestly. That pleases God so very much. Examine your heart today using this criterion and keep seeking God – more and more.
Psalm 14:3 - All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
It is the universality of the fall and of sin that the psalmist is struggling with here. We were not designed to be corrupt. We were created in the image of God. But sin corrupts us to the very core. The rottenness of perverted intentions stains our lives beyond repair. We cannot fix ourselves. Our attempts at doing good to win some favor with God are also corrupt and drive us deeper into separation from God. Not even one person does good. That is amazing. But it is the reason why Jesus came and died, rose again and returned to the Father to send His Spirit to indwell us. We need the righteousness of Christ to be imparted and imputed to us. And we need His presence within us to work His goodness out through us. These words are a reminder to long-term believers not to become proud, boastful, or self-righteous. If our salvation and acceptance by God depended upon our own goodness, we would be hopeless. But God sees us not looking down from above. He looks upon us directly through the face of His Son. Thank God today, as you pray, for His mercy.
Psalm 14:4 - Will evildoers never learn - those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the Lord?
We are flabbergasted at the inability of some to learn the futility of their ways. We are surrounded by masses who do not call upon the Lord and who devour believers in many ways The temptation is to bulge out our chests and lift our noses in pride proclaiming, “I’m glad I’m not like that” That’s the wrong approach. The response of faith would be to look within with the searchlight of God’s truth and pray, “Lord, is there an area of coldness and rebellion in my heart where I am refusing to learn? Am I devouring the person you made me to be?” What distinguishes and delivers the believer is that he or she calls upon the Lord.
Psalm 14:5 – There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous.
Sooner or later, even the wicked come to their senses, sometimes too late, and realize that God is present in the company of the righteous. That realization brings dread unless the message of God’s love and forgiveness intervenes. Some will fight it. Others will flee from it. But there will be some who, out of the fear and dread of judgment, will come into the flow of grace through repentance and faith. The plight of the oppressor is far worse than that of the oppressed. Therefore, we must pray for sinners to come to a knowledge of truth and live out the credibility of the gospel so that we never bring discredit to Name of Jesus. Pray today for someone who is overwhelmed with dread and examine your own life as well.
Psalm 14:6 - You evil doers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.
The complaint of the poor man is often that, as hard as he tries, he just can’t get ahead. Something or someone is always thwarting and frustrating his efforts. So it is with anyone who tries to “get ahead” spiritually on the clout of his or her own spiritual reserves. Our plans come to naught because they are wrought in the flesh and human effort. God is our refuge. That is a constant. In Him we have hope and a future. In Him, we are rich beyond our dreams. His resources cannot be depleted. Jesus said, “blessed are the poor.” The poor in Christ know where the riches lie and rely upon God’s storehouse to supply all that they need. They trust all their plans to Him and rely on Him for every breath.
Psalm 14:7 - Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
The psalmist prays for His people and, perhaps unwittingly, all who will be blessed by them. Indeed, the salvation of Israel and all people has come out of Zion and David’s longing prayer is answered in Jesus Christ. Today is a day of worship and praise. We pray for the day when Jesus comes again to set all things right. May the words of this psalm evoke deep praise and anticipatory joy in our hearts and we lay ourselves bare before God. What fortunes of spiritual treasure would you have Him restore for you today? What is the longing for His presence in you that is most personal for you as you pray?
“How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; “ - Psalm 13:1-3
In the first place, we must note that he is wrong about being abandoned and forgotten by God. That is how he feels, but not the truth of the situation – and he most likely knows it in the depths of his being. In the second place, it is OK for him to express this feeling to God because it is about emotional disclosure – not about theological accuracy. Don’t allow your desire to be theologically sound inhibit your honest prayers to God in the secrecy of your heart before Him. Trust Him to correct any misconceptions you have. He can do that as you address Him. You are not praying before an audience – not even an audience comprised of yourself and God. Get out of the way of your prayers and pour out your soul before God. He can hear you whenever you earnestly seek Him. He knows your heart, your frailties, and your strengths. He loves you and has not left you alone. If you feel He has hidden His face from you – tell Him. He loves the fact that you long for Him and desire to know Him, see Him, and experience Him at a deeper level. Get real in your prayers and God will transform your life through them.
Unfortunately we have to wrestle with our thoughts sometimes and we are not exempt from sorrow of heart. Sometimes, for the moment, our enemies triumph over us and the pain of it seems open-ended. “God,” we pray,” how long will this go on? I have nearly reached the end of my rope.” And God either gives us more rope or extends our patience, or, in some cases, gives us a glimpse of an end in sight. Our defeats are temporal and transient. Our victory is eternal. Our wrestling thoughts and deep sorrows do not overwhelm us for we have rest in Jesus. He is our comfort. The psalmist is not lecturing us about how to deal with eternal pain, doubt, and conflict; he is modeling it. He shows us the way out by living it out. He prays – honestly and frankly to a God He trusts and knows. The author or sponsor is identified as David, so we know that these are his sentiments and this is his prayer. He was called a man after God’s own heart. Imagine that - God loves to hear from His children even when they are bringing Him their deepest conflicts. Pray.
This is the desperate plea of a man who knows that His only hope is in God. It may be true that our prayers will never be very effective until we come to terms with this reality in our lives. The submission to God’s will is present in the mode of address, “O Lord, my God.” The relationship is personal and vital. The prayer is for light. Eyes never see without light. David goes further – no light, no life. “I cannot live without you,” he implies. “If I cannot see from your perspective, I will simply die.” He longs deeply for truth and for God. We cannot learn to pray like that from outside instruction; we begin with that part of our soul that knows it is weak and desperate and begin – and God teaches us to dig in and cry out to Him. Ask Him to be your teacher: “Lord, I don’t know where to begin with You, so begin with me where I am. Teach me to pray, O Lord, my God. Teach me to pray.”
Psalm 13:2 - How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Unfortunately we have to wrestle with our thoughts sometimes and we are not exempt from sorrow of heart. Sometimes, for the moment, our enemies triumph over us and the pain of it seems open-ended. “God,” we pray,” how long will this go on? I have nearly reached the end of my rope.” And God either gives us more rope or extends our patience, or, in some cases, gives us a glimpse of an end in sight. Our defeats are temporal and transient. Our victory is eternal. Our wrestling thoughts and deep sorrows do not overwhelm us for we have rest in Jesus. He is our comfort. The psalmist is not lecturing us about how to deal with eternal pain, doubt, and conflict; he is modeling it. He shows us the way out by living it out. He prays – honestly and frankly to a God He trusts and knows. The author or sponsor is identified as David, so we know that these are his sentiments and this is his prayer. He was called a man after God’s own heart. Imagine that - God loves to hear from His children even when they are bringing Him their deepest conflicts. Pray.
Psalm 13:3- Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
This is the desperate plea of a man who knows that His only hope is in God. It may be true that our prayers will never be very effective until we come to terms with this reality in our lives. The submission to God’s will is present in the mode of address, “O Lord, my God.” The relationship is personal and vital. The prayer is for light. Eyes never see without light. David goes further – no light, no life. “I cannot live without you,” he implies. “If I cannot see from your perspective, I will simply die.” He longs deeply for truth and for God. We cannot learn to pray like that from outside instruction; we begin with that part of our soul that knows it is weak and desperate and begin – and God teaches us to dig in and cry out to Him. Ask Him to be your teacher: “Lord, I don’t know where to begin with You, so begin with me where I am. Teach me to pray, O Lord, my God. Teach me to pray.”
Who Is Rejoicing Now?
“Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. “ - Psalm 13:4-5
We need to get used to the fact that our enemy does not have our best interest at heart. Satan knows that we do not always believe this and capitalizes on our naiveté. He suggests thoughts and deeds that seem pleasant and alluring and, when we fall for the temptation, shouts with glee, “Ha! I’ve got him (or her)” And then he throws a party to rejoice in our fall. Enemies cannot be trusted. Evil cannot be trusted. If we flirt with sin, we will find ourselves entrapped. People may look at us and watch for an opportunity to ridicule us in our weakness because our stand for righteousness is so strong and open. Don’t be afraid of their laughter for our defeat is not final and their approval is not necessary. Only God is necessary for our lives. Affirm that in prayer today and notice with indifference the scorn of the wicked.
Yes! This is the resolution. Whatever the trouble, doubt, or scorn of enemies, God’s love does not fail and His salvation is sure. From the same lips that cry out with impatient agony before God, the psalmist reaffirms his joyful faith in God. As a response to this joy, we are reminded to REJOICE. Philippians 4:4 calls us to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” And then, Paul emphatically repeats himself, “I will say it again: Rejoice!” God, all that He is and all that He does, is enough for us. His salvation lifts us out of the doldrums of defeat and translates us into the kingdom of His dear Son. There is not enough we can say about the wonder of this level of comfort and assurance. To rejoice in the midst of persecution is the greatest statement of defiance we can make in the face of evil. It declare, “You have no power over me!” Take some time to rejoice today.
Psalm 13:6 - I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.
Go ahead and sing. So, you think you have no voice. Very few people – whose larynges have been removed for instance – have no voice. You most likely do – and the voice was made for singing. Everyone can sing. Everyone is called upon to sing to the Lord. Worship through singing is not an optional exercise for trained soloists; it is a mandate for every believer. If you feel that your singing is offensive, learn to sing naturally without offense, but don’t withhold your praise from God. This business is intrinsic. God’s goodness brings a song to our hearts. If you have a song in your heart, simply release it. Do it without fanfare or expectation of praise. Do it without a motive to be accepted or admired – sing unto the Lord and unto Him only. Begin in your devotional time alone with Him. He has been good to you. Sing to Him.
Psalm 12:1 - Help, Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.
Do you feel alone in your spiritual journey? Do you imagine that you are the only person in your school, workplace, or neighborhood that desires the things of God or seeks after His will? Do you wonder if there is even one other person who will stand with you for truth and righteousness? Are you overwhelmed by the loneliness of solitary seeking? Do you even wonder if the psalmist was somehow transported out of his time to speak of ours? Things have not changed that much have they? We all look back on better times when we were sure that there were more righteous and earnest people living among us and compare those times with our “todays.” We conclude that we are alone and that no one else is godly or faithful. While that is not true in every sense, it is in one. “There is none that is righteous, no not one.” We are indicted by that statement and must include ourselves among the number of the “no more” who have “vanished from the earth.” From God’s perspective and standard of perfect holiness, no one measures up. Then Jesus Christ enters the picture and He alone stands for truth. Our only hope is in Him and in Him we are not alone. Consciously align yourself with Him today and allow God to flush away that sense of “aloneness.”
When You Can’t Trust a Compliment
“ They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is Lord over us?.” - Psalm 12:-2-4
If you can’t trust a compliment, what can you trust? The psalmist has had it with flattery. He is discouraged over the tendency of his neighbors to use speech only to manipulate and deceive. We ought to develop that same level of disgust with untruth because all lying and falsehood are at odds with a God who is truth. Pretty lies are no better than ugly lies. Lies are lies and they are dark and dismal. Ask God to fill your heart with truth today and with a love for that truth so that whenever you would tell yourself a lie, you would immediately appeal to the God of truth and be rescued. Whatever urge you may have to be hard on your neighbors, start first with yourself and let God’s grace fill you and change you.
Consider. It was Maundy Thursday. Praise and flattery met Jesus upon His entry into the Holy City. “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord,” they cried and most likely meant what they said. Is it possible that some of those who praised Him on Sunday cursed Him on Thursday evening when He was arrested and brought to trial? Could it be that some who praised Him were seeking to manipulate Him for their own ends and to triumph with their tongues, even to co-opt Him for their own causes? Is it even possible that some that welcomed Him with their lips retained no sense of responsibility for their words beyond themselves? We see ourselves as masters of our words whenever we refuse to submit ourselves, body, soul, and spirit, to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Jesus went to the upper room and took the role of a servant. With His words and deeds, He offered His body and blood for the redemption of lost men and women. He emptied Himself and held nothing back. His words are truth and love. Let us bring ourselves and our words to Him in that same spirit. Gather this day with other believers to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and be reminded of His gracious words.
God and the Oppressed
“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him..” - Psalm 12:5
What is the Word of God to a man or woman unjustly imprisoned for his or her faith in a land of persecution? What message from the Lord soothes the heart of a child who has been victimized by the people, charged with his protection or the young woman beaten and battered on the streets in a senseless act of violence? What does God have to say to the oppressed of the world and to those who labor under the weight of spiritual oppression?
God saw the oppression of the weak and heard the groaning of the needy, bound in the chains of sin and wickedness. Thus, He came to us as a man among men. He arose and took upon Himself of a lowly servant, He emptied Himself and became obedient unto the death of the cross (Philippians 2). That is His Word, alive and viable! He identified with us completely, yet without sin and became our protector and deliverer from sin.
God has always been the champion of the weak and needy. The Christ-event and the passion of the cross make it clear that every man, woman, and child is in need of a savior. We are all oppressed – even if we are oppressors. We each writhe in agony for someone to intervene in our darkness and bring us into the light. Friend, the cross, was, is, and always will be for you. Spend some time today meditating on it. Seek out other believers with whom you can worship in wake of Calvary. Get alone with God and thank Him for remembering you on the cross. Do not let this day pass as any other.
Precious Words
“The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” - Psalm 12:6-7
Oh precious words, flawless, pure, beautiful in their refined glory. God’s words stir the soul, comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable, and pierce the heart with divine truth and brilliant light. On that dark Saturday between the cross and the resurrection, the disciples had only the remembrance of His words. What would they have meant to you in such an hour? What have they meant to you in your darkest hours. After the resurrection, Jesus would meet men on the road to Emmaus and remind them of His words and those that the Father had spoken over the centuries through the scriptures. He would bring them new meaning and their hearts would burn within them. Let Jesus apply all of God’s words to your heart in the darkness of death from the place of resurrection. We can never fully visit the despair of that bleak Saturday, but we can enter into our own darkness with the flawless Word of God to comfort our souls.
What a pointless prayer this would be divorced from resurrection truth! Without the resurrection we are exposed, vulnerable, and unprotected. If Christ were not raised we would be as Paul said, “still in our sins (I Cor. 15).” We could not expect help in the onslaughts of wicked and violent people or non-human forces from a dead and powerless God. Prayers would be futile attempts to feel better about our miserable circumstances. Compliance with ethics would be fruitless acts of legalistic compulsion if not overwhelmed by a dynamic conviction that God can raise the dead and thus, protect, deliver, and save. God raised Jesus from the dead and pronounced the death sentence on death. He is alive and brings to life all who trust in Him. Celebrate! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!
Kept Safe
Psalm 12:7 - O lord, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever.
What a pointless prayer this would be divorced from resurrection truth! Without the resurrection we are exposed, vulnerable, and unprotected. If Christ were not raised we would be as Paul said, “still in our sins (I Cor. 15).” We could not expect help in the onslaughts of wicked and violent people or non-human forces from a dead and powerless God. Prayers would be futile attempts to feel better about our miserable circumstances. Compliance with ethics would be fruitless acts of legalistic compulsion if not overwhelmed by a dynamic conviction that God can raise the dead and thus, protect, deliver, and save. God raised Jesus from the dead and pronounced the death sentence on death. He is alive and brings to life all who trust in Him. Celebrate! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!
Vilest Men Exalted
“The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.” - Psalm 12:8
This must grieve the heart of the psalmist. David loved God so much that he could not understand the motivations of people who warred against Him. Nor could he understand their apparent triumph. Why do these things happen? How can such men be exalted? Why do the wicked prosper? These were nagging questions for the man after God’s own heart.
One might think that the psalmist had stepped out of his time and looked upon ours to offer his commentary. The repulsive sight of the wicked strutting about in impunity is and always will be a source of grief to those who love God and His truth. The deeper indignity and affront to God is that what is vile is honored among men as noble, good, true, artistic, or benevolent. Little has changed. The values of society, left to its own devices, have always been at odds with God. We must carefully examine all that we place upon our cultural pedestals and pay homage to. God’s standards are different than the world’s. We value what may contain a grain of truth, but it is so often distorted and ignoble.
The numerology of apocalyptic literature takes the number 6 and repeats it three times in contrast to the holiness of the complete Trinity. Thus, 666 represents the fullness of evil. The curious thing is that the number 6 is only one whole number shy of 7 – the number of perfection. The lesson is almost hidden, but clear: That which is repugnant may be something that is very close to the truth (for instance, the devil quotes scripture and believes in God), but veers off the path of truth in a small way that is significant enough to altar everything. It should be easy for the Christian to detect the blatant and flagrant abuses of truth, but be cautious that you are not caught up in the frenzy of honoring that which is popular just because it has an outer veneer of righteousness.
“And he changeth the times and the seasons … “ Daniel 2:21a
Life goes on. The seasons of life proceed in progression. The secular envelopes the sacred in the culture.
Seasonal and holiday decorations come down; Plants and flowers start turning brown; songs of the season decrescendo; greetings change.
We suddenly no longer hear, “Merry Christmas,” but “Happy New Year.” “Hi!” replaces “Happy Easter.”
Life goes on. Time passes. Seasons change.
It is a let-down.
For some, it is a time of depression and disappointment.
For others, it is a time of embrace. With open hearts and wide eyed anticipation they look back on the year past and reflect. Then they look forward to the new year and dream.
And somehow in the midst of the secular movements and worldly wisdom that is flung about they see God. They realize that there is no secular time or season, that God is always moving in history, that new years, new months, new days, and new seasons are all a part of His plan.
He changes the times and seasons and makes Himself known. At the head of the year or at any time of the year, He is calling us to know Him, worship Him, and commit our times and seasons to Him.
I have boxes of notes. Some are disorganized, wrongly categorized, and undated, but they have had and may continue to have a function in my life.
You see, somewhere in the maze of thinking that occupies the landscape of my muddled mind is some machinery that operates only in response to what I commit to paper. If I don't write down a goal, objective, intention, thought, or strategy, it almost doesn't count. Is that just me, or do you have such a mechanism?
I think most of us do and that for many it is in mothballs waiting to be reactivated into the service of our dreams.
You may ask what good are notes that cannot be found?
Good question. When you "make a note of it," something happens in your brain and a corresponding note is made and filed and that machinery goes into operation to bring other mental, physical, and spiritual resources to the aid of your stated intention.
When you make the note, you are sending out a memo to your entire internal "staff" to get busy on today's project. Consciously, you are reminding yourself. Subconsciously, you are activating an army of support and guidance.
If it is the intent of your heart and the direction of your thinking, you are also praying and rallying the forces of Heaven.
Of course, it is always best to have a good filing system, but until that comes into play, keep writing down your thoughts. Keep making "to-do" lists. Write down your dreams, goals, objectives, action plans, deadlines, and strategies. Use symbols, shorthand, words, and misspelled words. Write all over the paper or napkin. Stuff it in your shirt pocket. Look at it if you have a chance. Lose it if you must, but start by writing things down.
I have said it before and will say it many times again: Goals that have not been written are not worth the paper they are written (or not written) on.
It is an exercise with verified results. Practice the discipline of making notes to yourself and see what a difference it makes in what you accomplish.
There is a seemingly disingenuous urge on the part of practitioners of spiritual things to shun strategic planning as something outside the realm of the Spirit. It is as if we do not believe God cannot enter into the process of preparation, but must show up at the last minute in order to get all the glory and save us from any mental or physical effort.
Don't pan the plan.
At some later date, I will do a study of the concept of planning in the book of Proverbs and throughout the scriptures, but for now, I will limit myself to a few verses which live in proximity to each other.
The first reminds us that it is better to plan well and with many advisers than to proceed like a charging bull against all odds to follow our hastily formulated ideas of what needs to be done.
"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers, they succeed." - Proverbs 16:22
It does not mean we follow all the advice we get. It means we seek it, hear it, consider it, and formulate our strategies in view of it.
Of course,
"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD." - Proverbs 21:30
That is an ultimate safeguard, but no one wants to butt up against that wall of last resort. We would prefer to apply Proverbs 16:3 which says,
" Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."
So, somewhere between stubborn, willful confidence that excludes all voices but our own on one side and hyper spiritual "go-with-the-flowism" on the other is the place of good planning.
Good planning happens when we start with commitment to God. If you are not at that place in your spiritual journey, then at least go for truth. We start there and finish there.
It is a deficit of truth in planning that is often responsible for failures. We either did not have enough information or we did not interpret it accurately.
Then, we need good human advisers who are wise, informed, or skilled. These come in many forms:
Experts in their fields who make up for areas where we are not as well informed.
Generalists who have the ability to analyze data and strategies across a wide spectrum of disciplines.
Strategists who understand how processes work and how to map out the progress of a pan from start to finish.
Consumers who can tell us of their own self interests. They are the sources for much of our demographic information.
Spiritual mentors who help us seek God and examine our own motives.
Prayer partners who encourage us, mirror our hearts, and intercede for us.
We don't need to pan the plan; we need to plan the "I can!"
Our problem is not that we over-plan and exclude God; it is that we exclude Him by not planning enough and unconsciously exclude Him that way.
The commitment is the start, finish, and every breath of the planning process.
Small movements and beginnings are only small if all we measure is the present.
Retrospective views widen our understanding and inform our sense of purpose in every moment.
Small is small thinking and small doing. What is of little account is in the ledger of the accountant is the seed of greatness to the Master Investor.
A small swath of geography and a diverse people descended from Abraham continue to take the center stage of history and have gifted us with the wisdom and truth of their cultures and tenacity.
All were pilgrims, sojourners, and immigrants.
All were forged in the fire of imperfection, trial and error, suffering, and bloodshed.
Among those were a tribe of priests appointed to witness to all and to bless all those who would gather to the place and be scattered from it. They were the carriers of the promises and the agents of blessing to the world ...
That we might also become such conveyors of promise and blessing ... though we be small, though we be few, though we may come short on the ledger of importance. We, the wanderers of the earth share their legacy of hope with gratitude because it was given to them to share with us ... and they did ... and we have a debt we can never repay.
When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it, wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account, saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!”
(Psalm 105:12-15 ESV)
Among the lessons is this:
For who dares make light of small beginnings? These seven eyes will joyfully look on the tin tablet in Zerubbabel’s hand. (These are the eyes of the Lord, which constantly range across the whole earth.) - Zechariah 4:10 (New English Translation)
Today's take away:
Get started! The world is waiting for you to be a blessing and God delights in your first steps in that direction.
"They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.''
(from Psalm 84)
There are times and places of meeting, encounter, and refreshing in our spirit lives which energize, revitalize, and inform every dimension of life. For those who could go to the house of God in the days of psalm singing pilgrimages, the longing for renewal was very real and vivid. Absence and fainting are described in the same breath. From strength to strength, we move, longing, hoping, reaching, living, breathing, panting, wondering, reminding ourselves of the goodness of God.
How lovely is every place where You dwell.
Even the sparrow knows.
Let me linger and open doors.
In the desert, I am comforted, encouraged, and hopeful.
From strength to strength, I go.
I go. I go. I go on.
We cannot be there every moment in the house of God as place, among the people of God as sacred space, in corporate worship face to face, nor awe-inspired by majesty, yet ... grace, grace, grace, keeps us and moves us from strength to strength.
No good thing does He withhold and we go on.
Sing with us, the psalm of longing and join with others in and as the house of God this weekend to be refreshed by the fellowship and living presence of living stones of His living temple.
"How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.''
''Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah''
''Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.''
''O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!''
''For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
When he awoke from his despair, Daylight spoke; the sky was fair. April pierced the winter night. Faith had come, restoring sight.
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Jesus, hope of dying men, Mover of the heart and pen, Move my heart to pen some phase, That may return to Thee as praise. Amen.
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At the crux of the cross is the Christ, Rising above culture, Towering over civilization, Crying out the crisis Of choice.
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Content over context contextualizes conviction consistently.
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Seeking stride paused before restless pride ... And determined to move on.
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Sullied soteriology nullified his sanctimonious theology.
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Something small Tripped him up in the night.
Something smaller Trained his steps In the light.
Something minute Transformed his stride To near flight.
And something in him Took off soaring. What a sight!
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Upon thinking that his thoughts were words, He thought again and thought that none existed Apart from thought so that ... The thinking of them might have created them and That in thinking not of them, they might Become as naught, but then, he thought That he could not undo a thought and thus A word once spoken would exist whether he thought it Or not.
Just musing.
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I think that I ... Should not begin ... So many thoughts ... Or sentences ... With "I."
He came again to the house of solitude in the valley of latitude To readjust his stilted attitude. "Jesus, Lord of thoughts and dreams," he prayed," "Lord of affect and every tattered aspect of my intellect, Tune my heart, yeah, every chord. Tune a-440. Thou art Lord. May every string resound Thy praise. May they be found, in Thee, a symphony of love and grace. May they, in me, reflect Thy face, And be, in me, a fount of sweetness. This, I pray, of my volition, Alter Thou, my disposition. Amen."
Three opposites negate the power of fretting: Trust, delight, and commit.
We only have so much mental, physical, and emotional energy. If we spend it, it is spent. If we spend it fretting about something that takes care of itself, then we have wasted it.
Evil doers, their successes, their deeds, and their devices have an expiration date. We all do. They, as we, set their courses by choices.
We do not have to supervise their outcomes to insure that evil is not rewarded or that it is left unchecked. It is not our job to meddle and it wastes our energy.
While we are called to work for justice for others and to hold out the way of righteousness, repentance, and grace, it is not our assignment to exercise judgment - even within our own minds and hearts.
If a man we once knew to be evil turns, it is because something wonderful has happened in his heart. If not, it is deeply sad, but our ultimately sadness is for him and for the God who grieves for His loss of one He has loved and invited to return - a faded blade of grass and a withered herb.
"Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb."
"The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming." (Psalm 37:11-13 ESV)
This laughter of God is a paradox.
We do not wish to fashion an anthropomorphic God. We are created in God's image, not His in ours.
He embodies and exudes all emotions that we experience partially. He experiences them perfectly and paradoxically. He is the God in whom love and wrath, laughter and tears, smiles and frowns can coexist and come to completion simultaneously for He dwells in a realm of simultaneous, eternal, "nowness."
And there is tragic humor in the whole business of human plots to disrupt His ultimate purposes.
They are the essence of slapstick. It is not that He enjoys our pain, but that He sees the irony of our arrogance and it stirs that perfect emotion in Him that we experience imperfectly as poetic justice.
And here is another reflection in the matter:
"Deep in my soul I heard the laughter of God ringing in silvery cadences through the timbers of my being, breaking the human bonds and limitation as a strong yet gentle wind in the forest sweeping aside the strands of cobweb. The hard, fast knots that I had tried, slipped loose, and the snarls of beliefs broke free. The river of my human life, frozen by a thousand and one false ideas and teachings, broke joyously into expression and went bounding to the infinite sea of Life, to be lost and found at the same time. One dark cave of fear after another was illuminated by the light of this laughter and swampy areas of sick thoughts were dried up instantly. Parched sands of hopelessness and futile efforts were drenched by the living waters sucked in—absorbed instantly like a wave breaking on the sands. God laughing at me and my puny efforts to make things happen; to make heaven appear; to attain the son-ship.
"Not the laugh of derision, but of infinite compassion—a laughter so deep and sweet, so pure and glorious that every thing in the nature of struggle gave way before it."
When the grain came to the temple as an offering, a tenth of it was burned on the altar as a memorial offering. The rest was consumed by the priests. This was a song to be sung for the memorial offering.
I am confused, I must say, not by the offering and not by the sentiments of the psalm, but by the point of connection.
Of these words and emotions, Matthew Henry comments, "Nothing will disquiet the heart of a good man so much as the sense of God's anger. The way to keep the heart quiet, is to keep ourselves in the love of God. But a sense of guilt is too heavy to bear; and would sink men into despair and ruin, unless removed by the pardoning mercy of God."
So, what is a good man or woman to do?
He or she runs to God in worship -- whatever outlet of worship is available and thrusts the guilt and all the accompanying insecurity, despair, depression, feelings and reality of persecutions, and anything connected or perceived to be connected to sin before God.
The direction of the psalmist's life was toward God. The path was crooked and broken, but the direction was consistent.
He dealt honestly with his failures and his guilt and never grew callous or insensitive toward his flaws. Nor did he take God's mercy for granted or ever think, for a moment, that he could live without it.
"O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath! For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me."
"There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me."
"My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning. For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart."
"O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me. My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off."
Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long.
"But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth. I have become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes."
But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me, who boast against me when my foot slips!”
" For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me. I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin. But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully. Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good."
"Do not forsake me, O LORD! O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!"
"And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." - Mark 16:8
To be seized by trembling and astonishment is no small thing. It is fearsome, but it is not to be avoided ... no indeed ... no more than it is to be sought as a thrill for its own sake. When we see or experience something for which we have no language or frame of reference, we are thus seized and that seizure of self propels us to a new level of faith and gives us that new language we need to proclaim that which is too awesome for mere words.
Some ancient manuscripts of Mark end there.
Somewhere in church history, prior to canonization of scripture, a tract attributed to Mark was added to the ending with eight additional verses - all words of hope and commission. Maybe they were always there in Mark's manuscript and were lost from some copies only to be restored.
Whatever the reason ... trembling is always and only a temporary condition.
Resurrection "takes some getting used to."
The last word is always one of hope and commission.
"At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever..." -
Daniel 4:34, ESV
To come to the end of such days is to come to ourselves and our senses with a perspective that us seldom gained in the ivory towers of self deception and arrogance.
"Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!"
- Psalm 39:6 ESV
There is so little pay back for the turmoil we create over fleeting things. We are Shakespearean in our much ado about nothing and the price is high.
We must come to the end of our delusions and face our realities. At that point, we stand on the level ground of reason and can be elevated to the higher ground of faith.
The Disciples Came Running, 1898, Eugène Burnand, Wikipedia Commons
"Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead."(John 20:8-9)
He came first to the tomb, but he did not enter at first. Whatever held him back, it was Simon Peter who ventured first into the dark place and emerged again with evidence that the Master was no longer there.
He paused. Was it for fear or disbelief? Was he frozen with shock or just unsure of what to do?
Perhaps there are people today who do not know what to do with the resurrection. It is scandalous. It is ridiculous in mere human terms. It is unbelievable and inconceivable. This disciple had been present when Jesus had predicted it, but he still had no understanding of it.
They were just words.
Then he walked in. He stared into the mouth of death and entered the sepulcher. It was not an easy thing for him to do, but he did it and I am sure, he never regretted that moment, because it was in that moment that another miracle took place.
It was the miracle of believing. He saw and believed.
Notice that he believed before he understood. Understanding would take some time. Believing took one moment.
It was a moment of encounter, a moment of realization, a moment of remembering, and a moment of seeing with his very own eyes. He had not yet seen Jesus, but he had seen enough. The miracle of belief was a spiritual transformation of his heart. It would prepare him to understand and receive all else that God would give – perhaps even to write the book of John, for many believe that this account is autobiographical.
“… These are written that ye may believe …” he would later conclude.
Step into the tomb for just a fleeting moment. Gaze into the mouth of death and you will see. It is empty. It is devoid of power. The Lord is risen. Believe!
Thomas' Testimony - (John 20:2) "And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God."
Thomas Speaking:
Mine was not an optimistic faith. That came later. Mine was despairing loyalty. So, when he said he was going back to Judea where people were waiting ... conspiring ... actively seeking to kill him, I said, “let’s go.”
No one could change his mind once it was made up. He had such determination and strength of will. It was his Father’s will I came to understand. Not just his own.
So, he said, “we’re going back to awaken Lazarus,” and I had no earthly idea what he meant. That’s because it wasn't an earthly idea, but a heavenly mission he was on - every day of his life.
Let us go and die with him, I told our friends. Little did I know what that would mean that something inside me would have to die with him to live - my doubt and despair, my lostness and sin.
And only he could make it happen.
When he called Lazarus out that day, we caught a glimpse of what it might be like.
As we walked alongside him later as he entered Jerusalem, the people waved palm branches shouting, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.” Something inside me wanted to soar, but something else held back - impending doom ... despair.
He died. He died gruesomely and indignantly. No one should have to die like that.
He did not have to --- I came to understand that. He laid his life willingly down. For us.
We saw Lazarus rise, but I could not believe in his resurrection still - till I saw him. I wish I could have believed sooner. I wish I had not come to be known as the doubter. I know now that death is not the last word on anything.
I looked into his eyes after he had risen and knew the meaning of life and I cried, “My Lord and my God.
Have you ever experienced the exhilaration of everything becoming clear and connected?
The disciples did not need new information to understand the resurrection; they needed the illumination that comes when God suddenly turns on the lights in our personal experience of His grace. They needed to reflect upon what they had seen, heard, and experienced in the light of all Jesus has said. In short, they needed to remember in the afterglow of the empty tomb.
Before the resurrection, all that Jesus had said and done had consisted of delightful and sometimes confusing fragments in their minds. Now, everything was cohesive and clear.
“This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.” – John 21:14
My favorite event in the early years of my schooling was neither recess nor lunch; it was “Show and Tell. “ Students would bring objects from home and tell stories about them.
I loved to show and tell my own interests and observe the presentations of others. Something about that activity captured my imagination and played to my basic curiosity about life and all things related to life.
John, the Apostle, valued what the followers of Jesus had seen, heard, seen, looked upon, and handled, according to his first epistle. Early in his gospel, he remembered Jesus inviting the first disciples to “come and see,” and then one of them using the same words to invite another.
“Show and Tell” was an effective tool of Jesus for teaching throughout His life. That is why He called people to follow Him as a full time vocation. He walks, ate, and rested with His disciples. They were always with Him observing His life and hearing His words.
Then they watched Him die. He showed them the full measure of His love in His sacrifice.
They saw it with their own eyes and were forever marked with the memory of the cross.
As they sat by the water, after His resurrection, He showed Himself to them yet again. In His post-resurrection appearances, He bolstered their faith visible and brought verbal perspective to what they had experienced. It was “Show and Tell.”
Jesus wants to impress upon us that His life is more than a curiosity. He has called us into a grand demonstration of God’s love and power, to receive His witness and to demonstrate it to others as well.
How has He shown Himself to you? What will you show forth in your life?
We are not qualified to judge the sincerity of the worship of anyone. We may not be fully qualified to judge our own.
Was the king of Babylonian empire a new convert to Yawhism in the stories of deliverance that Daniel recites for us? How much conversion, confession, and conviction is required to qualify as legitimate worship that transforms the heart and mind, reorients the soul, and reconfigured our thinking?
Old King Nebuchadnezzar was pretty impressed with the fireproof prophet and those lion proof boys from Israel He was blown away by their God and His power.
These are reported as his words:
How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:3, NIV)
Maybe he is just good at blowing smoke in the face of deities or howling with the lions .... or maybe this is true worship . It is hard to tell for sure.
We howl and blow smoke too.
Is that always worship?
I like to think that Nebuchadnezzar became a God-fearing, Yahweh-worshiping convert to truth and that he remained so. I believe that God takes our slightest gesture of "yes" to His invitation and continues the process of drawing us closer and closer to Himself as we take baby steps in His direction.
There is much that led up to the point where he declared God's greatness. He had seen some pretty amazing manifestations of divine power.His words of praise are powerful and seem sincere. It sounds like worship to me.
"And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs." – Luke 24:13
I can’t help it. Whenever I am out on an open highway with no end in sight, I imagine Willie singing, “On the Road Again.”
And then I have to remind myself to ease up on the gas peddle.
Jesus had spent so much of His ministry walking … and talking … and walking … and talking some more. Sometimes He stopped to teach, but mostly, if you wanted to follow Him as a disciple, you had to be willing to move.
Those days were gone, at least in the minds of the two men who walked along that day on the road to Emmaus. They had heard rumors of the empty tomb, but they did not believe that Jesus was alive. Then He started walking with them and they did not recognize Him. Nevertheless, their hearts burned within them as He opened the scriptures to them and taught them concerning God’s eternal purpose of redemption and His mission to proclaim good news to all the earth.
He was calling them and us to a life on the road, a life of mission.
He was calling them by walking with them, alongside them, and teaching them along the way.
In the same way, the risen Christ desires to walk with us and teach us on the road.
The psalmist either had a short sighted view of God, an over-inflated sense of his own righteousness (and that of his people), a limited perspective, all of the above, some of the above mixed together, or an insight into how things are in the real world -- that both the righteous and the unrighteous suffer.
Some suffering comes inevitably as a natural consequence of making poor choices.
Some suffering comes because we make right choices. Martin Luther King called that redemptive.
Some suffering comes because we all breath common air or because other people make poor choices in a world where we breath common air, or because we wore purple on Friday or for some other random or intentional purpose.
Some suffering comes to shape, better, or enrich us.
In any event, we all suffer and no one theological, philosophical, biblical, moral, or scientific explanation can account for all of it.
The psalmist makes a stab at it. It would seem that sometimes it is better to create and recite poetry and music than to attempt a trite answer. This falls in the sphere and atmosphere of art and prayer.
" All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way; yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death. If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." (Psalm 44:17-22 ESV)
“Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.” – Psalm 33:3
There are three things that God reminds us of today that He would like for us to offer Him in worship.
The first is newness. He wants a new song.
Now an old song can be a new song if it is fresh and quickened by new awareness of God Himself or of some spiritual insight that has captured our hearts. He is not interested in innovation; He is concerned that we are being born anew in every act of worship toward Him.
He wants us to come to Him today with the same sense of wonder as when we first knew Him.
The second thing is He wants us to play skillfully. That means He wants the best we can offer.
God is not impressed with mediocrity when we can do better. He is not enamored with improvisation when it substitutes for preparation. He loves spontaneity, but He also loves and desires our full engagement of all our abilities and senses in truly worshipping Him as One who is worthy of the best we can offer.
The third thing is volume. That does not mean being loud for the sake of being loud. Nor does it mean fake volume of the sort that can be artificially produced by turning up the dial of our amplification systems.
It means engagement of the whole instrument in praise whether that is a piano, harp, guitar, or vocal mechanism. If we sing, we are called to sing with our whole bodies and souls.
It is for God and it is to God. Let us hold back nothing.
Psalm 16:1 - Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.
Never separate the two parts of this prayer or you will diffuse its power. The first part is a request made in faith. The second is a declaration of faith upon which every request is made and in which our confidence resides. Safety, in and of itself, is of limited value. We are safe from what and for what? The end and the means are the same here. We are made safe by abiding that we might safely abide in Christ. If God is our refuge, that is enough to say. It is an end in itself. To be in Christ is the end that brings every new beginning. Where is your principal residence in this life? Every anxiety and discomfort is addressed by the answer of faith. If you reside in God and take refuge in Him, then rest in Him and abandon all concern for safety from that which you cannot control. God is in charge.
Psalm 16:2 - I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
This is so very important! First, we must recognize that to say “Lord” is not just to utter a religious word or to speak with respect toward our chosen deity. In the naming of God as Lord is a relinquishment of every other value, treasure, and prize. It is to acknowledge Him as Supreme Master and to render everything else in our lives as valueless apart from Him. It is in acknowledging Him as the source of every good gift that those gifts have worth. It is in knowing Him that every other vision fades in importance and takes its place in His court as subservient to His will.
Psalm 16:3 - As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
One of the great privileges of the new birth is that we are born into a family of saint with whom we can associate and in whose fellowship we can delight. To be a saint is to be separate, holy, and dedicated to a particular function. That function, for the Christian, is the praise and glory of God. In one sense, it is not a mysterious or otherworldly thing to be a saint. In another sense, it is to profoundly embrace a mystery that we can never fully understand and be apprehended by a world far beyond our reach in these mortal bodies. If one is a saint indeed, one loves other saints because, in them, we see God’s face as clearly as possible in this life –even among those who dwell in the land.
Psalm 16:4 - The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.
Today, we join the eternal chorus of welcome as the Lord Jesus Christ enters into our consciousness as the King who comes in the Name of the Lord. He is the Prince of Peace and righteousness. His Kingdom comes with glory and praise, but also with a cross of pain and disgrace. Yet, He willing enters into the sphere of time, space, and judgment to face whatever stands between Him and His mission to bring all who welcome Him into eternal fellowship with the Father. Let us lift our voices in worship as we worship Him.
Psalm 16:5 - Lord, you have assigned my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.
God is righteous. That means that everything about Him is fully integrated into His holy character – He is 100% pure truth, love, goodness, and holiness. There are no contradictions in God – except those that we contrive in our own misunderstanding of Him. He loves justice. His heart delights in seeing things set aright. He loves consistency in our lives. He takes joy when His truth is integrated into the loose dimensions of our lives and we come into right relationship with Him. There is a promise in this verse, that the upright will see His face. What a glorious affirmation! The more we seek Him, the more our hearts are changed by His power within us and the clearer our vision of Who He is becomes. We can see God. His grace in Jesus Christ removes the scales from our eyes so that we may have a glimpse in this life and the hope of full disclosure in the life to come. Let that truth sink into the pores of your being today and celebrate it as you walk through the maze of confusing messages and distorted truth. You can see God.
Psalm 16:6 - The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
Do you feel alone in your spiritual journey? Do you imagine that you are the only person in your school, workplace, or neighborhood that desires the things of God or seeks after His will? Do you wonder if there is even one other person who will stand with you for truth and righteousness? Are you overwhelmed by the loneliness of solitary seeking? Do you even wonder if the psalmist was somehow transported out of his time to speak of ours? Things have not changed that much have they? We all look back on better times when we were sure that there were more righteous and earnest people living among us and compare those times with our “todays.” We conclude that we are alone and that no one else is godly or faithful. While that is not true in every sense, it is in one. “There is none that is righteous, no not one.” We are indicted by that statement and must include ourselves among the number of the “no more” who have “vanished from the earth.” From God’s perspective and standard of perfect holiness, no one measures up. Then Jesus Christ enters the picture and He alone stands for truth. Our only hope is in Him and in Him we are not alone. Consciously align yourself with Him today and allow God to flush away that sense of “aloneness.”
Psalm 16:7 - I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
If you can’t trust a compliment, what can you trust? The psalmist has had it with flattery. He is discouraged over the tendency of his neighbors to use speech only to manipulate and deceive. We ought to develop that same level of disgust with untruth because all lying and falsehood are at odds with a God who is truth. Pretty lies are no better than ugly lies. Lies are lies and they are dark and dismal. Ask God to fill your heart with truth today and with a love for that truth so that whenever you would tell yourself a lie, you would immediately appeal to the God of truth and be rescued. Whatever urge you may have to be hard on your neighbors, start first with yourself and let God’s grace fill you and change you.
Psalm 16:8 - I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
First, consider this as you look back on last week's Maundy Thursday – praise and flattery met Jesus upon His entry into the Holy City. “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord,” they cried and most likely meant what they said. Is it possible that some of those who praised Him on Sunday cursed Him on Thursday evening when He was arrested and brought to trial? Could it be that some who praised Him were seeking to manipulate Him for their own ends and to triumph with their tongues, even to co-opt Him for their own causes? Is it even possible that some that welcomed Him with their lips retained no sense of responsibility for their words beyond themselves? We see ourselves as masters of our words whenever we refuse to submit ourselves, body, soul, and spirit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Jesus went to the upper room and took the role of a servant. With His words and deeds, He offered His body and blood for the redemption of lost men and women. He emptied Himself and held nothing back. His words are truth and love. Let us bring ourselves and our words to Him in that same spirit. If possible, find a place this day to partake of communion with other believers and remember the sacrifice of Jesus and be reminded of His gracious words.
Psalm 16:9 – Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure...
God saw the oppression of the weak and heard the groaning of the needy, bound in the chains of sin and wickedness. Thus, He came to us as a man among men. He arose and took upon Himself of a lowly servant, He emptied Himself and became obedient unto the death of the cross.(Philippians 2) He identified with us completely, yet without sin and became our protector and deliverer from sin. God has always been the champion of the weak and needy. The Christ-event and the passion of the cross make it clear that every man, woman, and child is in need of a savior. We are all oppressed – even if we are oppressors. We each writhe in agony for someone to intervene in our darkness and bring us into the light. Friend, the cross, was, is, and always will be for you. Spend some time today meditating on it. Seek out other believers with whom you can worship in wake of Calvary. Get alone with God and thank Him for remembering you on the cross. Do not let this day pass as any other.
Psalm 16:10 - ...because you will not abandon my to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
Oh precious words, flawless, pure, beautiful in their refined glory. God’s words stir the soul, comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable, and pierce the heart with divine truth and brilliant light. On that dark Saturday between the cross and the resurrection, the disciples had only the remembrance of His words. What would they have meant to you in such an hour? What have they meant to you in your darkest hours. After the resurrection, Jesus would meet men on the road to Emmaus and remind them of His words and those that the Father had spoken over the centuries through the scriptures. He would bring them new meaning and their hearts would burn within them. Let Jesus apply all of God’s words to your heart in the darkness of death from the place of resurrection. We can never fully visit the despair of that bleak Saturday, but we can enter into our own darkness with the flawless Word of God to comfort our souls.
Psalm 16:11 - You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
What a pointless prayer this would be divorced from resurrection truth! Without the resurrection we are exposed, vulnerable, and unprotected. If Christ were not raised we would be as Paul said, “still in our sins (I Cor. 15).” We could not expect help in the onslaughts of wicked and violent people or non-human forces from a dead and powerless God. Prayers would be futile attempts to feel better about our miserable circumstances. Compliance with ethics would be fruitless acts of legalistic compulsion if not overwhelmed by a dynamic conviction that God can raise the dead and thus, protect, deliver, and save. God raised Jesus from the dead and pronounced the death sentence on death. He is alive and brings to life all who trust in Him. Celebrate! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!
"Start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - Saint Francis of Assisi
"I remembered you, God, and I groaned. I meditated and my spirit grew faint." - Psalm 77:3 (NIV)
What about the comfort, assurance, and peace pour quiet times are supposed to give us?
What about the nurturing, loving, contemplative moments that we are told we will experience daily through the spiritual disciplines?
This sounds like work. It sounds soul-wrenching, agonizing, and spiritually surgical? Groaning? Fainting?
Read on to see doubting, complaining, and restlessness.
The psalmist wrestled with his heart in prayer to God. He went deeper. He dug into the rocky soil of his soul and extracted ... dirt!
But every geologist knows that dirt isn't just dirt. it is minerals and organic material. It is microscopic life. It is nutrients.
You can't grow much of a garden in a sanitized pool of water.
So, the question is: Do you want to grow something inside of you, and thus, grow yourself or do you want to lulled, rocked, and soothed?What do you want from your quiet time? If you meet God, you muight also bump into yourself. There might be a collision. There might even be a transofrmation.
I don't often call it a "quiet time" any more. It is a devotional time. It is "dropping anchor." It is a meeting with God. It is all those things, but it is nbot always quiet within me. I get disturbed, shaken, rattled, and inspired. I also get shaped and encouraged.
Read on. Read the whole psalm. God wins and the psalmist is ultimately comforted and encouraged.
But it wasn't easy.
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.
Write something right now. Writing will prove to be a great burden if you insist on maintaining your perfectionism.
If you must say it perfectly, you will find it difficult to say anything.
If you fear mistakes, you will be reluctant to tap the "publish" icon.
If typographical errors cause you to tremble with humiliation, blogging may not be your forte.
These phobias can be overcome and you can emerge as a carefree, candid, and fallible blogger just like me - hopefully, much, much better, but assuredly, no worse.
In fact, you can emerge as a self-publishing machine with multiple "correctables."
This can happen if you will take this simple advice: WRITE SOMETHING!
You may not think you have anything about which to write. It doesn't matter.
You may not have the right words. No one cares. (Make them up if you must as I just did did with "correctables.")
You may not feel accomplished. Practice.
You may doubt that anyone wants to read you. Don't worry about it.
Just write.
The ideas will come. The words will come. The people will come to read.
Lose the perfectionism and get on with it. If you have the itchy urge, follow it.
You can fix your mistakes later.
Be bold; be vulnerable; be free.
Write something!
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." - Eccleisastes 9:10
Again: If you have the itchy urge to write, follow it. You can fix your mistakes later. Don't leave a blank slate behind where your thoughts ought to have been engraved for the next generation. here are already far too many unwritten words in the cemetery.
As darkness faded into dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came, bereft, to the tomb, sensing that she would never again call any man, "Teacher," or "Master."
Those days had passed with all of their possibilities, hopes, and assurances that life made sense because her teacher had made sense to her ...
... to her heart.
“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.” - John 13:13
“… The Master is come, and calleth for thee.” - John 11:28
“If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.” - John 13:14
“Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.” - John 20:16
As the sun broke through the veil of night, Jesus, the Light, suddenly stood before her, unrecognized and ordinary like a gardener.
It was in speaking that it all came back together. It was in speaking simple questions and calling her name. Hope arose again. He had risen from the dead.
He is our Master Teacher, who so identifies Himself. But He is also the Master who calls us by name and washes our feet as a lesson to us that the true master is he who serves. He is our Master and Lord and example. If any could demand mindless obedience, it is He.
From the beginning of His ministry as He began to call out disciples, He was recognized as the Master-Teacher of life. When He came to Bethany for Lazarus and called for His sisters, it was as the Master. When He gathered with His friends in the upper room (for He had come to call them friends), it was the Master who bent down to perform the role of a slave. Then, at the garden tomb, the one who had endured the indignity and pain of the cross called for Mary. And she recognized Him as Master.
It is not our knowledge of Him or recognition of His position that makes Him the Master, but His knowledge of us and His call in our lives. The Risen Christ stands before you. He is calling your name. Can you see Him? Can you hear Him? What shall you call Him?
Acknowledge Him today as the only rightful Master of your life.
“If a man die, shall he live again?” (from Job 14:14)
The age-old cry of humankind is for eternal meaning. Is there anything beyond this world of pain and tears that brings meaning to these moments while transcending them? Is there a life beyond the grave or is all futile?
Perhaps Job did not really know the answer, but he did have a glimpse. We do know that, unlike most men and women, Job was willing to serve God for nothing. He was willing to worship the Lord with or without reward or promise of life.
Job's God was not running for office. His status did not depend upon human referendum. He was God and that was that. Because He was God, He deserved praise. Job would come into a deeper understanding of God's Sovereignty, but the seeds were present even before his testing.
As is true of Job's pressing questions, the answers come fully in Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the final statement of death's final defeat. For the one who follows Jesus, there is hope beyond death. John said that he was writing his gospel so that we might know we had eternal life.
There are countless men and women in our communities yearning for answers to the ultimate questions of life. God sets Job up as the ultimate example of an earnest seeker. He records Job's search so that we might identify and be led toward a relationship with Jesus Christ. Job's story is our story. His yearning is our yearning. His needs are our needs - not to be free of pain and discomfort, but to see God face to face and find our answers in Him.
" For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven..." (II Corinthians 5:1-2)
In the cross, Jesus identified with humanity's deepest agony and our most profound feelings of alienation when He quoted from Psalm 22. It is in our lectionary readings for today and here are some reflections on it.
Psalm 22:1 - My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
We have the retrospective luxury of knowing the messianic significance of this psalm in. It is messianic because the Messiah took these words to the cross as He identified with the sinfulness and despair that were already resident in humanity. He expressed the root of our hopelessness: abandonment - the awful sense that the God whom we ourselves have forsaken has forsaken us. To be separate from God is to be isolated and alone. It is the very terror of the night and it is the chief horror of the cross, which Jesus bore for us that this statement might never need to be ours again.
Psalm 22:2 - O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.
It is the hallmark of persistent prayer that it perseveres in silence. It is neither required nor assured that the believer will always “sense” the presence of God. What is called for is that we will remain faithful and not be silent when God is silent. In fact, God is not quieted. He is merely speaking on a frequency that we are not, at some given point in time, receiving. Keep praying – even amidst despair and doubt. Faith is found in the persistence and assurance and awareness emerge from the process. No matter how you feel about life, yourself, God, or others today, pray on!
Psalm 22:3 - Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.
Immediately, our of dark despair, the worship leader of the psalms teaches us what drives persistent pray: It is the knowledge of the Holy One who is Other than us, enthroned, exalted, and worthy of praise. God does not need to earn our faithfulness in prayer and praise by making regular payments of blessings to our accounts. The starting point is that praise is due Him because He is the praise of Israel and the United States, the world, and the universe. If we can but come to some understanding that God is God no matter what we think or feel, we will begin to become messianic people.
Psalm 22:4 - In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
History is an anchor that stabilizes faith by reminding us that God can and does act to deliver His people. He, who never changes, takes a personal interest in those who trust in Him. He is a faithful God. We can count on Him to do again what He has done before. The heritage we receive from our believing fathers and mothers is a legacy we must pass on to our own children. It is an intergenerational gift that passes through our hands. Take courage from the experience of others, but never let that experience substitute for one of your own relationship with God. Build on their stories.
Psalm 22:5 - They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
What was it that our fathers did that brought them into the experience of God’s deliverance? It was very little and very much. It was very little of human effort or initiative. However, it was a great expression of faith in two parts. First, their attitude was one of trust – that resolute act of resting on God’s grace. Second, the volitional action was crying out for mercy, help, and salvation in desperate resignation. We who scatter ourselves about in frantic frenzies of futile flailing exclaim, “Is that all? It can’t be!” It is. Unless it becomes that alone, nothing we DO matters. Only God saves.
Psalm 22:6 - But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
Maybe today is your worm day. You have adopted the vision of yourself that you perceive others to have of you. You have resigned to the world, the rather than to God. It has become vitally important to you what others think of you and you are devastated. If, at any time, you allow yourself to be defined by others or even yourself, you will be depressed. Jesus identified with our struggles to understand self but overcame the temptation through a strong sense of who He was in relationship with His Father. We have the same mirror to our souls available, filtered by grace and the love of God.
Psalm 22:7 - All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
Consider Jesus today as you evaluate the evaluations of others and deflect their insults. Rather than lash out in reactionary anger or retreat in despondent silence, look to Him who endured. He was never shaken within by the opinions of people. He never lost His sense of standing with the Father or His assurance of His mission. He did not come down off the cross, nor can we. Our lives are nailed there and our identity is securely fastened to His. Bathe in His love and acceptance when friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers mock your motives. You are cherished by Him.
Psalm 22:8 – "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."
You can expect to be attacked in that area where you are most vulnerable – your faith. The world will taunt you with that which troubles you most within – the nagging suspicion that God will not come through for you. This is the real test of faith whether the taunts come from within or without: Can you withstand them and find your trust deepened? Your lips may declare firm belief that God can deliver you from and through any trial, but do you believe it for this current trial? The answer is that faith is, also, a gift delivered amidst fire. Receive it today in your present circumstances.
Psalm 22:9 - Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast.
We started with a capacity to trust God because we had no other choice. As we experienced autonomy and choice, we chose to go our own ways as did our first father and mother. But the starting place was childlike trust. It is our first and greatest capacity and our one and only connector to God within our souls. It is the essence of the image of God within us - the plug through which He reconnects us in relationship within by His mercy, grace, and love. When we first chose to sin, we pulled the plug by trusting ourselves. Let God revive your trust today and choose to trust Him.
Psalm 22:10 - From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.
This is the psalm of the cross, which our Master chose to identify with us as He bore our sins. There were three great acts of emptying in His earthly life. The first was His birth. He divested Himself of all His self-sufficiency as God and became dependent upon God –even in Mary’s womb. The second was His baptism-temptation where He conspicuously stood in the place of sinners to face every life temptation and overcome only by the power of the Spirit and the Word. Finally, the cross – and there, He remembered who He was and who He trusted. We must trust God also.
Psalm 22:11 - Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
You will find yourself in circumstances, as did our Lord, where there are no solutions, alternatives, or assistance. There is no one and nothing to help. You are empty and alone. You cannot even depend upon yourself because your resources are depleted and your energy is sapped. You can presume nothing in that moment. No one hears your plea but God and your only non-negotiable request is that He remains near you. That is a powerful place in our lives. We cannot go on spiritually until we have been there. Embrace it and from that place, call upon God. You will find Him all-sufficient.
Psalm 22:12 - Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
The imagery may not be familiar, but it takes little imagination to see the precarious nature of these circumstances. What are yours? The idea of bulls surrounding you does not bring to mind the thought of a passive environment with benign enemies. These are angry bulls, poised for attack. They are frightening and intimidating and they can do you great physical harm. But they cannot touch your soul. Only you and God know the depths of the battle you are in, but know this: Jesus was there on the cross and He is with you now.
Psalm 22:13 - Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.
You can see the lions devouring their prey and their eyes are now on you. You envision yourself being eaten alive by the forces within you and outside you that attack without mercy. It is a helpless feeling. Jesus experienced it fully on the cross. He placed Himself in that position willingly. He emptied Himself and “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” We cannot choose our end, nor can we know if this crisis is our end, but we can know God in the midst of it and trust in Him. There is no lion, no problem, no weapon of Satan that can defeat God or destroy His child.
Psalm 22:14 – I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.
What do you trust in a practical way to make it through the day? Do you count on your human resources, talents, ingenuity, or personality? You can be poured out like water. Do you trust your physical strength and fitness? Every bone can be dislocated from the others. Do you trust the strength of your character, perseverance, courage, and inner strength? Your heart can melt like wax and you will be left with nothing but God. This is the cross and Jesus has gone before us to show us that we can bear through His resurrection. Do not despair. You may be empty, but you are not alone.
Psalm 22:15 - My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
The cross is not a position of personal strength. It was not for Jesus and is not for us. We come to the cross and are emptied as Christ Jesus emptied Himself. Speechless and helpless, we lie in the dust of death and somehow realize that a God of love has allowed this experience in our lives and brought us to this place that, out of death, we might find life. If you will know resurrection, you must be laid out as dead before God. There is no other way. Any attempt to circumvent this process renders the cross as useless in your life. Trust God in the dry places and you will live.
Psalm 22:16 – Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
Onlookers, men and beasts, are waiting for your last breath. They are convinced that you are defeated. Around the cross, they all gathered, certain that they were about to hear the last of Jesus. Your enemies assume that personal failure and death will overcome you as well. Pain, it is felt, will conquer the spirit of any person. Not so with you. You are dead already and your life is hidden in Christ. In Him, you live. Whatever the enemy could throw at Christ was thrown, but He “arose a victor from the dark domain” and so will you in Him. Cast off despair and celebrate life!
Psalm 22:17 - I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.
Have you ever counted your bones? How emaciated from the struggles of life, temptation, and sin have you been? Have you ever felt like such an oddity that people would stare? Have you ever been so humiliated that your enemies – especially those within, would gloat over your seeming defeat? When God made the choice to incarnate Himself into human flesh, He knew that He would be casting aside His glory for the lowest state of all. Hebrews 12 reminds us to consider Jesus who despised the shame, but pressed on for the glory set before Him. Let us press on as well.
Psalm 22:18 - They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
We like to think that we will have death with dignity. We must redefine dignity then, for what Jesus experienced can only be described in human terms, as humiliation. Nevertheless, human definitions do not rule the spiritual realm nor can they rule our lives. If we must face such a cross where even our clothes are bartered among our enemies, then so be it. Either we can scream and protest for our rights and “dignity” or we can enter into a deeper experience of trust and obedience. It is a crossroads that we face. If we are to die to self that we might live, we cannot set the terms.
Psalm 22:19 – But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
We are moving from first to second to third person intentionally in these thoughts – keeping the focus on God. That is where Jesus kept His focus in His lifetime identification with humanity. He asked only that His Father be near and trusted only in His strength. When we are empty and helpless, that is all we have and that is a very fine position for our lives. All other strength is an illusion and the sooner we understand that, the better. We have only God – He is all we ever have had and we did not realize it. Perhaps now, we are coming to understand. Perhaps, we are coming into real life.
Psalm 22:20 - Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Did you know that your life was precious to God? Grace yourself with the thought that God cares more for you than you care for yourself. Why then, do you exercise the exhausting effort of worry? God knows all about the sword. He sees and hears the dogs. He is not removed from your suffering and He intimately acquainted with your struggles. He has never abandoned you and He has a plan for your deliverance that He has already set into motion. Call upon Him. He is ready to take your hand and walk with you through this present fire.
Psalm 22:21 - Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
Once we have come to terms with the reality of our circumstances and ceased our fruitless debates over the fairness of our surroundings, we can get down to the relevant business of petition. God does not keep us out of the lion’s den or the path of wild oxen; but He delivers us. Deliverance is far better than avoidance because God gets the glory and we get the victory. Beside that, the world gets to see a demonstration of the power of God that exceeds the expectations of limited minds. Daniel’s victory did not rest in avoiding the conflict, but in God’s salvation in the mids. Resurrection!
Psalm 22:22 – I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.
We glory in the cross. We glory far more in the resurrection. Jesus came forth from the trial of the cross and the resurrection with a message of victory, redemption, and praise. We also emerge from our spiritual battles and, more importantly, the process of dying to self and rising to new life, with a message of hope. The faith-act of identifying with Jesus is what makes us evangelists. Good news permeates our beings so that our very lives are transformed into the gospel message. Like St. Francis, we preach everywhere and, when necessary, use words.
Psalm 22:23 – You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
Praise, honor, and reverence are the responses of all who know God as God. This fear of God is recognition of His utter divinity and absolute sovereignty. It is an awareness that is burned into our life through struggles and seared onto our hearts in crisis. It does not come easily. Do not associate praise with giddiness or shallow emotionalism. When it is refined, it flows from the very deepest places in our lives and transcend the moment, rises above circumstances, and soars to the heights of Heaven. It is a gem of great joy forged in the furnace of trial.
Psalm 22:24 - For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
The God we praise is a God of loving compassion. He knows. He cares. He heals. He listens intently to His people and He is near the broken. Jesus identified with our pain intensely and passionately. His participation in our suffering and affliction goes far beyond empathy. He entered in and continues to enter in. You can trust Him because He already understands and have your very best interest in His heart. When we back off from God., we do so in irrational ignorance. To really know Him is to trust Him profoundly.
Psalm 22:25 - From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.
It all originates with God. If we think that we might like to organize our praise of God around ideas that intrigue us, we have missed the point. The very theme of praise comes directly from Him. It is about Him, from Him, and to Him that we praise. And, as we gather among those who know Him, this is understood. There are always personal and corporate dimensions to faith. There are individual vows that you make and fulfill to the Lord, but you do so in community among those who share a common vision of the God who is worthy of our praise.
Psalm 22:26 - The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him-- may your hearts live forever!
This is the grand turn-around. God feeds the poor. He fills the hearts of those who seek Him with praise. He brings life out of death and joy out of pain. He infuses our lives with such abundance that we cannot fully receive it. He lifts our spirits to heights we have never known. He fills our lips with praise and grants us eternal life. The present darkness is never absolutely dark because the light has already come to fill every crevice. We live now and always in the present reality of the resurrection and the future hope of Christ’s second coming. Seek Him and know this reality for yourself!
When we act out of gut reactions, we often say and do things we either regret or should regret. Acting on instinct does not say much about setting us apart from other mammalian creatures. Instincts are useful, but are not dominant for us as human beings. The psalmist gives us three ideas that can help us and protect us from stupid, rash behaviors.
Know who you are - You are a person set apart for a higher purpose and a Higher Person. "But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;" This is one you can consult about the matter as well: "the LORD hears when I call to him."
Know what you feel. Go ahead and be angry, but divorce that anger from your next decision. By acknowledging your anger, you dis-empower it from control. "Be angry, and do not sin ..."
Know what you know - Ponder on your bed. That means, from a place of rest and removal from the world, consider your options, commitments, and the implications of your actions. When you that the time to "ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent, " you gain perspective.
For ultimate perspective, give the matter to God completely and wholly. "Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD."
Take these steps and you will be far less likely to fly off the handle and act or speak rashly or make truly stupid, angry choices.
" But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him."
"Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD." (Psalm 4:3-5 ESV)
And here is a bit of a bonus. We can learn lessons from many contexts. Here is a lesson from the world of acting!
The war was over for the north and the south. It was also over for a very special woman.
152 years ago, Hannah Reynolds died.
She was the last civilian casualty of the battle that brought an end to the Civil War in Appomattox. A few days earlier, when she was wounded, she was a slave. But she held on until April 12, 152 years ago yesterday and, on April 12, she was a free woman and the death record read, "former slave."
She held on.
She had been a slave.
She died free.
Amen and Amen.
From the NPR report and interview with her eulogizer, Rev. Alfred L. Jones III:
"'It's remarkable to me that a woman who was injured a slave, 150 years ago — that her name is known and her story has went across the United States and across the world,' says Jones. 'And I can just really sense the fingerprints of God on this whole story.'"
The fingerprints of God.
"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." - Luke 4:18-19
The human condition, with its full range of emotions, is neither taboo nor unspoken in ancient scripture. It is acknowledged and given voice in song - song that is available as prayer - prayer that is not just religious platitude nor insincere piety, but yearning, longing, agonizing, expressive, authentic, real, raw, and hopeful.
All of this is part of the powerful mix that becomes prayer and worship, not because we have perfected the right emotions, but because we have directed them God-ward.
Just as I am, I come!
" O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath! For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me.''
''There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
''My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness, I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning. For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.''
''O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me. My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off.''
''Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long.''
''But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth. I have become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes.''
''But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me, who boast against me when my foot slips!”'
''For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me. I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin. But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully. Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good.''
''Do not forsake me, O LORD! O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!'' (Psalm 38 ESV)
“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. “ – John 13:1
Jennifer was on the phone with her best friend, Lillian as her mother, Sue, decided to eavesdrop. The subject was the love lives of their friends and acquaintances. Amidst the giggles and gasps, hearing only one side of the conversation, a tapestry of love found and lost began to be painted. John was in love with Sally even though he was in love with Myrtle last week. She told him that she was no longer in love with him so he had to find someone new. Sue blushed and considered the “talk” she would be having with her daughter later that evening.
Jesus was no faint-hearted lover. He was not subject to likes, dislikes, and mood swings. He did not start things and leave them dangling. He understood that human love could be flighty and fleeting. But His love was eternal and unconditional. He wanted His disciples to understand that and internalize it. If there was one message He wanted to leave with them, it was the message of His love.
So, he took a towel and washed their feet. It was not only a menial task, but one that could be tedious and disgusting. In the moments that followed, He taught them more about how to receive and give His love than they could absorb in one sitting. They would reflect upon His words and deeds for the rest of their lives as we do today.
Whenever we come to the Lord’s Table, it is a table of love. It is a reminder that having loved us, Jesus love continued to the cross and, from the cross, through the resurrection and into eternity.
O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, That in thine ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be. (George Matheson, 1882)
"Julie," as performed by @Rhiannon Giddens captures the essence of a principle - that two people living in the same time and in close proximity, can experience history and events from entirely different perspectives. It shows the blindness that comes through our own prejudicial filters of reality. What was a threat for the mistress, was liberation for the slave.
The mistress thought that Julie would see things her way. She thought Julie would feel a loyalty and sense of home in the slave-holder's house that defied logic and humanity.
She should have been grateful, thought the mistress, even though her children had been sold and her life had been sub-scripted by the evil institution of slavery. Mistress thought that somehow, she would play the game and remain a slave.
We should consider that the same history that makes us teary-eyed with nostalgia and pride may be a reminder of generational pain, bitter pills, and dehumanization for others.
Julie responds with grace and kindness in this song, but also with firmness and determination to accept her liberation and to write her own version of history that includes the truth of her suffering and that of her family. She sings to tell the story until her story becomes inseparable from the larger story.
Until the American legacy can tell all the truth from all the perspectives and include lament and repentance, we cannot all sing the same song. There is something valuable and noble in every story that, if it is ever brought into the one large story, will elevate that story so that we can all embrace it.
There is a greatness to America that transcends our prejudices, misconceptions, generational sins, misguided conquests, and blindness to one another. Like the dark ink we try to paint over, it bleeds through in the principles that the original conveyors neither fully understood nor applied.
Their words, taken beyond their limited narrative, are potent with a truth that is yet to be fully recognized. The America we dream of is still in process.
Julie, as portrayed by Rhiannon Giddens, was ready to embark on a journey of realizing her piece of that and nothing was going to hinder her.
Some of us need to do more listening and less talking. Others need to take the stage and tell their stories until all stories are told.
These words accompany a prediction of failure. "You will deny me," the Teacher declares to the loyal servant, "...not once or twice, but three times soon. You will. You don't want to. You don't think you will, but you will."
He knows how failure shatters our confidence and can destroy our souls, but He counters that with, "Don't be troubled; believe in me."
These words, with others, have comforted our hearts in times of discouragement, loss, grief, and pain, but they were also meant to lift us as we faced the disappointments and failures of our own resolve and humanity.
Hear them afresh from that place in your life where you no longer feel valuable to God. Jesus wants you with Him where He is. God draws you to Himself. He provides the simple way, a simple truth, and a simple life. He is saying, "Trust me."
And in saying, "trust me," He is also saying, "follow me."
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
