parklinscomb

Today we begin a study of the longest chapter in the whole Bible, Psalm 119. There are 176 verses in this psalm and it’s all focused on one topic, praise of God’s word. Now, you may ask, “Why in the world is there so much in praise of the word of God?” Well, interestingly enough, there is something special about this psalm; it’s an acrostic poem with the Hebrew alphabet being the acrostic foundation. That is to say that in the original Hebrew text the first 8 verses all start with the Hebrew version of A, aleph. The second 8 verses (9-16) all start with the letter beit, the Hebrew version of our letter B — and so forth all the way to their version of Z, tav. Why? Because it makes this psalm more memorable — like rhyme in English. And why would this poem be important to remember? Well, why spoil the thrill of discovery? But let me tease just a little, if you’re serious about doing God will, about being obedient, about showing God your love, this is a great psalm to help sharpen your appetite for knowing the Scripture.

Having said all that, let’s take a look at verses 1-24 today.

Oh, that my ways may be established (Psalm 119:5,6) — …to keep Your commandments. To have one’s ways established means essentially to create habits, thus habits to keep God’s commandments. Habits can be our best friends or our worst enemies. They are patterns of behavior that we don’t have to think about. That’s good if they are innocent or good patterns of behavior. On the other hand, if we develop a bad habits (over-eating, drunkenness, drugs, swearing, etc.), they are hard to break, and once broken are devilishly easy to return to. That’s why the psalmist prays that his ways might be established (habits be ingrained) to keep God’s commands. Sadly, sometimes folks think godly habits to be old-fashioned, moss-backed, and goody-two-shoes and resist them. Are you establishing your ways (developing habits) to keep the Lord’s commands? Church on Sunday? Bible reading? Regular prayer? How you conduct yourself with the opposite sex? The way you parent? The way you talk? How you handle your emotions? These and much more are all habits, established ways. Establish your ways to keep God’s commands.

What’s your treasure? (Psalm 119:11) — So much of whether we’ll ever try to establish your ways according to God’s commands will depend on whether or not we treasure God’s word. God’s word can be seen in a number of ways: as a set of rules, as a list of requirements, as a burden, or as a treasure, something truly valuable. The other ways of looking at God’s word are regrettably all too common and are directly from Satan — remember this line in early Genesis? “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5, NASB. Such a view of the Scripture will make us only resent God’s word; we’ll see them as arbitrary boundaries that don’t really help us, just unwelcome interference, barriers God has set up. But if we see God’s word as a treasure, a blessing, real help, well that’s different. Which is it for you?

Open my eyes to wonderful things (Psalms 119:18) — Have you experienced this yet in our year-long trek through the Scripture? There are wonderful things here. I’ve tried to highlight a few of them, but doubtlessly you run across many yourself. But here’s a great prayer to offer to the Lord before we even begin reading, “Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.” Psalms 119:18, NAS95.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

In earlier psalms there was a bunch of pleas to the LORD for help and deliverance from enemies and persecutors. Today’s psalms are a comforting layer of reported rescue and deliverance — this is the sort of stuff that helps build our faith.

Delivered from death (Psalm 116) — There is only one clue in this psalm about the source of the threat of death, and it is found in vv. 10, 11, where the psalmist says he was tempted to say, “All men are liars.” Thus, it would seem that the psalmist was the target of some sort of plotted assassination, insinuating therefore that he was a person of importance, probably a king, maybe David. Regardless of the circumstances, however, the writer is jubilantly praising God for his deliverance. He had felt like the outcome of events were surely going to be his death. Maybe you’ve not been there exactly, but have you felt like failure was certain, loss was certain — and then after making your plea to the LORD, victory was snatched out of the jaws of defeat? That’s where this psalmist is. God does that; He’s done it before and He can do it anytime He chooses. Sometimes all we need do is ask.

But there’s one more thing in this psalm that I found interesting and instructive, verse 15. The NAS95 reads, “Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.” Psalms 116:15; but the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) version reads, “The death of His faithful ones is grievous in the LORD’s sight.” The reading of the Hebrew is a little difficult. And maybe it’s just me, but the NAS95’s translation is a little less comforting to me than the JPS translation. The NAS95 seems to be saying that God’s faithful people are precious to him after their deaths — and although this certainly is true, the Scripture tells us that we are precious to Him before our deaths, too. Some gain some comfort from this translation from the perspective that God will give special attention to His own after their deaths. Maybe so, but it doesn’t really fit the context well, in my humble opinion. The JPS translation, on the other hand, seems to be trying to offer comfort to the reader by saying that it is not God’s intention to give His faithful people over to death — the very thing that the psalmist is thanking God about.

Short and sweet (Psalm 117) — It’s kind of interesting that the shortest psalm (117) and the longest psalm (119) are only one psalm apart. But in spite of its brevity, this psalm has powerful things to say. It is not an exclusive sort of psalm, like many are that are concerned primarily or only about Israel or one lone person. Rather it is a call to all nations to put down their idols, their false religions, and their religious diversity; and praise the LORD (Yahweh, the one and only God in this and all other worlds seen and unseen)! Why? Because His lovingkindness (ḥesed — covenant love) is great toward us. Who is us? Anyone willing to believe in Him, not limited to just the Jews, and exclusively realized in faith and obedience to Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of God! And the truth of the LORD endures forever, is everlasting — quite unlike modern fads and fashions of truth (including the infamous post-modern nonsense). If you aren’t already, you need to “Praise the LORD” — not Allah, not Krishna, not Moses, not Buddha, not yourself, not your money, or any other so-called god of this world.

The rejected stone is now the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22-24) — Although this is a psalm about a person who is praising God for his personal deliverance from evil men, it serves as a double meaning, a Messianic meaning. It could have easily been something that Jesus could have said, or prayed, or thought on the cross. Of course, Jesus wasn’t delivered from death in the shallower, earthly sense (it was His deliberate intention to die in our place), but He was delivered from death in the deeper, spiritual, and eternal sense — His resurrection from the dead. He certainly did find out that it was better to trust in the LORD than in princes or other men. Nations (Romans, Greeks, and Jews) did surround Him, they did “push Him violently”, and although He was disciplined severely (“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” Hebrews 5:8, NAS95.), Jesus was not given over to death. And indeed, the stone that the builders (the Jewish leadership) rejected did become the cornerstone. Such a wonder-filled, unexpected turn of events could be nothing but the LORD’s doing; how could it be anything but marvelous in a believer’s eyes? It is a day (of deliverance, resurrection, and salvation) that only the LORD could have crafted — and one, most certainly, to rejoice over!

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

As some of you know, who live in New England, I’m hoping to launch a school of sorts for Christian leadership, the Gander Brook Center for Christian Leadership. By “a school of sorts” I mean that it is a place for learning how to lead in the Lord’s church, but don’t be scared by the word school. There may be homework and plenty of assignments, but this is a school for attaining skills and knowledge. If you imagined term papers and the possibility of flunking out — reboot! We’re interested in people learning how to grow in Christ, getting folks equipped to become what the Scripture calls for in its leaders, providing the information and resources for effective and biblical leadership for the future, and the skills to preach and teach the word. It’s beginning this month, August 26-28, at the Edgewood church of Christ (Mansfield MA); and I would like to encourage you to enroll! It’s very inexpensive; lodging is available, and you and your congregation will be glad you did. Check out this link for more information: http://web.me.com/parklinscomb/GBCCL/Welcome.html OR call 603.623.5559.

With that “commercial” out of the way, let’s dive into our readings for today, Psalms 113-115.

Who humbles Himself to behold (Psalm 113:6) — Although it sounds funny to say something positive about someone by saying that this person “humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth”, in God’s case, it’s a wonderful thing indeed. After all, He is God. He owes us nothing, He’s given us everything, and He really is supremely superior to anyone and anything. The created world is not an American democracy where even the lowest citizen is to be considered equal with the president; the relationship and the paradigm is altogether different — it is a supreme honor that God would even take notice of us to begin with (have you already noticed this sort of language from time to time in earlier psalms?). It is a fact not to be ignored or taken for granted. God is not our pal, not our bud, not our equal, and He owes us zero. He has condescended to allow those in covenant with Him to call Him “Father” — amazing all unto itself — which speaks not only of a relationship (that we don’t deserve because we are creatures — sinful creatures) but also of a hierarchy (including respect, obedience, and honor) that we need to respect. Indeed, the larger context of this verse begins by asking the very salient question, “Who is like the LORD our God…?” So, when He condescends to abide with His people on, say, the Lord’s Day or some other time of assembly of God’s people, how should we act, respond, and speak? When we become the dwelling of His Holy Spirit, how should we live our lives?

Judah became His sanctuary (Psalm 114: 2) — I’m reminded of a contemporary spiritual song, Sanctuary, as I read this verse. What a privilege for Judah and Israel is expressed here, that God had deigned to make them His sanctuary, His temple. Of course, as we sing the song, Sanctuary, today, we’re singing about the Holy Spirit’s indwelling of Christians (Acts 2:38), marking them as God’s own (Eph. 1:13), strengthening them in the inner man (Eph. 3:16), interceding for us about groanings (sufferings) with words to the Father that humans can’t express (Rom. 8:26), uniting them into a temple of God (Eph. 2:22), and helping to produce good fruit in their lives (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:22). What a privilege!

You become what you worship (Psalm 115:8) — This verse almost slides in under the radar, when we read. It comes at the end of a great list of things that idols can’t and never will be able to do — speak, see, hear, smell, feel, walk, or talk. The point is that they are inanimate, dead, and nothing more than the dead material that they’ve been made from (stone, lumber, or metal). And “those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them”. Huh? The point is that idolatry is a “dead” end — compared with worship and trusting in the LORD, the living God, which leads to real life! Think about that next time you are tempted to trust in money, houses, technology, entertainment, government, etc. — to mention only a few of our modern idols — you will become what you worship.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Today’s readings are really great psalms: passages that are quoted to powerful effect by our Lord and the Hebrew writer and passages heavy with wisdom for the man or woman of God. So let’s dive right in.

The LORD says to my Lord (Psalm 110:1) — Jesus encountered a number of skeptics, mostly of the Pharisaic persuasion, about not only Jesus identity, but even as to exactly WHO the Messiah was supposed to be. The Pharisees had a hard enough time believing that Jesus was the Messiah, they probably had an even more difficult time believing that the Messiah was to be the Son of God. So, Jesus tries to help them understand through this psalm, written by David. The LORD here is clearly God Himself, the capitalized LORD, you’ll hopefully remember, is a deliberately indirect reference to the personal name of God Himself (Yahweh). And God is speaking to David’s Lord. Jesus’ point in Matt. 22:14 is that David would never normally call Solomon or any of his grandchildren “Lord”; so David must be talking about someone else who is his superior — someone greater than him. This superiority becomes even more apparent later in verse 4, where the LORD swears that He will make this superior a priest according the order of Melchizedek — not just a king but a priest, unheard of among the Jewish kings (though it was common for pagan royalty to perform both functions). This “son” was different, special, greater than king David himself. This psalm was no mere praise for the king and the LORD who would bless him, this psalm is a prophecy that the Pharisees and we should pay attention to — because there are still skeptics out there.

Wonders studied by all who delight in them (Psalm 111) — The wonders found in the Bible are not mere stories to take in like they’re entertainment or something — something to make us feel reverent and move on. They are stories to be studied like any other part of Scripture. As we do we come to understand a little more about God: His nature, the reason for His wonders, His power, and what He is capable of today. We also learn other things, like the security of relying on Him. New Testament writers have, for example, taken the stories of Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea and made an important point about escaping the world’s dominion at the point of baptism. There are important points that can be made with and learned from the falling of Jericho’s wall, the story of David and Goliath, and Elijah’s sacrifice at Mt. Carmel. Study them, think on them; let them teach, and uplift, and build up faith in you. There’s more to those wonders than just a “wow factor”.

He will not fear evil tidings (Psalm 112:7,8) — Wouldn’t you love to one of those guys? One who may hear evil tidings, bad news, whatever you want to call it, but doesn’t worry about it, whose “heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.” That’s what real faith in the Lord always brings. Sometimes we let our love for things and our fear of losing those things wither our faith in God. “What if God would allow ‘X’ to be taken away from me? How would I survive; would I survive? How can I protect it? What if things get hard?” And off we spiral into worry and faithlessness. You can be that guy who doesn’t fear evil tidings: lay-offs are coming, the medical tests didn’t come back as good as you had hoped, and more. “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.” Luke 12:27, NAS95.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

I’ve had a great time this vacation visiting with family. First my son and his family, then with my mother and brother and sister. I’ve come away realizing how important family can be to us in forming who we are, who we become, and where we go. They can play such a vital part in encouraging good and discouraging bad in our lives. So also with our spiritual family the church. I hope you aren’t neglecting your church family this summer. Not only do you need their encouragement, but they need yours.

Today’s readings of God’s word in the Psalms are encouragements in their own ways to be faithful the LORD and stay away from disobedience and rebellion — the end isn’t good.

Who is wise? (Psalm 107:43) — Three examples are given here of God’s great wonders for His people and against their oppressors — the return of exiles by God’s hand, those who survived great storms at sea by God’s hand, and how God had turned against some lands changing their environment because of wickedness — then, the psalmist concludes with this almost proverbial verse: “Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things, and consider the loving kindnesses of the LORD.” The lesson? Blessings follow faithfulness, while punishment and distress follows rebellion. Are you wise? The key word in the verse, is “heed”.

Through God we will do valiantly (Psalm 108:13) — This psalm seems to be a combination of Psalm 57:7-11 and Psalm 60:5-12, possibly for a special occasion as war’s clouds loomed. The passage that is especially meaningful to me is the last one, however — that through the Lord we will do valiantly, because it is He who will trample down our enemies. You may not think of yourself as valiant, but there are more ways to be valiant than to fight in a literal blood-and-guts battle. As Paul tells us, our conflict is spiritual rather than physical and we can be valiant in our spiritual battles. Not giving up is one characteristic of valiance; so also is defeating the enemy by putting all of your effort into the fight. Israel won, not because they were were such great military strategists or skilled warriors, but because of God. So also with God’s people today. Just standing in our place, doing what we’ve been given to do, not giving up, giving all the effort due the great battle of the LORD is all we need do — the battle always belongs to the LORD!

Loving Curses (Psalm 109:17) — I found this almost comical in a “what goes around comes around” sort of way, the guy who loves curses (there’s a lot of those today) will receive the curses he loves. The blessings that he refuses to give, will stay far away from him. I wonder if gratuitous criticisms and withholding of appreciation and praise will have the same consequences?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Well, I hope you’re able to stay cool. We’re in the heart of the summer now and where I am currently vacationing (San Antonio TX) it’s been a little toasty. One way to stay cool is to be sure to take the time to read God’s word and find a few moments to meditate on it — especially on today’s reading.

Before we dive into the meat of these psalms, a word about Leviathan mentioned in Psalm 104 as a creature of the LORD. No one knows exactly what Leviathan was. He is described as ferocious, powerful, and sea dwelling among other things (Job 41:1-34). Given the evidence available that dinosaurs (dragons) and men really did coexist it is possible that Leviathan is a sea dwelling dinosaur that the Bible describes as the biggest and most fearsome creature of the Creator. Behemoth (described in Job 40:15-24) is a vegetation eating, land dwelling animal likewise of enormous size with a large strong tail — is likely a land-dwelling dinosaur. I make mention of these things, not only to make a point against evolution, but also to impress the point that God is the Creator of these fabulous beasts.

“O LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions.” Psalms 104:24, NAS95. As impressive as the dinosaurs are they are only one of millions of fascinating and jaw-dropping things that God has created from nothing. The more that science discovers, the more impressive are God’s works! If you’ve not read the book, Darwin’s Black Box by Behe, do so. Although it is a sort of complicated book, do yourself a huge favor and plow through it anyway and open yourself up to wonder after wonder that is clearly God designed.

Lastly, we’ll consider both Psalm 105 and 106, because they may be deliberately connected. Psalm 105 is a wonderful review of the story of the patriarch through the Exodus of Israel, and it ends with: “So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws, Praise the LORD!” Psalms 105:45, NAS95. This verse is the “kicker” for the wonderful retelling of the Exodus and conquest of Canaan, which, however, can be sadly linked in Psa. 106:6,7! This placement of Psa. 105 and 106 is either a clever, deliberate placement or an interesting coincidence — my bet is on a deliberate placement, so that we see how God blesses and how we can mess things up. Is there not a lesson for us? How blessed are you? Have you responded in proper obedience?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Our mothers always taught us that bad company corrupts good morals, but did you ever really buy it? As it turns out she was right all along. Let’s read.

The righteous don’t associate with evil (Psalm 101) — I know this doesn’t sound too evangelistic, but Christian do need to be careful of their friends and associates. You can’t control who your work colleagues will be. Nor who you buy from at Walmart. But the things in our control should be controlled. Of course be friendly to neighbors, colleagues, etc. — you’ll never win them with the Gospel unless they know you care. But be the leader, the moral influence, the change agent — like Jesus — not “the changed”. David notes that righteousness includes more than staying away from evil deeds, and more than doing good deeds; it also avoids befriending God’s enemies. The NT applies this in withdrawl of fellowship — 1 Cor. 5. Not only does this please God, it keeps sin’s influence out of our lives.

It is time to be gracious to Zion (Psalm 102) — There’s a good chance that this psalm comes at the end of the Babylonian exile. The penitent psalmist asks for deliverance because “it’s time” — probably in connection with Jeremiah’s prophesied 70 years. Since Zion usually is parallel to the church, it might be appropriate to ask if this psalm has meaning for the church? Does the church need delivering grace from it’s own misdeeds? False teachings, materialism, apathy? I hope the time has come. Don’t you?
Thank you!! (Psalm 102) — He hadn’t dealt with us according to our iniquities. Isnt that good news? As far as east from west is how far our sins have been removed from us!! Isn’t that good news? Thanks is due to god more than we can say!!

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

These are psalms of praise. Although there are things that I’d like to make note of specifically in these psalms that are our readings today, I’d like to make a small point that I’m hopeful may make a difference in how you thank or praise God. Although we know the difference between thanks and praise in ordinary language usage, we sometimes lose the distinction between them in prayer or religious language. I’d like to clarify.

Whenever we praise people, we are usually taking note of something that they did very well, something that we’re impressed with, something(s) specific that we can make a positive comment on that shows our appreciation for what they did. On the other hand, when we thank someone, we are acknowledging that we are the receivers of some gift, some benefit, some grace that has come our way. “Please pass the potatoes. Thank you very much.”

So also, when we praise God, we ought to be commenting on something that He has done that really impresses you, e.g., the amazing way He worked out our salvation, so as to be both just and merciful at the same time, the beauty of a sunset, His perfect, faithful love that surpasses anything that we as humans can properly do, to list just a very few. We may also thank Him for these gracious and amazing gifts, but we ought to thank Him for everything, even the things that we may be used to or may be less impressive that the gifts that others may have, e.g., thanks for my shelter, food, and clothing. Do you want to praise God, think of the many things that you admire about what He is, what He’s done, of what He’s created.

These psalms are largely psalms of praise; they take a look at God’s characteristics and what wonderful things that He’s done, for example, “O sing to the LORD a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.” Psalms 98:1, NAS95. And there don’t need to be miracles to find something to praise about God. There are wonders all around us still — that God would love us so faithfully, the starlit night sky, the drop-dead-georgeous autumn of New England, the “miracle” of birth. and so much more. The answers to our prayers should be praised, especially when they happen in wonderful and unpredicted ways. He has done and continues to do wonderful things, if only we’d have eyes for it.

Psalm 99 invites all the world to praise the God of Israel. Why? He’s a real God, not an idol. He really does things that even the heathen world can see and stand in awe about!

Lastly, let me comment on Psalm 100:3: “Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” Psalms 100:3, NAS95. As much as we’d like to think so, none of us are really self-made. Yes, we’ve made choices and decisions that have helped to put us into the situations that we’re in, but it is God who is the Creator, who holds us and the world together, who sustains us with air, water, food, and friends. I am not God, you are not God, the Mormons aren’t gods, nor are the pantheists, or the new age folks. We aren’t eternal, we’re not omnipotent, and we’re far from perfect. We don’t get to call the shots, decide what’s right or wrong, or feel arrogant. At our best, or more to the point “at our blessed”, we are only His — but that’s plenty.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

OK, I’m running late — technically, later and later each day it seems. But I’m hoping that you subscribe to the “better late than never” philosophy — at least for the time that I’m on vacation. Today is/was the Lord’s Day; I hope your day of worshiping and remembering the Lord was uplifting to you and truly glorifying to the Lord Himself — that is, of course, the main point of worship, after all.

Who is this God? (Psalm 95 and 97) — Both 95 and 97 have similar themes; I’ll focus on Psalm 95. It’s hard to know where to start with this psalm, because it is the foundation of a couple of my favorite songs and it’s last few lines become an OT quote in the book of Hebrews. It’s full of joy and worship, but more importantly it is about the worth-ship of our God and the crucial importance of worshipping in everyday life through listening and obeying:

“For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.” Psalms 95:7-11, NAS95.

It is so incredibly easy to think and act like worship is all and only about the assembly, the songs, the sermon, the Sunday worship. But the truth is that another equally important aspect of worship takes place every Monday morning through Saturday evening that validates or nullifies Sunday worship. So, if you’ll allow me a little literary license, “Come let us live with joy to the LORD, let us live out loud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us live before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with righteous, good lives.” It may be bad poetry, but its sound spiritual truth.

An Evangelistic Psalm (Psalm 96) — OK, there’s nothing here about Jesus and He’s the core of the Gospel, but it is a wonderful call to all the world to abandon their idols and worship one true and living God! Evangelism may be unpopular in these all-inclusive days, but Christians need to learn how to speak the truth in love. We do no one any favors — not our unbelieving friends nor ourselves. I mention not doing a favor to ourselves, because we often will not share the good news because we’re thinking what others will be thinking about us if we say something. But saying nothing puts us responsible for the lost, “When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.” Ezekiel 3:18, NAS95.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing