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One of the impressions one cannot escape in reading through the region of the Psalms we’ve been in lately is that life is difficult especially for those trying to do right. Psalm 31 tells of the many enemies, terrors, slanders, and misunderstandings that have come his way, though he’s done nothing wrong. Psalm 32 tells of the sin that he committed, the guilt he bore, and way back to the Lord via repentance. Even Psalm 33 urges the reader to find his help not in the world’s strengths, but in the Lord Himself. This is not said in self-pity, but as a statement of the facts that we must face as disciples of Jesus. Satan is quite dedicated to proving us unworthy and unfaithful to God by throwing “the kitchen sink” of trouble, challenge, temptation, slander, misinformation, pain, and hardship at us. Don’t be fooled, Satan is the kind of “guy” that would throw a drowning man an anvil; so he “helps us out” sometimes with money, position, other idols or their phantom promises for us to depend on rather than God. Let these psalms remind us that faithfulness to God is a war that indeed takes courage, honor, discipline, dedication, faithfulness, loyalty, and a single-minded setting of the eyes on the Lord for our real help (Col. 3:1)

From Psalm 31 Jesus, while on the cross and just before giving up His spirit, cries out “Into your hand I commit My spirit.” What a great psalm to quote from in such a terrible circumstance. This psalm is actually one of thanks and praise to the Lord for victory. He speaks of the aim and effect of his enemies upon his life, but how the LORD rescued him and gave him victory, because he didn’t trust in idols but in the true and everlasting God. “My times are in Your hand,” he says; implying that they are not in the hands of his enemies. The secret to remaining faithful in times of distress is keeping our eyes on things above and not on things below. If you look only at the things that can be see around us on the earth, it will be easy to lose heart; on the other hand, if we keep our eyes on the things above, we’ll see our rescue and victory and we’ll gain courage. Now, that’s all easy to say and much harder to do; but do it we must, if we are determined to remain faithful to the Lord. It’s what kept Jesus on course, and it’ll keep you and me on course, too.

Psalm 32 speaks of the oft suffered circumstance of being found in sin. When, as a disciple of Jesus, we find ourselves in sin, we can pursue at least a couple of courses: hide the sin or confess it. Hiding it is tempting, so we sometimes deny it or rationalize it or explain it as not our fault — like David in his sin with Bathsheba. This sinks us deeper and doesn’t help at all.

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. (vv.3,4)

But confession — as painful as it is, as much courage as it takes — actually does help:

I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; and You forgave the guilt of my sin.

The psalmist, as a “satisfied customer” of the latter approach, therefore recommends: “Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found.”

Lastly, Psalm 33 speaks of the power of our Creator to also preserve us in times of trouble. This is a simple concept, but one that we often forget: the One who created us and the world we live in can surely rescue and preserve us, when we are troubled. The key is simply to be faithful to Him and His eye will be on us (v.18).

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Here’s (Psa 28) a plaintiff cry that we can all identify with. “Hear me Lord! Please!” We’ve all felt desperate and like God was not listening. A common question I receive is how to pray effectively, pray so that God hears and answers. First, you need to be a Christian, a child of God by the New Testament standard. As a child of God you have special place and a special hearing. When you pray in Jesus’ name, you have special mediation, and when words fail us, we’ve the Spirit to intercede (Romans 8:26). Others like Cornelius can be heard, but there are no guarantees. Second, be in obedience to the Lord. Isaiah 59:2 put it plainly that disobedience places a barrier between us and God. Other places in scripture explain it that if we don’t listen God, He won’t listen to us. Third, pray in faith, which is to say, pray and then act as if you’ve received the “yes” you wanted (Mark 11:23,24). Fourth, put legs on your prayers. We ought not pray then sit back to let God do everything from soup to nuts — don’t pray for the salvation of the lost and then just wait for people to come beat down our door to be baptized. Fifth, pray with persistence; the importunate widow parable of Jesus teaches us this and Jesus practiced it. Sixth, pray with right motives (James 4:1-5). And don’t bother trying to camouflage it with promises and rationales you’ll not fulfill — God sees thought that like glass. Lastly, pray according to His will — revealed and in accord with what’s best for us and others.

Psalm 29 speaks to the majesty of the Lord as seen in a storm. Most all oaf us have seen powerful storms and sometimes may have even been in fear for our lives. It’s interesting that storm chasers would refer to a category F5 tornado as the finger of God. The lightning, the thunder, the destruction! Yet the storm is only a bare zillionth of his actual power. Such power, the psalmist observes is on the side of God’s people. No wonder nothing is impossible with God!

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Although these psalms are really full and rich with a lot of great spiritual insights, the one theme that struck me in today’s reading was the certain kind of fearlessness that the psalmists wrote about.

Psalm 25 starts off with a fearless offering of his soul to the Lord. Soul in these contexts are not just lifting up one’s praise with all one’s might — the way we tend to understand such a phrase but rather a lifting up of one’s own life to the LORD. This isn’t just about a worship service or great song or a prayer of great praise — occasional giving of oneself to the LORD — but an offering of one’s whole self, one’s whole life, one’s time and talents and purposes. Where does that sort of commitment and fearless offering of oneself come from? It comes from a real appreciation of who God is, appreciation for what He has done for us, His love, His sacrifice, and all that He is. Once we at least get a glimpse of this, we can confidently lift our souls to Him in a honest living sacrifice — Romans 12:1,2.

One other thing that I found fascinating in this passage is v. 14 — “The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant.” The side notes observe that it could be translated as possibly the counsel or intimacy. I kind of like the translation of “secret”, since it is not uncommon for the worldly and disobedient to look at the good fruit — a clear conscience, a good marriage, better results with children, a good reputation, peace in the face of death, etc. — of the righteous and wonder “How?” It’s one of the “secrets” hidden in plain sight that becomes obvious only after one comes to truly fear the LORD.

Moving on to Psalm 26 we see some real courage! “Examine me, LORD.” Would you have the courage to invite such an examination? Yet, we ought to know, when we’re living right; when our hearts are resisting temptation; when our words are being spoken boldly, truthfully, and kindly; when we’ve been truly trying to follow Jesus.

Finally, Psalm 27 expresses the confidence and courage that the child of God can feel and live. We are so often driven by fear of all the wrong things: the opinions of other, tomorrow’s job situation, the moves of those that we don’t trust (enemies), sickness, imperfections, and more. The one thing we ought to fear is the LORD and if we’ll do that all the other fears tend to fade and pass away into dim obscurity. Interesting isn’t it? If we fear the right Person, we have perfect security. Who do you fear? Who should you fear?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Today’s reading helps us understand some of the several aspects of God. This is a crucial piece of knowledge for the believer, especially in today’s world. Despite the fact that we know ourselves to be rather complex beings — a mixture of intellect, emotion, playfulness, seriousness, sexuality, spirituality, and so much more — many of our day inexplicably see God to be unidimensional, love. Perhaps it’s because that’s what kind of God we want, just love. Sorry — it’s just not so, and we do well to try comprehend Him as completely as possible, since it is the real God that will show up in judgment someday, not the God that we’d irrationally like. And today, the aspects that we see are sufferer, shepherd, and King of Glory!

Psalm 22 is a well known Messianic psalm predicting the sufferings of the Christ hundreds of years before the fact. Consider: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”, the reference to sneers and head wagging, the taunts to let God rescue Him, the pierced hands and feet, the division and casting of lots for His clothing, and the victory at the end. While the predictive nature of this psalm is impressive, I’m also impressed by the fact that our Lord is clearly not a God who is content to stand aloof from our human sufferings, but participates in them, too. We can never accuse the Lord of not understanding our pains and agonies in this life. Like Isaiah 53 reminds us “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God and afflicted” (v.4). God does understand our sufferings, not just in some abstract or intellectual way, but intimately and personally. Remember that next time you bring your broken heart before His throne in prayer; He’s the God who understands suffering.

Psalm 23 shows the LORD as our great Shepherd. This psalm has been a standard passage for comfort to those sick or dying or grieving for centuries, and for good reason. When we’re feeling so weak and helpless we appreciate acutely the gentle hand of Good Shepherd as at no other time. Sheep are indeed weak and helpless. They’re not bred for survival; they’re bred for their wool, and have few or no defensive moves apart from the general herd defense — which essentially boils down to hoping that a predator will choose someone else besides me. Some defense! Unless you have a shepherd, one who lead to green pastures and refreshing waters, one who will guide to right paths, who will protect even in dire circumstances, who will both beat off predators and rescue me from my stupid decisions, and who will take me to His own house to dwell forever. How blessed are the sheep of this flock. Are you one of them?

The words of the latter half of Psalm 24 provide some of the lyrics for Handel’s majestic oratorio “Messiah”. “Who is the King of Glory?” It’s not David or Solomon. It’s not Alexander or Caesar. It’s not Napolean or any Pharaoh or any other glorious king. The true King of Glory truly owns the earth and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it! The King of Glory is the LORD of hosts. There has never been one greater and never will be — He is God. Let our tongues ever have only praise for Him. Then let our lives LIVE the praise.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Today’s reading contains a meditation, a blessing, and a prayer. There’s much to gain from a serious look at these psalms.

Psalm 19 is one of my favorite for a couple of reasons. First because contains a verse that is a prayer of mine — so much so that I always include it in the “signature” of much of my email correspondence. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD my rock and my Redeemer” (vs. 14). I certainly want to control my actions, too, but I figure (and I think the psalmist does, too) that if I can control my thoughts and words, the deeds will be a relative piece of cake. This is what Jesus and the New Testament teach, too. If the thoughts of our hearts can be correctly monitored and channeled, our deeds and words will certainly be less inclined to be unrighteous (Matt. 5). And if I can control my tongue (James 3:2), such control would surely be able to bridle in the actions of the rest of my members.

But vs. 14 is the end of a larger passage that is a grand sermon to consider. Think about the starry night sky, the regulation of the planets, the sun and moon, and all the wonder of the visible universe! Who guides and directs it? Whose laws do these great heavenly objects obey? And do they not compose a beautiful and exquisitely choreographed ballet that has caused mankind to wonder from the dawn of time! What if we humans were to obey the LORD’s spiritual laws the way that the heavens obey Him in His natural laws of physics? Would the result not be inexpressible beauty in our lives, in our families, in the church, in our friendships, and in society general? But God has allowed free will in humans and sadly the result has been chaos — like the planets leaving their orbits, like gravity failing from time to time as it wishes, or like the sun deciding to give only a half-effort to light and warm the earth. Our free will also allows us to seek and do God’s will. If God’s perfect will manages the universe so wisely and well, do we not think He could do just as well with our lives? That’s where the psalmist breaks into praise and prayer for his own life, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

Psalm 20 contains a neat little blessing. Something that could be said at a graduation or a wedding, although it seems (at least to my mind) to be originally meant for a king (perhaps Solomon?). Regardless, it’s a great wish for anyone.

Psalm 21 seems definitely to be a psalm for a king, probably David himself (according to the traditional epigraph). Here’s a king who understands for sure that his strength is not in his own arm, but in the LORD. If only we could adopt David’s trust in the LORD — but sadly sometimes even David stumbled in this trust. It is the LORD who rescues from the hand of enemies, troubles, and fears. It is not our skills, our wisdom, our education, our technology, our weapons, our effort, our sincerity, our heritage, our diet, our looks, our achievements, our politics, our money, our insurance, our great cities, our back-up plans, or our barriers that rescue us. It will be God, period.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Today’s reading has several interesting concepts for the Bible student. Old Testament references to the resurrection and what we could call the warrior’s hymn.

Although there are those who would argue that there wasn’t much in the Old Testament about the afterlife, the truth is that there really is quite a bit. There isn’t a ton of information on the direct afterlife in Sheol, but we know that it exists. And although there isn’t a lot of information about the resurrection, nevertheless there are references to it as in Psalm 16:8-10 and 17:15. Some would argue that 16:8-10 is really a reference to how the LORD will save him from death itself, the inspired New Testament book of Acts would authoritatively argue differently. Acts 2:25-28 quotes this as a prophecy about the resurrection of God’s Holy One, His Messiah. And Psalm 17:15 lifts up his hope — in contrast to the rich unrighteous — of seeing the LORD’s face. No Jew hoped to see the face of God in this life; it meant instant death, because mortal man cannot bear the glory of God (e.g., Exo. 33:20). This was the glorious hope of seeing the LORD after this life is over, presumably in the resurrection. What a great strength this hope is in times of trouble, persecution, oppression, and when we’re tempted to be envious of the wicked — in the end we receive the ultimate gift of being in the very presence of God Himself! No wonder then that the three great pillars of Christianity are faith, HOPE, and love.

Chapter 18 moves us to a different spot, however. The warrior of the LORD. It is a psalm of David, according to the epigraph, and it certainly fits the bill in every way. It’s application to us who are still engaged in the war that still rages in the earth, the spiritual war (Eph. 6:10ff), is great; and I would encourage your reading of this psalm in this light.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Do you ever wonder, when you’re going through troubled times, and you’re persisting and persevering, “Is God paying attention? Does He see?” Most of these psalms reflect this very thought and provide good encouragement to us who still struggle with the trials, tests, injustices, lies, and insults of persecution — and sometimes of just life itself.

Psalm 10 and verse 11 has the wicked man actually saying, “God has forgotten, He has hidden His face; He will never see it.” And indeed those who live their own way tend to think that very way. We’re so foolish as humans sometimes: we think we can hide in the dark or in some remote spot; we think that if our sin was committed a long time ago and we haven’t been punished for it that it doesn’t count and God has forgotten. But v. 14 gives us the truth and real hope, “You have see it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into You hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan.” God does see!!

Psalm 11 provides the words of a hymn, “Flee as a bird”, although the hymn is urging something different from the psalm. The hymn is calling upon the one who is weary of sin to fly like a bird from the corruption to the LORD. The psalm, on the other hand, uses the simile “flee as a bird to your mountain” as the urgings of those who want to simply give up and retreat as a response to troubles; but the psalmist advises standing firm, because the LORD in His holy Temple in the Heavens will watch and vindicate the righteous. Righteousness, some will argue, is about avoiding confrontation, being humble, meek, and turning the other cheek. Christianity is, of course, about all those virtues, but it is also about masculine virtues like standing firm in the right. Jesus practiced both of these virtues — in their correct contexts. But because the Lord is seeing what’s going on, He’ll not abandon us in our need.

Psalm 12 likewise deals with the oppressor — this time regarding those who use their words to flatter and deceive in order to gain advantage over the poor and needy. Once again, the Lord sees and will vindicate the righteous!

Psalms 13 and 14 once again ask the questions of the discouraged, “Will God ever help? Does He see? Does He care?” And the answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

The psalm today that doesn’t deal with this question is one that asks a very common question, that people think they have a good answer for “Who may abide in Your tent?” Most folks would answer, “Why, me, of course!” But the psalmist’s inspired answer is a little scary: one who walks with integrity, works righteousness, speaks truth in his heart, doesn’t slander, does no evil to a neighbor, doesn’t reproach or betray a friend, despises evil, honors the good, keeps his word even when it’s hard, doesn’t lend his money at interest, and doesn’t take a bribe against the innocent. Here’s food for thought for more than just a fleeting moment.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

For the next few days I’ll be at camp Gander Brook Christian Camp in Raymond ME, which means that my access to the internet and routine will be a little off.If you’ve never been to Gander Brook, it is a wonderfully rustic place to get away from the usual urgencies of life, to do a little physical work, spend more time in prayer, spend a different sort of time in the Word (a listener and reflector rather than a teacher), and spend time with members of God’s family other than my church family in Manchester from around New England. I’m not sure, therefore, how much I may write each day, but I will write something. I hope you find it useful nevertheless.

Today’s readings are a combination of praise and prayer. Psalm 8 is a praise that we use even today as a song of praise to the Lord. Just the first line has meaning that we ought to pay attention to: “O LORD (YHWH) our Lord”. In most Bibles, anytime you see LORD all in caps, it is a reference to the personal name of God, YHWH. Thus, “O LORD, our Lord” is not just poetic repetition, it is saying God’s name and claiming Him as our king, our lord, our sovereign who has complete right to rule us.

This is the God who has displayed a sample of His power-beyond-description in the heavens above us! And the psalmist wonders — I don’t mean he merely questions, I mean he is in wonder — at the astounding fact that the LORD, who made all those millions of stars, the sun and moon, and so much more, a God that almighty, cares anything at all about man. Yet, God has taken interest in us, made us just a little lower than the glorious angels, giving us rule over earth and its other creatures, blessed us, fed us, and saved us (especially from ourselves). Wow! No wonder that he ends where he began, “O LORD our Lord”.

In chapters 9 and 10 we find prayers. In psalm 9 there is a prayer of thanks for God’s justice in dealing with oppressors; if you’ve ever been rescued by the Lord from an oppressor, you’ll doubtlessly be able offer a hardy Amen to the end. In Psalm 10 there is a prayer for an end to the deeds of wicked men. Although we have no evidence or even insinuation that psalms 9 and 10 are directly connected, it could easily be that psalms 10 was the prayer for deliverance, while psalm was a prayer of thanksgiving for that deliverance. God does hear and does answer us, when we pray in faith and righteousness.

Here’s hoping your Lord’s day is a great one.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

The book of Psalms is a great portion of the Bible that deals with just about every emotion known to the human experience. Today’s psalms are prayers of those who are oppressed by evil doers, and they resonate with all of us Who hasn’t been on the business end of a sinful person’s bad behavior, suffered from a sinful person’s sins? Who hasn’t at least been tempted to get even, gain revenge, or get a little pay-back? These psalms will speak to your heart.

“O LORD, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes, Make Your way straight before me.” Psalms 5:8. There’s a normal human way to deal with one’s enemies, but it’s not a very righteous approach — yelling, manipulating, revenge, violence, etc. But what do you do? The psalmist pleads with the Lord to lead him in the proper way to live in response to evil. Love, returning good for evil, not carrying a grudge, not planning revenge, approaching the offender privately at first, and more. Such paths are hard to follow, when suffering evil at an enemy’s hands is our lot, but the righteous man or woman will look to God to help him keep his ways straight.

Return, O LORD, rescue my soul, save me because of Your lovingkindness.” (Psa. 6:4). We will be running across this word, lovingkindness) a great deal. It is the word in Hebrew pronounced something like chesed, which is covenant love. The psalmist calls upon the Lord to save, not on the basis of his righteousness or worthiness, but rather on the basis of promised, vowed love for His people. The psalmist knew and understood family love and loyalty, and that is what covenant love is. Such love is trustworthy, it can be depended on — even when you spill the milk or break the dish. When rescue is needed, it can be called upon reliably. Wouldn’t you like such a love you could depend on? It is available for God’s people, Christians, the church.

“His mischief will return upon his own head. And his violence will descend upon his own pate.” (Psa. 7:16). The Lord, we’re told is perfectly able to mete out justice and even vengeance against one’s enemies. And could there be any better justice shown in this world than to have the evil that an enemy planned for you come back and bite him? Let justice and revenge be God’s business; He’s much better at it than any of us could ever be.

See you tomorrow, Lord wlling.

Well, here we are in the book of Psalms, sometimes called Israel’s hymnbook. You may or may not know that the Psalms were truly songs that were used in worship, in traveling to Jerusalem for Temple ceremonies, or in private devotions and prayers.

Songs are powerful memory stimulants to the human mind. We first learn our ABCs by singing a song; if you grew up going to Sunday school, you probably learned the books of the New Testament and the names of the apostles by singing their respective songs; and although I never learned it, I understand that there are some songs for learning the periodic table in chemistry. So also with the songs of Israel. Although a number of other passages are quoted in the New Testament by Jesus and the New Testament writers, a large portion of quotations come from the Psalms, probably because they found their ways quickly and permanently into memory through their music. This fact highlights the importance of our own repertoire of hymns and songs. When’s the last time the preacher or teacher said something that you could quote word for word? Yet, I bet you could sing a number of hymns strictly from memory. Ours are not inspired like the biblical Psalms, but they teach and admonish probably as well or better than any teacher or preacher, because they are so memorable. Therefore, it’s important that those songs be in harmony with God’s inspired word; otherwise, don’t they become an especially dangerous false teacher whose words (and concepts) are especially sticky to our minds? I’ve read and heard minor rants from music purists, who chafe at any alteration to any hymn or spiritual song as if they were holy writ, crying, “Censorship!” But they are not inspired; and since they are not, if they are not expressing the truth, they need to be either altered to reflect the truth or eliminated from the church’s repertoire. When they express the truth, spiritual songs are powerful tools in the Christian’s possession to imprint more deeply and with sharper detail the truths of God’s word. Use them well. often, and wisely.

But on to the psalms themselves.

Psalm 1 — I’m struck by the second verse in which the psalmist notes that the blessed man “delights” in the Law of the Lord. We’ll read in other psalms and even the Proverbs that the fool or unrighteous man often sees the doing of wickedness as something like a sport or game. I’ve met people like that before, who find their delight in trying to get away with things, in stealing, in intimidating others, in manipulating others, in bullying, in gossip, in rebellion, in drinking, in illicit sexual deeds, etc. The blessed man, however, turns this foolish and worldly approach to “living” on its head and finds his delight in doing what is right. What this suggests to us is that we need to MAKE our delight the doing of the good, following God’s way. Making the Lord’s way our delight will likely take some “cultivation” on our part — letting God’s way be our interest, our joy, where we most naturally turn our attentions. We cultivated the other interests, because others around us thought those things were “cool” and we wanted to be “cool”, too; so cultivate a delight in the Lord’s way, develop an aversion to sin and vulgarity and worldliness.

Psalm 2 — This a majestic Messianic psalm is quoted in pieces a number of times in the rest of the Scriptures. The part that I like the best is the first section, vv. 1-6, in which the psalmist points out the futility of efforts of the unsaved world to undermine God’s plans to exalt His King. It was certainly going on in the psalmist’s time and it still is going on today as rulers and governments and atheists try to exile God from any public expression — and some trying to completely wash Him out of the fabric of men’s hearts and consciousness altogether. But their efforts are as futile today as they were thousands of years ago. First of all, God has placed a witness in every heart of His existence; and secondly, there is coming a day when everyone will bow the knee to the Lord and confess His sovereignty (Phil. 2:5-11) — there is no stopping it.

Psalm 3 — God’s people will make enemies. It’s not that we want to, it’s not that we are doing anything wrong, and it’s not necessarily just us, it’s Who we stand for (see Psalm 2). Given that reality, this psalm seeks protection from those enemies and expresses the confidence that the child of God can know — you CAN go to sleep securely — when we realize that God is in control. He is our shield!

Psalm 4 — Despite the intellectual knowledge that God is our shield, still our emotions get the better of us sometimes and we still fear what man might do. In my own life I find it necessary to “counsel myself” (reminding myself) about principles and practices that I should be engaging in. In this psalm the righteous psalmist seems to be counseling himself, too, “Tremble and do not sin; meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and trust in the LORD” (vv. 4,5). Counsel yourself, sing songs that remind you of things you are weakest in to remind yourself of what you should do in fear, in temptation, in trial, in suffering.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.