Category: Psalm108-

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Psalm108-

Let everything that has breath…

Psalms

And so we reach the final psalm in the book of Psalms. And it closes with the most appropriate phrase.

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. (Psalm 150:6)

Where is he to be praised?

In his sanctuary, both here on earth and in the heavens. I think it’s good to remember that his sanctuary is not simply the church buildings where we meet.

As Christians, we are his sanctuary. He dwells within us and makes us his holy place. So with our very lives, we should praise him.

Why should we praise him?

First, for who he is in all his greatness. That he is the holy and awesome God, who is worthy of praise.

Yet we also praise him because he is the loving and personal God who loved us so much that he sent his Son to die on the cross to save us from our sin. And with one mighty act of power, he raised his Son from the dead.

But his mighty acts of power haven’t ended. He’s working even now to reveal himself to people and to save them.

How do we praise him?

With great joy. With the sound of the trumpet, harp, and lyre. With the sound of the flute, strings, tambourine, and with dancing.

I can’t help but think of David, who rejoiced in such a way that his wife rebuked him for acting so “unseemly” for a king. But David only responded,

I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. (2 Samuel 16:21–22)

May that be our attitude as well. And may his praise be ever on our lips, singing “Hallelujah” to the God who is worthy of all praise.

Praise the Lord!

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A time to sing, a time to fight

Psalms

I must admit that upon first reading, Psalm 149 can be a bit disturbing, particularly from verses 6 on.

It is a psalm that first calls on God’s people to praise him. To rejoice in him because he is our Maker and our King. It then says to praise him with dancing and musical instruments.

It’s always cool for me to see people praise God through dance, although personally it’s not something I think I could ever do. But to see the joy of people as they dance is such a blessing for me just watching them.

And to hear the beauty of instruments played for the glory of God helps draw me close to God as well.

At our church, we sometimes have a professional violin player join in with the worship band, and it really adds something to the experience that I can’t properly express in words.

But as much as I delight in these things, God delights in them even more. Even for those who can’t keep a tune, or play an instrument, or dance, the psalmist says,

The LORD takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with salvation. (Psalm 149:4)

The Lord doesn’t delight so much in what we can do. He delights in what he sees in our hearts. When he sees people who love him and rejoice in him, that’s what he takes pleasure in.

And when we humble ourselves before him, putting our trust in him, he crowns us with his salvation.

The psalmist tells us that we should rejoice in this honor he has given us. Though we deserve nothing from him, he has given us life.

But then comes the disturbing part. For while the psalmist calls people to worship, it also calls them to war. To war against those who would set themselves against God and carry out his judgment.

Now for the Israelites coming into Canaan, that is exactly what God called the people to do.

For years, God waited with patience for the Canaanites to turn from their sin, but instead the situation became worse and worse.

And when they reached their “full measure of sin” (Genesis 15:16), God sent his people to exercise his judgment on them.

But we are not the Israelites, for whom this psalm was originally written. So what does this mean for us?

The thing we need to remember is that we are in a spiritual war. And as I’ve mentioned before, our battle is no longer against flesh and blood. People are not our enemies.

But there are spiritual powers and forces out there using people as their pawns. This is what we are fighting.

And ours is not a literal two-edged sword that we hold, but rather the two-edged sword of the Word of God, a sword that,

penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

We use it not to fight against people, but to fight for their souls that they may be saved.

And we bring a message of salvation and judgment.

To those who believe, Jesus has given us the authority to proclaim their forgiveness in his name.

To those who reject his word, he has given us the authority to proclaim their coming judgment if they do not repent. (John 20:23).

So let us never forget. We are called to worship, that is true. But we are also called to fight. To fight for the lives of those who are lost.

So as I’ve said before, let us run to the battle.

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Psalm108-

A call to worship

Psalms

There’s a song by Tommy Walker that I love called “All the Saints Join in” which is basically Psalm 148 set to modern music.

The psalm and song are essentially a call to all creation to praise its Creator.

From the angels, to the sun, the moon, and all the creatures in the sky, on the earth, and in the ocean; from the kings and princes, to the ordinary people young and old, adults and children. All are called to praise the Lord.

Why?

For his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. (Psalm 148:13)

In short, all glory belongs to him; and if all his creation is glorious, how much more glorious is he, and so worthy of our praise.

But more than that,

He has raised up for his people a horn,
the praise of all his saints, of Israel,
the people close to his heart. (14)

The horn is a symbol of power and strength in the Bible, and so it’s talking here about how when we are cast down, because we are close to his heart, he strengthens us and delivers us through all of our troubles.

This was seen in David’s life. This was seen also in God’s restoration of Israel after their exile into Babylon. It was also seen in the more modern restoration of Israel as a nation in 1948.

But this is perhaps best seen in how he sent Christ to be the horn of our salvation. (Luke 1:69).

And when we were trapped in our sins, headed for eternal death, God sent his Son out of his great love for us.

Because we were close to his heart, he sent his Son not only to live on this earth and reveal himself to us, but to die on a cross and take the punishment for our sins.

And because he has done so, our sins have been forgiven, and we’ve been given new life.

God is truly worthy of all praise. So let us all join in along with all creation, and as the psalmist exhorts us, praise the name of our Lord.

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When we put our trust in him

Psalms

In Psalm 146, we see a God who is worthy of our trust. In this psalm, we see the results of trusting in him.

As I mentioned in the blog on Psalm 146, for years, the Israelites had rebelled against God, failing to trust in him, and putting their trust in themselves, in other gods, and other people.

The result? A broken and ruined nation.

But now the people under Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah, and Haggai were slowly turning their hearts back to God. And because of that, the healing process had begun.

The psalmist writes,

The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:2–3)

He then reminds the people of the greatness of God, and just why he is worthy of our praise. Namely, that he is the one that created and sustains all things. (5–9)

He then reminds the people that God doesn’t delight in the strength of men nor their animals that they have tamed for their own use. Rather,

The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. (11)

And so the psalmist exhorts the people to praise and exalt God in their lives, remembering that he is the one who strengthens the gates of the city and brings blessing in their lives.

He is the one who brings them peace and provides all that they need.

Finally, he reminds them of the blessing that God had given them simply by revealing himself to them, when he had done so directly for no other nation.

The writer of Hebrews tells us, however, that God has not just revealed himself through the prophets and the words they wrote, but now he has revealed himself through Jesus. And now, we can all have access to the Father through him.

More than that, because God became man in Jesus, he understands us completely and has great compassion for us.

So let us draw near to him with confidence. Let us put our trust in him. And if we do, we will find healing, restoration, blessing, and peace.

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The God who is trustworthy

Psalms

So many times in this life, people let us down. We look to them to help us and support us, but they leave us hung out to dry.

And so the psalmist here writes,

Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save. (Psalm 146:3)

So often in Israel’s and Judah’s history, they put their trust in the surrounding countries and their kings to be their protection against their enemies, instead of putting their faith in God.

The result? They were either ultimately betrayed or disappointed by the ones they put their trust in.

And so what the prophets consistently told these kings, the psalmist writes here.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them —
the LORD, who remains faithful forever. (5–6)

But God not only watches over the kings and their nations, he watches over all who love him but are hurting.

He’s with the oppressed, the hungry, the captive, the blind, the alien, the fatherless, and the widow.

And though they may suffer on this earth, he never leaves them lonely. What’s more, he promises to always meet their needs.

Like I said yesterday, while he is an infinite God, he is also an intimate God who truly cares for those he has created.

So if you are hurting, or even if you’re not, let us draw near to this infinite, but intimate God. And remember what Isaiah said.

The one who trusts will never be dismayed. (Isaiah 28:16)

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Our infinite, personal God

Psalms

I was reading a book by Paul Miller this morning called A Praying Life. I highly recommend it.

In one chapter, he emphasizes two things about God. He emphasizes his infiniteness, but also just how personal he is to us. And when we forget to keep a balance of both perspectives in our lives, it affects our prayer life.

If on one hand, we forget he is infinite, we limit in our minds what God can do.

If on the other hand, we forget how personal he is to us, we start to limit what we pray to him because we think he doesn’t care about the “minutia” in our lives.

And yet God cares about everything we do. If you have any doubt about that, just reread Psalm 139 again.

But here in Psalm 145, we see that David had no problem maintaining this balance of perspectives. He talks about God’s greatness, singing,

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.

One generation will commend your works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.

They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and I will meditate on your wonderful works. (Psalm 145:3–5)

Yet time and again, he talks about how personal he is to us.

The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. (8)

And in verse 9,

The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

He goes on in verses 13–16,

The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.

The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

And in verses 18–20, he sings,

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

The LORD watches over all who love him…

Is it no wonder that David starts this psalm by singing,

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.

Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. (1–2)

How about you? Do you believe that God is infinite? That he can deal with whatever mountain may be standing in your life? That he can deal with any enemy that may come against you?

And do you believe that he actually cares enough about you that he would actually act on your behalf?

Let us never forget the infiniteness of God, but also just how personally he cares for us.

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The God who brings us victory

Psalms

Psalm 144 was likely written just before a battle that David was facing. And it’s interesting to me that he begins it with praise.

Most times when we face a difficult battle or situation, we usually start by asking for help. But David starts by singing,

Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle. (Psalm 144:1)

It kind of reminds me of the battle Jehoshaphat fought in which he didn’t put the soldiers at the front of the line. Rather, he put the singers out at the front, singing,

Give thanks to the LORD,
for his love endures forever. (2 Chronicles 20:21)

But here in this psalm, we see David acknowledging his reliance on God’s help in battle. And he looks not to his own shield or army for his protection, but rather God, singing,

He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me. (Psalm 144:2)

He then picks up on a theme from Psalm 8, wondering that God would care for him.

With that in mind, he prays that God would intervene in this battle and deliver him from his enemies, so that his children and his people would be safe and prosperous.

Having prayed all this, he concludes this psalm by singing,

Blessed are the people of whom this is true;
blessed are the people whose God is the LORD. (Psalm 144:15)

What battlefields are you heading into today? It might be at work. It might be at school. It might even be at home.

Remember to start your day not with your worries or your concerns, but rather with praise. Rest in the knowledge that God cares about you and then ask for his help.

If there’s discord around you, pray for God’s peace to exude from you and through you.

And pray that the battle you’re facing would somehow turn into great blessing for all involved, even for those whom you may consider your enemy.

After all, people are not our enemies. They are souls for whom Christ died.

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Where we turn

Psalms

Where do we turn when things are against us? When people are against us? It’s a question that David had to ask himself numerous times.

He could have, as so many people do, turned to himself. To his wisdom, to his strength to get him out of the situation.

But instead he turned to God. From the very beginning of Psalm 143, he prays,

O LORD, hear my prayer,
listen to my cry for mercy;

in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief. (Psalm 143:1)

And in the midst of his darkness, in the midst of his despair, he cried out,

Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.

Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD,
for I hide myself in you.

Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit lead me
on level ground. (8–10)

How often do we take things into our own hands, instead of hiding ourselves in God. How often do we trust in our own wisdom instead of listening to him and what he says we should do?

David didn’t do this. Instead, he always looked to God for wisdom on what to do. And he trusted in God’s Spirit to lead him.

So as the apostle James put it,

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)

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Pouring out our hearts before God

Psalms

I’ve already written one post concerning Psalm 142, but it was in combination with another psalm, so I decided to give it its own post.

Here we see David in one of the caves he spent his time hiding in during his flights from Saul and perhaps from Absalom.

And one can imagine the feeling of being closed in that David had. He refers to it in this psalm as like being in a prison (Psalm 142:7).

So from this cave, he cries out to God. He says in verse 2,

I pour out my complaint before him;
before him I tell my trouble.

As I look at this psalm, one thing I notice is that in his anguish, he did exaggerate his problems at times. He said,

Look to my right and see;
no one is concerned for me.

I have no refuge;
no one cares for my life. (Psalm 142:4)

When you look at his true situation, however, that wasn’t strictly true. He had other soldiers with him, who definitely did care whether he lived or died, and were quite loyal to him.

During his flight from Saul, David’s best friend (and Saul’s son) Jonathan came out to visit him and to encourage him.

During his flight from Absalom, another of his friends acted as a spy for him, helping lead to Absalom’s demise.

But sometimes, when we’re going through trials, things seem worse than they really are, so we tend to exaggerate our complaints before God.

The nice thing about God, however, is that he understands us. He doesn’t rebuke us when we pour out our hearts to him. Instead, he shows us mercy and compassion.

That’s why David could be so open and honest with God. He knew that God would still accept him.

More than that, he knew that God was still with him and still had great plans for him. So he sang,

When my spirit grows faint within me,
it is you who know my way. (3)

And again,

You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. (5)

So when we too are struggling as David did, let us not hesitate to pour our hearts before him, knowing that he won’t condemn us for it.

And let us never lose our confidence in his plans for us, remembering that if we have him, we have all we truly need.

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Lead me not into temptation…

Psalms

As Psalm 140 was a prayer similar to our Lord’s in asking for deliverance from evil, Psalm 141 continues that theme and adds the other part of that verse in the Lord’s prayer.

Lead us not into temptation. (Matthew 6:13)

David prays,

Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD;
keep watch over the door of my lips.

Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil,
to take part in wicked deeds
with men who are evildoers;
let me not eat of their delicacies. (Psalm 141:3–4)

It strikes me here that he focuses on two things: the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart.

He prays, “Lord, don’t let anything evil come out of my mouth.”

So often, Christians struggle with just that. Whether it’s grumbling or complaining, gossip, slander, hurtful words, or whatever it may be.

Just a couple of days ago, I caught some sarcastic complaints coming out of my mouth. And God rebuked me for it.

David also worried about his thought life, and he said, “Don’t let my heart be drawn to what is evil. Don’t let my heart see the evil people around me and be attracted to it. To envy who they are and what they have.”

For when we allow our hearts to meditate on evil, it’s only a short step to acting on it.

Jesus also pointed out the importance of our thought lives in other areas.

He said that if we harbor anger in our hearts toward our brother, we have murdered him in our heart (Matthew 5:21–22).

He also said that if we lust after a woman, we’ve committed adultery with them in our hearts (Matthew 5:27–28).

God is not only concerned about our deeds, but our thought life as well. David knew this, and so he prayed that God would guard his heart as well as his lips.

He also determined to keep a humble, teachable heart that was willing to accept rebuke. He told God,

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—it is oil on my head.

My head will not refuse it. (5)

So many of us take rebuke as burning coals. But David took it as soothing oil.

This is not to say that the words were soothing at the time. When Nathan confronted David for his sin with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband, it must have felt like heaps of burning coals on his head.

Yet he repented, and God forgave and restored him.

That’s one of the keys to fighting temptation. A humble heart that will accept correction. A heart that doesn’t harden itself to God’s rebuke.

David then closes by again asking for deliverance from evil, from the people that would destroy him.

Every day, may we pray the same.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:13 — NASB)

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Deliver me from evil

Psalms

And so we come down to the homestretch for the book of Psalms. It’s taken about 4 months to get this far, and we have just under two more weeks to complete it.

Anyway, as I look at Psalm 140, I’m reminded of how Jesus taught us to pray. One thing that he told us to pray was,

Deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:13)

That’s what David prays throughout this psalm, and for that matter, through the next few psalms.

This psalm was probably written either during his flight from King Saul or his son Absalom. And he prays,

Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men;
protect me from men of violence,
who devise evil plans in their hearts
and stir up war every day.

They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;
the poison of vipers is on their lips.

Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from men of violence who plan to trip my feet.

Proud men have hidden a snare for me;
they have spread out the cords of their net
and have set traps for me along my path. (Psalm 140:1–5)

From his prayer, David seems to be in a pretty bleak situation, with people looking to destroy him. So he prays, “rescue me,” “keep me,” and “protect me.”

Yet in the midst of his trouble, we see David’s confidence in the Lord. He says in verse 6,

O LORD, I say to you, “You are my God.”

and again in verse 7,

O Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle. (7)

He then prays that God would bring justice on those who would destroy him, and he concludes by praying,

I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.

Surely the righteous will praise your name and the upright will live before you. (12–13)

Some of us are going through trials right now as people, who for whatever reason, are fighting against us and trying to bring us down.

But though people may hate us, let us be like David laying out our problems before God and letting him deal out the justice, while we ourselves show mercy to our enemies, as David did with Saul and desired to do with Absalom.

For some of us, we may not have anyone fighting against us right now. But it would be well for us to remember that we are in a spiritual war. That there are forces out there that are hostile to us and want to bring us down.

Jesus himself knew this. That was why he told his disciples to pray, “Deliver me from evil.”

It should be part of our prayers too. We’re in a broken world, filled with broken people, and the Enemy who first brought sin into the world is still running around loose.

So let us clothe ourselves with prayer. More than that, let us not simply live in defensive mode, but in attack mode.

As one minister put it, all the armor we’ve been given is for the front, not the back.

So let us always be moving forward with God before us. As the old hymn goes,

Onward Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.

Christ, the royal Master,
Leads against the foe;

Forward into battle,
See, His banners go!

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The God who knows and loves me

Psalms

Psalm 139 is one of the most famous psalms, and probably the favorite of many along with Psalm 23.

Why are these two psalms so beloved? Probably because they show the loving care of God.

Actually, this psalm could either be very scary or it could be very comforting depending on the view that you take.

In the States, everyone is worried about “big brother.” They worry that the CIA can track us all with their satellites and watch everything we do. But that’s nothing compared with what God can do.

As David writes, he knows when we sleep and when we rise. He knows when we go out or just relax in our living rooms. He knows everything that we do.

Even the darkness can’t hide us from him. And no matter where we go, he always knows exactly where we are.

More than that, he not only knows every word that we speak on our cell phones. He knows every word that we speak at home or at work. He even knows every word that goes unspoken in our minds.

Now if God were someone who was just waiting for us to do something wrong so he could whack us, that would be scary. If he looked upon us with hostile intent, that would be terrifying.

But instead, God looks upon us with mercy and love.

He was there when we were in our mother’s womb. He in fact was the very one knitting us together there. And as he created us, he had dreams for us. Plans for what we could be.

As David said, were we to count all his thoughts concerning us, we’d find that they outnumber all the grains of sand.

Not only that, from the very beginning, he knew what we would do, what decisions we would make, and he wove us into his plans for his kingdom.

Nothing catches him by surprise. He has no need for a plan B. He only has plan A. And his plans have not changed from the time he first conceived them.

So no matter what we do or how we fail, his thoughts toward us never change. He will weave whatever we do, whether good or bad, into his plans.

The only question is, will we cooperate with him willingly, or will we find ourselves woven into his design kicking and fighting the whole way?

For David, his decision was clear. Although his words may seem harsh, nevertheless, it was clear that he had a hatred for evil, because he knew that God hates evil. He wanted nothing to do with it, nor with the people who perpetuate it in our world.

On the contrary, he wanted to keep a heart that was holy and pleasing to God. A heart that was submissive to his Lord’s will. And so he closes the psalm by praying,

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. (23–24)

Lord, thank you that you know and love me. That from the time I was in my mother’s womb, you already knew me and had plans for me.

Use me for your purposes. My life is yours. Wherever I go, and whatever I do, may your hand guide me.

Change me where I need to be changed. Take out the evil that is within me and purify me. And lead me in the way everlasting. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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The God who fulfills his purpose in me

Psalms

After the depressing nature of Psalm 137, this psalm is quite refreshing. Why? I suppose it’s because the focus is back where it should be: on God.

When David composed Psalm 138 is uncertain, but I suppose it’s possible he wrote it sometime after his ascension to the throne of Israel.

Perhaps as he wrote it, he was looking back on just how far he had come and how God’s hand had been on his life.

He starts with praise, singing,

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;
before the “gods” I will sing your praise. (Psalm 138:1)

The word “gods” is a bit obscure in the Hebrew. Whether he was proclaiming God before the false gods of the nations or simply the kings of the nations is not clear. Some ancient translations have even rendered it “angels.”

But whoever David meant, it’s clear that he places God over all, even before the “mighty ones,” whether in heaven or on earth.

Why? Because of God’s love and faithfulness to him. That when he called out in his distress, God reached down from above to deliver him. And whenever David was afraid for his life, God gave him courage to stand once again.

Now as David looked back on his life, he saw just how great God was and how faithful he was to his word.

So he sings in praise,

May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD,
when they hear the words of your mouth.

May they sing of the ways of the LORD,
for the glory of the LORD is great. (4–5)

And because of God’s faithfulness to him in the past, he could say with confidence,

The LORD will fulfill [his purpose] for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever. (8)

Are you struggling with doubt in your life now? Are you feeling lost and abandoned by God?

Think of the times God has been faithful to you in the past.

Think first to the cross and what Jesus did for you.

Think to the people who first brought you to Christ and the circumstances surrounding your salvation.

Think of what God has done for you since.

Then remember that the same God who was with you then has not abandoned you now. His love does endure forever, no matter how many times we may fail him.

And God will fulfill his purposes for you in your life.

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Dwelling in self-pity

Psalms

Psalm 137 is one of the more depressing psalms in the book, a lament apparently written during the Babylonian captivity.

It pictures the psalmist sitting by the rivers of Babylon, harp in hand, but so depressed by the fall of Jerusalem that he had lost all desire to play it. So instead, he just hangs it on a nearby tree as he mourns over Jerusalem.

Then some of the Babylonians happen by to poke fun at the Jews, saying, “Come on! Sing some songs for us. Entertain us with the songs you used to sing in Jerusalem.”

But the psalmist refused, saying, “How can I sing such songs here in Babylon? How can I show such utter disrespect for the land I love by doing so? I’d rather lose all my skill in the harp and become a mute than do that.”

He then closes by calling curses on Edom and Babylon.

On Edom because though they were brothers (that is, the ancestors of Edom were Esau and the ancestors of Israel Jacob), Edom had rejoiced in Israel’s fall.

On Babylon because of all the atrocities that they poured down upon Jerusalem, even to the killing of Israel’s children. So the psalmist curses them, asking that they would receive what they themselves had dealt to others.

How often do we feel as the psalmist did? We’re down and out, mostly, if not entirely, because of our own sin. Our own family mocks us, and those who hate us just pour salt in our wounds, saying, “Where is this Lord you serve now?”

How do we respond to all this?

We have a choice. We can stay where we are in self-pity, mourning over what we’ve lost, and simply give in to bitterness. But if we do so, we’ll waste away physically and spiritually.

Or we can repent and turn our faces to God as people like Daniel and Nehemiah did.

If we do, God will restore the ruins we’ve made of our lives. And in doing so, he will restore our joy.

What will you do?

The choice is yours.

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Remembering the goodness and love of God

Psalms

The first verse pretty much sums up all of Psalm 136.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
“His love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:1)

This whole psalm is about God’s goodness and love toward his people. But as we look at it, we see just who God is to us.

It begins by talking about how he is the “God of gods” and “Lord of lords,” continuing one of the main themes of Psalm 135. (verses 2–3)

It then talks about him as Creator, the one who created the heavens and earth. How in his wisdom and power he created all things. (4–9)

God is then worshiped as the Redeemer, the one who delivered the people of Israel from Egypt by striking down the Egyptians and bringing the Israelites through the Red Sea. (10–15)

The psalmist then remembers God as Shepherd, leading the people through the desert and providing for their every need. (16)

We next see him as the Mighty Warrior, defeating powerful kings and great cities as he brought Israel into the promised land and gave it to them as an inheritance. (17–22)

In verses 23–25, the psalmist proclaims God as the God of grace and mercy, as one who saw the lowly state of his people and delivered them. Who not only provided for their needs but provides for the needs of every creature he has created.

And finally, we see God as the Lord of heaven, the one who reigns over all. (26)

I mentioned in an earlier blog the dangers of cynicism. One of the weapons against cynicism in our lives is thanksgiving—remembering who God is and what he has done for us.

Remembering that he is God and he is in control, even though we can’t see it sometimes.

Remembering how he redeemed us from Satan’s kingdom and eternal death.

Remembering how even now he is leading us as pilgrims on this earth and will bring us into the kingdom he has prepared for us.

How he is the mighty warrior and will help us in the battles against the spiritual forces that we face every day.

How when we fall, he shows grace and mercy to us and lifts us back up. That he never leaves us nor forsakes us.

So every day, let us remember these things. Let us focus on these things. And let us sing with hope as the psalmist did,

His love endures forever.

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The God of gods

Psalms

Psalm 135 starts out pretty much as Psalm 134 does, with a call to worship, and you also see elements of Psalm 115 in this psalm as well.

But the main theme of this psalm is the greatness of our God, and how all the other “gods” are nothing compared to him.

We see this starting in verse 5, where the psalmist sings,

I know that the LORD is great,
that our Lord is greater than all gods. (Psalm 135:5)

He then talks about how God is greater than any other so‑called “god.”

That God is all‑powerful, the ruler of creation. That for the sake of Israel, he cast down Egypt and its gods, and crushed two other kings that came against his people.

He then directly compares God to the idols of other nations.

While God is creator of all, the idols are creations of men.

While they have eyes, they can’t see; while they have ears, they can’t hear; and while they have mouths, they can neither speak nor breathe.

And so the psalmist mocks those who would follow the creation of their own hands, saying,

Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them. (18)

He then calls on all peoples to praise God who is truly over all.

But if there’s one thing that I really like about this psalm, it’s found in verse 4, where the psalmist says,

For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own,
Israel to be his treasured possession. (4)

God did indeed call Jacob to be his own, and for Israel to be his treasured possession. And even now, though Israel has rejected his Son, they still are. For as Paul said,

God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29)

God’s not through with Israel yet, but now God looks at us who believe in Christ and says the same thing of us that he once said of Israel. Peter said of us,

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

Note here that we were chosen and made his people that we might declare his praises to those around us. And as we do so, they too will be called out of darkness into his wonderful light.

So as the psalmist writes,

O house of Israel, praise the LORD;

O house of Aaron, praise the LORD;

O house of Levi, praise the LORD;

You who fear him, praise the LORD.

Praise be to the LORD from Zion,
to him who dwells in Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD. (Psalm 135:19–21)

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Maintaining a heart of worship

Psalms

Psalm 134 is the last of the songs of ascent, and it has been conjectured that it was sung after the pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem had been made, and the people were ready to go home.

And as they started on their journey home, they sang to those who were still working in the temple that evening,

Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD
who minister by night in the house of the LORD.

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the LORD. (Psalm 134:1–2)

One word that gets lost in the NIV translation is the word “Behold.” The NASB puts it,

Behold, bless the LORD. (1)

In other words, “Hey! Pay attention! Remember to bless the Lord.”

The worshipers were exhorting the priests and Levites not to become lax in their duties, but to stay alert and to continue worshiping and serving the Lord.

There’s a cross-reference in my Bible that is very interesting.

It points out that in 1 Chronicles 9:33 there were Levites who were specifically designated for singing praises to God, and it was their job to do so day and night.

Perhaps it was these people that the psalmist had in mind.

But whoever the psalmist was specifically addressing, it’s a reminder to all of us that God is never to be far from our thoughts day or night.

I was reading a book today about how cynicism can creep up into our thinking and how it can affect our prayer life.

Cynicism creeps into our thinking mostly because we let God slip out from our hearts and minds. We forget his love. We start to doubt his goodness.

As a result, we start to wonder if it’s even worth our time praying to God, and because of this, our relationship with him drifts even further apart.

But when we keep a heart of thanksgiving in our hearts, and we remember who God is and his goodness toward us, it keeps cynicism from getting into our system and poisoning our spirits.

There are few things worse than a cynical priest, and it’s worth remembering that as God’s people, we are also his priests in this world.

How about you? Are you letting cynicism poison your spirit? Is it poisoning your attitude toward this world? Toward your life? Toward God?

Then let us refocus our hearts and minds.

Focus on God’s goodness. Focus on his love for us. Focus on all he’s done for us. Bring back a heart of thanksgiving. And all your cynicism will melt away and be replaced with God’s joy.

As the pilgrims departed, the priests called back to them,

May the LORD bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth. (3)

As you go on through this journey in life, I pray that God may bless you with every spiritual blessing from heaven.

And may he purge you of all cynicism from your heart and fill you with his joy.

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Unity

Psalms

As the pilgrims continued their ascent up to Jerusalem to worship at the temple, they sang about something that is vital for the church today: unity.

David wrote,

How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)

Unity truly is a beautiful thing in the church of Christ. Disunity and dissent, on the other hand, are an ugly stain on the church.

When people can walk into the church and see a people united in the love of Christ, it draws them in and makes them want to become a part of it.

But when people walk into a church and see complaining, bitterness, gossip, and backbiting, nothing will chase them away faster. It leaves a foul taste in their mouth as they ask, “Is the church any different from the world out there?”

That’s why Jesus told his disciples,

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34–35)

Later, Jesus prayed for the church asking,

…that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. (John 17:21)

Through unity, those outside the church see Christ in us and can come to know God’s blessing. But not only are those outside the church blessed, so are those inside the church.

David writes,

It (that is, unity) is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes. (Psalm 133:2)

The oil referred to is the anointing oil of the priests, a very pleasant mixture of myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia.

David writes that for the priest (Aaron, of course, was Israel’s first high priest), unity is like being anointed with that mixture.

And for pastors today, to see a church united under Christ, loving each other and serving each other as Christ commanded, brings joy to their hearts.

Oil is also a sign of the Holy Spirit. And as people are led by the Spirit, we see the fruit that comes from him leading to unity: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

A united church is filled with this kind of fruit.

David goes on to say,

It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion. (3a)

The picture is of dew from a higher mountain (Hermon) descending on the lower (Zion)—a dew that refreshes and cleanses.

That’s what unity does in a church. It refreshes all who go there and leaves them feeling clean, touched by the hand of God.

David closes by singing,

For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore. (3b)

For the church that is united under Christ, God’s blessing is upon them. And all who walk in their fellowship will find the life that comes from God.

What kind of church are you going to? Are you going to a church united under Christ, bearing his fruit? Or to one divided?

Are you contributing to your church’s unity? Or are you tearing it down?

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The God who is faithful to his promises

Psalms

This is an interesting psalm. It starts with a prayer to God, and it ends with his answer. I don’t know of many psalms offhand that are like this.

Psalm 132 is one of the last songs of ascent.

And as the people went up to Jerusalem, they asked that God remember his promises to David long ago. That God would remember his promises to keep his descendants on the throne if they would but obey his commands.

They also recalled David’s desire to build a house for God, and now as they ascended up the hill to Jerusalem, they expressed their joy in going up to worship. They sang,

Let us go to his dwelling place;
let us worship at his footstool. (Psalm 132:7)

And they asked of God,

Arise, O LORD, and come to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.

May your priests be clothed with righteousness;
may your saints sing for joy. (8–9)

In other words, “Come and meet us. May your priests be holy before you, and fill us with your joy.”

That also should be our attitude as we come to worship.

Asking that God would meet us. Asking that God would make us holy in his sight (remembering that God now calls us his priests here on earth). And asking that God would fill us with his joy.

After the pilgrim’s prayer, God answers them basically point for point.

He promised to meet with them in Zion, making it his resting place, blessing all who dwell there.

He granted their requests, promising to clothe the priests with his salvation and filling the people with joy.

And he promised to send one who would reign on David’s throne, one who would reign over his enemies, with a resplendent crown upon his head.

This of course will ultimately be fulfilled in Jesus when he returns.

The thing I get from all of this is hope. God never changes, and neither do his promises. What he has said, he will do.

And so I look forward to the day when Jesus comes back and all that God has promised will come to fruition.

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Humility

Psalms

Another short but sweet psalm, in which David shows us the kind of heart we need when approaching God, which is appropriate considering that people sang this on their way to worship God in the temple.

What kind of heart should we have? A humble one. David wrote,

My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty. (Psalm 131:1)

It is impossible to come before God with a heart of pride.

There are a lot of ways people do this, but I think about Job. When going through his suffering, he started to make himself God’s judge, questioning his justice. And he was determined to argue his case with God, proving his injustice.

So many people do the same today. They have an attitude in which they think they are God’s equal intellectually and think they can actually win a debate against God.

Many atheists think, “Even if there is a God, I can give him good arguments why I didn’t believe in him.”

But as with Job, they’ll find that when they actually come face to face with God, all their arguments will be revealed for the empty things that they are.

Other people are like Job’s friends, haughty, looking down on others, and quick to judge them. But God is equally against those kinds of people, as he showed when he rebuked Job’s friends for making false accusations against Job.

But David was different. He was humble in his attitude towards God and towards others.

And when there were things he didn’t understand, when he couldn’t understand why God allowed different trials into his life, he humbled himself and said,

I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me. (1b)

Compare this with what Job said when he repented before God.

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know. (Job 42:3)

We too will face situations that we can’t understand. We wonder why God allows things to happen in our lives, and we’re tempted to question him.

But like David, let us put our questions to rest and simply trust in him, knowing that he is with us and really does care for us.

Let us trust him as a “weaned child,” a child that has all that he really needs and waits in quietness and trust that his mother will continue to provide for him in the future.

So as David closes this psalm,

Put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore. (3)

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A God of forgiveness and mercy

Psalms

Psalm 130 is a very short but sweet psalm which reflects on the forgiveness and mercy of God in a time of distress.

The date of this psalm is not known, but it has the feel of someone writing after the exile to Babylon. You could easily imagine someone like Daniel writing this.

Unlike Daniel’s prayer (Daniel 9), however, this psalm starts with a personal plea for forgiveness. The psalmist cries out,

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
O Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy. (Psalm 130:1–2)

He asks this not on the basis of his own merits, but on God’s character. He notes,

If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared. (3–4)

I love those two verses. None of us deserve to even stand before God. If God kept a record of all our sins, we’d be dead.

Someone noted that if you sinned just three times a day and lived 30 years, you’d already have a list of over 30,000 sins. I’d hate to think about how many sins would be on my record.

But because of the blood of Jesus, my slate has been washed clean. As the psalmist writes, “With God, there is forgiveness.”

He goes on to say,

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope. (5)

What is he waiting for? For the grace of God to come. On what basis does he wait for it? On the promises of God.

And if the psalmist had the promises of God to lean on, how much more as Christians do we? Specifically,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

And as sure as the morning comes, so will God’s forgiveness to those who repent. (Psalm 130:6)

Having repented of his own sins, he then calls out to his nation to do the same, saying,

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins. (7–8)

Let us never forget that as people who have known God’s forgiveness, we too are called to share the good news of his mercy to those around us and to call them to repentance.

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Though we are persecuted

Psalms

Here in Psalm 129 we see two things.

First, we see the persecution that the Jewish people have suffered throughout history.

We see it first in Egypt, then through the times of the judges and periods of the kings, all the way down into the exile. It then continued on through their return from Babylon and into the times of the Greeks and Romans.

We saw it arise again through Hitler and the wars against Israel waged by the different nations in the Middle East.

Even today, many of the Arabian states would shed no tears were Israel to be wiped off the face of the earth.

But then as now, the Jews can say,

They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory over me. (Psalm 129:2)

In other words (and this is the second thing), we see God’s hand on Israel throughout all their trials.

The same can be said of us who are the spiritual heirs of Abraham.

We may face persecution as well, whether it’s rejection by our family or friends, or attacks from our own governments and courts. But God will help us and his church to stand. They will not gain the victory over us if we will just stand.

So let us never forget the words of our Lord when he said,

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you
and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven,
for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:10–12)

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When we put God first

Psalms

So many of us seek happiness in our lives. We seek it in our families, we seek it in our jobs, and we seek it in financial security.

But in this psalm, we see the key to true happiness. The psalmist writes,

Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways.

You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;
your sons will be like olive shoots around your table.

Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD. (Psalm 128:1–4)

In other words, when we honor God first in our lives, and we choose to do things his way, he will bless us.

So many people are so worried about their finances that they work to the neglect of their families and their health.

The result: they don’t “eat the fruit of their labor.” They die before their time, or lose their families in their attempt to find financial security.

But for the person who honors God, he promises to not only bless their finances, but their families as well.

When husbands love their wives as God commanded, and fathers raise their children in the way the Lord has told them to, then their wives and children will flourish.

Needless to say, this goes for wives as they honor their husbands, and children as they obey and honor their parents. They’ll find God’s blessing as they do so.

But I think it’s important to note that most, if not all, of the commands concerning the family go to the husbands and fathers first and then to the wives and children.

So men, let us step up to the plate and follow God, doing the things he’s commanded us. And see if God won’t do as he has promised.

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The limits of our own efforts

Psalms

Psalm 127 was written by Solomon, but it reminds me of a later time in Israel’s history when Nehemiah was trying to rebuild the walls.

Solomon wrote,

Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain. (Psalm 127:1)

Nehemiah made his plans. When opposition came, he came up with strategies to deal with them. But ultimately, had God not been with them, everything would have fallen apart.

There is a balance between doing our part and letting God do his. We can’t expect God’s blessing if we just sit and do nothing.

On the other hand, all our efforts are in vain if God is not an integral part of what we’re doing.

Too often, we say to God, “This is what we’re going to do. Please bless it,” when what we should be praying is, “Lord, what would you have us do? How should we proceed?”

When you look at Nehemiah’s life, he constantly bathed all he did in prayer. We should too.

Solomon goes on to say,

In vain you rise early and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves. (2)

One problem with many people is that they make work the center of their lives, to the neglect of their family and to their health.

Of course, work is important, but we should make sure we keep our priorities straight. That we get enough sleep, and that we’re eating healthily. And that we also spend time with our families.

For as Solomon said,

Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him. (3)

If our jobs don’t allow these things, we should be praying for a new job.

But in everything, let’s put God at the center. For if he is, nothing we do will be in vain. If he isn’t, everything we do is in vain.

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Set free!

Psalms

I would guess that Psalm 126 was written after the Babylonian captivity, perhaps during the time of Ezra or Nehemiah, or perhaps sometime after as the Jews looked back on their return to Jerusalem.

And as you look at this psalm, their joy is palpable.

When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.

Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”

The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy. (Psalm 126:1–3)

As I look at this psalm, I imagine going to the New Jerusalem will be like this. Our eyes wide in wonder and our mouths filled with laughter and joy.

And as we look back on our journey here on earth, we’ll see all the great things that God did for us to set us free from Satan’s kingdom, starting with the cross.

Though we may sow many tears here on this earth, in the end, we will reap a harvest of joy. Not only that, God will richly reward us for all we’ve done through the face of hardship.

So as the apostle Paul wrote,

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

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Unshaken

Psalms

Psalm 125 is another of my favorite psalms, in part because there was a song we used to sing at my church way back when that was based on it. I especially love the first two verses.

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the LORD surrounds his people
both now and forevermore. (Psalm 125:1–2)

These are two vivid pictures the psalmist gives us here. First, of a mountain that cannot be shaken. And he sings that those who trust in God are like Mount Zion.

Why could it not be shaken? For its mere size?

No. Mount Zion is only about 2,400 feet high compared to, say, Mount Everest at 29,000 feet. Compared to Everest, it’s a mere hill. But it could not be shaken because God himself was watching over it.

More than that, God surrounds us as the mountains surround Jerusalem. He is our fortress. He is the one who protects us from the Enemy that would destroy us.

The psalmist then expresses confidence in God’s justice. That he would not let the evil rule over his people, lest they fall into doing evil themselves.

This is not to say, unfortunately, that it never happens. It does. But I do believe God puts limits on it. Limits to what evil rulers can do to believers, and limits to their length of reign.

As Charles Spurgeon rightly points out, the last days will be like this when God shortens the time of the tribulation for the sake of those he has chosen. (Matthew 24:22)

The psalmist thus prays that God would pour his goodness on those who are his, and reminds himself that the day of judgment will come for those who do evil. (4–5)

He then closes by praying,

Peace be upon Israel. (5b)

Life is not always easy. But let us always put our faith in God, knowing that he is watching over us and that he is with us. Because of that we will never be shaken.

When times do get tough, let us pray as the psalmist did, for God’s favor and for his peace.

If we do, we will find that the same God that watched over Israel thousands of years ago is the same God that watches over us today.

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Rejoicing in God’s favor

Psalms

Psalm 124 was written by David, but it’s not clear what the context of the psalm was.

In all probability, it was written after a great victory in battle when the odds seemed against them. It’s the type of psalm that could’ve been written after David’s victory over Goliath (although I doubt this was the case).

At any rate, we see David rejoicing at the favor of God in his life.

He shouts out in joy, “If God had not been with us, if he had not been on our side, we would’ve been wiped out. But because he is with us, he broke the trap they set for us and we escaped.” (Psalm 124:1–7)

Then he concludes by singing,

Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth. (8)

I (fortunately) have never experienced a personal attack on my life, but I am grateful that God saved me from the spiritual trap Satan set for me. That while I was powerless to save myself, Christ died for me. (Romans 5:6–8)

Why did he do so? Because he loved me. Because he was on my side. I don’t know why he would choose to help me, but he did.

And he’s on your side too. So as we read this psalm, let us never forget the grace that the Lord has poured out so richly upon us all.

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A cry for mercy

Psalms

Psalm 123 is a very interesting psalm in the imagery it gives. The psalmist writes,

I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God… (Psalm 123:1–2)

At first glance, this is a picture of a slave looking to serve his master.

Back in those days, slaves didn’t so much listen to their master’s direction as watch for their every gesture and anticipate their every need.

So as we look at this psalm, it seems to have the idea of us looking intently at God, waiting on him with a heart of service.

Indeed, that is a heart we should have. Remembering that our lives are not about ourselves and serving ourselves, but serving the one who created us.

But the whole of verse 2 says,

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.

In other words, the reason the psalmist was looking so intently at his master was not for the purpose of service, but for mercy. And he cries out,

Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt.

We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant. (3–4)

What the situation was that inspired this psalm is unknown.

It has been speculated that it was written during the exile to Babylon, or even well after, in the times of Antiochus who defiled the temple of God by offering a pig on its altar.

But whatever the situation was, it was bad, and there seemed to be no hope.

And so the psalmist fixed his eyes on the Lord. He knew his people deserved nothing from God because of the evil they had done.

Yet he knew the character of God. That though God may chasten us, he still loves us. And that if we will but turn our hearts to him, he is merciful.

This passage reminds me of the parable Jesus told of the man who stood before God and beat his breast saying, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”

And Jesus said of him,

I tell you that this man…went home justified before God. (Luke 18:14)

You may feel that you too are being chastened by God because of your sin. You may feel that God has abandoned you.

But turn your eyes to Jesus. Fix your eyes on him, and repent. Ask for his mercy. And he will forgive.

May you know the mercy of God in your life.

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The joy of being with God’s people

Psalms

As the pilgrims came upon the gates of Jerusalem, they probably started singing this song. And it shows their joy in coming to the house of God.

I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD.” (Psalm 122:1)

I remember a time when I didn’t rejoice about going to the house of the Lord.

I became a Christian when I was 7 or 8, but by the time I hit junior high school, I really didn’t want to go to church. Not that my church was bad or anything. I just had other things I wanted to do.

But when I became a high school student, I experienced the presence of God in my life for the very first time.

For the first time, when I was singing worship songs, I realized, “God is really here. We’re not just singing karaoke. We’re singing prayers to God.”

It totally transformed my view of worship and of church.

Sometimes Christians think they can live without church. That they’re fine just worshiping God by themselves.

Certainly, there is a personal aspect to worship that is essential in the Christian life. But there is something wrong with the Christian who doesn’t rejoice at the idea of worshiping with other Christians.

Oftentimes there are problems of pride. “I know the Bible well enough. I don’t need the pastor’s sermon.”

Other times there are problems of unforgiveness. “Every time I attend a church, something happens where somebody hurts me. I don’t want to go through that again.”

In other cases, there are problems with judgmentalism. “All of the people I see there are hypocrites. I don’t want to associate with them.”

And for others, it’s a problem of selfishness. “I just don’t get anything out of church.”

But they forget the fact that the purpose of going to church is not simply about getting something out of it. It’s giving. It’s giving praise to God. It’s serving others. And it’s working with others in the church to serve the community you’re living in.

The psalmist talks in this psalm of praying for the peace of Jerusalem. For seeking the prosperity of Jerusalem.

We need to be doing the same for the cities we’re living in. But there’s a limit to what we can do by ourselves. We can do so much more if the body of Christ is working together for the good of the communities we live in.

The truth is, if all you’re doing at church is sitting in your chair for the entire service and then going home, you’re missing a large part of what God wants for you.

Get involved. Start doing the part God has assigned you as a part of his body.

And as the writer of Hebrews put it,

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (10:24–25)

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The God who watches over us

hills in Israel

Psalm 121 is one of the most beautiful psalms in the book and was my father’s favorite. I can see why.

It is a psalm of utter trust in the Lord.

It starts out,

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1–2)

This is another of the psalms of ascents, sung when people made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

And I can just imagine that as they looked up to where Jerusalem was, hope and joy sprang in their hearts. For there, they knew the presence of God resided in his temple as he had promised Solomon (1 Kings 9:4).

The temple, of course, could not contain God, as Solomon himself admitted.

Nevertheless, God promised to come and meet his people there. And he promised that when people would pray toward the temple, he would hear them (2 Chronicles 7:15).

And as the pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem, they took comfort in the knowledge that God would watch over them and protect them because he is a God that never sleeps. That he would be their shade during the hot days and their protection at night.

But it went far beyond that. They knew that he was not only with them during their pilgrimages to Jerusalem but during their pilgrimage through life. And so the psalmist wrote,

He will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore. (7–8)

Let us also take comfort in those words.

Nothing ever happens to us that doesn’t first pass through the hands of God. And he will never let us endure anything beyond what we can bear.

He will guard our lives while we are on earth. And then he will bring us into glory.

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Angered by the evil around us

Psalms

How often do you get angered by the evil that you see around you? That’s how the psalmist felt.

What did he see around him? Lying lips. Deceitful tongues (2). And people who not only disrupted peace but caused war because of the evil in their hearts (Psalm 120:6–7).

And so the psalmist moaned,

Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech,
that I live among the tents of Kedar! (Psalm 120:5)

According to Charles Spurgeon, these were basically wandering tribes that went around plundering the peoples around them.

Whether the psalmist literally lived among them or he was saying that the people around him were like these people, I don’t know.

The interesting thing, though, is this is a song of ascent. It was a song that people sang as they made their pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

It seems a bit strange that one would be singing this kind of song as they’re turning their faces toward God to worship him. But then again, maybe it’s not so strange.

Life is not always pleasant. And when we look at the world around us, it’s easy to get depressed. To wonder where God is. To wonder if he’s doing anything about the evil we see.

But as this psalmist turns his eyes toward God, he reminds himself that God will ultimately bring justice and that all will be made right. He writes,

What will he do to you,
and what more besides,
O deceitful tongue?

He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,
with burning coals of the broom tree. (3–4)

So let us not get discouraged by the evil we see on the news. Instead, let us remember our God is good and that he is just.

Take your eyes off of the evil that you see and put them on the God who will someday make all things right.

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Refusing to give in to evil

Psalms

And so we come to the close of Psalm 119.

As I’ve said before, it’s an anonymous psalm, but I wouldn’t be surprised if David was the author. One reason is how this psalm ends and the experiences of the psalmist.

Namely, he was pursued and persecuted by his enemies, and yet he refused to give in to feelings of revenge and repay evil with evil.

The psalmist starts this section with a cry for help against his enemies.

I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes.

I rise before dawn and cry for help (Psalm 119:146–147).

Yet despite all his troubles, we see time and again his commitment to doing things God’s way.

Instead of plotting on his bed ways to get back at his enemies, he said,

My eyes stay open through the watches of the night
that I may meditate on your promises. (148)

He then places himself in God’s hands, refusing to turn aside from God’s word, even though his enemies had done so in seeking his life.

Look upon my suffering and deliver me,
for I have not forgotten your law.
Defend my cause and redeem me;
preserve my life according to your promise. (153–154)

and,

See how I love your precepts;
preserve my life, O LORD, according to your love. (159)

and again,

Rulers persecute me without cause,
but my heart trembles at your word. (161)

Why did he live this way? Because he truly believed God’s way was best. He wrote,

Great peace have they who love your law,
and nothing can make them stumble. (165)

And as he closes the psalm, he once again puts himself in God’s hands, humbling himself before God, asking for his direction, committing himself to doing things God’s way no matter what, and waiting for God’s salvation.

How about you? How do you react when others hurt you? When others attack you?

Do you give in to your anger, repaying evil for evil?

Do you say to yourself, “I can’t just let them do this to me. I know it’s not God’s way, but I’ve got to get back at them.”

If that’s you, remember the attitude of this psalmist.

More than that, remember the attitude of our Lord on the cross. That though people nailed him to the cross, nevertheless, he didn’t seek revenge. Rather, he forgave them. And us.

Finally, remember the words of the apostle Paul who wrote,

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19–21)

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The way to understanding

Psalms

All of us would like to grow in wisdom and understanding. And in this passage, we see how we can do so.

The psalmist writes,

Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
for they are ever with me.

I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.

I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts. (Psalm 119:98–100)

How did he become wise? By not only knowing God’s word. By not only meditating on God’s word. But by obeying God’s word.

So many people know God’s word and yet show no understanding. They know what God has said, but they insist on living their own way, and because of that, they end up getting in trouble.

But the psalmist wasn’t that way. He treasured God’s word in his heart and let it change him. He started to love the things that God loves and hate the things God hates. (103–104, 127–128)

More than that, he made God’s word the standard for his life. It was the lamp to his feet and the light for his path (105).

In contrast, he stayed away from the advice of those who were evil and tried to avoid them altogether (113, 115).

And as I’ve mentioned before, he kept a humble attitude before God, both striving to learn from him (125, 133, 135, 144) and leaning on his strength that he might obey what God had commanded (133–134).

Why did he do all this? Because of what he found. What did he find?

Your promises have been thoroughly tested,
and your servant loves them…

Your righteousness is everlasting
and your law is true. (140, 142)

In other words, when the psalmist put God’s word into practice, when he tested the promises and commands of God, he found God and his word to be true.

How about you? Are you a person of understanding? Have you put into practice the things God has commanded? Have you found God to be true in your life?

Only when we do so will we find true wisdom.

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Where we put our hope

Psalms

And so we hit the halfway point of this psalm.

I love the psalmist’s words to open this section.

My soul faints with longing for your salvation,
but I have put my hope in your word. (Psalm 119:81)

Sometimes we go through hardship in our lives. The psalmist surely did. People were plotting against him, persecuting him, and trying to destroy him (Psalm 119:85–87, 95).

He calls himself a wineskin in the smoke.

Apparently in those days, when people were traveling in the desert, if a fire was needed inside a tent, they would hang a wineskin (containers of wine made from goat skin) in the tent, and it would absorb the smoke.

As a result, the skin would become hardened and shriveled.

In other words, he was absorbing (that is, suffering from) all the evil that people were plotting against him. And so he cried out,

When will you comfort me?
How long must your servant wait?
When will you punish my persecutors? (Psalm 119:82–84)

Yet despite this, he put his hope in God’s words and God’s promises to him. He refused to let them go, even in the worst of situations. Why?

Your word, O LORD, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens.

Your faithfulness continues through all generations;
you established the earth, and it endures. (Psalm 119:89–90)

In other words, he knew that God and his promises never change. That God will be faithful to his word, though people are not. And he had confidence that no matter what happened, God would come through.

How about you? Are you confident even in the darkest times that if you follow God’s word, God will prove faithful?

When things start falling apart on us, it’s easy to just say, “Doing things God’s way isn’t working. I might as well start doing things my way.”

And because we fail to trust, our finances fail, our marriages fail, as well as every other aspect of our lives.

When things look dark, let us not put our trust in ourselves and our own wisdom. Rather, let us continue to put our hope in God.

God’s word has not changed in thousands of years. And it’s not about to change now. As Isaiah put it,

The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

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A soft heart

Psalms

I noted in an earlier blog on this psalm that the psalmist had a humble heart—a heart that admitted it didn’t know everything and was very teachable.

We see more of that here, but we also see a heart that was very soft to the word of God. Once again, we see him asking God to teach him in verse 66. But then he says,

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word. (Psalm 119:67)

And again in verse 71,

It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.

In other words, the psalmist knew the chastening of God in his life. In what way he was chastened, we don’t know. But we do know his response. He repented. Why?

It goes back to what we talked about in the last blog. He believed God was good and wanted what was best for him. He sang,

You are good, and what you do is good;
teach me your decrees. (Psalm 119:68)

Of the evil he said,

Their hearts are callous and unfeeling. (Psalm 119:70a)

But of himself, he said,

I delight in your law. (Psalm 119:70b)

And at the end of this passage, he prays,

May my heart be blameless toward your decrees,
that I may not be put to shame. (Psalm 119:80)

How soft are our hearts to God and his Word? When he rebukes us, do we chafe at his discipline? Or are we like the psalmist—humble and repentant?

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The word that brings freedom and comfort

Psalms

The love that the writer has for God’s word really strikes me as I go through this psalm.

So many people take God’s word as something that binds—something that takes away our freedom to enjoy life. “Do this, don’t do that.”

But the psalmist doesn’t see things that way at all. Why not? I think it flows from his concept of God. What was his concept of God? We see it in verse 41,

May your unfailing love come to me, O LORD,
your salvation according to your promise. (Psalm 119:41)

And again in verse 64,

The earth is filled with your love, O LORD. (Psalm 119:64)

In other words, he saw God as someone who truly loved him and was looking out for his best—as a God who was his salvation in a hostile and broken world.

As a result, when he looked at the laws of God, he didn’t see a God who was trying to be a killjoy. Rather he saw a God who wanted him to find true life.

So he wrote in verse 45,

I will walk about in freedom,
for I have sought out your precepts. (Psalm 119:45)

Notice that to the psalmist, the law of God did not bind, but actually brought freedom. Why? Because when we live life the way God designed it to be lived, we find that we can actually live it to its fullest.

At home, I’m using Windows 8. I must admit, there are a lot of things on there that I never use. Part of it is I just don’t want to take the time to look up what everything is. I’ve got the basics, but nothing else.

I suppose one of these days, for example, I should figure out how to use the cloud application.

I’m not using Windows 8 to its fullest because I haven’t studied the manual. If I did, I’d probably find easier ways to do things, and my life would be a lot easier because I’d be using it the way it was designed.

I don’t have a smartphone (or iPhone) for that matter, but I know many people who are the same way with their phones as I am with Windows 8. They’re missing out on a lot of the functions because they don’t take the time to read the manual.

The Bible is the manual to life. It shows us how God designed us to live. And when we live according to the manual, far from finding ourselves bound up, we find freedom and life.

God’s word also brings comfort when life becomes hard. It brings comfort because besides showing us the way to life, it shows us God’s promises to those who love him. And so as we go through this broken world, we can have hope.

The psalmist wrote,

Remember your word to your servant,
for you have given me hope.
My comfort in my suffering is this:
Your promise preserves my life. (Psalm 119:49–50)

One of my favorite verses is John 14:1–3 where Jesus told his disciples this:

Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God; trust also in me.
In my Father’s house are many rooms;
if it were not so, I would have told you.

I am going there to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back and take you to be with me
that you also may be where I am.

When his disciples went through persecution and even death, how much must those promises of Jesus have brought them comfort. And they can bring us comfort too.

The key underlying all of this is this: Do you believe God is good? Do you believe that he’s looking out for your best?

If you do, his word will bring you freedom and comfort. If you don’t, you’ll have trouble understanding the psalmist’s passion for God’s word that you see in this passage and throughout the whole psalm.

How do you see God?

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The need for understanding

Psalms

And so we continue on with Psalm 119, the longest psalm in the book.

The thing I see in this passage is the humble heart of the psalmist. A heart that says, “I don’t know everything. Give me understanding.”

He says in verses 18–19,

Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law.
I am a stranger on earth;
do not hide your commands from me. (Psalm 119:18–19)

In other words, “I’m a stranger around here. I’m a stranger to your laws and ways. To what you want of me. But I know you want what’s good for me. So open my eyes. Give me understanding as to what you want of me.”

He goes on to say,

Teach me your decrees.
Let me understand the teaching of your precepts;
then I will meditate on your wonders. (26–27)

Again, you see the humble, teachable heart of the psalmist.

He goes on to talk about how he was laid low, weary with sorrow, most likely because of his sin. And so he says, “Strengthen me through your word. I now choose to follow you. In fact, I run to follow your path.” (25–32)

Why?

“For you have set my heart free.” (32b)

Note that the last sentence refers to the past. You have already set me free. You have already forgiven me. So having been forgiven and set free, I gladly run into your path that gives life.

Then in the next few verses, he cries out, “Teach me to follow your decrees.” (33)

And again, “Give me understanding.” (34)

And yet again, “Direct me in the path of your commands.” (35)

In short, “I don’t know. I don’t understand. Please teach me. Grant me understanding.”

So often in life, we convince ourselves that we do know. That we have all the knowledge and wisdom we need for life.

But that kind of thinking ultimately leads to destruction and shame. We must always have a heart that is humble and open to the teaching of God.

Not only that, we need a heart that admits, “I can’t live this way in my own strength.” We talked about this in the last blog.

This is why the psalmist prays for God’s help, saying,

Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things. (36–37)

And as he ends this section he says,

Preserve my life in my righteousness.

Whoa! Did you catch that? He didn’t say, “Preserve my life in my righteousness.”

He said,

Preserve my life in your righteousness. (40)

God doesn’t save us through our righteousness, but through his righteousness that he imparts to us when we put our faith in him.

The psalmist knew he could never be preserved through his own righteousness, but only because of God’s.

And it’s the same with us. So let us cast aside pride in our lives. Pride in our own righteousness. Pride in our own understanding.

Rather, let us come before God humbly, saying, “Teach me. Give me understanding.”

And when we do, God promises to do so.

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A desire for holiness

Psalms

We now hit the longest chapter in the Bible. Needless to say, Psalm 119 is also the longest psalm.

I toyed with the idea of just getting it all over with in one shot, but I figured I wouldn’t be able to do it justice without doing one overly long blog.

So in the end I decided to break it up as God gives me themes for doing so.

In taking the first two sections of this psalm, the one thing I see is a desire for holiness in the heart of the psalmist.

For this reason, I would not be surprised if it was a psalm of David, whom God called a man after his own heart. (This psalm, however, is anonymous.)

After talking about the blessedness of those whose walk is blameless, the psalmist cries out,

Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!
Then I would not be put to shame
when I consider all your commands. (Psalm 119:5–6)

In other words, “Why can’t I be holy? So often, I’m put to shame because of my sin. If only I could actually keep your commands.”

He then recommits himself to holiness, saying,

I will obey your decrees;
do not utterly forsake me. (8)

What are the keys to holiness? That’s what the psalmist addresses next, singing,

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.

I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.

I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you. (9–11)

How can we be holy? By living according to the word of God. By hiding his word in our hearts, and meditating on it. By making it our delight and not letting it gather dust on our bookshelf.

Do we delight in the word that makes us holy? For that matter, do we delight in holiness?

Too often I don’t. Instead of meditating on and delighting in what’s holy, I meditate on and delight in that which is not. That’s what gets me into trouble.

And like Paul, I end up crying out,

What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24)

That’s the end result of anyone who strives for holiness in their own strength. What’s the solution? Paul gives it in the next verse.

Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! (25)

We can’t be holy through our own efforts. It’s impossible. Even the psalmist recognized this, pleading with God,

Do not let me stray from your commands. (Psalm 119:10)

In other words, “God, I can’t do this! Help me!”

It’s easy when reading this psalm to take a legalistic view of Christianity. To think that we can live a holy life based on our own efforts.

But let us never forget we are saved by grace. And that apart from God, we will never be holy.

At the same time, however, let us never take the stance of, “Well, it’s impossible, so why even try?”

Instead, let us have a hunger and thirst for holiness. For only when we do will we see our utter and desperate need for God.

When we see that, it opens the door to his grace in our lives. Pride in our own righteousness is banished, and we find ourselves humbled by his grace and mercy in our lives.

The result? A closer walk with him, as we learn to rely on him and not our own strength. And as we do so, he will make us holy, changing us from the inside out.

That’s what sanctification is all about. This process of being made holy.

How about you? Are you hungry for God’s holiness in your life?

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A psalm of salvation

Psalms

If there is one psalm that will be sung when Jesus returns, I would guess that this would be it. Because it is a song of utter praise for our salvation, that has more meaning for us than it had even for the writer.

And as we enter the New Jerusalem, I have no doubt, we will be singing,

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever. (Psalm 118:1)

Why will we sing this? Because in our anguish, dying in our sin, we cried out to the Lord, and he set us free.

Not only that, he puts his hand over us each and every day. And though people may destroy our bodies, they cannot destroy our souls. So the psalmist writes,

The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me? (6)

He then sings about how in God’s power he struck down the enemy. In the same way, God gives us victory over the Enemy of our souls.

So we too sing,

I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the LORD helped me.

The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation…

“The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!

The LORD’s right hand is lifted high;
the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!”

I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the LORD has done. (13–17)

Sometimes, as the psalmist, we see the chastening hand of God in our lives. But God doesn’t chasten us to destroy us, but that we might have life.

So as we come to the gates of Jerusalem, we can say with confidence to the gatekeeper,

Open for me the gates of righteousness;
I will enter and give thanks to the LORD. (19)

What is the basis for this confidence? The same basis that we have for our salvation.

The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the LORD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes. (22–23)

Jesus, the stone the builders rejected, has become the capstone (or cornerstone) of our salvation. Though he was rejected by the Jews, yet through his blood shed on the cross, we can know salvation.

Thus, every morning, we can face the day with new hope, singing,

This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. (24)

And as the people cried out in Jerusalem when Jesus entered, so we will cry out once again, “Save us! (That’s what ‘hosanna’ means.) Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Only, when we do so, we will no longer be looking forward to our salvation but rather looking back on it. And as we do, we will sing,

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever. (29)

Amen. Come quickly Lord Jesus!

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When all nations worship

Psalms

This is the calm before the storm. Here we have the shortest psalm in the Bible (as well as the shortest chapter), soon to be followed by the longest one.

I’m still not sure how I will tackle Psalm 119, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to be breaking it down into parts.

Psalm 117 has been called Messianic because it looks forward to the day when all nations will worship God. The psalmist writes,

Praise the LORD, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples. (Psalm 117:1)

The apostle Paul later uses this very verse to talk about how Christ came not only for the Jews, but for all people (Romans 15:11).

Why does he call all nations to praise him? Two reasons.

First, for his great love toward us. This love was shown to its fullest through Christ’s death on the cross for us. Because of this, our sins can be forgiven, and we can actually become part of God’s family.

This caused the apostle John to cry out in praise,

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. (1 John 3:1)

Whether Jew, American, Japanese, or whatever race or nation you come from, God accepts all as his children who put their faith in Jesus. Such is his great love for us.

The second reason we worship him is because his faithfulness endures forever. He will never abandon us or cast us aside, no matter how much we fail.

Other translations give another aspect to this verse. It says,

The truth of the Lord is everlasting. (2)

In other words, God and his word never change.

We don’t have to worry about God being fickle with us—about him saying one thing one day, and a completely contradictory thing the next.

He is consistent. And because of that, we can put our trust in him without fear.

So as the psalmist closes this brief song,

Praise the LORD! (2)

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Hope in the darkest of times

Psalms

I think I’ve loved Psalm 116 ever since I heard a song based on the Living Bible version of it.

The Living Bible puts it something like this,

I love the Lord because he hears my prayers and answers them.

Because he bends down and listens, I will pray as long as I breathe. (Psalm 116:1–2)

Somehow those words, “He bends down and listens” have always struck me. That he cares enough about me that he would bend down to hear my every word.

As a father of a four-year-old, I love to move down to her level (or bring her up to mine) to talk to her. Not only to hear her words more clearly, but to see her face, and especially her eyes more clearly as we talk.

That’s what God does with us. Especially in the darkest times. The writer of this psalm talks of his own dark times.

The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.

Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, save me!” (3–4)

And when God reached down in his compassion and grace, the psalmist sang,

Be at rest once more, O my soul,
for the LORD has been good to you. (7)

One thing that we learn from this psalm is that just because we are following God, that does not mean we’ll be problem-free.

The psalmist writes,

I believed; therefore I said,
“I am greatly afflicted.” (10)

The apostle Paul quotes this passage in 2 Corinthians 4 as he talks about his own problems.

That though he was hard-pressed, he was not crushed; though he was perplexed, he was not in despair; though he was persecuted, he was not abandoned; though he was struck down, he was not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8–9)

He goes on to say that though he suffered for the gospel, the life of Jesus shone through him, bringing life to those he preached to (2 Corinthians 4:10–12).

And so he says in the same spirit of the psalmist, “I believed, therefore I have spoken.” (2 Corinthians 4:13)

In other words, “I am more than glad to go through dark times and to be afflicted that the gospel may be preached.”

And so Paul concludes,

Therefore we do not lose heart.
Though outwardly we are wasting away,
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

For our light and momentary troubles
are achieving for us an eternal glory
that far outweighs them all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,
but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary,
but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

The psalmist, having been delivered by the Lord, also turns his eyes to the eternal, praising the Lord, and giving his life to serve him. He sang,

How can I repay the LORD
for all his goodness to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people. (Psalm 116:12–14)

As with the psalmist, God has set us free from our chains.

So let us serve him freely from our hearts, offering a sacrifice of praise, and telling the people around us of what he’s done for us that they may be set free from the darkness too.

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The One who deserves our praise and trust

Psalms

The psalmist starts out this psalm with a cry that resonates.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness. (Psalm 115:1)

Who are you living for? For yourself? What are you living for? To make money? To achieve glory?

Or are you living for him who actually deserves all the glory because of his faithfulness and love toward us?

Throughout this psalm, the writer urges us to praise and put our trust in God. Why? What makes him worthy of it?

For one thing, he is the one who can do all things. Verse 3 puts it this way,

Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him. (3)

People have two reactions to this. One is fear. “If God can do anything, there’s no telling what he might do to me.”

But for those who have come to know him, they stand in awe. That this God who can do anything nevertheless loves and cares for us. And that no matter how often we are faithless, yet he remains faithful to us.

We stand in awe because he is no mere idol with eyes that can’t see, ears that can’t hear, a nose but can’t smell, hands but can’t feel, feet but can’t walk, and a mouth but can’t speak.

Such a god is utterly powerless to help himself, no less us.

But our God sees us, he hears and answers us when we call, and he acts on behalf of those who love him.

And so not only does this Jewish psalmist call for the Jews to trust in him, but he says,

You who fear him, trust in the LORD—
he is their help and shield. (11)

What happens when we do?

The LORD remembers us and will bless us:
He will bless the house of Israel,
he will bless the house of Aaron,
he will bless those who fear the LORD—
small and great alike. (12–13)

How are you living your life? Are you trying to stay in control? Are you fretting because you can’t manage to stay on top of things?

Then let go. Put your trust in God. He will be your help. He will be your shield. And because he is all-powerful, he can stay on top of things where you can’t.

So as the psalmist sings,

Extol the LORD, both now and forevermore.

Praise the LORD. (18)

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Saved to be a sanctuary, and a kingdom

Psalms

This is a psalm that talks about how God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, led them through the desert, and into the promised land.

From the partings of the Red Sea and the Jordan, to God’s appearance on Mount Sinai, to God’s provision of water in the desert, we see the awesome power of God in the lives of the people he loved.

But the words that strike me are found in verse 2. After talking about Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, the psalmist sings,

Judah became God’s sanctuary,
Israel his dominion. (Psalm 114:2)

Why did God do all these things for Israel? He did so that he might dwell among them, and that they might become his holy nation.

In the same way, God didn’t save us just so that we could go to heaven. But he saved us that he might dwell among us and in us. He saved us so that we ourselves would become his temple.

More than that, as his people, we become part of the Kingdom he is building here on earth.

Peter puts it this way,

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

Note that last part. Why does he make us his sanctuary? Why does he make us into this holy nation?

He does so that we may declare his praises to the world around us, that they too may come out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Lord, dwell within me, and let me be an emissary of your kingdom.

Lord, thank you for taking me out of darkness and bringing me into your light. Use me to bring others into your light as well. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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The God on high, who stooped down

Psalms

Probably the most incredible thing about God is that as great and awesome as he is, he cares about us.

Psalm 113 starts with a call to worship, as the psalmist sings,

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, you his servants;
praise the name of the Lord.

Let the name of the Lord be praised,
both now and forevermore.

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised. (Psalm 113:1–3)

He then sings,

The Lord is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high… (4–5)

In other words, “God is great! He is awesome! Who is like him? Give praise to him, for he is worthy of it.”

But in the very next verse, he says,

…who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? (6)

He then talks about how God takes those who are despised, the poor, the needy, the childless woman (this was a matter of great shame in those days), raises them up, and blesses them. (7–9)

But not only did God stoop down to look, not only did he reach down from heaven to touch us, he actually came down among us and became one of us.

As Philippians puts it, he emptied himself, taking our likeness. (Philippians 2:6–7)

And because he did, he truly understands us.

More than that, he saw our greatest need and died on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins.

He didn’t have to do that. He didn’t deserve to die. But though he was on high, he loved us enough to come down and do so anyway.

So from the rising of the sun to its setting, let us praise his name both now and forevermore.

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The blessing of fearing and delighting in God

Psalms

Fear and delight. Those are two words that you don’t often see thrown together.

But the psalmist here does use them together, talking about the blessing that comes from fearing God and delighting in him and his word.

He writes,

Blessed are those who fear the Lord,
who find great delight in his commands. (Psalm 112:1)

What does it mean to fear God? I think it’s a combination of things.

It’s an overwhelming sense of awe at his greatness.

It’s understanding that he is so much greater than we are, and that he is so much holier than we are.

And because of that, there is some actual fear, because we know we are so unworthy to even be in his presence—that we deserve to die because we are sinners in front of a holy God.

All the saints that met God in the Bible face to face experienced that feeling.

Yet, at the same time, they knew his love and mercy toward them, and because of that they were able to delight in him and desired to please him.

The psalmist says that such people will find blessing.

The interesting thing to me is that they then take on the character of their Father in heaven.

They too become gracious, compassionate, and righteous in all their ways. They are generous, lending freely, and are fair and just in all their dealings (4–5).

What’s the result?

Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
they will be remembered forever.

They will have no fear of bad news;
their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. (6–8)

So often, because people trust only in themselves, they are worried about the future. Why? Because they can’t control it. And when they hear bad news, they panic trying to figure out what to do.

But when we trust in the Lord, even in the bad times, our hearts remain secure, and we have no fear. Why?

Because we’re not trying to control things. Instead, we put control into the hands of the one who can handle it. And even though people may oppose us, God will give us the victory.

As the psalmist puts it,

The wicked will see and be vexed,
they will gnash their teeth and waste away;
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing. (10)

But as for those who trust in God, we can continue to be generous, blessing those around us. More than that, God will honor us for it. (9)

So each day, let us fear and delight in the one who is holy, awesome, and good.

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Pondering the Lord’s works

Psalms

It’s so easy sometimes to ponder over the negative things in life—to see the bad things that have happened in our lives and to let them dominate our thinking.

Honestly, that’s what I’ve been doing over the past several weeks, with something that happened at work earlier this month. And I can tell you firsthand that it can lead to stress, especially when you have no control over things.

But in Psalm 111, the psalmist encourages us to ponder over something else. He sings,

Praise the Lord.

I will extol the Lord with all my heart
in the council of the upright and in the assembly.

Great are the works of the Lord;
they are pondered by all who delight in them.

Glorious and majestic are his deeds,
and his righteousness endures forever. (Psalm 111:1–3)

In this passage, the psalmist encourages us to ponder who God is and what he has done.

What kind of God is he? He is righteous (3), he is gracious and compassionate (4), he is faithful and just, and he and his precepts are trustworthy (7).

What has he done? He has provided for Israel’s needs in the desert (5), he showed mercy to Israel, making them into a nation and giving them their own land (6), and he provided redemption for them, both in Egypt and in Babylon (9).

What’s more, he does all that for us as well. He provides our needs daily, he showed mercy to us, redeeming us from Satan’s kingdom, and calls us his own people. And he’s leading us to the Promised Land to be with him.

This life is temporary. I’m sure that the things I’ve been stewing over for the last month will be the furthest thing from my mind when eternity hits.

So the question I have to ask myself is why bother? It only gives me stress that I don’t need.

The psalmist concludes by writing,

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (10)

When we stand in awe of God, all the temporary things of this world pale in comparison.

When we ponder who he is and what he’s done, we realize that the things we’re stewing over most times aren’t worth the stress nor our time. And when we truly realize this, isn’t this wisdom?

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Our King and Priest

Psalms

Today, we see one of the most famous Messianic psalms. Jesus himself quoted Psalm 110 in posing a puzzle to the Pharisees (Matthew 22:41–45).

And here, Yahweh (the LORD, that is, God the Father) says to the Messiah (David’s Lord),

Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. (Psalm 110:1)

In ancient times, a victorious king would put his foot on his defeated enemy’s neck. And so God promises victory to Jesus over his enemies, and that his rule would extend throughout the earth, even over those who would rebel against him. (2)

But in verse 4, we see that Jesus is not only a king, but a priest as well.

Jesus, however, is not an Aaronic priest. Rather, God the Father decrees him as a priest in the order of Melchizedek, who was both a king and priest in the time of Abraham.

Although David was a great king, and though at times he did things that priests did (offering sacrifices and blessing people in the name of the Lord) as did his son Solomon, neither were truly priests.

But Jesus is both our King and Priest. And unlike the Aaronic priesthood, his priesthood will last forever because he himself is from everlasting to everlasting (Hebrews 7:24).

In verse 6, it goes on to say that in the last days, he will judge the nations. On that day, each person will have to stand before his throne to be judged.

The good news is that as our high priest, he is also the one interceding on our behalf before the Father. And so we don’t need to come before God with fear. Rather, as the writer of Hebrews puts it,

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence,
so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Lord Jesus, thank you that not only are you my King and Lord, and not only are you my judge, but you are my high priest as well.

Thank you that you intercede for me daily, and that by your blood shed on the cross, my sins have been wiped clean. Thank you for all that you’ve done.

But more than that, thank you for being who you are. In your name I pray, amen.

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Bitterness and forgiveness, mercy and justice

Psalms

Psalm 109 is another of the imprecatory psalms, where we see the psalmist calling for the judgment of God on those who have wronged him.

A lot of people, including myself, get disturbed reading these kinds of psalms, because it seems to go so against the spirit of Jesus and his call for us to forgive our enemies.

I’ve mentioned some of these points before in previous psalms, but they bear repeating.

As king (or as one who was soon to become king depending on when this psalm was written), David knew the importance of justice—that evil cannot just be allowed to go on unchecked.

And so he was essentially calling for the evil to reap what they sowed.

Whereas they falsely accused him, he asked that they would be put on trial and found guilty.

When it says, “appoint an evil man to oppose him,” it’s hard to say whether he meant that he desired them to know what it’s like to be falsely accused by men, or if he just meant that the justice system is run by people who are no saints themselves.

Whereas they had made children into fatherless beggars, and wives into widows in poverty, he asked the same would come upon them.

That may seem harsh, but it calls to mind the case of Aaron Hernandez, the football player who is accused of murdering a man.

If it is true, he will be incarcerated, leaving his daughter fatherless and his fiancée without a husband. It would be wise to remember that our actions not only affect us, but the ones we love.

And where there is no repentance for sin, there can be no forgiveness from God. Their sin will always remain before him as a record against them.

But whereas we may call for justice, there can be no room for bitterness in our lives. Because bitterness does not destroy the person who hurt you so much as it hurts you.

It’s interesting to note that the apostle Peter used this psalm to refer to Judas, who attacked Jesus without cause, repaid Jesus evil for good, and returned hatred for Jesus’ friendship.

And ultimately, because he never repented, he found God’s justice. His days were few and another took his place of leadership.

But throughout it all, Jesus was never bitter against Judas.

Instead, when he was at the Last Supper washing Judas’ feet (along with the other disciples’) and offering him bread—indeed, when he was at the garden and Judas came to betray him—we see no signs of bitterness in Jesus.

Rather, we see compassion.

Jesus wasn’t naive. He knew the character of Judas and he didn’t deceive himself concerning Judas. Yet he still showed compassion and love toward Judas.

In doing so, he poured burning coals over Judas’ head, and in his guilt, Judas hung himself. But Jesus remained unstained by bitterness.

And so did David. Only once do we ever see him consumed with bitterness because of another’s actions to the point he was willing to take revenge (the situation with Nabal).

But when Nabal’s wife reminded him of what true justice was, he swiftly let go of his bitterness and showed mercy.

And when he saw God’s justice finally come, he rejoiced, as he does at the end of this psalm.

With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
in the great throng I will praise him.

For he stands at the right hand of the needy one
to save his life from those who condemn him. (Psalm 109:30–31)

So let us let go of bitterness in our lives, and instead cling to mercy, forgiveness, and justice.

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Remembering our times of victory

Psalms

We’re taking a brief jump to Psalm 108, basically because it’s a combination of Psalms 57 and 60.

Verses 1–5 come from the latter part of Psalm 57 while verses 6–13 come from the latter part of Psalm 60.

Whether it was meant to be a medley of the two psalms or David created new music for the combination of the two, I don’t know. One wonders though why he would do this.

I have two guesses.

One is that it was written at the same time as Psalm 60 after Israel’s defeat at the hands of their enemy. And perhaps, David was recalling his time when Saul had him trapped in the cave and God delivered him.

So as he was struggling with doubt and despair after defeat, he turned his thoughts to the time at the cave, and was basically saying to himself, “Don’t get discouraged by this defeat. Look at what God did for me in the past. If he delivered me before, he’ll deliver me now.”

The other possibility is that it was written after both incidences. And now looking back on both, David was singing a psalm of praise to God for all that he had done for him.

Whatever the case may be, I think it’s important that like David, we remember our times of victory. That in times of trouble, we recall how God delivered us in the past.

And that after times of deliverance, we remember to thank God for what he’s done.

Why?

Hope.

Remembering these things give us hope for the future when things look grim.

Without hope, it’s hard to go on when we face trials in our lives.

But with hope, we can face anything that comes against us, knowing that God’s on our side and that he will help us.

What victories have you had in your life? Take the time to write them down. Write down the times God has answered prayer. Write down the times God has delivered you. Praise him for it.

By doing so, when you face trials in your life, you’ll find them easier to bear.