The Phil Files

I will exalt you, LORD,
    for you lifted me out of the depths
    and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
  LORD my God, I called to you for help,
    and you healed me.
  You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
    you spared me from going down to the pit.

  Sing the praises of the LORD, you his faithful people;
    praise his holy name.
  For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime;
  weeping may remain for a night,
    but rejoicing comes in the morning.

  When I felt secure, I said,
  “I will never be shaken.”
  LORD, when you favored me,
    you made my royal mountain stand firm;
  but when you hid your face,
    I was dismayed.

  To you, LORD, I called;
    to the Lord I cried for mercy:
  “What is gained if I am silenced,
    if I go down to the pit?
  Will the dust praise you?
    Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
  Hear, LORD, and be merciful to me;
  LORD, be my help.”

  You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
  that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
  LORD my God, I will praise you forever.

\o/ — Comments Psalm 30: You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy! — \o/

What is the basis of my happiness?
What is the basis of my esteem?
What is the basis of my health?
What is the basis of my security?

I am reminded as I read Psalm 30 that all of life is dependent upon my walk with the LORD and His presence and grace in my daily routines. His attentive care can turn the most desperate situation into a time of joy and dancing. His intervention in my life can turn sickness into health, defeat into victory, despair into confidence.

This realization challenges me to “hang in there” during times that are difficult knowing that they will pass and that the LORD will lead me to a better place. This realization reminds me to go to the Father in prayer with my every care and trust Him with my deepest concerns and most most obvious failures. Most of all, this realization drives me to praise God and celebrate His goodness, His involvement, His grace, His listening ear, His mercy, and His love for mere mortals like me. With the psalmist, I cry out with confidence:

You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
    that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
LORD my God, I will praise you forever.

I don’t know what it’s like for you where you are today, but as I look at this psalm again, with spring bursting forth and the promise of all of God’s goodness for a new day, I am reminded of a Chris Tomlin song we sang recently when gathered with God’s people. It goes somethings like this:

I will lift my eyes
In the darkest night
For I know my Savior lives
And I will walk with You
Knowing You see me through
And sing the songs You give

How can I keep from singing Your praise?
How can I ever say enough?
How amazing is Your love?

How can I keep from shouting Your name?
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing

No wonder we can talk about a God who has turned our mourning into dancing!

Vindicate me, LORD,
    for I have led a blameless life;
  I have trusted in the LORD
    and have not faltered.
  Test me, LORD, and try me,
    examine my heart and my mind;
  for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love
  and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.

  I do not sit with the deceitful,
    nor do I associate with hypocrites.
  I abhor the assembly of evildoers
    and refuse to sit with the wicked.
  I wash my hands in innocence,
    and go about your altar, LORD,
  proclaiming aloud your praise
  and telling of all your wonderful deeds.

  LORD, I love the house where you live,
    the place where your glory dwells.
  Do not take away my soul along with sinners,
    my life with those who are bloodthirsty,
  in whose hands are wicked schemes,
  whose right hands are full of bribes.
  I lead a blameless life;
    redeem me and be merciful to me.

  My feet stand on level ground;
    in the great congregation I will praise the LORD.

\o/ — Comments Psalm 26: My feet stand on level ground! — \o/

OK, I admit I would like to be able to recite the words to this Psalm as my own. BUT, to put it in cornbread English, I just aint that good. I love the LORD and want to serve Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. However, I fall so short. I could never make these boasts before the LORD. The only righteousness I can claim has been given me by Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).So what I take from this Psalm — very much a claim to live the life advocated in Psalm 1 — is a desire to be more what the Father wants me to be and do what the last line of the Psalm says, “In the great congregation I will praise the LORD” for God has been so gracious and loving and merciful to me.

Stubbornness is not often counted as a positive character trait. I know most of the things over which I display my stubbornness are usually not worth the hassle it causes other people and myself. But there is a kind of stubbornness that is a holy trait. We’ll call it “God stubbornness.” (BTW, today’s insights come from yesterday’s daily Bible reading, Acts 5, I’m a little late on this because I traveled out of town for a funeral yesterday.)

Being God-stubborn means being stubborn for the same things God is — loving the world, faithfulness, loving-kindness, merciful, not wanting people to perish, and willing to do anything to communicate His care. It took awhile, but the apostles of Jesus began to demonstrate some God stubbornness in their lives. Acts 5 gives us a glimpse at one of these times:

//Inspiration: Acts 5:29Peter and the other apostles replied [when threatened with persecution and possible death], “We must obey God rather than human beings.”

//Incarnation: Do I love the things God loves? Am I willing to stand up for what God wants and where is His heart is? Am I willing to do it even in the face of threats? Are bringing people closer to God and sharing the message of Jesus the most important things in my life?For me to ever experience the power of God in the ways the early believers did, I’ve got to be able to live what these once fearful followers of Jesus do in the book of Acts: share God’s love with boldness, conviction, passion, love, and God-stubbornness.

//Invitation:O Holy Father, you are the Almighty, and I am your servant. Make me courageous and compassionate so that I can share Your grace with others with the same grit and determination, a real G0d-stubbornness, that Jesus demonstrated and the apostles followed. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

Hmm. I’ve spent a lot of time learning facts — facts about history, facts about sports, facts about the weather, … facts about the Bible. Facts are important. Committing facts to memory can be crucial in all sorts of situations. However, when it comes to God’s stuff, the matters of love and faithfulness, facts play second fiddle to something else — my heart!

Knowing God, following Jesus, and being led by the Holy Spirit have often been reduced to religious practices, rules, and traditions. Like you, I am guilty of trying to reduce my life with God to manageable “go do” lists, and “go and do not do” lists. This makes things feel simple … formulaic … and quantifiable. I can make my own lists and decide who is in and who is out on the God stuff.

But God … this great and often repeated line in Scripture has a way of scrambling all sorts of human perversions of God’s grace and it wreaks havoc on our formulaic attempts of taming our lives with God. It most certainly re-arranges and re-orders my soul’s priorities in this matter.

But God … emphatically, repeatedly and consistently reminded His people that walking with Him centers on two holy habits of the heart: love and faithfulness. In all the discussion of the bits of wisdom in the Proverbs, maybe one of the very most important ones — second only to fear God — is this:

//Inspiration: Proverbs 3:3
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

//Incarnation:
God won’t let me settle for externals: not external religious observances, not external actions, and not external holiness. No, the Father wants love and faithfulness etched permanently on the tablet of my heart. He wants His words and His will alive in my interior world informing and transforming me from the inside out. Yes, the Almighty wants my obedience. Yes, the Holy One wants me to strive to be holy in everything I do and say and think. But without love and faithfulness etched into the fabric of my heart, sooner or later, the duplicity will out me and I will be revealed — my fake holiness, my skin-deep commitment, and my shifting loyalty exposed.

//Invitation:
O God, so full of both glory and grace, I recognize that love and faithfulness are two primary attributes of your character. I confess that they are not so easy for me to reproduce. I confess further, that a part of me of would like to reduce these attributes to a list of “how to” steps. Deep in my soul, however, I know that only your Spirit can help etch these attributes of your character into my heart. So I ask, and I commit to earnestly seek, the deep water of your grace and open my heart to have You make Your character real in me, heart and soul deep. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Blessed are those     who do not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take     or sit in the company of mockers, but who delight in the law of the LORD     and meditate on his law day and night. They are like a tree planted by streams of water,     which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither –     whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked!     They are like chaff     that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,     nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,     but the way of the wicked will be destroyed.

\o/ — Comments Psalm 1: Like a tree planted by streams of water! — \o/

So we begin! Psalm 1 is one of two introductory Psalms for the whole collection. This introductory Psalm is focused on our commitment to seek God’s will in His truth. There we will find his blessing and our happiness.

As we read and meditate upon Psalm 1, we are called to recognize our constant thirst for the presence of God and how this presence not only nourishes us, but brings refreshment to others. Our seeking of God’s way opens our hearts to see His watch-care over us.

This Psalm challenges me to follow the path Jesus’ beattitude: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for for righteousness, for they will be filled (Matthew 5:6).

Do I hunger for God, His righteousness, and His presence? Do I recognize my thirst for God’s truth, character, will, and holiness?

These questions not only convict me, but they also pull me back to the Messiah, who promised: Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them (John 7:37-38).

O God, draw me to Your truth. Fill my heart and my head with your Word. Refresh my soul with your presence. Challenge my values and take control of my ethics with Your will. Please use me to bless and refresh others. In the name of the one Who is the Living Word. Amen.

Now what is your response to Psalm 1?