Archive for the ‘Lord’ tag
Psalm 30: From Sackcloth to Joy
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 giveHow 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!
Psalm 29: The Blessing of Peace?
Ascribe to the LORD, you heavenly beings,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of his 1 holiness.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.
The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD twists the oaks 3
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace.
\o/ — Comments Psalm 29: The LORD blesses his people with peace! — \o/
Having spent the last week in a part of the country where floods have raged, lightning has sent it’s jagged crackles of electricity across the sky, thunder has rolled across the heavens, and torrential rains have caused flooding, this is a welcome and challenging psalm.
Like the psalmist, I’m reminded of the LORD’s indescribable power and my small place in the universe by such a massive display of natural power. Knowing God’s power if infinitely greater than these limited, but overwhelming displays of power, is both astounding and at the same time comforting. Clearly, I cannot control my own destiny. In the face of natural power, I am small and insignificant. Yet, the LORD chooses to know me and care about me and include me in His people. Because of this grace from the LORD, the LORD who sits enthroned above the flood, the LORD who is enthroned as King forever, I can trust that He will give me the strength I need and the peace I crave.
To this God, the only true and living God, belongs all glory, honor, and praise!
Psalm 26: Level Ground
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.
Psalm 14
Fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
The LORD looks down from heaven
on the human race
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on the LORD.
But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.
You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
but the LORD is their refuge.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
\o/ — Comments Psalm 14: When the Lord restores His people! — \o/
In the jungle and in the forest, each creature is either predator or prey. Many creatures are both! In the world, it often seems this way, too. However, God has called us to His character. He is neither predator or prey. He is Redeemer and Deliverer. He calls us to His character and His mission. To deny His presence, His pervasive influence on the fabric of creation, is foolish and disastrous. Yet many, in their lust for power and control, deny His existence and stalk the weak, prey on the vulnerable, and abuse the righteous.Psalm 14 gives us words for those times of heartbreak, anger, and desperation when we see the vulnerable savagely devoured by the godless. The godless celebrate because they believe there is no God and that there is no one to hold them accountable for their wickedness, corruption, and evil. For those under relentless attack, it does feel as if all goodness has vanished from the earth and only the vile rule. (Romans 3 reminds us that there are times when we all have fallen into this category and our only deliverance is God’s costly grace given us in Jesus!)
We live in a time when Christians are persecuted and martyred in many parts of our world without much comment from the press and almost without notice by their brothers and sisters in the Western world. (See Voice of the Martyrs for details.)
What can we do to be genuine peacemakers?
What can we do to help our fellow brothers and sisters hang on and trust that God will act?
How can we help them hold on and find refuge in the LORD?
How can we encourage them that deliverance is not a matter of IF God will act, but WHEN He will act?
More than questions to ponder, these are soul-searching issues we must master. And until we master both question and answer, we must pray, Oh, that salvation … would come … When the LORD restores His people!
O LORD, please act! Please intervene. Please restore. And, dear God, please stir us — your people with freedom, money, power, and protection — to pray and work for the deliverance of our brothers and sisters under persecution. Please stir us to be a blessing because we are so blessed. Please use us to be a tool to help your people have reason to rejoice and be glad!
What About You?
I remember going fishing years ago with a friend who took his three year old grandson. We didn’t have children yet, so I wasn’t personally experienced with the tenacity of a three year old bombarding an adult with “Why?” questions. In four hours of traveling and fishing, this little guy had to ask “Why?” at least 200 times! (I promise, this is no exaggeration.) We would give an age appropriate answer, then the little guy would respond with, “Why?”
About two thirds of the way through the afternoon, I began to say, “Because God created the world round.” I know this is not a great theological insight, nor is it a great parental out, but it worked for awhile. It kept the follow up questions at bay. Until we got in the truck to go home. I gave my little answer and then he responded quizzically, “But Phil, why did God make the world round?”
Good question! And some questions are better than others. But the most important question of all is the one Jesus asks His closest followers in Luke 9, our reading for today:
//Inspiration: Luke 9:20
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
//Incarnation:
Who do I say Jesus is? This question is much more than a verbal question that I need to answer; this is a must question that I have to answer with the living of my daily life. Jesus stresses all the way through this chapter the importance of following Him for the sake of the Kingdom. So the question is about who I let rule my life and who do I trust with the meaning, significance, and ultimate destination of my life. So who is Jesus? He is God’s Messiah. He is the Promised One proclaimed by the prophets and feared by the demons. He is the misunderstood Son of Man and He is the one who notices the marginalized. He is the One who made the world!
So how does my life reflect his identity? How am I living up to the confession that fills my heart and flows from my mouth?
//Invitaiton:
O God, Father and Almighty, I thank you for revealing yourself in Jesus. I praise you for having a plan to redeem and bless all peoples in your Messiah, Jesus Christ. Now I ask that you help me demonstrate Jesus in my own life. And I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and my Lord. Aemn.
Psalm 1: Blessed!
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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 Not so the wicked! For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, |
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\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?