The Phil Files

In you, LORD my God,
  I put my trust.
  I trust in you;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    nor let my enemies triumph over me.
  No one who hopes in you
    will ever be put to shame,
  but shame will come on those
    who are treacherous without cause.

  Show me your ways, LORD,
    teach me your paths.
  Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long.
  Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love,
    for they are from of old.
  Do not remember the sins of my youth
    and my rebellious ways;
  according to your love remember me,
    for you, LORD, are good.

  Good and upright is the LORD;
    therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
  He guides the humble in what is right
    and teaches them his way.
  All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful
    toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
  For the sake of your name, LORD,
    forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

  Who, then, are those who fear the LORD?
  He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.
  They will spend their days in prosperity,
    and their descendants will inherit the land.
  The LORD confides in those who fear him;
    he makes his covenant known to them.
  My eyes are ever on the LORD,
    for only he will release my feet from the snare.

  Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    for I am lonely and afflicted.
  Relieve the troubles of my heart
    and free me from my anguish.
  Look on my affliction and my distress
    and take away all my sins.
  See how numerous are my enemies
    and how fiercely they hate me!

  Guard my life and rescue me;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    for I take refuge in you.
  May integrity and uprightness protect me,
    because my hope, LORD, is in you.

  Redeem Israel, O God,
    from all their troubles!

\o/ — Comments Psalm 25: In You, my LORD and God, I put my trust! — \o/

We have all sorts of ways of trying to find significance, fulfillment, and meaning in life. Reading this Psalm reminds me of all the ways I need to turn to the LORD for my identity and security. I am vulnerable and in need in so many areas — physical safety, physical health, spiritual health, spiritual correction, spiritual nurture, spiritual growth, … the list could go on and on. Yet when I am honest with myself, I realize that I cannot manage, much less fix, any of these situations. I am profoundly dependent upon the LORD and His care. My cries in this honesty are very much the same as the psalmist:
… show me Your ways!
… guard my life!
… do not let me be put to shame!
… be gracious to me!
… free me from anguish!
… forgive my iniquity!

Now if I can with full heart put my trust in God and have my hope fixed on Him! Ah, this is my goal form this day forward … to rely on the LORD, His grace and strength, and not rely on my own ways, but tune my heart and life to honor Him.

How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
  How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
  How long will my enemy triumph over me?

  Look on me and answer, LORD my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
  and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

  But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
  I will sing the LORD’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.

\o/ — Comments Psalm 13: I trust in Your unfailing love! — \o/

The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:26). Those were the apostle Paul’s words and they resonate in my heart today as I read this Psalm.

You see, today my heart is on a dear friend wrestling with terminal cancer. I say this Psalm for this friend. I cry out to God for a miracle. I pray for deliverance. Whether the psalmist’s original intentions were to speak of physical, military, or political enemies, my heart is drawn to our last, powerful, vicious enemy — death. I don’t want death to triumph in this case … not now … not with my friend.

I know there are times when death is welcome — when death is the doorway to God’s presence and God’s peace and escape from suffering and sickness. But, in a world of decay and mortality, where each of us is held by a fragile thread to life and family and friends, death is still an enemy. The Holy Spirit declares that Jesus came to liberate us from our fear of death’s tyrannical rule (Hebrews 2:14). So today, dear God, I pray this Psalm and ask for your deliverance of my friend.

Yet, dear God, I do trust in your unfailing love and I know the salvation that you have already lavished down on my friend. I know, dear Abba, that you have done so many great things for me and those that I love. I trust in Your goodness and Your care. I rest my heart in the assurance that Your deliverance will come — whether from death to good health or through death into Your presence (Philippians 1:19-23).

So as I listen to the birds of morning sing their songs, my heart wells up with joy and a song stirs in my heart, too. I praise you, O LORD, for You are good … You are my God … and Your goodness overflows and blesses me.