Psalm 27 Part 1

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Psalm 27:1-2 (ESV)

Have you ever been lost in the dark (talking literally here). I’m a stereotypical male in the directions category, so being lost isn’t a cause for great concern. I’ll figure out where we are and where we’re going eventually. Being lost in the dark is a totally different matter though. I don’t like to drive to unknown places in the dark but walking around on a pitch black night can be downright scary. This was us. We weren’t just lost, we were wandering around in pitch black, clueless, no point of reference, no hope that we might find our way. We needed God to light our lives and Christ to set our feet on the path. Listen to the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 42:6-9:

6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

He calls us to show His light to others! This is a common theme throughout the Psalms and the Bible. God is great! Don’t keep it to yourself. Yet we have a bunker mentality as Christians. At whom are most of the ministries of the church aimed at? Who are our friends? It’s almost like we have a “bring them to church/youth group so the pastor can preach the gospel to them” mentality. BTW, I’m preaching to myself above all here. Get to know the “heathens” (kidding) around you. Have them over for a movie night. Have a bonfire. Invite your neighbors over for dinner. Before you venture out, I would encourage you to read UnChristian. It’ll give you a startling view of what your “unbelieving” friends probably think about you. Then become friends with them. Love them as they are. Don’t love them just because you’re going to share the gospel with them. Be friends long enough for them to notice there’s something different about you. For that to happen: a) there has to be something different about you!! b) your friendship has to be solid enough to talk about spiritual matters. Above all, pray for them! We used to talk about 3 friends. Have 3 friends always that you’re praying for that God might open their hearts to the gospel of Christ.

I’ve ventured pretty far off topic here, so let’s return to verse 1! We’re at a severe disadvantage in terms of intuitively understanding the word stronghold here in America. Places like Ft. Riley are strongholds protected by technology and fence. We don’t see the unassailable aspect of it. I grew up next to the Iowa State Penitentiary, but that’s really designed to keep people in, not out. I don’t think I really got the stronghold concept till I visited Ireland. The sheer size of the castles is intimidating. When I read passages like this, I can’t help but think of Ireland and places in Israel like Masada, which was built into the mountain right to the sheer cliff face. Yet all of those fortresses were assailable. Masada was conquered (it took the Romans some fancy engineering to build a ramp), along with the awesome castles in Ireland are the ruined castles. We have something greater yet in the Lord. He is the unassailable stronghold of our lives. With that, who do we have to fear? When evildoers attack, it is they who fail! When you are under siege, remember this and praise the Lord!

Psalm 150

" Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 150, ESV)

Wow, I think the psalmist managed to put every instrument of the ancient world in here. I suppose he felt the need to hammer his point home. Let’s start with all the instruments and then end up back at the beginning.

Ah, the trumpet! What a biblically foundational instrument to play. Trumpet players must be in a higher echelon of God’s people…. JK. We first hear about the trumpet inExodus 19:16-20, where the trumpet announces the coming presence of the Lord. The trumpet was used to call the people of Israel (Lev 23:24, Num 10:2, Num 10:8). Also, the trumpet was used often in war, but I think it’s important to notice the significance of Num 10:9. The trumpet was used so the people might be remembered before the Lord. Fast forward to the New Testament, and we see in 1 Thess 4:16that the Lord’s coming again will be announced by the sound to the trumpet of God.

Next we praise Him with the lute and harp. Unfortunately we don’t actually know what any of these instruments looked or sounded like. We can infer, but that’s it. When I think of a lute, it’s almost like a guitar with a whole lot of strings, but like I said, that’s speculation. The harp referred to here is the lyre.. I think I’ve got a mental picture of these two instruments, but then I read 1 Chr 16:28 where it says they made loud music on harps and lyres (same Hebrew words). I had pictured these stringed instruments as being a soft sound, but perhaps not. I would guess the author is simply poetically contrasting the “brass” (actually likely a ram’s horn, although in Numbers the Israelites were instructed to make 2 silver trumpets) with the stringed instruments.

Boy, I hate to even bring up the next verse in the Baptist church……. 

The tambourine was an instrument associated closely with dance. We see dance as a part of praise throughout the bible in places like 1 Chr 16:29 where David was being undignified in his praise to the Lord. We get the picture from the ensuing argument with his wife that fear of man should not drive our worship, but rather our reaction to the Lord. How much does the fear of man drive our worship today? Say you’re a person who likes to raise their hands in worship? It’s a biblical expression in worship (Ps 28:2, Ps 134:2, Lam 3:41, 1 Tim 2:8). Some people feel called to lift their hands in worship, some don’t. Both are okay, it’s accepted in the Bible, but it’s not commanded in the Bible. If you were a person called to raise hands in worship, and you were in a congregation with hands down, would you raise your hands? Why not?

The same case of using every instrument we have at our disposal is again built with the cymbals. Clashing cymbals aren’t the most elegant of instruments. There isn’t a lot that you can communicate with a cymbal. There is no finesse to a cymbal. Cymbals are not poetic, or orderly for that matter. Yet the psalmist says that we can praise the Lord in cymbals. For whom do you crash the cymbal? Do you draw attention to the Lord, or yourself?

So who should be doing all of this praising? Everything that has breath!!!! We look forward to the day when every tribe, and every nation and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. How wonderful it will be before the throne, in His sanctuary Praising the Lord.

Psalm 40: Part 4

“In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”” (Psalm 40:6-8, ESV)

This portion of the Psalm is wrought with Messianic connections and yet speaks so closely to our hearts as we dive into the text.

Immediately upon reading this passage, I’m reminded of passages like Hos. 6:6,Micah 6:6-8, Isa 1:11 and especially Amos 5:21-24.  (BTW, if you’re on the blog, if you hover your mouse over the reference, the verse should pop up!)  As a worship leader, verses like this hit me pretty hard.  If you spend any amount of time reading worship blogs or books, you begin to realize that there are a whole lot of folks out there that spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out what the right way to worship is.  What songs do we use?  How often do we serve communion?  Should the lights be dimmed or full?  The questions and “biblical” answers go on and on! How we “do worship” has spawned whole volumes of material.

The Jews had a worship manual straight from God.   They had the Law of Moses, handed down directly from God specifying the sacrificial system and worship rites to follow.  There was just one problem.  The sacrifices weren’t about the animals, they weren’t about the ritual.  The sacrifices were about hearts bent towards God!  After all, if ever a group of people “had it together,” it was the Pharisees.  Jesus didn’t react well to the Pharisees.  In Philippians 3:2-11, Paul lays out just how good a Jew he really was.  He was as good of a person as you could be in the Hebrew world.  If anyone could boast, it was Paul.  What does he say about this?  “… I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Our hearts are what are important here.  We are to count all of our works and stuff as nothing compared to knowing Christ!

So what is the Psalm talking about when it says, “You have given me an open ear?” The Hebrew here is a bit ambiguous, but the same phrase is used in places like Ex 21:6 talking about a slave’s ear being pierced.  In one way here, this could be read essentially, though You have not delighted in sacrifices and offerings, you have made me your servant.  The Septuagint translated this phrase, “a body hast thou prepared me,” which is the translation that the writer of Hebrews uses in Hebrews 10:5-7when referencing this passage as a Messianic prophecy.  Since Jesus himself used the Septuagint, we can be fairly certain that it was a faithful translation of the Hebrew into Greek.

Out of curiosity, I spent some time reading Jewish commentaries on this passage where they backlash against the use of this verse in Hebrews saying that the passage is obviously David talking.  They miss entirely the idea that the Spirit speaking through the writer can say something and mean two things.  There is sometimes an obvious meaning and a meaning that won’t be fulfilled until the remote future.  This passage is one of those with amphibological meaning.  There are two different, but fully correct interpretations.

The writer of Hebrews rightly realized the second meaning of these verses as the pre-incarnate Christ speaking through David.  In this section of Hebrews, the writer is pointing out how the sacrificial system was and could never be enough for God.  Christ therefore comes to offer a better way.  Look at this passage from the perspective of Christ saying it,

“Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ” (Hebrews 10:5-7, ESV)

The writer of Hebrews goes on to explain, “When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:8-10, ESV)

Let’s head back to the David centered meaning of the Psalm to end up.  David says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”  Kind of reminds you of Jeremiah 31:33-34 doesn’t it?  We have the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Rather than studying the Torah, we have the Law of the Lord written on our very hearts.   He forgives our iniquities and remembers our sin no more!  What a great truth that is.  Praise God for the work done at the cross!

Psalm 40: Part 3

You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

(Psalm 40:5)

I loved growing up in the country.  We had the aforementioned timber, a pond to fish in, and snapping turtles to shoot BB guns at.  You know what one of the coolest things was?  Stars.  Yes, on a clear night, you could clearly see the stars.  Have you ever lain out at night and started counting stars?  The funny thing is, the more you stare at the sky and focus, the more stars you begin to see.  That’s the picture I get here from David.  The more we see God for who He is, the more we see His glory!

Let me quote the good Dr. Spurgeon here, because he says it better than I ever could.  “Creation, providence and redemption, teem with wonders as the sea with life.  Our special attention is called by this passage to the marvels which cluster around the cross and flash from it.  The accomplished redemption achieves many ends, and compasses a variety of designs; the outgoing of the atonement are not to be reckoned up, the influences of the cross reach further than the beams of the sun.  Wonders of grace beyond all enumeration take their rise from the cross; adoption, pardon, justification, and a long chain of godlike miracles of love proceed from it…. Let our interest in our God be ever to us our peculiar treasure.”

Then we hit a recurring theme throughout the Psalms, and indeed the whole of the Bible.  David says yet again, “I will proclaim and tell of them.”  Noticing is one thing.  Proclaiming is quite another.  How are the lost to hear if we don’t tell them?  The Word tells us that if He so desires, the very rocks can cry out for us, but it is our task to share His gospel.

Are we running out of things to say?  If we are, then we need to open our eyes!  The Lord is doing a work in your life.  He is guiding you, changing you and sustaining you.  Here is where that study of theology comes in.  I’m convinced that the more we study Him, the more we will be drawn to praise Him!  Here’s the part I love most.  No matter how many books have been written, Psalms or Hymns have been sung, preachers have preached, His wondrous deeds are still too much than can be told!  Throughout the whole of human history, we have been trying to tell of the glory of God, and that hasn’t and will never be enough!  If you ever hear someone say they’ve got a grasp on God and His works, they might not quite understand just who God is.

Let us consider the Trinity.  There is a lot out there you can read on the Trinity, and you can come to a good knowledge base about the Trinity.  You can begin to understand the relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in oneness as God.  You can read many scholarly works of men who have thought of the Trinity.  You can know that it is a true doctrine through that study.  You can understand many aspects of it, but can you ever truly understand the Trinity this side of heaven?  I’m going to say no.  But that certainly doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t pursue a greater understanding the length of our lives.  The nice part is, we can be sure that we will never really understand our Lord until we are faced with Him before the throne, and then we will really worship!

Psalm 40: Part 2

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. 

(Psa 40:2-3 ESV)

When we were kids, my brother and I used to spend our summers “exploring” the timber. Word of explanation. In Iowa, some people own a plot of woods known as a stand of timber. Usually timbers are used for such activities as deer hunting and turkey hunting. On the edge of our timber, Mom put in a pond, and through the timber ran a very small creek. That creek is where my brother and I would lose our boots.

The ground was soft clay, and apparently the combination of clay and water would create what my brother and I would affectionately call “quick mud.” I would be walking along, and then suddenly one foot would go down. Stuck. Trying to pull the foot out boot intact was pointless; the mud’s pull was too strong. The only solution was to extricate (good word usage huh) my foot from the boot, then pulling together, Eric and I could with all our might get the boot out. From that point on in the day, we would be careful to walk on the rocks.

Psalm 40 says, “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay.” How often are we walking through life when suddenly we’re stuck in the mud? The only difference is that we don’t have a boot to take off. The only way to extricate ourselves from the situation is to have someone else pull us out. Going back to verse 1 from a couple of weeks ago, God hears our cry and pulls us out of the mud and sets us on the Rock. Christ. The Hymn writer says, “On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

How true. Only in Christ can I walk without getting bogged down. Unfortunately, I don’t know about you, but I seem to, more often than not, think that I can handle stuff. I say, “No, that’s okay God, I’ve got this one.” And so begins the mucking about until finally I’m stuck and I have to cry out for help. What would my walk look like if I spent less time getting myself stuck, and more time walking on the Rock?

Speaking of reliance on God, what does this needed reliance say about our worship? “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.” He put, not I put! I don’t have any capacity to worship God minus the Holy Spirit. None, none whatsoever. This should and does concern me. Really. Do I quench the moving of the Spirit in worship? I’m talking both private and corporate worship. What gets in the way? The obvious answer is me of course, but what do I do about that? How do I get myself out of the way? I don’t! But I’d better be spending serious time with the Lord, so that when I’m worshipping the focus upward is already in place.

The next verse is great. What is the result of living this way? “Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.” Here is a promise we need to grab hold of. If we walk with the Lord, we are going to be different and people are going to notice.

Psalm 40: Part 1

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

I’m sure that you’ve heard and know quite well that we’re living in a culture of instant gratification. Want a burger? Go to Wendy’s (shameless product placement), order one, and in less than a minute, you have one. Want to hear the new song by Seventh Day Slumber? Go to Rhapsody, look it up and you’re listening. Remember back in the day when if you wanted to watch a TV show, you had to actually sit down at that time and watch it, commercials and all? That, or a tech savvy person could program his/her VCR to record the program on tape, so he/she could watch a scratchy, fuzzy recording later with the ability to fast forward through commercials. Now you can TiVo it, or go only the next day and watch your favorite show with minimal commercials in high quality video.

This instant gratification culture carries into every aspect of our lives. I can’t tell you how many sixth graders were shocked to discover playing an instrument was hard and required work. Our attention spans have become increasingly shorter and shorter. Today, the music is 3-5 minutes long per song. Certainly no time for theme development! The idea of listening though something like Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for 74 minutes is totally foreign. Matter of fact, when we would listen to the fourth movement in it’s entirety, I could guarantee one or more students walking out of my class in protest. That was always a fun conversation with the principal. He would ask, “You mean they’d rather have a detention than listen to 30 minutes of music?” I’d reply, “Yep!”

So let’s put this in a spiritual context. Re read things like John 16:23-24 that say, “in that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you…. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Sweet, the ask and ye shall receive verse! We know that one pretty well. Bring on the instant gratification. Does God work like that. Not to say that sometimes He doesn’t answer prayers immediately, but that’s His prerogative, not ours.

Are you frustrated by asking things of the Lord and not immediately seeing answers? We need to hear Psalm 40, “I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me, and heard my cry.” Patiently. Let me say it again, Patiently. You know when Spurgeon wrote on Psalm 40 in The Treasury of David, he barely spends any time at all on that word. Maybe it’s because that word didn’t stand in stark contrast to society then.

This is something my heart needs to hear. I need to be asking the Lord for patience. And I need to patiently ask the Lord for patience! I need to cry out to Him constantly. I need to cry out to Him desperately. When I ask Him to move in the hearts of people, is it a flippant, on the side comment, or is it like the parable of the Persistent Widow. Jesus says in Luke 18,

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

We read this, and yet, I don’t know about you, but I catch the part about, “He will give justice to them speedily.” I miss the part about, “who cry to him day and night.” Are we persistent and patient? Shouldn’t we be? What does this look like in your life? Have you been crying out for the lost day and night? Do you pray earnestly for our missionaries abroad in the world? I don’t, but just how dissatisfied am I with my prayer life am I? Not enough.

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Guarantees are funny things. Try to do a Google search on guarantee sometime. It’s fun to read the wild claims companies make to try to give you a feeling of security. Here are some examples. “Our products are guaranteed to give 100% satisfaction in every way. Return anything purchased from us at any time if it proves otherwise. We do not want you to have anything from [our company] that is not completely satisfactory.” How about this news story from late October? “Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ that he can ‘guarantee’ a win on Nov.4 in a squeaker victory that won’t be clear until late that night.”

How about Biblical guarantees? If you believe some of the television preachers these days, the Bible guarantees that followers of Christ will live healthy, financially secure lives. Really? When I read the Bible, I see a guarantee that we will have storms in this life. I see that followers of Christ will be persecuted. A quick look at the lives of the apostles doesn’t show a life of ease and comfort. How many times was Paul beaten within an inch of his life? Paul was shipwrecked, imprisoned and eventually martyred for his faith. A third of the Psalms are laments. It looks like the one true guarantee we have in this life is trouble.

Our lives are and will be full of trials. God gets this. Matter of fact, we have a loving Father willing to send His Son to endure more pain and agony that we can imagine, so that we might be His children. We have a loving Savior with the power to conquer sin and death, who sits at the right hand of the Father. The Psalmist says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Our refuge, our fortress, our unassailable bunker. He is present through those trials that will besiege us. He stands strong for us in our weakness. The earth can shake, the mountains crash into the sea, and the seas can rise (perhaps the Psalmist heard of global warming), but we can hold fast in the knowledge that our Lord God is with us. What a magnificent promise! Martin Luther often would say to the people around him during times of duress, “Come, let us sing the 46th Psalm.” Then they would sing, “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, Ein gute Wehr un Waffen,” “A firm fortress is our God, a good bulwark and weapon.”

Not only does the Father stand with us in the storms of life, He supplies us with peace and joy. “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” Are you tapping into that river? When troubles beset you, to which bunker do you head? Do you head for the fear bunker? How about the worry bunker? Personally, I head for the isolation bunker. When the storms hit, I slam the doors and cut the hard lines. There’s no source of joy in any of these bunkers. I tell you what bunker I need. I need to head for the God bunker. In it are things like prayer, the Word, the Body of Christ and the paraclete, the Holy Spirit. In it, there is a river to feed my soul and give me strength. His Kingdom will not be moved though the nations may rage, and the earth may melt. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

I want to camp on one more point from the Psalm here. Verse ten says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” The context here is talking about the nations being still, but I think there is application in our lives. I’m a kind of guy who likes to be busy. Jodie will tell you that when we first got married, carving out time for her was a serious issue. I remember my first year teaching when during part of the year, I was teaching Jazz band before school, marching band on the weekends, stage construction and design right after school for the musical I was directing on three nights of the week. On the other nights I either had worship team practice, or I had Attaboy Dave (our college ministry praise band) practice. Sundays were full with church, choir and evening church. My life was crazy, and the weird thing is that I kind of crave that kind of busyness. Jodie has to remind me frequently that I’m on the verge of filling up every night with something. When do I take time to be still? When do I stop, put down the stress and spend time with God? This is an area in which I’ve grown over the last year, but I have a long way to go. When are you being still? Are you taking time to know your God?

Psalm 34 (part 4)

 

The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

(Psa 34:15-22 ESV)

 

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Boy, I could read this Psalm over and over again! I have begun the extremely lengthy process of memorizing.

 

Totally off subject tangent. I’m bad at memorization. I mean really bad. There are songs that I have been singing for years, and I still don’t know them. It took me most of Friday night at Bethlehem Revisited to learn verse 2 of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. That’s four hours of constant exposure to learn 4 lines of text. Sad, huh? The really sad thing is that if you were to ask me next week to sing it, I would have no clue. Which brings us to the subject of poor excuses. I was struck at Monday night’s Elder meeting as the Student Mobilization staff used verses to answer every question just how pitiful my learned knowledge of the Word is. My excuse? I don’t memorize well. So! Moses didn’t talk so well. God’s Word tells us that His Word is our sword and shield. I suppose it’s about time I arm myself for the battle.

Tangent finished, back to the Psalm.  When I was a teacher, I was often accused of playing favorites. It used to bother me … a lot. I don’t know about you, but I never liked teachers who played favorites. Of course, looking back, those were the teachers that didn’t have me as a favorite. Anyway, I considered this for many years before I realized that as a teacher, I gravitated towards the kids who wanted to be taught. The indifferent kids (rightly or wrongly) were largely ignored in my interactions with the students that interacted pro-actively. The “bad” kids? My philosophy was to remove them from the classroom when they caused a distraction to the kids who wanted to learn. I’m sure you can see the connection here to the Psalm in my very imperfect example.

God looks towards the righteous and looks away from the wicked. It’s like He wants to spend His time on the people that want to grow. When they cry for help or are brokenhearted, He is right there, guiding and supporting every step of the way. To connect back to the teaching example, God is not like the Algebra teacher who explained the concept and then left the students to flounder on their own. He is like the teacher who would take whatever time it took (you know, the teacher available after class, who was willing to take precious class time to work through problems) to make sure their students understood the concepts at hand. God doesn’t leave His children to flounder! He is good to come alongside and guide us.

But! David says in Psalm 14, “The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no on who does good, not even one.”Doesn’t look so good huh? These two Psalms combined don’t say great things about our chances to be God’s “favorites.”

But! David points to our hope in both Psalms. In Psalm 14 he says, “Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.” He’s a bit more subtle in Psalm 34, but verse 20 sticks out like a sore thumb. “He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.”Where else in the Bible does it talk about broken bones?

Talking about the sacrificial lamb in Exodus, the Lord commands, “… and you shall not break any of its bones.” We have a Lamb whose bones were never broken. John 19:32-33 says, “So the soldiers cam and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.”

Crucifixion was a horrific means of punishment. You would think it would be the nails, or the exposure to the elements that would kill the person hanging there, but actually the person on the cross would die from suffocation. The way the Romans hung a person caused there to be terrible pressure on the chest and lungs, meaning the only way to get a breath was for the person to painfully straighten their legs. This meant putting pressure on the stacked feet with a nail through, scraping the back against the splintery wood, rubbing the skin raw. Often the person would hang for a long time, but the Jews were in a hurry because of the approaching Sabbath. To speed up the process of killing, the soldiers would break the legs of the victims so they could no longer stand. In other words, crucified people had their legs broken, but not the Lamb of God. This fulfilled the requirements set down in Exodus and alluded to in Psalm 34.

Also, as Christ took the sins of the world upon Himself on the cross, the Father had to turn away, as is His nature to turn away from sin. But, Jesus rose from the grave, gloriously conquering sin and death! What’s more, when we are in Christ, when the Father looks at us, He sees Christ. We can finally have God look at us! Psalm 34 then becomes the comfort and truth it was obviously intended by David to be! “The Lord redeems the life of His servants, none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.”

Psalm 34 (part 3)

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. (Psa 34:8-14 ESVESV)

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Don’t take my word for it. When was the last time you used this statement? Usually we say it when something just sounds too good to be true. Statements like, “Ireland is green,” or “Hawaii is a paradise,” or “soft boiled eggs on toast is good.” Until you’ve seen Ireland or Hawaii or tasted soft boiled eggs on toast, these statements don’t incite a visceral reaction. It’s almost like David is daring someone here. He’s saying, “See for yourself, the Lord is good.” It also evokes a visceral reaction for those who know that the Lord is good! It brings us to nodding our heads in emphatic agreement.

Do we say this in our words and actions? Do we say, “Look! The Lord is good. Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself.” Who are we saying it to? I don’t know about you, but I’m awfully isolated. I suppose it doesn’t help that I’m antisocial, but doesn’t the Word say, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” How can we step out of our comfort zones? Are you praying for friends to come to the Lord? It certainly won’t happen without the work of the Holy Spirit, and we need to intercede on their behalf.

There we are, right? Share your faith with your friends. Ah, but as the author of The Great Omission points out, we can’t stop there. David goes on to teach us how to taste and see. Jesus says in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Wait a second! Doesn’t He mean go and make converts? Maybe it was translated wrong. It’s all Greek to me…. Never mind. The word here means either to follow precepts and instructions or to teach or instruct. Teach or instruct. That sounds an awful lot like what David is doing in Psalm 34. It’s not enough to pray our friends in the door, we’re called to make disciples. Who are you pouring into? Whew, talk about Christian jargon. Who are you deliberately teaching and instructing in the Way? Pastor Flack said Sunday that the Gospel isn’t the safety instructions at the beginning of the flight, it’s the whole flight plan. Who’s co-pilot are you?

My reaction to this kind of teaching? I don’t have it together yet. I’ll disciple when things are going right. After all, look at the heroes of the Bible. They had it together. David, Peter, all the other disciples…. Oh wait, not exactly stellar flawless guys. Matter of fact, doesn’t it seem like God uses the unlikely guys to do His work? Why? “When we are weak, He is strong.” Brings us right back to God receiving glory! When it is so terribly obvious that we can’t do something, and God works through us to get it done, it just shows how the Lord has worked.

I’m always reminded of this on Sunday mornings when things don’t go so well. You know, everything sort of collapses in on itself. The screen doesn’t sync perfectly. The guitar strings snap in the middle of a verse, forcing an a capella chorus. My brain fries in the middle of a prayer. Almost without exception those are the Sundays where I hear how wonderful the worship was. Certainly not me, but God be praised. This is how we should be with discipleship and evangelism. Let’s step out in faith. We’ll mess stuff up, because we are only human, but at the end, God will be praised!

Psalm 34 (part 2)

 

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

(Psa 34:4-7 ESV)

 

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“I sought the Lord.” “Those who look to Him.” “This poor man cried.” Do you catch a pattern here? What gives God glory? I think that question should be our primary concern in life. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” I’m sure most of you have heard John Piper’s statement concerning God’s glory. I think this is what David is talking about here. David doesn’t sit back on his heels and wait for the Lord to work. I don’t want to be mistaken, David has to wait on the Lord, but it’s a proactive kind of waiting.

It’s like the kid in last year’s 6th grade band who really wanted to play #92, Trombone Rag. By this time, we would inevitably be on #200 something, but a favorite song is a favorite song. Teaching wise, it’s a good song. The trombones get to gliss finally, the trumpets have to learn some measure of syncopation and dynamics. Little Brendon would get it in his head occasionally that he wanted to play the song, so every five minutes or so, he would ask if we could play #92. I would string him out of course, because as long as he was focused on the expectation of playing #92, he was focused on something, and let’s be honest, a focused 6th grader is a blessing. Of course, both of us knew that I would give in in the end, but he was persistent in seeking.

Are we that way with God? Not pestering, but persistent in asking. Asking knowing that God will give us our answer. Look how David was answered. He sought the Lord and was delivered. He looked to Him and was no longer ashamed. Boy, I could camp here for a long time. So let me camp here for a short time!

The enemy tells us that if we look at God we’ll realize how far off the mark we are, and we will be ashamed. So what is our response? I don’t know about you, but out of shame, I start avoiding God. Of course, this results in more shame, so I avoid more. Then I’m ashamed that I’m avoiding God, so I’m even more ashamed. See where this is going? There’s a whole snowball effect that happens. Then we end up sitting there wondering why we are so far from God.

The truth of looking to God is so much better. If we look to the Lord, not only do we see where we lack, but we see the mercy and grace of Christ making up that lack and more. What an amazing Grace! No wonder that David says that those who look to Him are radiant! We always know it too. If you’re anything like me, when you finally come to the cross, God is faithful to renew a right Spirit within you and He heals once again.

Something that’s been convicting me for some time is the concept of God sized prayers. Do we put God in a box? How big do we think our God is? Are there things that we’ve decided aren’t happening, so we don’t pray for? What do our prayers say about what we think about God? As I look through the Word, I see a God who loves to take huge prayers and bless the socks off the people crying out. (Random note, don’t you love the phrase, “Bless the socks off?” Pastor Mark used it all the time, and slowly yet surely it caught on.) I think God loves to bless the socks off of things. Why? Because it brings Him glory!

What can we take from verse 7. I certainly see application in the area of spiritual warfare, but I think there’s something else that we can take from this. This statement continues the same thought that David has been on for the last three verses. He’s talking about a close proximity to the Lord. David shows us that if we’re close to the Lord, He is faithful. What a joy to serve a faithful God. We certainly aren’t by nature a faithful people. We’re too easily distracted. We all have spiritual ADD. We can be going along fine, and then something distracts us.

The distraction isn’t always something bad, matter of fact, usually it’s something good. However when something good becomes the thing, it becomes an idol. Whoa! I just pulled out the “i” word. We are after all an enlightened society. You certainly don’t see anyone bowing down before a little wooden statue asking for rain or something like that, do we? How many people “bow down” to stuff, asking it to make them happy? How many of us “bow down” to our deeds, holding them up to show how we don’t need God today? How many of us put other things before a holy God? Every single one of us, every single day.

God tells us, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” I don’t think He says that for His sake. I think He tells us that for our sakes. He’s saying to us, “Hey, there’s one thing in this whole world that truly satisfies… Me.” The more we draw close to Him, the more He shows us the areas in our lives that we are letting get ahead of Him. May we be a seeking people, a looking people, a crying people, for the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.

Psalm 34 (part 1)

 

I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!

(Psa 34:1-4 ESV)

 

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Do you ever have a song in your head? I’m bad at this. It bothers my wife something fierce because I always seem to get the song stuck in her head too. This is probably because I just can’t not sing out loud. Yesterday was a good example. I was listening to a worship CD on Rhapsody when I heard Lincoln Brewster cover that Hallelujah song from Shrek. Anyway, I played it several times while blogging, and then it was done. It was stuck. Of course, when Jodie got home, I had to share this appalling interpretation of worship with her. It’s just such a catchy tune! I’ve been singing it ever since.

Our praise for the Lord needs to be like that song. Our love for Him needs to be something we just can’t get out of our heads, and we shouldn’t try! What’s more, it should be such a catchy thing that we can’t wait to share it with friends. His praise should be infectious. Who are you giving credit for stuff to? David says our souls should make their boast in the Lord. Are you noticing stuff? Are you praising the Lord throughout the day?

Today had a pretty rough start to it. Let’s be blunt, last night wasn’t exactly an uplifting night for Republicans. Slow getting up, I ran over to Panera to grab Jodie a Mocha and a scone (don’t get me started on the disgustingness of the scone). I walked back out to my car at the precise moment it started raining. It was one of those cold, sheeting rains from the side. You know, the soaking, make you cold and shivering rains. I took Jodie her food, hopped back in my car, and the windshield wiper promptly popped off. Arg. Now I had to get out of my car, in the cold rain, to fix my windshield wiper blade so that I could see to drive. What a miserable day….

“This is the day the Lord has made; rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

That’s what ran through my head at that precise moment. Wow, talk about getting smacked over the head by the Lord! I took that moment to praise Him for being a sovereign, loving God.

When we gather Sunday morning, our worship should be a corporate continuation of what we’ve been doing all week long. Too often we get into a habit of struggling through the week. We get to Sunday having praised him maybe occasionally, rarely or not at all. We wade our way through the foyer, greeting folks, letting them know how great a week we had. We settle into a pew, glance through the bulletin and get ready for another hour or so of worship. Somewhere in the second or third song, we get into it and really start to worship. We listen to the sermon, seeing how far off we are in our lives. We sing a final song, and we’re done. Yep, that’s right, done with worship for the day. We turn around, and start talking about all the things that life has thrown at us in the last week. Though edifying, we notice that often the Lord is far from our lips. As we head out into the world for another week, we vow to do better this week.

Is this the Christian walk? I wonder what our walk would be like if we were to bless the Lord at all times, and praise him continually. As we have been extolling the Lord throughout the week, we would gather on Sunday morning, sharing with each other the blessings of the Lord we’ve seen. We would gather as a body, and magnify the Lord, exalting His name together. May we be that kind of follower of Christ!