Category Archives: Psalms

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When You Are On God’s Side

The Surefire Path to Victory

PREVIEW: President Abraham Lincoln was once asked during the Civil War if he believed God was on his side. His response was one that we would all do well to think about since it represents the only true guarantee of Divine help and victory. Lincoln said, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side, my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” Here’s the deal: If we are on God’s side, we cannot fail. If we are on God’s side, then God will be on our side, and our victory is guaranteed.

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 54:4

Come with great power, O God, and rescue me! Defend me with your might. Listen to my prayer, O God. Pay attention to my plea. For strangers are attacking me; violent people are trying to kill me. They care nothing for God. … But God is my helper. The Lord keeps me alive! May the evil plans of my enemies be turned against them. Do as you promised and put an end to them. I will sacrifice voluntary offering to you; I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. For you have rescued me from my troubles and helped me to triumph over my enemies.

Hallelujah! Surely, God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.

You will often hear people talk about God being on their side. Politicians, religious leaders, and even ordinary people like you and me toss that belief around like a pro athlete guaranteeing a victory in the big game. But just saying it doesn’t make it so!

President Abraham Lincoln was once asked during the Civil War if he believed God was on his side. His response was one that we would all do well to think about since it represents the only true guarantee of Divine help and victory. Lincoln said, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side, my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

Here’s the deal: If we are on God’s side, we cannot fail. If we are on God’s side, God will be on our side, and our victory is guaranteed. David discovered that—the story can be found in 1 Samuel 23:7-29—which is the basis for this psalm. He was on the run from King Saul because the king was bent on having David killed. The young shepherd had just landed in the next of what had been too many hideouts, Ziph, when the people of that village turned him into Saul. The king seemed to finally have David cornered—it looked like it was game, set, and match this time.

But David was on God’s side—and God was on David’s side. Suddenly, just as Saul was ready to pounce, the king got the bad news that enemies on another front, the Philistines, were attacking, so he left pursuing the cornered David to tend to that concerning business. And David was once again delivered when there seemed no possibility of escape. (1 Samuel 23:27-29)

Was it a coincidence that Saul was distracted at that moment when he had David dead to rights? Not at all! You see, God was at work here, bringing about his purposes in David’s life. David was destined to be king, and God was teaching him how to be a good king. And good kings need to know that God can be counted on for help and sustenance when the king is on God’s side.

God wants you to know that, too. Even when there seems to be no way out for you, God is close by; he is working out his plan, teaching you how to be a king; he is showing you that he can be counted on to help and sustain you. And there is only one way to really learn that, which, like David, means that you will have to have your back against the wall so that the only way out is through a mighty and miraculous deliverance through the strong hand of God.

And when you are on God’s side, sooner or later, like David, that will be your story, too!

My Offering of Worship: In this psalm, David prayed, “I will sacrifice voluntary offering to you; I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. For you have rescued me from my troubles and helped me to triumph over my enemies.” Think back to all the times God has helped, then once again, offer your thanks for those divine interventions.

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There Is A God!

Blessed Is the One Who Says, “There Is a God.”

PREVIEW: The more people are choosing to live their lives as if there were no God means they have no true and unchanging source of Authority to live by, no Creator who exercises loving control over their existence, no daily Source of guidance beyond the prevailing but fickle winds of current culture, no Redeemer to rescue them from their sin nature, and no Provider to meet their needs for daily sustenance, comfort for sorrow, protection from the devourer, or significance for an otherwise brief and meaningless existence. Perhaps most dreadful, they have no sense of security for what happens after this life is through. On the other hand, how amazing it is to live as if there is a God. How great it is to know Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior. How satisfying it is to have the security of a Creator who watches over every second and every detail of this life and the joy of knowing that he has made provision for all eternity.

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 53:1,5

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God” … There they were, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread.

With regularity these days, “new” studies come out that proclaim, “America Is Becoming Less Christian.” Apparently, the number of people of the multiple thousands that are surveyed shows the percentage that claims Christianity as their faith continues to drop while the percentage of those who claim no religion continues to rise. In 2022, the Pew Research Center reported that those claiming no faith grew from 9% in 1993 to 29% by 2022. I am not sure how much stock to put in surveys these days, and all kinds of issues about this particular one could be debated, but that’s not my main concern here.

The real concern is that more and more people are choosing to live their lives as if there were no God. How sad! What that means is they have no true and unchanging source of Authority to live by. There is no Creator who exercises loving control over their existence. They have no daily Source of guidance beyond the prevailing but fickle winds of current culture. They have no Redeemer to rescue them from their sin nature. They cannot turn to a Provider to meet their needs for daily sustenance, comfort for sorrow, protection from the devourer, and significance for an otherwise brief and meaningless existence.

And maybe most dreadful of all, they have no sense of security for what happens after this life is through.

No wonder David puts them in the category of “fool.

My point is not to rail against those who have rejected God. The insecurity of their lives is condemnation enough. The real take-away from this psalm for me is simply to acknowledge how amazing it is to live as if there is a God; to know Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior; to have the security and joy of a Creator who watches over every second and every detail of my life.

You see, I have a moment-by-moment Source of guidance for my life. I have a Redeemer who rescues me from my sin nature and even trumps my every sin with the grace of forgiveness. I have a Provider who meets my every need according to his unlimited riches. I have a Comforter in times of sorrow, a Protector in times of danger, and a Creator who has created me as his workmanship to do good works which he prepared for me to do long before I was even born.

And best of all, I have the assurance of life after this one is over—and I don’t live with insecurity, fear, or dread about what will happen tomorrow. I am truly blessed!

Yes, the truly blessed have said in their hearts, “There is a God!”

My Offering of Worship: Take a moment to lift up a prayer of praise and gratitude to the God who is and always will be!

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He Who Laughs Last

Judgment Is Coming—and Rightly So!

PREVIEW: The Founder and Finisher of our faith has commanded us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us—even those who persecute us. (Mat 5:44) But there is also a deep, God-implanted sense in the core of our being which sees injustice inflicted in the world—both the world at large as well as the smaller world of our private lives—and cries out for the day when an all-knowing and all-powerful God will set aright every wrong. Of course, we rejoice when evildoers see the error of their ways, bow their knees in repentance, and make right the wrongs they have committed, but when they don’t, our innate sense of fairness yearns for the innate righteousness at the core of God’s character to hold the wicked accountable for their wickedness. And that day will come. Sooner or later, it will come.!

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 52:6-7

The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him, saying, “Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying other.”

Christians aren’t supposed to laugh at others, right? Isn’t it always poor form to snicker at their misfortunes—even those who invite calamity upon themselves by their own foolish actions and mean deeds? Isn’t it true that we’re not even supposed to wish “bad things” upon our worst enemies—those who torment us for our faith, belittle our Christianity, and despise our God? After all, the Founder and Finisher of our faith has commanded us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us—even those who persecute us. (Matthew 5:44)

True, for the most part! But there is also a deep, God-implanted sense in the core of our being that sees injustice inflicted in the world—both the world at large as well as the smaller world of our private lives—and cries out for the day when an all-knowing and all-powerful God will set aright every wrong. Of course, we rejoice when evildoers see the error of their ways, bow their knees in repentance, and make right the wrongs they have committed, but when they don’t, our innate sense of fairness yearns for the innate righteousness at the core of God’s character to hold the wicked accountable for their wickedness.

And that day will come. Sooner or later, it will come. It may be swift and sure, or it may take a lifetime, or it may have to wait until justice is meted out at the Great White Throne judgment, but that day will surely come. And rightly so!

When David wrote this psalm, he had just come through betrayal at the hands of Doeg the Edomite. David was on the run from King Saul, literally just a step ahead of certain death, and he sought respite and refreshment with the priests of the Lord in the city of Nob. (1 Samuel 21-22) But the dirty dog Doeg spied David there and ratted him out to Saul. Saul promptly marched on Nob, and using Doeg as his executioner, killed all eighty-five of the priests along with the entire village when he couldn’t find David. It was that tragic story that provided the context for this hard-edged psalm of David as he fantasizes about Doeg getting his Divine comeuppance.

Dirty rotten Doeg owned that moment, but it was David who got the last laugh. It didn’t come immediately—how we wish for that—but at the end of the day, it is David who belongs to the ages as the man after God’s heart, while Doeg lives in infamy, his name enshrined in ignominy as Saul’s horrible henchman, ratfink, snitch, and murderer of the Lord’s priests!

And so it mostly goes in God’s economy for believers in every age. We may face trials of many kinds, persecution for our faith, humiliation, injustice, and even death, but we get the last laugh, for that day will come as sure as the dawn when God’s justice will be satisfied. While you may grieve at the slowness of that day, don’t fret, for one day, you will stand in awestruck reverence as Divine justice and righteousness are vindicated—and on that day, in a way that is wholly appropriate, you will laugh!

My Offering of Worship: Are you grieving over injustice in the world? For sure, pray for your enemies, as Jesus commands. But while you are at it, you can also feel right about praying, “How long, O Lord, how long?” In a way that is wholly appropriate, Christians can plead with the Righteous Judge of all the earth to turn his (and our) enemies into friends of God, but if not, to reveal his justice in their eventual punishment.

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Come Clean

How to Restore the Joy of Salvation

PREVIEW: King David’s well-known affair with Bathsheba is far worse than what we now consider a mere sexual indiscretion as he tries to cover up his adultery with even worse crimes—conspiracy and murder. Eventually, as God confronts David with what his sin will unleash in the future— rape, incest, murder, sedition, and death—his personal remorse is devasting beyond description. But this is more than just a cautionary tale, in this story. You see, we are David! We are in no less need of the mercy and grace of Almighty God than this sinful yet heartbroken king. And not only are we, too, in need of a God who will forgive all our sins, but we are in desperate need of a merciful God who will create within us a clean heart and grant us a willingness to fully obey going forward. In David’s psalm of repentance, we find the everlasting truth of this story: True repentance is the means of God’s saving grace! For it is only by heartfelt and honest repentance that we can know the deepest and best joy of all—the joy of our salvation!

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 51:10-12

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

This well-known psalm of David is often referred to by the byline, “After David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.” But that is only the beginning of the tragic, sin-filled story of David’s affair with Bathsheba. It gets far worse as the king tries to cover up his adultery with even worse crimes. But as David comes to grips with what he has done, his own personal remorse is devasting beyond description as he realizes what his sin will unleash in his family in the years to come: rape, incest, murder, sedition, and death!

I can’t imagine the depth of this man’s anguish, whom scripture memorializes as “a man after God’s own heart,” as he came before the Lord carrying the guilt and shame of the Bathsheba affair. He had not only committed adultery, but he had also conspired to commit murder, he had murdered a gifted and loyal soldier, and he had knowingly covered the tracks of his affair for several months.

But all the while, King David—the shepherd boy who slew Goliath, the greatest king of Israel, the sweet singer of Israel—was absolutely miserable.

Then a courageous prophet named Nathan came to David and stood before the king—the most powerful world ruler of his day, a man who held the power of life and death over pesky little prophets like Nathan—and confronted the king with his evil. And David repented.

In the king’s moving prayer of contrition before the Lord, which is what Psalm 51 really is, David expressed to God the depth of guilt, shame, and humility that revealed why, despite such a horrible sin, he was still a man after God’s heart.

This psalm provides a great case study of authentic repentance. David didn’t want just to off-load his guilt by getting this sin off his chest. He wasn’t just attempting to get a pass by coming clean. He wasn’t just feeling sorry because he had finally been caught. Not at all!

David recognized the utter horror of having offended a holy God. He realized the indescribable pain of having messed up the lives of people over whom he had just played God. He fully confessed his wicked act, and the wicked heart that had led to the act.

For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5)

And by so doing, David cast himself upon God’s infinite mercy, recognizing that only then could he be granted a heart that was truly clean, tender to the Lord, and willing to do the things that God desired.

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you… The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. (Psalm 51:10-13,17)

I cannot imagine David’s pain! Or can I? Have I not offended the Lord just as coldly and willingly as David? Have I not murdered, conspired, been willfully unfaithful, and concealed sin before a holy God who demands holiness in me? Yes—I have! Not visibly, but certainly in my heart—at the very core of what makes me fully me—which Jesus pointed out is just as offensive to a holy God and corrosive to my spirit as the physical act of sin. (Matthew 5:21-28)

You see, I am David in this psalm. And so are you. And we are in no less need of the mercy and grace of Almighty God than this heartbroken king. And not only are we, too, in need of a God who will forgive all our sins, but we are in desperate need of a merciful God who will create within us a clean heart and grant us a willingness to fully obey.

True repentance—what a grace! Only then can we know the deepest and best joy of all: The joy of our salvation! (Psalm 51:12)

My Offering of Worship: If you are David in this story, in what area of your life do you need to come clean? Perhaps you have hidden your sin from everyone, but God knows. And until you truly confess, sincerely repent, and desperately ask for a clean and willing heart, you will not know the “joy of salvation” restored. So, today, right now, confess your sin to God, repent of what you have done, and cast yourself on the mercy of God. And while you are at it, ask God to give you a David-heart.

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No Bull

What God Wants from You

PREVIEW: Your integrity is something that God didn’t create. He created you with the capacity for it. He gives you the courage and the strength to live it out. But at the end of the day, you alone must live a life of integrity. You have to make the difficult choices that are congruent with your deeply held values. You have to resist the temptation to compromise and to gratify your flesh. God can’t do it for you—you must do it. And by your choice of integrity in every dimension of your life, you have recognized God’s sovereign Lordship over all of you. Your integrity is an offering of obedience—something that is always the far better sacrifice (Psalm 51:16-17, 1 Samuel 15:22).

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 50:9

I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens.

To paraphrase King David, God will take no bull from you, but he does want your gratitude!

When it comes to your worship, what you give to God is fine, but he really doesn’t need it. Why? He already has it all. He created it. As the psalmist said, “God owns the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10), so sacrificing a bull or a sheep wasn’t necessary for pleasing him.

But there is something that God didn’t create that he wants very much—your gratitude and your integrity. Psalm 50:14 says, “Make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God and keep the vows you made to the Most High.”

Gratitude is something that you form in your heart as a response to God. It is perhaps the most genuine acknowledgment or recognition of God’s goodness and sovereign Lordship over your life that you can give to God. It is an act of appreciation for what God has done. It is an act of loving obedience that makes your worship genuine. It is an act of faith that recognizes God’s constant and continuing care for you. Thanksgiving shows a heart that truly belongs to God. It is an act of trust so powerful that it accesses God’s desire to be intimately involved in the day-to-day affairs of your life, according to Psalm 50:23.

And here is something else to think about: Thanksgiving catalyzes your integrity. G.K. Chesterton said, “Gratitude is the mother of all the virtues.”

Like gratitude, your integrity is something that God didn’t create. He created you with the capacity for integrity. He gives you the courage and the strength to live out your integrity. But at the end of the day, you alone have to live a life of integrity. You have to make the difficult choices that are congruent with your most deeply held values. You have to resist the temptation to compromise and to gratify your flesh. God can’t do it for you—you have to do it. And when you choose integrity, you have recognized God’s sovereign Lordship over your life. Your integrity is an offering of obedience—something that is always the far better sacrifice (see Psalm 51:16-17, cf. 1 Samuel 15:22).

Now here is the power of integrity: by your consistent uprightness, you have proven the authenticity and depth of your love for God. As Jesus said, “If you love me, you will do what I say.” (John 14:15)

God doesn’t want any bull from you. He wants your heart! The psalm ends with David repeating this again for emphasis, “Giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you my salvation.” (Psalm 50:23, NLT)

Watch your step today. Your integrity is a pleasing offering to God. And take time to be thankful. It reminds you of how good God has been. And it makes him pretty happy, too!

My Offering of Worship: Read Psalm 51:16-17, cf. 1 Samuel 15:22. After you have done that, assess your current level of integrity. Have you made the difficult choices that are congruent with your deeply held values? Have you resisted the temptation to compromise and to gratify your flesh? Have you recognized God’s sovereign Lordship over every area of your life? If not, pray, repent, and receive God’s grace. If you are living a life of integrity, rejoice in God’s grace that accepts your integrity as an offering of obedience.

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You Can’t Take It With You

Hold Your Stuff Loosely

PREVIEW: “You can’t take it with you!” We ought to somehow tattoo that bit of wisdom into our minds, think about it every morning as we head off into the day, and then reflect on it every night as we lay our head down on the pillow. In our culture, as I suspect has been the case in every culture, it is so easy to get caught up in the race to get rich, to have things, to look good, to gain power, to become admired, and to keep up with the proverbial Joneses. But at the end of the day, this truth remains intact: You can’t take it with you.

2023-11-17 You Can't Take It With You - Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 49:16-17

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him.

“You can’t take it with you!” We ought to somehow tattoo that bit of wisdom into our minds, think about it every morning as we head off into the day, and then reflect on it every night as we lay our head down on the pillow. In our culture, as I suspect has been the case in every culture, it is so easy to get caught up in the race to get rich, to have things, to look good, to gain power, to become admired, and to keep up with the proverbial Joneses.

But at the end of the day, this truth remains intact: You can’t take it with you.

There was once a very rich man who knew he was going to die, so he had all his assets converted into gold bars, put the gold in a big bag on his bed, draped his body over the bag, and then he died! When he woke up, he was in heaven at the pearly gate. Saint Peter met him at the gate and, with a concerned look on his face, said, “Well, I see you actually managed to get here with something from earth! That doesn’t happen too often. But unfortunately, you can’t bring that in.”

The man pleaded, “Oh please, I must have it. It means everything to me. It’s my life!”

Saint Peter wasn’t impressed: “Sorry, my friend, if you want to keep that bag, then I’m afraid you’ll have to go to ‘the other place.’ You don’t want to go there, believe me.”

But the man was unchanged, saying, “Well, I won’t part with this bag.”

Peter said, “Have it your way. But before you go, would you mind if I looked in the bag to see what it is that you’re willing to trade eternal life for?”

The man said, “Sure, go ahead. Then you’ll see why I could never part with this.”

Saint Peter looked in the bag, saw the gold bars, and with a puzzled look on his face, said to the man, “You mean you’re willing to go to hell for what we pave our streets with?”

The writers of this psalm said, “This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings…Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them… But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.” (Psalm 49:13-15)

Make sure to keep that perspective; it will save your life. And do your investing in the only One who will make your efforts count beyond this life for all eternity. As missionary martyr Jim Elliot profoundly noted, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

My Offering of Worship: As an exercise in perspective, grab a pen and some Post-It Notes, then walk through your home and take a gander at your stuff, look into your closet, check out your garage, and if you have a storage unit, go there as well and inventory all the things you are keeping. Then, on each item that will go with you into eternity, place a sticky note that says, “No matter what, hang onto this.” Of course, you get the point. So just let that sink in!

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God’s House

The Physical Place of Worship

PREVIEW: Not only is the body of Christ the Church of the living God, but the church building can and should be very special as well. The physical church is a wonderful place to come and meditate on God’s unfailing love, just as the Tabernacle was to the psalmist thousands of years ago. In light of that, I would encourage you to add a new dimension to your regular routine of worship—as if worship should ever be routine! Not only should you actively fellowship with God’s saints in the church (Hebrews 10:24-25) but make it your practice to slip into your church’s prayer room or sanctuary often for a time of simple solitude and quiet meditation. It can be with other people present, or just go in when you are alone and give it a try . Just sit and soak in the presence of God and quietly reflect on who he is and what he has done.

“The place in which God’s people gather, by virtue of our collective presence, along with the active presence of the Holy Spirit, sanctifies the building we call ‘the church.’”—Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 48:9

Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.

There was something very special to the psalmist about the city of Jerusalem and the Tabernacle that housed the earthly manifestation of the uncontainable presence of the Lord. As you read the rest of Scripture, you will find that God thought it quite special, too.

Of course, the New Testament teaches us that under the new covenant, the Holy Spirit dwells in believers individually (1 Corinthians 6:19) and collectively (1 Corinthians 3:16-17), which means that now we, the body of Christ, are God’s temple, his dwelling place on the earth. Yet there is still something special about the physical place where believers come together to collectively lift their voices in praise, pour out their hearts in prayer, share their love in fellowship, serve one another in kindness, teach God’s anointed Word, and convincingly call the lost to salvation.

Yes, we are the church—let’s not forget or get confused about that. But neither let us forget that the place we gather is also the church and by virtue of our collective presence, along with the active presence of the Holy Spirit, the building becomes sanctified as well. It, too, is God’s temple.

I bring that up to remind us that the physical church is still a wonderful place to come and meditate on God’s unfailing love, just as the Tabernacle was to the psalmist thousands of years ago. In light of that, I would encourage you to add a new dimension to your regular routine of worship—as if worship should ever be routine! Not only should you actively fellowship with God’s saints in the church (Hebrews 10:24-25), but make it your practice to slip into your church’s prayer room or sanctuary often for a time of simple solitude and quiet meditation. It can be with other people present, or just go in when you are alone and give it a try. Just sit and soak in the presence of God and quietly reflect on who he is and what he has done.

Do it often and see if you don’t grow in your appreciation for the house of God, and more importantly, for the unfailing love of the Lord of the church.

My Offering of Worship: As soon as you can, go into your church building, particularly the sanctuary where people gather to worship God, and quietly, meditatively sit. Make room in the sanctuary of your heart for God to dwell. Don’t rush, but simply allow God to speak.