Category Archives: Psalms

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My Days Are Numbered

God Is In Charge Of Me!

SYNOPSIS: How many days do I have left on Planet Earth? I don’t know. No one does, except God. He knows the exact number of years, days, hours, and seconds that I will occupy my address in this world; the exact moment that my death will occur. But here’s what I do know: God planned me, built me, watches over me, can steer me back on track when I wander, will keep me safe until the Divinely allotted numbers of days ordained for me are up, and then take me to the next life He has prepared for me. My life will be over when He says it’s over — and I’m okay with that!

Moments With God // Claim: Psalm 139:16

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Will you live a long and healthy life? How many days do you have left? How will it end for you? You don’t know. No one does, except God. He knows the exact number of years, days, hours, and seconds that you will occupy your address on Planet Earth; the exact moment that death will come for you.

Now that may not seem like a cheery thought to you, and in fact, most people would find that sobering, at best, and frightening, at worst. Not me. I find great comfort and security in knowing that God has my life so ordered that I will neither die a day sooner nor live a day longer than what has already been recorded in His book. You see, matters of life and death are far above my pay grade, so I will happily let Father God take care of that department, thank you very much.

When I truly and correctly understand this profound truth, then I will be set free from the fear of death to fully live the life that God has planned for me. I can enjoy an intimate walk with the One

• Who was intimately involved in each minor detail of my day (Psalm 139:1-4)
• Who never lets me out of His sight (Psalm 139:5-8)
• Who guides my every move with His Fatherly hand (Psalm 139:9-10)
• Who is not limited by my circumstances (Psalm 139:11-12).

In fact, God is so involved in my life that He was even there at the moment my mother and father conceived me in love, and He superintended even the most infinitesimal details of my physiological and temperamental formation.

God knows me! He knows everything about me. He planned me, built me, watches over me, can steer me back on track when I wander from His purpose (Psalm 139:23-24), can be completely trusted to keep me safe until the Divinely allotted numbers of days ordained for me are up, and then take me to the next life that He has prepared for me.

“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand” (Psalm 139:6, NLT), but it won’t keep me from enjoying this day and praising the One who is in charge of it!

Take A Moment: Throughout the day, declare, “God is in charge of me!” Then live like it’s true—because it is!

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Fruitful Fear

It's the Only Way to Live

SYNOPSIS: The fear of the Lord doesn’t conjure up very a positive image. But to be God-fearing doesn’t mean to cower in terror because a capricious and vengeful Deity is fixing to squash you like a bug if you displease him in the least. Rather, while acknowledging that disobeying his law will bring painful consequences, it recognizes that obeying that very same law will bring life-giving benefits. In that sense, to live in the fear of the Lord is the only way to the blessed life. Too many people today are trying to live a God-blessed life without a God-fearing life. It can’t be done! But those who fear the Lord have nothing to fear! In fact, they have every good and perfect thing to gain.

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // Psalm 128:1-2

Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Fear!  The word doesn’t conjure up very positive images does it? These days in our cultural context, parents don’t usually teach their kids to live in fear of anything and teachers don’t instruct their students to be afraid.  So why should preachers stand in pulpits and preach the “fear of the Lord” to their congregations? That seems a bit incongruent with our image of a loving and gracious God.

The problem is that we misunderstand what the Bible means when it talks about this kind of fear. A better way to think of it is the old term used a generation or two ago: God fearing. That simply meant to have a deep reverence for God and a healthy respect for his laws. It did not mean to cower in terror because a capricious and vengeful Deity was fixing to squash you like a bug if you displeased him in the least. Rather, while acknowledging that disobeying God’s law would bring painful consequences (just try ignoring his universal law of gravity and see how that works for you), it recognized that obeying that very same law would bring life-giving benefits.

To live with a healthy and holy fear of God provided the foundation for a prosperous journey through this life as well as preparation for entering into the joy of the eternal kingdom in the life to come. The fear of the Lord was what enabled people to navigate daily challenges with good judgment and grace. And the icing on the cake for a fear-of-the-Lord approach to living was the promise that God would add fruit, blessings and prosperity to our lives.  That’s not a bad exchange:  Fear of the Lord for fruitfulness in life.

Too many people today are trying to live a God-blessed life without a God-fearing life. It can’t be done! Living without deep reverence for God and healthy respect for his laws, including awareness of the consequences of breaking them—will only produce the other kind of fear: fear that our past will catch up to us, high anxiety because of what we’re going through today, and terror of what might happen tomorrow.

But those who fear the Lord have nothing to fear! In fact, they have every good and perfect thing to gain.  If you can wrap your life around what it means to be God-fearing, this gracious God himself will give you the life you’ve only dreamed of—and even beyond that.

The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else. ~Oswald Chambers

Reflect & Apply: What kind of fear is your fear of the Lord? A healthy and holy fear, or one that is unhealthy and unholy? Spend some time today thinking about what it means to be a God-fearing person—and what changes you may need to make to be one.

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Recalibrate

Are You On God's Side?

SYNOPSIS: Whether it’s pursuing your personal goals (“building your house”), protecting your interests (“watching over the city”), earning a living (“rising early and stay up late toiling”), or raising your family (“a quiver full of children”), at the end of all your efforts, nothing of lasting value and eternal consequence will have been accomplished if the Lord has not helped; even more, if the Lord has not been the architect and builder of your pursuits!

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // Psalm 127:1-2

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves.

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln was once asked if God was on his side. The president’s response was classic—and deeply profound: “It is not is God on my side, but am I on God’s side?”

That’s a great question to ask yourself in any of life’s endeavors—several of which are listed in Psalm 127. So whether it is in pursuing your personal goals (“building your house”), protecting your interests (“watching over the city”), earning a living (“rising early and stay up late toiling”), or raising your family (“a quiver full of children”), at the end of all your efforts, nothing of lasting value and eternal consequence will have been accomplished if the Lord has not helped; even more, if the Lord has not been the architect and builder of your pursuits!

And what is the best way to ensure the Lord’s help?  Not just to get the Lord on your side—that can be tricky business, given the exceeding craftiness of our own motives (Jeremiah 17:9).  Rather, the only surefire guarantee of the Lord’s help is to get on God’s side—and stay there.

Perhaps Lincoln’s question is a good one to ask yourself today: “Am I on God’s side?”  Are my goals God-given?  Are my interests dedicated to his purpose?  Is my work his work?  Is my family set apart for his glory?

If you are nervous about being able to answer those questions in a God honoring way, then wouldn’t you say it is time to recalibrate your life so that from the center to the circumference, you are aligned with God’s purposes?

I hope you will join me today for a little recalibration. If we can pull that off, we’ll be in good standing to get the Lord’s help.  And like the Apostle Paul, the testimony of our life will be, “But I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike.” (Acts 26:22)

“We cannot help conforming ourselves to what we love.” ~Francis de Sales

Reflect & Apply: What are the most significant pursuits occupying your time, energy and resources these days? Can you truly say of them, they are God’s agenda for your life? If not, let the recalibration begin.

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Prayer For A Once Mighty Nation

An Impassioned Intercession

SYNOPSIS: God is very clear that consequences follow sin; the law of sowing and reaping is unmistakable in Scripture. Yet the psalmist, Asaph, along with other Biblical writers, often placed their hope in God’s mercy—then prayed like crazy for a crop failure. I think it’s okay to pray for a crop failure. In fact, I would even say it’s wise to pray that way. Why? God may just substitute his mercy for his discipline. Micah 7:18 tells us, “Mercy is your specialty.” Since mercy and grace are what makes God, God, why not tap into them and pray for the restoration of a once mighty nation—or perhaps, a once blessed life!

An Impassioned Intercession // Psalm 80:19

Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

How do you pray for a once-godly nation that is now suffering the just punishment for rebellion? You do what the psalmist did: Boldly, persistently and unashamedly pray for restoration![/callout]

Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Three times the psalmist made the exact same appeal for the restoration of Israel—Psalm 80:3,7,19. Each appeal is more intense than the previous, building to this crescendo of importunity in the final verse. He even sneaks in another plea for revival in the penultimate verse: “Revive us so we can call on your name once more.” (Ps. 80:18) This guy is bent on national renewal in Israel through a spiritual awakening!

What is interesting about Psalm 80—which you would agree is especially applicable for America right now—is that this desperate cry for restoration came during a time when the Almighty had removed his blessing because of the nation’s persistent rebellion. It was most likely written at the tail end of the Northern Kingdom’s rebellious run as a nation, and they were suffering the harsh reality of life without the protective hand of God—deservedly so!

How like America! We, too, have strayed from our once declared dependence upon the Almighty’s protective hand. We have abandoned the collective sense of our national raison d’être: To serve God’s purposes in the earth. We have bowed at the idol of political ideology, conflating our politics with Kingdom value’s. And let me be clear, the Christian nationalism that is growing in America is nothing less than idolatrous! Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36)

We have traveled so far down the road of spiritual rebellion—both sinner AND saint—that God will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah if he withholds punishment on this nation much longer. That is really what we deserve. But in reality, isn’t what was true of Israel, and what is true of America, true of you and me, too? At the end of the day, aren’t we all undeserving of anything but God’s judgment?

Yet what is even more interesting about Psalm 80 is that the appeal for restoration is not based on the worthiness of Israel, it is rather rooted in the immutable character of God—who is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love and delights to show mercy rather than send calamity! (Psalm 103:8-14, Joel 2:13, Micah 7:18)

God has been very clear that consequences will follow sin; the law of sowing and reaping is unmistakably clear in Scripture. Yet the psalmist, along with other Biblical writers, often placed their hope in the mercy of God—and prayed like crazy for a crop failure.

I think it’s okay to pray for a crop failure. In fact, I would even say it’s wise to pray that way. Why? God may just substitute his mercy for discipline. The Message translation says of God in Micah 7:18,

Mercy is your specialty.

Since mercy and grace are what makes God, God, why not tap into them and pray for the restoration of a once mighty nation—and perhaps, a once blessed life!

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Thankfully, God’s Love Never Runs Out!

Trying Writing Your Own Psalm of Gratitude

If you’re sharing a Thanksgiving meal with family or friends today, there’s a chance that something will run out: the gravy, the stuffing, or the pumpkin pie. Thankfully, there is something that will never run out at your celebration: God’s love for you! Psalm 107:1-2 says, “Oh, thank God—he’s so good! His love never runs out. All of you set free by God, tell the world!” So why don’t you do just that: tell the world, or at least those you are with today. Write an “O give thanks to the Lord for he is good” psalm, and then, like the psalmist suggested, tell everyone how grateful you are. It will do you, and them, a world of good.

Going Deep // Focus: Psalm 107:1-2

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say this!

If you are sharing a Thanksgiving meal with loved ones today, there is a chance that something will run out: the gravy, the stuffing, or the pumpkin pie. Thankfully, there is something that will never run out that will be present at your celebration: God’s love for you!

I like the way The Message version renders the psalmist’s call to gratitude: “Oh, thank God—he’s so good! His love never runs out. All of you set free by God, tell the world!”

It is true—and it is more than just christianese: God is good—all the time! That is the testimony of my life—and I have a feeling it is true of your life as well. Certainly, I ought to be proclaiming God’s goodness to anyone who will listen, and even to those who won’t, much more than I do. Add to that the fact that I am, on my best day, not so good, and on my worst day, frankly, pretty bad, only adds to the brilliance of God’s overwhelming goodness.

The New King James translation of the psalmist’s words are even more meaningful to me: “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Mercy—I can really relate to that. Now don’t misunderstand what I’m saying: I’ll take either enduring love or enduring mercy—I can’t live without either one. Love and mercy are simply different facets of the same diamond we understand as the goodness of God.

But God’s mercy really speaks to me, and I’ll bet if you thought about, it, you would say the same. Someone said that mercy is not getting what you deserve. The truth is, you and I depend upon God’s mercy every single moment just to draw in the next breath, since the holy and righteous God has had every reason and right to annihilate us from the planet because of our sinfulness. Jeremiah said it well in Lamentations 3:22-23,

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

The entirety of Psalm 107 is simply giving one example after another of how God in his faithful love and enduring mercy has freed his people from what they deserve. And at the end of each example, the psalmist expresses the call to gratitude:

Oh, thank God, he is so good! His love never runs out!

I’ll bet you could write your own Psalm 107. In fact, that might be a good assignment for you on this Thanksgiving Day. And then, like the psalmist suggested, we should go tell the world. Now that’s a pretty tall order, so how about starting with the people with whom you will enjoy the holiday meal today? Write your psalm and share it with your spouse, your family, and your friends.

I am not sure how they will feel about it, but you will certainly feel pretty good. That’s what heartfelt gratitude to God for his faithful love and enduring mercy does.

Going Deeper With God: Write your own Psalm 107—a psalm of gratitude—on this Thanksgiving Day. And then, like the psalmist suggested, go tell the world of how thankful you are. Or, you could start with the people at the holiday meal today. Write your psalm and share it with your spouse, your family, and your friends. It will do you a world of good.

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Psalm 2: God Rules

He Is The Ruler Yet

The hymn writer said it perfectly: “This is my Father’s world, O let me ne’er forget; that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.” That must become the settled law of our heart, even though unwanted circumstances, unkind people, and unwise leaders seem to be running the show. They are not – they have been given only a season, but God is the ruler yet!

The Journey: Psalm 2:4

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

In Psalm 14:1, David wrote, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.”

Of course, David’s idea of a fool was different than ours—and much more serious. We speak of a fool as one who lacks intelligence, direction and sound judgment. But David understood the fool to be one who lived willfully in complete disregard to the laws of God. He ignored God’s rightful rule over his life, and perhaps even went so far as to express an attitude that aggressively denied God’s reality, defied God’s moral code, and went so far as to dare God to execute judgment.

By David’s definition, we are living in a time where there are a lot of fools running around. In fact, many of them seem to be running our country. They are in high places of government, finance, cultural influence, and even spiritual leadership.

But as powerful, popular and prosperous as they are, they are still fools. And David’s psalm reminds us of this sobering truth: God still rules. And while the fools are seated in places of power, God is seated in the only place of power that really counts. And he is scoffing at the unbelievable hubris and overt rebellion of these he has created and gives even their very moment-by-moment breath. He sits in the true real and true throne, patiently waiting for them to repent, but knowing they never will.

Psalm 2 speaks of that time when God’s patience will finally come to its end and he will indeed execute judgment on those who have dared and defied him for so long. And it won’t be a pretty picture then. As you read Psalm 2, you realize that it is not a very happy psalm.

Yet there is hope here in David’s song. This psalm of divine judgment is also a contrasting psalm of hope. Embedded in David’s diatribe is also an invitation to live wisely (v. 10—as opposed to how the fool lives) by serving God gladly (v. 11—contrasted with the defiant rebelliousness of sinful man) and the promise that all who willing do will find “blessed” (happiness, favor and eternal joy) “refuge” (a safe and secure place) in him (v.12).

There is not a whole lot you and I can do about all the fools running around these days, but whenever we get frustrated with all the foolishness we’ve got to put up with, we can be reminded that it is God who rules. And when he finally brings all the foolishness to its deserving end, we will have found blessed refuge in him, because he rules in the most important place—the throne of our hearts.

Wherever the fear of God rules in the heart, it will appear both in works of charity and piety, and neither will excuse us from the other. (Matthew Henry)

A Simple Prayer:

God, develop in me the faith to always see through my circumstances, no matter how difficult they may be, to see your hand at work, setting the stage to reveal your glory. Help me to obey, even when to obey would allow those circumstances to threaten my health or happiness. Help me not to despair when the ungodly prosper. And Lord, open my eyes to see and receive your blessing when it would seem impossible that blessings could happen when I am in unwanted circumstances and being affected by ungodly people.
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My Days Are Numbered

The Opera Ain’t Over … Till God Says It’s Over

God planned me, built me, watches over me, can steer me back on track when I wander, will keep me safe until the Divinely allotted numbers of days ordained for me are up, and then take me to the next life that he has prepared for me. My life will be over when he says it’s over!

Going Deeper // Psalm 139:16

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How many days do I have left? I don’t know. No one does, except God. He knows the exact number of years, days, hours and seconds that I will occupy my address on Planet Earth; the exact moment that my death will occurs.

Now that may not seem like a cheery thought to you, and in fact, most people would find that sobering, at best, and frightening, at worst. Not me. I find great comfort and security in knowing that God has my life so ordered that I will neither die a day sooner nor live a day longer than what has already been recorded in his book. You see, life and death are far above my pay grade, so I will happily let Father God take care of that department, thank you very much.

So if I truly and correctly understand this profound truth, then I am freed from the fear of death to fully live the life that God has planned for me. I can enjoy an intimate walk with the One

  • Who was intimately involved in each minor detail of my day (Psalm 139:1-4)
  • Who never lets me out of his sight (Psalm 139:5-8)
  • Who guides my every move with his Fatherly hand (Psalm 139:9-10)
  • Who is not limited by my circumstances (Psalm 139:11-12).

In fact, God is so involved in my life that he was even there at the moment my mother and father conceived me in love, and he superintended even the most infinitesimal details my physiological and temperamental formation.

God knows me! He knows everything about me. He planned me, built me, watches over me, can steer me back on track when I wander from his purpose (Psalm 139:23-24), can be completely trusted to keep me safe until the Divinely allotted numbers of days ordained for me are up, and then take me to the next life that he has prepared for me.

“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand” (Psalm 139:6, NLT), but it won’t keep me from enjoying this day and praising the One who is in charge of it!

Go Deeper: Throughout the day, declare, “God is in charge of me!” Then live like it’s true—because it is!