Category Archives: Psalms

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Psalm 137: The Complete Appropriateness Of A Downright Nasty Little Prayer

One Year Bible: I Kings 20:1-21:29, Acts 12:23-13:12; Psalm 137:1-9; Proverbs 17:16

The Complete Appropriateness Of A Downright Nasty Little Prayer

O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us.
(Psalm 137:8)

If you are going to enjoy the psalms, sooner or later you’ll have to deal with a psalm like this. This is a downright nasty little psalm that calls for the violent destruction of the Babylonian people—akin to the call for a Jewish Jihad! This is what we call an imprecatory psalm—the calling down of a divine curse; a prayer for violent vengeance.

So the question is, what place does such an angry psalm have in a loving God’s book?

First, this isn’t simply a religious rant. Psalm 137 should not be isolated from the others psalms—or from the rest of Scripture, for that matter. It makes sense only in context of both theological and historical context. The writer wasn’t just calling down vengeance because he didn’t like someone. The Babylonians had perpetrated great violence against God’s people, so the psalmist was only calling on God to do what God had promised to do.

Second, this is not a call to take vengeance into human hands. The psalmist sees God as judge, jury and executioner, and upon that basis makes his plea for the proper execution of Divine justice.

Third, though it isn’t acknowledged within this psalm, other Scripture shows that before the Jews had called down judgment on their captors, they had first thoroughly repented before God for the very things that had brought them under the iron-fist of Babylon to begin with. (Daniel 9:1-19) They had, as Jesus later called us to do, taken the beam out of their own eye before they bothered with judgment for their tormentors. (Matthew 7:1-5)

Finally, this prayer, and others like it, is aligned with God’s prophetic indictment of Israel’s enemies. They are praying what the Scripture has already declared, calling into fulfillment God’s judgment against some extremely evil people.

For the most part, our prayers should be along the lines that Jesus taught: “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.” (Luke 6:27-28 NLT) But when evil goes beyond the pale, it is certainly appropriate to pray for what is at the core of God’s being: Justice.

However, there is just one caveat: If you are going to unleash an imprecatory prayer, just remember that Divine justice is blind; it cuts both ways. So make sure your own evil has been covered by the blood of Christ, which comes only by grace through faith through the acknowledement and repentance of sin.

“I tell you, brethren, if mercies and if judgments do not convert you,
God has no other arrows in His quiver.”
~Robert Murray M’Cheyne

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Psalm 136: Enduring Love

One Year Bible: I Kings 19:1-21, Acts 12:1-23; Psalm 136:1-26; Proverbs 17:14-15

Enduring Love

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
(Psalm 136:1)

One of the critiques of modern worship choruses is that they are too simple and overly repetitive. The great hymns of the church, on the other hand, are deeply theological and majestic both in lyric and music. I truly love both—the modern worship the Holy Spirit has birthed in the contemporary church as well as the hymns of our historic faith. Both move me to joyful worship of Almighty God.

Psalm 136 is akin to a modern worship chorus. In each of the twenty-six verses that comprise the psalm, you will notice simple, soundbyte phrases that recall the goodness of God as both creator and redeemer, followed by the same line twenty-six times: “His love endures forever!”

So if you are one of those who, frankly, just dislikes modern worship, think about this psalm the next time you are tempted to get a little grouchy about your church’s worship. If you want to be critical of your worship leader for his song selection, you might as well line up this psalmist right beside him and take your shot at both of them!

Or you could do what this psalm calls you to do: Focus on the goodness of God throughout the history of the world, and throughout your personal history as well. God has been faithful in all he has done, and merciful, too. He is the loving Creator and Redeemer—he always has been; he is right now, and when you wake up tomorrow, and the next day, and every day after that, he still will be.

O give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever!

Now—don’t you feel much better?

“Christian, remember the goodness of God in the frost of adversity.”
~Charles Spurgeon

 

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Psalm 135: You Can Trust Him

One Year Bible: I Kings 18:1-46, Acts 11:1-30; Psalm 135:1-21; Proverbs 17:12-13

You Can Trust Him

Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good…
I know that the LORD is great…
The LORD does whatever pleases him…
(Psalm 135:3,5,6)

God is all-powerful. He does what he pleases. He blesses; he punishes. He sets up; he tears down. He rewards; he judges. He is the great God, the Creator and Sustainer of all, and he will accomplish his purposes for all that he has created.

No one stands in his way. Just ask Pharaoh, or Nebuchadnezzar, or Pilate, or Caesar, or Satan! No president or judge or politician; not the wealthy or powerful or famous can thwart his will. God will accomplish his purposes. No one will get their way—including you and me. God will get what God wants!

That can be a little frightening—and it should promote the fear of the Lord in our hearts—but keep in mind the first line of this selected psalm: God is good. He will never do anything that is not saturated in his love for mankind and his perfect plan for the eternal ages. No matter what, whether he is blessing or punishing, setting up or tearing down, rewarding or judging, God is always good, and therefore we can trust him.

As someone once rightly said,

God is too wise to make a mistake,
Too kind to be cruel,
But too wise to explain himself.

We may not always understand what God is doing, or why he is doing it, or how good can come out of difficult and hurtful experiences, but based on his Word and his track record of goodness, we can trust him.

Yes, God is good—all the time!

“God makes no mistakes.”
~Karl Barth

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Psalm 134: Reach For The Sky

One Year Bible: I Kings 15:25-17:24, Acts 10:23-48; Psalm 134:1-3; Proverbs 17:9-11

Reach For The Sky

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.
(Psalm 134:2)

Raising your hands in worship is not a pre-requisite for God-pleasing praise—not necessarily! There is no rule that says, “Thou shalt lift thy hands in worship.” The Father wants worshipers who worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) In other words, God-pleasing worship must come from the heart and in a way that is congruent with Scripture—authentically.

Yet true worship requires all of us—spirit, mind and body. Obviously, our hearts must reach out to God when we worship him, otherwise our worship would be nothing more than heartless ritual (and there is already far too much of that among his people today). God wants not just formulaic expressions of worship; he wants it to come from the overflow of a loving and grateful heart.

Our mind should be engaged in worship as well. If we park our brains in neutral when we praise, our worship is incomplete—and open to all kinds of weird and wild expressions that sometimes occur among certain groups of believers. To worship in truth means to worship with theological knowledge of the One being worshipped, and that is most pleasing to him.

Yet can we truly worship in spirit and in truth if we don’t engage our entire being? Authentic “spirit and truth” praise must even include engaging physically as well. Balanced worship honors God with heart, mind and body. (I Corinthians 6:20) That is why you will find various physical expressions of praise throughout Scripture: Singing, shouting, clapping, kneeling, prostrating oneself, dancing, and, yes, quite frequently the raising of hands.

Perhaps you came to Christ in a tradition that expressed worship without physical demonstration. I would encourage you to challenge that assumption. The next time you gather with the body of Christ and the singing starts, try lifting your hands to the Lord. I think you will find it quite freeing. In fact, you may want to practice it first in your own private worship time just to get used to the action.

When my children were small, they would often come to me and lift their hands, hoping I would pick them up. Of course, I would. In that moment, they would have yet another indication that I loved them. And of course, I was delighted to know they loved me, too—with all of their being.

Don’t you think that is true of your Heavenly Father as well?

“The climax of God’s happiness is the delight He takes in the
echoes of His excellence in the praises of His people.”
~John Piper

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Psalm 133: How Good And Pleasant

One Year Bible: I Kings 14:1-15:24, Acts 10:1-23; Psalm 133:1-3; Proverbs 17:7-8

How Good And Pleasant

How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
(Psalm 133:1)

Unity! I am not always sure what it is, but I sure know when it ain’t!

And I know when it is. Where you have unity between people—at work, in school, at home and at church—there you will find that life is pleasant. And that’s how God meant for life to be—especially for his people.

So how can we achieve and maintain unity? I think first of all it requires us to understand how important it is to God. In his final prayer before the cross, knowing what awaited him in the hours ahead, Jesus prayed for the unity of his followers in John 17:20-23,

“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

What a person prays for in their final prayer reveals what is of utmost importance to them. For Jesus, that was our unity. The next time we have opportunity for disunity, we ought to stop and think about that.

Then it requires humility. For unity to occur, I must subjugate my desires and needs to what is good and best for others. Speaking of unity, the Apostle Paul exhorted us to follow Christ’s example when he wrote in Philippians 2:1-4,

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others…[an attitude] that was the same as that of Christ Jesus.”

Furthermore, unity will be achieved when we submit ourselves to the spiritual leaders God has placed over us, whose primary task is to equip us to carry out God’s purposes on Planet Earth. And those purposes include the body of Christ being built up and coming to full unity of the Spirit. Paul taught about this in Ephesians 4:12-13,

“[Spiritual leaders are called] to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Finally, unity will have its best chance when I make unity my personal responsibility. How do I go about that? Once again, Paul hits the nail on the head in Romans 12:9-21. Take a moment to read his checklist for unity, but verse 18 encapsulates it well:

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

Yes, it may be difficult to define unity, but when you and I do our part to achieve it in the body of Christ, look out! Good things will happen. Like Vance Havner said, “Snowflakes are frail, but if enough of them get together they can stop traffic.”

What do you say we stop some traffic this week!

“Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul
in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any
other virtue except in mere appearance.”
~Saint Augustine

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Psalm 132: Taking Care Of God’s House

One Year Bible: I Kings 12:20-13:34, Acts 9:26-43; Psalm 132:1-18; Proverbs 17:6

Taking Care Of God’s House

“I will not enter my house or go to my bed—
I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids,
till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
(Psalm 132:3-5)

David had a passion for the house of God. He couldn’t tolerate the thought that as king, he would be able to build himself an unbelievably opulent palace while God’s dwelling was just a simple tent, the same tabernacle that had been used since the exodus.

Then there was the time David publicly danced with delight as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem to its resting place at the tabernacle. (II Samuel 6:14) The king’s pubic display of affection for the Divine was so extreme that his watching wife despised David for it. (II Samuel 6:16) But David didn’t care because he was passionate about the house of God.

David wanted desperately to build God a permanent structure—a temple. He knew God deserved the best. So he located property for the building, but rather than throwing his royal weight around to get a good deal for it, he insisted on paying full price. He said, “I won’t offer the Lord something that has cost me nothing.” (II Samuel 24:24) David had a passion for the house of God.

God had other plans, however, and told David that it would be his son, Solomon, who would build the temple. So what did David do? He set about to make all the preparations for construction in order for Solomon to have a good head start when he was inaugurated as Israel’s king. (I Chronicles 22:5) David was passionate for God’s house.

The Son of David, Jesus, was passionate about God’s house, too. Although he predicted that not one stone of it would be left upon another because of God’s judgment against the impure worship that took place there (Matthew 24:2), he did his best to bring purity to it. He drove the moneychangers from the temple—and not with gentle persuasion either. He made whips—and used them. He overturned the tables they had used to carry out their shady commerce. With an illustrated sermon that no one would ever forget, Jesus cleansed the temple. (John 2:13-16) Jesus was passionate about the house of God!

Of both David (Psalm 69:9) and Jesus (John 2:17), the Word of God says, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

So how about you? I’m not suggesting you take a whip to worship with you next weekend, but what I do hope for is that the same zeal for God’s house that consumed David and the Son of David will consume you. Me, too!

“Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard,
there a church of God exists, even if it swarms with many faults.”
~John Calvin

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Psalm 131: Room For Only One God

One Year Bible: I Kings 11:1-12:19, Acts 9:1-25; Psalm 131:1-3; Proverbs 17:4-5

Room For Only One God

My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
(Psalm 131:1)

There is only One who is God—and that’s not you! Basically, that is what the King David is saying of himself in this brief song of assent. The Message translates verse one this way:

God, I’m not trying to rule the roost, I don’t want to be king of the mountain.
I haven’t meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans.

Yet this business of godship is more prevalent than we care to admit. You see, when we fret and worry over matters we can’t control, when we meddle and manipulate to get our plans fulfilled, when we come to God after the fact for help, when we pray as a last rather that a first resort, when we cut corners in our financial stewardship because we can’t afford to give to the Lord’s work, and when we put our hope in government (or anything else) at the expense of our trust in God, in effect, we have removed God from his rightful throne.

There is room for only one God in your life, so let God be God. He has a great track record in that role, you know, and you don’t.

And by the way, when you allow God to be God, good things happen for you:

  • You become the recipient of greater grace. Recognizing God’s rightful role takes true humility (the opposite of pride and haughtiness—Psalm 131:1), which is always the catalyst for more grace. (Proverbs 3:34)
  • You become the recipient of greater security. You put things that are above your pay grade back into the hands of the only One wise enough to handle them—what David calls “great matters or things too wonderful for me.” (See how Paul describes them in Romans 11:33-36)
  • You become the recipient of greater contentment. David says, “like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content.” (Psalm 131:2, MSG) Paul says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” (I Timothy 6:6)
  • You become the recipient of greater hope. It is by Biblical hope, as Paul teaches, “we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?” (Romans 8:24) “Hope” as Paul says in Romans 5:5, “does not disappoint us…”

Hmmm…grace, security, contentment, hope. I think I’ll let God be God!

“I have one passion. It is He, only He.”
~Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf