Category Archives: Psalms

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Psalm 130: God Doesn’t Keep Lists

One Year Bible: I Kings 9:1-10:29, Acts 8:14-40; Psalm 130:1-8; Proverbs 17:2-3

God Doesn’t Keep Lists

If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.
(Psalm 130:3-4)

God doesn’t keep lists. Aren’t you glad for that? Unlike some of us who keep track of the mistakes and offenses of others, our gracious God doesn’t! When we confess our sins and repent of our offenses, the Lord remembers them no more. The Apostle John wrote, “When we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse of from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)

King David, who not only knew a great deal about personal sin, but Divine pardon as well, spoke in Psalm 103:3 & 12 of a God, “who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases…as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us”. How amazing is that! God takes the worst sins of the repentant sinner and obliterates them from his record. He wipes them from his memory banks—“as far as the east is from the west”—which, the last time I checked, was a long way.

One of the most moving and poignant descriptions of this forgiving God was penned by the prophet Micah. He spoke of God not just in terms of his willingness to forgive, but even more, of his passionate desire and aggressive search for ways to extend forgiveness to sinners. Take a moment to absorb this mind-boggling truth from Micah 7:18-19,

“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”

No wonder the psalmist called us to “fear” the Lord in response to God’s unmerited forgiveness. To fear the Lord meant to reverence him, and to offer him a heart of gratitude, praise and love. Obviously, that is the only right response to a God who goes out of his way to forgive people who have gone out of their way to offend him.

I am so grateful for a God who forgives my transgressions—and remembers them no more. There is no other god like him, and I will be eternally indebted to his mercy and grace. When I think about his “unfailing love and…full redemption,” (Psalm 130:7) I am simply undone. How about you?

What love, what mercy, what grace…what a God!

“Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what
has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.”
~Saint Augustine

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Psalm 129: Down But Not Out

One Year Bible: I Kings 8:1-66, Acts 7:54-8:13; Psalm 129:1-8; Proverbs 17:1

“Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue
itself but just this power of always trying again.”

Down But Not Out

They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory over me.
(Psalm 129:2)

Some people don’t like being reminded of their troubles. They think we ought to talk only of the positive things in life and leave out all the pessimistic stuff. They’d rather hear only of the sunshine of God’s grace and not the storm clouds of life’s difficulty.

Me too—that’s what I’d prefer. But isn’t that to ignore the fact that this thing called the Christian life is all about spiritual warfare—that we do have an Enemy who constantly seeks to destroy our very soul?

The psalmist understood quite well from history of Israel’s enemies—literal, foreign enemies who sought to defeat and enslave God’s people. These enemies were there right from the beginning (“from my youth”) and never really ever went away—Egypt, Edom, Moab, Philistia, Assyria, and Babylonia. These foreign, godless enemies oppressed Israel at various times, but each time God gave his people victory over them.

You have enemies, too. That’s not being pessimistic, that’s just being real. Unlike Israel, however, your enemies are not physical, flesh and blood adversaries; they are spiritual forces that attack you from within—your moral character, your emotional stability, and your spiritual vitality. They seek to weaken your resolve to trust in God’s sufficiency and obey his commands. They seek to enslave you to a life that is far less than God’s best. And perhaps like Israel, these enemies have “oppressed you from your youth.” In other words, the same doubts, fears, temptations and weaknesses you had as a young person, or as a young Christian, are still doing a number on you. Maybe they have had or even now have the upper hand in your life.

The psalmist would say to you, “Maintain your hope, don’t surrender your trust, strive to overcome every temptation, and get back up when you stumble. Whatever you do, don’t quit if you’ve failed. It may seem that you are down for the count, but you are not, because God will give you, just as he did Israel, victory over all of your enemies.”

Israel had enemies—and God gave victory over each one. You’ve got enemies, too, but God has already given you victory over each one through Christ’s victory over sin. Think about that: All of your adversaries have already been defeated—even if they don’t act like it. So go ahead and remind those enemies—depression, lust, anger, sickness, scarcity—that they are nothing but losers. And you, dear saint, are anything but!

“In all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us.”
~ Paul of Tarsus, Romans 8:37

Yeah, they may have you down for now, but you are not out! Christians never are.
~C.S. Lewis

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Psalm 128: Blessed Fear

One Year Bible: I Kings 7:1-51, Acts 7:30-53; Psalm 128:1-6; Proverbs 16:31-32

Blessed Fear

Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways.
(Psalm 128:1-2)

King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, began his most famous book by writing, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7) What followed was a collection of wise sayings that were intended to lead the God-fearing person into a life that was blessed by the Lord.

King David, Solomon’s father, and Israel’s most beloved king, began his most famous book by writing, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” What followed was a collection of worship songs that expressed the blessed condition of one who feared the Lord.

Blessed fear—almost seems oxymoronic, doesn’t it? Fearfully blessed—same with that. Yet for the person who fears God, blessings are guaranteed. And for the person who lives a truly God-blessed life, there you will find fear of the Lord at their core.

What does it mean to fear the Lord? This is by no means a theological definition, but for all intents and purposes, to fear the Lord means to make him and his purposes both the center and the circumference of your life. It is to be consumed with love, fueled by faith, and characterized by obedience in a moment-by-moment walk with God. That is what it means to fear the Lord, and that is what it means to be blessed by the Lord.

You see, blessing in the purest sense is to be consumed by your love for God, to be fueled by your faith in God, and to be characterized by your obedience to God. A person who lives that kind of life knows pure and unassailable joy at the deepest level. Earthly success, material wealth, personal popularity, and all of the other accoutrements the world says are needed for the blessed life simply pale in comparison to a life that is characterized by blessed fear.

When you fear the Lord, you are truly blessed. When you are truly blessed by God, you fear the Lord.

May God grant you holy fear, and may God richly bless you.

“Fear only two: God, and the man who has no fear of God.”
~ Hasidic Proverb

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Psalm 127: Recalibrate

One Year Bible: I Kings 5:1-6:38, Acts 7:1-29; Psalm 127:1-5; Proverbs 16:28-30

Recalibrate

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.
(Psalm 127:1-2)

During the Civil war, President Lincoln was once asked if God was on his side. His reply was, “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. 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—Psalm 127:3-5), at the end of all your efforts, nothing of lasting value and eternal consequence will have been accomplished if the Lord has not helped.

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 answering 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

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Psalm 126: For Desert Dwellers

One Year Bible: I Kings 3:1-4:34, Acts 6:1-15; Psalm 126:1-6; Proverbs 16:26-27

For Desert Dwellers

Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like streams in the Negev.
(Psalm 126:4)

You’ve got a Negev; so do I. Everybody gets a Negev at some point in their life. Spending time there just seems to be core curriculum for Christians.

So what’s a Negev? The Negev was the desert that sat on Israel’s southern border, and it was an inhospitable, intimidating and impossible place. It was a borderline of barrenness. Israel had a physical Negev, and you may very well be living with a barren place that is bordering your life emotionally, financially, relationally or spiritually, preventing your from moving into the fruitfulness that God intends for you.

And here’s the deal with deserts: To the natural eye, there is no quick way out or easy way through. To the natural mind, there is nothing but barrenness, with no hope for life, no prospects for change. The desert represents death—end of a dream, end of the line, end of story.

But God specializes in creating streams in the desert, turning bareness into fruitfulness, and birthing life from death. God brought the Israelites through the desert to the Promised Land, David out of the wilderness into the palace, Israel back from Babylonian exile to rebuilt Jerusalem, and Jesus from the death’s tomb to eternal glory. As you can see, deserts—physical, emotional, financial, relational, spiritual—are no big deal to God; some of his best work is done there.

Your Negev may look like the end of the road for you, but don’t lose hope. Though you may weep tears of sorrow or tears of repentance or tears of intercession over your desert (Psalm 126:5), if your heart is upright (Psalm 125:4), God will water your Negev with those tears and in the proper time, bring forth so much abundance (Psalm 126:6) that you will have to pinch yourself to make sure it is not a dream (Psalm 126:1).

So dear desert dweller, get ready to laugh. God is about to send you a stream of restoration.

“He who has not looked on Sorrow will never see Joy.”
~ Kahlil Gibran

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Psalm 125: Do Good

One Year Bible: I Kings 2:1-46, Acts 5:1-42; Psalm 125:1-5; Proverbs 16:25

Do Good

Do good, O LORD, to those who are good,
to those who are upright in heart.
(Psalm 125:4)

God is good! All the time! Even in tough times, which is likely the setting for this psalm. Some scholars believe Psalm 125 was written during the time of foreign domination—perhaps at the hands of the uber-wicked Assyria—or at least during a time when it seemed likely that Jerusalem would be overrun by the godless.

This is yet another psalm of assent (see blog entry on Psalm 120), and the writer penned the song for people to sing on their way to worship in Jerusalem. It prompted them to call upon God for two things: To keep Jerusalem pure (Psalm 125:3) and to keep Jerusalem prosperous (Psalm 125:4). The writer recognized that there was a serious temptation for people to fall away from God when times were tough—either by giving in to the godless culture that had swallowed the land or by throwing away their trust in the God who seemed to withhold much needed provision.

Of course, we recognize that God sometimes uses trials to purify our faith and tough times to bring a better kind of prosperity to our lives. But in a sense, the psalmist here is foreshadowing the very prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:13, “Lead us not into temptation.” I believe The Message translation of that line in the Lord’s prayer captures quite well the ancient psalmist’s thoughts,

“Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”

That’s not a bad prayer to pray, I’d say. Given the choice between tough times and good times, I will pray for the latter, following both the psalmists’ and the Lord’s example. Sure, I am willing to embrace trial as a necessary friend (James 1:2, MSG), but my first choice is to hold hands with the goodness of God.

Yes, do good, dear God, and keep me safe from myself and the Devil!

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

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Psalm 124: Help Wanted

One Year Bible: I Kings 1:1-53, Acts 4:1-37; Psalm 124:1-8; Proverbs 16:24

Help Wanted

Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
(Psalm 124:8)

Who better to have helping you than the God who created everything and who, by his power, sustains it! All other helpers will fall short and will ultimately fail, but there is One who never fails. And best of all, he is yours and you are his.

Better yet, he needs no convincing to act on your behalf. By virtue of your being his child, he not only stands at the ready to help you, he actually goes ahead of you and prepares the way before you get there. (Isaiah 45:2) He commands you not to fear, for he will lead you and guide you into good success wherever you go. (Joshua 1:3,7-9) He has promised you health and prosperity, joy and purpose, righteousness and wisdom. (Proverbs 3:5-6; 4:11) He says he will stand beside you and walk with you—especially when the going gets rough. (Isaiah 43:2) And he will even be your rear guard—he’s got you covered. (Isaiah 55:8).

What an awesome reality—God is on your side, and therefore, as you stay on God’s side, you cannot fail. So many people place their trust in people and institutions that are at best temporal, but those who trust in the Lord for his help will not be disappointed.

Isaiah 49:23 says of those who find their help in the Lord, “Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

Hallelujah, with God as your God, help wanted is help received!

“When you have no helpers, see your helpers in God. When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers. When you have nothing but God, see all in God. When you have everything, see God in everything.  Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord. ”
~Charles Spurgeon