Category Archives: Psalms

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Psalm 116: A Near Death Experience

One Year Bible: I Samuel 26:1-28:25, John 11:1-53; Psalm 116:1-19; Proverbs 15:22-23

A Near Death Experience

I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
(Psalm 116:1)

There’s nothing like coming face to face with death to bring clarity to what is most important in life. The psalmist had either come through a literal near death experience, or he had gone through something spiritually that was so intensely difficult that death would have been a welcomed option. Whatever the reason for this deeply personal psalm, staring the grim reaper in the eye led the writer to this bottom line: I love the Lord!

I don’t wish a near death experience for you, me or anyone, but I do pray that we would voluntarily come to the same overriding conclusion of what is first and foremost in life: The extension of God’s mercy to us and our response of love to the Lord. Tell me, what else in life is more important than that?

Now I understand, as do you, that love is a term used rather loosely in our world. We love our favorite food, or a certain TV show, or a song or a celebrity—we even love our pets (dogs I can understand; cats I can’t). And when we are teenagers, we love our best friends one day and hate them the next. Love is a pretty squishy thing in our culture.

But when a near death experience peels all the false “likes” and faux “loves” back from the core of what love truly is, we find a response of love for God that expresses itself in very real terms and quite practical actions. The psalmist mentions several: Prayerful dependence on the Lord in daily life (Psalm 116:3), calm assurance in the face of death (Psalm 116:15), heartfelt gratitude for God’s goodness (Psalm 116:17), ruthless follow through of our vows to obey God’s law (Psalm 116:18), and vocal, even visible and thoroughly authentic demonstrations of public praise for the God we claim to love (Psalm 116:19).

Do you love the Lord? I do! How about we not just say it, but show it today in one of these practical ways. After all, in his mercy he has saved us from a great deal of bad stuff in life (Psalm 116:4,8) and from even worse stuff after death (Psalm 116:15).

Wow! Now that I think about it, I really do love the Lord!

Take a moment to express your love for the Lord. Here is a link I would recommend you use to aide your praise. Enjoy it…and most of all, enjoy the Lord!

“I have learned to love you late, Beauty at once so ancient and so new.”
~ Saint Augustine

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Psalm 115: Certain Doom Of American Idol

One Year Bible: I Samuel 24:1-25:44, John 10:22-42; Psalm 115:1-18; Proverbs 15:20-21

Certain Doom Of American Idol

Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.
(Psalm 115:8)

I knew that title would catch your attention. American Idol—the wildly popular television talent show concludes tonight with the final vote. Americans by the millions will tune it and cast their vote for this year’s version of the latest, greatest singing sensation to hit the airwaves. Just imagine, close to 100 million people will vote, and one lucky dude who was just as un-famous as you and me only a few weeks ago will hit instantaneous stardom—he will become the next American Idol.

By the way, I love the show, so the purpose of this blog is not to trash it—although, obviously, far too many people are way out of balance in their adoration of anything celebrity. But I do think we have an idol problem in our culture today. Just like the people to whom the psalmist referred, we, too, have our idols, and we would be wise to take note of his warning that not only will these idols come to certain doom, but so will those who have created them, and so will those who elevate them to places of importance in their lives.

Of course, we don’t worship literal images made of wood, stone, silver or gold like the ancients did, but wouldn’t you agree that we are just as susceptible to the seduction of the less visible but more sophisticated idols of wealth, celebrity, power and pleasure? Don’t you agree that the love of money, the pursuit of fame—or at least the homage we pay to those who have attained it—the jockeying for top position and the relentless indulgence of self stand between many and their full and singular devotion to God?

Perhaps, in all honesty, you would have to admit that this includes you. Maybe you sometimes struggle with hanging on to “your” money when you really ought to be investing it in God’s work. Perhaps you wrestle with the desire to be known and admired for what you have done when you should really be offering acts of selfless, anonymous servanthood. It could be that there are times when it is difficult for you to put the things of God ahead of your own plans for pleasure and entertainment.

If you are placing importance, expending energy and making personal investment in things that drown out your full-throttle devotion to God, you have turned those very things into an idol. But here’s the deal: At the end of the day, those things will have amounted to nothing. They cannot speak, see, hear, smell, feel, act or offer anything that benefits your walk with Christ today or your preparation for eternity. (Psalm 115:5-7) The wealth, power, pleasure and fame they may produce in this life will crumble on that day when all creation stands before Almighty God—and so will all who have worshiped them either in the place of or alongside of God.

Don’t give your worship to another. It belongs to God alone. Worship God and he will be your protection (Psalm 115:9-11), your provision ((Psalm 115:12-13), your prosperity ((Psalm 115:14-15) and your peace (Psalm 115:16-18).

No idol will do that for you—American or otherwise. Only God can, and he alone is worthy of your full-throttle devotion.

“An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.”
~ Fulton Sheen

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Psalm 114: Earth Worship

One Year Bible: I Samuel 22:1-23:29, John 10:1-21; Psalm 114:1-8; Proverbs 15:18-19

Earth Worship

The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back;
the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
(Psalm 114:3-4)

You see a lot of earth worship these days. If you don’t know what I am talking about, pay a little more attention to what is going on in the environmental movement. In my view, a radical form of environmentalism that is tantamount to idolatry has replaced common sense stewardship of the earth. Earth worship, to be precise—the worship of creation over the Creator.

Think about it: Blind loyalty, if not fawning love, is offered to the cosmos, monetary offerings are given to uphold its cause, the words of its high priests are revered without challenge, its message is spread by aggressive followers with the fervor of door-to-door evangelists, and those who don’t readily accept the message are mocked and marginalized.

Sounds like a religion to me!

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the earth. I think God brought his A game when he created this planet. But don’t miss the point: Like everything else, it was created. And we, as the highest order of God’s creation, were given the assignment to manage the rest of creation on God’s behalf—and that includes lovingly and wisely caring for Planet Earth. But we are the earth’s stewards, not its Savior, and while this planet is our home, don’t confuse it with our heaven. We are simply to watch over the created cosmos, being careful not to cross over the thin line that exists between watching and worshiping.

Grasping this is so important, you see, because the earth actually worships its Creator. That’s what this psalm is about. And though God has put the systems in place that run the physical world day in and day out, season by season, eon after eon, every once in a while he breaks back into it and commands the cosmos to fulfill extraordinary things for his purposes. Those extraordinary acts are, in reality, nothing more than the release of pent up praise the creation longs to give its Creator. In other words, during those extraordinary moments of earth-shattering activity, the planet is praising.

And yet, when the earth simply goes about doing what the earth does—rising and resting with each twenty-four hour period, moving seamlessly from one season to the next—it too, in those ordinary moments, is offering praise to the One who created it and by his mighty power, sustains it. Moment-by-moment, day-by-day, year-by-year, the earth is worshiping.

The creation worships its Creator. What an awesome thing to consider. What an amazing thing to behold. I don’t want to get caught up worshiping something that worships Someone else. Do you? I want to give my worship to the Creator, and as I care for his creation, even then, I am offering him his rightful worship.

Earth worship! Sure go ahead. Join the earth in worship of its Creator.

“The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God. … I do not worship matter. I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, who willed to take His abode in matter, who worked out my salvation through matter. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God. Because of this I salute all remaining matter with reverence, because God has filled it with his grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me.”
~ St. John of Damascus

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Psalm 113: The Condescending Creator

One Year Bible: I Samuel 20:1-21:15, John 9:1-41; Psalm 113:1-9; Proverbs 15:15-17

The Condescending Creator

Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,
who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
(Psalm 113:5-6)

He is the God who stoops.

No one in a million years could ever have invented a condescending deity like that. Even if we had thought God up, it would have been a long stretch to imagine One moved by interest in the plight of his creation, full of compassion and pity, extending grace and mercy, exuding love and kindness, much less One who actually stoops to do something about it.

The God who stoops—who’d a thunk it?

Whenever man invents god, there you find a deity who is unapproachable, aloof, angry, interested only in his subjects keeping him happy and characteristically impossible to please. But God is not an invention; He is the Inventor. And the Great Inventor has taken the initiative to walk among his people. Moreover, he condescends to lift them up and fill their lives with satisfaction (Psalm 113:7), significance (Psalm 113:8) and joy (Psalm 113:9).

He is the God who stoops—imagine that!

And this God who stoops was at his condescending best when he not only walked among his people, but when he became one of them. You see, he was not merely a God who got his hands dirty for a day before returning to the riches of heaven, he became poor for a lifetime so through his poverty we could become rich for eternity. (II Corinthians 8:9, Philippians 2:6-8)

He is the God who stoops!

The late Carl F. H. Henry, arguably America’s preeminent twentieth-century theologian, put it simply, yet profoundly: “Jesus Christ turns life right-side-up, and heaven outside-in.” The Condescending Christ stooped to lift fallen humanity from the quagmire of sin into the undeserved riches and indescribable glory of Almighty God.

Yes, thank God for a Savior who stooped!

“Jesus Christ, the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity.”
~Phillips Brooks

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Psalm 112: Bad News Immunity

One Year Bible: I Samuel 18:1-19:24, John 8:31-59; Psalm 112:1-10; Proverbs 15:12-14

Bad News Immunity

He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
(Psalm 112:7)

You’ve heard it said, “no news is good news.” The psalmist puts a different spin on that old bromide: There is no bad news! You see, for the one who “fears the Lord” and “takes delight in his commands” (Psalm 112:1), good things will happen and even bad things will be turned into blessings (Psalm 112:4). Furthermore, God will not only pour out blessings on the one who fears him, he even ensures prosperity to their posterity. (Psalm 112:2)

When you fear the Lord, you have nothing to fear! (Psalm 112:1,8)

Now I know what you are thinking: “No bad news for the believer—you gotta be kidding!” Yes, there is no such thing as bad news for the God-fearing, commandment-keeping believer. I realize that you could point to any number of faithful people in the Bible—Joseph, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, the disciples, Paul, even Jesus himself—and remind me that they indeed experienced bad news during their respective journeys on earth. And talk about bad news—what about Job? If you were to look up the definition of bad news in the dictionary, you would find Job’s picture there.!

I wholeheartedly agree with your point, but that is not what I am talking about. I didn’t say that the godly are immune to bad things, only to bad news. You see, when God is on your side, or perhaps more correctly, when you are on God’s side, no matter what, you win! And that’s good news. How so? God turns even bad things into good things for you, and while he is at it, he uses them to bring glory to himself as well. That’s what is promised to God-fearing, commandment-keeping believers in his Word. I love how John Newton, the notorious slave trader who was dramatically and profoundly converted to Christ, put it,

“We serve a gracious Master who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.”

Wow! No bad news for believers! If you doubt Newton’s theology, take a moment to, read Roman 8:28.

Now please don’t think I am promising a pain-free life. I am not; nor is God. What God is promising, however, is to use all the things that occur in your life for his purposes, and even use them as the very catalyst that will conform you to the image of his Son. From that perspective, what others consider bad news you can embrace as good news. So in a very real sense, you, dear God-fearing believer, are immune to bad news.

Now that’s what I call good news!

“He fulfills His promise in making our strength equal to our day;
and every new trial gives us new proof how happy it is
to be enabled to put our trust in Him.”
~John Newton

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Psalm 111: Ponder Anew

One Year Bible: I Samuel 17:1-58, John 8:21-30; Psalm 111:1-10; Proverbs 15:11

Ponder Anew

Great are the works of the LORD;
they are pondered by all who delight in them.
(Psalm 111:2)

When was the last time you took some time just to remember what God has done? Psalm 111: 4 says, “He has caused his wonders to be remembered.” In other words, built into the mighty acts of God is a reminder to remember the One who performed them.

God wants you, on a regular basis, to call up from your memory banks the things that he has done. He wants you to delight in his sovereign acts and stand in awe of the mighty works of his hand. God didn’t perform them only to have them written in the history books and then forgotten. They are to be pondered, delighted in, remembered, and as Psalm 111:10 says, they are to lead his people to offer him eternal praise. (Psalm 111:10)

Before you leave this time of reflection on Psalm 111, perhaps you should take a moment to speak forth your delight in the great things God has done. The psalmist has even provided a wonderful template of praise just for you. For instance,

  • You can reflect on the undeserved compassion that God has extended to you. (Psalm 111:3)
  • You probably ought to include a verbal gratitude list for the gracious provision he has made for your daily needs. (Psalm  111:5)
  • While you are thinking about that, thank him for staying true to his character and his promises. (Psalm 111:5)
  • You might want to bask in the Divine power that has led to victories in your life. (Psalm 111:6)
  • You could add your appreciation for his fair and just rule, too. (Psalm 111:7-8)
  • And best of all, why not let the reality of your redemption cause you to be undone with love all over again. (Psalm 111:9)

I’m sure if you allow yourself some time to ponder anew the past acts of God on behalf of his people, and on your behalf, too, that nothing but good things will come from it. I can’t think of a downside to a session of praiseful pondering, can you?

“The world will never starve for want of wonders,
but only for want of wonder.”
~G.K. Chesterton

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Psalm 110: Messiah, King and Priest

One Year Bible: I Samuel 15:1-16:23; John 8:1-20; Psalm 110:1-7; Proverbs 15:8-10

Messiah, King and Priest

The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
(Psalm 110:1)

Psalm 110 is arguably the most thoroughly messianic of all the psalms.  The Holy Spirit inspired King David to write of a time in the future when the Messiah, his Lord—he who was superior to David and to whom the king was submissive—would rule the earth as both king and priest (Psalm 110:4), and would rule in wrath and judgment over those who refused his authority (Psalm 110:5-6).

That is what the future holds—for Jesus, for you and me who have willingly submitted to his righteous rule, and for a world that has grown tone deaf to his loving invitation to submit to his rightful authority.  In this present moment, God is preparing Christ’s enemies for destruction (Psalm 110:1), Christ is representing the needs and concerns of believers in heaven before the Father as our high priest (Psalm 110:4, Hebrews 7:24-26), and the Holy Spirit is calling the world to God through Christ by the witness of the church (II Corinthians 5:18-22).

But the day is coming when God will call a halt to this time of gentle persuasion and Jesus will literally and physically return to earth to rule over it in power and glory, and to those who have refused his rule, he will crush them as with a rod of iron.  This time of rule is what we refer to as the millennial reign of Christ—the thousand year period between the Second Coming and the Great White Throne judgment where the Kingdom of God will thoroughly cover the earth from one end to the other.

That time is coming, my friend, and it is coming soon!  I urge you then, in light of God’s unbreakable promise, to lovingly and willingly submit to his thorough rule as Messiah, King and High Priest of your body, mind, and heart today.

Christ’s full and complete rule over you is only right and fitting!

“Jesus must be Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.”