Category Archives: Psalms

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Psalm 109: It’s Lonely At The Top

One Year Bible: I Samuel 14:1-52; John 7:32-53; Psalm 109:1-31; Proverbs 15:5-7

It’s Lonely At The Top

They may curse, but you will bless;
when they attack they will be put to shame,
but your servant will rejoice.
(Psalm 109:28)

Can you imagine what it’s like being the president? At any given time, about half the country admires you and thinks you are doing a decent job while the other half can’t wait for you to just go away. And that’s on a good day! It can be much worse than that for a president. Think about it—it is not uncommon for a sitting president to have sixty to seventy percent of the citizens treat him as if he were Satan’s spawn.

It is hard to imagine why anyone would want that job. And yet, every four years, a herd of politicians line up for their chance to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. That can only mean one of two things: They are either crazy or they are called. (Actually, there are several other motives we could talk about—but we’ll save that for another time.)

I’m not sure who said it, but they were right: It’s lonely at the top. Leadership at any level is a tough job. In fact, it is not only tough, it can be a lonely, sometimes thankless, even downright painful job. It certainly was for King David.

David is another man whose leadership we tend to romanticize. But if we were able to catch David in a brutally honest moment, I think he would tell us just how unromantic his job was. If we just go by what he says in the psalms, David lived with persistent criticism for a goodly portion of his reign. It might even seem from reading these psalms, which in a way, was nothing more than David’s spiritual journal, that he was a little paranoid. But that was only because people were out to get him.

I think what made David a great leader was how he endured under the pressure. It wasn’t just his amazing victories, his ever-expanding kingdom, his winsome personality or his musical skill, it was his dogged determination to please God. David took his cues from the Chief Justice of the Universe rather than what would make him a more popular leader at the moment.

You will notice yet again in this psalm that David bookends this detailed account of his detractor’s vicious accusations with his dependence on God (Psalm 109:1 and Psalm 109:30-31). Above all, David wanted God’s blessing more than anything else—high approval ratings, more power, a larger palace. He simply lived for God’s smile, and that’s what made him great, that’s what fueled his endurance under pressure, that’s what enabled him to run strong and finish well.

If you are a leader—in your home, or at school, in your business, in the community or at the church—live for God’s smile, and you, too, will be a great and enduring leader. At least God will think so, and he is really the only one who ultimately counts.

Oh, by the way, before I go I want to encourage you to give your president a break. Here is a good rule of thumb: Pray for him twice as much as you criticize him. Do that, and I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that you’ll quit criticizing him.

“Enduring setbacks while maintaining the ability to show others
the way to go forward is a true test of leadership.”
~Nitin Nohria

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Psalm 108: Confidence!

One Year Bible: 1 Samuel 12:1-13:23; John 7:1-31; Psalm 108:1-13; Proverbs 15:4

Confidence!

My heart is steadfast, O God;
I will sing and make music with all my soul.
(Psalm 108:1)

A few years ago, since I was unable to watch it live, I recorded a pro football game on television in which my favorite team was playing. I’m not normally a big fan of recording anything because I like the sense of watching something “live.” I like knowing the outcome has yet to be determined.

So I broke my own rules and watched a game that had already been played. But also I broke a second rule: I had purposely found out who won the game before I watched it. I didn’t want to waste my time and get all bummed out if my team was going to loose. I know—I’m a fair weather fan! But I’ll tell you what: I watched my team play with a lot more confidence, because I knew they were going to crush the other team.

In a sense, that is what David is doing in this psalm. He is asking God for help in giving him victory over his enemies, but he is doing so confidently, knowing that the outcome has been predetermined. He has viewed the end of the contest in advance, and now he is going back to play the game.

You see, the words of David’s psalm are taken from two previous psalms in which he had cried out to the Lord for help, and in both cases, the Lord heard David and gave him victory. The first of these psalms is Psalm 57:7-11, where David fled into the cave to escape from King Saul. And you know the outcome of that contest: David ultimately triumphed over Saul’s murderous intent. God took care of Saul by taking him out of the picture, and God took care of David, taking him all the way to the throne by making him King over all Israel. The second is from Psalm 60:5-12 where God gave David an overwhelming victory against an extremely large Edomite army.

There is something about a past victory that gives you confidence going into a new battle today. When God has helped you in the past, given you victory over the Enemy, supernaturally supplied your need, provided a spiritual breakthrough, seen you through when there seemed to be no way through, you pray a little different in the next crisis. You go to him with greater assurance, firmer expectation, and deeper peace than you might otherwise.

What are you facing this week? Has God helped you in the past? Why wouldn’t he help you again?

As you pray over this situation, call to mind the mighty acts of God from your past—and let the Holy Spirit birth confidence within you for the present. What God has done for you yesterday, because he is the unchanging and dependable God, and because he loves you with an everlasting love, he will do for you today, and again tomorrow.

The outcome has been predetermined. You win! Now, get in there and play the game of your life.

“Pray and let God worry.”
~Martin Luther

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Psalm 107: God’s Love Never Runs Out

One Year Bible: I Samuel 10:1-11:15; John 6:43-71; Psalm 107:1-43; Proverbs 15:1-3
Today’s Reading: Psalm 107:1-43

God’s Love Never Runs Out

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say this!
(Psalm 107:1-2)

I like the way The Message version of the Bible 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!”

God is good—all the time! That truly 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 is 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 leave 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! He love never runs out!

I’ll bet you could write your own Psalm 107. In fact, that might be a good assignment for you and me this week. And then, like the psalmist suggested, we should go tell the world. Now that’s a pretty tall order, so how about starting in the part of the world in which you live? Write your psalm and share it with your spouse, your family, your friends, and then your co-workers.

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.

“Peace of conscience is nothing but the echo of pardoning mercy.”
~William Gurnall

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Psalm 106: Be Careful What You Ask For

Read Psalm 106:1-48

Be Careful What You Ask For

So he gave them what they asked for,
but sent a wasting disease upon them.
(Psalm 106:15)

The psalmist begins, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (Psalm 106:1). So here’s an important question: Do you give only theological assent to that belief, or do you truly believe it in the real world of your everyday life? The acid test that theological belief is congruent with practical belief is the daily manifestation of trust, contentment and gratitude.

Quite often, when the Israelites’ collective belief was put to the test, it failed. In this psalm, the writer details Israel’s sad history of unbelief as God led them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Along the way, God performed some of the mightiest miracles of all time—the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night, manna to eat every single morning for forty years—just to name a few. At every step, God’s miraculous and more-than-enough provision sustained his people.

Yet Israel was still dissatisfied. The people griped, they complained, they lusted for other things—they tested God, and their leader Moses, at every turn in the bend. So God decided to put them to the test as well, to see what was truly in their hearts. And here’s how he tested them: He gave them what they incessantly insisted on!

And when the children of Israel got what they wanted, they lustily, greedily, indulgently consumed it until it made them deathly sick—literally! God gave them what their hearts craved until their hearts caved under the weight of their own foolish desires. The Message translation of this text puts a more spiritual twist to it:

“He gave them exactly what they asked for—but along with it they got an empty heart.”

That should stand forever as a sobering reminder that what we desperately want may not be what we desperately need. They are often two different things, and we would be wise to recognize the difference. When we persistently refuse God’s provision, fail to exercise trust in his abundant care, forget to practice contentment in his goodness, neglect gratitude for his love, and greedily insist on what we want, there comes a point when God will say, “fine, have it your way.”

What a sad and scary thing—that we might actually get what we want!

In all honesty, I hope I never get what I want. I don’t trust my own heart, and the desires it conjures up. What I pray for, however, is to get what God wants me to have—all of it—and along with it, contentment in the good and wise provision of the One who lovingly and continually watches over me.

Trust, contentment and gratitude—that’s the acid test of a faith that is not only theological, but practical!

“All our discontents about what we want appear to me to spring
from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”
~Daniel Defoe

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Psalm 105: Perspective Is Everything

Read Psalm 105:1-45

Perspective Is Everything

He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to
what others had toiled for— that they might keep
his precepts and observe his laws.
Praise the LORD.
(Psalm 105:43-45)

From this side of heaven, it seems as though the believer is either in the sweet spot of God’s grace or the hot seat of challenging circumstances. Life seems to bounce between the two.

Has that been true for you—figuratively speaking, you’re either a just step ahead of the poor house or you’ve got one foot in the Promised Land? Throughout my life, I have drifted from one to the other, sometimes on a daily basis, but mostly it has been seasonal. Of course, I prefer the sweet spot—who wouldn’t!

That’s the human perspective—we either get a burden to bear or a blessing to enjoy. This psalm speaks of both: Joseph under the oppressive yoke of the Egyptians (Psalm 105:17-18), or Joseph in the driver’s seat of Pharaoh’s court. (Psalm 105:20-21) The same was true for the nation of Israel: They suffered the indignity of slavery in Egypt for 400 years (Psalm 105:23) but later were delivered to the Promised land where they enjoyed the blessings for which others had labored. (Psalm 105:43-44)

But what we see as either burdens to bear or blessings to enjoy, God sees from the perspective of purpose. At times, God gives us a problem; at other times, God releases his provision—but at all times, God is fulfilling his purposes in us, for us, and through us. That is the better perspective—that’s a heavenly perspective.

What a better way to go through life—whether we are enduring a season of burdens or enjoying a season of blessings. When God allows us to endure a problem, his purpose is that through it, we would live with an attitude of gratitude and call attention to his glorious deeds. (Psalm 105:1) When he has brought us into the sweet spot of his favor, he does so that we might be energized and enabled to bring praise to his name through our obedience. (Psalm 105:45)

Perspective is everything. From an earthly point of view, we bounce between problems and promises! But from heaven’s perspective, God is faithfully fulfilling his purposes.

Now let’s see—earth or heaven? I’m thinking heaven is the better way to go!

“There is nothing—no circumstance, no trouble, no testing—that can ever
touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ
right through to me. If it has come that far, it has
come with a great purpose, which I may
not understand at the moment.”
~Alan Redpath

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Psalm 104: Storms Happen!

Read Psalm 104:1-35

Storms Happen!

But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight…
he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
(Psalm 104:7,32)

There is nothing quite as unnerving as the fury of nature. I’ve never been in a massive earthquake, but minor ones are enough to make me shake in my boots. I’ve never been in a hurricane, but I’ve been on the outskirts of a tornado, and the aftermath of even such a localized storm blew me away. I’ve never seen hailstones the size of a softball, but I’ve gotten caught in a storm that pinged me with golf ball sized hail, and I’ll tell you, it was enough to send chills up and down my spine.

There is nothing quite like the unleashed power of nature to remind you of how small, insignificant and truly powerless you are.

Then there are personal storms! You may be going through one right now. In many respects, the fury of nature is nothing compared to the devastating power of a personal storm. Within the last twenty-four hours, a half-dozen friends have described to me their own personal storms—everything from an unbelievably huge financial crisis to an untreatable physical ailment to an unrelenting relational disaster to an unyielding emotional trauma—and they are truly big, hairy, audacious personal gale-force storms. And from what I can tell, their respective storms are not of their own doing.

You see, storms happen!

I would rather face nature than to go through what my friends are going through. At least a tornado, or an earthquake or a hailstorm comes to an end—and then you can pick up the pieces and begin to rebuild. Most of the time, a personal storm has no end in sight. And when you are in one, you are constantly reminded of how small, insignificant and truly powerless you are.

But there is One who is bigger than the storm. And the psalmist reminds us that, “He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.” (Psalm 104:3-4) If you are in a personal storm, I don’t know how long or how devastating it will be, but I do know that God will make your storm his servant—which means that since you belong to God, he will make your storm servant to you as well. God will work the storm for your good—his promise, not mine!

I don’t mean to minimize the sense of desperation your storm has brought you—I think I understand a little of what you are going through. But as surely as the storm reminds you of how small, insignificant and powerless you are, I want to remind you that your God is bigger than your storm, and he is going to see you through it.

Storms happen—but so does God!

“God is not a deceiver, that He should offer to support us, and then,
when we lean upon Him, should slip away from us.”
~Augustine

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Psalm 103: Soul Music

Read Psalm 103:1-22

Soul Music

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
(Psalm 103:2)

I love this psalm—it’s my favorite. It is probably right up there with the Twenty-Third Psalm for most people, and I suspect it has made your Top Ten, too!

David is on his game in this psalm; he’s in the sweet-spot of Divine favor, the blessing zone, if you will, as he calls up from his memory banks his Top Ten list of why it is so good to belong to God:

  1. Forgiveness—Psalm 103:3
  2. Healing—Psalm 103:3
  3. Redemption—Psalm 103:4
  4. Compassion—Psalm 103:4
  5. Satisfaction—Psalm 103:5
  6. Justice—Psalm 103:6
  7. Revelation—Psalm 103:7
  8. Patience—Psalm 103:8
  9. Mercy—Psalm 103:9-14
  10. Love—Psalm 103:17

No wonder David “bookends” this psalm with “praise the Lord, O my soul.” (Psalm 103:1, 22) What soul wouldn’t pour forth unfettered praise at the realization of all the undeserved and life sustaining blessings that God graciously gives!

Of course, these benefits aren’t given to just anybody—although they are available to everybody. There is a critical caveat found in Psalm 103:18: To live under these Divine blessings requires covenant keeping. God keeps his covenantal promises only with those who keep their covenantal promise to obey his laws. Still, though this is a conditional covenant, we get the far better deal, by miles. Even when we don’t always live up to our end of the bargain, God looks upon us through his eyes of compassion, sustains us by his mercy, forgives our repentance and patiently, lovingly, enduringly keeps us in his family.

All I can say to that is “praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits! (Psalm 103:2)

So take some time to remember the benefits of belonging to God. My guess is, like David, you, too, will be singing a little soul music!

“He rides pleasantly enough whom the grace of God carries.”
~Thomas A` Kempis