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Arrgh, Thar Drivin’ Me Nuts!

Dwell on the Eternal Character of God Instead

PREVIEW: Are you overcome with anger, or if you are distressed, or maybe even depressed because sin and sinners seem to triumph everywhere you turn, do what King David often did in his psalms: write a prayer where you not only pour out your complaint to God, but you extol his eternal character. Dwelling on the eternal character of God is the antidote to the spiritual road rage that threatens to consume you when you focus on the ephemeral nature of both sin and the sinner.

“Dwelling on the eternal character of God is the antidote to the spiritual road rage you feel when you dwell on the triumph of sin.”

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 36:10

Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.

I have to admit it — I was really ticked off! I was fighting back road rage. I was considering intimidating the driver of the other car with hyper-close tailgating, or perhaps speeding up and cutting them off, or maybe even performing the dreaded PIT maneuver (and if you don’t occasionally watch car chase videos, you won’t have a clue what I’m talking about).

So what was my problem? Well, I was on the way to a birthday celebration — a friend had turned 90 — and the car in front of me had about every bumper sticker offensive to Christianity on it you could possibly imagine. The one that sent me over the edge was next to a culturally appropriated “fish” symbol — you know, the one that has feet and the name Darwin on the inside of our beloved fish. Anyway, right beside that bumper sticker was another one that said, “We Have The Fossils — We Win.”

I was beginning to hum “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Stand Up For Jesus” and I would intermittently mumble, “the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” (Judges 7:18) I was ready to pounce — in Jesus’ name, of course. But I didn’t do any of that. Rather, I eventually settled for calmingly passing the car that was causing my upset and giving the “Philistine” occupants my most righteous stare.

Drats! They didn’t even see me.

Okay, it wasn’t quite that bad, but I was more than a little ticked off. You, too, get that way sometimes when you see the unrighteous flaunting their disregard of God and their disrespect for Christians. As followers of Christ, we often long for the day God steps in to judge sin with a display of Divine justice that will leave no doubt )although when we consider the lives of the sinners we know and love, that prospect is rather frightening).

David was feeling that way in this psalm. Out of the twelve verses that make up Psalm 36, six are used to complain about the wicked (Psalm 36:1-4,11-12). But as David is venting, I think he comes to grips with the fact that there was not much, if anything, he could do about the evil residing in the hearts of those wicked people who were ticking him off. So, as he often does, he talks himself out of his “road rage” by focusing on the character of God: his love and faithfulness (Psalm 36:5), his righteousness and justice (Psalm 36:5), his protection and abundance (Psalm 36:7-8), and life itself (Psalm 36:9-10) that the godly find when they make the Almighty their sanctuary.

Dwelling on the eternal character of God is the antidote to the spiritual road rage that threatens to consume us when we focus on the ephemeral nature of the sinner. You’d think I would get that by now — but I guess, like David, I have to relearn it just about every other day. I’ll bet you do too!

My Offering of Worship: If you are overcome with anger, or distressed, perhaps even depressed because sin and sinners seem to triumph everywhere you turn, do what David did: write a psalm where you not only pour out your complaint to God, but you extol his eternal character.

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Worship His Majesty

The Most Beautiful of God’s Creation Is His Re-creation of You

PREVIEW: as amazing as God’s work in nature was, it wasn’t even his best work. You see, you are his best work! You are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10). The best of God’s power and majesty, glory and strength were on display when he redeemed you from your sin, made you a part of his forever family, and gave you a divine purpose for this life and the one to come. And none of that due to your own worthiness, mind you! It was all because of his great love! So whether you live in a place of beauty or not, why don’t you do what David did by falling to your knees to ascribe to the Lord glory and strength that he so richly deserves?

Worship His Majesty - Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 29:1-6 (TEV)

Praise the LORD, you heavenly beings; praise his glory and power. Praise the LORD’s glorious name; bow down before the Holy One when he appears. The voice of the LORD is heard on the seas; the glorious God thunders, and his voice echoes over the ocean. The voice of the LORD is heard in all its might and majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, even the cedars of Lebanon. He makes the mountains of Lebanon jump like calves and makes Mount Hermon leap like a young bull.

If you are a big fan of nature, like I am, you will love this psalm. David is extolling the indescribable majesty and awesome power of God in the ongoing witness of nature: The vastness of the deep blue oceans, the breathtaking beauty of the mountain peaks, and the chest-rattling sounds of the thunder complete with fear-inducing fierceness of an electrical storm.

Truly God was doing some of his best work when he created the cosmos.

The work that I now do requires more air travel than I ever imagined doing. Whether it is to Africa, or to some city in the Midwest or East Coast of the United States, each trip, along with navigating the unpredictability of air travel these days, the process of getting to, through, and home from airports, sleeping in hotels, all of which imposes physical and mental exhaustion on me, I never tire of flying back to the pristine beauty of the Pacific Northwest where I live. Nor does flying over the majestic Rocky Mountains. Seriously, when you see such grandeur, you wonder if God was just showing off when he created these places — the stunning beauty of Mt. Hood or Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Rainier, or the snow-capped wonder of the Front Range with its unhindered view of several 14,000 footers all the way from Pike’s Peak on the South to Long’s Peak on the north. Truly, it is hard to beat the views!

Sometimes it seems as though the pilots are flying the aircraft so close it seems as though you could reach out and touch God’s handiwork. Words can’t do justice to its overwhelming wonder. No artist’s canvas comes anywhere near God’s unequaled artistry, or in the case of St. Helens, his unequaled power. Without fail, each time I take in these scenes, I feel compelled to do what David did in Psalm 29:1,

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!

But as amazing as God’s work in nature was, it wasn’t even his best work. You see, you are his best work! You are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10). The best of God’s power and majesty, glory and strength were on display when he redeemed you from your sin, made you a part of his forever family, and gave you a divine purpose for this life and the one to come. And none of that due to your own worthiness, mind you! It was all because of his great love!

So whether you live in a place of beauty or not, why don’t you do what David did by falling to your knees to ascribe to the Lord glory and strength that he so richly deserves?

My Offering of Worship: If it is possible, get out in nature today, or this weekend, and not only off your praise the Lord for the beauty of his creation, but thank him for the beauty in you, his new creation.

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Whew! That Was a Close Call

He Delivers Me Out All My Troubles

PREVIEW: When David wrote, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them,” he was coming off a life-threatening episode that was the result of a major lapse of judgment on his part. Yet God had pulled his bacon out of the fire, and David was not only relieved, but he was also very grateful. Now, I am not advocating that the mistakes we make are no big deal. They are…and they can be very costly. But friend, we serve a God who trumps our mistakes with his grace and turns our goofs into glory for himself and good for us. We may take a few lumps along the way, but at the end of the day, even on our best day, it is God who makes something beautiful out of it. I love how the famed hymn writer, John Newton put it, “We serve a gracious Master who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.”

Whew! That Was A Close Call - Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 34:4-7

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

You’ve got to notice the title of this psalm to really appreciate it:

A Psalm of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.

David was on the lam…just a step ahead of death due to King Saul’s maniacal and murderous hatred. On this particular occasion, out of desperation, David sought refuge, of all places, in the Philistine city of Gath. Gath, you might recall, was the hometown of a famed warrior-hero that David had killed in stunning fashion on the battlefield: Goliath.

David is seeking refuge in the city of his enemy rather than in the shelter of the Almighty. Now to be fair, David has done a lot of things right up to this point in his life. He has depended on the Lord, day after day and night after night for years, patiently enduring and deftly avoiding Saul’s relentless posse. But now he makes a big mistake — and it almost costs him his life.

The people of Gath recognize David for what he is: the chief warrior of their archenemy Israel, and they want the Philistine king to have him executed. Suddenly, realizing the pickle he’s gotten himself into, David comes up with a crazy idea: He’ll go postal. So he feigns insanity, starts scratching at the door, drooling in his beard, and howling at the moon (okay, I added that last one). When the king sees David in this deranged state, he says, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”(1 Samuel 21:14-15)

With that, David beats a retreat back to the cave of Adullam, and there as before, he finds God in the cave. That is where the much-relieved David penned these immortal words: “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”

Now I am not advocating that the mistakes we make are no big deal. They are…and they can be very costly. But friend, we serve a God who trumps our mistakes with his grace and turns our goofs into glory for himself and good for us. We may take a few lumps along the way, but at the end of the day, even on our best day, it is God who makes something beautiful out of it. I love how the famed hymn writer, John Newton put it,

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

Come on now, aren’t you glad for that? Along with me, on a few occasions you have said, “Whew, God pulled my bacon out of the fire on that one!” That being translated, is “the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them!”

You might want to thank God for that little fact, by the way. I think I will!

My Offering of Worship: Neither David nor the writers of scripture tried to sanitize David’s self-inflicted wounds. Rather, they included them in the enteral Word of God for our benefit. You probably have a self-inflicted wound or two where God not only rescued you but turned your certain disaster into victory. Since that is true, share your story with another and encourage them with this truth: Even when we make mistakes, God still encamps around us, and even though our mistakes might be painful, he is still there protecting, preserving, and perfecting his plan for us.

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Who’s Really In Charge?

PREVIEW: News flash, the president is not really in charge — no president really is. And as the people of God, we must not forget that! God is in charge. Economies, presidents, and even nations come and go, but, as David says, “the plans of the Lord stand firm forever!” Sure, poor economies affect our day-to-day lives; so do bad presidents and evil empires. But just remember, they will come and go. It is the purposes of God’s heart that transcend the current state of affairs in our world.

Who Is Really In Charge - Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 33:10-11

The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.

Every four or eight years, new presidents stand before the American press for their first prime-time press conference. Almost without fail, the main subject of their public address is the worsening national economy — an alarming upswing in unemployment, inflation, home foreclosures, rising interest rates, bank failures, and a host of other bleak economic indicators. It is almost like new presidents are reading the from “The New Presidents’ Playbook.”

These presidents understand that much is riding on their ability to communicate with the American people and convince them that their plan to bail out our economy must be supported, and if it isn’t, the damage done will be irreparable. Agree or disagree with these presidents’ plan for prosperity du jour, one thing you’ve got to give them, they are (usually) extraordinary communicators with astonishing brainpower and off-the-charts winsomeness that make half the country want to put their hope in his or her plan.

But, news flash, the president is not really in charge — no president really is. And as the people of God, we must not forget that! God is in charge. Economies, presidents, and even nations come and go, but, as David says, “the plans of the Lord stand firm forever!”

Sure, poor economies affect our day-to-day lives; so do bad presidents and evil empires. But just remember, they will come and go. It is the “purposes of God’s heart” that transcend the current state of affairs in our world.

So today, as you consider the current president’s roadmap to peace and prosperity, and as you listen to the endless debate heating up the halls of Congress in Washington, DC as to how our problems can be solved, you really should pray for these leaders—they really need your help and mine. Actually, they seriously need God’s help.

But at the end of the day, I would suggest that you hitch your wagonload of hope to God’s star — because he’s really the One in charge.

And he always will be!

My Offering of Worship: Pray for your leaders today—like them or not. They really do need your help, and most importantly, they need God’s help.

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Before and After

Oh What Joy For Those Whose Sins Are Forgiven

PREVIEW: “What joy there is for those whose sins are forgiven!” So wrote King David. When God forgives you, your sins are not only covered, they are also neutralized, vaporized, and remembered no more. David had committed several egregious sins against Almighty God (2 Samuel 11) and against the very people he was called to shepherd as king over Israel. He had royally (no pun intended) messed up, so in this psalm he was talking from first-hand experience about the before and after picture of the forgiven life. He, more than most people, knew the indescribable joy in having his sin-slate wiped clean. I know that joy, too, and I suspect you’ve experienced it as well. How privileged we are to belong to a God who forgives all our sins — and does so with great joy. I can’t think of a greater benefit and blessing in this life than that.

Before and After - Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 32:1-2

Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

What would life be like for you without God’s forgiveness? I don’t know about you, but I’d be depressed, fearful, under so much guilt I doubt if I could function, and worst of all, hopeless. There would be no joy — I would be stuck in the quicksand of regret for things I had done in my past, I would have no sustained energy to face what I need to do throughout this day, and I would have no courage to face the unknowns of tomorrow. I would be a royal mess!

Oh, I could postpone all those sad realities of an unforgiven life by some sort of other coping mechanism. I could numb all my pains by drinking or doing drugs. I could temporarily avoid that reality by overworking or overspending or overachieving or overeating or oversleeping. I could get a momentary feel-good fix through Internet porn or an extra-marital affair or some other sort of sexually addictive behavior to forget about the fact that I am hopelessly lost. I could surround myself with all kinds of friends through non-stop partying, being funny, playing sports incessantly, or overloading my calendar with other social activities. There are all kinds of ways I could avoid the pain of the unforgiven life. Lots of people do that every day — that’s how much of the world copes.

But that doesn’t negate the awful truth that they are living an unforgiven life. They can only postpone their hopeless reality for so long, but at some point, living a life apart from a forgiving God will come home to roost.

I realize have painted a pretty bleak and depressing picture — not a great way to start a devotional—but it’s true.

On the other hand, what joy there is for those whose sins are forgiven! Not just forgiven but covered…neutralized…vaporized and remembered no more. David, who wrote that psalm, had committed several egregious sins against Almighty God (2 Samuel 11) and the very people he was called to shepherd as king over Israel. He had royally (no pun intended) messed up, so in this psalm, he was talking from first-hand experience about the before and after picture of the forgiven life. He, more than most people, knew the unbearable pain of having messed up (“When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat” Psalm 32:3-4) and the indescribable joy in having his sin-slate wiped clean (“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” Psalm 32:1).

I know that joy, too, and I suspect you’ve experienced it as well. How privileged we are to belong to a God who forgives all our sins — and does so with great joy. I can’t think of a greater benefit and blessing in this life than that.

Perhaps you are wondering if God can really forgive you for all the bad things you have repeatedly done. The answer to your wonder is, yes, he can. Forgiveness is who he is (“Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.” Ex 34:6-7). Forgiveness is what he does (“He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.” Psalm 103:3-4) And forgiveness is what brings him joy (“You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” (Micah 7:18)

I don’t know what you are facing this day, but I hope the simple fact that God has completely forgiven you will brighten your day and give you a profound joy that will sustain you for the rest of your life.

My Offering of Worship: Take a moment before you leave this devotional and thank the Lord that he is a forgiving, merciful, redeeming God.

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Not To Worry

Things Really Are In Better Hands

PREVIEW: When you truly understand that you are always within the sovereign and loving Father’s competent care, like Jesus and David, you can lay your worries down and rest in peace and declare, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Just knowing that nothing will touch you that doesn’t first pass through his hands provides a sense of peace and security that most people never dream possible. Knowing that all the days of your life, from beginning to end, have already been laid out in God’s mind births a rare and priceless confidence that overcomes all of life’s fears — even the fear of death, which is at the bottom of most of the neurosis that plagues the godless — because you know that he is with you, even in the valley of the shadow of death.

Not To Worry - Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 31:5,15 (NLT)

Into your hands I commit my spirit…My times are in your hands.

In God’s hands — that’s a great place to be. David’s belief that God would care for him through the thick and thin of life gave him the necessary fortitude to make the journey with the kind of sweet spirit and deep faith that earned him the appellation “a man after God’s own heart.”

Of course, Jesus knew what David knew: That even in the midst of the most horrible, torturous suffering possible, the cross, he was squarely in the competent and caring hand of his Heavenly Father. And at the end of his suffering, when he had completed the task of redemption and satisfied God’s righteous wrath by bearing the full punishment for the sins of humanity, he, too, committed his spirit into God’s hands.

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46)

When you truly understand that you are always within the sovereign and loving Father’s competent care, like Jesus and David, you can lay your worries down and rest in peace. Just knowing that nothing will touch you that doesn’t first pass through his hands provides a sense of peace and security that most people never dream possible. Knowing that all the days of your life, from beginning to end, have already been laid out in God’s mind births a rare and priceless confidence that overcomes all of life’s fears — even the fear of death, which is at the bottom of most of the neurosis that plagues the godless.

In another psalm, Psalm 139:16, David wrote,

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

Knowing that God has completely planned out your life from beginning to end, that he is watching over each detail, every circumstance, every spit second, and every square inch of your existence with great love and care, that you will not die a day sooner nor live a day longer than what he has foreordained, and that he will fulfill every good purpose in you, ought to give you the kind of confidence and courage to live your one and only life to the fullest and to the glory of God.

Yes, you can commit your spirit into his hands. In his hands — that is the best place to be!

My Offering of Worship: If you are going through a “dark night of the soul,” pray this prayer — the prayer of King David and King Jesus: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Pray it over and again until the peace of God that passes all understanding comes in to guard your heart and protect your mind.

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You Exist to Be An Instrument of Praise

Shout Out God’s Goodness — If They'll Listen, and Even If They Won’t

PREVIEW: Why has God blessed you? Of course, he loves you as his dear child, and wants to give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:3-4) But he gives you life and breath, health and happiness, peace and prosperity that you might be an instrument of his praise to those who will listen, and even to those who won’t. He answers your prayers and pulls you out of the pit so that your voice would rise in public gratitude to him. Even in the midst of hardship, he gives you inner joy that others might know of your hope in the goodness of God.

Instrument of Praise - Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 30:11-12 (NLT)

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Apparently, David was physically sick. So sick that he believed he was going to die. And his detractors were openly hoping for it, gloating over his misfortune. (Psalm 30:1) But David appealed to the Lord who raised his from his deathbed and restored his health. (Psalm 30:2-3)

I cried to you for help, and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death.

What did David do in response to God’s gracious intervention? He used it as a platform to talk about the goodness of God. He understood that the reason God spared his life, at least in part, was to now be an instrument of praise, as we see in Psalm 30:9,

What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?

Fast forward from King David (at times, a no good, dirty rotten sinner) to you (at times, a no good, dirty rotten sinner, too). Have you given any thought to why God has been so gracious and merciful to you? Do you know the reason why he has answered so many of your prayers? Do you think it is simply to give you a more comfortable life or to satisfy your every whim?

Of course, God loves you as his dear child and wants to give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:3-4) But he gives you life and breath, health and happiness, peace and prosperity that you might be an instrument of his praise to those who will listen, and even to those who won’t. He answers your prayers and pulls you out of the pit so that your voice would rise in public gratitude to him. Even in the midst of hardship, he gives you inner joy so that others might know of your hope in the goodness of God.

David got it. He understood that his life had been spared and his prayers answered so that he could worship among the wicked (Psalm 30:1) and sing among the saints (Psalm 30:4) as living proof of a loving God.

God wants you to “get it” too. So, starting today, look for opportunities to speak a good word for God among those who will listen, and even to those who won’t. Remember, your job is to share the Good News with everyone. It’s up to God to convict them of truth. You don’t have to get weird about it, but in the course of your conversations, talk about the goodness of God in your life and let God take it from there.

Remember, that’s the reason you even have life: To be an instrument of praise!

My Offering of Worship: Tell someone this week how good God has been to you. It doesn’t matter if they want to hear it (that’s always easier), but tell them even if they are open (that won’t be easy, but that is what a witness does: they tell of what they know to be true). And don’t worry, receptive audience or not, God will orchestrate your opportunity.