The greater the love, the greater the capacity for grief

Psalm 55

February 27

 

     Psalm 52 speaks of betrayal from an enemy. Psalm 54 is about a betrayal of a fellow countryman and even a kinsman. This psalm is from a fellow believer. It’s as though David is singing the blues and the hits they just keep coming.

     David said “I could handle it better if it was an enemy or even an acquaintance that I really didn’t like, then I could hide from him” (Ps. 55:12).  “But it was you, my equal, my companion, the one I took sweet counsel from as we walked together to worship.”

     I think about two best friends who used to go to church together and as they grew up, they also grew apart. Something snapped and they suddenly were estranged from each other and while one was indifferent to the distance, the other was devastated by her friend suddenly dropping her. The closer you are to someone, the greater the hurt that can be caused.

     If a total stranger ignored me whenever I said “Hello,” I would think it strange even rude, but it wouldn’t ruin my entire day. But if a close friend and fellow believer suddenly just ignored me, the pain would be magnified immensely.

     Turn that around to the Lord. No one loves you more than He does. And He has given so much to us. But sometimes we forget that not only can God love, He also feels hurt, pain and grief. If His love for us is immeasurable, does it not follow that His grief is also measureless when we “betray” Him in our sins, in our unfaithfulness, in our distance from Him?

     If a believer or a church or even a staff member or pastor has hurt your feelings, I truly am sorry. But undoubtedly you and I have hurt someone else, our Lord, by our actions. The greater the love, the greater the ability to be hurt. Confess the distance you have made between yourself and the Lord as sin and pledge to draw near to Him. He will also draw near to you.

 

The worst hurt of all

Psalm 54

February 26

     It is one thing to be betrayed by an enemy, but to be betrayed by your own? Wow!

     Psalm 52 was written in response to David being betrayed by an Edomite, found in 1 Sam. 22, but today’s psalm is in response to David being betrayed by his own people, based on 1 Sam. 23:19 and verses following.

     Have you had close friends or coworkers abandon you or betray you? Join the club of David and of Jesus. Both David and Jesus were of the lineage of Judah, and yet Judas betrayed Jesus. And the people of David’s own kin and tribe told King Saul, a Benjamite, where David was hiding. Earlier in Psalm 41:9, we read this prophetic passage, “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me,” written by David, but applied to Jesus and Judas Iscariot.

    A church I know has a reputation of terminating more staff members and employees than any other church I have ever seen. I asked one terminated minister how long it took for his wife to get over the hurt of his termination and he said, “I don’t think she’ll ever get over it.” There are worse hurts. Some churches and even entire denominations have reputations of hurting and abusing children. The hurt from friends, family members, and family of God members can be one of the most devastating hurts that there are.

     Where did David turn when his own kin and kind suddenly became “strangers” “oppressors” (54:3) and “enemies” (54:5, 7)? He turned to God. When you need a friend or a brother, remember Jesus has called us friends (John 15:15) and if we have God as our Father, then Jesus is our brother (Matt. 12:50). And He will never betray you.

(This theme continues in Psalm 55)

Some messages bear repeating

Psalm 53

February 25

 

     Psalm 53 is almost identical to Psalm 14 with the exception of a few of the latter verses. Perhaps like our modern hymnals (is that an oxymoron?) where we list the same song to two different melodies, this psalm is sung “according to mahalath” or a different tune. Or maybe the psalmist decided like some of our contemporary artists to bring up an oldie but a goodie and add a few new lyrics.

     The targets addressed in psalm 53 are the atheists, the arrogant, and the antagonists of God’s people. All three had no fear of God… until God shows up at judgment day. Then “they are in great fear, where no fear was.” On the other hand, the people who believe in God, who recognize and repent of their sins, who are not antagonistic against God or His people, can rejoice and be glad (verse 6).

    At times, we believers are no better than the fools who don’t believe, as far as sins go. Paul would later use this verse and show that all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23).

    Like the arrogant, we need to remember we have all sinned. Our sin and rebellion against God is not new, seen also in Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, every one, to his own way…”  But Isaiah doesn’t end there. “And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

    And sometimes we Christians are no better than that antagonists who devour the believers. Galatians 5:15 was written as a warning to Christians, “But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!”

    Some messages need to be repeated and obviously this psalm does as well.

Going from bad to worse...to outright evil

Psalm 52

February 24

     There is bad and then there is outright evil. Imagine a political leader, the head of a sovereign nation, ordering the execution of religious leaders simply because they gave his enemy some food. That’s what King Saul had done to 85 priests who had helped Saul’s enemy, David. Additionally, the entire city of priests was also destroyed, priests as well as the women and children.

     People often complain about their government or the bad things that happen to them, but there is true evil in our world, desperately wicked people. How does one get to be that evil?

     A poor shepherd by the name of Doeg saw the priests give David food and simply went and reported it to King Saul. When Saul became enraged by those who helped his enemy, he ordered the priests to be killed but no one would do it…except Doeg. He thought this was his chance to strike it rich. He was from another country so it didn’t matter to him if he killed some Israelites, even an entire city. According to Ps. 52:7, Doeg went from his bad poverty and quickly turned to outright evil.

     David felt the blow personally; after all, it was because of him that the evil had fallen on the priests. Rather than guilt or bitterness, David turned to God and to praising God. Rather than trusting in riches and power and revenge, David said, “I will trust in the mercy of God forever and ever…I will wait on your name, for it is good.”

   There is bad and there is outright evil. But there is good and outright mercy of God forever. Whatever you are going through, deepen your roots like an olive tree in the house of God. You won’t be uprooted.

The best word NOT in Psalm 51

Psalm 51

February 23

    

     There are so many great and wonderful words and phrases in this marvelous psalm of confession, repentance, forgiveness and restoration. But the greatest word is perhaps NOT even in this psalm. Here are the words included:

“Wash me/ cleanse me”
“Create in me”
“Renew a steadfast spirit within me”
“Wash me”
“Restore to me”
“Uphold me”

     The word “Then” is not even in verse 13 in the original language, but is inserted in most English translations, but I think it is possibly the greatest implied word in all of the Bible. If a word is italicized in NKJV/KJV translations, it generally means the word is implied but not directly stated. “Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.”

    

The reason why I say that the word “then” is perhaps the greatest word NOT in this psalm is because David’s sins were not merely limited to David. The consequences of his sins, and our sins, extend far beyond us. David sinned against his people by not going out to war, against Uriah and Bathsheba, against his own family with consequences which would plague him even past his death, and against the child conceived by their union and the subsequent death of that child. Therefore, David’s restoration must also extend beyond himself.

   

As marvelous as David’s forgiveness, cleansing, purging, restoration and renewal, the most ultimate importance of all of those things is that verse which starts off with “then” and continues in stating that others may fear when they saw the great consequences of sin.

    

Good men are going to fall, hopefully not as greatly as David did, but the greatest of all things about this psalm is God is NEVER finished with us. God can still “hit a straight lick with a crooked stick.” Sinners can be converted and believers can “learn not to blaspheme” (1 Tim. 1:20) when they see God’s judgment as well as his restoration of even someone after his own heart like David.

      

Jesus said, “as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent” (Rev. 3:19). The writer of Hebrews said, “For whom the Lord loves, He chastens” (Heb. 12:6).

      

God loves us the way we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us the way we are.

  

One of the best ways to praise the Lord is doing what He says

Psalm 50

February 22

     Psalm 50 is a perfectly linked to Matthew 23:23, the passage our pastor, Dr. Randy Wallace, preached Sunday. Jesus called out those who tithed on the tiniest amounts but left off the more important elements: justice and mercy and faith.

    A thousand years earlier, Asaph was vocalizing the same thing to the people of God. He said he was not going to rebuke the people for tithing (Ps. 50:8), even though He was the creator and owner of everything, including “the cattle on a thousand hills” (50:10-13).

     Bringing tithes and offerings are important, but it was almost as if the people hated the other instructions from God, which were against stealing, adultery, hurting their brothers and sisters,  lying and evil talking (50:17-20). The people thought they were so godly because they brought sacrifices, “but I will rebuke you.”

    I love the line where God, clarifying why His people should bring sacrifices to Him, says, “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine and all its fullness.” God didn’t need us to “feed” Him bulls and goats. And today, tithing doesn’t add to God’s riches, it all belongs to Him, any more than our being righteous adds to His righteousness. Being godly does not add to our salvation, since Christ paid it all.

     Our obedience does accomplish one thing, whether it is in giving or in godliness: it praises and glorifies God. A one-sentence summation of this psalm would be “One of the best ways to praise God is by doing what He says.”

The redemption of souls is costly

Psalm 49

February 21

    The movie Risen has just been released and although I haven’t seen it, I obviously like the premise. A man who claimed He would rise from the dead apparently did so, and a Roman guard is tasked with the impossible job of finding the dead man’s body. It is impossible because the body ascended to heaven.

    Today’s reading is for everyone, verse 1 says, “all peoples…all inhabitants of the earth… lowly and high, poor and rich.” The passage mostly talks about the wealthy who trust their wealth. Understand, being rich is not a sin, and being poor does not make you virtuous. But beyond that, neither poverty, nor wealth, nor wisdom, nor ignorance can save you from death.

⁷ No one can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him—
⁸ For the redemption of their souls is costly, and it shall cease forever—
⁹ That he should continue to live eternally, and not see the Pit.

    Redemption of souls is more expensive than any person could ever pay. The writer goes on to say the wise and the fools alike both die and leave everything behind. No one’s legacy, even the most honorable, lasts forever. The grave takes everything. Kind of pessimistic, huh?

     Except…there is a verse 15: “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me.”

     God is the only One who could pay the price, the ransom, to redeem our souls. Some ask, "Why is Christianity the only way?" What other faith sets forth that it is God and not man's efforts who provides for our salvation? The Owner of our souls is also the Purchaser of our souls, so He alone determines the payment and only He can pay it. He did so with Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. 

     Like the soldier in Risen, we should seek after the One who claimed He would rise from the dead. But as Christ said, we should not seek the living among the dead. And rich or poor, smart or dumb, we should use what will not last for what can never fade away.

The City of the Lord Almighty, the City of our God (Ps. 48:8)

If you would like to subscribe to this blog, please put your email in the blank on the right.

Psalm 48

February 20

 

    Are you as excited about the “city of God” as this psalmist is? He was speaking literally about the Jerusalem of his day, but prophetically, he was writing about the coming city of God which will descend out of heaven.

“Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2, NKJV).

“And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,” (Rev. 21:10).

“The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” (Rev. 21:23).

    There are several things in Psalm 48 that was not yet true yet of that day, and it is certainly not true today about the city of Jerusalem. But when we read this psalm with an eye on the heavenly city of God, it makes us excited about God’s present and future reign. Prophetically the psalmist wrote that at some point in the future “God will establish it (the city of God) forever” (verse 8).

     This political season is about the worse I have ever seen. The United States is getting less and less united and more and more divided. Our world fares no better than our country. But soon and very soon, we are going to see our King. What does it take to be a resident of the City of God, the New Jerusalem, that “city” that now exists in heaven? The final book and final two chapters of the Bible mentions the city of God 11 times in merely 48 verses.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” (Rev.22:14, ESV).

     Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? They only can be if you are among those who have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). The Bible says “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin…If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7b, 9).

Sing praises...with understanding

Psalm 47

February 19

 

Being a parent of four diverse kids has always been interesting. Now that they are adults, it is even more … well interesting is an understatement. New child, new job, new school, ending school, new mission, joy, sadness, fear. Imagine God’s perspective of His children.
 

I wonder if the “sons of Korah” (the music leaders in the Old Testament days) ever led congregational singing with people who didn’t want to sing. Perhaps that is why this psalm was written with so much encouragement to sing and participate in the praise of the Lord. Look at verses 5 and 6: “Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth, sing praises with understanding.” That word understanding I think means, “sing with the experience and knowledge of your victory.”
 

Maybe the writers were simply overwhelmed with the greatness of God and wanted to put out there a song of triumph and praise, and to encourage others to sing. I remember when it used to be undignified or thought irreverent to clap your hands in church, and yet it is commanded for us to do so here. If we shout and cheer for our sports team, how much more should we sing for our awesome God who has brought us into victory?
 

In my era, there was a popular song of encouragement to sing which said, “Sing your praise to the Lord / I could never tell you just how much good / That it's gonna do you just to sing / Anew / The song your heart learned to sing / When He first gave His life to you / Well, life goes on and so must the song.”
 

I hope you haven’t lost your song, your song of salvation, your song of God’s deliverance. There is a time to weep, yes, and a time to mourn, but there is also a time to dance and a time to laugh (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
 

Whatever you are going through, there will be a shout, a song. And if you are in a congregation this Sunday and God has brought you through the valley and now on a mountaintop, then, “sing, sing, sing, let me hear you now sing, sing, sing.”

And if you are only familiar with Amy Grant's version of the song, listen to composer Rich Mullins' version. Truly awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbIYPYBiejM

 

"Be still" ... No, He's not just talking to the storms

Psalm 46

February 18

    A friend of mine told me years ago that worry is a subtle form of atheism. If that is true, I have symptoms of subtle atheism. Not really, but like the psalm from a few days ago, I frequently ask myself “why are you downcast, O my soul? Put your trust in God.”

     Psalm 46 has words to defeat the worrisome and stressful subtle absence of faith. From the beginning words of “a very present help in trouble,” to the ending oft-quoted verse of “be still and know that I am God,” this psalm is a Biblical refuge for those in need of God’s protection.

    There is no pie in the sky here. Believers are not immune from a healthy dose of reality. Yet, even if the earth is moved, mountains shake and fall into the sea; even if oceans roar, nations rage and kingdoms fall, the writer declares his refusal to give in to fear. He knows God is with him and in Him, he will take refuge. He knows God is Elyon, the most High God who can make even the wars of the earth to suddenly declare peace.

    One dark night the disciples were fearful that they would be drowned in the Sea of Galilee and woke the Lord, asking “don’t you care that we are about to die?” Jesus instantly calmed the storm and then had a question of His own: “Where is your faith?” They too had a question of themselves, “Who is this that commands even the winds and water?”

    Excuse me, as I need to read Psalm 46 again and then go speak to the gathering storms. I need to tell the winds and water that I am renouncing my subtle atheism.

Come away in reckless abandon

Psalm 45

February 17

    Like Proverbs 31 and the Song of Songs (Solomon), one cannot read this psalm and wonder if a woman contributed to the composition of this extremely beautiful psalm. The King James Version introduces this as a “song of loves.” The poetry of the first verse is striking, “my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.”

  If the previous psalm cries out for a lack of response, this psalm resounds with beautiful intimacy. Whether known or not by the author, this is a psalm about the coming Christ, who was as much as a thousand years away in coming the first time (see Heb. 1:8-9). I would encourage you to read Ps. 45 in the exquisite language of the King James Version.

   Within the content of this psalm, we, the reader, identify with the role of the bride of Christ, and the Father of the Warrior is none other but God the Father. We frequently say we love God and Christ loves the church, but few passages of Scripture capture the emotionalism of such love in the sense of grandeur and poise and grace. As you read this psalm, ask yourself, “Do I truly love Christ? Do I understand God’s love for me?”

    "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him."
As a man, I often find it hard to identify a love relationship with Christ as a bridegroom and myself as the bride, the church. And yet in a platonic, spiritual and nonphysical way, we must rid ourselves of the earthly, distorted view of love and fall without restraints into an abandoned love for our Savior.

   Oswald Chambers first etched the word “abandon” onto my spiritual heart, “stating whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him.”

   The psalmist wrote of such abandonment. Like a lover whose fear has been replaced with reckless trust, fall deeply for Christ today, arouse your spiritual passions to follow this King into a relationship of devotion. 

Angry at an absent God

Psalm 44:9-26
February 16

When I went to South Padre Island to be the managing editor of the newspaper, the publisher looked at my resume and said, “Tim, I see you have been a pastor and are a seminary graduate. How are you going to report on the all the drinking and what goes on at Spring Break?”

“Are you asking me if I am a prude?” I said, “When I report on a car wreck, I don’t have to approve of it, I just need to report it accurately.”

The Bible is like that. Some of the things in the Bible are not only wrong, they are disturbing. But yet the Bible reports it accurately. The writer of the 44^th psalm wrote glowingly about God for the first eight verses, but bitterly for the last 18 verses. Ten times, he blames God for the calamity he is facing and professes his innocence. The writer accuses God of being asleep and hiding His face.

I told a man whose wife was losing her Christian faith that there really are no atheists, just people who are angry with the God they claim not to believe in.

I’ve heard people say that we need to be honest with God, even when we are angry with Him, and this psalm is one doozy of an example in support of that. What’s more, even the Apostle Paul quotes this psalm and not the first part, but the bitter end. Compare Ps 44:22 with Romans 8:36, when Paul surrounds this Psalmist's angry cry for help with the comforting words of “who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” and “I am persuaded that (nothing) shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If you feel abandoned by God, or even agnostic or atheistic, remember that weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Ps. 30:5). For a moment, it may seem God hides His face, “but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you” (Isa. 54:7-8). See also about the “sufferings of this present time” in Rom. 8:18, and what this “momentary light affliction” is producing in us in 2 Cor. 4:17.

Today's story is tomorrow's glory

Psalm 44:1-8

February 15

    If history is repeated for those who fail to heed the lessons from it, I would dare to say that God will manifest Himself in ways reminiscent and consistent with His ways for those who remember them. A more sure basis for that truth is because the Scriptures say that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever,” (Heb. 13:8) and “I am the Lord, I change not,” (Mal. 3:6) and “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He not said and will He not do? Or has He spoken and will He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19)

    In Psalm 44, the writer begins by reminding the Lord (as if He needs reminding) of God’s faithfulness in the past. Tomorrow, we will read of his disappointment in the present, but for today, we need to remember to remember. We must believe that history is in fact His story. And trust that some of God’s brightest revelations came on darkness nights (Ps. 44:3, also 43:3). He allows storms so that He can calm them. Without a cross there is no resurrection.

    Hindsight is 20/20. Perhaps you are in the middle of a future hindsight right now. If so, act like it! Look to the past glories and deliverances in the Bible and in Christian history, and even in your own life. Trust the God who hasn’t failed yet and rest assured He will not change. Not even for you! Today’s story is tomorrow’s glory!