Tag: David

Psalm 18 Pt 1 ~ The Lord is My Rock

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. ( vv 1 – 3 )

Such effusive praise is easily expressed in our moments of gratitude and joy as we revel in the grace that God has granted us in life. What of the more challenging times? Are we as able as David to continue to bless the Lord when it seems as though His hand has been withdrawn? The psalmist challenges our modern travails as he recounts his long running struggle with Saul.

There are three divisions to Psalm 18 and in the first David recounts the blessing of deliverance that God granted him from the hands of his enemies. He found himself as close to death as a human can be;

The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. (vv 4-5)

but still his reaction, born of spiritual strength was to seek his redeemer;

In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before his ears. (v 6)

Yahweh’s thunderous response is not measured and meek; he storms from heaven on the wings of the cherubim and whirling of the wind. Accompanied by lightning and the quaking of the mountains, God reaches down with his fist and scatters the enemies of His king. That same hand reaches out and pulls His beloved from the depths of his despair.

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes who were too strong for me.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support.

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. (vv 16 – 19)

You and I must trust that God would rush across the heavens to preserve us as well. This is one of the great challenges that we face but to continue to soak our souls in these words develops our David like confidence.

Psalm 17 ~ In Righteousness I Will See Your Face

The seventeenth psalm calls out to God in His role as the judge of righteousness. The psalmist cries out for judgment on himself and his enemies. Read that again. Not only does he point the Lord’s attention to his enemies so their wickedness can be noted and avenged, he calls for God to examine his own life as well.

Hear, O Lord, my righteous plea; listen to my cry. Give ear to my prayer – it does not rise from deceitful lips.

May vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right. (vv 1 –2)

Would you and I be willing to invite the same scrutiny? The power to make this invitation comes from living the undivided life, one in which integrity is an integral component of the believer’s life. We do not live in secret a life different from the one we live in the light. We would be able to say:

Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin. (v 3)

Reading this psalm challenges us. Our lips might proclaim our innocence in comparison to others but our heart knows the truth. God knows the truth as well and will highlight our hypocrisy to its full extent the harder we beat our chests. We want to be in the position that the psalmist is, satisfied with the immediate presence of God and being able to express how much we cherish God. Pray that we might all be so blessed.

Psalm 16 ~ My Portion and My Cup

How many times do our prayers drift toward our needs or even our desires? We may be enjoying a perfectly satisfactory life where needs can slide towards desires and still feel the need to make the request of the Lord. Or, our circumstances may be different as much of our waking time is spent pursuing the basic requirements of life. Our prayers of request take on a different tone at these moments. In either scenario, the psalmist shows us the proper approach to the throne.

Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. (vv 5-6)

You say, it would be easy to praise the Lord if my life was provisioned as such. I can envision very large boundaries that would remove the daily stress and concern from my life. On the other hand, when circumstances are dire, how am I to lift my voice in praise? We do it in trust. Trust that the portion assigned by the Lord is perfect for His purposes. Trust that the exact amount of security needed in order for us to serve His purposes has been provided. In trust that our labors and struggles in this kingdom will be rewarded in the new heavens and the new earth of eternity.

Trust comes from relationship. Relationship is born in the crucible of prayer.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.

I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (vv 7-8)

Perhaps our time in prayer is better spent in learning the depth of our relationship with the Lord. Knowing how deeply we are loved puts our circumstances in perspective.

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (v 11)

Psalm 15 ~ I Will Never Be Shaken

The psalmist asks,

Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? (v1)

It is a reflection on one’s approach to the Temple and the appropriate condition of one’s holiness before nearing the throne. The ‘response’ cites a variety of ways by which a person can judge the condition of their heart and how closely they adhered to the Law. He or she are blameless, they speak the truth, loves their neighbor, etc. As we read the psalm in modern times we are driven to question our own approach to meeting with God in worship. Are we as worthy?

Some corners of the kingdom have substituted tolerance in place of holiness in the sanctuary. We often fail to consider the condition of our hearts before approaching the throne. In some ways, we approach the altar with the same casualness that we approach the Starbucks counter. Our personal holiness is of little concern during the week and yet we fully expect God to receive our praise and hear our prayers on Sunday. We don’t take holiness seriously and this attitude cannot be masked from God when we enter His house.

Each of us would do well to rewrite this psalm in our journal as a personalized prayer reminder to be used for reflection all through the week. It can aid the Spirit in cooperating with the transformative work in which He engages in our lives. He does so purely that we might be presented at the throne, today and into eternity as righteous and blameless.

Psalm 14 ~ The Fool Says There is No God

As God looks down upon His creation seeking the righteous far and wide, the brokenness that he finds is pervasive. It has reached every corner of humanity.

The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.

All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. (vv 2-3)

A cold, sobering splash as we pray through the psalms. The reality of our situation writ large on the pages of scripture. There is none of us that truly selflessly seeks God. Whether realized or hidden, there is some corner of our being that sees ourselves as little ‘g’ god of our own world. We are fools.

And yet, the same Father who knows that none could stand before Him makes a way for us…

Psalm 13 – I Will Sing to the Lord

When we find ourselves in the midst of a silent period in life when God seems distant or especially quiet, despair can set in. We cry out for his attention only to hear our voices echo back.

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? ( vv 1-2 )

Our recourse should be to examine our lives. Is there something in our character, life, or practice that God turns away from? Is the Lord calling us to patiently endure a tempering season, honing our edges and readying us for His purposes? Both should turn us back to Him in repentance for our sin or for questioning His decisions. In all things we return to Him in worship.

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for he has been good to me. ( vv 5 – 6 )

Psalm 12 ~ Purified Seven Times

Help, Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. (v1)

Looking around in our modern day can reveal in us a similar sense of resignation. Our culture constantly pushes the boundaries of truth, ethics, and morality and proclaims each to be their own god who devises the appropriate framework for their lives. As we read the lament of Psalm 12 we find that not much has changed through the centuries.

The psalmist was not alone is lamenting the decadence of his society. The prophets spoke as boldly to these dangers in their time. Micah echoes the sentiments:

What misery is mine!

   I am like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard;

there is no cluster of grapes to eat, none of the early figs that I crave.

   The godly have been swept from the land; not one upright man remains.

All men lie in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net.

   Both hands are skilled in doing evil; the ruler demands gifts,

the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire— they all conspire together.

   The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.

The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you.  Now is the time of their confusion.

   Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend.

Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words.

   For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.

  But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior;

my God will hear me. (Micah 7:1-7)

King David expressed the same trust – that God would restore the right balance, no matter how far the society tipped.

O Lord, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever,

The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men. (vv 7-8)

Our trust requires a long term perspective, an eternal kingdom perspective. How do you develop such a perspective? By learning and making your own the whole of scripture. A kingdom perspective is not formed from promise books and joyful passages alone, it must be refined in the furnace of reality. We may never escape the persecutors and deceivers that cross our path in this life but we can look forward to a new heaven and new earth in which they will not ‘strut about.’

Psalm 11 – Flee Like a Bird?

Where else, the psalmist asks, can I place my trust? “In the Lord I take refuge.” (v1a) So many of the entries in the psalter echo this same theme. Though life may be an uphill struggle in which we are pursued by our enemies. Though it may seem that evil has free run in our world and that the wicked are victorious. Although our calling may be one of persecution and even death, in who else can we trust? No one but the Lord.

The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne.

He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them.

The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates. (vv 4-5)

The promise that we rest in is not in the ease and comfort of our lives, the promise is in knowing that through eternity we will be the recipients of the Lord’s unfailing justice. His grace has given us the path to redemption and removes our fear.

For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face. (v7)

Psalms 9 & 10 – The Lord is Known by His Justice

This pair of psalms form a carefully constructed prayer of praise for both the glory of the Lord and David’s trust in the righteous justice by which the universe is ruled. He begins with anticipatory praise, lifting Yahweh high as he looks forward to what will be visited on his enemies:

I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.

I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you. For you have upheld my right and my cause; you have sat on your throne, judging righteously. (vv 9:1 – 4)

The combined message of nine and ten is threefold; humility, limitation, and responsibility. From a human standpoint, not three of our favorite topics. To realize our humility is to recognize how little is truly under our control. No matter how high our position, when we set our own throne before that of the King we are yet again aware of how insignificant it is. When our humility fails us, we rebel against this King thinking ourselves higher than the Host. The warning is clear:

The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. The Lord is known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. (vv 9:15- 16)

If our perspective remains on the earthly plain, we can easily convince ourselves of how powerful we are. The humility engendered by an encounter with the Almighty leads us clearly to realize our limitations. David sees clearly that the authority granted him by the Lord can be used in terribly destructive ways:

In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. (vv 10:2-3)

Does the evil man filled with hubris get away with this arrogant behavior? Perhaps, for a time, but as we soak in the words of both of the psalms we return to the glorification that filled the first few verses. We trust and know, based on the ultimate goodness of our God, that righteousness will prevail.

Finally, the rapaciousness of the ‘enemies’ that lurk in the second of the two psalms is in direct contrast to the responsibility for creation that was assigned to the men and women who are to populate it. It is provided for our use but not to be plundered without concern. To do so is as much rebellion as denying the Creator His place and authority. Circling back to humility forces us to answer; are we enemies to any degree?

Psalm 8 – What is Man

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (v1)

This statement of effusive praise brackets both ends of the psalm. The verses sandwiched between offer some of the most overlooked words of encouragement. The psalmist poses and answers the question that elicits the praise:

what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. (vv 4 – 5)

Humankind is not some kind of nuisance creation, destined to corruption and rebellion against their creator. No! Humankind was created specifically to be close to God, dependent on His presence for their security, perseverance, and satisfaction. Men and women were created with purpose, not to merely live out their days in empty pursuit of experience. David looks to the immeasurable complexity and glory of the heavens and compares the insignificant speck that is humankind. The Lord reveals to him that as much care went into the creation of man as in the laying out of the stars. The heavens look in on humans with envy because the people are much, much closer to God than the sky.

The joy of God’s eyes, the creatures that he will one day sacrifice His Son for, cry out,

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (v9)