Author: Don Guthrie

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 53 (day 7)
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’  They are corrupt, and their ways are vile.”  (vs 1)  They are fools.  People (ancient and modern)  who say that there is no God.  People who deny conscience and the testimony of nature.  Foolish because this denial of God’s existence unconsciously, dramatically and negatively impacts moral choice.  Ultimately, a belief in God and in His righteous judgement is the only guarantee and the strongest motivation for good behavior.  Without the standard of God’s holiness, men and societies disintegrate morally.  Witness our present age.  And the payback is fear.  “There they were, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread.”  (vs 5)  Part of faith’s payment is peace.  Peace that passes understanding.  Peace that makes us confident in every circumstance. Wisdom or folly?  It happens as we make decisions about God and what we say with our mouths counts less than what we say in our hearts.

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 53 (day seven)
“Will the evildoers never learn–those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on God?”  (vs 4)  Do you love God’s people?  It is one of the deep questions of life.  While it may not be clear to us why God chooses people and puts his favor on them, one thing is certain.  At the end of time one of the standards by which we will be judged is the treatment (or mistreatment) of the people that God calls His own.  “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse.”  (Genesis 12:3)  “Depart from Me, accursed ones. . .to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did not do it to Me.”  (Matthew 25:41, 45)  It is a warning for evildoers.  It is a question for us all.  Do we love God’s people?

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 53 (day six)
“THEY are corrupt. . .you put THEM to shame.”  (vs 1, 5)  It is an easy mistake to make.  To see clearly the sinfulness in others while missing it (or dismissing it) in ourselves.  Giving ourselves the “benefit of the doubt.”  Applying a harsh standard to others.  In Psalm 53 David describes accurately the sins of the world.  What he lacks (at least in this song) is an honest accounting of the sins of Israel.  Paul will not make the same mistake.  When he quotes David in Romans 3:1, 10, 23, his point is that we are ALL sinners.  Including himself!  (See Romans 7 “What I want to do, I don’t do.  In fact, I practise the very evil that I hate.”)  Jesus taught us to be as careful and critical of our own sin as that which we see in others.  “First take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”  (Matthew 7:5)

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 53 (day one)
“There is no one who does good, not even one”  (vs 3)  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)  It is ultimately a great comfort.  It isn’t just me.  Not just you.  Every human on the planet has the same problem before a holy God.  “Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt.”  (Psalm 53:3)  Our reading and reflection (Psalm 53) was a well-known passage to the Jewish nation.  Over time,  it came to be applied mainly to the enemies of Israel.  See vs 4.  1000 years later, the Apostle Paul applies it in a larger way.  He includes the Jewish people in God’s judgement on the race for sin.  Paul declares that we are all sinners.  All in need of the righteousness that comes through “faith in Jesus Christ’.  (Romans 3:22)  First judgement, then comfort, God’s verdict is that none of us are righteous apart from Christ.  Not even one.

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 40 (day seven)
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.”  (vs 1)  Both of these assignments come to the believer from God.  We are to be patient!  “Those who WAIT on the Lord will renew their strength”  (Isaiah 40:30)  We are to pray!  “There was a widow in that city, and she KEPT COMING TO HIM, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ ” (Luke 18:3)  Even David, as he waited on God, did not stop crying out to God.  It is an important and difficult balance to find.  Waiting on God is not stoic, silent or sullen resignation.  As believers, we bear up under the difficulties of life, but we never cease to cry out to God for His help.  We are His children, asking our Father for His help.  We are His adult sons and daughters, facing hardships with confidence and hope.  Patience and prayer.  We do both.

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 40 (day six)
“then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’  He takes away the first in order to do the second.  By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”  (Hebrews 10:9-10)  In Psalm 40, David ponders the emptiness of Jewish religion.  He concludes  “sacrifice and offering you have not desired.”  (vs 5)  Everyone already knew it.   People were faithfully going to church, observing the rituals commanded by God’s word, but missing power!   It was a real problem for the man who would build the temple and establish this ceremonial/sacrificial form.  In a prophetic moment, David hears Christ speak.  He will do the Father’s new will.  He will be the needed sacrifice.   Perfect in obedience, perfect in effect, perfect in example.  We must never go back to a system of religion.  Only Christ has the power to cleanse our hearts.  He is the new chapter.

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 34 (day three)
“…To blot out their name from the earth.”  Some things will last forever.  Some will not.  In the purifying renewal of all things, that which has no place under God’s reign will burn like impurities in a refiner’s fire.  When God makes all things new, the earth will be full of the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.  Those who do evil will not even be remembered.  The only way out of doing evil is to become an apprentice of Jesus Christ.  The modern mind shrinks from this thought, but it’s the truth.  How might we see people if we view them in light of this reality?  Who do you know who needs to know this?