Author: Don Guthrie

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 34 (day one)
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”  (vs 8)  There are some things we must learn for ourselves.  Like marriage.  Listening to other people talk about marriage, attending weddings–nothing substitutes for the experience of living with/loving a spouse in covenant commitment to God.  It is an experience! Living faith is similar.  In today’s song, David urges all of us to “taste and see (for ourselves) that God is good.”  Without personal experience a powerfully real relationship will be for us only superficial words.  As Jesus told Nicodemus, “YOU (singular) must be born again”  (John 3:7)  None of us can be satisfied, or should, with the experience of others.  We are to learn for ourselves what it means to take refuge in God.  We are individuals.  This by His sovereign choice.   He, therefore, wants a relationship with us that is unique and real.   He wants us to taste His goodness for ourselves.

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 32 (day seven)
“How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whom there is no deceit.”  (vs 2) ” We are only as sick as our secrets.”  So says the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book.  A proven truth.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  (1 John 1:9)  When we hide (from God, from ourselves, from others) our sins control us.  They rule our inner lives, expressing themselves in anxiety, regret and shame.  When we bring them into the light, they lose their power.  Painful?  Yes.  Life-giving?  Yes.  One of God’s great blessings in the life of His children is this lesson that we are to be open and honest in our communication–even about the things we are ashamed of.  Especially about the things we are ashamed of!  Forgiveness comes when we are honest, and life with it!

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 32 (day six)
Philip Yancey’s father-in-law was a  lifelong Bible teacher.  In his final years, he experienced deep and prolonged heartbreak (degenerative nerve disease, the death his daughter, financial pressures).  Taken together, these disappointments became a crisis of faith.  He began to wonder what he still believed.  That year, in a Christmas letter he communicated “3 certainties”.  3 undeniables.  “Life is hard.  God is merciful.  Heaven is sure.”( Reaching for the Invisible God–page 95.)  In Psalm 32, David echos this raw/real confession of faith.  “I acknowledged my sin to you. . .you forgave the guilt of my sin”  (vs 5)  Even surrounded by experiences we do not understand, one truth remains clear.  1000 years before the cross of Christ, David experienced (and encouraged us to do the same) the sweet assurance of God’s mercy.  “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive MERCY and find grace to help in time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:16)

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 32 (day one)
“When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. . .Then I acknowledged my sin to you. . .and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”  (vs 3, 5)  In 1995, Jimmy Allen, a former pastor of FBCSA, published a book called The Burden of a Secret. In the 70’s his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren  contracted HIV through a blood transfusion.  The book tells the agony of the family as they struggled with this ultimately fatal diagnosis in a time when it was not safe to share with others.  King David knew the burden of a secret but with sin.  When he kept silent, he experienced the weary inner cost.  Thankfully, he eventually broke the silence in confession to God.  The result?  Forgiveness and help.  Secret sin is a burden that none of us can carry alone.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive. . .and cleanse us.  (1 John 1:9)

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 31 (day seven)
“In my alarm I said, ‘I am cut off from your sight!’  Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. . .Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”  (vs 22, 24)  Sometimes I pray because I am afraid.  It isn’t faith that sends me to my knees.  It is fear, and I have nowhere else to go.  Sometimes I wonder how He could accept such a prayer, how easy it would be for Him to be frustrated with me for not having more faith, for letting life get the better of me.  But He never reprimands me.  I receive mercy and help!  David reports the same experience.  Aware of the weakness of his faith, he prayers, nevertheless, and God hears and helps!  God’s grace is sufficient even for people who panic into His presence.  “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” (Psalm 56:3)

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 31 (day six)
“Be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. . .Into thy hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord.”  (vs 3, 5)   Words of a song.  David’s words.  He put them to music.  Christ sang (or said) them on the cross.  Comparable moment to a modern person, with death fast approaching, who whispers, “that saved a wretch like me”.  Most of those standing by would recognize and connect them to “Amazing Grace”.  Psalm 31 is a prayer for rest.  Soldiers weary from battle are longing for a rock of refuge or strong fortress in which they may “let down their defenses” and be renewed.  Ever long for the same thing, yourself?  David say that we find such safety in the “hands of God”.  “He’s got the whole world in His hands.  He’s got the whole world in His hands.”  Different song.  Same idea.  Rest, dear friends.  Commit your spirit to God and rest!

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 31 (day one)
“Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.”  (vs 5)  It is instructive.  Listening to the last words that people speak.  Words of regret like those of Benedict Arnold.  “Let me die in the uniform in which I fought for freedom.  God forgive me for ever putting on another.”  (Just moments before he was hanged for being a spy)  Words of love lost like those of Desi Arnaz.  “I love you too, honey.  Good luck with your new show.”  (to his former wife, Lucille Ball)  They give us a glimpse of the inner man, the hidden priorities.  As we prepare this week for Easter, how glad we are that our Lord’s last words were words of confidence in the Scripture.  He quoted Psalm 31.  Words of deep trust in the Father.  “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit”. (Luke 23:46)  O Come let us adore Him.  Happy Easter!

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 22 (day seven)
“All who go down to the dust kneel before him–those who cannot keep themselves alive.”  (vs 29)  It is a different gospel than the world expects.  Different, even, from what some believers think.  NOT a guarantee that we will be pain free and death exempt.  Something more powerful.  A harder and better promise than we imagine.  God will never leave us!  On the other side of the worst experiences of life, we will know His faithfulness!  Like the resurrection of Christ, the believer is promised eventual victory by the very power of God.  1 Peter 5:10 says, “AFTER you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”  Our gospel teaches people facing death,  those who cannot keep themselves alive, to confidently kneel before a faithful God.  He will keep His promises.  We can trust Him.  Even in the most painful moments of life.

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 22 (day six)  “You who fear the Lord praise Him!  For He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one.”  (vs 23-24)  “Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth or song, as the burdens press and the cares distress and the way grows weary and long?  Oh yes, He cares!  I know He cares!  His heart is touched with my grief.  When the day is weary, the long nights weary, I know my Jesus cares.” –Frank Graeff (1901)  It is an old hymn.  An older question.  Sobbed out over the centuries by people of faith caught in darkness and grief.  David answers affirmatively.  As he “prayed through” his fear and distress, he found strong evidence of God’s help and concern.  He “walked THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death” and emerged on the other side with a new confidence in the care of his loving Father.  Yes!  He cares!

Re:Verse reading–Psalm 22 (day two)
“But You are holy…” (Psalm 22:3). It’s a strange place to find comfort. We would have expected a suffering person to cry out to God who is merciful, just, compassionate, loving, near or powerful. But no. He says, “You are holy.” Holy? How can holy be a comfort? Consider for a moment what holy means. Its use in the Bible is to speak of that which is set apart, without defect, sinless, beautiful, clean, and perfectly alive. Rather than being an impossible notion that drives us apart from God, the whole story of the Bible is that the holy God gifts his holiness to his creation. Creation becomes holy because it has been touched by the Holy One. So when the psalmist seeks comfort in the holy God, he points us to an important insight. If we move toward the holy God, we get more than just his comfort. We get his mercy, justice, compassion, love, nearness and power. The holy God is perfect in all of these as well.