RE Verse reading-Psalm 40 (day two) My thoughts were interrupted as I wrote this by the sudden and sad news from Boston, and this week’s passage became even more significant. “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He turned to me and heard my cry for help” (40:1). As senseless suffering and death again strike our people, can we find help? The song writer says, “Yes.” “He brought me up…making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth.” Easy for him to say, right? God helped him, but what about those people in Boston? Not so fast. The song writer’s story is not finished. “Troubles without number have surrounded me…my courage leaves me” (40:12). This is not a song about rescue from trouble but rather rescue through trouble. Help is needed precisely because troubles are still present. The hope is that help has come, a help that carries us through. Perhaps Jesus had this on his mind when he said, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33).
Thy will
RE Verse reading–Psalm 40 (day one) “Then I said, ‘Behold, I come. . .I delight to do Thy will, O my God.’ ” (vs 7-8) Ancient Judaism had a problem. It was a system of worship designed around animal sacrifice which everyone knew was insufficient to change a heart. “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.” (Hebrews 10:4) What was needed, then and now, was a perfect sacrifice, a volunteer, perfectly holy and yeilded. David describes the exciting moment when this “Lamb” presents Himself. It is a prophecy of Christ in His full surrender. It describes HOW we are saved (by the death of a voluntary innocent). It also describes WHAT we will be when we are saved. Yielded. Surrendered. Obedient. Had Christ refused God’s will, He could not love us. When we refuse His will, we do not love Him. These are Christ’s words and they should be ours. “I have come to do thy will”. (Hebrews 10:7)
Seeking worshippers
RE Verse reading–Psalm 34 (day seven) “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.” (vs 3) Praise to God is not a choice that should be left to individual choice or mood. Having overcome his own saddness (see 1 Samuel 22) David begins to enlist others to the life-giving privilege of praise. Psalm 34 is a song. A song of evangelism. A song of enlistment. A song sung to his men. Are we compelled in similar fashion? If others do not praise God, do we encourage them to join us? Secular culture treats faith as a matter of privacy. In many ways, some subtle, some not, it argues that believers should be silent and non-intrusive toward people who do not praise God. David disagress. So does Jesus. “true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; for such people the Father SEEKS to be His worshippers.” (John 4:23) God seeks people to worship. He extends an invitation. Do we?
All times. Always. Praise.
RE Verse reading–Psalm 34 (day six) “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips” (vs 1) It is changing my life! Something that I learned late, and glad to know even now. To survive is not the highest goal. To succeed is secondary. To serve and praise God is my first and best responsibility. “I will bless the Lord at all times“, says young David in the midst of a circumstance that would have destroyed most of us. (See superscription for the historical context.) “His praise will be always on my lips.” All times! Not just when things are good. Always! Not just when I feel safe or happy. Praise is not something we give God as payment for services rendered. It is not something we owe Him in prosperity. At an early age (before he was 30) David came to a life-changing discovery. “Rejoice always. . .in everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:16, 18) All times! Always!
Hope
Re:Verse reading–Psalm 34 (day four)
The Psalmist gives us a contrast between the righteous and the wicked…the just and the unjust…those who seek Him and those who are proud…His servants and the evildoers. His promises to protect, to sustain, to hear, to provide for, and to deliver the righteous give great comfort and strength to His saints. The result in our lives when we live for God is praise; (v. 1) “I will bless the Lord, at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Does His praise rest continually in your mouth? When we live in continual praise of God and walk in a righteous fear of Him, our lives reflect the difference to the world around us. Our speech is pure and there is no deceit on our lips. We are not afraid and we are delivered when we are crushed in spirit. May our lives communicate the hope of His promises to a lost and dying world.
Blot
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?
Taste: The Door to Addiction and Redemption
Re:Verse reading–Psalm 34 (day two)
“Taste and see that the LORD is good” (34:8). It was a taste that got us into this mess. “She took some of its fruit and ate it…” (Genesis 3:6). Our first parents, Adam and Eve, had tastes that were designed to be satisfied by God Himself but willfully turned their tastes in another direction. They ate it, and like a deadly poison it worked death in them. Now, taste can turn into addiction so quickly that a person can be all but choked to death and not even know it. Food, social media, popularity, alcohol, authority, sex, influence, leisure…how often does taste lead to addiction, and addiction lead to death, relationally, emotionally and even physically? It was taste that got us into this mess, and it will be taste that gets us out. “I am the bread of life…if anyone eats this bread he will live forever” (John 6:35, 51). Willfully turning our taste to Jesus redeems not only our sense of taste but also our eternal soul.
First-hand faith
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.
Open and honest communication
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!
God is merciful
- 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)