Psalm 144

Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD! (v. 15b) Although I cannot identify the source, I have heard it said that the USA has been particularly blessed by God because we have a history of being a Christian nation. I can’t say that I disagree with that statement and verse 15b supports that idea, but it can easily be argued that we have an awesome natural endowment for agriculture and for industry, in addition to being separated from other mighty nations by oceans on our east and on our west. Still we have been blessed. Which brings me to my main point – as we see our country more and more turning away from God, becoming a whole lot less “Christian”, what happens to that blessing for people whose God is NOT! the Lord. Whose god is wealth, money, power, … Are we looking at hard times ahead? I’d love to see an e-mail discussion on this verse and on our nation’s challenges ahead.

Psalm 143

Although I might have referred to today’s Psalm as another lament, my Study Bible notes that this Psalm is the last of seven penitential psalms in the early Christian liturgy, along with Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130. So we’ll go with that.

Hear my prayer, O LORD … In Your faithfulness answer me… Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before You. (vv. 1-2) Clearly, as we read these verses, we call to mind Paul’s admonishment that “There is none righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10, NASB 1995) But what struck me was David’s two-fold plea, (1) that the Lord hear his prayer and (2) that he not be judged. That is, David is lifting his prayer to God in spite of what he knows are his own shortcomings. He doesn’t want God to ignore his prayer because of those shortcomings. David’s prayer for help is joined with his own general confession, his acknowledgement of his inability to stand before a just God.

Do we do that? No doubt, we are regularly seeking God’s intervention in our lives and for those we love. But do we begin those prayers with the knowledge that we are not worthy (except through Jesus) to even approach this most holy God? That has certainly not been my life pattern in the past. Maybe it’s time to begin anew?

Psalm 142

Today’s psalm reads very much like a lament. From back on March 24 when we were doing Psalm 31, one of my Study Bibles had listed all the elements of a lament. Here they are for Psalm 142:

• A cry for help (vv. 1-2)
• The psalmist’s situation (the title and vv. 3-4, 6b)
• Expression of confidence (v. 7)
• Protestation of innocence or prayer for vindication (vv. 6-7a)
• Grateful recognition for God’s help (v. 7b)

Naturally you might see those various elements in different verses than how I’ve listed them, but clearly all the elements are there.

So, to David’s lament – and to our own laments. David finds himself in a cave, hiding from Saul (see I Samuel 22:1; 24:3, 8), no doubt despairing of his own life (v. 6b), but all the while trusting in the Lord for his deliverance (v. 7). I doubt that many (or even any) of us have similar “cave” experiences, despairing of our own lives. If so, I’d love to hear about them. But what dawned on me this morning was Jesus’ time in a cave – for three days before He rose from the dead. He had not despaired for His own life; He gave it up willingly, in obedience to the Father’s will: “Not My will, but Yours be done.” Let that be our prayer, in all things, for every near-cave we may encounter!

Psalm 141

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. (v. 5a) (NOTE: In the second half of this verse, in “their evil deeds” David is referring back to the wicked men that he mentioned in verse 4.) Most of us (certainly, me) do not take reproof or correction easily. But David tells us in this verse that reproof from a righteous man should be seen as a kindness, not as anything hurtful. Note also that it is not easy being that righteous man who is offering correction, knowing full well that your “advice” can easily be misconstrued. So for both, the person offering and the person receiving reproof, caution is urged. Maybe a lot of prayer before saying anything…!!

I was also intrigued by how evil lurks. In Ps. 140:4 we see evil men offering “delicacies”, while in Ps. 140:9,10 evil is setting traps to ensnare the unwary. Again, caution urged!

Psalm 140

Today’s psalm reads like one of David’s laments and seems particularly out of place, having just recently seen the happiness and joy of all the “songs of ascents”. But in today’s psalm David explains his situation (Ps. 140:1-5), makes his plea for God’s help (Ps. 140:6-8), then suggests to God the retribution needed for these wicked men (Ps. 140:9-11) before closing with his customary confidence in the Lord’s deliverance (Ps. 140:12-13).

As with many laments, I have a hard time relating to enemies or to evil/violent men. I read the news about them – globally, as in Putin’s continuing war against Ukraine or locally, when we read about the latest murder spree. I feel evil most complete when I read about someone doing evil against a young child, as in a recent story of a FedEx driver’s kidnapping and murder of a 7-year-old girl. Horrible! One asks, what kind of evil is this, what kind of man could do that…??!! There is much evil “out there” and we need to pray against it. (I am not dismissing, however, our own “evil within”.)

My Study Bible makes an interesting observation – the physiological nature of David’s choice of words: heart, tongue, lips, hands, feet. Just that, interesting.

Psalm 139:13-24

For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. (v. 13) With these four verses beginning at verse 13, how can anyone who calls him/herself a Christian be in favor of legalized abortion? How does one reinterpret these verses to justify taking a baby’s life? Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (v. 16) How??!!

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my anxious thoughts! And see if there be any hurtful way in me… (NASB, Ps. 139:23-24a) David offers here a good meditation for confession. It’s not just us probing our own thoughts; instead, we are asking God to guide us, to lead us in doing that very thing. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Psalm 139:1-12

Psalm 139, Day 1. In times past I have said that I am not a Psalms person, that there’s not a whole lot that I get, in general, from reading through the Psalms. This year, naturally, has been different and has given me a much greater appreciation for the Psalms. But that notwithstanding, how could anyone, at any level of comprehension, not absolutely love the verses that we read today??!! God knows us, in and out, through and through, completely!! The first six verses are all totally personal, how well God know us. Then the next six verses tell of His omniscience, that He knows everything and that absolutely nothing is hidden from Him. Then another four verses, if you choose to read ahead, tells us of His knowing us at conception, in the womb, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made… (v. 14). What a beautiful set of verses! GLORY!!

Psalm 138

The first of eight psalms “of David” in the next ten days. What can we expect to find in psalms “of David”? Thanksgiving and praise, certainly, and pleas for deliverance from his enemies. We see all that today in Psalm 138. See especially Ps. 138:1-2,7-8.

For though the LORD is high, He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar. (v. 6) At first I thought it strange that David would be writing these words, since he, himself, is also of high stature. But then I remembered his earlier life, his times of running from Saul, and then his later life, when he was challenged by Absalom. Surely he had surrounded himself with people of both high and low stature. In addition, in his earlier life he was a shepherd and he likely knew other shepherds – again, people drawn from lower societal classes. So David is clearly qualified to write these words.

But beyond David’s perspective on the high and the low, this verse speaks of the God of Heaven and Earth having high regard for the lowly; no doubt He also has high regard for the mighty, so long as their might is cloaked in humility. The key in this verse is “haughty”. David is telling us that God “despises” our self-righteous pride. I have written before that pride is humankind’s greatest sin – and I believe it! Our personal pride leaves too little room for God to work in our lives. If we think that we’ve done it all ourselves, then there’s no basis for thanking God and little cause for praising Him. And without thanks and praise, most of our prayers are just “gimme, gimme”! Not good!

Psalm 137

The Babylonian Exile. Two days ago, my first comments on Psalm 136 talked about the Lord’s hand in Israel’s deliverance, perseverance and conquest/victory, mostly in Moses’ days. I first chatted about deliverance (redirection) two days ago, then conquest/victory (success) yesterday. Although today’s Psalm 137 speaks passionately about revenge, truly that Babylonian captivity is also a tale of perseverance. The Israelites were taken from their homeland as captives and held in Babylon for 70 years. During that time they maintained their faith in the One True God, effectively setting up synagogue worship in the absence of the Temple.

So, the question for us is how we persevere during hard times. That is, how do we seek the Lord and His mercy when things aren’t going well for us? My personal “Babylonian Exile” was a five-year period at USDA, non-academic time between TAMU and EKU. It was a depressing time for me, for us, but Carol and I continued to seek the Lord, and He remained faithful. I’ll save the details for a time when we’re together. But for now it would be good for all of us to relive those down times and look for God’s hand, for His faithfulness to us during those times, in spite of our own sense of disappointment or defeat. I can assure you, He was there for you!!

Psalm 136:13-26

Yesterday I wrote about deliverance, couching it also (in lesser terms) as redirection. We see Israel’s deliverance in Ps. 136:10-15,24. From there we see different acts of God with respect to Israel – preservation (Ps. 136:16,22,23,25) and victory / conquest (Ps. 136:17-21). Preservation is best shown in verse 25, …He Who gives food to all flesh… It’s that continuing act of God to provide for our basic needs.

Victory/conquest is something very different from deliverance or preservation. We see it in Israel in their defeat of the kings in the wilderness (Sihon, Og, etc.), then in their conquest of other nations and tribes in their taking the Promised Land. In our present day we are not in the business of conquest, as such, but we do make efforts to move forward from our present, everyday state. We work toward bonuses and salary increases, advances and promotions, entrepreneurial gains, and, eventually, retirement. On another level we also “work” toward family and church advances and improvements, in addition to growing in our own spiritual walk.

But for those “work”-related gains that we have seen (or those for which we are still striving), do we see the Lord’s hand in those successes, those “victories”? Do we actively look back to see His work in our lives back then so that we can thank Him for being there for us? I saw major redirections (that were in fact, advances) in both my M.A. thesis and my Ph.D. dissertation – events and ideas that opened up for me for which I cannot take personal credit. Then in my work world I lived with ups and downs – the ups for which I am (was) eternally grateful and the downs for which I saw the Lord’s constant deliverance to better ends. It’s time for us all to start listing out those recent and past victories and advances, looking with new eyes to see God at work in those events. You will be all the more grateful for where you are today if you see His past work in directing you to how you got there!