Meditating on Psalm 4:6-8

Psalm 4:6-8

⁶ Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?”
Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord.
⁷ You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.   

⁸ I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD,
make me dwell in safety. (NIV life application study bible). 

Today simply meditate (read slowly again, let it soak in) on those short verses we looked at yesterday.   

And consider (ponder) again. 

Do I truly see trusting in God as more valuable than anything else?  

Psalm 4 - Who brings good?

Psalm 4

¹ Answer me when I call to you,
my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
² How long will you people turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods^[b]?^[c]
3 Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
⁴ Tremble and^[d] do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
⁵ Offer the sacrifices of the righteous
and trust in the LORD.
⁶ Many, LORD, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?”
Let the light of your face shine on us.
⁷ Fill my heart with joy
when their grain and new wine abound.
⁸ In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, LORD,
make me dwell in safety.

Similar to Psalm 3 this psalm also is a prayer for help and deliverance from the attacks of others.  It continues with that theme, yet it also adds the specific plea to be merciful and hear my plea.  The charges against God have changed somewhat.  Instead of declaring “God will not deliver”… now the question is “who will bring us prosperity (any good)?

So the question becomes a little more personal.  Not only do we seek God’s deliverance.  But will we trust him to defend our honor.   And will we stand in his will to seek the joy he alone can give?   You see, we are set apart – that means called to be holy, to follow God’s ways.   Still when we look around at those attacks we often become tempted to sin in our anger and go along with the others who are “seeking out false gods”.  What that means is simply that we are looking to other things to bring us good.  We are trusting other things to bring us true happiness and joy (which only the lord can bring. 

That’s why the Psalmnist prayers “Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound”… because there is  greater joy in the Lord than the prosperity of wealth.

There is greater joy in the Holy Spirit than any food or drink (alcohol) can provide. 

For instance as an aside in Acts 2 the people accused the disciples of being drunk (filled with wine) but they were actually filled with the Holy Spirit and the joy of the Lord. 

I mention this because especially in Houghton the issue of drinking and alcoholism is a major problem.   Of course this issue affects other places too… but it’s a major issue here.  In part, I think it’s because it is a way to escape.  It tries to offer joy … drowning of sorrows.  It masquerades though our real need… that is the need for the Joy of the lord to fill us.  For that is the only lasting joy.  We can try to fill ourselves with new wine and food … but it is a fleeting happiness.  Now the focus of this passage is not that having a drink is as sin.  But what it is saying is that the lasting joy that we truly seek (that often others try to fill with things which become ‘seeking false gods’ ) the only lasting joy is trust in the Lord. 

As one commentary put it “ The gift of trusting God transcends the value of any material good”. (Interpretation Psalms by James L Mays)    

Questions to consider

What is the greatest joy in my life?

Do I see trusting in God as more valuable than any other material good that I might be tempted to pursue? 

John 13: 34-35 Love one another

John 13: 34-35  

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Today we are going to switch gears some from the Psalms we have looked at in order to remind us of the basic importance of love.  

Jesus commands us to love one another.  This love is a complete commitment.  It is not just a feeling.  Not the mushy love that we might see on TV.  The romantic love that we say we fall into.  It’s a love that makes a decision to follow Jesus command.    

Jesus says a new commandment I give you to love one another.  Now if we look closer we might wonder, isn’t this an old commandment?  Hasn’t God commanded us to do this before?   We are to love God and our neighbor right?  We see that commandment in the Old Testament.  Yes it is an old commandment but it is also new.  

How so?  It is new, not because it is a completely different idea than what we see in Old Testament, it’s new because the way we experience love in Jesus.   How Jesus loved us makes it new.  We are to love others as Jesus loved us.  And that changes things and makes all the difference in the world.   It’s new because we are able to love in the same way and with the same power that Jesus loved.  We love because God first loved us.   It’s out of Jesus love that we can love others.  

And it’s in loving others that people are able to see the love of Jesus working in us.   It’s what defines us.  They will know we are Jesus disciples by our love. 

So are we loving one another in the church?   How about our brothers and sisters in Christ that are of a different denomination?  Do we see other Christians in other churches as our family that we are commanded to love or do we see them as competition?  How are we working together and loving each other? 

Further Questions to consider for today

Have you experienced the love of Jesus, has it made you new, does his love encourage you to love others? 

Is there someone you have lost touch with (a past friend) who God is calling you to reach out to in love? 

Psalm 3 A prayer for God's protection

Psalm 3^[a]

A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.

¹ LORD, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
² Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”^[b]

³ But you, LORD, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
⁴ I call out to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.

⁵ I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
⁶ I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.

⁷ Arise, LORD! Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.

⁸ From the LORD comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.

Have you ever felt like you were being attacked?  Maybe you felt alone and afraid?  Maybe you had trouble sleeping at night with all the pressure you felt?   Then hear this prayer from the Psalmist.  (As a note currently I’m not feeling this way, but I have gone through times when I have felt spiritual attacks that have kept me awake before.)

This voice of prayer will be one that is seen throughout the Psalms.  It indicates that prayer begins by calling out to the Lord.  It asserts trust in God as the one who protects and sustains me.   It assures us that though there will be times when we go through hard times (where the question of mockers rings in our ears “your God will not deliver”)… and because of it we can struggle in our faith… still we can call out to the Lord to deliver.

We see in this prayer that faith overcomes fear.  Rest is found in the Lord.   And deliverance comes from God.   Salvation from that oppression rests in the hands of God alone.  So this cry for help is really a call to God to show up.  The attack the Psalmist feels from others is really an assault on God’s character “your God cannot save”.

It is the same charge Jesus faced while hanging upon the cross “he saved others why can’t he save himself… let him call out to God to save him now.” (paraphrased from Matthew 27:42-43)  What is ironic in their charge (that is the many foes of Jesus) is that Jesus dying upon the cross is the very thing that God uses to deliver His people.  Jesus sacrifice is what answers the Psalmist prayer to bring deliverance.

Question:  Will I trust God when attacks come?

Prayer for today.

Lord help me, in the midst of hardship and attacks to rest in you.   Help me when I feel attacked to know that, if I am following you, the assault is really against you.  And you already took that full attack upon the cross for me.  So let me trust in your deliverance.   And may you be my shield of protection. 

(As a longer side note of my thoughts in light of recent events)

This Psalm also speaks to us about trusting in God’s judgment, not our own.  We can take those attacks personally and want to seek out justice ourselves.   But that’s not what the Psalmist is pointing us to.   It’s actually the opposite of taking matters into our own hands, we are to have the faith that places the situation in God’s hands. 

For instance, in the news there has been the horrible act of terrorism in Norway.  Sadly the shooter used his beliefs as a justification of his heinous act.   So let me be clear then and speak out against this violence. What he did was completely wrong, and agaist what Jesus commanded us to do.   And maybe (let’s say) he looked at verse 7 which says “Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked” and misused it to think ‘I will take vengeance upon my enemies’.   Well that’s not what this psalm says.  First it is the Lord who acts not us.  Secondly “to break the teeth of the wicked’ meant to “take the power from their bite.”  It’s a call not to kill, but to deliver and save.   It is a prayer for help, that ultimately we see fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross.   “Vengeance is mine, SAYS THE LORD”.   It is not mine and it’s not yours.   Therefore what this terrorist did was to use the Lord’s name in vain… by misrepresenting the faith in the worst way possible.  

He may have thought he was the Psalmist who was praying this prayer … but in fact he became the foes and enemies the Psalmist spoke against.  

Day of Rest

Genesis 2:1-2
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

 Exodus 20

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Why no post yesterday?   For me Fridays are my day off and a day of rest.   Does this mean that I do not read the scriptures on Fridays or take a day off from being a Christian?  By no means.  But being a pastor often one has to discern between what is church work (my job) and what is the normal Christian walk.  Sometimes it’s not always crystal clear.   For in many ways this post is both.   But pastors need a day off from church work, just as their parishioners do.  After all, God took a day of rest, so why would I think I do not need to do the same.  I get stressed thinking that I should do more work though.  After all there’s always more work to do.  Always more people I could visit.  Always more books I could read.  More meetings to attend.  More church events to plan.  (After all this weekend is the McLain service, so could I do more planning on that event?  Yes.) 

 In the scripture in Exodus we hear the commandment to remember the Sabbath.  (This is one of the Ten Commandments.  And when pastors are asked to list all ten, this is the one they often forget about.)  We ask our parishioners to remember it though and not to work 7 days a week.  We want them to remember to take time for worship and with our family.  As Pastors we should model this then for others.  Something I admit I am still challenged by.   God rests because God knows we need rest. 

Why is this important?  If we do not take it we will not only get worn about but we will also put more trust in ourselves than upon relying upon God.  

Questions to consider..

Do I take a day of rest?  Do I attend worship? 

When I’ve work every day of the week and have not taken a Sabbath what does that do to my relationship with God?  Does it cause me to forget to rely upon him? 

Remember to rest and worship this weekend. 

Psalm 2 The Son is King

Psalm 2

⁶ “I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”

⁷ I will proclaim the LORD’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father.
⁸ Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹ You will break them with a rod of iron^[b];
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

¹⁰ Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
¹² Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Yesterday we hear about the nations and people which rebelled against the Lord.  Still God was in control.  Today as we look at the rest of Psalm 2 we see the people’s rebellion come to a more personal light, and it points to the greater plan of how God overcomes this rebellion.  For in this passage ‘the King is installed on Zion’.  This king is none other than the Son himself.  This passage is often mentioned in the New Testament referring to Jesus as the King and as God’s Son. (Acts 4:25,26 Acts 13:33, Hebrews1:5, 6 5:5, Revelations 2:26, Revelation 1915)

So what does this mean for us?  Our rebellion against God comes to full force when we look upon His Son Jesus on the cross.   The nation’s rebellion is not just some generic notion of evil somewhere out there but a full out attack against God because of our own sin of rebellion.   So we are posed with a choice.  Will we surrender to the King, (and kiss God’s Son), or will be continue in our rebellion?   Jesus is both a kind savoir and also a mighty warrior King.   The question is how will we receive His rule?  We can willingly receive Christ as savoir who died for us and the Lord whom we “can take refuge in him” or we set ourselves up against God’s Kingdom and His Son and take our ‘own way which leads to destruction’.

Questions to consider

Do I rejoice or tremble at the thought of facing the King?

Are there ways I am rebelling against God? If so what are they… may I repent and bow before the king and “kiss the Son”?   

Psalm 2 God’s Kingdom Rule

Psalm 2
¹ Why do the nations conspire
   and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
³ “Let us break their chains
and throw off their shackles.”
⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
⁵ He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
⁶ “I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”

Waking up this morning to the sounds of thunder, a couple thoughts came to mind in light of this scripture

1)      The kingdoms of this world rage against God

2)      God’s power is awesome

3)      I’m not in control

First, In this passage it says that the nations conspire and the people plot in vain.  The kingdoms often roar and rage (like the sound of thunder) against God’s rule.  We can look at the desire for power in governments … the oppression and persecution of many people (especially Christians around the world) in many nations to see that this passage speaks the truth. 

Yet, secondly as much as it’s true that the kingdoms rage … God is in control.  The thunder reminds us of an incredibly powerful creator.   And as much as we might rage against The Almighty, God’s kingdom still goes forth.  And like Matthew 13:31-33 says  God’s kingdom may starts out as small as a mustard seed … it grows into a large tree where all those who come to submit to His rule find shade and protection.

Which brings me to the final focus… I’m not in control, so I need to trust God more.  We have a picnic worship service planned this Sunday at McLain State Park and I hope it does not rain and thunderstorm.   I will be praying to ask God for good weather … but I know I cannot control the weather.  Still, like the nations that conspire sometime I too rail against God’s rule over my life.  Thinking that if the chains are broken and I am able  to do whatever I want without God that I would be free.   When in reality it is not until I submit to God’s kingdom (which is much different than our kingdoms) that I find true freedom from my own desire to be in control.     

Questions to consider:
Do I trust that God is in control?
Am I submitting to or rebelling against God's rule?  And in what ways?   

(More to come on this Psalm which foretells of the Son as King… for below is the rest of the Psalm we will look at)

⁷ I will proclaim the LORD’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
⁸ Ask me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹ You will break them with a rod of iron^[b];
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
¹⁰ Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
¹² Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

July 19 Psalm 1 again?

Read Psalm 1:1-2 again  (NIV)

¹ Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with (in the counsel of) the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.


"Wait. Didn't we just read that yesterday?"  Yes.  "Why read it again?"

1) We have a tendency to want the newest thing in our world today.  Instead of going over something again, we say 'tell me something new, I already heard that'. So we often do not meditate or wait upon what God has already said.   Rereading something over again allows us to take counsel from God seriously.   (Note: I'm not against 'the new', this blog is new after all, I like the new gadgets as much as the next guy, but pursuing the next big new thing can cause me to forget what God has already said). 

2) These first two verses focus on where do we get our counsel from.  We are blessed if we get counsel from God's Word.  Today (in order to get the new fad) we often get advice from everywhere (TV talk shows, news, internet posts, the next new expert).   Now not all these are bad.  But when it comes from getting our direction in life it's important to first seek God's counsel and godly counsel.  (The downfall of many kings in Israel was because they did not seek or rejected God's counsel or took the counsel from the wicked).   As a side note this does not mean that we are to isolate ourselves from all non believers.  the focus is on ('walking in their counsel, standing in that way, and sitting in that seat'), the focus is on what counsel and path will you take.  

Questions for today
1) Where do you go first when you need counsel? 

2)  Am I so impatient (moving on to the next new thing) that I neglect to listen to what God has already said in His word?   

      

First Blog July 18

I had an idea to post a short word for the day based on a scripture passage.  This is the first time I've blogged so hopefully this works.  My hope is to share some thoughts that will help myself and others get into reading the Bible.

I'm starting with Psalm 1 because it talks about how important it is for us to meditate on God's law (God's Word).  That one who does is like a tree planted by streams of water. 

It reminds me of a couple things

1) patience and diligence - it will bear fruit in time

2) with how hot it is today - streams of water create refreshment and renewal

Starting Question to wrestle with?  

Am I willing to take the time to read and meditate on God's word?  (hopefully this blog is a small step to help others to do so).

Deeper question

Do I delight in God's law?  (more than just getting through it does it stir my soul?...and if not what is hindering me from actually delighting in God's Word?)  

Psalm 1 (NIV)

¹ Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

⁴ Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
⁶ For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.