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Archive for the ‘Psalms’ Category

As the Deer Panteth

Posted in Bible, Devotional, Exhortation, Psalms, tagged , , , , , on August 2, 2010| 2 Comments »

Have you sung that song “As the Deer Panteth for the waters so my soul longeth after thee . . ?”   I was thinking about that line today, about the thirsty deer.  Does the deer drink and then go away for a week before returning to drink again?  Does the deer drink because it thinks the other deer are watching it?   Does the deer fill its cantine and walk away from the stream for a time in the desert only returning when it is near death from thirst?  No.  The deer comes daily and throughout the day and drinks when it experiences genuine thirst.  It stays near the stream and doesn’t wander so far as to not be able to get back when it experiences thirst.  It does not try to take care of future thirst or worry from where the next drink will come.  The deer relies on its heavenly Father to tell it when it thirsts and to provide a means to satisfy that thirst.

So what spiritual lessons is the Psalmist teaching me in describing this thirst like the deer?

  • It is a thirst that longs for and can be satisfied by the water. I should thirst for the living water, the Word of God, the Holy Spirit and seek to be satisfied by the Word and the Holy Spirit.  It is a natural law that appetite is developed by eating.  Thirst, too can be developed by drinking.  I should drink of the living water and thereby develop a thirst which it alone can quench.
  • It is a thirst that seeks quenching daily, hourly and as the need arises. I should seek to slake (ally or reduce by satisfying) my thirst daily and hourly, if need be, by coming to the font of living water, to Jesus who promises to satisfy my thirst.  I should stay close to the source of living water.
  • It is a thirst that has no other motive than to satisfy the basic need. When I come to the water to drink, my motive should be to quench my thirst, not to fulfill some man-made obligation or ritual or the expectations of others.
  • It is a thirst that trusts in the creator to provide a means of satisfying it. I must come to quench my thirst to the one who created it.  I must trust God to provide the means for satisfying my thirst and not seek to have that need filled somewhere else.

May you be like the deer who pants for the water brooks.  May your genuine thirst for God be quenched by the living water of the Word and fellowship with the One who promises to bring forth rivers of living water from the lives of those who believe in Him.

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Psalm 84 – A Closer Look (Part 2)

Posted in Devotional, God, Pilgrimage, Psalms, tagged , , , , on June 1, 2010| 1 Comment »

Psalm 84, verse 5 says, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.” We looked at the first part of verse 5 of Psalm 84 in the last post.  We examined what it means for a man’s strength to be in God.   The second part of the verse is really the part that drew my attention as I was reading.  I began to think about what it means for one’s heart to be set on pilgrimage.

Usually, my heart is set on permanence.  I want to have a home, “to put down roots” in a community, to be part of something.   At first glance, permanence seems to be the opposite of what the “blessed man” seeks after.  That led me to explore the term “pilgrimage”.

“Pilgrimage” according to the dictionary is “a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion” or “any long journey, especially one undertaken as a quest or for a votive (dedicated in accordance with a vow) purpose, as to pay homage.”

The word “pilgrimage” packs a lot of meaning:

  • It is a type of long journey
  • Destination is a sacred place
  • Purpose is to show religious devotion or to honor a vow (to God)

What does the Psalmist mean when he uses “pilgrimage’ here?

  • What is the long journey?    Is he talking about a life lived walking daily with God, what Enoch, Abraham or Paul had?  Is this a journey that is never complete this side of eternity?
  • What is the sacred place to which the man is traveling or journeying?    Is it Heaven?  Eternal Life with God?
  • What is the devotion or vow which the man is to show by the journey?  Is it simply devotion to God?  Is it the promise to take up the cross of Jesus and follow after Him?

I think this idea of a heart set on pilgrimage requires more consideration and mediation.  I know that it speaks to traveling light and not being at home here in the world.  One who is on a pilgrimage has his primary focus on the object of his devotion.  As I live my life, my pilgrimage, I need to keep my primary focus on God, the object of my devotion, the one to whom I made the vow to be a bond servant.

I invite you to share any additional thoughts you might have regarding what it means to have your heart set on pilgrimage.  The blog is a two-way communication.  Send me a post!

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Psalm 84 – A Closer Look

Posted in Devotional, God, Psalms, tagged , , on May 30, 2010|

I ran across a verse in Psalm 84 that I don’t remember noticing before.  I love that about the Bible.  I can read it from cover to cover every year, and still God has surprises and “new” things to show me.

In Psalm 84, verse 5, the Psalmist states, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.”  I noticed two parts of the description of this blessed man:

  1. His strength is in God
  2. His heart is set on pilgrimage

I thought about what it meant to have one’s strength be in God.  It seems to me the strength here can be compared to the strength of an army:

  • God is his fortress
  • God is his strong tower
  • God is his rear guard
  • God is his shield and buckler (his weapons of defense)

It could also be that strength here has the meaning of the one who “strengthens” the man, who cares for and befriends the man, who makes sure his physical and emotional needs are met:

  • God is his provision
  • God is his guide, the light to his path
  • God is his comfort
  • God is his hope (gives him the will to go on)

It could also be that God is his strength because God makes him stronger:

  • God is the father who chastens his beloved son
  • God is the refining fire that purifies him

With God, strength can mean so many things.  When my strength is in God, I don’t rely on my own reasoning, my own resources or my own abilities.  I cast myself entirely on my God, keeping no area of my life in which I am “strong” apart from God.  May the LORD bless you and may He be your only strength.

I will have to save the discussion of the second part of the verse, “whose heart is set on pilgrimage”  for my next post.

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The Lord is my Light and my Salvation . . .

Posted in Devotional, Hope, Psalms, the LORD, tagged , , on May 3, 2010|

In Psalm 27, the Psalmist says (and we often sing), the LORD is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?

The LORD is my light

  • He guides me as a beacon from a lighthouse guides a ship in the night away from the rocks.
  • He illuminates my life as candle gives light to a dark room.
  • He shows me things in my life like a searchlight reveals things or people hiding in the darkness
  • He dispels darkness from my life as light, by its very nature, must.

The LORD is my salvation.

  • He is the key to my life and relationship with God.
  • He is the key to me having eternal life.
  • He is the key to me living the abundant life.

Whom shall I fear?  If I have God as my light and my salvation, is there really any other significant area of vulnerability in my life?

I am persuaded as Paul was and as I pray you are, “that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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Psalm 15 – A Closer Look

Posted in Devotional, Moral Relativism, Psalms, Relationship with God, tagged , , , , on April 17, 2010|

I don’t know about you, but I love to spend time with God, in His presence.  The problem I have is that I am not always in His presence.  Sometimes I am not there.  I know one day I will be in His presence forevermore, but until then, I must look at the things on this side of eternity that keep me from being constantly in the presence of God.

In this short Psalm (5 verses only), the Psalmist asks the question, “LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?  Who may dwell in Your holy hill?  Another way to think about this is who can live with God or be in constant, unbroken fellowship with God?  The Psalmist answers:

  • A person who does the right thing even in his or her heart where only God can see.  This is the idea of personal integrity.
  • A person who displays right conduct toward others in word, deed and thought.
  • A person who views evil as God does and views God’s people as God does.  The first part of that is probably the easier part.  Sometimes God’s people can be challenging, and we forget how God views them.  They are precious to Him.
  • A person who accepts God’s provision and follows God’s order with money, not taking advantage of the poor for gain, not trying to get gain by dishonest means.

All the qualifications of the person who is in constant, unbroken fellowship with God, who dwells on His holy hill are based on a standard – God’s standard.  God is the measuring stick in each case.  The conclusion one easily draws from this consistent standard is that moral relativism, the idea that each person can follow his or her own moral standard, is a lie.  There is no moral relativism, only a moral absolute.  The absolute standard for right and wrong, for good and evil, is God’s law.  Learn it, love it and live it!

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Psalm 13 – A Closer Look

Posted in Crying out to God, Devotional, Exhortation, Hope, In times of difficulty, Psalms, salvation, tagged , , , , on April 9, 2010|

Psalm 13 begins with the Psalmist sounding like he is accusing God.  “How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?  How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?”  (Ps. 13:1-2)

In these verses, the Psalmist evidences an uncertainty about God.  Uncertainty can cause one to doubt God’s motives or doubt God’s timing.   Sometimes when we become fearful and afraid, we accuse God.  We mistakenly consider Him to be reacting to us like the humans around us who may forget us or hide their faces from us or allow our enemies to over take us and do nothing to help.  But God is not like us or those around us.  He will not forget us.  Isaiah 49:15 tells us,  “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you.”  Deut 31:6 tells us, “do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

From accusation in verses 1-2, the Psalmist moves into calling out to God and reasoning with God in verses 3-4.  In these verses, he says, “consider and hear me, O LORD my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him”; lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.”

Finally, the Psalmist makes a choice in verse 5.   He states, ‘but I have trusted in Your mercy.”  He decides to trust in God’s mercy.  He decides to believe  and act upon what He knows about God.  This is internal to the Psalmist.  A choice to believe God and trust God must come from within.  I must, like priests carrying the ark across the Jordan, step into the water first rather than waiting for them to recede.  Trusting God is a choice I must make daily,  sometimes moment by moment.

From that choice, there is an immediate reward, the Psalmist says, “my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.”  When I choose to trust God, I am impacted in my walk with God, in my fellowship with God.  He immediately reinforces the positive step I have taken.

Verse 6 gives us the result for ministry, ” I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.”  When I trust God, my heart rejoices in His salvation, and from that comes an outpouring from me to those around me.  I will sing to the LORD!  I will declare to the world about my God, about His great bounty, His mercy, and His faithfulness!
To review, here is the progression:
  • Accusation against God
  • Calling out/reasoning with God
  • Trust in God (choose)
  • Receive from God
  • Give out in ministry

We all have times of accusing or doubting God, even if it is only in our thoughts.  The important thing is to move forward in the progression.  Cry out to God, choose to trust God, receive from God and then give out what you have received to those around you.

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How Shall I Go On?

Posted in Crying out to God, Exhortation, God, Hope, In times of difficulty, Jehovah Jireh, Psalms, Relationship with God, Waiting on God, tagged , , , , on April 8, 2010|

Perhaps you have had a day (or two) when you asked the LORD, “How shall I go on?”  Perhaps it is illness, drug addiction, abusive relationship, fear, enemies who would seek to destroy you or just a sense of overwhelming fatigue . . . in looking at your circumstances, did you turn to God and ask, “How shall I go on?”  And what did He say?

  • Wait? Sometimes the LORD says to wait.  Don’t go forward or back.  Don’t go to the left or the right.  Don’t seek to change your circumstances, just wait.  Sometimes, the waiting is the hardest part.  But we wait because He is God.  Like a parent who tells a child to stay on the curb because a car is coming, God tells us to wait because He sees all things and knows all things.  He tells us to wait because that is best for us.  He promises “strengthen your heart” while you wait.  (Ps. 27:14)  Psalm 37:9 promises that ” those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth.”    Isaiah says, “who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”   (Isa. 40:31)  As you wait, the LORD may give you new strength.  He may allow you to soar above your troubles, keeping them from disturbing your peace.   He may take away your fatigue, allowing you to go a little further.
  • Cry out? Sometimes the LORD would have us to cry out to Him, recognizing that He is Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides everything.  There is certainly lots of scriptural support for crying out to God in times of trouble.  Psalm 18:6 tells us, “In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.”  In Psalm 34:17, we read, “the righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.”  Psalm 56:9 tells us when ” I cry out to You, Then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me.  In Psalm 57:2, it says, “I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me.”   He is a God who hears and answers, so maybe He would have you to cry out, expecting His response.

Whether you wait or you cry, or you cry out while you are waiting, waiting and crying out are done in expectation, in faith.  I wait for God to deliver me, to strengthen me.  I wait because there is none other like Him.   “LORD, what do I wait for?  My hope is in You.”  (Ps. 39:7)   He alone has the words of eternal life.  When I cry out, I cry out to God in faith because God alone knows my circumstances.  God alone has power over all things.  I cry out to God because He alone is God.

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Is God Your BFF?

Posted in Exhortation, Friend, God, In times of difficulty, Psalms, Relationship with God, the Father, the LORD, the provider, worship, tagged , , on February 25, 2010| 2 Comments »

I re-read a journal entry that I had written about an extended trial I was going through.  In the entry, I was crying out to God asking how I would ever be able to go forward.  I was tired and out of strength.  The path was totally hidden from view by the fog of uncertainty.  The LORD showed me Psalm 20:1-6.  The message was that He would minister to me out of my existing relationship with Him.

I think the message for all of us is to always (whether in trials or in times of peace) be in close relationship with God.  Is God your BFF (Best Friend Forever)?  He should be.

Psalm 20:1 says, “May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you.”  To answer you, the LORD must hear you.  For God’s name to defend you, you must be associated with or be called by God’s name.  To be called by God’s name is to be in close relationship with God, even as close as a child.

Psalm 20:2 provides, “May He send you help from the sanctuary, And strengthen you out of Zion.”  To send you help, He must know what you need and where to deliver it.  The Sanctuary was the Old Testament place where God was (c.f. the New Testament where God’s spirit dwells in the believer).  This statement can best be understood as a promise that God will send you help from where He dwells.  He will send believers to be your help, your brothers and sisters in Christ will be ministers of God to you.  Also God will minister directly to you by His spirit dwelling within you as a believer.

Psalm 20:3 goes on to say, “May He remember all your offerings, And accept your burnt sacrifice.”  The offerings were part of the worship of God in the Old Testament.  It would be like saying today, “May God remember all the sincere worship in which you engaged.”  The burnt sacrifice was the sacrifice to deal with sin.  It is described in the Old Testament as “a sweet aroma to the LORD.”  God is pleased by the sweet smell of our offerings.  As we lay our lives down for others in obedience, as we practice gentleness, self-control, patience, long-suffering and love, we sacrifice up our flesh and what it wants.  That sacrifice is pleasing to God.  He promises to remember that.

In the next 3 verses, Psalm 20:4-6, we read the following:  “May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, And fulfill all your purpose.  We will rejoice in your salvation, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.  Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven With the saving strength of His right hand.”   From the relationship with God, comes fulfillment.  This is not just the idea of getting what you want, but rather of having the one who hears, answers, claims, defends, helps, strengthens and remembers you bring to you the best things – things that will satisfy your deepest longing and fulfill your very reason for being.  That is what God does daily for those who are called according to His purposes and called according to His name.

May the God of all creation be your BFF!

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ARE THERE WORKERS OF INIQUITY IN YOUR LIFE? (PSALM 37:1-7)

Posted in Exhortation, Hope, In times of difficulty, Psalms on February 16, 2010| 1 Comment »

Are there workers of iniquity in your life?  The LORD has a strategy to deal with them.  This strategy is laid out in verses 1-7 of Psalm 37.

1.  Do not fret (worry) or be envious of the workers of iniquity aka “the bad guys” Don’t worry over them and their doings. Don’t envy them.  Their prosperity and success is short-lived and shallow.  This message is so important that it is repeated in this psalm at least 4 more times in verses 7b-10, 12-15, 17 and 20.  Psalm 73 walks us through the near calamity that befalls the man of God when he becomes envious of the wicked.  Taking my eyes off of the sovereign God can cause me to lose perspective on my true position and provision in Christ.  (See Ephesians 1, 2; 2 Peter 1:3-4)

2.  Trust in the LORD and do good. His Word is full of promises; read, study and know them.  Then trust them.   If He is LORD (and He is), then trusting Him is like trusting my heart to keep beating.  It requires no effort.  It is a fundamental truth of my existence.  I trust that the God who went to all the trouble to communicate with me, save me and provide an eternal life for me, will keep His promises.  Trusting God’s promises means living as if they are true. Do good means I should obey what God says to do in His word.  Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”  John 14:15.

3.  Delight yourself also in the LORD. As I get to know Him, I enjoy the love He lavishes on me and the time I spend with Him.  He is good!  He is so much more than dead letters on a page.  In order to delight in Him, I must think on Him, study Him, listen to Him, sit with Him, seek His face and be open to His guidance and correction.

4.  Commit your way to the LORD; trust also in Him. Decide to go His way.  Surrender your life, your path, your future to the LORD.  Remember this is a progression.  Only after you stop fretting, learn to trust, obey and delight yourself in God, will it come easily and naturally to surrender to His hand, His yoke.  Jesus was clear in Matthew 11:29-30 when He said, “[t]ake My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  This is, however, best understood through personal experience with God.

5.  Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him. Ugh!  This is the hardest phase of the progression for me.  I find it hard to wait.  I am like a filly at the gate waiting for the race to begin, anxious for the gate to open and to leap out . . . . but God knows when it is best for me to stay and when it is best to go.  He hedges me in to keep me safe.  I always want to move.  When my circumstances are difficult, I want them changed to be easier, happier, different.  But God, in His wisdom, knows there is benefit for me in the waiting.  In the waiting, I must focus on God and listen for His voice.  In the waiting, I must look at me, and consider my heart and my conduct.  In the waiting, I am left with plenty of time to move through the Psalm 37 progression again and again.  I must give up worrying (again).  I must trust in the LORD and do good (again).  I must delight myself also in the LORD (again).  I must commit my way to the LORD (again).  I can find much to do while I wait.  The LORD will keep me in perfect peace when my mind is stayed on Him because I trust in Him.  (Isa. 26:3 paraphrased)

Don’t let the workers of iniquity in your life (we all have them), keep you down.  Study and apply Psalm 37.  Work the program; see the results.  The Psalm goes on to speak in greater detail about the concepts laid out in the first 7 verses in the later verses.
Delight in the LORD!  What could be better?

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