What If You Were CERTAIN God Was With You Today? [Psalm 56]
Danger and difficulty will never go away until the Lord himself returns.
This is a fact that the Bible acknowledges over and over. In Psalm 56, e.g., David finds himself attacked yet again by vicious enemies:
5 All day long they injure my cause;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk;
they watch my steps,
as they have waited for my life.
Who or what are your enemies today? What are you afraid of? What do you dread?
The Bible acknowledges that danger and difficulty are ever-present, but it also tells us something more important:
God is for us, and if God is for us, who can be against us?
Here’s how David puts it in Psalm 56:9:
“This I know, that God is for me.”
What if you were CERTAIN that God was with you today?
What if you were CERTAIN that God was for you?
What if you were CERTAIN that God was with his church?
THE GOOD NEWS?
HE IS.
(And anything else is a lie.)
Ever Been Betrayed by a Friend? [Psalm 55]
Remember: the Psalms teach us to pray through our emotions. When we do so, we hand our emotions over to God and thereby we can learn to control our emotions and not be controlled by them.
The Psalms speak to the whole variety of experience, including the experience of being stabbed in the back by someone you trusted.
From today’s psalm:
12 For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—
then I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
14 We used to take sweet counsel together;
within God's house we walked in the throng.
If the psalmist keeps that bitterness inside, it will kill him!
If we keep the bitterness inside when we are stabbed in the back, it will also kill us!
But, when we give our anger and bitterness at our friends over to the Lord, eventually we will be able to say:
16 But I call to God,
and the Lord will save me.
What do you need to hand over to God today?
"In a World of Violence and Cruelty" [Psalm 54]
“In a world of violence and cruelty, it is hard to be confident that God will make it right. This psalm invites each reader to affirm its words and to share in the confidence of the one praying. The psalm opens with cries lifted to God’s character—the power of God’s name and the belief that God will judge the world and make it right. The psalm ends with more confidence that God will do exactly as God has done in the past. The last line, which may be unsettling, reminds us of God’s care of the least of the world and how Jesus promises to lift the lowly and humble the haughty. There are many powers in this world that try to thwart the purposes of God’s kingdom of justice, and those same powers have taught Christians to be docile and polite because Jesus loved his enemies. Yet Christians throughout the centuries have risen up against those powers for the very sake of God’s kingdom. Justice may be delayed, but justice is the end result. Those who live to harm others will eventually have to face up to how they have chosen to live their lives.”
Pascal's Wager [Psalm 53]
Psalm 53 is almost identical to Psalm 14; both psalms begin the same way:
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
Are you familiar with Pascal’s Wager?
[The text below is from Professor Joseph Incandela’s website.]
It's important always to remember Pascal's project of trying to provide a defense of Christiantiy. Part of the crowd that Pascal hung around with before his conversion did all the things he later identified as diversion: hunting, partying, but especially gambling. Pascal himself is often credited with inventing roulette. So it's not surprising that he uses the device of a wager to try to convince people, who are already gambling, to take a chance on God. That is, if you want to make a point to a gambler, put it in the form of a bet. That'll at least get their attention and disturb their indifference.
Pascal begins by presenting a decision. Either a person will choose to believe or she will not (there are only two possibilities). As for the way things are, either the God whom Christians worship exists or that God does not (there are only two possibilities). Pascal thought that reason by itself cannot help you decide which path to follow. And in light of this, and the two choices listed above, Pascal asks 'how will you wager?' And note that we have to wager. We can't just not play the game at all. Pascal thinks that by the way each of us is already leading our lives, we are all already making a bet one way or the other. As he says, "There is no choice, you are already committed." He continues, "A coin is being spun which will come down heads or tails. How will you wager? Reason cannot make you choose either, reason cannot prove either wrong."
If we have to bet, then, how shall we decide? Well, says Pascal, let's look at the possible payoffs (that's just what gamblers do, after all).
—If God REALLY exists, and we believe (= bet that God exists), we have an infinite gain (heaven).
—If God REALLY exists, and we don't believe that, then we have the potential of an infinite loss (hell, or at least eternal separation from God).
—If God really does NOT EXIST, and we believe that God exists, we essentially lose nothing.
—If God really does NOT EXIST, and we believe that God doesn't exist, we essentially gain nothing.
This can be represented in a table as follows:
There are really two other versions of this wager in Paragraph 418, but they just build on the point made above that if one has to bet (and we do), then it's always more rational to wager on an infinite gain. An infinite gain will always outweigh even a finite loss or gain. Therefore, it's always more rational to bet that God exists. As Pascal says, if you wager and win, "you will win everything."
Pretty interesting stuff, huh? —Andrew
"A Green Olive Tree" [Psalm 52]
I like to latch onto specific images in the psalms, which is why I really like verses 8-9:
8 But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.
Lord, make me like a green olive tree!
The Problem With Pointing Fingers [Psalm 51]
Racism is evil; Jesus died for the whole world, and he invites all people into his church.
Here’s the problem:
When I say that kind of thing in church, everyone nods and agrees. We want to believe that those nasty racists over there are the problem.
One of the problems with finger-pointing is that I always place myself in the company of the righteous and good while I tell other people they are the problem.
True confession, however, is only about me and only about us.
This is why the 51st Psalm is such a powerful psalm of confession. In the psalm, David makes it clear:
I am the problem!
Psalm 51
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
The superscription gives us the background to this psalm: David’s adultery with Bathsheba. When the prophet Nathan confronts him, to his credit David immediately takes responsibility for his actions.
How can you and I take responsibility for our actions today?
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Note that David asks for “mercy.” Mercy—by definition—isn’t owed; rather, mercy is unmerited favor. But, David asks for it because he knows that God is merciful by nature.
We don’t deserve it, but we need it—pray for mercy today.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
David doesn’t just want to be forgiven, he wants to be CLEAN.
God doesn’t just forgive sinners, but he makes them into saints.
Too many of us accept the first part of the gospel—forgiveness—but reject the second—sanctification.
Pray for God to remake your character today.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
See, this is the truth about sin: all sin is ultimately against God.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
No excuses here, just the truth:
David admits that he has been sinful since the beginning.
Can you imagine if we admitted the same thing today? It’s not anyone else—I am the sinner.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
I love this verse and often pray it over my own life:
“Lord, make me truthful from the inside out, and make me wise.”
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Hyssop is a plant, and among its other uses, the Israelites used it to smear blood on their doorframes in preparation for the Passover. (See Exodus 12:21-23.)
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
David wants God to remake him from the inside out, and he desperately wants God to stay close. Hell is separation from God, and for God to remove his Spirit would be like dying before you die.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
God doesn’t want sacrifices but honesty from us, and honestly requires that we own our sin, confess it, and ask for mercy.
Don’t point the finger at someone else today.
YOU are the problem.
Or, to be more accurate:
I am.
Friends, Time to RESET
Today we read Psalm 50.
Since Easter Monday, we’ve read one psalm a day, and now we’re 1/3 of the way through. (There are 150 psalms, and we’re scheduled to finish on September 9.)
Whether you’ve read every psalm so far or none of them:
It’s time to reset and restart.
I strongly believe that the most important thing you can do in your life is to develop the habit of spending the first 15 minutes of every day in silence, prayer, and scripture.
With our Psalms reading plan, this cannot be any easier:
Read one psalm every day.
Some days you’ll get a lot out of it, some days you won’t.
Guess what—it doesn’t matter.
Just read your psalm, pray a bit, and then sit in silence. That’s it.
The power of the First 15 is not about any particular day, but the culmination of many days.
Out of the last 7 days, how many have you begun in this way?
It’s time to reset.
Consistency is more important than intensity.
It’s the habit that matters more than anything.
Don’t overthink it.
Remember: consistency is more important than intensity.
As Michael Scott would say, “JUST DO IT.”
Let’s claim the promise in v. 23:
“to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”
Order your life; commit your first few minutes of every day to the First 15.
Great things will happen!
Life is Short, Death is Coming...But [Psalm 49]
Like Ecclesiastes, the 49th Psalm is a reminder that life is short and death is coming for us all, rich and poor, righteous and unrighteous alike.
“For he sees that even the wise die;
the fool and the stupid alike must perish
and leave their wealth to others.”-Psalm 49:10
Life Is Short, So Therefore Be Grateful For Every Breath God Gives You Today.
But Psalm 49 “brings out into the open the assurance of victory over death which Ecclesiastes leaves concealed. The great But God… (15) is one of the mountaintops of Old Testament hope.”
Here’s the verse:
“But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.”
Psalm 49:15
Life Is Short and Death is Coming, But God Raises the Dead!
Be Hopeful Today.
We Should Ask to See Cool Stuff [Psalm 48]
This is victory psalm, a song of celebration because the Lord has delivered Jerusalem from his enemies.
One phrase in particular stuck out to me:
“As we have heard, so have we seen” [Psalm 48:8].
In other words, we’d heard about what you have done in the past, Lord, but now we’ve actually seen it with our own eyes.
I think we should pray the same thing for our lives.
“Lord, help us to see cool stuff in our own time.”
TODAY, LORD!
How to Be Calm in the Storm - Live Study 7 AM, 7 PM
I’m teaching a 15 minute Bible study TODAY at 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM on Psalm 46, today’s psalm.
2 ways to watch:
After the morning session, I’ll post the video here as well.
It’s a GREAT psalm—hope you’ll join me.
Royal Wedding! [Psalm 45]
The 45th Psalm is a psalm composed for a royal wedding in Jerusalem. It’s fun to imagine what it must have been like to see one of the descendants of David take his bride and ascend to the throne.
Marriage is everything—we are who we are because of the marriages of the people who came before us. Some were happy and some were unhappy, but all shaped us.
Whose marriage can you pray for today?
"40"
The power of U2’s “40” comes from its refusal to neatly resolve. But life itself lacks neat resolution, and so the song mirrors life perfectly. Life has times for praise—”I will sing, sing a new song”—and times for perseverance—”How long, to sing this song?”—and these times follow after one another in this life until the Lord calls us home.
I think “40” is my favorite artistic reworking of a psalm, or at least the one that has had the greatest influence on me.
The video below is from the legendary U2 show at Red Rocks on June 5, 1983, which almost didn’t happen.
Enjoy. Happy Friday, everyone.
40
I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay.
I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song.
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?
You set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm.
Many will see, many will see and hear.
I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
Penitent [Psalm 38]
“The psalmist is in physical, emotional, and psychological pain and turns to God for help. He knows that his suffering is a result of his sin and so he turns to the only One who can help him, namely God. He also urgently asks God for help against his enemies who seek to take advantage of his weakened condition….”
“Even before the psalmist feels completely forgiven, he still calls on God to help him against his enemies who want to take advantage of him….”
“Psalm 38 provides a model prayer for those who feel deep sorrow over their sin, not just to express their pain, but also to repent and turn to God.”
Remember, the psalms teach us to pray through our emotions, regardless of what they are. You may not identify with Psalm 38 today, but what emotions do you need to pray through today?
Hold Fast [Psalm 37]
Jack Tar used to get 8 letters tattooed across his knuckles:
H-O-L-D-F-A-S-T
It was a message that offered both instruction—hold fast to the rigging, lads, lest the storm carry you overboard—and defiance—if we hold fast and fight, we will make it through to victory.
I think Psalm 37 is essentially a perfect psalm; every line is worth repeating to yourself and underlining in your Bible.
“It reminds those hearing it to hold fast even in the face of a world where the wicked seem to do better than the faithful.”
Don’t be angry at the prosperity of the wicked, and don’t be fooled:
The Lord will vindicate those who trust in him, but the way of the wicked will perish.
It might seem that the wicked prosper, but that is only because you and I lack perspective: in the long run the Lord will bring the wicked to ruin—if you could see the end now, you’d know that the wisest course of action is to trust in the Lord, because his way is the only way that will last.
In the meantime, brothers and sisters, hold fast and don’t lose heart.
P.S. “The meek shall inherit the earth.” Who said that, and from what was he quoting?
When You Need To Remind Yourself of the Truth [Psalm 36]
Ever had to look at yourself in the mirror and remind yourself of what you know to be true? Sometimes it’s good to say that kind of stuff aloud—I know I’ve had lots of those moments these past 2 months.
In Psalm 36, David sees that the wicked continue to act with impunity, believing they are untouchable:
1 Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3 The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
4 He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.
In the face of that kind of arrogance, David reminds himself of what he knows to be true nevertheless:
5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O Lord.
Sometimes it’s good to say that kind of thing out loud.
What truth do you need to remind yourself of today?
Why It's Okay to Pray Against Your Enemies [Psalm 35]
Like so many psalms, the Thirty-Fifth Psalm is a prayer for the Lord to defeat David’s enemies.
Question: Praying against my enemies—is that even allowed?
Answer: Yes. More than allowed, it is required.
Remember, the psalms teach us to pray through our emotions, and sooner or later you will have the emotions that come with enemy opposition. Enemies are people who deliberately work to harm you or your loved ones in some way, and if you tell me that you’ve never had any enemies, I’ll tell you it’s only a matter of time: enemies are inevitable. When enemies attack, we have 2 choices:
Lie and pretend that we are so holy that enemy attacks don’t cause us pain;
Tell the truth and ask the Lord to defend us.
Honesty in prayer is essential, and asking the Lord to defeat your enemies does NOT mean you are hating them. To love is to will the good of the other, and if your enemies are wrong, then it is to their good that the Lord stop them from doing greater evil. In fact, the surest way to end up hating your enemies is to
refuse to pray honestly to the Lord (thereby letting your hurt fester into hate); and
have them do more evil to you (thereby fanning the flames of hurt into hate in your heart).
When we pray for the Lord to defeat our enemies we are doing a very important thing: we are giving a desire for vengeance over to the Lord and trusting him to judge justly.
Praying in this way is a way to remove the venom from the bite before it turns your heart black.
The psalms teach us to pray through our emotions.
Through what feelings do you need to be praying today?
What Kind Of Nation Will We Be After This? [Psalm 33]
I have been praying that somehow the Lord would use this crazy pandemic to bring about a spiritual awakening in our country. We are a wealthy country, but we are neither a wise nor good country. I think Psalm 33 offers a challenge and an opportunity to us:
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
All the wealth and military might in the world is not enough to save us if we are spiritually broken. It is from God that we can receive blessing and security, not from the work of our own hands. I like how Psalm 33 puts it:
16 The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
Are you putting your hope in the right place today?
Man or Mule? [Psalm 32]
It’s good to confess:
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
But David knows from personal experience how stubborn we can be in refusing to admit wrongdoing:
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
So, I like his warning to us:
9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.
Will you be man or mule today?
Did You Know Jesus Quoted This? [Psalm 31]
“Into your hands I commit my spirit.” Those are the last words of Jesus on the cross—he is directly quoting Psalm 31:5!
Remember, the psalms are there to teach us to pray through our emotions to God.
By the way, when you read the entire psalm, it really changes how you hear those last words on the cross. In some sense, it makes the words of Jesus more hopeful, I think.
What do you think?
"I Was a Fool When Times Were Good" [Psalm 30]
The structure of the psalm is simple, its two outbursts of praise flanking the confession in verses 6-10 of overconfidence and its dire results. David’s unaffected delight at being restores shines through every word, quite undimmed by time.
Psalm 30
A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of the temple.
1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up
and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
“For you have drawn me up”—it’s the same word for drawing water from a well.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I shall never be moved.”
7 By your favor, O Lord,
you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
I was dismayed.8 To you, O Lord, I cry,
and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
9 “What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!
O Lord, be my helper!”
David has been foolish because he boasted in good times that nothing bad would happen: “I shall never be moved.”
Then, when bad times came, he realized that he needed the Lord more than ever.
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
David is PUMPED! The Lord has been faithful, and he knows he didn’t deserve it.
What about you?