Psalm 28

Do not drag me away with the wicked,

with those who do evil,

who speak cordially with their neighbors

but harbor malice in their hearts.

Repay them for their deeds

and for their evil work;

repay them for what their hands have done

and bring back on them what they deserve.

You just can't trust people.

That seems to be the problem here. How often have you known someone who is nice to your face, but trashes you as soon as you walk away? Maybe you've seen someone who claims to be another person's good friend, yet they constantly ridicule them and tear them down when that person is gone.

Or, perhaps, you are the guilty party?

However you know the duplicitous human, you know they can't be trusted. They are unreliable at best and an assaulting enemy at worst. Someone we need protection from.
Now, counter that view of two-faced people with this view of God:

Praise be to the LORD,

for he has heard my cry for mercy.

The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.

My heart leaps for joy,

and with my song I praise him.

The LORD is the strength of his people,

a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.

Save your people and bless your inheritance;

be their shepherd and carry them forever.

The people leave you worn out and weakened- God gives you strength, protection and something to trust. In a cynical world where it is probably right to be leery of people, God is stable and reliable. His word is His bond- literally. While you can't trust your neighbor to be honest- or even your family sometimes- God will not leave you hanging, He will never lie.

It is because of this that God is a "Fortress of Salvation." There will be no rug pulled out from under you with God- He will keep His word.

And that alone makes His salvation secure.

Psalm 27

I'm not afraid of the dark or monsters or bogeymen or cockroaches.

But I am afraid of things like failure and financial problems and illness.

So, I have a problem with fear. I really want to be fearless, I want to be bold and not at all anxiety plagued, but lately it seems that I am totally besieged with worries. The crazy thing is, most of my fears are over things I can't control, so what's the point of stressing? More to the point, who can help me overcome these fears?

The LORD is my light and my salvation—

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life—

of whom shall I be afraid?

It seems so simple, doesn't it? Just trust in God and all will be well. He'll build a fort- a Helm's Deep, if you will- around us and nothing will get us. But wait- that implies that God comes to us. Read on with the psalmist:

One thing I ask from the LORD,

this only do I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to gaze on the beauty of the LORD

and to seek him in his temple.

For in the day of trouble

he will keep me safe in his dwelling;

he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent

and set me high upon a rock.

No, if we desire shelter from our fears, we must go to Him, and set up residence in His presence. Perhaps we become inundated with fears and worries when we stray too far from Him, following our own desires instead of His. Only when we recognize how vulnerable we are to the attacking hordes do we long again for the safety and protection of His stronghold- which we left because we wanted 'freedom.' Or because we felt that we were tired of waiting on God while in His presence. You know, the whole: "I'm doing God's will, why haven't I been blessed yet?"

I remain confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the LORD.

If we want His protection and His blessing, we must live by His timetable. It's why patience is a virtue. If we want to be fearless, it doesn't mean learning total independence and conquering fears on our own.

Quite the opposite, it means being wholly dependent on God and His protection.

Psalm 26

David comes off as pretty arrogant, doesn't he?

He talks of how good he is, how righteous he is, but we all know better. And so does David. In verse 11, we read:

I lead a blameless life;
deliver me and be merciful to me.

Did you see that? He uses two opposing thoughts- He is innocent, yet in need of mercy and rescue. Why?

What if the idea we need to get here is that we can never be good enough to not need God? We could keep all the rules, do all the right ordinances, toe all the right lines- yet need salvation. Because apart from God, nothing is perfect, we are all fallen.

Human perfection is still less than God's desire for mankind.

The law will not save us, only rescue by the blood of Christ. The difference between righteous and redeemed is bigger than we think.

Psalm 25

Show me your ways, LORD,

teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and my hope is in you all day long.

That right there is the heart of this psalm, and maybe the heart of believing in Christ. We sure do think we know it all about being Christians, and by extension, we think we can save ourselves. We put our hope in following Rick Warren's latest 40 day whatever (Seriously dude, there are other Biblical numbers.), or in the latest program or self help idea. We put our hope in our money and our status, or our careers. We look at the chaos of our world today and cry out for a politician to make it better- but they never will.

But Psalm 25 makes one thing clear: God is our only hope. These other things may work for a season, but in the long run, they will falter. What it comes down to is the kind of relationship with God where you put your hand out for Him and wait for Him to walk you down the long and winding road of life. He knows the way, far better than we or any of our 'guides.'

If we are rescued by anything or anyone but God, it will wind up hollow.

We need to call to God for His wisdom and guidance. Put our hand in his, and trust in Him.

Only Him.

Psalm 24

Confession: I love this psalm.

The wording used, the imagery conveyed, I'd love for Peter Jackson to make a Lord of the Rings style movie of it. Of course, it would be three and half hours long, but it would be gorgeous.

Honestly, that's what I feel when I read this: like a King is being crowned and we get to see it- but only if we're worthy. "Clean hands and pure hearts." It sounds so easy. But it's not. We cover our hands with grime daily, and our hearts are so divided and corrupted by the desires that eventually lead us to the dirty hands. And idols? Sure we may not have a statue we bow to, but we worship plenty of false gods- celebrities, status, money, ourselves.

Just when I start to feel bad about my station in life- God shows up. The conquering King comes in, and I lift my head to see Him. And I realize- He has come from conquering MY enemies. Sin, death, and oppressors of the spiritual and physical varieties- they have fallen to the power of God.

And so, together with God, we celebrate victory.

Psalm 23

OK, really, what else can be said about this psalm.

Arguably the most famous, it is often read at funerals and times of great difficulty. It offers comfort to the hurting, and is beautiful with its pastoral imagery.

Reading it again, I see that it is more than just a 'death' psalm. In fact, it really isn't that at all. It is a 'hope for life' psalm. It tells us that we will have dark times, but that those are in fact NECESSARY to reach the life giving stuff. We must go through "Hell" on earth, but we need not go through it alone.

Though this psalm talks a great deal about darkness and enemies, it is not their presence that steals the psalm. It is the fact that our shepherd- our God- is ever present. He is always there, walking with us through it all.

And at times, fighting off the attackers.

Psalm 22

I think this captures the struggle we all face, but refuse to admit- at least publicly.

Sometimes, it really hurts to love God.

There are times when we feel distant from God because we sin, or because we just don't care. There are times God feels far off because it's been a while since we prayed or read His Word. But this psalm isn't about these. It's about being smack dab in the middle of where God wants you, and you want Him badly, but He seems distant. As if He's ignoring you.

And that goes against everything we've been taught in Sunday School and Church to believe about God. He is ALWAYS there. He will never leave us or forsake us.

So why then would Jesus, with His practically last words, quote this psalm? Why would He choose a psalm that accuses God of forsaking His beloved?

I haven't a clue.

I have guesses, though. Maybe these moment of God 'leaving' us are to remind of what that was like so we can better relate to those who do not know Christ. Maybe it is a test of faith to see if we will really cling to God. Maybe it's to get us to seek God in a different way.

None of that really matters in the context of the psalm. For all we know, David was just having a bad moment when he penned the opening words. What does matter is that by the end of the psalm, David has claimed that God will show up for the poor, the oppressed, the beaten. He believes it so much he talks of how he will celebrate when others see that God is still there and in control.

It's hard to trust God when it seems He isn't paying attention. But then, faith has never supposed to have been easy. If there were a formula or an incantation to get God to do what we wanted when we wanted it, then He would not be the wild God that calls to us in our heart.

God will do what God wants, we just need to trust that He is what He says He is: Good.

Psalm 21

It pays to be God's friend.

It does NOT pay to be His enemy.

The king- aka David aka God's friend- asks and receives. He is blessed with riches and victory. Any thing good the king has or does is credited not to himself, but to the 'unfailing love' of God. This is grace.

But the enemies of the king- aka the enemies of God- are incinerated. Not just defeated, but utterly destroyed and all traces of their lineage with them. Annihilation.

The thing about this juxtaposition is that both the king and the enemies are devoted to God. In the Old Testament, when God said He wanted something to be devoted to Him, He wanted it totally destroyed: no living thing left breathing, no structure left standing. The enemies of the king are devoted to God by their physical destruction. The king is devoted to God by his spiritual destruction of self. The king recognizes that he is nothing, and all the good is by the grace of God. Since the king here is David, it makes sense he'd say that, being the same guy who also says things like "Surely I was sinful at birth."

We need to recognize as David has that it is God who is good, and it is through Him alone that Good wins out.

It is all about God.

Psalm 20

What strikes me about Psalm 20 is not that it is a prayer for blessing. No, it is that the prayer is not for the psalmist, but for the reader.

Most psalms (all of them so far) have been about the psalmist and God, but this one is about you and me. Moreover, it's about you and me being blessed by God.

David prays that you and I would know success in our plans, that they be blessed by God. He prays that God protects you and I. Then, he talks about how he knows God can and will do those things. David says, basically, that he prays these things of blessing for us because he himself has experienced them, and he knows God can do them in our lives as well.

And he says that when we receive them, he and all the believers will rejoice. Because WE were blessed.

Do we pray for these things for each other? What's more, if we do, do we rejoice, do we celebrate when they happen?

I think we should.

Psalm 19

This past weekend, the family and I were at my Mom's house, which sits about 5 miles between the nearest tiny towns. Thursday night was cold, and I took our dog out right before bedtime, and looked up at the sky. The clouds were thin, the moon was huge and bright, the air was crisp- it reminded me of the best parts of living in the country.

I love the sky. Or as the psalmist puts it, the heavens. I love them when they are bright and clear, or when they are dark and stormy. The heavens are a canvas, and each day is God's fresh painting declaring His glory. David applies some personification to the sky, saying it speaks- then quickly (and poetically) declaring that they never make a sound.

Standing there in the yard, the heavens were screaming at me that this beauty was for me- and at the same time that I was small. Not in a degrading way, but in a "God is so big..." way.

Psalm 19 goes on about the beauty of the sky for a bit then does what at first seems an about face to talk about the law. But it's not- he is saying the law of God is beautiful as well. And that it conveys how big God is, while we are small.

Lastly, David prays that these thoughts be pleasing to God. If God offers us the sky as a way of communicating beauty to us, perhaps our thoughts are a painting to Him?

Psalm 18

6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The LORD thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, LORD,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

Now, that's an entrance!

I love the image of a powerful, protective, and, yes, angry God coming to the rescue. I've made no secret of my love for watching storms approach, and I think that image- a dark, voluminous cloud slowly bubbling forth chewing up the ground beneath it- is conjured up here.

What I find most interesting, however, is that God approaches in the image of a storm to bring us peace. The image described in Psalm 18 is terrifying to anyone in His path. But for the one who called Him, the God-lover in need, it is salvation and safety. For at the center of the turmoil and storm is light. Incomprehensible light.

And why, why would such a powerful God leave His throne to rescue one little person? The answer is the most beautiful part of the psalm:

He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

He delights in you. He delights in me. He looks on you and me like I look on my kids when they do something for the first time or do something really well. It's love, but it is also enjoyment, pride, and hope all rolled into one.

God does love us, after all.

Psalm 17

Let my vindication come from you;
may your eyes see what is right.

Nothing feels better than vindication.

The underdog winning a hard fought game. Being proven right when you were the only one standing for something. Having accusations be proven false.

I like winning, and I like being proven right. Maybe a little too much. But there are many times when we follow God that we do things that may seem a bit...off. To other people, at least. A lot of times its that we do something like avoid taking the easy way around something, or we choose honor when it's harder than the other option, or tell the truth when it hurts. It's these times when we want- no, we need- to be vindicated. That our choice to follow God was right.

But the need for this vindication needs to not be for our own glory. We should desire vindication not for our stance, but for our God.

Still, there are times when we just need to know that we are doing the right thing, and the best way to get that knowledge is by getting God's approval. Sometimes things around are falling apart, and we are holding firm to God's will, and we just need a victory.

Vindication. I echo this psalm's plea.

Psalm 16

Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.

God protects. That is the theme here. But I notice something else in this psalm- David seems to indicate his love and adoration for God is because God keeps him safe.

I kinda struggle with that, if that's the case. It seems to me that the act of making our devotion to God contingent on God propping us up in safety and luxury is a bit phony. Now, I realize that this psalm taken in context of David's other psalms makes more sense- David clearly loves God in the good and the bad, and this is probably just an emotional, thankful declaration.

But don't we do this, anyway? Don't we say we love God when things are good, we are safe, and the bank account is full? But tough times come, and we start to doubt, start to question- sometimes get angry with God for 'coming through?

I'm guilty.

What about you- what do you think of this psalm? Do you catch yourself offering your love to God on the contingent He take care of you?

Psalm 15

It's really easy to read this as a formula for how to live. "Check this off and you are 10% there!" And these are good things to seek- blameless, honest, not slamming others, honoring God.

But this is not a formula. This is not the "How to be a good Christian" equation. What it is is the hopes God has for what we can be. So then, what does it look like for us?

Blameless/Righteous: Doing nothing we should feel guilty for. There is a confidence that comes from this, knowing we are in the good will of God, because we haven't done something He detests. I know for me, a lot of stress comes when I know I did something wrong, and I'm waiting for the punishment. I'd love to be free of that.

Speaks the Truth: Honesty. Not just telling the truth when we have to, but not shielding others from the truth. Being honest with someone can hurt, but lying is always going to eventually hurt worse. Tell someone what you really feel. And the flip side- tell yourself the truth. Own your problems, don't deny they exist.

No Slander/No Wrong/No Slur: It seems the 'it' thing is to tear others down. We feel better when we feel we "are better" than someone. Our words to others can kill their spirit. I get we tell jokes about one another, but we need to be very careful to read the person's feelings. They usually aren't too hard to see. Know when it crosses the line from "good, clean fun" to you being a jerk.

Despise the Vile/Honor God: We know that God doesn't want us to hate people, but we also need to know that God doesn't want us to want their lifestyle. I see this verse as a compare and contrast: There is not enough room in your life to honor God and adore vile people. This DOES NOT mean we are not to love people, it means we cannot become dependent on them and have the type of friendships where we need them more than they need us. We need to befriend and love them, but if it ever keeps us from honoring God, we must walk away.

Keeps an Oath: This is why I don't trust people. Too often, I am told something will be done, or will be taken care of- then it isn't. I know I can be guilty of it myself, but we seem to have grown really callous about not following through on our commitments. We need to be better about just being honest and saying, "Yeah, I know you want me to do that, I'm just not going to be able to do it." Just be up front, and don't make a commitment you have no intention or motivation to keep.

Good Lenders/No Bribes: If you're willing to lend money to someone, don't be a jerk about it. It ruins friendships. If you can, lend without expectation of return. And don't ever let money sway you to turn a blind eye to injustice. Boiled down, this verse screams: don't be greedy.

I say this is not a formula, because apart from Christ, these things are impossible. It is with the coming of Christ that it finally become possible to live this way. And to finally see the fulfillment of:

LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?

Psalm 14

God is like the big kid that stood up for the weaker kids against all the bullies.

That's the basics of this psalm, which is beating a similar drum of the last few psalms. God as rescuer.

There is another thing, though. It's another oft repeated idea in the psalms:

Man is bad.

But this psalm goes further. It seems to say EVERYONE is corrupt, NONE seek God. Hyperbole- or God just calling it as it is. Personally, I think it could be both, but more in the latter. Everyone messes up, everyone rebels against God. In the context of this psalm, no one is even looking for God.

David closes with the hope that God- not man- will raise up salvation. If anything is true about our world today, it is that we think a human with enough political power, or intelligence, or money, or popularity can save us. We don't need God because we have science and Brad Pitt.

It's a good thing God's salvation is not dependent on our getting straightened up.

Psalm 13

There have been soooooo many times in my life this psalm has been a daily source of hope. It's been back in my mind recently.

We all reach a point- a breaking point, if you will- where we just can't take it anymore. We are swarmed and swamped with junk, and all we can do is cry for mercy. Our will is broken by our attackers, whether they are human, spiritual, or emotional. No person or pill can save us. We can only appeal to God.

And, sometimes, He takes His sweet time getting back to us.

Psalm 13 cries out in an almost primal way. Essentially, it tells God, "Rescue me, or I'm dead. And then what good am I to You?" As far as arguments with God, I think this is a good one. I mean, if we stand for God, and the enemies of God destroy us, then how does that make God look good? And to your response of "Jesus died on on the cross," I respond, "He got better." God not delivering us ultimately when we are His is bad press for God. True, we believers will get ultimate victory in Heaven, but in the here and now, that consolation is far off.

So, what's the consolation here and now? Why is Psalm 13 still an amazing source of fresh lemonade when life hands you worm infested, rotten, dried out lemons?

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the LORD’s praise,
for he has been good to me.

Despite all the trouble, all the attacks, God's love is unfailing. His salvation is sure. God WILL rescue us. He can't not rescue us. He is unfailing.

He has and will always be good to us.

Psalm 12

I generally don't trust people, it's just safer that way.

Really, I mean, look at the world today and you see verses 1 and 2 being proved true all over the place. You need not look to the news- look around your life. Friends will fail you, bosses will lie straight to your face, and when you need help- people vanish.

You think I'm cynical? Need some help with my trust issues?

Prove me wrong.

I give you that people sometimes mess up, disloyalty and lies are not a part of their core character for most people. But we all do it. Some more than others, some less. And so, I don't count on other people until they've proven themselves over a good period of time. Being stabbed in the back by Christians too many times to count has made me this way.

I, like David here, call out to God for silence for the boastful, unfaithful liars. I want God to intervene and call them out. And I realize this means me, too. I've hurt people with lies and haven't always been there for friends when they need me. I've even done some backstabbing myself.

We're all pretty false, aren't we?

Not God. His words are "flawless." Notice that contrast in the psalm- people can't be trusted, but God's words are pure. Right.

Flawless.

What I draw from this psalm is hope for those of us that don't trust people. Sure, we've been let down and lied to by friends, co-workers, leaders, and family. But not God.

God will never deceive us or let us down.

Psalm 11

When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do?

This is the one that got me. I've been hearing this phrase or a variation of it for a while now, usually in regards to some politician trying to scare us into siding with them. But even though it is now a catchphrase, it doesn't mean it's not true.

For as long as I can remember, we have called the US a 'Christian nation.' I've long believed this is more of a cultural thing than an actual spiritual thing. I say that because if we really were a 'Christian nation,' the foundations would be stronger. Churches would be less full (yep, I said less) and more passionate about going to the people. Marriages would never last only 72 days (gotta be topical). There would be no controversy over the Pledge of Allegiance because the "one nation, under God" part would be visibly true. Abortion would not be the issue it is. Our savior would be Jesus, not a political figure or celebrity.

Looking at Americans today, we seem to realize that we are not- at the foundation- Christian any longer. And we are paralyzed on how to get back to that. Back to Him.

Verse 1 tells us how: take refuge in God. Run not to Dr. Phil, Oprah, or the government when things are hard- run to God. We as a people are not righteous (no, not one). God is righteous. We cannot save ourselves, let alone our nation. We think we can, and so did Israel. They begged for a king, a human ruler, but God kept telling them that He was their King. Finally, God gave them their king, and nothing really got better. Because they sought salvation by human righteousness, not God's righteousness.

So, when the foundations, the core things, are being destroyed, they are being destroyed by our hands. We are not righteous.

But God is.