Psalm 6 "O Lord—How Long?"

Psalm 6:3-5

My soul also is greatly troubled.
    But you, O Lord—how long?

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
    save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
    in Sheol who will give you praise?

Comments:

As you probably know by now, I love the honesty of the psalms. Here David asks the raw question of his troubled soul, one of the questions men and women have asked throughout history—“How long?” In the pain, agony, and grief of his crushing circumstances, his lament echoes that of Job. What Job struggled with was making sense of his suffering and desired an audience to plead his case. Here in Psalm 6, David recognizes that the Lord is hearing his lament but questions when the Lord would respond. In his mind time was limited. He desires to praise the Lord but believed that once dead there would be no opportunity to remember the Lord. His understanding of the resurrection was limited. I included verse five in this post as an example. When we read the Bible we need to remember the concept of progressive revelation. Biblical theology teaches us that the great doctrines of the faith were not given fully developed in the first books of the Bible, but are revealed step by step according to God’s great plan. It is important for us to remember that David didn't have complete knowledge of the immortality of the soul, thus his urgency to see deliverance in this life. You don’t see a strong concept of the resurrection develop until the writings of the prophets.

Cemetery on the Mt. of Olives

Certainly, this concept is clarified and completed in the New Testament. Ironically—in our day where as Christians we know that we will not only remember the praises of the Lord after we die but we will see him face to face—there are too few who remember his praises here on earth.

There are a couple of things in this passage that David understood very well—his own need and God’s steadfast love for him. I too am convinced of those same two things. This week I hope we can all say “Amen!” to that!

Oh, and don't forget that having poured out his lament to the Lord, having asked his burning question, David acts on the belief that God has already answered and delivered (v.8-9)!

Psalm 5 "Penguins in the Morning"

Psalm 5:1-3

Give ear to my words, O Lord;
    consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
    my King and my God,
    for to you do I pray.
O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
    in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

Comments:

Notice this psalm is a lament (it asks something of the Lord). It is my cry in this season of my life. There are seasons where everything is going well and you can be tricked into thinking that you can actually get by on your own, or with minimal “swing pushing” by the Lord. Then there are seasons where we are required to see more clearly that we are dependent on the Lord for each moment. It is in such seasons of bittersweet clarity that we come to the end of our own resources and have to ask the Lord to consider our groaning and pay attention to our cries. What is remarkable is that he does just that.

“Consider my groaning”

Our groaning before the Lord are those deep issues that perhaps we can’t even put into words for the emotion, the pain, the weight is too great and we wouldn't even know how to pray. Yet not only does the Lord consider our groaning but his Holy Spirit prays for us in those moments.

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26)

“Give attention to… my cry”

Photo by Martin Wettstein on Unsplash

Not only does the Lord hear our words and consider our “groaning” but he “gives attention” to our cry as the psalmist asks. When I read this request I tend to think about penguins—don’t you? Before you cry, “Random!” stop to think about all the nature movies you have seen where they show a picture of a million penguins and talk about how the mother penguins know the cry of their own chicks out of all the voices in the rookery crying, “Haaah, Haaaahh!” Well, who made penguins that way? If God created the penguin with such sensitivity to the cries of their young, is it any surprise that he intimately knows and responds to each of his children's prayers? Not really.

“In the Morning…”

Galilee Photo: Greg Dueker 2011

One other insight I glean from these verses is that the psalmist doesn't wait until evening to pour out his heart to the Lord. He cries out as soon as he starts his day! I wonder if we miss out on much that the Lord wants to do for us because we slog through our day in our own strength until we think we need to ask for help. We have even invented a phony Bible verse to support this idea, “God helps those who help themselves.” Actually, God helps those who know they can’t help themselves. The psalmist realizes that actually, God helps those who know that they can’t save themselves, much less change other people. I want to live into this idea that I will speak to the Lord early in the day—confessing, worshiping, believing—for, after all, the day is his anyways.

The sound of groaning penguins in the morning! Sounds like the beginning of a blessed day!

Psalm 4 "Be Angry and Do Not Sin"

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Psalm 4:1-2a, 4

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

    You have given me relief when I was in distress…

O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?

...Be angry, and do not sin;

    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

Comments:

This psalm begins with a cry to God for an answer, quickly followed by the acknowledgment that God has been faithful to provide relief in the psalmist’s distress in the past. I find that in my most angst-filled moments it is helpful to stop and remember God’s great track record in the past. This practice is very settling, even when people are saying things that aren’t true about you or tarnishing your reputation. Remembering God’s faithfulness to me is always a great remedy for the offenses of people.

The psalmist’s advice in v. 4 “Be angry, and do not sin” is not an unhealthy repression of the very real problem, but a command to do four very positive things. In the anger that rises up in the face of unjust treatment (by words and/or deeds),

1. Don’t sin. In other words, don’t make things worse by taking things into your own hands and stooping to their level.
2. Don’t speak out of your anger. I know from experience that it is too easy to return fire verbally and yet too hard to try to put out the fire that is started by our “righteous” response. I have to regularly remind myself that my wrath doesn't result in God’s righteousness. (James 1:19-20)
3. Ponder it in your heart on your beds. It is natural to replay the situation, but the wisdom here is that it is processed privately rather than publicly. It is not a rallying of public support but a personal act of trust in God. As I have said many times, Psalms allow us to process our emotions through the character of God. As a result, we are changed and enabled to do the fourth thing...
4. Offer the right sacrifices. Right sacrifices are not an outward performance of ritual or duty, but a sincere act of repentance, thankfulness, and trust. Will I choose to do this in the haboob of my offense? Right sacrifices can only be offered once I realize my need for the mercy of God.

Interestingly, v.4  is quoted in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:26…where it is emphasized that you should not carry your wrath over to the next day. As followers of Jesus, we are not storing these offenses away and planning our sweet revenge! Instead, we need to promptly process our emotions through God’s faithfulness and the mercy and grace that we ourselves have received. Don't let anger ferment into bitterness and hatred. Bring it all to the One who understands us and defends us. 

People may speak lies and slander us, minimizing our usefulness and value in the kingdom, but God is the one whose opinion counts. It is God himself who chooses us—setting us aside to play on his team! What an honor!

Psalm 3 "Salvation Belongs to the Lord"

Psalm 3:1, 7-8

¹O Lord, how many are my foes!
    Many are rising against me…
⁷ Arise, O Lord!
    Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
    you break the teeth of the wicked.

⁸ Salvation belongs to the Lord;
    your blessing be on your people! Selah

Comments:

[Continuing with my pattern of covering verses not previously discussed…]

Have you ever felt like David did? I have personally never experienced anything like the betrayal of his son Absalom or of people (including former trusted advisers) seeking to kill me, though many people around the world have experienced such senseless persecution. However, there have been moments when I have felt deeply wronged, and even times when I felt like there was perhaps an unjust conspiracy against me. But that does not vouch for the accuracy of my feelings. My feelings, though real, by nature are often are not objective. In David’s case they were spot on, in my case less so.  

David had a history of not striving to defend his own cause. He had several chances to kill King Saul, but, against the advice of his men, he would not raise his hand against “the Lord’s anointed” even after he himself had been anointed to take Saul’s place.

This weekend I have been out with the flu. And I realized that thousands of microscopic enemies have arisen against me. I have experienced a shocking inability to concentrate on anything but trying not to cough.

Like David—and innumerable others through the centuries—I cry out to God in my distress for he is my Savior! I am asking the Lord to metaphorically “strike those viruses on the cheek and break their teeth” to enable me to return to health and functionality. I know he is working in me through this.

I know that my current enemy is not really other people (flesh and blood) nor is it the germs/virus of my current challenge, but it is spiritual in nature. So while not failing to use interpersonal skills in my dealing with people and medicine, nutrition, and rest in my dealing with sickness, I put my trust in Jesus to be my deliverer—both from others and from myself. If “salvation belongs to the Lord” then why do we think we have to deliver ourselves, and treat others the worse for it?

One other thing that I find that I have to frequently re-learn is that the blessing of God upon his people often looks much different than I expect. I resolve to trust God in whatever way he leads. I want to walk in faith like Habakkuk, who, facing a situationally harsh future, concludes his writings,

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
 God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer's;
    he makes me tread on my high places. (Hab. 3:17-19)

Are we willing for God’s blessing to be upon us, or will we demand what we think we deserve?

Psalm 2 "God Laughs"?

Psalm 2:4-6

He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

Comments:

Woody Allen is credited with saying, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." However, God is not spiteful and anti-plan. He is for an even better version of our plans than we can imagine (Psalm 20:4; Prov. 3:5-8; 15:22; 16:3; 21:5)! Proverbs 16:9 says,

The heart of man plans his way,
    but the Lord establishes his steps.

Note that the Lord “establishes” rather than “frustrates” these plans. The plans that God is against are the plans that intend spiritual, emotional, or physical harm to others (Psalm 14:6; 33:10; Prov. 6:18; 24:8-9). Woody Allen missed the point.

Psalm 1 begins by describing the words and actions of the wicked scoffing, mocking, and laughing at God. Psalm 2 tells us that God laughs at even the most organized efforts of human governments to rage against the just rule and gracious plan of God. People in power don’t like the idea of having to answer to a higher power. In this psalm we see God answering their mocking laughter with laughter and nations’ rage with wrath. Their efforts though painful, even to the point of death to both Christ and Christians alike, are ultimately futile for Jesus rose from the dead and freed his followers from the fear of death. The tomb is empty!

The question we need to ask is what do we do to control people who are not afraid of our power over their lives? The enemy of mankind has long raged against God, often using worldly leaders (from the whole range of governments) to persecute those who worship the One True God. We should not fight to keep our fleeting power, but like Christ be willing to lay it down. Jesus said some pretty radical things, such as, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5) But we don't often realize that this is the consistent message of the Lord in the Old Testament? Here are some examples.

Psalm 37:10-11

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
    though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
    and delight themselves in abundant peace.

Isaiah 11:3-4

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Isaiah 29:18-20

In that day the deaf shall hear
    the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
    the eyes of the blind shall see.
The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
    and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
For the ruthless shall come to nothing
    and the scoffer cease,
    and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off…

One of the first Christian apologists, Tertullian (ad 197), in protesting the raging laws against Christians being passed by the Romans, wrote that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Any time authorities attempt to wipe out the church it only serves to drive out the pretenders and leaves behind a church that is faith-filled and willing to suffer and die for the sake of the gospel message. What is different between the persecuted Church and other religious and political factions is that the persecuted Church is willing to serve others and die for what they believe, but not willing to kill for it.

But the day of reckoning will come. God raises nations up to do his work and then tears them down when they oppress his faithful people. Nations and governments that attack God and his people violate the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:3) and will be judged. From the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt to the Philistines whose champion's mocking power was broken in this very field by a shepherd boy slinging stones. 
The parade of powers continues down through the centuries: Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Vandals, Mongols, Muslims, Spain, France, Britain, Germany, Russia, and even America. Political power is not permanent—God's power is. 
Isaiah 2:4 says,

He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore.

May we not need to be plowed in the process! I am reminded of Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1818 poem Ozymandias, which describes the temporality of the pride of nations and rulers. See if you don't agree,

Ozymandias

I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half-sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things.

The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings.

Look on my work, ye mighty and despair!’

Nothing besides remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The psalmist suggests that those in power would be wise to yield to God's lordship while they still have the power and breath they have been given. It really is in their best interest to stop trying to hold on to their power—at all costs—and plead for mercy for their sins like every other person in the world.

God is not a judge who loves when he can.

God is a lover who judges when he has to.
And that judgment fell upon Christ.

[ICYMI: Why did I start with verse 4? In the past, I have commented on social media three times on v. 1-3, once on v. 7-8, and once on v. 10-11. All of these comments were before I started blogging. While it would be easier for me to talk about the first three verses of Psalm 2, I picked the "untouched territory" of v. 4-6.] 

Psalm 1:3-4 "How Hydrated are You?"

Young palm tree planted
alongside the Jordan River

Psalm 1:3-4

"He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away."

Comments:

I have commented on this psalm at least four times, but never on these two verses. Three times I have written on v.1-2 and once on the concluding verses 5-6. I touched on v. 1-2 again in my comments on the crucifixion of Christ in Mark 15 so I am moving to new verses today.

These verses describe the man who delights in the Lord rather than in mocking the things of God. Here the psalmist moves from the urban imagery of the city gates to a more rural metaphor of the tree planted by a stream. One of my former pastors (the late Chuck Updike) used to say that the tree had been transplanted from where it had been to beside the stream. The verb shäthal' can mean either planted or transplanted and is used once by Jeremiah (17:8) and six times by Ezekiel in chapters 17 and 19. When Israel delighted in the Lord they were a well-watered tree or vine, but when they despised the Lord they were described as being plucked up and dried by the east wind.

The simple question for us today is, “How hydrated are you?” A few years ago I visited my brother at the fire station in Central Washington where he worked at the time and saw something that caught my eye. In the bathroom, there was a handy colored chart for determining the firefighter’s level of hydration by their urine color. It might sound gross but very helpful when fighting brush fires in the heat and wind. Here is a similar chart.

If we are not properly hydrated it will rapidly deteriorate our physical and mental performance. Experts recommend between 1/2 and 1 ounce of water per day for every pound of body weight. That seems crazy high! However, the point is that we need to drink more water than we do. Too many people think they are drinking enough liquids but what they are drinking may actually dehydrate them further (Coffee, tea, caffeinated sodas, etc.). The question of hydration in the context of Psalm 1 prompts me to ask about our spiritual hydration. Are we spiritually dehydrated? The people around us can probably tell by what comes out of our lives on a daily basis.

The man who delights in the Lord doesn't dry out but is continually refreshed by the living water God provides. He also bears good fruit. I wonder if we were to use a chart like this to measure our words, actions, and attitude for a spiritual hydration level if it might keep our tinder dry tongues from starting a wildfire (see James 3)?

Sun-dried lawn

Many years ago I joined a health club and they did some electronic tests to determine my hydration level. The trainer said normal was from 45 to 70% (I was about 60% in case you were wondering). However, she said that some people that drink diet pop come in and score a 19% and their skin is so dry it looks like it’s going to crumble and fall off. Are we drinking something that truly brings us life so that we might have good fruit to share with others? I want to delight in the Lord this week, everything else is like diet pop! May the Lord transplant us by the streams of water that come from his presence and may it refresh everyone we meet. As we read ahead to Psalm 92:12-13,

The righteous flourish like the palm tree
    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
    they flourish in the courts of our God.

It is no surprise that Jesus Christ, the means by which we are “planted in the house of the Lord,” instructed both a marginalized Samaritan woman at a village well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14) And also admonished the gathered people of Israel on the last day of the Feast of Booths (which commemorated the process of their being transplanted from slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land),

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 

Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39)

The very ending of the Bible contains an invitation for those who thirst to come to Jesus Christ and receive the water of life, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” (Rev. 21:6) This is also the final cry of the Holy Spirit and the people of God, the Church,

    The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”

And let the one who hears say, “Come.”

And let the one who is thirsty      come;

       let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Rev. 22:17)

Feeling dry and a bit crispy in the hot winds of summer? Delight in the Lord and allow his Word to consistently water your soul.