Psalm 32:5,8-9 "Confession & Counsel"

Psalm 32:5

"I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,"

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin."

Comments:

The first five times (out of the six) that I commented on this psalm (back in the pre-blog Facebook days), I focused on v. 5 and the importance of confession in the process of forgiveness. Here are those brief comments, rescued from the digital dust heap of news feed oblivion.

1. Forgiveness always begins with confession. We can't be saved until we admit that we need to be! (2/2010)
2. Our forgiveness starts with our confession to the Lord Jesus that He is right and that we have been wrong, and then as a matter of integrity we extend the forgiveness we have received from him to others who have sinned against us. It is the path to freedom and joy! (8/2010)
3. Confession is always the path to take with God...since covering, concealing, and complaining are completely ineffective, not to mention stupid, considering who we are trying to convince. What a blessing it is to be forgiven! (3/2011)
4. I am so glad that I don't have to confess all my faults and failures to another person but can go directly to the Lord. I am also glad that when I do confess the Lord doesn't reject me but cleanses me, hides me from danger, preserves me from trouble, and surrounds me with deliverance! (9/2011)
5. The more we know Jesus, the more we know that we are not Him. Yet he loves us. Remember "a bruised reed he will not break" (Isa 42:3) but those who are stiff-necked in refusing to confess will be broken. (3/2012)

Then in May of 2013, I changed it up and commented on v. 6-7 instead…

Therefore let everyone who is godly
    offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
    they shall not reach him.

You are a hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from trouble;
    you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

Comment: The tsunami of circumstances and of crisis will not overwhelm the one who prays in the days of peace (preparing for a crisis before it happens). I wonder if we listen really close if we can hear a bit of God’s "shouts of deliverance" surrounding us? (5/2013)

Now, three years have passed since I last commented on this psalm but for today I will pick up where I left off and briefly consider Psalm 32:8-9.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
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.

Comments: In verse 8 there is a change of voice. It is no longer the psalmist proclaiming blessing (v.1) or giving his testimony (v.3-5) or declaring his faith in God for deliverance (v.6-7). These two verses record the offering exhortation to the congregation to seek the Lord. This is the Lord speaking to the psalmist and the people alike with the instruction of wisdom. We would do well to be teachable to the instruction of the Lord. He is not the cosmic killjoy many have made him out to be. He is the one who restores joy, protects us, and surrounds us with” shouts of deliverance” (v.7).

While he may deliver us with a shout he desires to counsel us with his eye. While we are not an overly quiet family, we live near a family that seems to shout all the time. God’s family is not that way. He doesn’t constantly shout at us out of anger and frustration. Instead, he wants us to know him so well that we will respond to a simple look. For this to be the case we must know God well enough to understand and respond. This comes only by spending consistent time reading through the whole of the Scriptures, meditating on them, and listening in our times of prayer as well as speaking.

I remember hearing a message in Beaverton about 15 years ago, by Brooklyn Tabernacle’s Jim Cymbala, where he spoke about two ideas in v. 8. The first idea being that the Lord says “with my eye upon you” in the sense that there is never a moment when he will take his eye off of us. We are never out of his loving sight. The second idea he shared was that the Lord says, “I will counsel you with my eye” meaning that by the very movement of his eye we will know his leading. However, if we are like the metaphorical horse in this passage then we need a bit and bridle to control us. 

Do we have that kind of eye-to-eye intimacy with our Father that we can clearly understand his counsel? Is it our great desire to please him because he has loved us so well? Or does God have to use the “bit and bridle” of emergencies and crises to bring us close? 

Our honest confession to the Lord, and obeying the Lord's gentle counsel to us brings both forgiveness and freedom!

Psalm 25 Remembered Mercy, Forgotten Sins

I have posted commentary on parts of this psalm five times over the years but this is my first blog post on Psalm 25. For followers of this blog, you know I have been stuck on 25 for a long time while my writing time was directed elsewhere. Here are more than a few verses from Psalm 25 that I am considering in this season...

 

⁶ Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
    for they have been from of old.
⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
    according to your steadfast love remember me,
    for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
⁹ He leads the humble in what is right,
    and teaches the humble his way.
¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
    for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

 

The psalmist recognizes not only his own need for mercy but that the Lord is the only one who can provide it. He asks no less than three times for forgiveness in this psalm. Spiritually, the psalmist is humbling himself in this manner, admitting that he needs forgiveness from God as well as deliverance from his enemies. So what about us? Will we learn from the Lord in humility or continue on in our pride? No one else can say that “all their paths…are steadfast love and faithfulness” like God can. If we are honest with ourselves and not totally clueless we must admit that we all have a history that needs to be forgiven, a litany of stuff we are not proud of. I recently told my students that, “demanding law for others and grace for ourselves is the first sign of self-deception.”

 

The end of Psalm 25 continues to resonate with Israel’s cry for deliverance in Egypt, from oppression so deep and so intense that we can hardly imagine it in the comfort of the west. Where it is said that,

 

"God heard their groaning and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.  So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them." (Exodus 2:24-25)

 

When God remembers, it is not like he forgot, but it is the moment when he manifests his loving character into the circumstances of his people. Will we look to him to remember us in our situation? Psalm 25 continues... 

 

¹⁵ My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
    for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    for I am lonely and afflicted.
¹⁷ The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
    bring me out of my distresses.
¹⁸ Consider my affliction and my trouble,
    and forgive all my sins.

¹⁹ Consider how many are my foes,
    and with what violent hatred they hate me.
²⁰ Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
    Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
²¹ May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
    for I wait for you.

²² Redeem Israel, O God,
    out of all his troubles. 

 

What do we do in times of trouble? Do we pray first? The psalmist advocates for God to redeem Israel, not just from the guilt of sin but from the “causeless hatred” of man that always seeks to tear down.

Rabbi Johanan said: "What was the cause of the first destruction of Jerusalem? Idolatry. And of the second destruction? Causeless hatred." He continues by explaining that causeless hatred "is more grievous than idolatry." '['The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Kallah Rabbati 54b]

Much could be said in response to the quote above. I think the Rabbi spoke of more than even he knew. However, I would like to just briefly address v. 15 which reminds me of the person today who may be stuck in whatever trap of “causeless hatred” that has been set for him/her be it physical, economic, or spiritual, and who have no hope of extricating themselves. Can you picture yourself in the midst of a minefield or stepping on the tripwire to an IED where if you move it will go off? Something that we can’t free ourselves from is the consequences of sin (ours or another’s). David was in a situation like that…feeling and actually being ambushed on so many levels. In those situations, he trusted that the Lord was the only one who could rescue him…whether from external enemies or internal ones (sins). And, the Lord is trustworthy—Jesus said,

 

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:9-11)

 

Jesus set us free taking the blast for us…and he is no less committed to our life today than he was then!

 

As my son’s unit returns from a year’s deployment in Afghanistan, I thank the Lord for his answered prayer. He has guarded and he has delivered. In this case, delivered all the way back to Oregon. Thanks be to God, for He is faithful!

Psalm 19:12-14 "Hidden Faults & Presumptuous Sins"

Psalm 19:12-14

Who can discern his errors?

    Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;

    let them not have dominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless,

    and innocent of great transgression.

 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

    be acceptable in your sight,

    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Comments:

In this great psalm about God’s revelation, there is something so real and personal about these verses. The psalm starts with a hymn declaring the natural revelation of God (in creation) that testifies to God's glory (v.1-6). Then it speaks of the special revelation of God (in the Bible) that shows me the way of salvation (v.7-11) poetically describing the Bible and how it benefits us (i.e., reviving our heart, making us wise, bringing joy, enlightening our eyes, lasting forever, completely as we should be, bringing a great reward). 

Having considered these two revelations of God, the psalmist looked inward and found his own unworthiness. I don't know about you but I am constantly praying that my "personal" revelation...what I say and do will be found to be in harmony with both the natural and the special revelations of God! Because of this, it is in verse 12 that I find my focus today.

 

The psalmist’s declaration, “Who can discern his errors?” tells us that we are generally unable to accurately view our own sinfulness. When we consider our own lives, we gaze through a window that is more distorted than a fun-house mirror (Jer. 17:9) and dirtier than a window after a house fire. We normally see the sins of others fairly clearly, but tend to see our own only through a more nuanced filter.

It is the Word of God that sounds like a foghorn through the self-deception of our sin. It is the Word of God that the Holy Spirit often uses to search out our hearts. The law shows us where we have fallen short and how much we need God’s deliverance. Salvation starts working in us when we have our eyes opened to see that we actually need to be saved and that we are unworthy of it. In the New Testament, the Apostle John wrote in opposition to those who denied having a sin nature and having personally committed sins saying,

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

If we realize we have sinned, the best course of action is to admit it (confess) to God. Why would we do that? We would confess our failures, weaknesses, and rebellions because God has always loved us and desires to forgive us and cleanse us from all our sin. Salvation has never been about our worthiness (which is compared to filthy rags or a polluted garment—Isaiah 64:6) but about receiving God’s mercy.

The palmist’s second statement in v. 12 is along the same lines as something John or Paul might have written hundreds of years later. “Declare me innocent from hidden faults” is not a request that God would declare that he had done no wrong, but that God might forgive any wrong that he had done. That is the heart cry of all who know the heaviness of their own sin and the hopelessness of trying to atone for it ourselves.

We receive forgiveness by the gift of God in Christ. But the psalmist understands that his desire to bring his life into alignment with the natural and special revelation of the holy and loving character of the Lord needs to issue forth in a new way of living. A way of life that requires the continuous work of the Lord in our daily thoughts and actions. A person who has been set free from slavery has a healthy fear of ever going back into that oppression so too it is with sin.

"Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;

    let them not have dominion over me!" (v. 13a)

This line reminds me of how Jesus taught the disciples to pray, 

       “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13)

As I have said in the past, God is there and he has spoken (a Francis Schaeffer title) both generally in creation, specifically in the Bible, and finally in Christ. It is by use of his Word that we can stay on track, free from presumption, and living into the calling and blessing that we have in Christ. His word transforms my mind and emotions as I see his love poured out. My affection for Jesus changes my behavior...not the other way around.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

    be acceptable in your sight,

    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (v.14)

This prayer cannot be answered until we confess our need for forgiveness, and put our trust in the Lord himself to make our forgiveness a reality, and the love of Christ has captivated me.

But this passage is not merely true of us as individuals...but should be viewed collectively.

• Can we as small groups, congregations, denominations, and movements discern our own errors? Disunity.
• Can leaders see their own tendency to be corrupted by the very power, privilege, and influence which they wield?  Distrust.
• Have we the insight to see how we look down on others from our position of education and economics (by what rubric do we assign value to our fellow humans)? Disrespect.

You tell me…

I tend to think that we still need the witness of the Word applied to our collective life and path to see where we have sinned against those within and without. We still need the grace of God to bring healing where we have even unintentionally caused hurt. We still need the more biblical leading of the Spirit to not fall into the same bondages that litter our collective past. We still need to follow Jesus in the way of the cross (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23).

Even the prophet needs a prophet, or our hidden errors become presumptuous sins.

Psalm 133 "Good and Pleasant"

Psalm for Today = 133:1-2 

¹ Behold, how good and pleasant it is
    when brothers dwell in unity!

² It is like the precious oil on the head,
    running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
    running down on the collar of his robes!

Comments:
We think we get verse 1... it is good to get along with your family, neighbors, community, etc. But living in unity is far more than merely getting along with each other. It refers to something stronger and more relational than simple quiet coexistence. It implies a sharing together, united purpose, as well as assuming a proximity of location.

 

In our culture, we suffer a relational poverty as a result of the breaking of relationships with our nuclear and extended families. As a result of such alienation, we are increasingly at risk financially, emotionally, and physically. One of the things we often notice in dealing with people in financial crisis is that they are alienated from their family, and have many broken relationships that must be reconciled. When brothers (and sisters) dwell together in unity — of heart, purpose, mission — it is remarkably good, pleasant, and refreshing (v.3)! Jesus repeatedly commanded his followers to love one another.

 

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you… These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:12, 17)

 

Paul echoed this message and urged unity.

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3)

 

The Apostle John, in his gospel and epistles, reminded his readers of this command at least ten times.

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:11-12)

 

But what about verse 2…the part about oil running down the beard of Aaron? 

This verse refers to the anointing of the new high priest in the temple. Instructions about this anointing were given in Exodus 29-30, and Aaron’s actual anointing is recorded in Leviticus 8:12. It would have been a time of joy because it involved the preparation of the mediator to minister on the people’s behalf before God. Could it be that the love and unity we show among the brethren is a sign that we are prepared by the anointing of the Holy Spirit to minister on behalf of others?

 

One other aspect of this I was thinking about today was that of the cities of refuge, where those convicted of manslaughter were allowed to remain under house arrest until the death of the current high priest. For those people trapped by the mistakes or the accidents of their past, the anointing of a new high priest would have been joyful in the sense of releasing them from the burden of the past. Perhaps when we love each other and dwell in unity, it may release us to bring deliverance to others. 

What do you think?

Psalm 130 "Plentiful Redemption"

Psalm for Today = 130:3-4, 7-8

³ If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared...

    O Lord, who could stand?

⁴ But with you there is forgiveness,

    that you may be feared...

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸ And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.

    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

    and with him is plentiful redemption.

⁸ And he will redeem Israel

    from all his iniquities.

Comments:

After making a request of the Lord in v.1-2, the psalmist makes a confession in v. 3-4 that there is a great difference between the Lord and the people. Rhetorically, he admits that if God is keeping track of our screw-ups, then no one can stand before God. This is bad news because God is omniscient—he knows everything about us. Read this as “He is keeping track.” Yet he is also the one who desires to forgive us.

Because the Lord is the source of forgiveness, the psalmist looks for him more than a watchman for the dawn 5-6, and in 7-8 exhorts the people of God to put their hope in Yahweh. Two parallel characteristics are used to support Israel’s putting their hope in the Lord. With him, there is:

1.    Steadfast love, and

2.    Plentiful redemption.

And as a result, he will redeem Israel (his people) from all his iniquities. How many will he forgive? All. Not some, but all! But sin must be confessed to the Lord. Confessing is a simple agreement with God's righteous judgment that we are not God and that He is. He is holy, and we are not.

 

We need to be willing to confess our own sins and be forgiven rather than denying our sins and dying in them. The New Testament complement to this psalm is 1 John 1:8-9, which says,

^“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9)

Psalm 99 "You were a forgiving God to them"

Psalm for Today = 99:8-9

           "O Lord our God, you answered them;

                                       you were a forgiving God to them,

                                                but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

Exalt the Lord our God,

and worship at his holy mountain;

   for the Lord our God is holy!"

Comments:

I find this passage both encouraging and sobering. I hope you are also encouraged to read the first clause about how he answers and forgives. I learned early on in my Christian life to be a quick confessor...and God hears and forgives so faithfully!

Yet if I don't come to him in repentance then He will come to me in recompense.

He is holy and we should be glad that he is!

Let us all come together and worship him!