Psalm 67: Praise God!

Psalm 67:3 "May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you."

We should all be praising God! Take some time and think about all the wonderful characteristics of God and praise him for them. Praise him for all the great things he has done for you. Remember James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." Praise God because he is worthy of our praise!

Bryan

Psalm 66

One of the hardest issues to deal with in the Christian life is being refined. None of us really enjoy a good trial or tribulation - especially while in the midst of it. Enjoying the refinement process is not the goal, but we often dislike it so much that we don't even want to experience any rough waters. We want a life without confrontation and struggle. The cool thing is that as Christians we will one day have this life in heaven. There will no longer be an internal conflict (as Vader would say) between our flesh and our spirit. But until then we must continue to be refined in our faith in Christ. Often the most spiritual growth comes from times of refinement. We also must realize that this is a part of the way God sanctifies us. We know that He will not give us more than we can handle (1 Cor. 10:13) and that it is for our good. I want to be able to thank God for His refining process as does the psalmist in vs. 10-12

"For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water, yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance."

I think its neat how the psalmist understand that it is God who has allowed them to go through each situation in mind. He understands that it is God who is in control of their lives including the "trials by fire." And even cooler is the fact that this brings about a sense of trust and dependency on God because He brought them out of hostility in to a place of abundance. God has a plan for our lives. Do you believe that? It's very easy to look at how God is working in the lives of others and miss what He is doing in yours. God does so many things in each of our lives that I think we constantly and consistently overlook. May God open our eyes to see and our ears to hear. He will bring us "out to a place of abundance" if we are faithful and persevere.
Ray

Psalm 65

Glenn

Psalm 64: God Is Watching and He Will Act

(Matt, here's the what I managed to salvage from your "lost post". Only because I'm a computer genius, I was able to dig this up! ;) Feel free to finish what you were saying... - Robert)

Have you ever sat and thought about the wicked people of this world and said, "Is God going to do something about this?" This psalm lets us into the mind of an inspired writer and answers that question for us. Perhaps some of you (the nerds) have read the book "Congo" about the "myth" of the silver-back gorillas that protected this lost treasure in some jungle. Others of you (the cool people) just saw the movie. Well if you remember the movie the people attempting to find the lost treasure did not really believe in the gorilla myth thinking it was a hoax made up by the natives to keep outsiders away from the treasure. Well they were dead (just enjoy the pun) wrong. Just before entering this hidden city where the treasure was supposed to be, one of the translators translated some writings that were carved into the wall which said, "We are watching you!" I remember having chills during that scene.

The evil people of this world are very similar to the people looking for this lost treasure. They think this whole God, judgment thing is just a silly myth. vs. 5 says, "they hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, who can see them?" They are also wrong. God sees them. God is watching very closely because he knows "the inward heart and mind of a man are deep." Do you remember what the gorillas did to kill people in that story? I wont go into it but God shoots His arrows at these wicked people and brings their lives to ruin....(technical problems caused the middle part of the post to be lost)

This psalm is all about David's reflection on the judgment of the wicked who think God does not see them in what they are doing. My first inclination in reading this was "yeah God, Get those wicked people." After reading it twice I thought to myself, "wow I am pretty wicked myself. We should be careful because I don't think we should boast that the wicked receive punishment, because, it is God who judges some and not others based upon their response to Christ. It is all a matter of grace that God gives some wicked people and not all wicked people. So be careful. However, This psalm is reflecting on how the wicked live thinking that God does not see them when in reality God sees them very well.

Don't live like God doesn't see you.

Matt

Psalm 63

"Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You." ~ Psalm 63:3

This expression of faith and worship is one of the most beautiful verses in all the Bible. Really, what is life outside of God's lovingkindness? Emptiness...worthlessness...hopelessness. God's lovingkindness is the definition of real Life!

If I truly believe God's lovingkindness is better than my life, then what affects should that have in my daily actions? What I spend my time, what I think about, what I do, what I desire, what I spend my money on, and what I work for...these are all reflections of what I truly worship. Every single human being is a worshipper! The question is whom do we worship?

David in this psalm is worshipping God for His lovingkindness. Unfortunately, I often find myself worshipping other idols in my heart. I find things in my life which I seemingly consider better than God's lovingkindness. I devote myself to them with my time, money, and actions. Such sinfulness is incompatible with the worship of God. I must turn my eyes from such idols, have my mind renenewed by the Word, and proclaim the supreme value of God's lovingkindness.

The question today for you is not, "Are you a worshipper?" But rather, "Who are you worshipping today?" Is your life on the throne of your heart or is God's lovingkindness on the throne?

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Psalm 62

(We are sad, sad people. Sorry this is five days late. And it's going to be short.)

I love Psalm 62, and I particularly love this one particular verse, so that's where I am going to spend my time today.

Psalm 62:11-12a says, "One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O LORD, are loving."

I have struggled throughout my life with trusting what I know about God. I have been disappointed a lot in my life - through my own circumstances, although I tend to, in my immaturity, blame it on God. And several years ago, I just felt lost. And then I found this verse. And it is so powerful, and so special, and sometimes I read it and think, "What exactly does this say?" And then I remember, and I get it again, and I realize that what I know about God is exactly true.

God is strong. He is powerful, and he is mighty, and he is steady and sturdy and all those things you think of when you think of strong. He doesn't waver, and he doesn't change his mind about us. The Lord is loving. As a master, God is compassionate, and loving, and patient, and tender, and all those things that we need and don't even realize we need.

God never changes. I know that we hear that a lot - and I think we need to hear it a lot because we as humans are constantly changing, shifting beings. We are kind of the exact opposite of God in our character - we having nothing innate in us that is strong or loving, if we are given over to our sinful natures. Thank God we are not! Thank God he remains the same, despite the obscene number of times we have to remind ourselves that he remains the same!

It is because of God's unshifting, strong, and loving character that we can really claim the first two verses of this Psalm: "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken." God is a fortress. He's strong and safe. He's a peaceful place of rest. And that's all because he is loving and strong.

Praise God for his perfect character!

Psalm 61: The Higher Rock

Let say (hypothetically) that you haven't read The Word for a few days/weeks and finally you're beginning to take the time to give serious and careful thought for a bit. Lets also say you're in desperate need of water to your soul. You're desperate to meet with God, to hear from God, or to be restored, refreshed, renewed...encouraged. Maybe desperately asking God to give you a sign that He exists and that you're somewhere on his radar screen. The truth is that God wants to speak into your life right now. He wants to touch you, send His water your soul, and refresh the in most parts of you. So maybe as you begin to read today you could just ask Him for that (really at anytime, not just when beginning to read The Word).

I read the King James Version of this Psalm just to break the monotony of the Psalms in the NIV and I was reminded of that old praise song, "Better is One Day". Man, that song is The Word of God by the way, in case you were wondering. Although it mostly derives from Psalm 84, the song basically says: anybody that comes thirsty and hungry for God, He's going to satisfy! I know there's a lot of hunger in our world (mainly referring to everyone), but I don't know if we've figured out that its for Him!

If there's anywhere else we've been today or this week in our lives to try to satisfy whats deep inside of us, it's not gonna work. "He's" not gonna work, "she's" gonna work, "the job's" not gonna work, "the stuff's" not gonna work; there's a hunger deep inside of us that's made for God. And He's fills that place like crazy when we turn to Him and trust in Him and ask Him to do what only He can do.

Perhaps what we can gather from this whole Psalms blog is simply that...think about it...

"...when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I."

- Psalm 61: 2 (KJV)

Much Love,
Bob

Psalm 60

coming to a theatre near you...

Psalm 59: Sound Familiar?

Maybe this psalm seems fairly similar to another, or maybe I am going crazy. Or maybe I am so sane that I just blew your mind. This psalm reminds me of psalm 27, and somehow I actually knew that (or got a really lucky guess, most likely). One thing I notice about the psalms, as well as other parts of the Bible, are repeated. I know that when I see repeat stuff, I think “not again” or something to that effect. I know that this isn't entirely the same as the other psalm, but it basically begins with the same imagery. Due to a recent youtube scandal I was involved in with this blog on my last post, I have decided not to venture out into the world of youtube this time. Don't worry; you didn't miss anything too exciting, no flying pig videos or mice eating cheese (I know that disappoints you all deeply). An awesome song that has the theme of this psalm is Strength of My Life by P.O.D. I commented that song in psalm 27, but no one looks at those. Or maybe I just want to redundantly repeat myself.

Anyway, on with the boredom... more stuff you have heard a million times before, yay! Aside from several repeats we have seen in the psalms already, I can think of another occasion where the same thing is repeated. Stumped? Perhaps the gospels ring a bell? “Now why would God need to repeat something to us?” you say. It is because we are too pathetically dense and stubborn to pick it up the first 50 times we hear it. This is a strong reason supporting daily involvement in reading God’s word as well. If we don’t continually renew our faith through giving of our time to God, we drift slowly away until the whirlpool of the world has pulled us in. Another reason is, to steal from a song, “Cause Lord if You showed me a thousand things brand new about You every day I still would never see the fullness of Your glory.” To think that we could even begin to grasp the fullness of God means that we really don’t know the fullness of God very well at all.

Now that you know that the Bible is redundant, and repeats itself many times in order to drive home a message that needs to be repeated in order for the person to receive what is being redundantly repeated, what exactly is being repeated in this psalm? I can see you all now rereading that line to understand what is being said. Anyway, this psalm is about putting our trust in God and making Him our fortress of solitude (or maybe it’s just fortress, idk). It seems to me like just about every other psalm makes reference to God as our fortress, strong tower, under the shadow of His wings, etc. We can trust God with our lives because He is in control. I know you know this already. The problem is putting this plan into action. I know because I have been there (and still am there basically). I get distracted from God and fall back into sinful habits.

So what is the cure for this lack of action and application? If only it were so simple. We must make it a priority in our life to choose the path of God. How can we get excited about the word like Glenn does? Our flesh desires to stop us from submitting to the will of God. Our flesh is like the enemies surrounding David in this psalm. Only the cries to God from a truly humbled heart can save us from the grasp that sin has upon us. There must come a point in your life in which the sin is just too much to bear, and your desire to end it must outweigh most any other aspect in your life. Change won’t happen automatically. Growth won’t happen automatically. I kind of feel like I am nearing that point, and God seems more real to me, and I just want to read His word more. This however occurs when I am not near to the word, and subsides when I finally have the opportunity. The best way I know to get passion for the word is to read it, and think about it for more than 5 seconds (no, not 6 either) and to just pray that God would give you that passion. These are the best ideas I have come up with so far.

My challenge to you all is to make a strong effort to read God’s word, to meditate on it for a bit, and pray about it daily this week. Once you get into it, you will be satisfied greatly. Do you ever yearn? If you don’t yearn (maybe you just crave), you will certainly yearn for more of the bread of Life after doing this. Of course I am exempt from this challenge, because I am far more superior in intellect than all of you combined. I think I will just pass on this one. How arrogant does that sound? Too me that seems pretty arrogant. Yet we so often think we don’t have time, we just can’t or even just plain old don’t want to. I have always hated those things that must be repeated all the time, like teeth brushing, shaving, deodorant, showers, etc. I just want to do them once and be done with it already. Sometimes I feel that way about God too, sadly. He is reduced to a chore, a nuisance that must be done, repeated about a million times over and still it must be repeated tomorrow. Let me just say there is very little gain in briskly reading God’s word. Sure you might occasionally pick up some random fact, or learn some story, but you miss the entire meaning behind it. It is like listening to a song, maybe even singing along, without ever thinking about what it means or even what the words are. The true power of a song lies in its words (Glenn might argue that one some). The true power of God lies within His words. My question is do you want the true power of God?

- Jinkies, that was a short post!

Psalm 58: Slackers!!!!!!

I'm kind of getting the feeling that many people are slacking off with their psalm readings, myself included. As we get busy with life, we often lose our focus on our time with God. That is not good! So I'm not going to give you much insight into Psalm 58. You have to read it and figure it out for yourself! I will however give you some questions that come to my mind when reading this psalm. I will give you questions, but not the answers. I encourage you to spend time thinking about these questions and using God's Word to help you find and understand the answers. I'll give you some scriptures to guide your thinking. I have noticed that the times when I learn the most about God's Word are when I have an unanswered question and I attempt to answer it through prayer and meditating on scriptures until I find the answer. Although there are some questions that our human minds cannot fully comprehend, we should strive to understand them the best we can. Great growth in spiritual knowledge comes from asking the difficult questions and searching for the answer. Do not be content being ignorant to the truth.

Quick Intro:
This psalm is an imprecatory psalm, which means it invokes a curse upon enemies. David says in verse 6 "Break the teeth in their mouths" In Ray's language that means "curb" them. Verse 10 says "The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked." Clearly David is asking for God to bring judgment on the wicked. However, Jesus says in Matthew 5:44 "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." We know that as Christians we should desire the lost to repent and be saved.

The questions are:
1. Should we pray for the judgment of the wicked?
2. If so, how can we pray for the wicked to repent and be saved, while at the same time pray for God's judgment on them?
3. Can God's judgment on earth lead to repentance?
4. What does God receive from his people for his judgment on the wicked?
5. What does God receive from his people for his grace in salvation?
6. In light of questions 4&5, What should be the motive behind our prayers?

Hint: The answers to questions 4 and 5 are the same and it starts with a "g".

Scriptures to help you:
Call for God's judgment
Galatians 1:8-9
Revelation 6:10

Call for repentance
Ezekiel 33:11

Shows beneficial result of God's judgment
Romans 9:22-23
Exodus 14:4
Exodus 14:31

Shows God's purpose of salvation
John 17:1-2
Romans 16:27

Please feel free to discuss these questions in the comments section. Also atleast leave a comment to prove that you are actually following along in our psalms study. Matt's experiment in psalm 51 seemed to prove that people are slacking. Ironically, the people that need to hear this are the one's that aren't reading this right now. So if you're reading this, pat yourself on the back! Let us encourage one another and spur one another on toward love and good deeds!

Bryan

Psalm 57: Meditating Upon God's Works

I have recently been learning a new method of meditation that has helped me to think and absorb the Bible. This method is specifically a biblical method, drawn straight from the pages of Scripture (Phil 4:8 to be exact). This is actually a really important matter for us considering our culture.

Why is this important to us, you say? Because there are hundreds of people in the world who will appeal to you, saying, "Try this new, cool method of meditation; or did you hear about so and so's secret for deep, spiritual life; or even try this old, proven method that's been used for centuries." Unfortunately, so many of these methods are poor attempts to "sanctify" worldly practices of meditation. Worldly meditation wants you to "empty your mind," be passive, and use visualization to create one's own reality. This is empty, worldly "spirituality." Examples of this range from yoga, medieval Catholic mysticism, advice seen on shows like Oprah, "prayer labyrinths, and even things found in many "christian" books.

However, such meditation is NOT biblical (or better yet, just plain Christian) meditation. Biblical meditation is completely the opposite of worldly meditation. Biblical meditation focuses on filling your mind with truth from the Scriptures and from life. This obviously requires mental activity, instead of passivity. Finally, this directly linked to both prayer and action. Note that last part, biblical meditation is meant to effect how we live our life. True, biblical spirituality is found when our minds our renewed by the Word of God such that obedience flows from our lives.

A nice, long, 'seminary' definition describes meditation as "deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture, or upon life from a scriptural perspective, for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer."

Biblical meditation is one major way God intends for His children to be conformed into godly people. Furthermore, the GREAT news is that God desires for ALL of His children to be made godly through these means. Therefore, biblical meditation must be simple enough and do-able enough for believers all over the world in all different circumstances. Its not just for PhD's and seminary students. Its for you and me.

Ok, I'm quickly actually going to get to posting on Psalm 57, but one last thing. Consider this statement, "We feel most deeply about the things we think most deeply about!" After considering this phrase for some time, I've concluded that its exactly right. I feel passion and desire and care for the things I spend the most time thinking deeply about. Oh, that my passion and desire for Jesus Christ and the glory of God overflow through my entire lifetime's work of meditating and thinking deeply about him.

On to the blog on Psalm 57...

As noted early, I learned a new method my Spiritual Disciplines class that uses Philippians 4:8 as a grid to help me think about any specific Bible passage.

Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

Do you see that last phrase? "Dwell on these things" is synonymous with biblical meditation. The goal of this method is to use the eight aspects of this verse to ask questions of other biblical texts to help us dwell on these things. The format of these questions are simple, such as, "What is true about this, or what truth does this exemplify?" and "What is honorable about this?" Of course, not every passage of Scripture will have answers that fit nice and neat into every category. But answering the questions isn't necessarily the point so its ok to have unanswered questions. The point is for us to think deeply about the Scriptures and attempt to absorb all the richness of God's Word.

I'm focusing on the first three verses of Psalm 57 and using the questions to mine the mind of God.
Psalm 57:1-3
"Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
For my soul takes refuge in You:
And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge
Until destruction passes by.
I will cry to God Most High,
To God who accomplishes all things for me,
He will send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches him who tramples upon me.
God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth."

Question #1
What is true about this, or what truth does it exemplify?
- God is a gracious God
- God is One in whom you can take refuge
- God's children cry out to Him because God is a God who hears
- God acts on behalf of His children to accomplish ALL things for them
- God is a Savior- God is a God full of lovingkindness (covenantal, faithful, and steadfast love)- God is a God of truth

Question #2
What is honorable about this?
- God does not turn away from His children, but rather saves them(this reminds me of Jesus talking about how earthly fathers do not give their sons snakes when they ask for bread and how much better God our Father treats us, His children)

Question #3
What is right about this?
- David doesn't rely upon himself
- David believes that unless the Lord is gracious (read - undeserved or unmerited action) he will not survive the oppression of his enemies.
+ David appeals to God's graciousness BECAUSE he takes refuge in Him (contrast this with people who cry out for God to help them in their trouble, but never truly put their faith, trust, and hope in Him)
- If David truly believes that his God is the God Most High, then certainly he is right to cry out to Him in His time of need. If we really believe God is who He says He is, we ought to trust Him that He is accomplishing all things for our good (reminds of Romans 8:28).

Question #4
What is pure about this, or how does it exemplify purity?
- David's trust in light of the "destruction" surrounding him is pure

Question #5
What is lovely about this?
- The description of the shadow of the Lord's wings is a beautiful picture of the Lord's protection. Maybe a modern day description expressing the same point might be "in the arms of your father."
- Its also lovely to see the Lord accomplishing all things for me. This means that the Lord is at work even in the midst of the oppression and destruction faced in this psalm. The Lord's sovereignty over all of life, both storm and calm, is in view here. And that...is something that is truly beautiful.
+ Notice the way the psalm says God will save David. Verse 3 says, "He will send from heaven and save me... God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth." Wait a second though, if you're David crying out to be saved from the destruction around you, you're crying out to be physically saved from the situation. Wouldn't you want to hear God say, "I'm sending my angels to surround you and protect you." Instead, though, the instruments God uses to save David are manifestations of His lovingkindness and His truth. This verse says that God saves His people by showing His love and His truth to them. Now think deeply with me. Isn't this the same description of how the Lord saves His people today? God sent forth "His lovingkindness" and "His truth" in the person of Jesus to save us! Think about how Jesus is the fulfullment of the promise of God to send His lovingkindness. Think about how Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise of God to send His truth. One might cry out, "God if you would just send your angels to surround me and save me." But God calls out in return, "I have sent My Lovingkindness and My Truth to be your Savior. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ." Again, how beautiful is this?

Question #6
What is admirable, commendable, or reputation strengthening?
- David's confident trust is admirable- David's wisdom to cry to the Lord instead of look to himself

Question #7
What is excellent about this? (Note: the term excellent here is a term of comparison, not merely description)
+ God is excellent compared to all other forms of refuge. Note that the introduction to this psalm references David hiding in a cave. This physical cave, however, cannot provide true refuge. God alone is the refuge for David's soul. Are there any physical places that we try to elevate to places of refuge over and above God?

Question #8
What is praiseworthy about this?
- God is praiseworthy for being intimately connected to His people. God cares for His children. God is accomplishing all things for them. God is actively saving them. God is being consistently gracious to them. Finally, God is showing His love and His truth to them. To God be the glory, great things He has done!

I know this has been a nice long one. Maybe consider this to make up for not getting to read a full Glenn-style post. I truly do hope and pray that God might be at work in you through His Spirit enlightening your eyes to the Word and conforming you to the image of His Son Jesus Christ.

For the purpose of godliness!

Grace and Peace,
John Michael

Psalm 56

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.........

Psalm 55

When you encounter tough times in your life, do you ever say in your heart, "God why don't you sit back this time, I can handle this problem"? Most of us will answer this question with a hearty, "No." But don't our actions often betray our intentions? In fact we usually don't even realize that we have not been trusting in God until we are in over our heads. It's sad that even after God has rescued and cared for us so many times, we are still quick to forget to go to Him with every need. In my mind, David was much more balanced (even though we see occassions where he was not depending on God; Psalm 51). He seems to grasp the hopelessness of his own situation before his enemies and before a Holy God who judges. David often admits that his enemies are too powerful for him, and by taking these burdens to God in humble prayer, it becomes worship. This is what David is doing in Psalm 55.
One of the things we should take from Psalm 55 is to realize the hopeless situation that we are in. Now this might sound like really bad news, and it is. Unless of course you know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, who miraculously delivered His people from Egypt, and prospered and preserved His chosen people Israel and fulfilled His promise to them through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ so that all who believe in Him will be saved. If you know this God, it is a wonderful thing to realize how insufficient you are because you know the one who is self-sufficient. And you can take all of your burdens and frustrations to Him because He listens to his children. God will remind us one way or another, through wonderful and tragic circumstances, of how great He is. But we can rest assured that it is for our good.
Ray

Psalm 54

This is going to be my shortest post.

Basically Psalm 54 is teaching this: God's people can trust that God will ultimately make all things right.

Compare this thought with the passage below.

Romans 12:19 - "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord."

The connection between God's ultimate justice and the Christian's peace is very important. We can be at rest because we know that God will not be until he satisfies his wrath against those who refuse him.

Soli deo gloria,
Glenn

Psalm 53: Why should we care?

When writing about Psalm 14, I focused on the last verse - the one that cries out for the Lord to come and save us. Psalm 53 is almost an exact duplicate of Psalm 14, which makes it a little difficult to come up with fresh thoughts. But I am going to give it a go, by focusing on why we should care about the fool who says there is no God.

The main reason we should care is that the passage says that we, in fact, are the fool. Verses 2 and 3 say that "God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. Every one of them has turned aside; they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one" (NASB). Outside of Christ, we are nothing but a bunch of fools. I know that a lot of press is given to us being called and chosen to be God's people, to be grafted in with Israel as His chosen ones - and rightly so. But it would serve us (and by us, I am speaking loudest to myself) well to keep in mind that the Bible calls us all fools and says that none of us do good. The only thing of any worth in us is Jesus - not our jobs, not our friends, not our spouses, not our kids. Jesus.

Another reason we should care about the fools is that there are many still out there, and verse 4 says that these fools wouldn't even "think of praying to God" (NLT).

They don't even think about it.

This amazes me, and yet, my recent exposure to the world of teenagers has been a most excellent example of this. There are people in this world, and you can see it in the way their children behave, who have no real concept of God. There are murderers, and rapists, and people who abuse their kids and people who take guns to school to shoot people and people who don't feed their children because they have to buy drugs with their grocery money. This actually happens. And we, who have been given much grace, have to be exposing others to the gift of grace, because they won't even think of it otherwise. Can you imagine the despair if we thought this world was really all there was? There would be no point in living.

So we need to care about the fools. We are fools who just happen to be enormously blessed to be in Christ. And we are living in a world of fools who know nothing other than their (dangeously) foolish ways. Before we can cry out "Come Lord! Come!" we must know that we've done all we can to encourage other fools to do the same.

~Kim

Psalm 52: Responses to Evil

David has four "I" statements in response the evil described in this Psalm…

• I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God
  David would focus on the grace given to him from God as he trusts in Him.
• I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever
  In spite of all the surrounding evil and especially the horrendous evil acts that occur, David puts his trust in God's covenant love. His only hope is not in governments, not even Christian organizations, but in God Himself.
• I will praise you forever for what you have done
  David will express his confidence in God by giving thanks for what is good and beautiful. God has revealed many ways He Himself has done good. Our mind should fix on these thoughts.
• I will hope, for your name is good
  Lastly, David commits himself to wait upon God for what comes. The waiting speaks of confidence in God's timing and plans. By waiting upon God, God will see to it that His perfect plan will come about.

What "I" statements have you made in response to evil? Have you come out of the stupor yet? Do not live in the bitterness of the evil but in the goodness of God's plan that somehow can even incorporate evil. We must come to the point of resolving in our heart that we trust the Lord even with evil. We will wait on the Lord and find rest!

After witnessing evil, some people seem to never be able to get back to real living. They live as if it just happened even though it was twenty years ago. If we have taken rest in the Lord, then we can resume life. We will not be able to do this rightly if we are trying to handle the difficulty on our own. We were not designed to do handle the burden of bitterness or anger. It belongs to God.

P.S. I like the word "stupor".

Much Love,
Bobby

Psalm 51: Have you repented of your sins recently?

Out of every page that my bible holds, the page that contains Psalm 51 is the most worn down and the one that is most frequently visited. Every believer (throughout church history I would safely guess) has prayed this psalm more than he or she would probably like to admit. The cry for mercy and reconciliation is a prayer that every believer should pray often in my opinion simply for the sad reality that we are all so sinful before a holy God. I approach this Psalm with great reverence and humility as I have used it as a guild many times during my confessions to God.

Of all the theology that this psalm presents, (which we will get to later) this is a Psalm of repentance first and foremost. I do not want any of us to miss this. David has committed terrible crimes against God and is crying out for mercy. You will recall that David is writing this Psalm in the context of committing adultery with Bathsheba and trying to cover his tracks by sending Uriah the Hittite to the front lines of battle and telling the other men to “back off” so he would be left alone to be killed by the Ammonites (2 Sam. 11). King David, the man after God’s own heart did all of this! It’s really incredible how sin affects us isn’t it? So David is pleading with God for mercy. The lesion that we should learn from this is that no matter what sin we have committed, we should always confess that sin to God and plead with him for mercy. Just a BIG side note here however, we confess our sins a little differently today than David did. Or maybe I should say that we pray in a more specific sense than David could because he did not have a name for the Messiah like we do. Whenever we confess today we MUST go through Jesus Christ. He is our mediator and we must appeal to His sacrifice for the remission of our sins. Never go to God on your own. Always take Christ with you. I could write more about this because its so huge so if you have any questions about this please ask Glenn because he could shed more light on this topic than I could.

Lets talk theology now. There is a bunch of it in this Psalm so I will keep my commentary short.

1. David appeals to God’s attributes not his merit to obtain forgiveness from God.

He says, “have mercy on me according to Your steadfast love, according to Your abundant mercy. The appeal for forgiveness should be with God and never within our genuineness of repentance. The reason is, we are so sinful that sometimes we trick ourselves to thinking that we are in right standing with God based upon some merit that we have. That being said, I don’t want to underestimate the attitude of our hearts when we come to God in prayer either because David says, “for you do not delight in sacrifice or I would give it… the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, these, O God, You will not despise (vs. 16-17).” So it’s a tricky balance isn’t it? We must have our theology AND our hearts right before God.

2. Sin’s main offense is against God

David says, “against You, You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight (vs. 4).” Didn’t David’s sins extend beyond God? What about Bathsheba or Uriah? Weren’t they sinned against as well? Well yes, they were, but remember that the psalms teach us great theology. Sin is ultimately an offense against God. Because of this, we go to God for restoration, not man. The reason is, is because only God is holy. When we lie to someone, our relationship with God is more affected than our relationship with the person we lied too. Why? Because God is holy and the person is not.

3. No one (excluding Christ) was ever born neutral. We were born in sin.

David says, “behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me (vs. 5).” We are not a sinner because we sin. We sin because we are a sinner. In other words, we sin because we were born sinners and therefore had no choice but to sin. We were not born neutral. We are born guilty because of Adam (see Romans 5).

4. If we deny our sinful nature, we deny the truth

David says, “behold You delight in truth in the inward being and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart (vs. 6).” This seemed a little ambiguous to me at first. What does this mean? After thinking about it I came up with this interpretation. If you disagree we will fight, no just kidding but tell me and we will talk about it because it is tricky. This is what I think he means. God desires truth in our hearts means what I think John says in much simpler terms in 1 John 1: 8 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 of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and the truth is not in us.” Well-said John.

I could go on but I’m afraid this might turn into a theology paper that I submit to Dr. Mohler so I’ll stop. But I want to end with a question that I have never understood that will do two things. One it will generate discussion and too it will show who actually read this and who did not. I’m just curious to know who is keeping up with this. So here it is. At the end of this Psalm David understands that sacrifices mean nothing to God but then he says he will offer burnt offerings and bulls to God? How can we make sense of this? I love you all. God bless.

Psalm 50: Perfection of Beauty

This is the first blog I have done that has not been completed like a week ahead of time. I am as lazy as anyone I know (which isn’t very many people). I find that I am less likely to read the Psalm of the Day if the blog isn’t up for it, which is not a good thing, especially with all the slackers who wait until the day after to start writing… (I used to do that all the time in school, somehow I got by). The main reason I wrote them early was because I figured I wouldn’t know what to write. Also I feel like I should actually be responsible and on time with this, to make up for all the times I walk in Sunday School with five minutes left (though it’s mostly Bryan’s fault). This one should be shorter, but I make no guarantees.

The first thing I want to get into is verse 2. I like the ESV translation of this verse: “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.” Just glancing over the verse as we often do, it reveals little. Just think about it for a few seconds. God is the “PERFECTION OF BEAUTY”! We often look to earthly things for beauty. I am reminded of a phrase in 1 John 2:16, “the lust of the eyes.” As visually appealing as all of God’s creation and everything in the world seems to be, He is infinitely better. The beauty of earthly items is marred by the sinfulness of man. I am not one to sit and marvel at nature for its beauty to be honest. I see it and go that’s nice, and move on. I often do that to God too. I just rush on by and miss the amazing sight of His perfection. If we focus our eyes on the one true beauty, they will be satisfied.

The next portion of the psalm focuses on His judgment. Now we should all know by now that the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. Verses 9 and 10 say “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” God is saying that our sacrifices are not enough. We can give away all our money (because I don’t think any of us have cattle or anything, but then again most of us don’t have money either… but it’s more relatable) but it is not enough. God already owns your money (or your cattle and goats). Nothing you can give is enough, because it is already His. We have nothing to give to sufficiently cover our ever compounding sins… not even our lives, because they are also His.

Inevitably will come the fact that Jesus’ sacrifice is the only way to sufficiently cover our sins from God. We just can’t get away from Jesus, no matter how hard we try, and I know we try pretty hard sometimes. What I find funny about this is that the sacrifices to make up for our mistakes aren’t even our own. In the Old Testament, the people were offering the cattle and goats (which God owned) as atonement for their transgressions. The sacrifice of Jesus was also not of our own, but from God. So what exactly does God what from us? Verses 14 and 15 say “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." We should praise and thank the Perfection of Beauty for our life and all He does and is.

The next thing I want to point out comes from verses 16-20: “But to the wicked God says: What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son.” This reminds me so much of the world, all of the people who claim Christianity and don’t live like it at all. They only want to use God as a means of getting to Heaven. The words of God they just ignore, and they don’t want to be punished or disciplined for their sins in order to become godlier. They are just fine living an unchanged life, because the spirit has not filled them with a desire to do so. If they truly believed and wanted to live for Christ, even as a concept, the Spirit would fill them with the desire to work towards that objective.

No extras this time, no random Seinfeld references (I know, I have failed you all), so I think you are done here.

-Jinx

But wait! I might have a Seinfeld reference… only I could fail at failing.

Psalm 49: You can't drive your Ferrari into Heaven

Illustration:
A man walks up to the door of a club and tries to enter.
The bouncer stops him and says "You're not allowed in here."
The man then replies "Don't you remember me, we used to be best friends growing up."
The bouncer replies "Oh yeah, I remember you. You're that guy that only talked to me when you wanted me to do something for you. Then once I helped you out I never heard from you again."
The man responds "I just got real busy with life. You know how it is."
The bouncer replies "Get out of my face!"
The man replies "Say hello to my friend Mr. Lincoln" as he pulls a $5 bill out of his pocket.
The bouncer says "No! You're not allowed in!"
The man then says "Well, then say hello to my friend Mr. Benjamin Franklin" as he pulls a $100 bill out of his pocket.
The bouncer says "Away from me, I never knew you."

In this illustration God is the bouncer and the club is Heaven. The man is a sinner. The point of this illustration is that many people wrongly believe they can get into Heaven by other ways than through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Basically psalm 49 says you're going to die and you can't take your stuff with you. When you die, your money is useless. It just gets passed on to someone else and it is no longer yours. This psalm makes it perfectly clear that no amount of money is enough to pay for sins. The only sufficient payment for your sins was through Christ's death on the cross. This truth should affect your thinking about the true blessings in life. Consider two men. The first man is very poor and barely has enough food to eat. Everyday of his life is full of suffering because of the illness that he has. However, he has a personal relationship with Christ. The second man is living life to the fullest. He is a multimillionaire with a huge house, fancy cars, hot wife, and is perfectly healthy. Everyone is so envious of this man's prosperity. However, this man is lost and does not know God. Which of these two men has God blessed the most? Many people in the world would say that God has blessed the wealthy man more, but we know as Christians that a poor man who knows Christ is far more blessed that a rich man who doesn't.

I know we all are guilty of sometimes being envious of what other people have. However, there is no reason for this, since the things that they have are temporary. Your faith in Christ is more valuable than anything else in life. This is the greatest treasure that you can possess. Those who trust in their riches will have no hope when they go to the grave, but as for me "God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself." Psalm 49:15.

This is not to say that being rich in itself is a bad thing. It is just a problem when a man has riches, but no understanding (verse 20). When a man puts his hope in his wealth instead of Christ, that is what brings his destruction. If a Christian becomes wealthy, they must trust in God first and seek to honor God with what they have. We are stewards of what God has given us, so the more we have, the greater the responsibility. We should always keep in mind what will really matter when we die. We should focus on the eternal things rather than the temporary. If you spent your money on a really nice car, that car has no eternal value. However, if you gave money to world missions and as a result lost people heard the Gospel and were saved, that does have eternal value. That is why giving money to God's purposes is so important. I'm not saying that you should never buy nice things, but I am saying always keep in mind what is truly important.

Bryan

Psalm 48: Chaos vs Contemplation

Psalm 48 describes the city of Zion and rejoices in the Lord's protection. As long as the Lord dwelt in the temple, the Israelites believed that Jerusalem would be protected. This psalm is a song of praise to the Lord as is marked by vs 1, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain."

The second section of the psalm (vs 4-8) describes the protection God gives to Zion against its enemies. The picture of the situation going on outside the walls of Zion is a picture of chaos. The foreign kings were "amazed," "terrified," seized with "panic" and "anguish" as they came before the city of God. Outside of God's protection, there are only problems, terrors, and anguishes.

However, the next section of the psalm (vs 9-11) displays a strikingly different image. David states in vs 9, "We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Your temple." Inside the walls of God, the people of God can contemplate the Lord's covenantal love. Though there are a whirlwind of troubles swirling outside the walls of the city, there is a peace available to God's children such that their thoughts do not have to focus upon the chaos, but rather the faithfulness of God.

Are there some troubles in your life today? Does it seem like things are moving into the chaos stage with responsiblities and papers and work and relationships? Rejoice in what is freely available to all those whom trust God to be their refuge, strength, and protection. Meditate today on God's faithful lovingkindness to you.

Love yall and praying for you,
JM

Psalm 47

Psalm 47 is truly a "Sovereignty Psalm." One of the coolest things in the Bible is that we get the macro and microscopic views of how God works out His will. Psalm 47 gives us a more comprehensive (macro) view of how God is ruling over the earth. It tells us that God is the "great king over all the earth," and that He is reigning over the nations. This is an important perspective for us to keep in mind. God is King over the entire earth! This is an incredible statment to think about. No longer being in a "monarchial" society, we miss how awesome this really is. In ancient days the word of the king was absolute. There was no deciscion making commity as we Americans are so fond of. There was just the king. If he thought that someone should be sentenced to death that's what happened. If he wanted to honor someone by giving them land and possessions - he did. Most ruling monarchs were authoritatively unchecked. There whims were their servants commands. It was the king's world and everyone else was just living in it. It's a pretty scarry thought when depraved humans have that kind of power and authority over the lives of others. This makes me think of The Emporer's New Groove when Kuzko tells Pajah, a peasant, that he is going to tear his family's house down so that he can put up Kuzkotopia - basically his own private bachelor's pad - and he says, "I'm so happy!" Well of course he's happy, he's getting his own way. But while this is a scary notion for us to think about with regard to humans, it's alltogether different to think of a good God with this kind of authority. And it's not just authority over one particular people group but of the entire earth. These are the types of thoughts the psalmist has and they bring forth an abundance of praise. He is praising God for who He is; the sovereign ruler of everything. And he can do this because God has revealed Himself to be loving and good and able to protect those who take refuge in Him. God subdues the people (v.3), and reigns over the nations (v.8), and shields those who love Him. "He sits on his holy throne." This is still true today. God is still overseeing and working in the lives of individuals and in the course of history. It's hard for us to see the forrest through the trees, but we may rest assured that His divine will is being carried out according to His divine plan and praise Him in the midst. Someone recently informed me that I was late with this Psalm, but in my Bible Psalm 47 comes before Psalm 50...weird. Hope everyone is doing well, Ray.

Psalm 46: Security and Presence

"Be still, and know that I am God." - Psalm 46:10

The structure of Psalm 46 indicates its primary focus. The first verse says basically the same thing as the last verse of the psalm, verse 11, which is actually the refrain first quoted in verse 7. So three times in eleven verses the psalmist states his major premise: "Security is found in God’s presence."

Presence:

With regard to God’s presence, verse 1 states that God is a "very present" companion to his people while verses 7 and 11 explain, "the LORD Almighty is with us."

Now, I want you to understand that the presence being described in these verses goes far beyond the mere fact of God’s omnipresence. This presence is a relational commitment to his people. The psalmist is not asserting that God is present in this way with all people. He is rather claiming something special between God and those who trust in him. Note the pronouns: "God is our . . . very present help in trouble " (v. 1). "The LORD of host is with us" (v. 7, 11) Particularly, the psalmist wants God’s people to know that God is determined to be there for them all the time.

All the time? Yes. "Though the earth should change, And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride" (v. 2-3), God is there for his people.

Security:

With regard to the notion of security, verse 1 speaks in terms of "refuge and strength" and "help in trouble." Verses 7 and 11 use the Hebrew word for "fortress" or "stronghold," or more explicitly "a secure height."

On this point, I want you to note the degree of security that is being described. Not only do these terms describe a place of complete confidence, but also the other imagery in Psalm 46 beautifully demonstrates the degree of security that God provides. In contrast to all the turmoil of the world described above, "there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God" (v. 4a). God’s security results in a perfect serenity for those who live in it. While "nations are in uproar" and "kingdoms fall," he merely "lifts his voice" and "the earth melts" (v. 6).

Why?

The reason that God’s presence equals security is that he himself is the only sure shelter from all adversaries. Do not miss God for his benefits! Notice how the attributes of security in this psalm are not merely derivatives of God but actually essential to God. The psalm does not merely state that God provides a refuge, strength, help, and a fortress. The psalm states that God is a refuge, strength, help, and a fortress. And to add to this emphasis, these verses also use God’s warfare name, "The LORD of Host." God is the source of security because omnipotence and faithfulness are integral parts of his personhood.

Application:

When the LORD of Host, the God of war, has committed to being there for someone, that someone should find in the very fact of God’s companionship total rest from anxiety. He has nothing left but to obey the command, "Be still, and know that I am God" (v. 10). Will you obey?

Worry has no place when worries have their place.

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7

Soli deo gloria,
Glenn

Psalm 45 - A Model for Praise

(Sorry I'm late...)

When reading Psalm 45, I will be the first to admit that I was a little confused. It doesn't read (to me) like most of the Psalms - in parts it seems to be speaking to a person, and in parts to God. But I realized yesterday while reading through it again, that the common theme in this Psalm is praise, and that we can glean all kinds of insights from that.

First of all, the author of this Psalm is speaking from his heart. (Says so in verse 1!) This tells us that we should be praising God out of love and heartfelt adoration! I know that many times we tend to discourage or at the very least, frown upon the discussion of our feelings - because we know that we as mere mortals are unreliably emotional beings. But I think when the Bible says to love God with "all our heart," we are supposed to do just that! Even though sometimes we have to rely on our "mind, soul, and strength" to get us through the times when it's hard to love God with all our heart, that is His desire for us.

The second thing I notice is that the psalmist is just speaking words of adoration to the King. It's not, "I am so thankful that you did x, y, and z," but it's "you are fairer than the sons of men," "grace is poured upon your lips," etc. The psalmist is just in love with his king and speaking words of admiration and adoration - simply about the person of the king, and not his actions, per se. When we praise God, we need to be specifically praising characteristics of His - and it's not that it shouldn't be things that have benefitted us, but instead of just being thankful that God helped us through a tough time, we need to praise him that he is merciful and kind and just. (And so on and so forth.)

Verses 10 and 11 were very convicting verses to me, and although they seem rather weird at first, when I read between the lines, they just spoke to my heart. These verses (and FYI, I'm using NASB) say, "Listen O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: forget your people and your father's house; then the King will desire your beauty. Because he is your Lord, bow down to him." While these verses seem to speak to a more physical beauty and physical situation, they also speak of God's heart for our praise and worship - we need to be singularly focused on him. We need to forget everything, and focus all of our attention, efforts, and activities on him. There's a line in a song that I love that says, "Every breath that I breathe, every moment in my history is an effort to praise You." That is what God wants. He wants every breath of praise to be in His direction.

The Psalm ends by detailing the power of our praise. The psalmist says that he will make God's (or the King's) name remembered forever and for all generations. Folks - that is the power that our praise holds! Have you ever thought of your praising God as being powerful? When we praise him, we are lifting up his name. When we praise him, we are letting new generations of believers know that we praise him. And it continues throughout the ages. We are a part of Christianity being given to the next generation! God is using us and our meager praise to keep knowledge of his name going throughout eternity. He has made us a part of his kingdom coming, and for that, he deserves all kinds of praise!

Psalm 44

The cool thing about the psalms is that they are emotional responses directed to God concerning life issues. The other cool thing is that they are written from man's perspective and not from God's perspective. But just so we are clear, I must say a few things about these ideas.

By emotional responses, I am not suggesting that the psalmist's emotions are unjustified or somehow, the wrong response. Emotions certainly have a place within the lives of Christians, but we must be careful to express them in a way that never charges God with sin or unjust actions. We must also be careful never to let our emotions take us to the place that we don't trust God.

I also want to clarify that when I say that the Psalms were written from a human perspective, I do not mean that they are somehow less inspired than the letters of Paul or any other place in scripture. Now let's dive in.

One of the major themes that the Psalms address is suffering. This theme can be put in the form of a very difficult question: "Why do bad things happen to good people and why do good things happen to bad people?"

The psalmist is dealing with this question when he writes Psalm 44. He observes that his enemies, who are not the chosen covenant people of God, are having great success and that they, who are the chosen people of God, are being plundered! His response is basically, "What's up wit dat?"

Consider how he expresses his confusion. He says, "You have rejected us and disgraced us . . . Those who hate us have gotten spoil" (vs. 9-10). And it appears that the people of God, in this instance, have done nothing wrong when he says, "All this has come upon us, though we have not been false to your covenant" (vs. 17). And, "If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For He knows the secrets of the heart" (vs. 20-21).

Next comes a verse that Paul quotes, and I think he quotes it for a very good reason because of the context in which he uses it. The verse is verse 22, which says, "yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." Paul quotes this in Romans 8:36 toward the end of his discourse on suffering. The world is full of suffering. People are suffering. We are being killed all day long. Paul, like the psalmist, also recognizes that God's people are experiencing trials and sufferings beyond their control. If you read Romans 8, you will discover that Paul gives us many reasons to take hope in God (vs. 28-39).

So Basically Paul and the psalmist observe the same problem. God's people are suffering. Paul tells us things like, "all things work together for good," "Who can bring a charge against God's elect?" and "we are more than conquers." How can Paul say these things when God's people are being slaughtered like sheep? Why does the psalmist go to God and say, "Rise up! Help us! Redeem us for the sake of Your steadfast love!"

The reason both Paul and the psalmist take hope in God is because of a very deep theological reason that none of you may understand (I'm just kidding). Okay, everybody pay attention . . . the reason is . . . "God is the only one who can save us!!!" Do you see that? Notice how the Psalmist appeals to God's character and not his abilities. In verses 1-8, he reflects on the past ways that God saved His people and says, "You with your own hand drove out the nations . . . for not by their own sword did they win the land nor did their own arm save them . . . through You we push down our foes" (vs. 2-5). "For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me" (vs. 6).

Why do we turn to God in our troubles? We should turn to Him because even though it might not seem like God is working things out for our good and even though or seem like God will keep His promise, God works in ways that we do not understand. One fact remains. God will keep His promise. He is good. Take hope in Him. God will bring us through our times of trouble. Take hope in Him.

Psalm 43: Unthinkable Rescue

Oh my goodness! I have a cool, hip title this time! I had to conform to all the "cool kids" eventually, right?:-)

When ever I see the word "rescue", this is what comes to mind...

I know its a cop out, but this is significantly special to me. And I can't believe I found it on YouTube! This had to have been one of the most memorable moments of praise to God for me, so far. I was indeed at this very gathering back in 05'. Listen to what is said and really try to grab a hold of the unbelievable TRUTH packed into this song.

Much Love,
Bobert

Psalm 42: Need a Drink?

Psalm 42:1-2 "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"

Have you ever been outside on a really hot day with nothing to drink? Your mouth is dry and you would give almost anything for a glass of water. Thats when I walk up to you and generously sell you a bottle of water for $50. You chug down the water and your thirst is satisfied. About an hour later, with the sun still beaming down on you, you become thirsty again. Luckily, I am right there to help you out again. You begin begging me for another bottle of water. Because I am so kind, I only charge you $20 this time. Of course you pay me the $20 and then drink the bottle of water because you are dying for a drink. But once again your thirst is only satisfied temporarily. I am raking in the dough and you're going broke. Why is this? Jesus suddenly walks up and gives you the answer, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13)

By the way did I mention where I got the bottles of water I was selling you? Well, I got the water straight from the Ohio River without purifying it at all. I don't know if you've seen the Ohio River lately, but its pretty nasty!

As seen in the above illustration, the reason you're going broke is that your drinking the wrong kind of water and you're paying ridiculous prices for it. This is a pretty stupid thing to do when you can get all the water you want out of the faucet for free. Jesus is the water faucet. He is the never ending supply of water and he can truly satisfy your thirst. Don't believe me, then try sticking your head under the water faucet with your mouth wide open and turn on the water. I guarantee you that you won't be able to consume it all! And not only that, its free! Revelation 22:17 "...Whoever is thirsty,let him come; whoever wishes, let him take the FREE gift of the water of life."

It seems really dumb to pay money for nasty water that will probably end up killing you, when you can get perfectly pure water for free. However, this is what we do when we try to satisfy ourselves through sin. We temporarily satisfy our thirst with filthy sin. However, we are never satisfied so we keep going back for more until it finally kills us. How much better is it for our thirst to be satisfied by the pureness of Jesus Christ? Its better water at a lower cost! If you walk into a store and the name brand is cheaper than the knock-off brand, which would you buy?

Let our desire be for the Lord Jesus Christ and may he satisfy our thirst!

Additional Info:
If you want more info on this topic go to the library and check out the book called "I need a drink" by Ben Thurston. (get it "been thirstin")

Bryan

Psalm 41: Hiding Our Shadows

After unleashing the flood gate of thoughts upon you in my first blog, I can only wonder what is left in my head to say. Lucky for me, I don’t think what I say comes from myself, or there wouldn’t be much to be said. What, do you think I am doing material here?

One of the first things I see in this psalm is the idea of gossip. Verse 7 says “All my enemies whisper together against me…” I don’t necessarily want to say I am above this concept, but I don’t tend to talk much, so naturally I don’t gossip as much. Personally I think that other people’s business is their own business, and if they want it spread around they should be the one to spread it. I do know that people like to meddle into other people’s lives. We should try to limit this as much as possible, and keep this information between the people it pertains to, unless permission is granted to do otherwise. I think most of the gossip that is done is just naturally, without even realizing it is happening. Just be aware of what you say about people when they aren’t around.

The second thought that comes to mind is the rest of verse 7 “they imagine the worst for me…” This is probably something I do more frequently, but it isn’t very common for me. As humans, we often take pleasure in the harm or sufferings of others. The word “imagine” is key here. This can be as simple as a fleeting thought of anger towards someone, to an intense hatred that never ceases to be thought about. As Christians we should want the best for others, even better for them than ourselves. Of course, everyone is too busy taking care of #1 (that would be Jinx :P) that they forget to care about other people, to rejoice and mourn with each other.

This psalm really reminds me of Job, who was afflicted even though he was upright. Verse 9 says “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” This reminds me of when Job’s friends believed that he must have done something horrible for him to lose his family, possessions and be stricken with disease. I think this is something that society falls trap to. Everyone thinks that being a Christian is like floating on puffy white clouds where nothing is wrong and nothing is bad. The life they believe will happen on earth would be more accurately described as heaven. These people, when faced with a disaster, ask God how he could allow such a thing to happen, and turn away. As soon as God doesn’t give them what they want from Him, it’s over. I think this is part of the reason to read the Bible, to learn to recognize the misconceptions of God and avoid falling victim to those traps.

Now for the juicy verse 4, “As for me, I said, ‘O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!’ ” I know every single one of us needs to have this attitude. All too often we forget it is God’s grace that allows us to come to Him, and that we constantly fall short. I know we hear this all the time, but I don’t think we can hear it enough. If you don’t think you need to hear this, then this means you are living a perfect life already. Let me know if you are living a perfect life, because I don’t believe you. I know I fall into vicious sin cycles all too much. It is so easy for Facebook and AIM to trump the very Word of God. You forget to pray one day, and one day becomes many. Each day we go without God, it becomes harder to return to Him (because our minds are not thinking of Him). The reverse is true for the bad things of life as well. Every time we do something stupid, we are more likely to do something stupid again in the near future. Until the cycle is broken, it will just get out of control. What is a Jinx blog without a song? So here is a song that I have listened to way too much that pretty much sums up the previous ideas (and probably influenced them), and it just seems to fit my life so well at times.


People will hide their sins, the shadows that plague every soul. Shadows are the natural phenomena occurring by something obstructing the passing of light. Places without the light of God in our lives are known as sin. One small shadow (sin) begins, and then we try to cover up that shadow, just making the shadow bigger. (Sorry if you don’t really get this horrible analogy, I just don’t know how to word it…) Nobody wants to talk about how bad they are. Even in this blog, I attempt to lift myself above gossiping and ill thoughts towards others. When sin is mentioned with respect to our lives, our reflex is to defend ourselves, to say sin is what those other people do, but not me. “Oh God, I would never forsake you or deny you.” Also we try to rationalize our sins, by belittling them, saying it is who we are, it’s too hard to give up or it doesn’t hurt anyone. These have to be the biggest lies ever. We are just like George; we lie every second of the day. Our whole life is a sham. We can also fall prey to generalized sin. “I know I am this sinner and stuff, but I can’t tell you one thing I done wrong.” The devil loves this one. When we just generalize sin, we can’t better ourselves. How can we fix what we don’t know is broken? I also think we need to be true to other people as well as God. I know that some of my closest friendships are with people who know the real, hideous me, and still can stand to talk with me. What we fail to realize is that everyone is hiding themselves from the world, and they just really want to let it out. Let us stop fearing the ridicule of others and reveal our true selves. Those who would ridicule us for doing this are the ones too insecure to own up to their own faults. Only when we are true to each other can true and meaningful friendships emerge. This same concept works with God too. Imagine that, something that applies to the images of God applies to God Himself. Reveal your true heart, your true motive before Him, and He will reveal His true, powerful and just simply awesome self to you.

“Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.” That He would even care about the corrupt hearts beating within the people of the earth is amazing in and of itself. His perfection makes this even more amazing. Perfection and imperfection are like oil and water, or engaged people to Marissa Tomei. God should slap us in the face and walk away, but that just isn’t the case. And for that we should rejoice. Also rejoice because you are done reading this long and boring barrage of thoughts by someone who barely knows what he is talking about… but wait, there are extras! *Everyone groans*
- Jinx

Extras: Those pesky little things that have been added to the original manuscript that I was too lazy to actually fit into the already Glennesque in length (actually I think I beat him this time…) bloggage.

1. Something I wrote awhile back in a fit of rage against my own sins:
I am sick of being sick. Disgusting thoughts plaguing my mind, distorting my vision, twisting my thoughts into this warped view of reality. My failure was inevitable. Targeting me while weak, Satan preys upon my tender flesh, using my own mind against me, switching what I consider evil to good, ugly to beautiful, sin to perfection. How can I break my addiction, cure my affliction? What am I missing? Only allowing myself to pass up an opportunity to sin because I know I will return to my deepest darkest desire. Every moral fiber in my body trampled by a single thought, overtaking my entire body until its wrath is satisfied, then waiting for another chance, another opportunity to strike me down. I am crying out to save me from myself. Someday I will break this habit, let go of these chains. Someday I will liberate myself from me. Someday, sooner or later. God I pray for sooner.

2. Keeping on the same note of my sins, I have personally been struggling with repetitive sin in my life for quite some time (aka the same thing as above). I honestly believe that God has allowed this sin to plague my soul for years to lead me to this point in my life. It is a horrible feeling when I failed to resist the temptations. Just knowing that I was losing control of myself was not a good feeling. God was just screaming at me (you know, in that still small voice of His) to come to Him… and I would try all kinds of other options as a means of stopping the sin. Honestly, going to God and truly spending time with Him is all it took for me to turn away. And I figure as soon as I start to slip up in my walk with Christ, Satan will be ready to pounce upon the defenseless heart beating within me yet again. The main reason I have memorized Psalm 19 so well, aside from no life and all, is something Glenn said about memorizing scripture as a means of stopping sin. I was desperate for a way out, even though I never thought it would really work. Funny thing is, a few days ago I stopped when temptation started to creep in, and recited Psalm 19 to myself, and the urge just vanished. Cheesy, but true. So yeah… there’s my life for you all.

Psalm 40: Transcendence and Immanence

"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done and Your thoughts toward us." ~ Psalm 40:5

As I was reading the Word this mornig this verse particularly stood out to me. I'm in awe of the two sides of God that this verse draws out.

First, God is a God of Wonders. Many are His wonders and miracles. He created the entire world with His Word. He split the entire Red Sea and allowed Israel to pass on dry ground. He resurrected Lazarus from the dead. He calmed the raging sea. God is truly transcendent above all of creation. He is the all-powerful, all-knowing God of the universe!

YET!

The psalmist also proclaims that this very same God who wields all the cosmic powers is also an intimate God with His people. Many are His thoughts toward us. God is near to His children. The God who runs and controls every aspect of the universe, knows each of us by name. We, His people, have the attention of His mind. He knows our needs, our desires, and our thoughts. He is compassionate in leading us in the way He has prepared for us.

The fantastic message that this verse proclaims is that God is both the transcedent, all-powerful God of the universe AND the immanent, personal God of His people. Truly this is why the psalmist states in the next verse, "There is none to compare you with!"

Psalm 39: Life is so Brief

My Bible gives the theme for this Psalm as: Apart from God, life is fleeting and empty. This is an appeal for God's mercy because life is so brief. The last four words, "life is so brief" really stood out to me. Beginning in verse 4 and following through verse 7, David speaks of the brevity of life. This is the section I want to focus on for today.

David asks God to remind him of the limited time he will have on earth, to be reminded that his days are numbered. Numerous other places in the Bible touch on this same topic. David along with other authors throughout the Bible describe life as short and fleeting:

Psalm 78:39-"...gone like a breath of wind that never returns,"
Psalm 90:12-"Teach us to realize the brevity of life..."
Psalm 103:15-"Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die."
James 4:14-"How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog--it is here a little while, then it's gone."

In verse 5, David creates such an awesome visual through describing life as "no longer than the width of my hand." This just goes to confirm that our life here on earth is limited and in the grand scheme of things only a minor span of time.

Just these two verses (4 & 5) made me begin to really think about how I view my duration on earth. I know we are all aware that life is short and it could end at any moment. But is the fact that I acknowledge this reflected in my everyday life? Am I putting these words into action and living in such a manner to mimic the urgency found in them? Or do we pass through life as described by David in verse 6: "We are merely shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it." That sounds like a pretty boring and monotonous life.

We don't have to fall to such a life of emptiness and drudgery because we have hope, specifically placed in the Lord (verse 7). We as Christians can view the statements about the brevity of life and rejoice because it doesn't all end with physical death. It is our hope that allows us to press through the struggles and pains of this present life.

A little sidenote...I know all of us can probably relate to life being short through experiencing the death of a young individual. I can name numerous people I have known to leave this earth at such a young age, including my mom. I know that it's during these times of hardship that we most reflect on the brevity of life. It is my prayer today that we will meditate on the shortness of life and won't wait for a tragedy to occur before we realize that life is but a blink of an eye. Let us be constantly reminded that this life is not where is ends, but let us live in hope and look forward to the amazing splendor we will one day share with our Lord and Savior!!!!

See you guys tomorrow morning!!! Becca

Psalm 38

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Psalm 37: Chill

Psalm 37 is long. Forty verses makes it the eighth longest of all the psalms by my count and the second longest of all of the psalms ascribed to David. (Psalm 18 is David’s longest.) So did you get through it all? If you did, did you learn its message?

Yes, yes? Yes, no? No, no? Oh, no?

Here is my attempt to help.

Let’s start with an observation that is pretty cool. The first line of psalm 37 gives a command to the reader: "Do not fret because of evil men." The Hebrew word for "fret" literally means "to burn." When it is active, it refers to a person’s anger, but when it is passive, as it is in Psalm 37, it refers to a person’s anxiety. It literally means "to heat oneself in vexation." Of course, in this verse the negative particle is also thrown in there. So it means "Do not heat yourself with vexation." I told you this observation was cool.

Now, that’s a pretty descriptive idiom. King David is saying, "Cool it!" Surf-King Dave would say, "Look, bro, don’t sweat the evil dudes. Simmer down, man. Just chill out." See? We have lots of modern English idioms that are based on the same concept. Realizations like this help us to see that those old Hebrew guys were not so different from us. Their foreheads got hot when they worried just like ours, but David says not to let that happen.

This exact phrase occurs three times in psalm 37. It is in verses 1, 7, and 8. It only occurs one other time in the Old Testament. Therefore, I consider this particular command as central to this psalm’s message. And, by the way, if you check The Message translation, you will see that Peterson is right-on in verse 8. It took him a couple misses in verses 1 and 7, but the third time was the charm: "Cool your pipes." Nice.

So to help you get this big psalm into your head, I suggest that the entire thing can be boiled down to one simple imperative verb: "Chill."

Of course, David wants you to know why you should chill, and he wants you to understand how you should chill. The rest of this piece is simply an attempt to organize David’s thoughts categorically in order to help you see the power behind his command.

Why you should chill.

Reason 1, David wants you to understand that the days of the wicked are numbered. He finds comfort in the temporary status of evil doers. This is the main thing that he wants to get across to you concerning wicked men. David says it over and over. You should chill because the wicked will soon perish.

v. 2 - for like the grass they will soon wither,
v. 2 - like green plants they will soon die away.
v. 9 - For evil men will be cut off,
v. 10 - A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
v. 10 - though you look for them, they will not be found.
v. 13 - but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.
v. 15 - But their swords will pierce their own hearts, (This one reminds me of King Saul.)
v. 15 - and their bows will be broken.
v. 17 - for the power of the wicked will be broken,
v. 20 - But the wicked will perish:
v. 20 - The LORD's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish-- vanish like smoke.
v. 22 - but those he curses will be cut off.
v. 28 - but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off;
v. 35-36 - I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil, but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found.
v. 38 - But all sinners will be destroyed;
v. 38 - the future of the wicked will be cut off.

Reason 2, David wants you to understand that the days of the righteous are not numbered. They will be filled with security and joy. For as many times as the wicked are promised quick destruction in this psalm, the righteous are promised eternal blessing. You should chill because God will fulfill your deepest desires.

v. 4 - and he will give you the desires of your heart.
v. 5 - and he will do this:
v. 6 - He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
v. 9 - but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
v. 11 - But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.
v. 16 - Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked;
v. 17 - but the LORD upholds the righteous.
v. 18 - The days of the blameless are known to the LORD,
v. 18 - and their inheritance will endure forever.
v. 19 - In times of disaster they will not wither;
v. 19 - in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
v. 22 - those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
v. 23 - If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm;
v. 24 - though he stumble, he will not fall,
v. 24 - for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
v. 25 - I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
v. 26 - their children will be blessed.
v. 27 - then you will dwell in the land forever.
v. 28 - For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.
v. 28 - They will be protected forever,
v. 29 - the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.
v. 33 - but the LORD will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned when brought to trial.
v. 34 - He will exalt you to inherit the land;
v. 34 - when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
v. 37 - there is a future for the man of peace.
v. 39 - The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
v. 39 - he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
v. 40 - The LORD helps them and delivers them;
v. 40 - he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

How you should chill.

David explains how you should respond to these promises in two basic ways, descriptively and prescriptively. In other words, he describes the behavior of the righteous as opposed to that of the wicked, and he gives lots and lots of commands for living. If you like personal application, this is your psalm.

Descriptively, David gives glimpses of both the righteous and the wicked in order for you to understand the contrasting nature of the two lifestyles. He wants you to observe what is pleasing and unpleasing to God.

Consider how he describes the righteous.

v. 21 - but the righteous give generously;
v. 30 - The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom,
v. 30 - and his tongue speaks what is just.
v. 31 - The law of his God is in his heart;
v. 31 - his feet do not slip.
v. 26 - They are always generous and lend freely;
v. 40 - because they take refuge in him.

Now consider how he describes the wicked.

v. 12 - The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;
v. 14 - The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.
v. 21 - The wicked borrow and do not repay,
v. 32 - The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, seeking their very lives;

Prescriptively, David has tons to say. In these statements, he wants you to feel the weight of your own responsibility to please God. Get ready for some commands.

v. 1 - Do not fret because of evil men
v. 1 - or be envious of those who do wrong;
v. 3 - Trust in the LORD
v. 3 - and do good;
v. 3 - dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
v. 4 - Delight yourself in the LORD
v. 5 - Commit your way to the LORD;
v. 5 - trust in him
v. 7 - Be still before the LORD
v. 7 - and wait patiently for him;
v. 7 - do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
v. 8 - Refrain from anger
v. 8 - and turn from wrath;
v. 8 - do not fret-- it leads only to evil.
v. 27 - Turn from evil
v. 27 - and do good;
v. 34 - Wait for the LORD
v. 34 - and keep his way.
v. 37 - Consider the blameless,
v. 37 - observe the upright;

So there you go. David’s second longest psalm is extremely full yet amazingly simple. David takes forty verses to basically say, "Chill because the wicked will soon perish and you will not. In the mean time, here’s how you should live."

Now I have to ask. Did I help you with those two questions I asked you at the beginning?

Well, if you made it this far, at least the answer to the first question is "yes" because you just read the entire psalm. Every word is categorized above.

As far as the second question, "Did you learn its message?" You will find out the answer the next time you are tempted to "heat yourself with vexation" over our fallen environment.

I hope I have been an aid to your meditation. If not, you may be tempted to get frustrated at me over the length of this piece. Well, in that case, I have just one word for you: "Chill."

Soli Deo Gloria,
Glenn

If you would like to view The Message version of psalm 37, Click Here

Psalm 36

Upon first read of Psalm 36, I felt as though it really should have been two separate Psalms - one about the wicked, and one about God's love. But then I realized that God's love is what defeats the wicked, and it is illustrated beautifully in this passage of Scripture.

Let's start at the very . . . ending. (A very odd place to start, one might say.) Verse 12 says, "See how the evildoers lie fallen - thrown down, not able to rise!" This to me depicts a scene at the end of a battle, where the defeated army lies slaughtered and unable to gain any strength to fight back. So what defeated this army of evildoers? God's love, faithfulness, righteousness, and justice.

You see, these evildoers, according to David's oracle in verse 1, had no fear of God - which was the root of their sinful lifestyles. This wicked man plotted to sin morning, noon, and night, rejecting any wisdom. He thought so highly of himself that he thought nothing he could be doing could possibly be wrong (and aren't we guilty of this very same attitude?). Verse 3 says that this wicked man actually ceased to be wise and do good. So in these ways, this man (symbolic of every man) put himself in opposition to God.

At the end of verse 4, the Psalm makes an abrupt turn from describing these characteristics of wickedness to celebrating the goodness of God. This is where I got tripped up before. But I think that the clue to connecting these two seemingly oddball sections lies elsewhere in Scripture - a specific example is in Psalm 103:17. This verse says that "from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children."

The ultimate sustaining power in the universe, we as Christians must believe, is God's love. It's what drives it all. God's love was the reason for creating Adam and Eve - and his love was the reason for letting him fall. His love allowed him to call out Abraham and make so many promises to him - future blessings that would be revealed in ages to come, and that are still being revealed today. God's love is the reason he provided the law to the Israelites - so they would know how to please Him. God's love is the reason for Jesus - the reason that He came, lived, and chose to die to satisfy the debt we owe for our sin. God's love propels us, and His love is provided to those who fear Him. Which means . . .

God's love is NOT provided to those who do not fear Him (not the same kind of love we experience anyway - if it helps, think of it as God's favor). So all these beautiful expressions of praise in Psalm 36 do not apply to the man who has no fear of God and, therefore, dwells in wickedness.

What are these beautiful expressions of praise?

God's love reaches to the heavens - His faithfulness reaches to the skies. His righteousness is like a mighty mountain - strong, firm, and safe. His justice flows deep - there is nowhere in our lives that cannot be touched by His justice. Both the high and low among men - the rich and poor, famous and unknowns - we all equally find shelter in the shadow of God's wings. We feast on abundance in God's house, and he gives us refreshment from His "river of delights." He is life, and He is light, and He lets us partake in that!

I want to just remind you (and myself) to praise God tonight that He looks upon you with favor. Praise Him that He covers you with love and faithfulness, and in righteousness and justice is firm and deep for you. Praise Him that His arms are big enough to hold all of us right next to His heart. Praise Him that He does not look with favor upon wickedness - and pray for those you know who do not have fear of the Lord! Pray that they will see the gifts bestowed upon us and choose to be called a son or daughter of God - that they will throw aside their wicked ways and stand at the end of the battle.

Psalm 35

Just an observation I made while looking over Psalm 35 . . .

Thinking about David's plea for protection and safety and comparing it to a lot of the New Testament calls for God to come to their defense, there seemed to be a big disconnect. We can all assume that David's story turned out pretty much on the positive. It appears that God ended up coming to his defense and shielded him from his enemies. In fact, I would guess that God flat out wiped the floor with David's enemies! Just like a lot of the other stories in the Old Testament. It's interesting, all the Old Testament stories are great. There are some bad stories in the Old Testament too, but they're all about people who deserved what they got. Everybody that got something bad in the Old Testament deserved it. At the same time, all the good guys in the OT seemed to come out ahead. Just think. Daniel in the lion's den! Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace! Jonah getting swallowed up by a huge fish! David and Goliath! Moses at the Red Sea, all he's got is a stick (not to mention everyone in Pharaoh's army gets wiped out in the process)! These stories in the OT have something in common: The bad people die, and all the good people live.

This whole trend leads up to Bethlehem and the birth of The Savior of the world, and when He was just an infant child they already tried to kill him. And all of a sudden, everything changed. And in the New Testament, all the good guys die. When Jesus knew his life was in danger from his enemies, his words didn't exactly sound like David's in Psalm 35. Before leading up to the cross, Jesus was basically saying in Luke 22:41-44, "I don't want to do this! But at the end of the day, not my way, but your way!" Before he could even get the words out of his mouth, a mob arrested him in the night. He was beaten, scorned, insulted, thrown into a jail cell, and awoke to a scourging where he was trashed within an inch of his life. And then the crucifixion, which was the worst thing you can imagine. Once again . . . everything’s changed.

Much like what David was referring to, we know we have an enemy on our hands as well. We know we have a very real enemy who doesn't want people to be liberated, to be alive, and to come to see the grace of God. He wants to take as many as he can into darkness with him. It's a battle now, and Jesus knew it. Look at what He said to his followers regarding this new reality. Read John 16:17-33. Jesus knew why this would be a big deal to us. He tells us that things are going to get crazy with Him as our Lord. But here was Jesus' promise: In Me, no matter what happens around you, you can have peace and ultimately there's going to be victory!

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

If what I’m wanting from God is what David was asking for in Psalm 35, I'm not positive the "Old Testament result" is promised to me anymore as follower of Christ. God now operates on a new promise since Jesus had broadcast his coming. If we ask something like "Awake, and rise to my defense! Contend for me, my God and Lord," God may not choose to protect us right then and there, but have faith that in the end, Jesus promises peace if we abide in Him.

Check out these other instances were God chose to not "protect/defend" his followers (these may be long passages, but read them anyway!):

Stephen

Paul

Much Love,
Roberto