365 Reflections

So often we act as if God's commands were against us. Nothing could be further from the truth. God for us. We are made in his image. He desires Close intimate relationship with us. The Psalmist writes: Psalm 71:3 (ESV) Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. I like that particular line: " you have given the command to save me"... God commands for the national or spiritual out there to protect us and save us. We can't stray we tend to walk off the cliff of our own destruction. We can to walk and live according to the patterns that lead to disaster. Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)  There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Like the law of gravity. We ignore it's boundaries to our own peril. So too the laws of nature and relationships are ignored to our own pain and confusion. It's proof of the Bible's reliability tha

Psalm 70 is a shortened version of Psalm 69. A quick and desperate prayer for the same thing... deliverance from one's enemies. Psalm 70:1 (ESV)  Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me! It would appear David had the same problem we sometimes have. Sometimes we have to wait and pray and wait and pray again. God sometimes hesitates to answer our prayers. The Israelites kept this short cry of distress in their Psalter (Jewish Hymnbook) on purpose. Sometimes we need to cry out to God and don't know what to say. Here's our answer. When life brings you to the place where you know you need help from God quickly, but you aren't sure how to put it, go to Psalm 70. This Psalm is also a repeat of Psalm 40:13-16. It's good to know that the people of Israel repeated their prayers for deliverance, almost word for word even corporately. There is a Biblical precedent to repeated prayers. To put things on a prayer list and keep going after them is e

Psalm 68 gives us the majestic glory of God in full array. The theme of that Psalm is simply God exalted, God elevated, Awesome God of Heaven. Psalm 69 is the cry of a broken man before this God. It is the most quoted Psalm of the New Testament writers. Jesus quoted from this Psalm most of all in the Gospels. And Jesus was God in the flesh with us. God near. Put these two Psalms together and we have a God who is not only transcendent in Psalm 68. He is immanent in Psalm 69. This is our God. He is exalted. He is above all and majestic over all. But He is the God who hears and comes near. Psalm 69:13 (ESV)   But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord . At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. Theologians believe David was preparing to build the Temple when he wrote this. He had large sums of money stored up and perhaps was getting vilified by his people for spending so extravagantly on the temple w

Psalm 68 is about God. And it's a great reminder that the Bible and the Universe is about Him too. Psalm 68:1  (ESV)  God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! ... Psalm 68:35 (ESV)   Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God! So often we want to make the Bible about us. We want to see what we should do, what we need to find for ourselves, what buttons we should push and what tips we can utilize to make our lives better and get ahead. What a cheap replacement for God. God desires us to KNOW Him. And to know Him is eternal life. John 17:3 (ESV) And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. It is in our nature to turn inward. We are born with the propensity to gravitate toward ourselves, saying "Mine!" at three years old that we have no business having. And

I love Psalm 67. I preached it a while back at our Church. It was the start of our building campaign. Raising money for a church building is always a challenge. Why do we need a bigger building? Why not stay in our comfort zone? Isn't this just about money? But if you read Psalm 67, there's a clear directive for using our blessings to make God known. Psalm 67:1–2 (ESV) 1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah 2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. The Psalm was written for the harvest. Right before the Israelites would head out to reap God's blessing from their labor, they would gather and recite Psalm 67.  Psalm 67:6–7 (ESV)   The earth has yielded its increase  says the Psalmist. That is, the harvest has come and we are about to benefit from the good Earth God has given to us. So picture this... they are about to take in God's miraculous provision from the

Psalm 66:16–19 (ESV)   Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. 17 I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. 18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19 But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. The Psalmist has a lesson for us. God has acted on his behalf. He prayed and praised God and God answered. But he didn't just pray, he confessed his sin .  The Word for "cherished" here can be "to see" as in we see a sin in our lives and we are unwilling to confess and forsake it.   We must not let sin stop God's activity in our lives. God's desire is to prosper and bless us. Sin is the stopper should we chose to hold on to it. Proverbs 28:13 (ESV) Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. The people of Israel were stopped dead in their tr

How can you NOT love this verse? Psalm 65:3 (ESV)   When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. Or in the New Living Translation: Psalm 65:3 (NLT)  Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all. I know I'm not the only one who sometimes feels like I'm fighting a losing battle with sin. It can feel heavy and defeating. You turn to Romans 7 and read the Apostle Paul to make sure he actually did say what he did say: Romans 7:15 (ESV) For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Romans 7:24 (ESV) Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? There will be times, Christian, when sin seems to win. But the good news of the Bible is ultimately sin doesn't win. If that weren't the case, there would be no hope for us. But because of Jesus who triumphed over our sins and death on the Cross, we have certain victory for today and to

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers, who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, (Psalm 64:1-3 ESV ) Don't read those verses too fast. On the surface it looks like David is asking for God to save him from his enemies. But if you look closely, he's asking God to keep him from the fear (dread) of his enemies. He's asking God  to spare him from what his enemies threaten against him. What a great prayer to pray! How often we let the fear of things and people dictate what we do when we may never even face them in reality. I read somewhere that 80% of what we worry about never happens. That's the dread of our enemies, the fear of what someone or something may do to us. David sets a great example for us, showing us to pray for a mind that is not held captive by what negative thing may happen. A mind in perfect peace. We cannot and mu

What do you do when you don't desire God. Psalm 63 is wonderful... but is it often our reality? Psalm 63:1 (ESV) O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Can we say the same? If we are honest, we'd say we don't desire God nearly as we should. But here David seems enamored with God. So what do you do when you don't desire God? Psalm 63:2 (ESV) So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary , beholding your power and glory. David went to Church. I think this is an important point for those of us who don't desire God. Go to church anyway and see what happens. When we get in the presence of God and His people, our desires are trained for heaven. (So long as it's a good Gospel-driven church). We need to understand that the desires we have are largely shaped by the things we put in front of our eyes. When I watch a food show late a night, I immedi