psalmthing to chew on: psalm 9

the danger of this, for me, much like for a preacher to be planning a preach, is that the reading becomes preparation for blogging as in reading to find my blog point… and so i am doing my best to ensure that doesn’t happen by trying to read the psalm a number of times, where a later one of those will be to draw out the point i am wanting to share, but the first one is simply to read and embrace the psalm for what it is…

and so on to psalm 9:

for starters, this is a great reminder of a good place to start prayer – with recognition of Who God is and praising His name…

‘I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.’ [vs.1-2]

Then this part of the psalm jumped out at me:

‘The LORD reigns forever; He has established His throne for judgment.
He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity.
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek You.’ [vs.7-10]

what i was reminded of is the two facts i know about God – one, that God is Love, and two, that God is Just… and sometimes those characteristics may seem to contradict each other, but the reality is they never do. God’s Love never cancels out His Justice [His Justice makes the punishment for sin death but His Love causes Him to send His Son Jesus to take that punishment of death in our place] and likewise His Justice never cancels out His Love.

there is a lot more, and this psalm is worth a couple of read-throughs, but those were two things that stood out for me… what about you?

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 8

ah psalm 8, what a beautiful psalm, this is a classic…

this is a sunset psalm, a lightning storm psalm, this is table mountain or niagra falls psalm…

it starts and ends with this sense of this person who has just caught a glimpse of this amazing, powerful, awesome, holy, just plain BIG God and as a result he bursts forth in praise:

‘LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory in the heavens.’ [vs.1]

and finishes with:

‘LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!’ [vs.9]

this is an absolute response psalm and a great reminder of the place our prayers should come from.

now the reality is that we do not always feel like this and i believe God wants us to be open and honest and real and be able to pray to Him at those times when we are brought low and just struggling to even believe He exists or cares… and those prayers may not start off sounding like this one… but for those times when we are reminded, when we take some time to be still and know once again that He is God [psalm 46.10], that He will not give His glory to another [isaiah 42.8], when we for a moment remove our eyes from the mirror, or from looking at ourselves, our issues, our worries, our achievements, our needs, our relationships… and just lift them to Him…

we can’t but help respond in this way as well – O Lord, how magnificent You are, how awesome is Your name…

and then what follows, once we realise that this very same huge universe-creating, mind-blowing God has for some insane-to-us reason decided to involve and include and entrust us with His plans…

‘When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? [vs3-4]‘

this is a rhetorical question demanding the understood answer of “exactly! who are we?’ it is a complete reflection of Who God is, rather than who we are. and yet, for some reason, He still reaches out and invites us.

this is a reminder to me to have those days of just absolutely immersing myself in the knowledge and experience and history and reality of Who God is and just responding in worship…

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 7

i know it’s early days, but already this is proving to be an exciting exercise for me and one of the benefits of working through the psalms is discovering ‘new’ ones… i am not saying someone has been sneaking into my bible and adding in new psalms when i haven’t been looking but often when we read the bible we stick to the passages we know well and like and avoid the harder ones or even the books with weird sounding names we have to use the index to find…

so with psalms it is often 23 or my favourite 34 or 121 and 139. it is great to go through one by one because i will get to those psalms in turn, but i will also discover some classic gems along the way…

and on to psalm 7:

this feels similar to the point i made about psalm 5 where David is saying things i’m not convinced his life can back up… certainly things i’d be a lot more nervous to utter… in verses 8-9 he says, ‘Let the LORD judge the peoples. Vindicate me, LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High. Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure — You, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts.’

So David is asking God to judge him according to “my righteousness” and “my integrity” – again, this must have supposedly been written before the whole Bathsheba incident when David would not have been clamoring for those to be the measure points. I know, for my life, as much as i strive for personal righteousness and integrity, that i often fall short. i miss the mark and get it wrong a lot of the time which negates my righteousness. and i have really strong feelings on things like pirating movies/music and telling ‘little white lies’ but am not as strict when it comes to breaking the speed limit or some other things like that so personal hypocrisy in what i stand for and how i live it out often does surface which takes out my integrity from time to time.

so i am not convinced i would want to appeal to God to judge me on the basis of those two things. reminds me of the definitions of mercy and justice: justice is getting what we deserve and mercy is not getting what we deserve and i generally am super amped to lean towards mercy [especially when it comes to parking tickets and speeding fines if i deserve either of those]

i think the last phrase of that verse sums it up – ‘the righteous God who probes minds and hearts’ – God knows. And knowing that God knows [as David gets a lot more familiar with after the Bathsheba incident] i am a lot quicker to meet Him in a place more reliant on His righteousness and integrity than my own.

then the second thing that stood out for me was the language used towards the end which is just some great and explicit imagery that conveys well what he is speaking about – ‘Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads.’ [16-18]

Reminiscent once more of the depiction of sin in James 1 – ‘When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.’ [13-15]

And the message that is loud and clear is don’t give time to sin. The imagery of conception and birth refers to a pretty substantial time length – 9 months – and so the idea is that the person involved has entertained and nurtured temptation/sin until such time that it has become a destructive force. We need to kill sin at the root and deal with it as quickly as possible when it emerges or the effect it has on us will be devastating. Keep a short account with God – don’t go to sleep at nite with unconfessed sin lingering, because that way it is too easy for it to grow and give birth…

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 6

this feels like a tired and weary cry from someone who is simply begging God, with his last ounce of energy to “please, just give me a break” or to “go easy on me”

the beginning of the psalm sets the tone which carries throughout the piece. it says ‘for the director of music’ but you can’t see Hillsongs or Jesus Culture turning this into a fan favourite. It feels really a lot more like a ‘just God and me’ prayer altho i imagine so many people reading this have related so strongly from time to time:

LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.
Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint; heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in deep anguish. How long, LORD, how long?

what is nice about the psalms is that david [along with other writers] doesn’t always use ‘the right words’ or focus on how the prayer is heard – he often just spews it out and gives us permission by doing so, to do the same… this psalm for me is a little bit like God whispering, “It’s okay that you don’t have it all together… that’s kind of what I’m here for.”

Echoes of 1 Peter 5.7 which says, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you” as well as a sneak preview of what is to come in Psalm 34.18 where “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

And it finished with the words, ‘for the Lord has heard my weeping,’ ‘the Lord has head my cry for mercy,’ and ‘the Lord accepts my prayer.’

So as weak and struggling as he is, he still knows Who he is crying out to and how He will respond… which is full of hope.

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 5

and on to Psalm 5:

this is an interesting one. powerful line in verse 5 – ‘You hate all who do wrong.’

is that true? of course it is. it is true to where david is at the moment of writing and what he is feeling [and maybe secretly wanting]

but is it Truth? absolutely not. we know from reading the rest of scripture that God does not hate anyone – His desire is that all will be saved ['This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.' 1 Timothy 2.3-4] – but we can see this as an expression of the frustration david is feeling as he writes this piece.

what’s interesting is that david himself secretly doesn’t want it to be true… read a little further – ‘You destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful, You, LORD, detest.’ [vs 6] is that starting to sound familiar?

remember this same david when it comes to the story of bathsheba, the wife of one of his trusted army officials and how david tells lies, is bloodthirsty and deceitful and even more… he definitely does a whole lot of wrong and is not hoping at that point that God will wipe “them” out quite as passionately as he is in this psalm… which makes me think he wrote this before the events of 2 Samuel 11 had taken place, probably from a place of thinking he was so much better than those around him who get it wrong.

this feels like the psalm from someone who is largely naive and untested in the ways of temptation and needs a bit of the reality check that screwing up royally can bring you. which he later gets. to the extreme. i wonder how this psalm would sound if it was written after that incident? probably a lot more use of words like ‘mercy,’ ‘grace’ and ‘forgiveness’?

i do like how it ends though, ‘But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread Your protection over them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You. Surely, LORD, You bless the righteous; You surround them with your favor as with a shield.’

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 4

continuing my journey of reading through the psalms at a leisurely pace, making some observations as i go along, inviting you to jump in to the comments section with a verse or idea or question or wrestle that possibly jumped out at you as you were reading this particular psalm:

which is Psalm 4

vs 4 jumped out at me in this one: ‘in your anger, do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.’

this is a tricky one because generally we think of anger as the bad guy, but there are places in the bible where we see righteous anger in force [the story that comes to mind is Jesus clearing out the money lenders in the temple [Matthew 21.12] and as it explains here, don’t let anger drive you to sin… similar to temptation which is not sin, but unless we deal with it defiantly when it rears its ugly head, it quickly leads to sin, which James illustrates graphically:

‘When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.’ [James 1.13-15]

in the same way anger can give birth to rage and violence and bitterness and resentment if it is allowed to conceive… we need to learn to respond well to things that make us angry.

and they should – rape, sexual abuse, racism, christians not living out Christ-following lives, unforgiveness – these things should all make us angry… but in our anger we must never sin – does the anger drive us to action, positive action and radical acts of justice, grace and mercy? it should when we invite the Holy Spirit to take control and direct us.

the image of the second part of the verse – ‘when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent’ – i like that because it gives me the idea of someone who is angry, but struggling to not sin as a result and so the advice is hey dude, go chill, take a time out, regroup, still your heart, create some silence and listen to the voice of God over the voice of how the world is screaming you should respond [revenge, mob justice, retaliation...] and then later, when that has been achieved go out and act wisely but still driven by the same passion that was driving your anger.

another danger can be when people add the word ‘righteous’ to plain sin-enducing anger to justify why their brand of un-love is acceptable and that might be another great opportunity for some lying on the bed and stilling of the heart…

there is a lot more in this psalm, but that’s one thort that inspires me and i’m very interested to hear what stood out to you?

also if you know of anyone else who might be interested in this walk through the psalms, please pass on the link – the more people jumping in and commenting and sharing their thoughts and observations the better, don’t just be a sponge, share with us what you got…

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 3

continuing my journey of reading through the psalms at a leisurely pace, making some observations as i go along, inviting you to jump in to the comments section with a verse or idea or question or wrestle that possibly jumped out at you as you were reading this particular psalm:

PSALM 3

‘Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But…’ [verse 2]

i think this stood out for me and possibly not for the same reasons the psalmist intended, but really the sense of a lot of people around him looking at his belief in God and ridiculing it or disregarding it and kind of writing it off… followed by this giant BUT.

As in, people around me may not think there is much significance in the God i serve or call out to or worship, but i have experienced it differently and i trust that my God will come through for me.

that followed by the beginning of verse 5 which interestingly reads, ‘I lie down and sleep’ which, for those who know me, may not seem like a verse i would rush to as sleep has not been a big theme of the recent years of my life… but it stands out because you have this guy who seems like he is on his own and he is crying out to God and yet there is this sense of confidence that when he lies down he will sleep. That speaks of his faith and trust in God and i really like that. Reminiscent of Psalm 23 and ‘though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You are with me and Your staff and rod they comfort me.’

we serve a God who is real. and He is faithful. and that is exciting. and worth writing about and testifying to.

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 2

continuing my journey of reading through the psalms at a leisurely pace, making some observations as i go along, inviting you to jump in to the comments section with a verse or idea or question or wrestle that possibly jumped out at you as you were reading this particular psalm:

for me it was verse 4 which immediately jumped out at me: ‘The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.’

i remember reading an article in reader’s digest by kirk douglas of all people titled ‘You know how to make God laugh?’ and the answer was ‘Tell Him your plans!’

and it’s true. and reminds me as well of the story Jesus tells in Luke 12 of the rich fool who gets a good crop and responds by saying, ‘”What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.” And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘

But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.’ [Luke 12.16]

Another passage that comes to mind in terms of trusting own plans vs God’s is Proverbs 3.5-6 which says, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.’ Which is good to view alongside the whole second half of Matthew 6, but specifically verse 33 which goes, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well.’

We are invited to live life in relationship with God and hold our plans loosely before Him. This psalm gives a glimpse of those who try otherwise…

And then the second verse that stood out to me was verse 8 which says, “Ask of Me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.”

Which speaks to me of a God crying out for us to use our imagination and consider for a moment the resources available to us. Ephesians 3.20 reminds us that the God we serve is able to do “immeasurably more than all we hope or imagine” – Am i hoping and imagining big enough? God’s hoping and imagining for my life extends to nations and the ends of the earth. He is calling us to greater things [as defined by His kingdom, which is key]

so much more oozing out of such a short psalm, but those are two things i take from it today… what did you get?

Latest Dangerous Things You Can Least Expect video [and some pics of giant squid]

If you have not yet seen the start of this series of now four videos of educational warnings about Dangerous Things You Can Least Expect then click here or here [but not here cos this will just lead you to pictures of giant squid] but if you have been introduced then please take a look at episode four where I respond to an international letter requesting the topic for the latest video which you can watch here or here.

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 1

my good buddy rob lloyd just got me a new bible because my old one was literally falling apart and i like the idea of starting again in a sense – rediscovering old favourite passages, underlining new ones, breaking the bible in so to speak…

and as i sat and thought where to begin i decided to start with the psalms, and i don’t know that i will necessarily read one per day but i am going to start today and see how it goes and i thought it might be nice to bring other people with me, or maybe you were looking for a new place to read and want to read along with me – i am going to read a psalm and write a comment or a thought or reflection and would love it if you wanted to write yours in the comments below so together we can learn from what God is saying to us as we take this journey…

so today, starting with psalm 1, what jumps out at you? what don’t you understand? what has God whispered as you read it? what is one idea you just really enjoyed? i would love to hear what you got out of it…

this is a great psalm – first thing that jumped out at me was line 1 ‘blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked’ – and to be honest i think i always read that as ‘council’ as in meeting-place or gathering, instead of counsel which surely means ‘being advised/counselled by’ which changes it completely… complete tie-in to one of my favourite proverbs ‘wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses’ [27.6] or ‘they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear’ [2 Timothy 4.3] and a reminder that even though it might look strongly appealing to have yes-people around us, it will be a blessing and better life choice to not live life being advised/counselled by these people but rather people who will speak truth in love.

and then verse 3 which talks about being ‘planted by streams of water’ – the result being that whatever you do will prosper – echoes of being firmly rooted like in the story of the house built on the rock [Matthew 7.24] or the need to be in constant connection to the vine which is God [John 15] and how as a result the fruit will naturally happen – not so much by work or effort but by inviting God to work it through you as you stay holding on to Him.

so that’s a good start to this journey – the reminder that as a Christ follower my number one focus must be on being nourished by my Father in heaven and that i should look to surround myself with people [at least in terms of those who advise/bring counsel to me] who actively follow Christ and will unashamedly speak truth in love to me [even if sometimes that might be hard for me to receive]