psalmthing to chew on: psalm 36

another psalm from David and again, it appears as if he hadn’t committed his major facefall yet as he is still muttering about those who have “no fear of God before their eyes.” [vs. 1]

but once he has gotten over looking at “them” and “their awful sin” he has some useful things to say [so useful we turned them into songs… from songs into other songs that it]

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

so much so that i want to just share it like that, so all the poetry and music can drip from it… it is amazing how when a poet/songwriter/artist gets it so right, they can transport other people along with them on their journey and i feel that happens here – basically the writer is shouting out, “God you are big in this way and huge in that other way and just so incredible in that way” and uses amazing language to take us right there with Him…

Your Love reaches to the heavens [which are not necessarily a physical up there, just past the stars, kind of place, so really Your Love just goes on and on and on]…

Your faithfulness is like the mighty mountains [you know, standing firm, unmoveable, unshakeable, You are trustworthy]…

Your justice like the great deep [going way beyond what we see and can experience and even know about or can safely enter into without super special hectic gear – it just keeps going and is much greater than we can imagine]…

and on and on… God you are Huge and Great and Mighty and everything about You is just desirable and mind-blowing and life-transforming…

it is great, and necessary to every now and then [or really regularly actually, which is why i love corporate worship times cos that is a place i feel encouraged to do so] just lose it in your praise and adoration of God, for who He is and what He does and what He has done…

when last did you do so?

For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light. [vs.9]

[To return to the Intro page and be connected to any of the other Psalms i have walked through before now, click here]

psalmthing to chew on: psalm 30

i have two parts underlined in this psalm so i’ll stick with those:

‘Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.’ [vs. 4-5]

this is a very light and hopeful psalm [and well you hope it should be as it was used for the dedication of the temple] and this line catches a glimpse of the heart of God which so many of us need to be reminded of so often…

especially those who are going through tough times, or those who view God as a principal with a big stick just waiting for you to step out of line, or the Greek gods version of God sitting in the clouds with bolts of lightning waiting to unleash justice on you, and those who seem caught in ongoing, cyclical, addictive sin patterns…

‘his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime’ – God is Love! He is a lot of other stuff but it is Love that defines Him, or comes closest to defining Him to us tiny little [in comparison] creatures who can never hope to wrap our silly little minds around the hugeness and complexity of this God who chooses to call Himself our Father…

‘his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime’ – yup, the words pretty much speak for themselves but i figured it was good to hear them again.

‘weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning’ – Jesus hanging on the cross… Friday looks pretty bleak. the crowds are scattered. the disciples confused. hope seemingly gone.

and yet Sunday is coming. the resurrection follows and completely trounces the crucifixion [but needed the crucifixion to happen to be able to do so]. the war is won… although battles continue to be fought until that victory is properly and finally claimed…

‘You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.’ [vs. 11-12]

reminds me of that powerful worship song by Ron Kenoly of all people which has such a vibey beat:

He’s turned my mourning
Into dancing again
He’s lifted my sorrows
I can’t stay silent
I must sing
For His joy has come

Where there once
Was only hurt
He gave His healing hand
Where there once
Was only pain
He brought comfort
Like a friend
I feel the sweetness
Of His love
Piercing my darkness
I see the bright
And morning sun
As it ushers in
His joyful gladness

You’ve turned my mourning
Into dancing again
You’ve lifted my sorrows
And I can’t stay silent
I must sing
For Your joy has come

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?

[To continue on to Psalm 10, click here]

[To return to the start of this series on Psalms as well as some other Bible things, click here]