I will – Psalm 145:1-3

Have you ever been part of a team? Think of a football team, every player is working towards the same goal – to score more than the other team. The goal is to win, and everyone puts in to ensure that happens! Some people might do more (say, the coach and quarterback), and some will do less, but everyone participates.

Teams are a great thing – until we decide to start running our relationship with God the same way! The pastor is the coach and quarterback, and we are just a defensive runner, who occasionally pops out and does something! How many of us (me included at times), live this way in church? We call ourselves ‘part of the team’, then sit back and let the ‘better players’ do all the work. We justify it because they have all the training, they have the relationship with God, and really, they are paid to do it!

This is not how it should be! Take a read of the start of Psalm 145.

I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
(Psalm 145:1-3 ESV)

I will. I will. I will.

Every day, I will.

Our relationship with The Creator of the universe is not like a social club where we all get together and kind of know everyone, and a few people get to talk to the ‘big boss’ themselves. Our relationship is personal, intimate and unique. We are called personally to come before God, as we are. And not only personally, but regularly! Not just once a week, month or year, but with everything we are and everything we do.

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised!

If we could just get into our heads (mine included), some of the greatness of God, it would put the rest of our lives in such stark perspective that we could do nothing but praise Him! We could do nothing but take our every care and concern to Him, as He is the one that will help and guide us through it all.

Over the next few days I want to step through Psalm 145, and see what we find. But today, let’s just remember this.

I will.

Christianity is not a team sport, but a relationship with the Almighty Creator of the universe. Lets come before him every day, forever and ever, and magnify His name.

Psalm 146 – The God of Compassion

Sometimes coincidences in life are funny. Funny in that they seem so appropriate at the right times. We have been having a bit of a time of testing of late in our house, with things breaking, sickness, more things breaking, etc. Some more things ‘went wrong’ today, just to add to our list.

Anyway, I opened a Bible study site I use often, and it opened to this Psalm. I don’t know why it opened there, I can’t remember reading here recently, but I know it spoke to me straight away.

Do not trust in man, in nobles, and by extension in governments, leaders, rulers, or even yourself. But put your trust in God, as He will provide.

Maybe it will speak to you as well.

Psalm 146 (HCSB)
Hallelujah!
My soul, praise the Lord.

I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing to my God as long as I live.

Do not trust in nobles,
in man, who cannot save.

When his breath leaves him,
he returns to the ground;
on that day his plans die.

Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea and everything in them.
He remains faithful forever,
executing justice for the exploited
and giving food to the hungry.
The Lord frees prisoners.
The Lord opens [the eyes of] the blind.
The Lord raises up those who are oppressed.
The Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord protects foreigners
and helps the fatherless and the widow,
but He frustrates the ways of the wicked.

The Lord reigns forever;
Zion, your God [reigns] for all generations.
Hallelujah!

I think God is also the God of coincidences, guiding us in ways we do not know or see, to bring us to the place He wants us, for His glory, and so that all things will work out for Good – because He loves us.

Unlimited, Unmerited, Undeserved Grace – Psalm 23:5-6

Psalm 23 5-6 (esv)

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

(Please, if you haven’t read the previous posts, you can find Verse 1 here, Verses 2-3 here and Verse 4 here)

Sola Gratia, or ‘Grace Alone’, is one of the key doctrines of the Protestant church. What is grace alone?

Romans 3:23-26 (esv)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (esv)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

We are saved then by grace alone – through Gods grace towards us in our lives, not through anything we have done, or any good thing that is in us.

Grace is simply this – the unmerited, undeserved favor of God towards us, in our lives. We are all sinners, we have all fallen short of Gods highest standards, and therefore, are worthy of nothing but death and punishment.

And yet….

Through Jesus Christ we find unmerited grace and favor in our lives, that the punishment that should have been ours because of our sin was was on by Him, that we might be found right before the Father.

And yet…

Not only found right with God (which you could very well call grace enough!), but also we suddenly find ourselves totally and utterly blessed by God, in so many ways. These last verses in Psalm 23 to me speak of two things – blessing and protection (which could also be said to be a blessing).

Protection

As we have already seen in the previous verses, the person who is submitted to God is already under the protection of the Great Shepherd. But what protection! A table is prepared for us – in the presence of our enemies. That is more than protection, that is utter disregard to any power that they have over us or Him. They have no power at all to affect anything, so even in their presence, God is able to bless us. You would think that the psalmist here is overstating the case to bring the point home – but the most amazing thing is that it is not overstated! God is really that powerful.

Blessing

And what blessing! Firstly we are anointed with oil, as a visible outward sign of Gods blessing upon us. Our cup is also not full – it overflows. We don’t just have enough, we will always have too much than we can hold or deal with.

Forever

Finally, the last piece of grace. We are not just protected and blessed for a time. We are not ‘the flavor of the month’, with a short burst of grace and gradual decline to nothing. We are blessed, forever. In eternity with the Father, dwelling in His house.

The more I think on this, the more it just blows my mind. Undeserved, unwarranted favor of God, upon our lives. Forever.

What other response can there be but to praise and worship Him?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you for your grace in our lives! It is so amazing we cannot comprehend it enough to truly give you thanks. Once again we come before you and submit our lives before you. Once again we call you Lord of our lives, and declare that we shall not want. Thank you that even though we are deserving of nothing but punishment, you have paid the price and allow us to come before you and submit ourselves to you. Guide us in your way that we might be effective members of Your kingdom, to Your praise and glory. In Jesus Name. Amen.

(Photo: Flickr / Mike Chen)

God is not a Paramedic – Psalm 23:4

Psalm 23:4 (esv)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

We are continuing our study on Psalm 23. If you haven’t read the last two posts, you can here – Psalm 23:1 and Psalm 23:2-3.

A question to ponder – do we cry out to God when things are good, or just when they are bad? Do we let go now, or just when there is nothing left to hold on to?

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

Also translated, ‘the valley of deep darkness’. The place that we are surrounded, we cannot even see the sun. A deep, dark valley surrounded by cliffs, filled with a dense forest that even the top of the cliffs is out of sight, let alone the sky. A place of no escape.

The psalmist here is giving us a vision of what is could be the worst time of our lives. Maybe death itself. Or intense sickness, or paralyzing fear. Even in those times, or especially in those times, we have nothing to fear if we are already submitted to God. I think the preface of ‘even though’ means this is just the example of worst case, but all of the verse applies – all of the time.

I will fear no evil. For you are with me

Even in the hardest, most fearful, most difficult times of our lives, we don’t need to fear. Why? Because just like sheep in a field, we have a mighty shepherd, and He is with us. He is guarding us. He is guiding us. He is mightier that we could ever be, and can do more than we could ever do.

Your rod and your staff they comfort me

What is a shepherds primary weapon? His rod. With it he fends off the attackers and protects his sheep. With it he clears the path of obstacles, and ensures his sheep can get through unhindered.

How does a shepherd guide his sheep? His staff. With his crook he pulls or pushes the sheep where they need to be, when they need to be there.

Giving ALL to God, ALL of the time.

In verse 1 we read how we need to give up all of our personal desires, all of our personal wants, not only to achieve an inner peace given by God, but that we can best serve Him and His kingdom.

Today we read that even in the worst possible circumstances in our lives, we also need to trust in God – because He is with us, He is guiding us, and He is protecting us. Just like we declared ‘I shall not want’, we also now need to declare ‘I will not fear’. God is in control. We can’t just choose to let a part of us go to be in Gods control – we need to let the lot go! The good, the bad, the ugly. All of it.

So back to our question – when do you call out to God? If you are like much of the population, it will be only when times are bad. It will be only when we get to the valley of the shadow of death, and we are paralyzed with fear. We call out to God when we have no other resources to call on. Like dialling emergency, we only do it when we think there is no other way out, but to call on a higher power. And I am not just talking about those outside of the church, but many of those within as well!

This is not how it should be! We need to submit our lives to God now – in the good times if at all possible. Let go of all of us, so we walk in paths of righteousness. And no matter what happens then, be it blessing or trial, we know God is with us, because we have submitted to Him.

God is not a paramedic. He wants to be there for you always.

Prayer

Lord God, no matter what circumstances are around us right now, grant us peace in you. Call us now, that we would respond to you now. Teach us to always trust in you, and not to call on your when we think our own resources are all gone first. Help us to see Your great power and love, and our own feeble weakness. Help us to trust in you. In Jesus Name. Amen.

(photo: Flickr / Cross Duck)

For His Name – Psalm 23:2-3

Psalm 23:1-3 (esv)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

Today we will look at the verses 2 and 3 of Psalm 23. If you missed it, Verse 1 was covered here. Please take a read as today I am building on that post!

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

Once we are submitted to God, and we have laid down our striving, our personal desires and wants, He begins to lead us. One of those places is that He will lead us to places of rest and recovery.

Remaining in the symbolic language of sheep and a shepherd, green pastures are just what the sheep need. It provides them with a place to rest and eat. To recover from any journey and get strong. In the life of a sheep, there is not a lot more they need!

An interesting aside at this point on the translation. I believe the literal Hebrew translation of ‘still waters’ is ‘waters of rest’.

And yet, physically, I don’t think many of us see a rest of this kind! So what is the Psalmist talking about?

He restores my soul.

He is talking spiritually. He brings us to a place of spiritual rest, and even emotional rest in Him. The hectic pace of life may well continue, our personal circumstances probably won’t immediately change – but our internal self will. We will suddenly find ourselves at rest in Him. We will no longer be striving, trying in vain to achieve ’Gods purpose’ in our life, which in reality may have less to do with God and more to do with our personal desires.

I just want to take a quick detour here. One of the things we need to keep in mind when we are even contemplating rest in God, is that God is our creator. He made us. And not only did He make us, but He made us as we are. He gave us the physical and emotional make-up that we have. Some of our desires are no doubt twisted and distorted by sin, but many of them, or at least the root of them were given to us by God.

Just because you give up all for God doesn’t mean he is suddenly going to call you to do something that you are not able to do, or would not be able to deal with. He made you. He created you, just as you are, for His purposes. And He will use those talents, gifts, emotions and circumstances in your life to further His kingdom.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

He leads me. He guides me. Once we have given up the desires that we held so dear, the striving to do Gods work, He can then finally lead us.

Many of you will have seen someone, or had experience trying to lead a toddler through a shopping centre (or anywhere really!). As you walk down the aisles, it is all taking just too long. The want to scream, they want to run, they want to play, they want to touch, they want to grab. They want anything else but the apparently mundane chore of walking up and down aisles of goodies without touching most of them. The junk food aisle is the inner dread of any parent or caretaker, as they know they will be dragged in, and could well face a tantrum of nuclear proportions if the situation gets out of hand. I want this! This is what I WANT! I WANT IT NOW OR I WILL SCREAM!

The toddlers desire is for the things they want. We as parents know what is best for them, and that is not a huge bag of red candy! Yet in the toddlers mind, that is best for them, right now.

Whilst it is an extreme example, I am sure you know where I am going. I wonder how many times God has to sit back and say ‘no, that is not what is good for you’. ‘No’. Or even ‘Do it then, but you will be sick’ (A common parental response especially after Easter!).

One more thing on God leading us, is that he leads us in paths of righteousness. He leads us on the right paths, that are pleasing to Him. Every decision we take is like choosing between one path and another, and only God in His infinite wisdom can lead us down all the right ones, when we submit our desires to Him.

But what is it all for?

For His names sake.

And finally, we come to the clear reason. God is leading us to where He needs us, for His kingdom, and His glory. By submitting to God, we are putting God, the creator of the whole universe, the creator of each one of us, in His rightful place.

Revelation 4:11 (esv)

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

We were created not because God needed friends, or even worshippers. We were created for His glory.

Once we let go of our personal desires, and let God take control of our lives, we will not only find rest, but we will be used in the most effective way possible for Gods kingdom and glory.

Prayer

Lord God, thank you for the peace offered in you. Thank you that we can come before you, declared righteous through your son Jesus, and seek rest and direction. Even more so, thank you that you don’t just turn us away, but offer us rest and refreshing in you! Teach us to always seek you, and help us to know Your paths, that we might be used for Your kingdom. Grant in us a desire to see Your kingdom come in our lives now. In Jesus Name. Amen.

(photo : flickr / sshb)