Soli Deo Gloria

Reading in Psalm 72.18-19 this morning, as John Calvin points out, a passage that ends the second book of Psalms and so serves as a climax and summary statement. "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory."

Soli Deo Gloria. To God alone be the glory. This is the way that the second book of Psalms ends, and a fitting ending it is. God alone does "wondrous things." God's name alone deserves to be blessed forever and ever. God's glory alone is what the earth ought to be (is!) filled with.

Oh, that Soli Deo Gloria would be the guiding philosophy of our lives.

A Steadfast Heart

Reading in Psalm 57.7 this morning where David writes: "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise" (KJV). Actually the literal reading is "Fixed, my heart, O God; fixed, my heart" as David emphasizes that his heart is fixed, or as the ESV translates it "steadfast."

According to Webster, steadfast means "firmly fixed or established." So here David is emphasizing that his heart (the center of his being, as we would also describe it in our culture) is firmly fixed in an attitude of worship and dependence upon God. A heart like this will not change due to circumstances or emotions.

This passage reminds me of Paul's admonition to the Corinthians in 1 Cor 15.58: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." With David our hearts should be fixed, steadfast, immovable, devoted to God despite our own feelings or emotions at the moment. Because we know—as David points out in vs. 10—"for your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds."

This God is Our God

Reading in Psalms 48.14 this morning. "For this God is our God forever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death" (KJV). A precious truth; a precious promise.

The precious truth: This God is our refuge in Zion (vs. 2); He is infused with lovingkindness towards his people (vs. 9); this God is our God.

The precious promise: "He will be our guide even unto death."

As Charles Spurgeon points out: "He will be the covenant God of his people world without end. There is no other God, we wish for no other, we would have no other even if there were."

Disciplined, not Abandoned

Reading in Psalm 38 this morning. A psalm that starts with: "O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath," ends with "Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation." It's such a beautiful psalm because in it we see that even though we sin and fail God (as David readily admits to doing), we can be sure that God will not abandon us. David has sinned, and yet God is still his salvation.

God will discipline us; he will never abandon us.

Symbiosis: Our Trust/His Salvation

Thinking about Psalms 37.40 this morning where David writes: "And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; he shall deliver them from the wicked, because they trust in him." In the Hebrew literally it says: "And delivering, he will deliver them," which is a construction that means "The Lord will surely deliver his people from the wicked."

The foundation for this deliverance on the part of God's people is their trust in him; "because they trust in him." The foundation on the part of God is his own character; he will do what he says.

There is this interesting symbiosis here between our trust and God's salvation. When we trust in our God, he will surely deliver us from evil. When we do not trust in our God, then we are practically acting as if he were not our God. Why deliver people who don't trust in God as God?

The action point for us is that we work on continually and completely trusting in God at every moment, for every thing.

His Name (Alone) is Excellent

I like how the psalmist strains to find words to proclaim the praise of the Lord in Ps. 148.7-13. He calls for anything and everything that he can think of to praise the name of the Lord. Dragons, deeps, fire, hail, snow, vapour, stormy wind (fulfilling his word), mountains, hills, trees, cattle, birds, creeping things, kings, princes, judges, old, young. Listen all you people/things/events, "praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is excellent."

There is a lot of theology in that list. Notice how the psalmist puts in the aside comment, "stormy wind—oh yeah, that stormy wind that knocks over stuff seemingly willy-nilly? That wind fulfills his word." Fire? "Yep, that too." Hail? "Yep." Creepy crawlers? They do also. And in some sense creepy crawlers and birds and cattle can praise the name of the Lord (I'm thinking its because he is their creator).

I think what the psalmist is getting at is that everything—yes, everything—can, should (and at least when it comes to nature, does)—praise the name of the Lord.

How about you? Do you praise the name of the Lord?

Stooping Down to See the Heavens and Earth

Reading in Ps 113.6 this morning. The KJV translates the passage: "Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth." I like to think of it as God "stooping down" to see what he has created, implying as we certainly believe, that God is far greater than we can even comprehend.

Spurgeon points out that, if God stoops down to see the heaven and earth, what does it further say about him, that he watches even the humblest of his servants: What, then, must be his condescension, seeing that he observes the humblest of his servants upon earth, and makes them sing for joy like Mary when she said, “Thou hast regarded the low estate of thine handmaiden.”

They Soon Forgot His Works

The psalmist describes the generation of the Exodus in Ps 106.13. The people had seen the great deliverance from Egypt; they had experienced deliverance at the Red Sea; they drank water that came from a rock; every morning they woke up they picked up manna off of the ground, but as soon as they were in trouble or difficulty, they forgot everything.

We would like to think that we would be different than the generation of the Exodus, but we are them. We are prone to forget all that God has done for us in the past as soon as the present difficulties get too bad. As one commentator put it (EBC): "They readily gave in to impatience when he (God) did not anticipate their needs." Yep. That's us. That's me.

Tanks run out of Gasoline and Artillery have no Ammo

Reading in Ps 76.6 this morning. "At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, Both the chariot and the horse are cast into a deep sleep" (KJV). Chariots and horses were much feared weapons of war, especially to the Israelites who were sorely lacking in both. It would be the equivalent today of saying that, at the word of God "tanks run out of gasoline and artillery have no ammo." God speaks and mighty weapons are impotent.

Calvin: We are thus taught that all the gifts and power which men seem to possess are in the hand of God, so that he can, at any instant of time, deprive them of the wisdom which he has given them, make their hearts effeminate, render their hands unfit for war, and annihilate their whole strength.

God is...

According to Ps. 46.1, "our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (KJV). I love the simplicity of that statement. God is; not God and; or "put anything else here." When we have trouble—and we will have trouble—our refuge is not our bank account or our wisdom or intelligence, God is our refuge when our world falls apart. He is our solace when we get that nasty medical diagnosis. He remains when our financial world crumbles.

And that...we find out, is all that we really need. Him.

He who Avenges Blood

This is a revelation of God's character that we don't often mention, but the psalmists (David here) are not so reticent to point it out. "When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: He forgetteth not the cry of the humble" (Ps. 9.12, KJV). Vengeance for innocent blood is God's responsibility, and here we are promised that he will carry out his responsibilities. This is why as Christians we do not seek vengeance. Indeed we are called to love our enemies. God, who is the perfect judge, will carry out vengeance for innocent blood.

Here we find the beautiful thing. The same God who is a God of vengeance, is the one who sent his only son, Jesus, so that we who are guilty—we who ought to receive God's vengeance—can be delivered from it. This is why, while a man breathes, there is always hope that he will come to his senses and follow Christ.

Soliloquy from a Cave

In Ps 142 we have David's soliloquy from a cave. His lament. His difficulties poured out. It's not pretty; quite ugly in fact. David doesn't mince words.

He cries out to the Lord. He pleads for the Lord's mercy. He pours out his complaints. He tells God of all his trouble (If you're staying in a cave, then you're definitely in trouble). His enemies have set traps for him wherever he goes. No one cares. No one gives him a passing thought. No one will help him. He is very low. His persecutors are too strong for him.

And there in that cave, in the middle of his lament, we find the gem. "You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life." It takes desperation and a cave to strip away life to its bare essentials. A cave is a refuge when God is present, not because of the cave, but because of God. There is nothing else and David discovers that he has everything he really wants.

Prayer: O Lord God, may we understand what David discovered, that we need nothing else besides you.

And It was Good

Reading in Psalms 104.31 this morning where the NLT says, "The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made. (The ESV translates this "May the Lord rejoice in his works," which I do not like since it seems to be calling for the Lord to do what he is already doing. The TNIV also has "may," so linguistically maybe it's correct).

At any rate, I'm wondering what it means for the Lord to take pleasure in all he has made. The UBS commentary points out that it looks backward to Genesis 1 and 2 where God declares all that he had made good. This seems to me to be the best interpretation.

When one looks at the world, everywhere and in all places (as Psalms 104 states emphatically) God's creation holds us in awe. Truly God made all things in wisdom and it is no wonder that he declared it good because it IS good; it demonstrates incredible wisdom and power, again and again and again.

Darkness is my Closest Friend

Never accuse the psalmists of having a too optimistic view of people, neither of other men, nor of himself. I love the honesty in Ps. 88.18 - You have taken away my companions and loved ones; Darkness is my closest friend. A true experience of life, and one that neither the psalmist nor we should be afraid to express. Sometimes darkness is out closest friend and that is the way God, in his providence, has arranged things. Why does he do this? To teach us dependence for sure, but the fact of the matter is that he often does not tell us why he does these things. This is the nature of faith.

Dear Generation X...or Y...or Z...

What is God's message to each successive generation? I'm glad you asked. It's quite simple really, given to us in Ps. 78.7. Each generation should:

1. Set its hope anew on God - Which is to say, realize that whatever one feels about the environment or politics or war or the other hot button issues of the day, the ultimate answer to every problem of society and Man is for each generation to set its hope anew on God.

2. Do not forget his glorious miracles - What God has done in the past gives us hope, strength, and courage to persevere in the difficulties of our lives/generations. Never forget the past, O Generation X, Y, Z never forget all that God has done for his people.

3. Obey his commands - This sounds so easy, but its not so easy, we tend to prevaricate, to hedge, to fudge God's commands and turn them into our own policies as filtered through our hearts (aka idol factories). We must obey God's commands.

Prayer: O Lord God, may my generation do these three things, while not forgetting the 4th, to pass on a passion for God to the next generation. Do thou, O Lord, raise up the next generation that follows mine to have no other god, but you alone.

The Source of True Justice

Is...no surprise here, God. Solomon asks the Lord in Ps 72.1 to give him as the king, God's justice. The NLT puts it Give your love of justice to the king, O God. An apt paraphrase. God loves justice, true justice, because that is his character. He is a loving God. He is a just God. Both characteristics are true of God. Solomon realized that, as God's leader of the people, he needed to have God's sense of justice. Thus his prayer.

Prayer: O Lord, God may I love justice as you do, but, like you, may I mix it with love.

Does God Deliver? Or doesn't He?

Reading in Psalms 34.17, this morning: When the righteous cry for help the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their trouble. I went immediately (in my Bible reading plan) to Lam 3, where (in part) I read: “He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.” (Lam 3:7–9 ESV)

What's going on here? Does the Lord deliver, or doesn't he? I think that the answer is obviously, yes, He does; and no, depending on what we see as deliverance. This is a case where we must compare scripture with scripture. It would be easy to make a blanket statement "Based upon Ps 34.17, it's obvious that the Lord will deliver me out of any and all trouble I have when I cry for help."

Suffice to say, that part of the answer to this rests in the fact that our definition of what deliverance looks like and God's definition may be (and often is) radically different. This fact clears up a lot of misunderstanding. Notice also, that after Jeremiah laments for 20 verses that God is against him and blocks his way with blocks of stones, he suddenly pens out some of the most majestic words about God in all the scriptures: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam 3:21–23 ESV)

Sometimes deliverance can be in the form of "out of" our difficulties. Sometimes it can be in the form of deliverance "through" the problem. Other times it is deliverance "in the midst of." I don't think any of this deliverance violates what David has said. I say without hesitation that every martyr who has ever been killed on behalf of Christ would say, "Yes! God delivered me out of my difficulties (into life glorious and victorious)."

Insight for Living

I like the way that the NLT translates the second phrase in Psalm 19.8 -

The commands of the Lord are clear,

giving insight for living.

Just so. Perhaps this is where Chuck Swindoll got the idea to name his ministry. The point, however, is that God's commands give us wisdom into how to live our lives. We often think of them has hindrances to our freedom, and burdens to be borne. David understands them for what they are, limitations by which we thrive in life. God's commands allow us to live abundant lives, which is what we were looking for all along. How foolish of us that we do not see this.

Focus and Growl

In Psalm 119.15, this morning. Two ways of saying the same thing. I will meditate (which means mutter, groan, or growl) on your precepts, meaning I will focus and concentrate and work them through my head again and again until I have them. In the same way, fixing one's eyes on something implies focus and concentration until understanding is gained.

Spurgeon: As the miser often returns to look upon his treasure, so does the devout believer by frequent meditation turn over the priceless wealth which he has discovered in the book of the Lord.

Faithful and Just Works

In Psalms 111.7 this morning where the psalmist describes God's works as faithful and just. Considering the context, I believe that the writer is thinking, not so much of God's act of creation, as he is his acts of faithfulness and redemption for his people. In the same verse the psalmist says that his precepts are trustworthy and in verse 9, he sent redemption to his people.

The cool thing here is that, all of the faithful and just works that God has done are available to me!