Tag Archives: Psalm

Aug
29
2012

Salvation is God’s forte (Psalm 3)

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I am continuing with Dale Ralph Davis’s book on the first twelve psalms, The Way of the Righteous in the Muck of Life. Psalm 3 is the first psalm with an attribution – “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.” Starting in 2 Samuel 15, David’s trouble with Absalom reaches a climax.

David confesses to God that his enemies are many. His own son is against him. His valued counselor, Ahithophel, joins with Absalom (2 Samuel 15:31). His enemies grate on David, implying that God will not help, that he will not save. How does David react? He runs to that same God, cries to him in his anguish.

David fills his vision with God, meeting his enemies’ talk with the truth about God. God protects like a shield, both physically and spiritually. David claims God as his “glory”, a term denoting the ideas of weightiness, substance, and wealth. His kingdom is in jeopardy, yet David finds all he needs in the Lord himself. David left with his head covered (2 Samuel 15:30), but he was confident in God’s restoring grace. Lifting of the head hearkened back to the blessing on Israel (Numbers 6:24-26). Even as David left Jerusalem, he knew the Lord was accessible, answering from his “holy hill” (Psalm 3:4).

David enjoyed peace because of who God is. He felt immediate peace (“I lay down and slept”) and long-term peace (“I will not be afraid …”). The peace controls how he looked at the future. It is a peace that Paul commended to the Philippians – a supernatural peace from God (Philippians 4:6-7). David’s peace does not come because the turmoil around him ends; it comes because he rests in God’s peace … and then sleeps (Psalm 127:2).

David prayed for deliverance, for God’s work to be done on his enemies (Psalm 3:7). We are reminded that physical and spiritual salvation can be a nasty piece of work (Revelation 6:9-10). It is altogether God’s work though; we pray for God’s servants to be vindicated by God himself … but in his time. Salvation is God’s forte, his work and his decision, not David’s enemies.

Where does this leave us? We can identify with David; he acts as a representative of God’s people. As David came to the Lord in trouble, we do as well. As David faced enemies, we do too: our sin, our world, and our enemy, Satan. We too need to run to the Lord, as David did, even as our enemies whisper that God wants nothing to do with us.

Aug
22
2012

Where is history going? (Psalm 2)

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Progressing from Psalm 1 to Psalm 2 expands from the individual person to the nations as a whole. Originally, this psalm was likely used in coronation ceremonies. The Davidic king was the Lord’s “anointed”. Yet, Psalm 2 points beyond a human king to the ultimate Son of David, Jesus Christ. He will be our focus.

The world, represented by the kings and rulers, is hostile to the Lord and his Anointed (“messiah”). We see in Acts 4:23-31 that this hostility spills onto the Lord’s people. Dale Ralph Davis asks, “What are we to make of this?” We understand that a proper worldview starts with this understanding: the world hates God, detests his Messiah, and despises his people.

But is there any consolation for the Lord’s people? Yes, God is unimpressed by this world-wide rebellion – he laughs at them all! Our consolation is grounded is this truth: God’s kingdom cannot be destroyed. God has installed his own king on Zion to rule over the nations. It may start visibly small, but will grow until it fills the earth.

God’s decree determines who will rule. The nations and rules have plotted, but God has decided and acted. God has appointed the king, with world-wide sway, who will be established in overwhelming force. The view of where everything is headed will act as glue for God’s people.

God offers the rebellious mercy if they come and make peace. They can avoid danger and experience joy, but it requires total submission to the Son. God is in the business of saving rebels. God is in control, which comforts us during persecution and urges us to share God’s mercy – which we rebels have already received.

 

Aug
19
2012

The Believer’s Life (Psalm 1)

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Dale Ralph Davis, in his book The Way of the Righteous in the Muck of Life, says that this psalm tackles matters of supreme importance right at the start. Two ways, two destinies — essentially two humanities — are laid out before us. This psalm captures the direction, the description, and the destiny of the believer’s life.

In an earlier post, I wrote about the direction of a believer’s life. In Psalm 1:1-2, that direction is largely captured by what the righteous man or woman does not do. Yet there is also an aspect of what the righteous do: he takes signals for living from the law of God (the “torah“). The believer is preoccupied with the Word of God, working it into her very being.

The blessings that describe the believer’s life flow from living out of the Word of God. Psalm 1:3-4 describes the believer’s life as a life filled with stability (“planted”), marked by vitality (“by streams of water”), given to productivity (“yields its fruit”), established in durability (“does not wither”), and grown in prosperity (“prospers”). But we must not over-read what the Psalmist is saying. This psalm shares many qualities with wisdom literature. It uses stark contrasts at a summary level, with broad brush strokes but few qualifiers. Later psalms (such as Psalm 3 and 4) should disabuse of the notion that all is always well for the Christian.

The psalm culminates with two destinies; it is a very serious and solemn ending. The wicked have no justification, no communion with the righteous, and no hope. “The way of the wicked will perish.” Yet the destiny of the righteous is different. The Lord continually knows the way of the righteous. The God who cares for every step the righteous takes will also care when he steps into judgment.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

Aug
14
2012

Peace to Sleep

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Over two Psalms, David remarks on his ability to sleep well and in peace. The Lord sustains David as he flees from his son Absalom (Psalm 3:5), and the Lord protects David as he sleeps (Psalm 4:8). What has struck me about each of these verses is the active work on the Lord on David’s behalf and indeed on every Christian’s behalf. The Lord lifts David up and protects him, physically and spiritually. The Lord carefully watches over us. He is for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

 

May
21
2012

Psalm 2

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[2:1] Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

[2] The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,

[3] “Let us burst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.”

[4] He who sits in the heavens laughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

[5] Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

[6] “As for me, I have set my King

on Zion, my holy hill.”

[7] I will tell of the decree:

The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

today I have begotten you.

[8] Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

and the ends of the earth your possession.

[9] You shall break them with a rod of iron

and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

[10] Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

be warned, O rulers of the earth.

[11] Serve the LORD with fear,

and rejoice with trembling.

[12] Kiss the Son,

lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,

for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

 

May
19
2012

Two Ways

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Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount spoke quite starkly about two ways (Matthew 7:13-14). The two ways ended in either destruction or life. In working through Psalm 1, I was struck by the contrast of the righteous and the wicked, of the outcome associated with those two ways. I wonder if Jesus had this Psalm in mind as he spoke to his disciples.

The Lord knows the way of the righteous. The one on that way will meditate on the law, the torah of the Lord. The “torah” used here is the teaching of the Lord. It encompasses instruction and doctrine, and may well include the prayers and praises included in the psalms. The law is the delight of those on the way of the righteous.

The way of the righteous avoids the counsel of the wicked, the way of sinners, and the seat of scoffers. Dale Ralph Davis makes the point that this really represents the “totality of evil”. The righteous want no part of their thinking (counsel), or behaving (way), or belonging (seat). The righteous man or woman “resists the vacuum-cleaner power-moves” that evil uses.

May we all stay on the way of the righteous, for the Lord knows it well.

 

May
07
2012

Summer Memorization

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A few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel in Israel and Jordan on a tour group led by my father-in-law. Traveling in the Holy Land sounded so cliche, and at first, I resisted taking the trip. My wife had gone already on another tour, also with her father, and she could not stop talking about it — and she signed me up to go when her dad began setting up another group. It was a wonderful trip, one that I am glad I took.

Yet, this post is not about the trip or pictures or food. It is about the Psalms. As we wrapped up our tour, we spent several days in and around Jerusalem. Our guide, Harrison Cohen, read from Psalm 122 as we ascended in the bus to Jerusalem. As you might guess, he read Psalm 122:6, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Later as we began our tour of the temple mount area, we stopped by the Western Wall. Many of the men were praying aloud or reading aloud, so I decided to read the “songs of ascent” (Psalm 120-134) while standing at the Western Wall.

When I finished memorizing Philippians using the “memory moleskine,” I wanted to make sure that I did not lose the momentum I had gained. I wanted to learn more Scripture. As a summer project, I laid out the songs of ascent. I had always heard great things about the Psalms, yet it was not until this effort to learn them that I grew to share that opinion. The songs of ascent seemed so real, so down-to-earth, focusing on what felt like our own real life struggles. The songs covered times of blessing and times of despair, times of worship and times of scorn from others, times of excitement and times when all seem against you.

Each summer if the schedule allows it, I am going to work through the Psalms. This summer, I will start at the beginning, working through the first twelve psalms. I have several books to help me as I study these, but I am most excited about reading “The Way of the Righteous in the Muck of Life” by Dale Ralph Davis.

 

May
06
2012

Psalm 1

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[1] Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

[2] but his delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

[3] He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

[4] The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

[5] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

[6] for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.