Month: January 2017

Just got back from a weekend with our elders and deacons.  It was a great retreat.  We looked at this psalm this morning.  I put together some questions that I thought might be relevant for what is happening in the world around us.  Here they are, feel free to follow the study if you would like:  

1.  Read Psalm 21

2.  Who would the king be in our current age and in our current climate?  The obvious answer a day away from the inauguration is that the king for our country right now would be Donald Trump.

3.  How does Romans 13:1-7 work together with this verse?  We are called, as vs. 7 states, to do good in respect to the government which rules over us.  We pointed out that this would be the case both for the administration before this one and the current administration.  We figured that would cover every person in the room.  No matter who is in charge we are called to do good.

4.  How does Micah 6:8 work together with this verse?  The question we can extract from the question above is: “What is the good that we are called to do?”  Micah in vs.8 says the following: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the  Lord  require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  There are three things which we could define as good and which we ought to do in respect to the government which is over us – 1) do justice, 2) love kindness, 3) walk humbly with our God.  This would have been a well understood definition in Paul’s day of what “doing good” entailed.

5.  In what ways can we encourage unity within the body within a divided country?  We reflected upon the fact that First Presbyterian in this time and in this place seems pretty united and there is a momentum which is taking us forward.  A question was raised, does lack of conflict mean that we are united?  An answer was given, no, but the ability even in the midst of our differences to focus on kingdom work and not our differences allows me to say that there just might be unity.  We felt that our unity could potentially be a strong witness for our community in as far as how do people who aren’t on the same page politically still be able to do something productive and even life giving.

6.  Is this a conversation that should take place within a church or is it simply too caustic to even touch?  There was a common consensus that topics of political discord could be raised in the church but so much care had to be given as to how they are raised.  An example that we used is the large number of refugees who are coming into Lancaster County through Church World Service.  On paper this would be a tremendously controversial topic.  But in the church we fully recognize that it would fall under Micah’s understanding of doing good.  I was actually surprised that we seemed to be able to come to a consensus on that.  We can address our responsibilities to other people that we may have if we can do it in an apolitical way.

7.  How did Jesus address these issues? (Look at Matthew 22:15-22, John 18:33-38)  In a like manner an answer was given that Jesus seemed to be, on paper at least, apolitical and did not speak against the status quo forcefully, in these Scriptures at least.  Should we pay taxes?  Sure, go ahead, give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s.  Not a strongly worded political statement which would shake up the empire.  Are you a king?  Sure, if you want to call me a king you can, but I’m not calling myself a king and my kingdom isn’t of this world anyway.  Again, a potentially apolitical statement which addressed a very politically charged topic.

All of this from Psalm 21 which speaks very directly to the king and a prayer of blessing and protection on the king and on the nation.  I pray we can ask the same for our “king” even as we seek to ensure that the good which Scripture requires us to do, gets done.

On this day of the inauguration some would see it as somewhat fitting that we hear a psalm of victory.  We could focus on vs.7 which states that some place their trust in their military might, but we will take our stand on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now, I don’t want that last statement to come across as a reactionary fundamentalist approach which some may have that implies that all I care about is my relationship with Jesus and anything else is insignificant.  I care about those things that Jesus cares about.  What are those things?

Jesus speaks more about the kingdom of God than anything else and a close second is what we do with our finances.  Look at Matthew 25:31-46 and you see what is important to our Savior: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, showing hospitality to an immigrant or stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison.  We can never imagine that all Jesus cares about is our relationship with him.

That is absolutely where it starts but many of us see that as the beginning and the ending.  It is not, it is only a beginning.  A relationship with Jesus needs to lead to action in Jesus’ name.  When the psalmist prays for help from the Lord in the midst of his sanctuary, it is a legitimate cry for help that comes from a life lived where help has been needed.  The prayer is that God would fulfill all of our plans.  Once again, our plans ought to be the Lord’s plans.  They should not diverge.  What are the Lord’s plans?  See above and Matthew 25 and repeat.  It is not complicated at all.  We should be able to see in this Psalm a simple assurance that is not quid pro quo (I follow God’s will and God will protect me).  But rather just an assurance that God is absolutely going to protect us and keep us.

Every single Sunday we hear the words of Psalm 19:14.  Do you recognize them and can you identify when in the service those words are spoken?  My style is normally I say some words before I read the second Scripture and then I pray and the prayer that I pray comes directly from that verse.  I tend to switch it up a little bit and it could sound something like this: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be worthy and acceptable in your sight, for you are our rock and our redeemer.  Amen.”  The Psalmist includes it at the end of his Psalm, I like to put it in the beginning so that at least the intention is that God is directing and guiding the words that I am saying and that what I will say will be worthy and acceptable in the sight of God.  I know, that is a lot to ask, but I’m not going to stop asking it.

Psalm 19 is a well known psalm and it contains some of the most precious phrases that we have in all of Scripture.  We have all heard the words: “The heavens are telling the glory of God.”  It is real similar to what we read in Romans 1:20 which tells us: “Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.”  The heavens proclaim God’s handiwork.  

I always go back to the same scene when I think of the most amazing natural beauty that I have ever seen.  It was Spring Break of 1990 and I was studying in Rome and I had a Eurail pass.  I travelled to Figueira da Foz, Portugal and on the way stopped along the French Riviera, Barcelona, and then on the way back I stopped in what was the quaint little town of Interlaken, Switzerland.  I got off the train station with no plans, it was about 10 in the morning and I had been on a train for close to 3 days now, and I looked over beyond the tracks and see a tiny tower looming up on a hill in the midst of the Swiss Alps.  

I made my way to the tower, not knowing that it was taking me away from the town of Interlaken which I never did see on that trip, and arrived at a cemetery which was gated and the tower rose straight up at least 5 stories.  I noticed that it was an easy gate to open, even if it was locked, and went into the cemetery, walked inside this tower which could not have been larger than a 6×6 tower around but probably 40 or more feet in the air.  I’m not sure if that is architecturally possible, but it went way, way up there and it was super, super skinny.  Inside there were rungs, like telephone pole rungs, and so I climbed up the tower which was completely open at the top.  It was skinny enough that as I was climbing my back would periodically brush against the other side of the tower.

When got to the top I propped myself from inside to the outside of the tower and precariously sat down on what would have been similar to a cinder block diameter all around the tower.  I felt very unstable and was not able to look out for a few moments.  But when I did…when I did, it was breathtaking.  I could not breathe it was so beautiful.  There I was on the top of a hill in the Swiss Alps on the top of a structure that took me to a place where I could literally see eagles soaring below me.  Off in the distance there were the two lakes from which Interlaken gets its name.  I could see pastures in the distance and her the cowbells.  The heavens were proclaiming God’s handiwork.  I could palpably feel the presence of the Lord, which was a good thing because I thought I was going to die I was so high up.

The Psalmist reminds us in this psalm not only of the evidence of God’s presence and work in the world around us, but also that God is rooting for us to follow his commandments so that we can live lives which reflect His desires and His presence.  It is simply a great all around Psalm.  Think back of a time when you felt the presence of the Lord in your life that it very nearly took your breath away.

Here’s another Shane arrangement.  But the one that I remember the most growing up is this one:

My first thought is that this would be a great psalm for our soldiers going into battle.  Not only does it speak of God protecting and keeping them safe in His refuge, but he also speaks about God giving them the victory.  It almost feels like a rallying cry of a general as he gathers his troops for the battle ahead.  With Antonio Brown live streaming the victory speech of Tomlin, it places me squarely into that context of a leader encouraging and talking up his troops as they face an uncertain future.  Or, it could also be an encouraging speech by a general as they have just vanquished the foe.

It is a longer psalm and I hope you didn’t lose interest.  It is quite a powerful psalm and like the Shane song, which I love by the way, it goes through shifts and twists and turns.  It gets really riled up in the middle of the psalm as we hear about God’s power and smoke coming out of this nostrils.  It scares the daylight out of you.  But that’s what you want when you are going into battle.  I played basketball in college and it is laughable and maybe even insulting to our soldiers if I even try to use that as an example, but it is all I know, so I’m going to use it fully realizing that it doesn’t even  come close to what our brave men and women experience.  I’ll never forget my high school coach who really laid into us because we were by far the best team in the conference and a team was beating us at halftime that didn’t even deserve to be in the same gym.  Let me just say that what Tomlin said was tame to what we were subjected to.  But we went out and beat the team by 40 points.  

Okay, Elliott Smith just walked into my office.  He is a dear brother from college who is following this challenge in Philadelphia.  Of all things he just said that the challenge has proven to be helpful to him.  It just made my year and the year has just started.  Back to the Psalm.

This Psalm also contains another song which I learned growing up which is this one, found on vs.46.  

I think I’ll leave it there.  Enough said.

I do want to draw your attention to Dot Rineer’s comment from yesterday’s blog.  If you don’t know how to get to the comments on the blogs you can find them below my post in very light blue letters.  You’ll see them.  Just about every day someone has commented on a blog.  She introduced me to Shane and Shane who have put out songs on some of the Psalms.  Yesterday’s Psalm 16 can be found here. 

It might be worth to see if they have one for every day.  I just looked it up, I don’t see a version of Psalm 17.  

So, what is Psalm 17 about?  It does remind me of someone who is running full steam through a dense forest crying out to the Lord for help.  But what I noticed just now is giving me goose bumps.  Look at vs. 8 and we find the phrase: “guard me as the apple of the eye.”  Shakespeare has made that phrase famous for modern day readers in his A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  This isn’t the only place in the Bible where we find that term.  We see it in Deuteronomy 32:10, Proverbs 7:2, Lamentations 2:18, Zechariah 2:8.  In the Hebrew the phrase is literally:  ‘iyshown ‘ayin (אישון עין) which means “little man of the eye”.  The thought is that this refers to a person seeing himself as a reflection in the eyes of another person.  

So, if we are asking God to consider us as his reflection, what does that mean?  Who remembers Genesis 1:26 where God says that he will make us in his own image?  Doesn’t that mean the same as God saying that he will make us as the apple of his eye?  When the psalmist asks God to consider him as the apple of his eye, it is almost as if he is trying to remind God that, hey, do you remember, you said that I was made in your image so protect me as if I were a little you.  What a great image of us being the little man or woman that God created to be just like him.  

God loves us so much that he created us to be just like him.  We are to reflect his presence.  This psalmist knew this well which is why he keeps referring back to what God has done in his life and how God has indeed protected him consistently and without fail.  I want you to remember today that you are the little man or woman of God’s eye.  The psalm ends again with that same reference. The author states that when I awake I will behold your likeness.  Let’s not go into an egotistical approach, but isn’t this just another way of saying that every morning we can look in the mirror and say: God, you have made me to face today.  God, you have made me for today.  God, you love me so much that you have allowed me to have another day.  When we look at our lives we ought to see the likeness of God in action.  

Is it too much to say that we ought to have the sense of worth and value that God has first ascribed to us when he made us?  I went to LCBC on this past Saturday with our confirmation class and the kids heard and remembered the message of pastor Ashcraft.  God loves you and values you.  Simple, nothing complicated.  God considers you a work of art.  We don’t see ourselves that way, but we ought to.  God sees us that way.  God made us to reflect his image and to be like him, that is how much he loves us.

We begin by trying to figure out what the word “miktam” might mean.  The bottom line is that, once again, no one knows what it means.  I have my own theory, but let me share some others first, and then mine.  Some think that it refers to a wind instrument, so this psalm would be played to a wind instrument, similar to past psalms which we have seen, such as the flute.  But there is no linguistic backing for this definition.  In modern day Hebrew the term refers to an epigram, which is a brief, sometimes satirical, statement.  But back in David’s day the Babylonians in their language had a similar word and it meant a lid or a metal cover to a vessel.  See where I am going with this one?  I think this is the first psalm we have which was highlighted as being accompanied by percussion, or the drums.  See, the drums are not of the devil after all.

This is a beautiful, but fairly unknown, psalm.  Any psalm which asks for protection and ascribes to the Lord refuge is one that ought to be on our radar.  In this era where some of us feel as if terrorists are the biggest threat to our livelihood (they are not by the way), and in this time where our policies are shaped by fear and a seeming lack of security, any psalm which addresses protection and refuge should be a breath of fresh air.  

Think of this phrase: “You are my Lord, I have no good apart from you.”  I know people who are doing incredible good around the world, and yet would never say that they believe in Jesus as Savior.  In fact, the people that I know who are doing some of the most incredible, altruistic, life giving work around the world would specifically say that they are not disciples of Jesus in any way shape or form.  So the phrase, “I have no good apart from you”, how does that apply?  Notice the psalmist does not say: I can do no good apart from you.  The source of all things good, all things, comes from our Creator God.  

So what is the source of the good that comes from the people who do not profess God to be their source of all things good?  Can a person do good without God.  I have to answer yes, they can.  But I quickly follow it up with: but they could do so much more good for themselves and for this world if they only knew Jesus.  What happens sometimes is that when we come to know Jesus then the good that we would do, we don’t.  We don’t do it because for some reason some disciples are perfectly happy and content to only look out for their own salvation and their own self-interests.  Remember what Dire Straits said: “When you point your finger cos your plan fell through
You got three more fingers pointing back at you.”  I’ll give you the link for that song: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adz7yCXZG18

The Psalm continues and ends with a wonderfully glass half full approach.  I have no problem sleeping, the psalmist states.  What a great statement and what a testimony to his reliance upon the Lord for all things.  When I have problems sleeping it is mostly because there is something at the church which is causing conflict or is unresolved.  There simply are times when we turn things over to the Lord, but anxiety is still present.  The fullness of joy which God provides is also very attainable.  Have you ever heard in the Bible a promise for: “pleasures evermore?”  That would make some Puritans roll over in their grave.

But what is wrong with the statement: Life is an awesome adventure and then you go to heaven.  It is a statement we could all live by and it will provide the inevitable “pleasures” that life ought to have.  There is nothing wrong with living a “pleasurable” live.  In fact, as this psalm tells us, pleasure and joy have been given to us by God.  They are not gifts from Satan, but rather gifts from God.  Think of that next time you have a chocolate and vanilla shake.

This is a really nice Psalm.  We find a listing of qualities of a person who can be considered blameless and walking in the way of the Lord.  Here are some of the qualities of that person and let’s just see how many of these we can check off.

The person needs to be someone who speaks the truth from their heart (not a phony).  The person needs to be someone who doesn’t slander or speak unkind and damaging things about people.  The person needs to be someone who does no evil to their friends.  The person needs to be able to forgive their neighbor for whatever slights that they may felt from them.  The person needs to not take joy in evil or wicked actions against others.  The person needs to honor and respect those people who love God.  The person needs to keep a promise even if it hurts him in the long run.  The person needs to be able to lend money without interest.  The person needs to be able to turn down a bribe from an innocent person who thinks that may be the only way they can get ahead in a culture where bribes are commonplace.  

If a person is able to check all of these things off then he or she will be well grounded.  Remember what Psalm 1:3 says about a tree that is planted by the water?  It is well established and it shall not be moved.  I just want to pull out one of those statements and that is the one about lending without interest.  There are certainly statements in the Old Testament against usury.  Usury is where you are lending money at exorbitant interest rates.  That is our definition for today.  But in the Old Testament usury is considered anytime you lend money and you charge interest.

You can find charging interest being condemned in the following Scripture:  Exodus 22:24, Leviticus 25:36-37, Deuteronomy 23:20-21, Ezekiel 18:17.  Just think, we would have all of our loans at 0% interest.  Sounds good unless you are a banker, or a mortgage broker, or anyone who deals with money for a living.  But isn’t it interesting that what was condemned in the Old Testament is oftentimes common practice for us.  Don’t let anyone tell you they take the Bible literally.  Here is an example where that simply isn’t the case.

As I’m reading through this Psalm I hear the words of Judges ringing in my ear.  If you look at that book you can hear repeated over and over again: “And the people did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”  When we read that we need to remember that we are talking about the people of God.  These are people who are supposed to be followers of the Creator, the one God.  But the Psalm really seems to point a finger to those outside of the fellowship of believers.

So here is the danger.  We are often in danger in the church of thinking that we are the ones that God favors while those outside of the church…not so much.  But throughout Scripture we see that it is the people of the church, the people of God who are called as those who have little faith, who turn their back on their leaders and seek out other gods, who commit adultery with the wives of their military leaders, who betray their Savior.  How tempting it is for us to call out as this psalmist does against the evildoers around us without seeing the evil in us.

Just wondering if you noticed that we see God is the refuge of the poor.  Jesus isn’t the only one who has a soft spot in his heart and ministry for the poor.  It is consistent within the Trinity.

I went to a gathering of pastors yesterday and we spent the entire time praying for you.  Seriously, the entire time, except for the meal afterwards that is.  At the end one of the pastors said that he wanted to pray that this would be the year of the Lord’s favor and he explained what he meant by that.  He wanted to pray that this year would be the year that God would bless the churches financially.  I squirmed.  Even if at the end of this psalm we read: “I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”, we need to fully recognize that the psalmist also says: “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”  

My strategy for church finances is if you love the people, if you are excited and passionate about what you are doing and invested and connected with the projects and the programs, people are just going to naturally respond.  I have prayed in the past with business people that God would help the business grow and be financially viable, but for some reason don’t feel comfortable asking for the favor of the Lord for the church in that respect.  I’m thinking that is my problem.  Why wouldn’t we ask God to bless the church financially.  Probably because part of me thinks that we should be able to do that ourselves.  I know, that isn’t what I preach and it really shouldn’t be what I believe.  I think I just found one more area where I need to grow as a pastor and as a person, thanks Psalm 13!

Once again we find a psalm that is to be set to the eighth octave which gives it a sense of deep foreboding and seriousness.  The primary object of this psalm is a word that we all have heard before: gossip.  Now, there is nothing more offsetting than a sermon or statements made that are moralism gone amuck.  Anyone can say that gossip is bad and it would really have no impact.  Let’s analyze exactly what we mean when we talk about gossip.  Let’s use this psalm as an example.  It begins with vs.2 where we hear that they utter lies to each other and they flatter themselves.

We have been taught that gossip is when we say unkind things about other people.  Here it seems that the psalmist is speaking out against those who promote themselves or others just for the sake of flattery.  What does flattery produce?  It is an opportunity to get ahead and to curry favor from others.  The author speaks out so strongly against us trying to be someone that we are not simply for the purpose of others thinking that we are someone that we are not.  I have to say that this last sentence has been a primary complaint from non-church goers for generations.  I have heard often the complaint that the reason why I don’t go to church is because it is a bunch of hypocrites.  We are well known for saying one thing and then doing another.  We are well known for praising people to their faces and then saying something completely different to others in our company.

But what I really want us to think about, about which this psalms almost demands that we think, is what does it mean to say that all flattering lips should be cut off?  The psalmist uses it to describe an evil generation with the wicked prowling and vileness exalted.  What direct correlation can you make of those who flatter with their lips and, as vs.3 states, tongues that make great boasts? We need to be careful not only of the company that we keep, but especially what we say and what we think when we are with company.

Every now and then I get on a reading kick where I begin by reading the first work of an author and then work my way through much of what they have written.  I am now on an Ayn Rand kick.  I hope I survive it.  She is different, but she emphasizes the danger of being phony and pleasing just to get in the favor of people.  She is an individualist to the extreme.  For some reason as I’m reading her works I hear a voice saying: she would not be real crazy about church and its insistence that we all think and do alike.  Oh, for a church where we could be individuals and not have to stay with the status quo but somehow create our own status quo.  

But it is hard to break out of a preservationist mentality exactly for the reason that David wrote against this psalm.  We like telling each other lies and saying things about ourselves which are not true so that we can advance and be thought of as respectable.  Jesus didn’t worry about that.  He did what he knew his Father demanded and he acted equally.  Strive to do the same.