Month: February 2017

You can’t take it with you.  You’ve heard that before.  The New Testament says something similar when we read in Matthew 6:20 that we are to store treasures in heaven.  The New Testament implication, actually it is stated quite directly, is that where our treasure is, there our heart will be as well.  But the psalmist takes a completely different approach and basically tells us not to rely upon and not to be discouraged when we see others with a lot of wealth.  It is a very different approach.  Sometimes people can compare themselves to others.  Think about that for a while.

Do people go through life comparing themselves and their salaries to people that they know?  Oftentimes if one does not make as much as another we feel maybe as if we aren’t worth as much.  I am speaking completely in the hypothetical because I think those who know me realize that when I talk about finances it is fairly unorthodox.  I think pastors get paid too much.  I think there should be a level playing field and every pastor within the Presbyterian Church should get paid the same, and maybe account for the cost of living in certain areas, but that is all.  I think we should get paid close to, if not at, the same level as those in the lowest economic class of our church.  You don’t want to talk to me about money, you will leave somewhat bewildered, but again, I hope I am not making this stuff up.  I’m pretty sure I can point to Scripture and support my thoughts on this.  I won’t do that here in this space, however.

But the psalmist does say that we are not to worry when we see others making much more than us or if their house is nicer than ours, if they have more toys than we do.  Nothing we have on this earth will go with us to our death.  We should not find pleasure just in what we have here on this earth  thinking that it will in any way translate to what we will have beyond our time here on this earth.  It doesn’t hurt us to remember that there is something, and it is something really, really good, that lies beyond this life.  What we have in this life, especially our material things, are not going to make us happy in the next life.

This Psalm really focuses on the location of the presence of God.  It had always been thought that with the building of the temple then God would reside, live, take habitation in Jerusalem.  Keep in mind that Jerusalem was not the location of the residence of God until King David was around.  When we read in Scripture about Mt. Zion it is a reference to the Holy Hill, or Jerusalem.  Before David came around Jerusalem was not considered the capital, David made is such.  It was just another fortress and walled city in that region.

Remember it was the ark of the covenant which traveled with Moses and Joshua which distinguished the presence of the Lord before the kings came around and before David’s son Solomon had it built.  That ark would be placed in the tabernacle which was considered a traveling residence for God.  I’ve gotten into this in the past, but it is important to note again that for David when we talk about the Holy Mountain we are talking about Jerusalem.  We are not talking about Mt. Sinai which is where Moses climbed to receive the covenant in the form of the 10 commandments. 

Here is a picture of our family climbing Mt. Sinai as the sun is rising.  One of the most powerful experiences of my life.

Here is a picture of Jerusalem which is hard to tell that it is actually on a hill, but it is.  Credit to John Faltin for the picture.  King David was absolutely in love with this city and you can tell from this Psalm that he fully sees this city as the city of God.  

That creates a bit of a problem in our modern age when politically we talk about Israel and the problem of Jerusalem.  I’m not sure if people realize that currently there are four different people groups who see Jerusalem as their capital: Jews in Israel, Muslims in Palestine, Christian arabs, and Armenian arabs.  Each of them lay claim to the city for a number of historical and religious reasons.  This psalm reflects the deep claim that the people of Israel have on Jerusalem, a claim which is no more convincing than the ones held by the Muslims, or the Christians or the Armenians.  And yet, we have taken sides.  Jerusalem could be the one place on earth where the type of harmony which is reflected in the kingdom of God could take place.  It has more potential than any other city in the world.  But unfortunately, because we are involved, it has continued to be a place that has seen more violence than most places in the world.  Pray for peace in Jerusalem.  Just peace, not ownership.

So, to start I want you to go back to the blog on Psalm 46 and look at Dot Rineer’s comment.  She continuously posts music that is incredibly appropriate (as opposed to Jethro Tull) and fits the psalm that we are covering perfectly.  There is a song there from Shane and Shane in her comment where you should click the link and just worship.  That is what it reflects, just pure worship.  I know, I know, what kind of worship does the Lord require of us?  Not just listening to music and feeling uplifted but to feed the poor, clothe the naked, house the homeless, give refuge to the outcast and the one without a nation.  That is pure worship.  But boy, that video is really, really uplifting.  Thank you all for your comments.

Okay, what does Psalm 47 provide for us?  It is obviously a psalm of praise as we begin with a command to clap your hands, all you peoples.  Hmm, that’s funny.  You know, I don’t like to clap in church.  I’m not one of those stodgy people who will frown upon clapping in church, if you want to do it, I’m fine with it, but I just won’t do it.  There is a big part of me that wants to clap to God for all that He has done.  The purpose of the clapping in this psalm is for the power and presence of God.  Not for a good song that we have sung or a good performance that we may have done.  But again, if you are good with it, so am I, just don’t ask me to do it and I won’t ask you to stop.

I guess I did sound a bit stodgy, especially in light of what this psalm reflects.  It shows a celebration for the people as we are to sing praises to God.  Did you see that phrase, sing praises, repeated 4 times in one verse and then it is followed up one more time in the next verses just for good measure?  There is no excuse for how we have treated communion as a funeral dirge.  Okay, that may have come out of the blue, but aren’t we talking about celebrating and praising God in church?  We should be singing praises for all that God has done, even as we take communion.  I think it is the most misrepresented and miscelebrated (sic) sacrament that we have.  We should be clapping our hands to God as we take the bread and the juice.  God, you are awesome, look what you did for me!  We ought to sing praises to God as the elements are being distributed.  

The basic strong thrust of this psalm is that we are to recognize that God is over all things.  He is enthroned on high and he is Lord and ruler of all.  That should make us clap our hands and sing praises to God.  

So this is one of those psalms that you remember and that your refer to over and over again in your life.  It is in line with Psalm 23, and 121, and 139, and others that I draw from when I am in need of consolation and relief.  God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.  Boy oh boy do we need to hear that daily!  God is our refuge and our strength.  That is the way that it starts.  But the way it ends we also are very familiar with as the Scripture tells us: Be still and know that I am God.

When I hear that verse it reminds me of Elijah’s moment on the cliff waiting to hear God’s voice in I Kings 19:11-18.  It was difficult for Elijah to stay still and to listen to God’s voice, because we expect God to come in earthquakes, and fires, and wind, but he doesn’t.  This Psalm commands us to be still.  How in the world do you expect us in the 21st century to be still?  We have kids, pets, appointments, church work, all sorts of things that we have to work out so we have to constantly be on the move.  Staying still is just for the lazy.  Don’t tell me to stay still.  I’d rather meet God on the road, like Paul as he was on the way to Damascus, than meet him as I’m still.

Be still and know that I am God.  Also, it is interesting to note that the word for refuge, God is our refuge, is also the word for fortress.  God is our fortress.  Be still.  Meditate on that today.

How appropriate is it that this psalm happens to fall on Valentine’s Day?  Traditionally this psalm is thought to be a royal wedding psalm which reflects the day when the king would be married.  It also reminds me a lot of Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs which is the same thing) where we find the closest thing to an R rated description of events.  If you are married and want to read something interesting with your spouse, go ahead and crack open that book of the Bible.  I guarantee it will make you blush.  Okay, maybe it just makes me blush.  Anyway, happy Valentine’s Day.  Enjoy Psalm 45.

Here we find a psalm that speaks to a time and a place that could be decidedly different than the kingdom that David commanded, or his son Solomon or his predecessor Saul.  The psalmist speaks of remembering hearing from the ancestors when God used to work mighty deeds and that God would lead the troops into battle.  The assumption is that if he is walking down memory lane, with memories that are not his, then God is no longer working in the way that some have recalled.  This Psalm might be better suited for when Israel went into captivity, not when it was one of the more powerful nations on the earth as it was during David’s reign.

I know I have heard many say that God simply does not work in the miraculous ways that he used to.  Once the New Testament was written then a new age started which does not manifest God’s power in any of the same ways that God used to manifest himself.  As the psalmist may have been referring to the days of the judges, so someone like Gideon who with a handful of men overtook the Midianites or before that Joshua who fought the battle of Jericho, God doesn’t work that way anymore, could be the interpretation of this psalm.  Some have taken it to today where we hear just as Jesus walked the earth and healed and changed water to wine, and just as the Holy Spirit descended powerfully and visibly, that just doesn’t happen anymore.

Well, I respectfully disagree.  I have seen people healed with my own eyes.  I have seen miracles take place that were much more than coincidences.  I have heard the voice of God lead and direct me in the past and I expect to hear Him again in the future.  God does still work miracles.  Starting at vs.9 we see the psalmist react to a reality that many of us experience.  We need God to work a miracle but we simply do not see Him at work in this day and age.  We focus upon the effect that this has on our life and we go so far as to say, as the psalmist does, that we have done no wrong, see vs.17-18.  The blame for the author, and in many instances the blame that we cast as well, lies squarely on God.

Again, I respectfully disagree.  God does not ever abandon us.  We do feel abandoned at times, but they are the times that we have drawn ourselves away from God.  Or, and this happens as well, we may be in a very intense relationship with God and yet we feel his absence.  That feeling of absence normally comes about because we do not hear God’s answer to our prayer which may be no.  If we don’t get the answer that we want then at times we feel as if God has abandoned us or is not listening.  Read this psalm and be reminded that it is human for us to cast blame of our problems on God, but it is not helpful.  God continuously and without fail shows his steadfast love.

The psalmist asks God to send out His light and His truth so that they might lead him.  I think most of us feel a lot more comfortable just asking for the light of God to lead us, and maybe a little less comfortable asking for the truth of God to lead us.  But if we take that stance then we are mistaken.  We have forgotten the Scripture that states that the light of God will reveal all those things which are hidden and bring them into plain view (Luke 8:17, Luke 12:2, I Corinthians 4:5, Ephesians 5:13).  We most definitely need to understand that our lives really are not our lives.  There is nothing which is hidden which will remain hidden.  What would you do if you knew you could get away with it forever with no one knowing?  Be careful.  Answer honestly.  Think of the people you would hurt if you did those things.  But then recognize that we should obey God’s law not because we might get caught, motivation of fear, but rather because we simply do not want to do them because we have no desire for them and we understand whom we will hurt if we do them, motivation of love.

We need to allow the truth of God to lead us.  It is a truth that will set us free and a truth that will allow us to recognize that our hope is in God.  The psalmist asks first that God would vindicate him.  That means that God would be on his side and against his enemies.  I’m sorry, but God does not take sides.  God does not want our country to win against any other country.   God does not want us as Christians to have the upper hand against any other religion.  God does not want us as individuals to be over any other people.  God simply wants our obedience and then whatever may come we will be able to handle.  That is the way that God is.  I love God for that.  I’m not sure I would want to serve a God who loves me more than anyone else.  The same goes for our parents, right?  We don’t want our parents to love us more than others.  We just want them to love us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5pZkLWZv-E

The song is a classic one, but it in no way matches the psalm from which it was taken.  The Psalm really is more of a pep talk to the author who needs to remind himself that God is his hope and his shield.  He continues to bring up things that aren’t really going his way and then reminds himself that you know what, if I don’t hope in the Lord, then all is lost.  I have to hope in the Lord.

So there are some who live in realities where in their families or at their work they are the only ones who want to walk with the Lord.  Those who surround them have no interest.  There are some spouses who would love to have their husbands attend church with them, or some parents who would love to have their grown children attend church with them, but at a certain point we have to realize that at times we are not the ones to lead them to church.  Someone else will be in that position.  Our role and our responsibility is to hope that God will work on their lives.  

But until that happens, our soul can be cast down.  We worry about their salvation.  We worry about their contentment and being happy with what they have and who they are.  When our soul is cast down it is then that we have to read this psalm again and hear the psalmist, who has faced the same difficulties and the same depressed spirit, say at the end of the psalm: “Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”  That refrain can only, at times, come from within us.  It often doesn’t come from, as vs. 3 reminds us, the people with whom we surround ourselves.  Rather, that encouragement, that reminder that God is our help and our hope, has to come from within us.  We are the only ones, at times, who can hear those words and as a deer, be led to the water and drink.  Don’t ever lose sight that God is our hope and our help, remind yourself continually of that. 

It seems like we are all over the map in this psalm.  It begins on the note that I stressed before which I consider the most important part of my ministry outside of preaching Jesus Christ, and that is the cause of the poor and the marginalized.  The psalm begins with the authors stating that God will give preference to those who look out for the poor.   This is nothing new, we have seen it before.

He then transitions to another theme which we see in a lot of psalms which is: Woe is me because I have a lot of enemies and they are all coming after me.  One difference in this psalm is the honesty of the statement in vs.10: But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.  What a statement.  Make me healthy and strong so I can crush my enemies.  Again, some of these psalms are so honest and raw and yet at the same time antithetical to Jesus’ words and message.  Jesus said that in order to rule over all we must be a servant to all.  A psalmist perspective would be in order to rule over all you must crush all your enemies.  I don’t really see Jesus saying that.  

But we need to be comfortable with the contextual differences and be able to say that Scripturally the words of our Savior fulfill the Old Testament approach of an eye for an eye by given a new commandment.  Do you remember Jesus’ new commandment which is why celebrate Maundy Thursday?  Look up John 13:34 and you will see Jesus’ new commandment.

In the end, however, we are able to say: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel.

This psalm is legitimately a psalm of thanksgiving through and through.  Except for maybe vs.11 where the psalmist asks God to make sure that he doesn’t withhold his grace and favor from him, and maybe even vs.12 where there is a descriptive statement on the evil that surrounds him, but everything is filled with thanksgiving.  The psalmist praises God for all those times in his life when he was in the miry pit and God drew him out.  I want to focus a bit on vs.3.

You notice that the psalmist is able to say that he has a new song because of what God has done for him.  The past is finished and gone and he has been blessed tremendously.  He wants to tell everyone what God has done for him.  This is a natural inclination for anyone who has been blessed by God.  You just don’t want to keep it to yourself.  But in the last part of this verse he states that many will see that God has done good things to him because of what he says and does, but he also says that many will fear.  

Keep this in mind.  How we act or react in our lives is not just an indication of our character, but it is also an indication of who God is in our lives.  If our lives don’t reflect the joy that we have in the Lord, then people will see that and mock God.  We do have a responsibility to ensure that our lives mirror the life of Jesus or else when we tell others about the love of God, well, it simply will not be believed.  Why should anyone believe us that God is good when we treat others in a way that no one should ever be treated?  Why should anyone want to hear the good news of Jesus Christ if we, the ones who follow him, ultimately turn our back on the world?  In the paraphrased words of Gandhi: I love Jesus, it is just Christians that I can’t stand.