Psalm 17

Psalm 17 is another David song.  He sings this after God has saved him from his enemies.  David was a man after God’s heart, but that didn’t mean it was smooth sailing every morning.  He had enemies and people after him all the time.  That is one of the realities of leadership.  There is always someone who doesn’t agree and wants things their way.  David models for us how to deal with that.  He approaches God with “the most honest prayer you’ll ever hear”.  No sugar coating.  No religious correctness. Just honest prayer where he shares his heart freely with God.  That is what prayer really is.  We approach God’s throne and share our heart.  We come to Him with our inner most thoughts and feelings.  But the key is what David tells us is his motive.  “I’m trying to get your way, your Word’s way”.  Prayer is really about lining our attitude and actions up with God’s heart and will.  It is not trying to convince God to do things our way.  It is all about us getting on His page and doing things His way.  Too often we want to tell God how things ought to go, how our life should be run.  Not exactly how prayer works – it is about us seeking God’s plan – sharing our requests and desires along the way – but realizing the outcome needs to align with His will not ours.  David tells us “I call to you, God, because I am sure of an answer”.  God answers prayer.  Always.  Not always the way we want or on the timeline we want, but He always answers.  David knows that and claims that promise and truth.  Are you coming to God’s throne with your prayers continually, in confidence that the Creator of the universe is there listening and answering?  That is the confidence with which we need to approach Him.

 But just because we come to God in prayer doesn’t mean life is a bed of roses.  David is seeking God regarding those who are “after me, nipping my heels, determined to bring me down…ready to rip me apart”.  Life is not a piece of cake for David.  He has enemies who desire not only to see his failure but to kill him.  Does that sound like a great place to be?  Well it is if you live it in the presence of the mighty God and let Him deal with the issues.  David prays and asks God to step in.  He asks God to break them and set him free.  He shares his heart and knows that God alone can protect him.  And what is his plan?  “I plan on looking you full in the face…..live heaven on earth”.  Here is the secret folks:  It is about the relationship.  It is about knowing God and experiencing His love.  David knows that his time is best spent with the Father.  He could try and deal with all these issues in his own strength and fall flat on this face and likely into his grave.  But he knows that seeking God and coming to His throne is the way to deal with the challenges and threats on his life.  He wants to look at God as his solution.  He is depending on the one thing that never changes.  Are you walking with God that way?  Do you take it all to the throne and put it at His feet?  Or are you on this path of trying to be self sufficient and handle life on your own.  There is a better way – it is God’s way.  He is there waiting to hear your prayers.  Don’t make Him wait any longer!

Psalm 16

Psalm 16 is a very upbeat prayer.  David is expressing his excitement around his relationship with God.  Can you see just how excited he is about things?  “I’ve run for dear life to you”.  Do you run toward God?  Is He your refuge and rock?  Is that the place you go for comfort and safety?  God is there and waiting with open arms for us to come to Him.  David continues and asks God to “be my Lord”.  Lordship is really a key thing for us to understand.  Too often the church is focused on Jesus as Savior, with little or no attention to this concept of lordship.  But Jesus also wants to be Lord of our life – to be in the driver seat and in complete control of our lives.  He wants us to put Him in His rightful place on the throne of our life.  Too often we want to push Him off and do whatever we want.  That is not the design and definitely not the best interest for our future.  David goes on to counsel us “don’t just go shopping for a god”.  There is one God and we need to make sure we are focused on Him and Him alone.  It is easy to get distracted by all kinds of things that pull us this way and that – and can cause us to let other things interfere in our relationship with the living God.  But David, and us as well, can find that “now I find I’m your choice”.  God has chosen us and “made me your heir”.  We have a fantastic future if we get our relationship right with God.  He has so many blessings stored up for each of us.  Heirship is a great thing to have and know.

 But the verse that jumps out at me comes toward the end of the chapter: “You cancelled my ticket to hell – that’s not my destination”.  We are all on a ride that leads to hell unless we have an experience with the Savior.  Sin gets in the way – it stands between us and God – and causes us to be separated from Him.  And that separation becomes eternal if our sin problem is not dealt with.  That is why Jesus went to the cross – to give us a solution for our sin problem.  His death and resurrection have won victory over sin.  All that remains is our response to that unbelievable love that He showed us that day.  We must accept that grace and mercy – that gift of eternal life – and make it our own.  We must allow His love to conquer sin and death and put us on “the life path” so we can spend eternity with the God who created us and loved us enough to send His only Son to the cross.  He is reaching out and as David says “took my hand” so he could be on the “right way”.  Are you certain where your eternity will be spent?  Do you know the Savior?  Have you made Him Lord?  There are many questions in life but none more important than this one.  Don’t mess around with eternity. It is a onetime event that lasts forever.  Be prepared, know your future, and do it today!

Psalm 15

Psalm 15 is a very short five verses.  But it asks a very important question: “How do we get on your guest list”?  What is it that makes us a desired guest?  What is God looking for in our life?  The list is pretty direct:

1. “Walk straight
2. Act right
3. Tell the truth
4. Don’t hurt your friend
5. Don’t blame your neighbor
6. Despise the despicable
7. Key your word even when it costs you
8. Make an honest living
9. Never take a bribe”

 Nine very short and simple yet profound things that God is looking for in your life and mine.  God wants us to live right.  He wants us to live His way.  And scripture drives home the importance with this verse: “You’ll never get blacklisted if you live like this”.  Never is a long time.  These are powerful little truths – words to live by.  It doesn’t have to be complicated.  In fact, often it is the simple things that trip us up.  We allow our desire to be in charge mess up these simple little truths.  We fall flat on our face because we ignore the simple commands.  God expects us to get these right.  He wants to invite use to the party.   Make sure you are paying attention to His requirements to get an invitation!

Psalm 14

Psalm 14 really gives us a picture of just how pathetic we are as humans.  We convince ourselves somehow that “God is gone” and we are free to do whatever we want.  He is not around, so all rules are off.  But God doesn’t ever leave us, nor forsake us.  He is always around and “God sticks His head out of heaven….looks around….looking for someone not stupid”.  And guess what?  He doesn’t find “one man”.  OK, I can hear it now.  He should have looked for a woman, right?  Well scripture tells us “He comes up empty”.  Not one that is not intoxicated with his own selfishness and belief that he can be god.  The question is asked: “Don’t they know they can’t get away with this”?  Holy cow – scripture is full of example after example of many who have tried to take the place of God.  It never works.  God alone sits on the throne.  We can pretend and act like we are in charge.  But it never happens.  God alone is in the seat.  He drives the bus every day.

Scripture gives us a picture of one of the ways we prove that we are stupid.  Chec this out: we are guilty of “treating people like a fast food meal over which they are too busy to pray”.  We fail to put people in the right place – as God’s children who we need to love.  We rush through life and miss the chance to love those around us – even the ones directly in our path at home or in the work place.  We are on a mission to get somewhere fast but as we run from one thing to the next we miss the chance to minister God’s love.  We need to wake up to God’s plan for our life.  It isn’t to get things done, to accumulate stuff, to have a big bank account we can’t take with us.  His plan for our life is to invest our time in those He puts in our patch.  He wants us to spend time with people.  That is what He is about.  “God is around; God turns life around”.  That is God’s mission – to make a difference in the lives of people.  And that is our mission too.  We need to be about investing in those He puts in our patch.  Are you doing that?  Or are you distracted by all the stuff that doesn’t matter?  Take a look at how you spend your time and money.  That will tell you where your heart is.

Psalm 13

Psalm 13 finds the writer feeling ignored.  He is whining that God is ignoring him.  He has to carry his problems and troubles and has “my arrogant enemies….look down their noses at me”.  Oh how we get caught up in what other people think of us – even if it is our enemies.  Why is it we always seem to be concerned about what other people think?  I was taught as a young boy that it doesn’t pay to worry about what other people think.  First off, they probably aren’t thinking what you think they are anyway.  And even if they are – so what?  What difference does it really make?  We should live for an audience of One.  Now if people think poorly of us because we are doing the wrong things, well then our audience of One likely won’t be happy about it either.  But if our measure is what God thinks of how we live and what we do, then the opinions of others don’t matter at all.  They don’t have any voice in eternity.  They have no say at judgment day.  Only God will make the call.  And that call will be based on how we have lived, or what we have done with Jesus?  Since none of us will make it based on living right, that leaves one entry question.  Is Jesus our Savior and Lord?  Have we put Him in control and accepted His death on the cross as the ticket to receiving God’s grace.  That is the only thing that will get us to heaven.  None of us will make it based on how we live.  Not that life doesn’t matter.  It certainly does.  But our salvation is based on Jesus and our relationship with Him.

 The writer says he “wants to look life in the eye”.  What a great picture.  We should live life like we mean it.  We should pour ourselves into living every day, like it is the last day we have.  The Psalmist says “I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms….celebrating your rescue…..singing at the top of my lungs….full of answered prayers”.  What a picture of a great relationship with the Savior.  When we run to Jesus, He is there with open arms to draw us to Himself.  His arms are able to catch us no matter how messed up life has become.  He will celebrate our rescue with us – after all He is all about setting us free from the chains of sin and despair.  As we come into His presence and are freed from the oppression of sin in our lives, we will be filled with praise and will want to sing out our praise for His saving grace.  And as we begin to walk with Him, our life will begin to show the power of Jesus in us – answered prayer as His power becomes manifest through our life as we learn to walk with and depend on Him.  Are you experiencing that kind of relationship with Him?  If not, there is no better time than today!

Psalm 12

Psalm 12 finds the Psalmist again under attack.  He calls out to God saying “I need your helping hand”.  How long before you call to God for help?  Is it after you have exhausted your own strength and that of those around you?  Or do you run to God as soon as things start going awry?  It is amazing how quickly those around us scatter when the going gets tough.  Our writer finds that and says “all the friends I depended on are gone”.  They scattered in the wind when the going got tough.  People do that.  Every person will at some time come up short on our expectations.  There is only one Rock that never moves and disappoints.  God alone can be depended on 24X7X365.  No person on this planet can meet those requirements.  God alone is the only truly dependable option.  And we need to put Him there. We need to make sure our dependence is on Him. 

 The writer tells us that God has “had enough”.  He is “on my way to heal the ache in the heart”.  God will make things right.  His righteousness will overcome evil.  Every time.  When He comes, He will take evil out.  We can only push God so far before He takes action.  He will “keep us safe from their lies”.  God is pure.  He is the picture of perfection.  We need to hang on tight to Him.  He is our safety and the source of our protection.  So don’t make Him the last resort.  When the enemy comes against you, when evil is in your face, run to God.  Grab His helping hand and let His very nature defeat the enemy.  God is victory just waiting for our call.  It is up to us to do that part though.  He will handle the rest!

Psalm 11

Psalm 11 is a very short seven verses but how powerful the message is.  The Psalmist tells us he has “already run for dear life straight to the arms of God”.  Have you ever done that?  When things were overwhelming, when the pressure of life seems too much, have you run to God?  He is there ready with open arms to receive us.  He longs for us to come running.  It is such a powerful place to go.  I love how the writer tells us that God is the same as always.  Check out what it says: “God hasn’t moved…..His holy address hasn’t changed”.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  God isn’t going anywhere.  And as the old saying goes, if you don’t feel close to God, guess who moved?  He is there, ready and willing to openly receive us with His loving arms.  The real question is – will we run to Him.  Will we admit our need and recognize the promise of love that He has given to us.  It comes down to us willingly coming into His presence acknowledging we need Him.

 But the writer goes on to give us this promise.  “He’s in charge, as always….not missing a thing”.  God hasn’t given any control to anyone or anything.  And certainly we don’t have any control.  He alone is in charge.  He alone has it under control.  The passage gives us this promise: “God’s business is putting things right….He loves getting the lines straight”.  So how are the lines in your life?  Are they straight and as they should be?  Or do they need to be straightened a bit.  That can happen in a couple ways.  We can recognize the error of our ways and fix them ourselves.  Or we can keep on ignoring God’s path and have Him make the change in His time and His way.  It won’t necessarily be something we will enjoy.  God is going to fix the lines of our life.  He will straighten them.  He is in charge.  We need to recognize and admit it.  Anything less will just lead us to be frustrated when the other shoe drops.  Is He running your life?  If not, now is the time to make that change!

Psalm 10

Psalm 10 has the writer talking about how the wicked seem to be getting away with it.  “Where are you when I need you”?  Did God take off and take a vacation.  That doesn’t happen.  Nor is He always at our beckon call and will come running at first sign of a problem.  Why is that?  Does God get a kick out of watching us squirm.  No – but He does have a mission for us – to become holy and godly in how we live.  Part of the path to that lifestyle is to endure the circumstances we find ourselves in – to wrestle with the enemy and evil and not fall into temptation.  We are tempted by the enemy who yells “catch us if you can.  God is dead”.  Well He isn’t, and their day will come.  We may wonder why God doesn’t just rid the world of all evil.  Why not just wipe out the enemy and make the world a place that is filled with goodness and love.  It all goes back to the way He created us – with a free will.  In order for us to have a choice in our love and devotion to Him, there has to be the option for good and evil.  It won’t mean much if the only choice is God.

 So evil exists and we are given the choice continually about what we will do with it.  Sin happens when we CHOOSE evil.  It is not an accident.  It doesn’t happen to us.  It happens when we make an act of our will to disobey God and pursue the wrong thing.  This chapter describes that side of the ledger.  And it isn’t pretty.  They get cocky and think “they’ll never come up for audit”.  But how wrong they are.  God is watching.  He is keeping track of every decision and action.  There is a price to pay.  And even though there are times it seems like the other side is winning, scripture is clear: “God’s grace and order wins; godlessness loses”.  We may lose a battle or two, but the end of the book is written and God’s love and goodness wins the war.  We need to stay the course and walk with Him.  We need to be very disciplined in how we walk.  Obedience is the only option.  Anything less puts us at odds with God.  And there is a price to pay for that.  Jesus went to the Cross to deal with our sin – the result of our choosing to disobey.  But even though His blood covers all our sin, it doesn’t prevent the circumstances and results of sin from impacting our lives.  The much better option is to run from evil and walk with God.  Holiness and godliness are the best and only real path we should pursue!

Psalm 9

Psalm 9 is a chapter that cries out the story of God’s work around us.  “He sees and sets the world’s mess right”.  God is at work.  “You took over and set everything right….when I needed you…..you were there…..taking charge”.  What a promise.  And we see that happen over and over through out scripture.  God is there and shows up to make things right.  He takes control of the situation because He is in control of every situation.  There are no surprises.  There are no things out of bounds to God’s reach.  God is in control and “decides what is right for us earthlings”.  That is pretty clear.  He sets the rules and decides what the penalty is when we fail to do the right thing.  Obedience is required.  There is no pass given.  “They have no excuse; the way God works is well-known”.  People who think they can write their own rules and live their own lives are in for a big surprise.  It doesn’t work that way.  God alone is the creator, the writer of life, and the judge of our actions.  For those who chose to do their own thing – the writer makes it clear what happens: “the wicked bought a one-way ticket to hell”.  That is pretty strong and not something we like to think about.  But let’s face it, life matters and how we live determines eternity.  If we are stuck on being all about our own little self centered world, the outcome will not be what we want. If we figure out just how far off the reservation we have gone when we are in charge, and realize our need for a Savior, and come to Jesus with faith and a repentant heart – well then our eternity looks bright and exactly what we would desire it to be.  So we get the opportunity to determine the outcome, just not the right to make the rules. 

 The writer is really happy with life.  He has seen God at work.  He is going to “tell His stories to everyone you meet”.  How do you respond when God works in your life.  I think we get a glimpse of some really good actions to take here.  Check out what the psalmist does with his joy:

1. I’m thanking you God from a full heart
2. I’m writing the book on your wonders
3. I’m whistling
4. I’m laughing
5. I’m jumping for joy
6. I’m singing your song

The writer is ecstatic at his relationship with God.  Does anyone know what God is doing in your life?  Are you telling the story?  Are you thankful and jumping for joy?  Or do you just move on and take God’s goodness for granted?  That is often the case, or there would be a whole lot more testimonies shared when Christ Follower’s are together.  But more often than not, no one shares much of anything that has resulted in their life.  They may not even recognize what God has done.  And some even think they did it all themselves.  We need to stop and take a big look at life.  God is alive and well and active in our lives moment by moment.  He is doing all sorts of great things.  And as the writer tells us, when we go to Him we’re “never sorry you knocked”.  Are you knocking on God’s door to be front and center in your life?  Time to make that part of the life you live.  Do it today!

Psalm 8

Psalm 8 makes an assumption that may not be true today: “God….yours is a household name”.  Is that true in your household?  Is God part of the discussion – One of the family – a household name?  Or do you keep that quiet – it’s personal after all – and nobodys business but your own?  Too many want to keep God under wraps or not even admit that He is.  Why are we hesitant to let people know about God?  And even more questionable – why do we fail to talk about our relationship with Jesus?  After all, we have the solution to the biggest problem in the world today – SIN.  Not only the solution, but the only solution.  And yet we tend to keep that quiet – to stay to ourselves – to pretend like it is some super secret that should not be discussed with others.  Why?  Are we ashamed to need a Savior?  Are we afraid of what people will think?  Our hiding the most important relationship we have is lunacy.  It defies all logic.  Yet we do it.  We proudly wear the colors of our favorite sports teams.  We aren’t afraid to align with civic groups and even churches.  But when it comes to wearing Jesus publicly, we shy away.  We need to be like the writer here and have God and Jesus household, workplace and lifestyle names.

 The reality is that if we don’t shout out the glory of God, well it will happen anyway.  The writer points out that God created the skies “dark and enormous, your handmade jewelry, moon and stars”.  No one can miss God’s creation.  God did choose to put us in charge of managing His creation.  Some days I wonder why He made that choice knowing what He knows, but He did.  We have a lot of responsibility with that.  “Sheep and cattle….animals in the wild…..birds flying and fish swimming”.  There is a lot of creation out there.  But the creation cries out the glory of God.  Scripture tells us that no one can miss God whether they have been told or not.  Nature and creation shout His name.  And the psalmist says that as well: “God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world”.  There is no secret about how the universe came to be.  God put it there – spoke it into existence.  He is not hiding that fact.  We should not hide the fact that He is the center of our lives either.  That is – unless of course – we have not placed Him there.  Or we have pushed Him from that spot.  Is that why we struggle to shout God’s name from where we are – because we are in a battle for control?  Hmmm…..time to look in the mirror and see what the issue is.