Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 123

There are three wonderful reminders in Psalm 123, that instruct us as to what we need to look for each day.

Psalm 123:1

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

No matter what we face today, there is only one direction to look for help. We must look up to the heavens where God is enthroned. Pastor John Courson makes an important point in his commentary on this psalm. He says if we look inward, we will find ourselves depressed. If we look outward for help, we will find ourselves distressed. But if we look upward, we find ourselves strengthened.

Psalm 123:2
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he has mercy upon us.

Secondly, we must look to the hands of our master for our daily needs. I think we could apply the same thoughts to Jon Courson’s statement about looking inward and outward. The world doesn’t provide what we need and certainly we are unable to find help within. We need God. We need Jesus. We need the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 123:3
Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.

The first two reminders in this psalm told us where to look and the third one tells us what to look to God for. Because of our nature to sin, we need to look up to God and to His hands to provide us His mercy.

Psalm 123:4
Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

If the world knows we are Christ’s, then they will have contempt for us. If we stand for God and His precepts, there will be scorn. The soul of a Christian will find itself in despair if it does not look up to God and seek His hand of mercy, every single day.

Lift up your eyes to God. Keep them on Jesus.

God bless.

Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 121

Monday mornings can be difficult. Back to work, back to school, or even just back to the daily grind of life brings new and unknown events in our lives. As Christians, like Israel in their wanderings to the Promised Land, we have many dangers, toils, and snares to face on our daily walk. Psalm 121 is a wonderful reminder to us that we do not walk alone.

Psalm 121:1-2

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?  My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

The one who helps us get through the day is the one who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:3-4
He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

We hear the term 24/7 and the only one who really can watch over us 24/7, is God. He is never asleep.

Psalm 121:5-6
The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand.  The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

Day in and day out God is our keeper. When life feels like it is about to burn you, then seek His shade.

Psalm 121:7-8
The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.  The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

No matter what you may face this week, God will keep you. If you are a child of God, if Jesus is your Lord, then you have a shepherd to keep you safe as you make the journey.  He keeps our going out and our coming in, meaning the day to day things we face, not only today, but for all eternity.

Where will your help come from? My help comes from the Lord.

THE PSALMS – A JOURNEY IN WORSHIP AND FAITH - October 17, 2014 - Day 70 - Psalm 70

Psalm 911 is what I call this psalm. It is the sound of an emergency call to God.

Psalm 70:1
Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me!

Like David prays here, I, too, have dialed the 911 prayer to God. One time God answered a prayer before I got the words out. But if you know God well, you know that usually in terms of our hurry up prayers, His timing is not ours.

Revelation 22:7
"And behold, I am coming quickly.”

That was 2000 some years ago.

2 Peter 3:8
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

According to Peter that makes it about 2 days ago on God’s calendar.

Maybe you feel desperate like David did and just cannot handle the attacks coming down on you.

Psalm 70:2-3
Let those be ashamed and humiliated Who seek my life; Let those be turned back and dishonored Who delight in my hurt. Let those be turned back because of their shame Who say, "Aha, aha!"

Dial up 911 prayer. Cry out to God. Make the call. Then praise Him in the midst of the emergency and in so doing the world will see where you place your faith.

Psalm 70:4
Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; And let those who love Your salvation say continually, "Let God be magnified."

He understands your cry. He hears your prayers. He knows your needs. He wants you to pray like the tax collector in Luke 18:13 who was “beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” Come to Him like a child in complete and utter desperation and helplessness.

Psalm 70:5
But I am afflicted and needy; Hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.

Then sit back and wait on Him. He may answer your prayer before it rolls off your lips. Or He may not. Remember Lazarus? He got really sick. Mary and Martha sent that 911 call to Jesus. Get here, they cried. They were really worried and knew Jesus could heal him. What did Jesus do? He didn’t fire up the chariot and turn on the siren and red lights. He said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Then He waited 2 days longer before He decided to show up. You think He just didn’t care that these women were broken up as they watched their brother die while Jesus took His good old time getting there? John 11:33-35 says differently, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept.”

Jesus wept. He weeps with you today. If you’ve cried out in prayer today or last week, or last year, or even twenty years ago and you think He just doesn’t care you are wrong.

John 11:14-15
Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

There is a reason why we face the things we face. So that we believe. So our faith in Him is refined through the fire. So that God is glorified. You may never understand this side of eternity.

Keep praying. Jacob wrestled with God and sometimes all we can do is hang on in that wrestling match. At some point, like Jacob, God will break us and then and then only will our lives change and become simply about bringing glory to God.

The story of Lazarus ends with resurrection.

John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

Do you believe this?

THE PSALMS – A JOURNEY IN WORSHIP AND FAITH - August 11, 2014 – Day 17 - Psalm 17

Old time preachers like Charles Spurgeon would urge their church members to not simply ask God for their needs in prayer but to argue their case with Him by explaining why God should answer. Hebrews 4:16 instructs us to “…come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  Psalm 17 finds David doing just that.

“Hear a just cause, O LORD, give heed to my cry; Give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips.”, says David in verse 1 of Psalm 17.” Then notice how David pleads His case first by stating his own innocence.

Psalm 17:2-5
“Let my judgment come forth from Your presence; Let Your eyes look with equity.
You have tried my heart; You have visited me by night; You have tested me and You find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. As for the deeds of men, by the word of Your lips I have kept from the paths of the violent. My steps have held fast to Your paths. My feet have not slipped.”

This is not a claim of perfection for the sins of David are many. But David knows something all Christians must understand. None of us are without sin but our righteousness comes from the grace of God. When Jesus is our Lord and our Savior then we wear the robe of His righteousness. Our part is to confess our sins and be straight with God on who and what we are. 1 John 1:8-9 explains this process clearly. “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

So when we pray we can, like David, come boldly to God arguing our case based on our having the righteousness of Christ. Thus James 5:16 is ours to plead to god. “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Secondly David argues that God should hear his prayer because of who God is.

Psalm 17:6-8
“I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words.
Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”

David, as we should, reminds God in his prayer that he calls upon God for in Him David has faith and believes in his heart that God is a God of steadfast love.

The third plea from David is simply that David is in danger.

He asks that God save him “…from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me. They close their hearts to pity; with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
They have now surrounded our steps; they set their eyes to cast us to the ground.
He is like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush.” Psalm 17:9-12

By telling God his needs and his fears David has demonstrated to God a faith that is complete in its dependence on Him. David then closes by expressing a desire to be a man like the coming messiah would be.

Psalm 17:15
“As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”

The lesson is simple. We need God. He wants us to come to Him and remind Him through prayer that we know who is and how awesome His love and power are. But the only way we can win an argument with God is by speaking the truth. The only truth in this world is God’s Word. We cannot pray effectively if we do read and know His Word for in it we see who He is. Prayer that declares the greatness of God not only becomes prayers of our need, but becomes prayers of worship and praise as well. And that is what we were created for; worship.