Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 29

I try and spend as much time as I can outside. I am convinced that one of the problems with people today is that they spend too much time inside. If you think about, what is inside that is part of God’s creation? Other than the air we breathe, our homes and offices are mostly filled with man-made items. Even the environment is man-controlled. We push buttons and control temperature and lighting. We need reminders of who God is and short of His Word, there is no greater revelation of God than we see in the creation. Psalm 29 finds David ascribing glory to God through the creation.

Psalm 29:1-2

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.  Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.

Far too many people fear nature. Storms invoke fear into their hearts. But David knew God has each and every aspect of nature, completely under His control.

Psalm 29:3-8
The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters.  The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.  The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.  The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

Life and death are in the hands of God; even for the animals.

Psalm 29:9
The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

Notice that it is “The voice of the Lord” that controls nature. God speaks and the world moves. Man has to work hard to build something. But God merely speaks to create. God speaks and the deer give birth.

The point here is that God is worthy of all our praise and we must ascribe to Him the glory for all good things. But even the great flood that wiped out everyone except Noah and his family, were under God’s hand.

Psalm 29:10
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.

God is sovereign. We can find peace only through trusting in Him, no matter the power of the storms.

Psalm 29:11
May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!

Take time today to get out and spend time observing God’s wonderful creation. Yea, I know; it’s hot out. But remember that God has His hand on the thermostat. Trust in Him. Lift up your hands and ascribe Him the glory He deserves.

Jesus and the Storm

I was blessed yesterday to hear a sermon preached by a man who is without doubt in the middle of a terrible storm. Our beloved youth pastor and his wife are watching their beautiful little girl, just five years old, suffer from the effects of a horrible, cancerous tumor that has not only invaded her brain, but has wrapped itself around her spine. It is a devastating attack on this little girl’s body and she is suffering through a horrible battle that is now over a month long. His sermon was about trusting God even in the storm. The text he used for the basis of the sermon is found in Matthew 8:23-27. Take a look.

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.  And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”  And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Many of us are familiar with this passage. I would like to expand a bit on the story in the hopes that in it we can be able to withstand the storms when they come in our own lives. I was intentional in saying “when” they come as opposed to “if” they come, for all of us will face storms of varying intensity in our lives. It was after a difficult storm my family and I passed through several years back that I became called by God to advise Christians that they must build their faith in the easy times, because you don’t want to be looking for your faith when the waves are about to swamp your boat.

The first spiritual lesson to take from this story requires that we accept one important fact about Jesus and that is that Jesus is God. He is part of the triune nature of God in which He exists in three persons. God is Father, He is the Son, and He is the Holy Spirit. The trinity is not a concept that really is explainable in terms of human logic. The trinity is a mystery but it is also a Biblical truth. So as we read this story we must take hold of the fact that the disciples are in a boat with God Himself.

Next we must understand that the Bible is more than a collection of stories. Certainly this story is one that is historically true. But the story also has a spiritual application to our lives and in it God is teaching us important lessons.

Lesson one is that since Jesus is God we can know that He knew the storm was coming. So this begs the question; why would Jesus let the disciples get in a boat that He knew was headed for a storm? The answer can be found throughout the scriptures. Jesus knows that it is in the storm in which our faith in Him will grow. In the story the disciples followed Jesus into the boat. We must see from this the truth that Jesus always does what glorifies the Father and sometimes this seems to us be at our expense. But God is working things out in ways that we just cannot understand.

Then notice something else. Jesus is asleep when the storms hit. What? He’s asleep? As we would react, the disciples are a bit freaked out by this. Doesn’t Jesus care about us? Sometimes in the middle of our storms we think God is asleep. Or we think that He doesn’t care that we are being deluged by the storm and our boat is about to sink. This simply isn’t the way it is. When we read that Jesus was asleep the Bible is teaching us two things. First of all it is showing us that when Jesus came to earth He was both God and man. In His humanity Jesus needed sleep just as we do. But contrary to what some teach, Jesus didn’t stop being God when He came as a man. No, in another of those great mysteries we need to simply accept and stop trying to figure out, Jesus was both man and God. Jesus was asleep in His humanity but He was still God in the sense of being able to control the storms. Here is a good lesson to lay hold of. If you are Christ’s then you can still lie down and sleep even in the midst of life’s storms. How? By believing that Jesus is true to His promise that He would be with you always, even to the end of the age and then knowing He is in complete control of the storm you are in. Jesus didn’t stop the disciples from getting in the boat with Him even though He knew the storm was coming and He does not want us to be afraid to follow Him wherever He takes us, even when that journey is going to encounter storms. We cannot be afraid to live life.

The third lesson we should take from this I have already alluded to. The disciples were still learning this as evidenced by their response as we read in Matthew 8:27,
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this?—even the winds and the sea obey Him!”

Even the winds and the sea obey Him. Yep, they do. Jesus is God and He created everything in this universe. God is in control. He is sovereign. He is the King of all. Nothing, yes nothing, happens that He doesn’t allow and if He allows it then He must be planning to use it for good.

But we have to believe the truth that God is sovereign. This requires faith. Listen to the response of Jesus after they woke Him up in the boat that day. “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith. Then He showed them that He controls even the winds and sea.

Satan does not want us to live in peace. So he, under the complete control of God (See The Book of Job which explains that Satan isn’t just running around unfettered), implants doubts into our minds. There is a battle for our peace going on but we have been empowered to win the battle. Though Jesus ascended back to the heavens and no longer physically dwells with us in bodily form, He has not left us alone. He has given the Church three things, which give us the ability to dwell here in peace until He returns or calls us home.

First of all when Christ died on the cross He tore the veil that separates us from God and now through prayer we can always enter into the very presence of God through prayer.

Secondly when He ascended Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to actually live inside of every believer. The Holy Spirit empowers us, teaches us, guides us, and comforts us. He even prays for us when we are so distraught we don’t know what to pray for.

Then lastly through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and God’s providential protection, God has given us His Word through the scriptures. In the Bible we can find everything we need to live out our lives. And in God’s Word we are told that faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God.

So take heart this morning and seek God through the hardest of times. But when the storm ends and you are enjoying the peacefulness of a quiet boat ride stay focused on the three resources God has given you. Pray without ceasing, don’t wait until you feel desperate. Walk in the Spirit. Don’t discount the Holy Spirit. He is a person just like Jesus and He lives inside of you. Read your Bible. Keep it handy at all times. Read it all, not just the parts you like. Then believe it. Then when the storm comes, and it will, you won’t have to be afraid.

Trust Jesus. God will bless you in that.

The Work of God's Storms

Just kind of sitting at the table this morning and listened to the sound of the little storm that passed by. It got kind of dark and the thunder rolled. Then came the rain. Though another storm seems imminent according to the radar, right now its just quiet. Looking out the windows it hit me. Not that I don't already know it because the Bible is clear, there will be storms in our lives.

But what really hit me was how that after the storm passed and the rain quit the land around my house, which is mostly sinkholes filled with various trees and brush, is so much greener. There is a word verdant, verdant is defined as a deep green of the plant world, and that describes my yard. We don't have really nice grass but it's all much greener right now. The world that surrounds me is verdant.

This is how God works. The storms of life aren't easy. Sometimes they are downright scary. The rain gets us wet and that can be cold and uncomfortable. But it is in these storms that God is making us fresh and green. He is growing us to be deep and rich in that which really matters. He is making us spiritually verdant.

As we go through the storms of life we must know that God knows what He is doing. None of this is random and out of control.

It is part of our growth.

Do We Really Believe Jesus?

 Oh you of little faith. The Bible records these words to have been spoken by Jesus at least five times. This morning as I was spending my morning Bible reading time in Mark chapter 4 I couldn’t help but pause and look at one of the stories in light of my own life. It is the story of the time Jesus was with the disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee and the storm comes up which scared the daylights out of the disciples. I love this story because as I read how it plays out it I cannot help but kind of chuckle when I think about how Jesus reacts.

With apologies to my wife for picking on her publically, I am reminded of a recent conversation we had. She was looking for the computer paper as she needed to print something and it was empty. Since our printer only holds 30 sheets this happens often and just about two weeks ago she had called me asking me where the paper was. I knew exactly where it was and even though she at first was insistent that it wasn’t there, I knew it was and after she finally was able to understand my instruction on how to find it she was able to do so. So now just two weeks later she cannot find the paper and insists it’s not where it was before. With complete confidence (probably more like arrogance) I showed her it was there just as it always is. Why couldn’t she find it? I had placed two boxes in front of it so though it was there she couldn’t see it.

I bet Jesus had the same thoughts I had when my wife insisted the paper wasn’t when they woke Him up from His nap in the middle of the storm. Why do you doubt what I say?

But let’s be honest; all of us lack faith in the middle of the storm. We say we trust Jesus for our eternal salvation but then we worry about things way less important than life after death. This morning I want to offer three things we can learn from the story of the storm and the disciples.

First of all they had the promise of Jesus Himself as to their destination, which was the other side of the sea. Mark 4:35, “On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

If Jesus came over to your house today and said to you, “Let’s go to the mall”, would you be worrying that you might not make it there? Even if He said let’s take the old beater pickup you had just to mess around on the farm in, it’s probably a safe bet that the man who cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead, and then Himself died and was resurrected could get that truck to the mall and back. The Bible is full of promises from Jesus about our lives and what He wants us to do, yet we live in fear of actually doing what He says. If Jesus is who we say He is then the will of God will not be stopped.

The second lesson is this; the disciples had Jesus with them in the boat. I could understand that if Jesus sent them out alone they might lack confidence in their own ability to navigate the storm. But He was there. And according to the same Bible that tells us He will save us from our sins is the promise that He is with us always. First of all He is God and God is omnipresent. God is everywhere. Jesus also promised that the Holy Spirit would live in your heart when you become a born-again believer. Since the Holy Spirit is also God then not only is God everywhere in the world, He is also in your own heart. But not only can we lean on scripture to remind us of this truth Jesus also promised to always be with us. Open your Bible and read it and you will find these promises all over God’s Word.

The final lesson I want to call attention to today is this; Jesus was perfectly at ease in the midst of the storm. He was sleeping. This does not mean that in the midst of your storm Jesus doesn’t care and just went to sleep on you. It means He is so in control of things that if you are in a boat with Him the storm cannot hurt you. The Psalms are a great place to find comfort. Listen to the words of Psalm 4:8, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”

Jesus calmed the storm that day we read of in the Gospels. But the real problem was not the storm; it was the lack of faith in the disciples. We are in the same boat. Storms will come. Jesus promised it. The question is what will we do in them?

All of us lack faith at times. None of us have perfect faith. Sometimes my poor faith scares me. But then I remember something else Jesus said about faith. Again the disciples are our example. They had just failed to cast out a demon and wanted to know why. Let’s listen in.

Matthew 17:19-20
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”  He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Do you see the good news? If you focus on their failings because of little faith you miss the point. Jesus said if we have just a teeny, little faith we can move mountains. You see the good news is that we are going to fail, but He is not. The faith has to be in Him, not self. Not even in others, but only in Him.

So here’s the mission. Trust in Christ and Christ alone. Read your Bible and take note of the promises of Jesus. They do not fail. We say we believe. Do we? Pray and do not lose heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to pray for you and through you when you feel weak. And finally be in a church family. You need them and they need you. We must encourage each other with the truth of God’s Word and then be obedient in following it. I leave you with one last scripture to ponder and to put in effect.

Ephesians 5:15-21
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,  making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,  addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,  giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,  submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

God bless you.