PSALM 58 - Revenge Is....Maybe Not So Sweet

Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns, He will sweep them away with the whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.

The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance.  He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.  And men will say,  "Surely there is a reward for the righteous.  Surely there is a God Who judges on earth!"  (Vs. 9-11)

This is one of those times when people want to accuse God of being mean.  Sitting up on His throne just waiting to bloody up those who don't believe in Him.  "Look!  God isn't a God of love at all but a God of vengeance!" they cry.  Okay.  I will take that on this morning.  Because I believe His vengeance shows His love.  Especially in light of what was done to His Only Son when He came in the flesh to show us what God is like. 

In all the great movies, there is exaltation when evil is conquered and good prevails.  When the bad guy is caught and punished....or killed.  Why?  Because the innocent have been oppressed and we get enough of it just watching it on the big screen.  What is it that our God watches on a minute-by-minute basis on this earth?  War.  Abuse.  Infanticide.  Genocide.  Millions streaming from their homes because of starvation and oppression.  This doesn't even cover the more covert things we do that are as deadly.  Gossip.  Abandonment.  Hatred.  Lying.  It's pretty gruesome.  The world needs a good bath!  Cleansing from the inside out.  If we were to play the reel-to-reel on the big screen that God has to watch every second of every day, we would be purging our dinners in the aisles.  We live in a disgusting, selfish, carnal world that, in its hedonism, gorges on evil and suppresses the voices of those who would stand up for the truth that God is sovereign.  And God isn't smiling.  Why would He?  This isn't Eden anymore.

When it comes to His people,  God will not be silent forever.  The nation of Israel and His children adopted into His family by the death and resurrection of Christ are precious to Him.  I am precious to Him.  His creation is dear to Him.  Designed and patterned after heaven, this world was created for better.  Our wrongs should've driven God to take us out long ago, but He wanted to redeem mankind, not destroy it.  The system of sacrifices was set up just so a scapegoat could die in our place because sin is so bad, someone has to pay the death penalty we deserve.  God provided it.  In Christ. His Son. With His blood.  Unfair?  Still mad at an angry, rumbling, wrathful God? 

The "Piss Christ" is up again in New York City this time at the Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery on 57th Street.  It is a photograph Andres Serrano made of a crucifix submerged in the artist's urine.  The state funded this artist and his work.  Christians haven't taken up and arms and gone to the streets in belicose and deadly offense, but, trust me, God is offended.  Wouldn't you be?  If your child had died for the neighbor next door, saving them from certain doom, and the next thing you see is that same neighbor dipping your favorite picture of your child in his own piss and laughing at the sight - calling it art, for goodness sake!  The neighbor has no idea what it cost you for him to be able to desecrate the memory of your child. He is naive at best, cruel and uncaring at worst. Unfair?  Still mad at that old God who sits with a hammer in His hand?

Osama Bin Laden was shot through.  SEALs beseiged his compound and killed him.  There was rejoicing.  Why?  They got the bad guy.  The one who orchestrated the deaths of over three thousand innocent American victims and devastated New York City and our nation.  Bin Laden attacked us.  And we felt right about the justice he was served.  We have inherently a sense of justice.  Of hunting down the evil to avenge its carnage.  So how can God then be blamed for doing the same?

There will come a day, on a small scale and on the eternal plane, when God says:  "Enough!"  In the day to day struggles we have personally with the plans of the evil one to destroy us and on the future of this planet and its inhabitants.  God wins!  Read the last chapter.  But in doing so, remember how long He has put up with us.   How patiently He waits for our redemption.   What it cost Him personally to provide all we need to avoid His coming wrath.  When that day comes it will catch many off-guard.  Their pots will be on the potter's wheel or drying on a shelf waiting for the thorns in the kiln to heat up.  Unfinished business.  Suddenly avenged.  Like Osama sitting surrounded by his porn, his wives and his half-eaten food.  Taken out.  And those who belong to God?  They will dip their feet in the blood of the oppressors.  The Hebrew word for washing to show innocence.  The oppressed will be innocent of the blood of the oppressor.  He will have brought his demise upon himself. 

And the children of God?  What will they say?  They will sing a song to the Lamb of God:

Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord, God, the Almighty.
Righteous and true are Thy ways,  Thou King of the nations.
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For Thou alone art holy.
For all the nations will come and worship before Thee,
For Thy righteous acts have been revealed.

And the "Piss Christ" will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.




 

PSALM 58 - Open Up Your Eyes

God, knock the teeth out of their mouths.  Lord, tear out the young lions' fangs.  They will vanish like water that flows by.  They will aim their useless arrows.  Like a slug that moves along in slime, like a woman's miscarried child, they will not see the sun.  (vs. 6-8)

We are at war.  Should never forget that.  Our enemy is fierce and unrelenting.  Roars about like a lion seeking who he might devour.  Hungry for prey.  Lusting for our very lifeblood.  Satan.  Fallen from heaven.  Beautiful and talented but bent on his own kingdom, God cast him down along with the angels who chose to follow his rebellion.  Scorned, Satan is angry.  Intent on our destruction. 

Daniel had been praying and fasting for three weeks.  He had a disturbing vision and needed to understand it.  At the end of this time Daniel was standing on the banks of the river Tigris when an angel, probably Gabriel, appeared to him.  "Daniel, God loves you very much," the angel said.  "Since the first day you began praying your words have been heard.  I have come because of your prayers.  The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me."

Michael is the prince over Israel, it seems.  The guardian warrior angel protecting Israel's purposes.  Fighting mighty battles we cannot fathom, much less see.  Daniel fell quivering and breathless at the sight of the angelic being and those who had come to the river as his companions fled in abject terror!In the cosmic fight for us, angels war with the "young prowling lions" who follow their master.  Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Hebrews 1.  For our prayer to be "God, knock their teeth out!" doesn't seem so harsh when we realize the minions of our enemy are out to destroy us mind, body, soul and spirit!

Consider this: There are fiery darts coming our way in the spiritual realm.  Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (Ephesians 6).  So what happens when we are ignorant of the war against us?  We are killed.  Pretty simple.  The lion chases us down and devours our joy, peace, purpose, and power.  Formidable and deadly.  We need to arm ourselves and be vigilant or we are crushed in the battle.

Be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6)  It makes sense that we understand the fight.  Open our eyes to the ploys and plots of the enemy.  Recognize that the dimension in which we live is overlayed with a spiritual one.  In that theater, we are constantly watched over and fought for.  Jesus prayed for us that we be protected from the evil one.  He will proudly say to the Father one day,  "I have not lost one of them." (Revelation 3)  But He has also equipped us to fight an enemy we cannot see with our natural eyes but whose tactics are obvious in our addictions and perversations.  In wars and conflicts.  Masterminding our demise, if possible.

Elisha, the prophet of God, was in Dothan with his servant.  The king of Syria sent an army with horses and chariots there to kill Elisha because the prophet's warnings were always saving Israel.  Get rid of the prophet, get rid of the victories.  When Elisha got up early in the morning, he found himself surrounded by a powerful army.

"Master, what will we do?"  cried the servant.

"Don't worry," replied the prophet.  "Those with us are more than these." 

Really?  The servant looked around and saw....well...a bunch of soldiers ready to butcher him and Elisha.

Elisha prayed.  "Lord, please open the eyes of my servant that he might see what I see."

The servant was flabbergasted when God revealed the mountain on which they stood was full of horses and fiery chariots surrounding Elisha.  The heavenly hosts outnumbered the Syrian army.  And they were ready to fight!

"Strike the Syrians with blindness, O God!" prayed Elisha.

Horses plowed into each other.  Chariots crashed. Sudden loss of sight threw the Syrians into such chaos that they couldn't attack.  Elisha told the sightless leaders they had come to the wrong city and he would lead them out.  Took them to Samaria where the eyes of the troops were opened.  They did not bother Israel again.

We need the tools of warfare to vanquish the enemy.  To pull out his teeth and deflect his arrows.  Make him crawl on his belly like the slug he is.  Kill his plans for us before they see daylight.  We who know Jesus have this confidence.  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him  and delivers them!  Psalm 34.  So I am going to stand up today and engage in the fight knowing the toothless lion loses in the end because a bloodied Lamb has crushed the devil's head!






 

PSALM 58 - The Toothless Lion Won't Munch On Me

The wicked are estranged from the womb.  They go astray from birth, speaking lies.  They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear, so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.  (Vs. 3-5)

Is it disconcerting to think some are born bad seeds?  Wicked from the womb?  Those who will not listen to what is good but instead think up evil?  Who instead speak lies? They are people who bite us.  Whose venom destroys our lives.  Deaf to words that might charm them away from evil, these people are destined to destroy others.  Chilling.

If some are bent on an evil agenda from the beginning, should there be justice for those who suffer under them?  Bullied into submission, many children and adults feel helpless.  Even kill themselves to get away from the denigration they experience.  The ultimate bully, however, is Satan.  His agenda:  The thief has come to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10)  The enemy accuses us day and night before God (Revelation 12).  He is a liar and the father of all lies (John 8) and he prowls about like a roaring lion looking for prey to devour (1 Peter 5). 

Every time I watch a movie or read a book with a villainous bully, I always want to shout, "Stand up to her!"  I want so much for the preyed upon to be saved.  For the tables to turn on the oppressor.  For things to be made right.  Why does that rise up in most of us?  Where do we get that sense of justice?  Does anyone watching the action actually root for the bully? (They wouldn't admit it, probably.)

The tools of our enemy are addictions, abandonment, jealousy, hatred and power.  Ruling with egregious despotism, Satan tears at our destinies with such ferocity that if we are not aware of our own power to resist, we will surely be devoured. Oh, that we knew with surety how strong we are in Christ Who lives in us as Christians.  "He Who is in us is greater than he who is in the world." 1 John 4.  No need to be bullied by the enemy who is "like" a roaring lion.  Christ has rendered him toothless.  We are to resist him - firm in our faith.  Our enemy is crass and fearless in his pursuit of our lives.  Even Jesus wasn't too great for Satan to accost - to tempt.  When Jesus spoke the truth to Satan, the enemy had to leave for a while.  But his ultimate defeat is certain.  A fact that most certainly hangs over Satan's head.  The end is not pretty.  The bully is crushed as in all good stories.  For God is just.  He has promised that "no weapon formed against us will succeed (Isaiah 54).  Our weapons against our enemy are "not earthly, but have divine power to destroy strongholds." Strongholds - addictions, fears, thought patterns, destructive habits.  Whatever holds us too strongly and makes us slaves.

Be bullied no longer those of us who know Jesus!  He lives in us!  Resurrected and jubilant!  Victorious and all-powerful.  He Who is in you is stronger!

Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth!  We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers.  The snare is broken, and we have escaped!  Psalm 124

PSALM 58 - It's A Puzzle

Do you indeed decree what is right, you mighty lords?
Do you judge the children of men uprightly?
No, in your hearts you devise wrongs.
Your hands deal out violence on earth.  (vs. 1-2)

Do you not know? Did you not hear?  Has it not been told you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  It is He Who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.  Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.  Who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.   Isaiah 40

Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things and by Him all things hold together.  Colossians 1

It was good to wake up today, before I turned on the news or had my morning Starbucks, to remember my God is sovereign.   The campaign for the presidency is thick with innuendo and accusation.  Parsing it out gives me a headache...not to speak of what it does to my digestion.  The air in the Middle East is heavy with smoke as the United States flag is ripped down and replaced with an ominous black one.  Our dying ambassador was dragged through the streets of Libya because the three men who had only pistols to protect him from machine gun fire lay dead on the embassy grounds, unsung heroes buried in the rubble of a 9/11 anniversary attack.  Then there is Israel. Ready with guns and gas masks in Jerusalem.  Really.  A pastor from Israel, who had recently been to Jerusalem, spoke at our church Sunday.  He'd seen with his own eyes that everyone in that city carried gas masks as they went about their daily lives.  Missiles were in place to launch.  Set at ready.

Not far-fetched to think we might ask the same questions David did:  "Do  you leaders judge world affairs correctly?  Do you even care about what is happening to the people on this earth?"

The answer:  No.  At least as David saw it.  Not when the wicked are in power.  Made me wonder, though, if the wicked know they are wicked.  Some seem to feel America is evil and they are good.  If I had grown up in another country, how would I feel about world events?  So is there some common ground we can all say is evil?  Infanticide?  Genocide?  Ethnic cleansing?  The war of a despot for power?  Hitler?  Idi Amin?  Pol Pot?  Did they know, any more than Pharoah did in Exodus, that their "hearts devised wrongs and hands dealt out violence on the earth"?

I will leave the judgments of motives to God because I don't know hearts like He does.  What I do know and take great comfort in is that He sees time in one continual expanse from beginning to end.  God isn't surprised by the events I read about when I open the paper in the morning and sip my coffee while reading the daunting headlines.  He is Lord over everything.  Whether we know it or not - really, whether we like it or not.  Thrones, rulers, and dominions can't come and go unless He ordains it to be so.  And He is also sovereign over me.  My little life.  In the scheme of things, I matter, too.  My God has a dream for me that He intends to help me bring into reality before I go to live with Him forever.  I must start there.  With my own life today - right now.  No fretting about the larger scale trudging of earth and its rulers toward God's grander plan for time.  But, instead, giving myself over to His sovereign plan for me.

God holds everything together. Christ was before - the Alpha - all things.  He knows how the puzzle pieces fit together because He can look at the picture on the top of the box.  I want to fit just so.  Proudly display His glory by being a part of God's final design for mankind - and for me.

PSALM 57 - Looking Up!

I'm thanking You, God, out loud in the streets, singing Your praises in town and country.  The deeper Your love the higher it goes.  Every cloud is a flag to Your faithfulness.

Soar high in the skies, O God!
Cover the whole earth with Your glory!     The Message Bible, Verses 9-11

I have been studying the book of Daniel lately.  The prophecies of the end times and the fulfilled prophecies concerning the coming of Messiah.  It is breathtaking to see how the exact number of days prophesied in Daniel leading up to the triumphal entry of Christ on the Passover weekend before His death came to be.  If Daniel's vision is as correct about what is to come, we are waiting for a very charismatic and powerful man to arise and bring about peace in the Middle East between Israel and their enemies.  When that treaty is signed - the beginning of the end.

It gives me some perspective on what is happening in the world today.  A design of God that spans the ages.  From Isaac and Ishmael to Palestinians and Jews.  The coming together of prophecies sometimes joked about but taken more seriously since 1948 when Israel came back to its land after two thousand years of wandering dispersed.  Many said that would never happen.  The miraculous six day war sealed their position.  It is all set up for Daniel's words to come to life.

In light of this, I find myself listening to the news and quaking when I should be pondering the prescience of my God.  If things begin to go horribly awry, I shouldn't be that surprised.  At some point it is going to get very bad.  How bad?  Worse than anything ever seen on the earth.  The great peacemaker will show himself to be heartless.  The spawn of Satan whose goal is complete destruction.  As we see these world events taking place, we are to know that our God is in control.

At some point in the holocaust that will be the Great Tribulation, it seems we who know Him will be taken up to meet Him in the clouds.  The Rapture, taking up, of the church.  Whew!  Scholars differ on when.  Usually not on that it will occur.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  Therefore encourage each other with these words.   1 Thessalonians 5

We used to have Bible story time every night with our kids when they were little.  Bought a flannel- graph board and Sunday school materials.  Their favorite story was about Jesus coming again.  Understanding that God wanted everyone to know about Him before He comes back, the girls would stop people everywhere asking them if they knew Jesus.  Had Him in their hearts.  'Cause He can't come again until they know, and seeing Jesus was the highest possible experience! 

"Mommy, when is Jesus coming again?"  asked Heather as she tugged on my dress one morning.

"Really, Heather, He could come at any time.  We are always supposed to be ready for Him."  I replied theologically.

"Could He come today?"  she pressed.

"Yes."

"What would we have for dinner?"  Of course, He would eat with us.  All our guests do.

"What would you like, Heather?"

"Corned beef."  Her favorite.

So we went to the market and bought - you guessed it - corned beef.

Later in the afternoon I was vacuuming, the boiling beef making its presence known as the aroma wafted through the house.  Again I felt the edge of my dress being tugged on by my daughter - the dress I commonly wore around the house in summer.  An old dress.

"Mommy?" Heather looked a little worried.

"Yes, baby?  What?"

"You're not gonna wear that when Jesus comes, are you?"  Her nose scrunched up in disgust.

Hadn't thought about what I was wearing because I wasn't expecting Him, really.  In fact, I was cleaning up the house wondering how we were going to handle her disappointment when Jesus wasn't sitting with us chewing corned beef slathered in mustard.  "No.  I guess not," I replied.  "What do you think I should wear?"

She already had my clothing picked out in her mind.  So, by dinner, we were all looking good waiting for our "guest" to arrive.  Heather's favorite dinner smoothed over the fact that we missed the day of His return by a bit.  But the preparation for it significantly changed my perspective.  He will come.  He promised and He keeps His promises.  And I need to be ready and aware of what is going on in the world around me.  Not fearful but assured that if things fall apart according to His age old plans, I can be comforted because He is nearer than He was yesterday.  He will "soar high in the clouds and His glory will cover the whole earth."

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse!  The One sitting on it is called Faithful and True...His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written that no one knows but Himself.  He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is The Word of God.....On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written:  King of Kings and Lord of Lords.   Revelation 19

"Surely I am coming soon!"  Jesus

Come, Lord Jesus, Come....Maranantha!!!


 

PSALM 57 - The Joys of War?

I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the people.  I will sing praises to You among the nations.  For Your steadfast love is great to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds!  (Vs. 9-10)

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.   His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning.    Lamentations 3

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."   James, the half-brother of Jesus

Maybe it is because our true nature....our vulnerabilities...become more apparent when we are under the stresses of adversities that we either "get better or bitter," as the saying goes.  If faith, like a muscle, gets stronger for the using of it, then there must be reasons to exercise our trust in God.  That means, obviously, we will meet up with circumstances that only He can help us through.  Crucibles that squeeze out of us our best and worst selves. 

I keep seeing a picture in my mind of an army of young soldiers on the battlefield.  The Commander is somewhat controversial, giving orders to march forward and do exactly as He says.  The way into the siege is counter intuitive and seems wrong to many of the younger troops. 

"Just follow Me.  I know the way!"  cries the General.

"He's crazy!"  screams the sergeant in charge.  "He's going to get us all killed!"

The General has won many wars before.  Highly decorated.  Never wrong.  But....He almost never follows protocol.  Always wins in an unusual way.  So it is tricky to follow His commands because the outcome never looks sure.  Not for the faint of heart.

Intense fighting is before the men and women as they march into the jungle.  In the distance, the sounds of heavy artillery, and, nearby, the treachery of the trails.  Only the top of the General's head is visible as He leads the battalion.  Only He sees what is up ahead in the dense foliage that flaps into the faces of the troops.  They must trust blindly. 

The sergeant, irritated by his lack of understanding, begins complaining about the direction the army is headed.  The General has lost his mind!  He leads a group of soldiers off the path toward the direction he thinks is best.  The hearts of those who continue to follow the General quake in fear, wondering if they should have followed the sergeant.  Still unsure of the different way they are going.

The dense forest grows darker every second, blocking much of the sun.   In fear, some of the soldiers hide there.  Bet on the dark to save them as they tremble at the coming conflict.  The rest creep forward behind the General, trusting His reputation, but daunted all the same.  They cease talking to each other because of what they might say.  They can't doubt now.  It takes all their courage to put one foot in front of the other.  They can't wonder what happened to the troops who followed the sergeant.  Focus is all important in the fight.

The General cries:  "Halt!"  He steps down from the armored tank on which He has been mounted.  "The battle belongs to us!"  He is confident.  "Follow me!"  And the tank moves forward, but the General walks with His men and women into war as He directs His dwindled troops into position.  No time for cowardice now.  The ones who followed are committed to fight. Get through. Or die trying.  But what no one had made clear to them before was the General fights with them.  On the ground in the fire.  He is orchestrating the victory from within the battle.  The smoke of war sometimes covers Him from sight, but He is there.  If they listen they can hear Him. 

Somehow, after days of battle, weary and drained, the firing ceases.  The smoke clears.  The soldiers stand.  Victorious.  They won't know they are stronger for the battle, yet.  Not until the fatigue of fighting falls away to reveal the hard-fought freedom on the other side.  Not until they discover what might have happened had they decided not to follow the General's brilliant plan for their victory. 

The General Who went into the battle with them is decorated once again.  No praise too high for the One Who drove through enemy territory without losing even one of those who followed Him to the end.  Up in the air what happened to the troops who went with the sergeant.  Dead in the forest like the ones who hid?  Captured by the enemy?  Left to wander through the war zone forever, never finding the path out? 

One thing is for sure.  Next time the soldiers go to war, they will follow the General because He led them through.  It won't take so much faith because they know Him better now.  They went through hell with Him and He made a way out because He was faithful to His faithful battalion. 

Each victory my God snatches out of what looks like sure defeat, makes me love Him more.  Each time I realize He loves me enough to involve Himself in my struggles, I am more determined than before to trust Him.   What becomes clear is my trials in His hands are not for nothing.  He is making me like Him - steadfast in love.

 

PSALM 57 - Wake Up!!!

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!  Let Your glory be over all the earth!

They set a net for my steps.  My soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves.

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast!  I will sing and make melody.

Awake, my glory!  Awake, O harp and lyre!  I will awake the dawn!  (vs. 6-8)

"The glory of God is man fully alive."  St. Irenaeus

"For me to live is Christ."  St. Paul

I got very sidetracked just now on the  phrase "Awake, my glory!"  Don't feel so glorious yet today.  Hair less than perfect, barely brushed.  Just wiped the sleep residue from my eyes as I put my glasses on my nose.  My work-out outfit doesn't match.  And I haven't finished all my coffee yet.  Thank God my glory has little to do with me. 

kabowd:  weight in a good sense, splendor, glory, majesty, wealth. Hmmm. In this psalm my glory is linked to His.  Let Your glory be over all the earth!  In light of this, I speak to my glory....."Wake up!" 

St. Irenaeus clarifies this for me.  My glory exists because of His glory residing in me.  Christ in me, the hope of glory.  The fact that He resides among us gives our lives weightiness.  Eminence.  The glory of the cross.  The depth of its meaning.  The power of the resurrection, sealing salvation for all who come.  The mystery of the incarnation in Christ and in us.  That our God has made provision for His people to be fully alive even in death.  The seamless transfer of our true selves into His kingdom forever.  Alive.

I know there are times when we go through the valley....any valley...and become weary and forget in the battle that we are glorious.  Victorious.  Splendid.  Trudging through terminal illnesses, divorce, or financial ruin can strip us of all but the need to survive.  I think that is what was happening to David.  All of his energy was spent battling the enemy.  Running away.  Thinking his way out of a one-on-one battle with God's anointed.  No time for godly self-talk.  I don't know what struck him on the day he wrote this psalm.  What turned his mind around.  A momentary victory, perhaps.  But, whatever the circumstance, he stopped and looked up.  Saw the goodness of God, which is His glory (Ex.33).  Counted his blessings. 

"I think I will sing!" David decided.  "I will write a song to my God!" 

To himself:  Awake, my glory!  Because somewhere along the line I forgot I was splendid, made in Your image, created with purpose and designed for a weighty cause only I can fulfill.

Awake, O harp and lyre!  Bursting with a renewed desire to glorify the One Who makes men and women fully alive!  Wake up to the joy of knowing a Father Who battles with us, not just for us.  Lives in us, not just over us.  Get ahold of that truth, soul!  And rejoice!

I will awake the dawn!  Hear me, world!  Wake up with me!  Night is over.  Darkness is past.  Light is peeking through.  The glory of God illuminates, chases away whatever hides ingloriously in the shadows.  Wake up to God.  He is good.  He loves us.  We are reflections of His glory.  Bearers of His Eminence.  Live!  Fully!  Today!

Our God is sovereign over all things - life and death.  With love so great He traded His glory for ignominy,  His life for death,  our lives for His.  So that....He could live in us, not for us.  So His kabowd could reside in us, making us fully alive.  Forever.

For me to live is Christ.....and to die is gain.    St. Paul


 

PSALM 57 - The Untamed Beast

He will send from heaven and save me. He will put to shame he who tramples on me.  God will send out His steadfast love and His faithfulness!

My soul is in the midst of lions.  I lie down amid fiery beasts - the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.  (Vs. 3-4)

If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body....and the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness....For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue.  It is a restless evil full of deadly poison.  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse  people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.  My brothers (and sisters) these things ought not to be so.  James 2

Ever been torn to shreds by gossip.....or (I know, this is meddling) ever torn another apart?  All hands up.  It is, sadly, the human condition. When I read these verses, I thought of Lillian Hellman's play, "The Children's Hour."  It epitomizes the voracity with which the tongues can devour lives.

Karen and Martha run a school for girls.  Martha's aunt, Lily Mortar, helps in the office.  Karen is engaged to marry a local doctor, Joe Cardin.  Enrolled in the school is Mary Tilford, whose grandmother, Amelia, is a big donor to the private school.  Mary is recalcitrant, often getting herself and others into trouble.  One day she feigns illness to get out of classes.  Dr. Cardin in called in to look at her.  Though he declares her to be well, while he is examining her, two other girls listen at the door to see what's wrong with Mary.  They overhear a conversation between the doctor and Lily.  Lily expresses her concerns that every time Joe comes over to see Karen, Martha becomes ill-tempered and terse.

Mary is sent back to her room.  The two girls tell her what they heard Joe and Lily talking about.  They had been secretly reading a book about lesbians, so Mary sees a way to ruin everyone.  She tells her grandmother the two women are lovers.  Amelia then calls all the parents in the school.  They pull their children out.  All but one.  Rosalie, whose mother is out of the country, goes to stay with Mary.  As Karen and Martha prepare to sue for slander, Mary coaxes Rosalie into corroborating her story. 

Ultimately, though Mary's story is full of inconsistencies, the women lose the trial that would have exonerated them.  They are forced to move.  Joe, who has taken a job in another state, wants Karen to go with him...and even asks Martha to come along so they can start over.  Karen has a deeply rooted fear by now, though.  Does Joe believe any of this?  She forces him to ask what she knows he wants to:  "Well, did you?" 

With Joe gone, Martha confronts Karen with a nagging thought:  Maybe I did have those feelings for you.  Karen brushes the thought off though Martha presses the issue.

"I don't want to talk about this any more tonight,"  Karen says.  "Maybe tomorrow."

Martha leaves the room.  Karen hears gunshots.  Martha has taken her life. 

Very soon afterward, Amelia comes running to the door with great remorse.  She has discovered her granddaughter's lie.  But it is too late.  Three lives are forever ruined.

It matters what we say.  It matters to whom we say it.  But before that...it matters what we think.  So easily we can devour another.  We hiss and our fangs appear.  We don't need guns or knives.  Just our tongues.  I am soberly reminded that I am a woman of unclean lips who needs the washing of the Word to keep me from running amok, biting when I should bind up.

  Help me, Father.  Only you can tame this deadly weapon.  May the sword of the Spirit be my "sharp sword" so I clearly understand not only my enemy and my friend, but, first and foremost, my own motives.  May I speak only what cuts into the heart for healing and not for hurt, because that is how You, Father, speak to me.  For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart.  

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19

PSALM 57 - On Purpose

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in You my soul takes refuge.  In the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.

I cry out to God Most High, to God Who fulfills His purposes for me.  (Vs. 1-2)

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purposes of His will.  Ephesians 1:4-5

...making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.  Ephesians 1: 9-10

David was ever running from Saul who was chasing him with sword in hand to destroy God's purposes for David....namely, to usurp Saul's throne.  David most probably wrote this psalm based upon those days in the cave at Adullam where the would-be king hid from Saul's assassins.  Cloistered there so the pursuers would "pass by."  I think it's interesting the psalm speaks of hiding under God's wings where we wait unhindered for the storms to pass.  God is a place of supreme safety as He works out our purpose.

But God's purpose for us is in itself a place of safety.  What He ordains, He sustains.  He will not be bullied or argued out of what He has decided will happen, predestined and foreordained before the foundations of the world were ever laid.  My destiny in Christ will be completed....by Him.  Though Saul chased David down out of fear of losing what was already determined to be gone - his kingship over Israel - he could never win.  God knew what He had in mind.  Period.  And that purpose kept David safe and sealed Saul's fate.

I am struck by this today.  Our finite purpose is linked inextricably to an infinite one.  Like the individual strokes of an artist's brush ultimately create a larger masterpiece, my life counts in a much greater picture.  Sent to earth as a creation of my Father's will and designed to be His daughter.  Dearly loved, I have a course to take that is mine alone.  This journey He watches over and directs.  Protects.  He loves me because He decided to before I was born.  Those who would frustrate my walk will ultimately pass on, leaving me to finish what I came to do. 

On an ordinary day, I'm not much aware of greater destiny.  I mopped a dirty kitchen floor this morning, changed sheets, took a walk.  Not life changing stuff.  But I also talked with my Father today about larger goals.  Deeper needs.  My higher calling.  Because I want to do it all.  Every last thing I have been created for.  So that even in the mundane I must know there is purpose.  That He is, in those moments when I cannot sense or see it, preparing the higher tasks that bring Him joy.  Keeping my heart and mind so that I can be instant in season and out of season to just do it.

The bigger plan?  To be Lord, once and for all, over a united universe.  To bring us together as one...with Him, with Christ, with Holy Spirit and with each other.  To bring the beauty of heaven and the beauty of earth together in perfect harmony.  To live with us....walk with us again in a garden beyond imagining.  For lions to lie down with lambs.  For tears to cease.  Strife to quiet.  Love to reign.  I am important to the flow of history that will bring us to that place.  So are you.  And that purpose will protect us from all that seeks to thwart it because He will fulfill it in us.

My times are in Your hand.  Psalm 31:15
 

PSALM 56 - How Can I Thank Him For This?

God, You did everything You promised, and I'm thanking you with all my heart.  You pulled me from the brink of death, my feet from the cliff-edge of doom.  Now I stroll at leisure with God in the sunlit fields of life.  (Vs. 12-13, The Message Bible)

In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.                     1 Thessalonians 5:18

Giving thanks in everything is pretty all-inclusive.  David hadn't become victorious yet when He declared his victory over the enemy because God helped him.  These last two verses are spoken in faith according to the commentaries I perused.  I remember the old song Leave it There......with the lyrics leave it there, leave it there, take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.  One of the best ways to do that, it seems, is to thank God in advance for His answers to your prayers.  Not conning God into doing your will, but thanking Him that He will do His.  And trusting the outcome will "work together for the good" because you love Him....and He loves you.

So let's look at life's everythings.  No job, lost marriage, lost health, lost home, lost child, wayward wife or husband, workplace drama, injury, abandonment, strife, or betrayal.  Of course, this list is far from exhaustive, but you see where I am going with this.  There are some pretty horrendous things that we are to thank God in.  Not for.  In.

How do we do that?  We decide to.  What is the benefit to us?  Peace.  Strolling at leisure with our God in the fields of life.  What is the alternative?  Gut-wrenching worry about things we cannot control.  If we believe in the goodness of God - that goodness is His glory - we must know He is somehow in the harrowing events that wreak havoc on both the godly and ungodly.  If we know He watches over us as the apple of His eye, that the one who touches us touches what is precious to Him, then the safest place to be in the turmoil is right up next to our Father's heart. 

Why does He allow such things in our lives?  It's earth!  Not heaven.  Reminded of that again this morning as the Tunisian U.S. Embassy is now under siege.  We are at the mercy of other people's ideas and perceptions.  The world right now is under different leadership. Cosmically.  We are light in darkness....there is not dark in the light.  As such, we are going to be surrounded by an ever-increasing ebony cloud out of which we must shine through like stars in the night.  For this isn't our home.  Not supposed to get too comfortable here.  Traveling through it shows us how to hold our Father's hand so that when we grasp it on the way to eternal fields of incomprehensible light, the transition is seamless.

In the rioting, fire and death that has marked the last few days, we can thank God in the fact He has a plan for the world....the end of the age....and it must begin somewhere.  Thank the Judge of All that He sees what is happening and walks the streets of the Middle East knowing how it all turns out.  I am thankful He is wise and good.  That in the Book of Life He has read the end...wrote it, of course..and so has a plan for each strategic life that strolls or struts about the planet this very day.
 

PSALM 56 - Emmanuel

Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call.  This I know:  God is with me.

In God, Whose Word I praise, in the Lord, Whose Word I praise,  in God I trust.  I will not fear.  What can man do to me?  (Vs.  9-11)

Love.  That is how we know that He is for us.  Love.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all.  How will He not also, with Him, grant us everything?...Who can separate us from the love of Christ.  Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  NO.  In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us.   Romans 8

That is how important it is to know you are deeply loved by God.  It gets you through pretty much anything this life has to throw at you.  I am thinking of a couple going through such pain right now.  She, dying of cancer that is ravishing her brain.  He, suffering from cancer, also, just not so advanced.  They choose daily...choose...to trust the love of Christ and hope in a future with Him.  Their faith is stunning.  Because they know they are loved.

A friend is giving up everything, home and possessions, in an effort to pay off bills and reestablish herself financially.  She and her husband trust God is leading them in this walk.  No fear.  She knows, from years of experience with her God and trust in His Word, that she will be just fine.  Because she knows she is loved.

Agape.  Selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love.  Think Jesus on the cross.  Allowing those He created to pick up sledge hammers and affix Him to a cross made of wood He designed.  Haters and defilers at the foot of the cross making jokes, spitting and gambling for His clothes. Because He loved them all....without condition.  "Father, forgive them.  They don't know what they are doing."

So Emmanuel, God With Us, came out of the grave to be Christ, in us, the hope of glory.  I can know beyond a doubt Jesus is always with me.  Loves me without condition.  Is intimately acquainted with my comings and goings (not always a good thing).  If He died to redeem us, He lives to be in us.  I am not involved in any part of my life, successes or failures, sickness or health, riches or lack, alone.  He Who loved me enough to give His own life for me, shepherds my life with great care.  Knows my name.  Binds up my broken heart.  Guides my path.  Laughs with me.  Weeps with me. And guides me finally home. 

Fear. There is no fear in love for perfect love casts out fear.  1 John 4.  I chew on this verse quite a bit.  There is much to fear.  Cancer. War.  Abandonment.  Loss.  Death.  The list of things to worry about goes on ad infinitum.  But if I love Him perfectly, and understand how great the love of Jesus is for me, I will not be afraid though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with its turmoil.  Psalm 46.
Though the events of this world take a turn toward Armageddon.  Though the events in my life are confusing and storm-filled. 

He loves me.  He loves me.  A thing to travel from head to heart.  Though I don't think so much of me, He does!  Looks past my blemishes.  Forgives my sins.  Takes my hand and walks with me even through death.  Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?  Where can I go to flee Your Presence?  If I go up to heaven, you are there.  If I make my bed in hell, You are there.  Psalm 139.

For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!  Romans 8

PSALM 56 - Benghazi and Prophecy

They attack, they lurk, they await to take my life.  Because of wickedness, cast them forth.  In anger, put down the peoples, O God!  ( vs. 6-7)

Last night, in Benghazi, Libya, our ambassador was brutally murdered along with three other American diplomats.  Jihadist Muslims used the eleventh anniversary of 9/11 to demonstrate once again their hatred for America.  Earlier in the evening, in Egypt, Muslims stormed the embassy there and set fire to the American flag and hoisted their own on American soil.  Something is astir in the Middle East.  Israel is poised to strike preemptively against Iran in order to save themselves from the annihilation Iran has promised.  And I am studying the Old Testament book of Daniel.

I heard Rand Paul mention today the "ten-horned" nations.  Hmmm.  Guess he has studied prophecy, too.  I have to say I was upset today with the way our current government handled the situation in the Middle East.  No stellar foreign policy exhibited.  Not even standing up to the schoolyard bully.  Where will America end up in eschatology?  Are we uninvolved and insignificant by then?

Maybe.  There is the end of the age of the Gentiles.  Last Gentile into the family of God ....then our Father works primarily with His original chosen people.  Daniel and Revelation promise great upheaval.  Unbelievable torment.  Blood of the saints.  Massive martyrdom.  The splitting in two of the Mount of Olives.  The return in triumph of the King of Kings.  Then a thousand years of peace.  A short rebellion that ends in the end of evil.  Forever then to be with Him in a new heaven and a new earth. 

So, Who wins?  The One Who has predicted all along the way things will go.  That Palestinians and Jews will fight over Jerusalem.  How silly that sounded until 1948.  There was no Israel united until then.  For two thousand years the Jews had been dispersed throughout the world without their homeland.  The Bible predicted their pilgrimage back.  A miraculous war secured their home once again.  Make no mistake.  God loves His people.  If the Bible is as correct in predicting what is to come as it has been in predicting what has passed, siding with the Jews in the homeland is the safest bet on earth.

Today also made me think of the story of Hagar and Ishmael.  Sarah's handmaid given to Abraham so that he could lie with her and have the baby God had promised to Sarah and Abraham.  Ooops.  Centuries and centuries later, thousands of years, the Arabs and the Jews are still at war.  The children of Ishmael hating the child of promise, Isaac, the offspring of Sarah and Abraham.  Isaac, the one God promised to Abraham and Sarah.  Ishmael, the child of expedience.  Setting up the end times from the very beginning.

God, not Allah, wins in the end.  Read it in the Revelation of John.  And in the Old Testatment book of Daniel.  Lest you think in these times of terrorism God is twiddling His thumbs, be warned.  We haven't seen anything yet.

PSALM 56 - He Will Never Forget

All day long the injure my cause.  All their thoughts are against me for evil.  They stir up strife, they lurk, they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life.  For their crime will they escape?  In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

You have kept count of my tossings, put my tears in a bottle.  Are they not in Your book?

These verses are appropriate for a day of remembering a nation in distress.  Who can forget the images, in real time, of planes sliding through the twin towers, creating fiery bombs that blew up Manhattan in ashy carnage? Barreled into the Pentagon.  Crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.  People jumping out of windows, crawling down smokey corridors, making one last cell phone call or running for their lives as the footings of the World Trade Center melted and collapsed.  With our hands over our mouths and tears in our eyes, we cried out, "Dear God!"

And where was He?  God?  Could He not have stopped this?  Over three thousand people were crushed, incinerated or buried alive.  I don't know the theology of His allowing events stirred up by our enemies.  It seems age-old, the battle between perceived good and perceived evil. What is clear, though, is our God doesn't stand apart from His people in these times.  If we are crying, He is crying.  The Bible even declares God writes our stories in a book.  Keeps record of our lives.  Much like parents keep a baby book, I guess, to record the events of their child's growing up.  Your eyes saw my unformed substance.  In Your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none.  Psalm 139.

What of our grief now?  Though our nation went after those who declared war on us, where is our personal comfort?  Mine is in the promises of God for those who love Him.  In Malachi, the prophet records the last words of God to be spoken until Christ came four hundred years later.   Many had forgotten God. Turned and gone their own way.  But those who loved and honored Him still had His ear.  Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another.  The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed His name.  "They shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession."  God was listening in on their conversation and wrote about their faithfulness in a book to be opened at the end of time.  A record of everything.  Good and bad.  Then I saw a great white throne and He Who was seated upon it.  From His presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.  Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.  And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.  Revelation 20

I have tossed about in bed so many nights with prayers so deep they were almost groans.  Cried for myself and those who were past crying for themselves.  And on 9/11 we mourned like this as a nation because those lurking, watching our steps, and planning their attack succeeded in ravishing Manhattan, crushing the Pentagon and murdering passengers in Pennsylvania.  Though we endeavored to exact revenge and applaud a bullet to Bin Laden's head, the ultimate Judge has written in His book a day of remembrance. A day He will one day judge.  He was crying with us. Storing our tears. Writing our lives.  Because one day they will be read to all.  All wrongs put right.  All midnight tossing ended.  No more tears to bottle up.

On September 13, 2001, the workers found a cross lying in the smoldering mess of 9/11's aftermath. A reminder that He was there, amidst the suffering, lying in a heap of broken bodies and burning buildings.  Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.  Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions.  He was crushed for our iniquities.  Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace.  And with His stripes we are healed.  Isaiah 53

No wonder He bottles our tears. Sees our tossing. For He experienced death with us...and for us.  So that, even in the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for God is with us.

PSALM 56 - Running For My Life

Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me.   All day long an attacker oppresses me.  My enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.

When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.  In God, Whose word I praise.  In God I trust.  I shall not be afraid.  What can flesh do to me?


I was trying to think about the time in my life when I was most afraid of someone.  Thankfully, there are only a few of them.  One, however, trumps them all.

I used to get up every morning at 5 AM so I could run four miles before I got my kids ready for school and myself ready for work.  I loved the early morning prayer time, and often I had the joy of Vanessa running with me, at least part of the way.  One particular morning in October, when light fog is common where we lived, Vanessa and I set out on our jog.  At the one mile mark, Vanessa decided to return home deciding a two mile run was enough for that day.  I went on by myself while she returned home.  Thought nothing of the fog and darkness as I was familiar with it. 

I was a mile from home when the man pulled up beside me.  "Where is Manzanita Street?" he asked as he drove slowly beside me. 

"I don't know," I said, trying to avoid him.  Getting a creepy feeling about his question.

The man pulled forward, then stopped his car at the curb ahead of me.  I wouldn't have known this except for the fact that his break lights shone through the fog.  My heart pounded its fear into my ears.  I knew I had to think quickly or he would grab me.  My choices:  Run past him hoping to get away or run right then across four lanes of street (no traffic that time of morning) in dense fog and risk being hit by a random car.  I chose to run across the street.  Faster than I have run in my life.

Behind me I heard footsteps stomping heavily on the payment as the man ran after me.  Terrified, I asked the Lord for protection as I ran fueled by adrenaline.  The footfall behind me stopped.  I heard the car start up again.  My problem was that I had to get to the other side of the street because that was where home was.  I didn't know where my pursuer was.  What do I do? 

I think it is fortunate I had just been talking with my Father.  He was on the run with me or I don't know if I would be alive today.  But I chose to run back across four foggy lanes and into the street that led me home.   There he was.  Standing there!  Exposed and five feet from me.  The hazy light from a street lamp making him visible.  He started toward me.

"In the name of Jesus, you leave me alone!"  I screamed.  "In the name of Jesus, you cannot touch me!"

Stopped in his tracks, by the name of Jesus and my screaming it to the neighbors before sun-up, the man let me pass.  Again, adrenaline drove me home.  I didn't dare look behind me for fear the attacker had followed me again.  I fumbled for the doorknob and threw myself into the house.

"Vanessa,  are you here?"  I screamed it.

She appeared at the door.  Had not even showered yet.  "I had a funny feeling when I left you, Mom."

Had not in my panic to save myself, gotten a license plate number.  So police had no real ability to locate the man.  I looked at each small beat-up silver compact for a couple of years every time I went out.

But my God, and His word, saved me that day.  My God came to my rescue when I was afraid and helped me.  I praise Him for that.  I praise Him for His very name.

Jesus prayed for us in the garden before he was taken to be tried and crucified.  In this last prayer, He asked this of the Father:

Holy Father, keep them (keep Your eyes fixed upon, watch over, protect) by Your name, the name which You have given Me.  John 17

I am so thankful today that I don't have to fear what man can do to me, for the eyes of my Father constantly watch over my life.  I know there is much to fear in our world today.  I am not naive enough to think that bad things don't happen to people.  But I know my Father is attentive to us and makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called by Him for purpose. 

PSALM 55 - Are You Still in Your PJ's?

Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you.  He will never allow the righteous to be shaken (or to totter).
But You, O God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction.  Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days.
But I will trust in You.   (vs. 22-23)

Cast all you anxiety on Him because He cares for you.  I Peter 5

I get a mental picture with the word cast.  I pick up my burdens and throw them His way.  It is an aggressive act.  Like pitching a baseball (though I throw like the girl I am).  "Here, take it!"

Here is a list of all the things one can do with anxiety.  Feel free to add to it:

1. Bite the fingernails.  Down to their nubs. 
2. Over eat.
3. Under eat.
4. Lie awake and think of every possible scenario that might ease your anxiety or increase it.
5. Talk incessantly about the things you worry about.  (Found yourself without listeners lately?)
6. Doubt the goodness of God.
7. Do the wrong/expedient thing just to be doing something.
8. Make yourself sick.
9. Make everyone else sick.
10.Whine.
11.And whine....
12.Stay in bed all day with the covers over your head.
13.Never bathe.  Never shave.
14.Wear pajamas all day long.
15.Pretend everything is okay.......while wearing pajamas all day long.
16.Give up.
17.Set resolutions you know will fail.
18.Fail at set resolutions.
19.Cry.
20.Pout.

Or.......you could throw your burdens to the Lord.  Clean house of all those things you worry about.  Bills.  Husbands.  Wives. Children. Enemies. Work. Friends. Illness. The future.  The past.  The present.  Take off the catcher's mitt and give that burden a good throw.  The problems you give to God will not come boomeranging back, so no need for the glove.  Well, I guess you could say:  "Hey, throw all that back at me.  I don't know how to wait for You to take care of this mess!"  But, really, why would you?  Given the list above, we don't do the greatest job resolving our own difficulties.

Trust is an active verb, too.  Of course, our ability to trust in God is based upon the fact that He is absolutely trustworthy.  And....He cares about us.  We give Him the things that  bother us because He loves us and wants us not to worry.  He is the epitome of fatherhood.  The ultimate caretaker.  And, best of all, He knows the way out of the mess. 

Let those fingernails grow back.  Get a good night's sleep.  Stop whining into a tub of ice cream and get out of those pajamas.  Head up.  Shoulders back.  After having bathed and shaved (if it applies to you), choose to trust the hands that caught your problems.  With a thankful heart, do what is before you today with complete confidence that your Father loves you and knows your name.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.   Proverbs 3:5-6

PSALM 55 - Kissy, Kissy

God will give ear and humble them, He Who is enthroned from of old, because they do not change and do not fear God.

My companion stretched out his hand against his friends.  He violated covenant.  His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart.  His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.  (vs. 19-21)

Betrayed with a kiss.  The man spent three years with Jesus.  Was entrusted with the money for the ministry.  His breath must have been taken away when the blind man saw "men as trees walking" then, touched a second time, "saw all men clearly."  How could he not have marveled at the sight of a dead child rising from the funeral bier to the keening joy of his widowed mother?  Did he notice how fine the wine was at Cana?  Demons cried out as they loosed the enslaved.  Did Judas not marvel at the moment?  In Bethany, Lazarus lay dead for four days.  Already his body was decaying.  Stank.  The sisters are in mourning for their brother and for the lost hope in Jesus Who could've healed Lazarus.  With a "Come forth!" their brother rises from his death, still wrapped awkwardly in his grave clothes, and walks out of his tomb!  Judas saw this! 

Six days before Judas would betray Jesus, they were all in Bethany again.  Where Lazarus was raised.  Mary and Martha made dinner for the group.  Lazarus was sitting near Jesus when Mary took an expensive alabaster jar of imported perfume and broke it open.  Half a liter of this fragrant nard filled the room with its sweetness. Worth three hundred denarii, the perfume was the equivalent of a year's work for the common laborer.  Mary poured the liquid on the head and feet of Jesus.  Extravagant.  Like her thankfulness.  How many day's wages was the restoration of her brother back to life worth?  Then she does another unthinkable thing.  Mary undoes her hair.  Its ebony strands reaching to the floor as she kneels at the feet of Jesus.  Tears of gratitude mingle with the nard as Mary wraps her tresses around the soles of His feet, sopping up the oily residue of her anointing.

"Hmmm."  Judas seething.  "Why was this ointment not sold and given to the poor?"  Or put into the ministry purse instead of being wasted on Jesus.  His heart not seeing what the others saw.  In fact, he was accustomed to taking what he wanted from the ministry and buying stuff for himself.  An uncanny lack of understanding of the events taking place around him.

Tired of it all.  The sham.  Jesus wasn't the Messiah.  He was an itinerant preacher with no real place to lay His head.  Judas thought this phenomenon would make him rich.  Jesus would establish rule and Judas would be Treasurer in Chief.  Instead, just more of the simple dinners and dusty road trips. The Pharisees were offering money - thirty silver pieces.  Looked like a better deal.  A few kind words.  A kiss on the cheek.  Done!

How could Judas have spent so much time with Jesus and had this in his heart all along?  Even better question:  How could Jesus have known what was in the heart of this disciple and allowed him the privilege of experiencing God with us up close?  Could Jesus have said that one thing that would've turned Judas around?  Is there anything Jesus could have done to change the mind and heart of the one who betrayed Him with a kiss?

Judas had a heart problem.  He used a different lens to view the miraculous events that were a part of his daily life with Christ.  If Judas was dipping into the funds all along, he couldn't have had any understanding of who Christ was.   Stealing from God?  Missing the point.  Doing always what was best for old Judas.  The touch of Christ on his arm, the voice of Jesus in his ear, the compassion of the Savior toward his needs left Judas unchanged.  What then is left?  What can then be done?  Though Judas played the game up to the end, saying all the right things, feigning loyalty, his hypocrisy finally drove him to betrayal.

"Greetings, Rabbi!"  Jesus looked up to see Judas coming with a big crowd of the elders and chief priests carrying swords and clubs.  Words of a friend sealed with a kiss.  Jesus surrounded and dragged off to court.  Words softer than oil were drawn swords. 

Of course, three days later, Jesus was alive again and Judas dead by suicide, his blood and guts spilled on a field rendered useless thereafter.  Not the way Jesus would've had it.  Judas had every opportunity to believe and understand.  Persisted instead in his own folly.  Judging Jesus by his own set of standards.  Not fearing God to the point he could actually betray His Son.  But when you are dealing with the Sovereign Lord of All, Who can shake the earth and blacken the sky at His outrage over the death of His Only Son, it is quite a dangerous thing to thumb your nose at Him.  Our God is just as jealous over us.  We who are joint heirs with Christ.  For he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye (Zechariah 2).

Jesus didn't exact retribution from Judas.  But God did.  The Ancient of Days Who judges then, now and for eternity will also judge for us.  His love and watchcare will not allow forever the treachery of false covenant.  We will probably not be able to come up with that perfect thing to say that will change the minds of those who are set against us.  To change their minds or perspective.  If they are also set against God.  Vindication is His.  We must never forget He sees.  And rescues.  Let Him.

There is none like God...Who rides through the heavens to help, through the skies in majesty.  The Eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are everlasting arms.  Deuteronomy 33

PSALM 55 - Arachnophobia

As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord will save me.  Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur.   And He will hear my voice.  He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me,  for they are many who strive with me.  (Vs. 16-18)

For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.  Ephesians 6:12


As for me.  Stuck in a mess from which I cannot fly away.  Glued like an insect to the sticky web of the enemy as he lurks on the edge and watches me struggle to free myself.  I could, I guess, complain to the others straining and kicking beside me in the web.  Little good that would do.  For they are complaining also.  I have but one recourse.  My only salvation.  A hand much larger than mine must pull me out of the current hopeless situation and set me free.

As for me.  I will not listen to the murmurings against a God who would allow such a mess.  Nor will I consider the case against Him.  Should I be caught accusing the very Lord of my salvation, I would find myself in greater peril than the web of the enemy.  For then I join the lurking devourer in his blasphemy.  I, the smallest of flies so trapped, have no hope against such a formidable enemy.  Not on my own.  I cry out my need for rescue.  No time to whine with the others.  It takes all my concentration, morning, noon and night, just to bring my misery to Christ.  To trust His goodness and His might.

As for me.  I know Who wins.  Ultimately and currently.  Spider webs are easily swept away with a simple broom and arachnids squashed under garden shoes.  Though the enemy is formidable to me, it is but a garden variety spider to the Vinedresser.  It has no real power over me but is merely the shadow of what it used to be back in the day before the Son crushed its head and redeemed me once and for all from permanent slavery. 

As for me.  I wait.  Murmur and complain only to the Lord.  Not to you.  Not to anyone else.  Just to Him.  "I am caught and You will free me.  You will redeem me and bring me peace again!"  Even if I was tricked into the web.  Caught off-guard by a lie from the enemy.  He will hear my voice.  And...I will hear His.  "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me.  And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish.  And no one will snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, Who has given them to me, is greater than all.  And no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.  John 10

As for me.  ...I know Whom I have believed and I trust that He is able......2 Timothy

 

PSALM 55 - A Future Grace

My heart shudders within me.  Terrors of death sweep over me.  Fear and trembling grip me.  Horror has overwhelmed me. 
I said,  "If only I had wings like a dove!  I would fly away and find rest.  How far away I would flee.  I would stay in the wilderness."  Selah
I would hurry to my shelter from the raging wind and storm.  (vs. 4-8)

I was standing in my mother's kitchen helping with the dishes the day we got the phone call.  Once a week my baby son and I made the two and a half hour trip to Mother's house where I fixed her hair, made bread and encouraged her in her struggle with the cancer which would ultimately take her life. Daddy was supposed to come home for lunch.  Two hours earlier.   We had eaten without him.  At two o'clock in the afternoon, I answered the ringing phone.

"Hello?"

"Let me speak to your mother."  Daddy's voice was strained, angry.  I had never heard this tone before.

"Where are you, Daddy?"  A little panic building in me.

"I said, 'Let me speak to your Mother.' "  He is angry with me now and I don't know why.

"What's wrong, Daddy?"

"LET ME SPEAK TO YOUR MOTHER!"

Tears sting my eyes.  I don't get it.  "Mother, it's Daddy.  He wants to talk to you."  I handed her the phone.

The revelation from jail was that Daddy was arrested, caught in the act of molesting a young man from their church.  So I understand how the heart can shudder and terrors sweep over it.  I know what it feels like to be overwhelmed by horror.  So did Mother.  Where do you run from a father who needs to be picked up from jail?  How is the wailing from his bedroom later that night endured?  He is keening in sorrow for the loss of the kid, not for his deep remorse for having hurt his dying wife.

Here is the thing.  If we are allowed to "flee like a dove" from the circumstances of our lives, we will find ourselves in a wilderness.  This was not my closest friend betraying his family, but my father.  We were in the congregation of our Baptist church all my life singing hymns together.  He was often my hero, sticking up for me when I needed help.  The first person I called to tell about my surprise pregnancy with our son because I knew he would answer the phone before 5 A.M. in the morning.  Wrapping my mind around the fact he was a child molester still makes me want to throw up. 

So what do we do with the raging storm?  I can tell you what NOT to do.  Because that is what I did.  Saying the words "homosexual pedophile" was impossible for the first eighteen months after Daddy's arrest.  I wanted to hide from his shame.  Instead it wrapped itself around me and I flew....away...
Wound up in a wilderness that felt like comfort at first.  Turns out it was simply the wilderness with its own night creatures creating terrors of a different kind. 

Fly to Him.  It seems counter intuitive because you don't know why He didn't step in and change the circumstances.  Why He didn't make it all right before it fell apart.  But the sovereign God of all always has a future grace with which to salve the burning pain, calm the night terrors,  assuage the crippling fear and keep the heart from total despair.  Because our Lord walks in front of and behind us, sees it all from start to finish, He is the only safe shelter in the storm that would overwhelm us.  Remember He was in the boat with the disciples...Not looking at the rocking treacherous motion from on high, but experiencing the roiling along with them. 

"We are sinking!"  they cried.  "Jesus, wake up!  We are all about to die!"

"Why are you afraid?"  Counter intuitive question.  Of course, we would all be afraid!

"We are about to sink, that's why!"  the disciples yell as they jettison fish and water from the boat.

"Seas be calm."  Just like that.  Proving He had it all under control to begin with.  Terror.  Horror.  Fear.  The sudden knowledge that if God doesn't show up we will drown.  In that case, Christ was ready to drown alongside His men, I guess.  Because He was in the boat.  Sleeping in the storm.  No horror.  Because even when He is perceived as "sleeping" through our hell,  He is with us and will come to a moment when He says to the hurricane swirling around us:  "Be still!"

When that time came for me, I was far out in the wilderness with a very long walk home.  Flown out there on the wings of a dove.....and dropped at an oasis that was merely a mirage.  Don't fly away.  Stay and trust the Savior in the boat to guide you through, around or away from the storm.

The Lord is like a strong tower.  The righteous run into it and are saved.  Proverbs 18:10

 

PSALM 55 - Smooching the Enemy

Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!  Attend to me and answer me.  I am restless in my complaint and I moan because of the noise of my enemy, because of the oppression of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked.  For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

For it is not an enemy who taunts me - then I could bear it.  It is not an adversary who deals insolently with me - then I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.
We used to take sweet counsel together.  Within God's house we walked in the throng.
(Vs. 1-3; 12-14)

There were no elections the year Absalom decided to usurp the throne of his father, David.  There was, however, a smear campaign.  Several years earlier, Absalom killed his brother, Amnon, in retribution for the rape of their sister, Tamar.  David had done nothing to punish Amnon.  Had let it go, enraging her brother, Absalom.  Revenge was sweet.  But the young murderer had to flee Jerusalem over the outrage of King David and for fear his own life would be taken.  After three years, enough time had passed that David was finished mourning Amnon and was longing to see Absalom.  Joab, David's confidant, brought the news to Absalom that he could return to Jerusalem where he lived for two years before coming before his father.  At the perceived risk of his life, Absalom finally asked to see the king.  David consented because he loved his son.  The moment Absalom entered the king's presence, he bowed himself face down before his father.  David, overcome, went to his son and kissed him.

All was not rosy, though.  Absalom still hated David and wanted to take over the kingdom from his aging father.  So he set about campaigning at the city gate, rising early every day to waylay those whose disputes needed to be settled.  "If only I were king," Absalom declared, "I would give every man justice!" Then Absalom would kiss the people  (baby kissing began here, maybe), stealing their hearts and confusing their minds.  In four years, the king's son had amassed chariots, horses and a small army.  And...he had stolen Ahithophel, David's most trusted counselor.  With much bravado, Absalom declared himself king at Hebron.  David fled with his household for his life.

On the way out of Jerusalem, David passed over the Kidron brook and, with him, the household headed out into the wilderness.  As the king trudged up the Mount of Olives, he took off his sandals, covered his head and wept over the betrayal of his son.  It was on this mount word came to him that his best friend and advisor, Ahithophel, was a conspirator with his son.  This man was his familiar friend, his equal with whom he shared sweet counsel and rejoiced in the temple.  Grief on grief.

Going a little further beyond the summit, David was greeted with more mutiny.  Jonathan's crippled son, Mephibosheth, had been welcomed at the king's table, cared for by the king's servants, and loved as a part of David's family.  Yet Ziba, his servant, met the king to inform him that Saul's son had stayed in Jerusalem declaring, "Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father." 

Betrayal on betrayal.  Power and wealth trumping the deepest of relationships.  Conspiracy and jealousy triumphing over love.  Thus the cries of this psalm, perhaps.  The treachery is that David thought he was loved as much as he loved.  Felt safe speaking his heart to Ahithophel.  Bet on the fact that his love for his wayward son would be rekindled with a kiss of grace.  But was betrayed on the Mount of Olives as in his grief he had passed over the Kidron Valley.  Sound familiar?

David's response was, basically, I cannot even judge my own actions.  We will see what God will do.  Perhaps I deserve this.  If so, I can't kick against it.  If God wills, I will return to Jerusalem.  If not, then I am His to do with as He pleases.   The arena was too enlarged for David to control his own destiny.  The conspiracy too deep to go back and undo four years of negative campaigning and baby kissing.  And his own son, whom the king loved deeply, was the adversary, making it impossible to engage the child in battle.  No.  Only God could deal with the hearts that bore such deep grudges that their treachery seemed, to them, to be justified.  God Himself must bring the king back to his rightful place or decide to give it to another.

Again with the heart.  The grandson of Saul still harboring hope of the throne he would've inherited.  Disregarding the great love David extended to him.  The most trusted friend, BFF, seeing his chance to be Vice President in Absalom's reign, trifling with the top secret relationship afforded to him by the king.  And his very own son, kissing the king while plotting all along to destroy him. 

I don't think it is a stretch to say that we must be careful how we treat our relationship with our King.  That we are not kissing the Son on His cheek while bowing down to the world.  That in our buy-in to the smooches of the enemy, we find ourselves sending our Christ once more to Calvary to deal with the depth of our betrayal.