Psalm 18

"You have given me your shield of victory.  

Your right hand supports me;

your help has made me great.

You have made a wide path for my feet 

to keep them from slipping."

Psalm 18:35-36

"The temptations in your life are no different from 

what others experience.  And God is faithful.  

He will not allow the temptation to be

more than you can stand.  When you are tempted, 

he will show you a way out so that you can endure."

1 Corinthians 10:13-14

At the beginning of the Psalm it tells that this is the song that David sang to God because of his victories over the trials, over the pursuit of Saul.  This is a Psalm of victory, of acknowledgement of what God has done in his life.   

I did like the verse talking about how God made the path for David's feet keep from slipping.   Not literally but figuratively (though, who knows maybe literally too with so many pursuers after him), but poetically, this is similar to what we face with temptations, and the fact that God isn't waiting for us to fail.  He isn't waiting for us to make a wrong move so he could strike us down with his finger.  No, God is cheering us on, God is giving us ways to succeed in life!!   What an encouragement that the God of the Universe isn't taunting us, or going against us, but he opens up ways for us to succeed.  God supports us, He lifts us up, He has given us a shield of victory, He helps us to make us great, He has made the path wide enough for our feet to NOT slip!!

 God doesn't stand by David, God didn't look afar at David!  God WORKED, God went INTO ACTION for David.   And he does the same for us!!  Praise God!!

On the side:

Upon reading 18:7-15  My imagination rang out,and it's a wondrous telling of the power of God, but it reminded me of Volcano's.   Now Israel doesn't have volcano's, but the illustration and the words echo of one.   Pretty funky stuff.   Any enlightenment?   Did David have the inspiration of writing these words upon witnessing or hearing about volcano's?    Maybe from traders?   Either way, it really doesn't matter, it's beautifully written, and tells of God's mighty provision in David's desperate times.   But it is interesting :)

Psalm 17 .. Wake me when this is done.

"Because I am righteous, I will see you.   

When I awake, I will see you face to face and 

be satisfied"

Psalm 17:15

For believers who's faith is in Christ Jesus, we are made righteous (Rom 4:4-8) which is amazing, that we are put right with God.   But I really love this Psalm when it talks about living in righteousness, and we are awakened.   Like the previous life was a dream.   In David's instance (before he later screwed up in life) he was counted righteous.   

Remember the old camp song "Row row row your boat"?  The song says "Life is but a dream", this may be truer than we know, especially when we compare it when we meet the Lord face to face.   Then we will be awake, everything will come alive, then we will be 'satisfied'.

The Rolling Stones sang "We can't get no satisfaction" no matter how hard they tried.   But it the presence of God, when we see him face to face, we will have that satisfaction, we will be awake in the fullest sense, and all will be revealed to us.   We all agree that in this world nothing makes sense, sin has distorted what God intended.    It's like going to a circus and looking at a trick mirror and everything about us is distorted, and mixed up.   But when we see the Lord, our eyes will of been opened we will be awake, we will be satisfied.   What promise!! What Hope we have in Christ Jesus!  

Psalm 16

"No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.

My body rests in safety. 

For you will not leave my soul among 

the dead

or allow your holy one to rot in the 

grave.

You will show me the way of life,

granting me the joy of your presence

and the pleasures of living with you forever."

Psalm 16:9-11

Psalm 16 is a Psalm of praise to God.   Most of the time when we pray we come with requests, and petitions, but David in this Psalm praises God for who He is.    David thanks God for his inheritance, for his land, for his guidance, for God being there for him, for godly people, for every good thing, for pleasures, for life eternal.   All these things come out of this Psalm.

Part of finding joy in life, is expressing your blessings to God.  A thankful heart melts away discouragement better than most medications.   Take time today to express to God your thankfulness ... and you will notice that your day will be filled joy that comes from knowing Him who created Joy!!

Psalm 15

"Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?"

Psalm 15 is the call to holiness, a call to be a righteous person, a blameless person.   These are things spoken of that may not make us popular with the world, or may get us financially ahead in life, or may prosper us with a new car or anything like that.   These are people that are given the honor of worshiping in the sanctuary of the Lord.   For those of us who understand that our purpose in life is to worship the Lord, these are some things that David points out, that allow us the honor to worship the Lord.

These are all good things to do, I think most people would agree with the list of Psalm 15.  But I like vs 4's answer to who can worship in the sanctuary of the Lord ...

"Those who despise flagrant sinners,

 and honor the faithful followers of the Lord,

and keep their promises even when it hurts."

Keeping our promises, even when it hurts.  Can't help but smile as I read this, because it's so true.   Have we made promises to people that we realize that maybe we shouldn't have?   Do we go back on promises that we make because of how tough it is to keep?   Think of the context of marriage, or friendship, or family.    Maybe this goes to a commitment we made to help someone, but we backed out at the last minute, because if we kept that promise, we would lose something in the process.    You can use the example of helping someone move, and you promised them that you would, but as the day approaches you renege on that promise so that you could attend a hockey game with your friends.

The hardest part about being a Christian sometimes is realizing that we are set apart, that we are called to holiness, and righteousness.  Sometimes the cost of that includes some discomfort in our lives.   But the payoff is worth it isn't it?   Like the finish line at the end of a grueling foot race, and you know that if you keep on going, there is a trophy to be won.

Psalm 14

"The Lord looks down from heaven

on the entire human race; 

he looks to see if anyone is truly wise,

if anyone seeks God." 

Psalm 14:2

This Palm starts off "Only fools say in their hearts, "There is no God".   There are quite a few people that claim that they don't believe that there is a God, there rational is usually that if there is a God he would of done a great miracle, he wouldn't let evil into the world, and religion has brought so much violence in the world.   Of course these claims are based on ignorance because even if God did provide a great miracle, chances are that we'd forget about it, and make another excuse that there is no God.   There are disasters in the world and evil, out of our own doing really ... humanity has the potential to solve the hunger issues, and social issues, but so many people have their own agendas that nothing gets done.   Evil was brought on by freewill, first Adam's choice to do what he knew was wrong, and lets face it, even if didn't take the fruit, someone else would of.   God's grace gave us a way out of the bondage of sin, through His Son.

As of religions of the world, and their battles, humanity has a tendency to take what is meant to be pure, and twist it to meet their own political agendas.   But then again, we just have to look at the atrocities of Hitler, Stalin, and others in history to find examples of Atheistic leadership.

Some people who were Christians at one time and have turned their back on their faith, usually have a) done something they knew was wrong and refuse to turn their back on their sin  b) have issues of unforgiveness and bitterness that have festered in their hearts  c) Allowed so much of the world to corrupt their hearts, that they can't see God and his work.

Of course these are generalizations, but the Psalm tells of wisdom of those who seek God.   The wisdom of the world does not line up to the wisdom of God.   The world sees things as they want to see ... the vision is narrow, and can only see one thing at a time.   When we seek God, when we strive after what He wants in our lives, we are putting our faith in a being that transcends time, and who is .... in fact truth.   John 8:32 speaks of a truth that sets us free, truth in Christ.   That is why the truly wise seek God, because God is truth.   Outside of God we can only trust in human wisdom and understanding.

So the challenge today is for us to embrace the truth of God, don't trade that in for the foolishness of God.   Seek God, seek him in everything you do.   Yes we struggle, yes we have 'off days', but trust in God, in his truth in your life, and that's the first step in wisdom, and in a life that is separate from the world.

Psalm 13

"But I trust in your unfailing love.  I will rejoice because you have rescued me.  I will sing 

to the Lord because he is good to me." vs. 5-6

How often do we look into the blessings of our past?   In my previous blog I mentioned that we rarely bring up the bad stuff in our past ... but how often do we look to His faithfulness in our past?    This is something that we don't do enough, and yet this is why David sings.

David sees God's handiwork in his past, and realizes that God has rescued him, and because of this he sings to the Lord because the Lord has been good to him.    Maybe you've had a crappy past, maybe life has seemed incredibly hard and tough for you.   Maybe that is what is driving your future, being reminded constantly about something that's happened to you.   It can be easy to dwell on our past mistakes, but what gets us through is holding on the Promises of God, and recalling His blessings to you in the past.

Scripture is filled with recollection of God's work in the lives of the Israelites.   The Passover feast is a reminder of God's deliverance of his people from the Egyptians.   We are also reminded in Church of Christ's work in our lives through the celebration of Communion.    When we loose sight of what God has done in our past, we lose Vision of what God can do in our lives in the future.   It's so important to keep track of God's faithfulness, and to thank him for it.   

Psalm 12

12:1 "Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!   The faithful have vanished from the earth!  Neighbors lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts."

"Gone are the good old days!" some people often say.  It's easy to look back and ponder our past and see how good things were.    We can look at society and think back to 'simpler' times and consider how good things were way back when we were young, as opposed to how they are now.    Truth is, there was no such thing as good old days.   Our minds have a tendency to play tricks on us, and keep up from remembering the 'not so good' events in our lives.   It's a survival mechanism that's God put in us to help us cope with certain situations and move on.

History has never been quiet (depending on who wrote the history textbooks), and in todays passage we see that David is crying out.    In vs. 1 he is saying much the same things that perhaps people are saying today in our congregations, and even in our workplaces.   But we don't, and should live in the past, or even in today.   David says (or sings) in verse 6 "The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace purified seven times over"  We live for His promises His tomorrow today.

God's tomorrow is better than our best day, and that is something to look forward to.