Psalm 53

For the choir director: A meditation; a psalm of David. Only fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!

(Psa 53:1)

Today, we have another 3yearbible interview… this time we will be talking to the great preacher and theologian Charles Spurgeon.

3yearbible: What is your initial reaction to this psalm?

Spurgeon: The state of earth ought to be deeply felt by us. The world lying in wickedness should occupy much of our thoughts. The enormous guilt, the inconceivable pollution, the ineffably provoking Atheism of this fallen province of God's dominion, might be a theme for our ceaseless meditation and mourning.

3yearbible: What connection do you see between the BELIEFS of the fool, and his actions?

Spurgeon: Bad principles soon lead to bad lives. “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” And this he does because he is a fool. Being a fool he speaks according to his nature; being a great fool he meddles with a great subject, and comes to a wild conclusion. The atheist is, morally, as well as mentally, a fool, a fool in the heart as well as in the head; a fool in morals as well as in philosophy. With the denial of God as a starting point, we may well conclude that the fool's progress is a rapid, riotous, raving, ruinous one. He who begins at impiety is ready for anything. “No God,” being interpreted, means no law, no order, no restraint to lust, no limit to passion. Who but a fool would be of this mind?

3yearbible: Is every man by nature like this? Are they all fools?

Spurgeon: The fallen race of man, left to its own energy, has not produced a single lover of God or doer of holiness, nor will it ever do so. Grace must interpose or not one specimen of humanity will be found to follow after the good and true. This is God's verdict after looking down upon the race. Who shall gainsay it?

3yearbible: Praise God for His grace! May we extend the grace of God as the only hope we have for a lost and dying world!

Psalm 52

For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Doeg the Edomite said to Saul, "David has gone to see Ahimelech."

Why do you boast about your crimes, great warrior? Don't you realize God's justice continues forever? All day long you plot destruction. Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor; you're an expert at telling lies. You love evil more than good and lies more than truth.

Interlude

You love to destroy others with your words, you liar! But God will strike you down once and for all. He will pull you from your home and uproot you from the land of the living.

Interlude

The righteous will see it and be amazed. They will laugh and say, "Look what happens to mighty warriors who do not trust in God. They trust their wealth instead and grow more and more bold in their wickedness." But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God's unfailing love. I will praise You forever, O God, for what You have done. I will trust in Your good name in the presence of Your faithful people.

(Psa 52:1-9)

I’m not sure what translation most of you read, so I put the whole psalm here in the New Living Translation. If you skipped over it, go back and read it.

If you remember the story correctly, Doeg the Edomite told Saul about the priests helping David... but he told Saul in a deceptive and deceitful manner… as a result ALL of the priests at Nob were murdered! It was a true atrocity, a horrible example of the evil that man is capable of. It was a blood-bath without reason, a mass-murder that was the manifestation of King Saul’s rage.

Doeg didn’t see it this way… he saw it as an opportunity to promote himself. This psalm is David’s response to Doeg.

Look how David describes Doeg: Razor sharp tongue, king of deception, lover of lies and evil; David summarizes Doeg at the end by saying He trusted in his own riches and devices rather than God. The end for Doeg was clear; he would be struck down, pulled from his home, and eventually uprooted from the land of the living. He was like a weed, and his days were numbered.

David on the other hand describes himself as an “olive tree”; pointing out that while Doeg was being uprooted, he would be thriving in God’s house. The main difference between the two men is clear. While Doeg was busy promoting himself and jockeying for position before King Saul, David trusted the Lord with his future.

Friends, learn from David. Don’t go out and try and make things happen… over time you may end up like Doeg, sacrificing others to get what you want. Instead, trust in the UNFAILING LOVE of God. He knows and wants what is best for you… leave the details in HIS HANDS!

Answering questions...

Sorry this has taken so long, but I've been really busy lately. There were a couple of questions asked in the last week or so that haven't been answered yet.

1. The first one was about Psalm 39:10 - the question was, "what does the psalmist mean when he says 'I am consumed by the blow of your hand'?"

It appears that it is a reference to the chastening or discipline of God. The psalmist is saying that God's discipline in his life is heavy, and hard to bear... he is asking God to be gracious.

2. How many sons of Korah? LOTS! They were a FAMILY within the tribe of Levi, (the Levites were the gene-pool for the priesthood, remember?) and their job was to SING. You can read the phrase, "of the sons of Korah" in psalms to mean, "by Israel's worship leaders".

Psalm 51

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

(Psa 51:7)

This Psalm comes on the heels of David’s sin with Bathsheba, his attempts to cover it, and his confrontation with Nathaniel the prophet. We see here not only a heart of true confession and repentance, but also an INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF FAITH in the GRACE OF GOD. Look with me at verse 7 and the two statements he makes.

1. Purge me with Hyssop and I shall be clean – The reference to Hyssop here is beautiful. It comes from Leviticus 14 and deals with the law for the cleansing of a leper. David identifies himself here as an unclean man, one who had lost the rights and privileges of fellowship with God and His people because of the greatness of his sin. He writes here not as if hyssop itself can bring about a magical cure, but he points to that which it symbolizes. Notice, he doesn’t ask a priest to “purge” him, but the LORD HIMSELF. He realizes that even as great as his sin was, the Lord himself could purge him, and if He did, David would be CLEAN. – This word clean means UNCONTAMINATED… David realized that the cleansing the Lord brings is complete, every stain is removed!
2. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow – Whiter than snow… notice, it is as if David picks the purest, whitest thing he can think of; and then he says the Lord can make him cleaner. Snow can pick up contaminates on its way down, it can quickly become impure… but the Lord could remove ever hint of contamination from David’s life… He could literally bring about a complete and total cleansing.

So, what about you and me? Do you believe that God can wash you COMPLETELY? Do you believe He has really forgiven you for EVERYTHING? May we place great faith in the grace of God, and like David walk as men and women who KNOW they have been made pure!

Psalm 50

Whoever offers praise glorifies Me…

(Psa 50:23a)

I thought this psalm would give us a good opportunity to talk about what it means to GLORIFY God. It is a word that get’s thrown around a lot in Christian circles, but one that I think most f us don’t really understand. So, let’s start by defining it. The root word in Hebrew is one the High School kids are familiar with because I talk about it frequently. It is the word Kabad (say it like KA – Vode, cause it sounds cool that way). In its raw root form it literally means Weightiness or Heaviness. You see, God is weighty… He isn’t light-weight or froofy… Here the word means that we acknowledge the HEAVINESS of God. We acknowledge that He is far above us and all else we know… that is what it means to glorify Him.

Webster says it means to ascribe honor to someone in thought or words. That is accurate as well. When we acknowledge how great God is, we HONOR Him. We set Him apart from all else, declaring Him to be greater.

In this psalm we are told that one of the ways we can GLORIFY God is by OFFERING HIM PRAISE. The idea here is that we sacrifice to God by giving Him praise. This is something that involves far more than our lips… anyone can say “praise the Lord”. The idea is that if we live a life of praise that offers up words of praise to and about the Lord, then we successfully glorify Him; acknowledging His greatness to the world all around us. Friends, live lives of praise, and glorify God in ALL you do!

Psalm 49

Psa 49:11 Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever, Their dwelling places to all generations; They call their lands after their own names.

At work we have the radio station set on Soft Rock. The lyrics to these songs are all full of froofy love and seem to imply two things, "our love is different" and "we are going to live forever because of it." Both of these statements are true for the believer. Neither of these statement can be true for the unbeliever.

The world has set up this image that we are all going to live forever, love forever, be forever. This chapter is a beautiful statements to those who trust in riches. You are not going to live forever. You are going to die like every beast that ever was. All your riches will be left here. In the end it will be your soul, before God's throne.

Gang, it is so asy to get caught up in the "riches" game. There will always be one more thing you want, or need, or gotta have. If you ever reach the point of contentment watch as one of these things are taken away. You realize just how fleeting everything is.

The alternative is to store your hopes in eternal things. Think upon the eternal and live for the eternal. We are going to live forever, however before that happens our flesh is going to die. Therefore, are what you sowing today things for the flesh or soul?

Psalm 48

Psa 48:2 Beautiful in elevation, The joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, The city of the great King.

Another Psalm by the sons of Korah. It was how may sons Korah had. I do not know. To learn who Korah is you would have to jump back and read Numbers 16. He was of an elite group of Levis, whose charge was the temple and the holy things of God. He himself got a little to big in his head and began an uprising. It ended poorly for Korah. Nevertheless, when you hear the term "The sons of Korah," it is very similar to hearing the term, "The sons of Aaron." You know that those from Korah are of an elite Levitical group in charge of the Holy of Holies, carrying the ark, and other jobs of the temple.

Beautiful in elevation. I have heard there is a specific spot just outside Jerusalem where you can see the entire city. It is here Jesus prayed over the city. I can only imagine how many have come across that path to look upon the city of the Lord. Jerusalem is the "city of peace." Though we know it is far from that today, we see the significance of this throughout the Bible. Truly the Prince of Peace would come from this city, not once, but again as well. The Jews were to turn their bodies to Jerusalam as they prayed. The Holy of Holies was located in Jerusalem and will be located one again one day. One city with so much history, and so much future. is the focal point of the world.

It will be a great day indeed when Jerusalem once again becomes the joy of the world. What you might not know is that it is the joy of you and me. Through this city came the Man, and through this Man came our Salvation. It is the Man Christ Jesus. The city is still blessed today, and it is not weird or religious for you to take some time to pray over it. You do not need to point directly to it as the Jews, but as a believer in Jesus, pray over the city He fervently prayed for.

Psalm 47

Psa 47:6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

If thre is one thing this Psalm should remind us to do it is SING PRAISES! We are all going to be different places today. Some of us will be doing school while others at work. SOme will be taking care of siblings while others will be with friends. Whereever you are today, sing praises, pray praises, give praises to God. 1 Thessalonians says "Rejoice always." One has perfect communion with the Lord when they are simply praising His name!

Stop! Go sing praises to God right now and do not stop. This is your life. Praise JESUS!

Psalm 46

Psa 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

The sons of Korah write a psalm to show off the power of their Lord. They paint a contrast for us between the might of God and that of the world. In the end, we find the mightiness of the world has fallen before the Lord. The chariots are burned down and the bow is cut. All that is left is the Lord!

Following this the psalmist states this verse from the first person, "Be still and know that I am God." We live in Northern Virginia and because we do, we have a problem keeping still. Now we do not suffer from trusting in weaponry here because we are not living in a violent area. However, we do suffer from materialism. Sometimes in all our running around, between school and work and all our desires and entertainment, the Lord is lost. What would it take for us to be still and know that He is God? Would he have to cut the power supply to the Nintendo or XBox? Does he have to burn down the TV?

Do your devotion everyday. While doing it, make sure you are taking the time to just be still before the Lord. He is God in heaven, and we are here on earth, so let your words be few. Listen to Him.

Psalm 45

Psa 45:11 So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him.

There is something different about this psalm from the moment you start reading it. It begins, "A Song of Love." We continue and see that this song of love quickly turns into a song of marriage, as the "daughter" is brought to the King. As we read on we are given a beautiful picture of the Jesus and His bride, the church.

The text reads, "So the King will greatly desire your beauty..." I do not know about you, but when brought face to face before the Lord I do not think I am going to be feeling like I am looking good. Is it not wonderful to know that despite our sins and failures, because of His blood, Jesus makes us white as snow. Because of Jesus we are beautiful. Let this be a reminder to all of you. Your looks are not as important as your soul and spirit. Jesus makes you beautiful on the outside and in. Focus on Him and allow Him to perform this transformation.

How rich we are, therefore our response is simple, "He is your Lord, worship Him." God has loved us perfectly. He lays us down in green pastures and He restores our soul. As a response to this perfect love it only makes sense that we worship Him. The more time you spend with Him, the more He will take your breath away. The more time you spend with Him, the more you will fall down and worship.

Psalm 44

Psa 44:6 For I will not trust in my bow, Nor shall my sword save me.

I can only imagine what it was like back in the day of David. I am sure it was close to mandatory that one would learn to wield a sword. Should something happen and you be caught without your weapon, you were done for. This verse reminds me of Psalm 20:7, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God."

I do not know if there is anything you have which you do not leave home without. Obviously, we do not live in a place where our lives are constantly being threatoned. Nevertheless, what do remember or who do we remember in a moment of need? Remember the name of the Lord. He is our deliverer. I love this concept the Psalmist paints for us. It would be better to be caught in battle without a sword and bow, and crying out to God, than to have your weapons for defense, and not remember Him. Jesus sustains us. Our sword cannot and our horses cannot.

Psalm 43

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

(Psalm 43:5)

Is the psalmist talking to himself? It appears so… but it isn’t a bad thing in this situation. He asks two questions of himself, and they are questions it might serve us well to ask ourselves.

His first question is “why are you cast down, o my soul?” The word cast down means to stoop or bend low. It seems that this stooping or bending down has to do with a burden or weight of one sort or another that the person is carrying. In this instance, the psalmist is asking his soul why it seems to be bent so low. At times we may feel depressed, weighed down, like we can’t go on any longer. The reasons for this are numerous, and that is what the psalmist asks here… “What’s up? Why are you so down?”

The next question he asks is similar. He says once again to his soul, “Why are you disquieted within me” The word disquieted means to growl, howl, or cry out. The Psalmist says, “What has so provoked you soul, that you react this way?” Once again, many things can bring about this kind of feeling.

The interesting thing that the Psalmist does now is this: rather than answering his questions he casts them in a new light. He says HOPE IN GOD. You see, no matter what burden you carry, or what has caused you to cry out, God is SO MUCH GREATER. If we place our hope in God, the burden is lessened, our soul is comforted, and we are restored to the spiritual state we need to be. The psalmist calls God the “help of his countenance”. The idea is that God causes him to be full of hope, changing His appearance from despair to hopefulness, Joy, and strength.

In the midst of even the most difficult circumstances, we can have HOPE. If we will remember who God is, what He has done, what He will do, and what He thinks about us and our situation; then we will no longer be as overwhelmed. The introduction of the eternal to the problems we face always changes things. So, let the Lord be the Lord of your life, and place your hope in Him today. If you do, you may be surprised at the way He “helps your countenance”. e says once again to jh

Psalm 42

To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the Sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

(Psa 42:1-2)

We are going to try something new today… If I like it, I’ll probably do it again every couple of weeks or so. I am going to “interview” a great theologian of the past in regards to this verse. The theologian I picked today is A.W. Tozer. So, here we go…

3YEARBIBLE: This idea of thirsting, panting, longing for God… where does it come from?

AW TOZER: We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. 'No man can come to me,' said our Lord, 'except the Father which hath sent me draw him'. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him.

3YEARBIBLE: It seems interesting to me that though the psalmist here obviously KNOWS God, he is talking about thirsting for Him, longing for Him. Why do we pursue God if we already know Him?

AW TOZER: To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily- satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart. St. Bernard stated this holy paradox in a musical quatrain that will be instantly understood by every worshipping soul:

We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still:
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.

come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking. Moses used the fact that he knew God as an argument for knowing Him better. 'Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight'; and from there he rose to make the daring request, 'I beseech thee, show me thy glory.' God was frankly pleased by this display of ardour, and the next day called Moses into the mount, and there in solemn procession made all His glory pass before him.

3YEARBIBLE: So you are saying that for those who love the Lord, the more they know Him the more they long to get to know Him more? Can you expound on this for us?

AW TOZER: Hymnody is sweet with the longing after God, the God whom, while the singer seeks, he knows he has already found. 'His track I see and I'll pursue,' sang our fathers only a short generation ago, but that song is heard no more in the great congregation. How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of 'accepting' Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him we need no more seek Him. This is set before us as the last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever believed otherwise. Thus the whole testimony of the worshipping, seeking, singing Church on that subject is crisply set aside. The experiential heart- theology of a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture which would certainly have sounded strange to an Augustine, a Rutherford or a Branierd.

3YEARBIBLE: That is really tragic! How can we protect ourselves from losing the fervor of those early Christians? How can we insure that we are as you called them “Children of the Burning Heart”?

AW TOZER: When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the 'and' lies our great woe. If we omit the 'and', we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or restrict the motions of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One.

I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.

3YEARBIBLE: May we all take your warning to heart, and may we all seek to do away with dead religion, and pursue God with all of our hearts. Would you lead us in prayer AW?

AW TOZER: O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.' Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Psalm 41

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.

(Psalm 41:13)

The verse quoted above ends not only this Psalm, but the first “book” of the Psalms. Maybe you didn’t know this, but the book of Psalms is actually broken up into 5 separate parts called “books”. Picture a five volume set if you will, each book a part of a larger work.

The interesting thing about this is that there are also 5 books that make up the Torah, or the LAW. In the Latin these are actually referred to as the Pentateuch, or the FIVE BOOKS. The Pentateuch records for us the beginning of God’s revelation to man. In it we see the beginning of the world, the entrance of sin, God’s judgment, the call of Abraham, the development of the nation of Israel, their exodus, their wanderings in the wilderness, and the laws by which they were to live.

It is almost as if these 5 books of the psalms serve as a response to the 5 books that God had delivered to His children. Though we can’t prove that this is why there are 5 and 5, I think it is an interesting thought.

What we do know is that these Psalms were the God-inspired response of the Israelites to the word that God had brought to them. As we close this book of Psalms, and embark on a journey through the second book, let us not just read these Psalms, but make them the song of our heart. May we sing with all that we are, “blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting!” Amen? Amen!

Psalm 40

Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

(Psa 40:4)

We have here in Psalm 40 another verse about the “blessed” man. We talked before about the fact that this word literally means “oh how happy”. We read here one thing this truly happy man DOES and one thing he DOES NOT do.

1. We read that the BLESSED man makes the Lord His trust. It is so important for us to be reminded of this. Lasting joy and happiness only come for a person who truly places their trust in the Lord, and in Him EXCLUSIVELY. One translation says it like this… “Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God”. The idea is that we can only GAIN real lasting joy when we LOSE ourselves in the Lord.

2. The blessed man has no respect toward the proud. This doesn’t mean the route to blessing is disrespect toward proud people, it simply means that we don’t look to the self-sufficient and their ways to find satisfaction in this life.
3. The blessed man ignores the idolater and the gods of this world. There is so much that this world worships, so much that it places in the position that should belong exclusively to the Lord. If we want lasting joy, we will pass those things by and fix our eyes on Jesus.

What we see here is really quite simple: The truly blessed life is one that rejects the desires of this world and the flesh for the things of the Lord. Follow the advice of the psalmist, and you will not be disappointed!

Psalm 39

"LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah

(Psa 39:4-5)

Most of us who read this blog are young. We like to look ahead and think that we have all the time in the world to do the things God has called us to do. The truth is, life is short. It is here today and gone tomorrow. David prays here that the Lord would help him to understand how FRAIL he is. The word frail here means TRANSIENT or FLEETING. David prays that the Lord would help him recognize that his life here is not permanent. David wanted to grasp the concept that his days were quickly running by, time was short, and he needed to make the most of his life. Life, at it’s very best is a vapor. It comes and goes in an instant when take in the scope of eternity.

Your life is short. It is fleeting. You are moving closer to the end of your life with every breath that you take, and you are not guaranteed another day, let alone another year. What will you do with your momentary life? Will you squander it away entertaining yourself? Or, will you use it to make a mark for the eternal? Follow the example of David today, and ask the Lord to help you be mindful of how short this life is… Then live like you actually believe what He has shown you.

Psalm 38

Psa 38:8-9 I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart. (9) Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You.

Those who repent before the Lord are saved. Those who are broken before the Lord experience His grace. However, sometimes it takes a lot to drive us to that point. I believe this is another key attribute of David that made him a man after God's own heart. David never fought his case before the Lord, but instead came broken before Him.

If there is something, anything at all, which you are struggling with, than give it to Jesus with a complete brokenness of the heart. To harden your heart is only to make a stand against the Lord. This is a long and dangerous game to play. The more you harden your heart against the Lord, the easier it is to do. You will be able to justify all your actions, not matter how far they wander from the truth. As you harden your heart, the Lord will send more and more things to break you that He might reposition you. You will end up like Jacob, who wrestled with God and came out with a limp he would keep the rest of his life.

Brokenness is a humbling place to be. Often times, for the Christian it is exactly where we need to be. It is a selfless prayer, yet necessary. Ask the Lord for brokenness today and see how He will draw you closer to Him.

Psalm 37

Psa 37:12-13 The wicked plots against the just, And gnashes at him with his teeth. (13) The Lord laughs at him, For He sees that his day is coming.

I love this verse because it shows the awesome power of the Lord. I believe as Christians we often show a lack of faith by truly not putting our full trust in Him. The angel said that Jesus was to be called, "Immanuel" or "God with us." The idea is simple, Jesus came and He would always be right beside us taking care of us from that day forth.

I am challenged. Do I truly believe "God is with me" in my head? Do I fear the things of this world or do I fear the Lord? As I look at the verse above it shows me that I have nothing to fear. When the wicked plot and scheme, the Lord merely laughs.

I remember as a little kid always wanting to defeat my father in a wrestling match. I would scheme for the erfct moment to jump on him and throw him to the groound. One problem, my dad is way stronger than me, even to this day. My attempt were laughable at best. Here was a skinny little kid going against this big strong man.

The plots of the wicked are laughable at best. Trust in Him, He is on your side. Hold on to Him and He will never let go of you. Truly our God is with us, and His power and strength is more than enough to shield us from the wicked of this world.

Psalm 36:6

Psa 36:5 Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

David is a master with his words and in this Psalm he paints beautiful pictures for us. Verse 5 tells us that the Lord is both merciful and faithful.

Mercy and faith are very relative according to this world. Consider the Islamic faith. They are encouraged to take revenge, in fact it is their duty. The world promotes taking justice for yourself. It tells you to "even the score." I look at books like The Count of Monte Cristo, which makes aa hero of a man who ruins everyone's life because they ruined his. It is easy to get sucked into this mind set.

The Lord is just the opposite. He merciful, even to the heavens. He is faithful, even to the clouds. Imagine your life if either one of these were not true. The very next verse says he preserves us. Truly we are preserved through the mercy and faith of the Lord. Practice these qualities. Show others that you are a mere product of the mercy and faithfulness of the living Lord.

Psalm 35

Psa 35:21-22 They also opened their mouth wide against me, And said, "Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen it." (22) This You have seen, O LORD; Do not keep silence. O Lord, do not be far from me.

Ever felt like there was someone put here on the earth just to ruin who you are? They are always slandering you and putting you down. They do it among groups of people. David felt this same way. However, the difference was, not only were they slandering David, they were also trying to kill him.

I do not know about you but if I were anointed king, I would think I would be king. David was anointed, yet he ran. He ran for his life. He had followers here were faithful, yet they were well out numbered. He had no country and no place to call his own. He must have thought at times, "I wish I had never gotten involved. I wish I could go back to just being a shepherd." Nevertheless David had a call.

Where ever we are called, there are going to be slanderers. A call or anointing does not mean the rest is easy, it only means that where ever that call and anointing are, that is where we are suppose to be. Maybe you feel like David. You are called for great things, however you are being slandered and are running. Pray like David. Praise like David. Talk to God like David. He says, "Lord do not be far from me." If God is with you who can stand against you? Allow the Lord to fight for you and do the work for you. This is the one way to keep from giving up in the face of discouragement.

Psalm 34

Psa 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

David was a song writer. His lyrics were beautiful and they were very visual. This is one of my favorite verses. I like it because it is filled with promise.

Have you ever been to Costco? There are usually tons of people serving samples. They serve the samples with confidence that, if you taste it, you will buy it. I believe this is the same picture David paints. If you simply experience the blessing that is from the Lord, you will not be able to help yourself from wanting to be with Him.

There is no pressure. The gift is absolutely free. Just come and taste and see for yourself. Once you do, I guarantee you will be sold on the goodness of the Lord!

Psalm 33

Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
(Psa 33:8-10)

When I read this I can’t help but think of many of the nations in the Middle East, and their declared intentions of removing Israel from the face of the earth. They have held their counsels and made their plans, but we read here that they are made of no effect and will come to nothing. A lot of people would love to believe that they have real power, that if they say the word it happens. Ultimately, it is only the LORD who wields this ultimate power. When He speaks it happens; He commands all, for He created it all with the word of His mouth.

We read here that because the LORD is the supreme ruler of all, because He alone is truly powerful, the whole earth should stand in awe of Him. Many men today seem to believe that they can do what they want, that they can get away with the plans they have made. In the end, the Lord will bring all of those things to an end, and He alone will prevail.

As for you, whose counsel will you listen to? Whose plan will you be a part of? I would advise you to follow the guidance this psalm offers; Stand in awe of the LORD and give to Him the reverential respect He deserves.

Psalm 32

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
(Psa 32:1-2)

This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible… I love it SO MUCH. That one word BLESSED, is just so full of meaning! Some people say it blessed, some read it bless-ed, how ever you pronounce it, there is only one way to understand it… it really means oh what JOY, or oh how HAPPY. We’ve been talking about Joy quite a bit this week, and today I want to talk some more about where it comes from.

In our world happiness is something pursued, something people long to find and hold onto. When people do find it, it is fleeting, it lasts momentarily and then IT IS GONE. They look for it relationships, in experiences, they modify their environment every way they can think of all in an attempt to feel HAPPY. The feeling comes for a moment and then flees to some unknown place, leaving the person sad and empty.

Here in this psalm we read that the truly happy man, the man who has LASTING JOY, is the man who’s:

1. Transgressions (willful sins) are forgiven.
2. Sin is covered (not by himself, but by the Lord… love covers a multitude of sins).
3. Iniquity is not imputed to him (this means their record has been cleared of all guilt).
4. Spirit is free of deceit (honest living, nothing hidden).

The key to having these 4 JOY GIVING realities in your life is CONFESSION and REPENTANCE. As Christians we can come to the Lord and COME CLEAN. We have the blood of Jesus to wash us clean. I will never forget the sheer JOY I felt the day I came totally clean before God and my closest friends for the first time. FREEDOM! GRACE! My soul was singing, my heart was dancing… it was glorious. A burden I had borne for far too long came falling off, “my chains were gone, I’d been set free”.

Everyday I remember that I am a free and forgiven man. It thrills me to this day, I can’t even begin to tell you the joy it is to know I am forgiven and loved by the God of the universe. We read two days ago that “the sorrow may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning”. So opposite of the worlds experience… I don’t have to chase happiness anymore, now I live in the presence of God, where I find FULNESS OF JOY.

psalm 31

Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD.
(Psa 31:24)

Yesterday we talked about the wonderful HOPE that we have as believer’s. We pointed out that for the Christian, suffering is always temporary, and we have a promise of ABUNDANT LIFE for all of eternity. We have HOPE. Today we see David in the middle of a time of difficulty. Enemies of every sort press in on him, literal ones and spiritual ones. He is tired, weary, and wanting it all to end; yet he continues to look to the Lord. David sets an example for us in that he doesn’t ABANDON HOPE in difficulty, but he CLINGS TO IT.

We are described in verse 24, the closing verse of the Psalm, as those who “hope in the Lord”. As believers this should be an accurate description of all of us. We don’t put our hope in the things of this world, but we put it in the Lord! The exhortation here is simple but profound. If we hope in the Lord, we should be of “good courage”. The Hebrew word translated “be of good courage” literally means to “seize upon” in it’s primitive form. I like that. It isn’t a “keep a stiff upper lip” kind of courage, it is a “hang on to Jesus with all you have” kind of courage. If we cling to the Lord then He will STRENGTHEN our hearts. The idea is that as we cling to Him, He will give to us the boldness, courage, and strength we lack… He will change our hearts and prepare them to face even the fiercest foe.

So, You who hope in the Lord, CLING TO JESUS! Let Him strengthen you so you may be ready to face whatever challenge may come your way!

Psalm 30

For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

(Psa 30:5)

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give You thanks forever!

(Psa 30:11-12)

Being a Christian provides a person with SO MUCH HOPE. For people who don’t know the Lord, tragedy here in this world can be debilitating and leave them feeling HOPELESS. The worst this world has to send our way, according to this psalm, will only last for a “moment”, or for the “night”. Suffering for the believer is never a permanent situation, it is forever transient. For us, the favor of God lasts for a lifetime, and there will always be a bright morning of Joy to end our nights of weeping.

The psalmist tells us that God can take our MOURNING, and turn it into DANCING. I love that picture. Mourning is probably the greatest possible expression of human sorrow, while a spontaneous dance is one of the greatest expressions of pure joy. What is it that can affect such powerful change? It is the PERSON and WORK of Jesus. At its core, all of our sorrow and suffering are directly or indirectly related to SIN. Jesus alone has conquered sin and death, therefore HE is the only one who can turn mourning to dancing.

As a Christian, we know Jesus. Therefore, no matter how badly we are suffering, we KNOW that one day the Lord will make everything right. Rejoice in the hope we have, for it CANNOT BE EXTINGUISHED!!!