Tag: psalms

Psalm 18:20-30

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            I confess that I am tired a lot.  Maybe it is the rigors of pastoral ministry.  It could be because my mind is always a beehive of activity and doesn’t shut down easily at night.  Perhaps it is due to not enough exercise or self-care.  More than likely, it is a bit of all.  But I perked up when I read today’s psalm and heard David say that “by my God I can leap over a wall.”
 
            It has been a while since I’ve leapt over a wall.  I’m not that old, but old enough to know better than try something like leaping over walls and pulling hamstrings.  David was really no spring chicken himself when he wrote this.  Psalm 18 is a psalm of praise to God for rescuing David from Saul and all his enemies.  This deliverance did not happen overnight; it came over years of David running from the king and being pursued by others.  But the day finally did come, and David was not shy in proclaiming his praise to God.
 
            If God’s deliverance from earthly enemies can energize him so much, how much more can I be invigorated by the reality that I am delivered from sin, death, and hell through the blood of Jesus Christ?  Maybe you, like me sometimes, think way too much about adverse circumstances and ornery people.  I am continually an advocate of using the ancient psalms to help give voice to our contemporary situations.  So, today, I am taking my own advice by reading and meditating on this psalm and getting a head start on Thanksgiving Day.  I probably won’t go out a leap over a wall, but I suspect my soul will be renewed and energized by contemplating the redemptive events of Jesus.
 

 

            Saving God, you have settled the sin issue once for all through your Son, the Lord Jesus.  Thank you for your gracious deliverance.  May my mind and heart be fortified through living into such a great salvation.  Amen.

Psalm 28

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            In today’s psalm, David cries out for help and for God to hear his prayers.  Later, David exclaims:  “Blessed be the LORD!  For he has heard the voice of my please for mercy.  The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.”
 
            We are not told, however, of any kind of answer to prayer or of some miraculous deliverance.  David did not convey what kind of circumstance was going on.  As I pondered this psalm and its lack of life-detail, I wondered about David’s situation with several questions:  Could it be that David gave God praise just for being heard by him?  Was David cured in some way, or was he healed from the need to be healed?  Was there even any deliverance that occurred?  Did David come to praise God in spite of a lack of deliverance?  Was David’s joy in his relationship with God conditional, or unconditional?
 
            If we are blatantly honest with ourselves, we need to admit that far too often we have a particular outcome in mind for God to do with us.  Our hopes and expectations are usually tethered to God doing something very specific so that, if it does not come to pass (or not come to fruition quickly!) we become discouraged and disillusioned.  So, here is another set of questions I am asking myself:  If my adverse circumstances do not change, can I praise God anyway?  Can I, like David, take joy in simply being heard?  Can I find gratitude in all situations?  Do I only express thanks and praise to God when things are going my way?  Am I open to whatever God wants to do in my life, even if it is not what I would choose?  Do I feel that I am above having to put up with the wickedness of this world?  Am I expecting heaven on earth, or am I willing to suffer as a believer in Jesus?  The answers to those questions will determine the trajectory of our Christian experience.
 

 

            I praise you, O God, in the good and the bad, the easy and the difficult, the failures and the victories.  You are Lord over all things.  You are my strength and shield in every circumstance.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Amen.

Psalm 75

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Way back in the day, when I was in college, there were some lively characters within my group of friends and acquaintances.  One of those friends had a phrase he would call people out on whenever he discerned there was some sort of insincerity or disingenuous talk.  “Quit talkin’ out the side o’ ya’ neck!” he would say with some flavor.  His phrase captures the psalmist when he exhorts the boastful person to not “speak with a haughty neck” (ESV).
 
            Indeed, God will judge everyone on earth with equity, not showing favoritism.  Evil speech he shall not tolerate.  Instead of talking out of the side of our necks, the godly use their tongues in a different manner.  “We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near.  We recount your wondrous deeds.”  The way to avoid the proud words of the haughty person is to use our speech to express gratitude.  Generous words and proud words cannot co-exist in the same sentence.  Remembering God’s gracious works in the world and using our tongues to recount them has the effect of putting us in our proper place and shooing away the pride.
 
            One way of expressing gratitude to God is to take a few minutes each day to pause and give thanks for the things you notice.  If you take a walk, be intentional about noticing God’s creation and giving thanks for the specific things you see.  At your workplace, take note of the blessings for which you can give thanks.  When you are at home, notice the simple pleasures of being with family and be sure to give God praise for them.  For, if we do not observe God in the common and the mundane, we will likely miss him when he shows up in the dramatic and the awesome.
 

 

            Almighty God, you are the rightful Judge of all the earth.  Today I forsake all proud and haughty speech, and, instead, give thanks to you for your mighty acts of salvation and deliverance in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35b

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            My kids grew up in the ‘90s watching Veggie Tales.  The tunes were catchy and full of some solid truth about God.  One of their favorites was “God is Bigger.”  Here is the chorus:
 
God is bigger than the boogie man.
He’s bigger than Godzilla or the monsters on TV.
Oh, God is bigger than the boogie man,
And he’s watching out for you and me.
 
            Today’s Psalm expresses the bigness of God.  “You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent.”  God is big – bigger than anything and everything.  He is Sovereign over all his creation, and does what he wills to do.  He sees all and watches over his people.
 
            Sometimes we get lost in our situations, problems, and screw-ups and view them as larger than life.  We can become so overwhelmed and burdened with our inabilities, weaknesses, and lack of handling things well, that we lose sight of the reality that God is bigger than it all.  Instead of being afraid, I can allow sound theology to purge the anxiety and trouble from my mind and heart.  Using this psalm to pray and praise God is a foundational way of beginning to put into perspective the issues and problems of our lives.
 

 

            God Almighty, you are big and strong.  My problems are really small as I glimpse your sheer immensity.  O LORD my God, you are very great!  Bless the LORD, O my soul.  Praise the LORD.  Hallelujah, Amen.