Category Archives: Psalms

Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. “Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.” But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury. For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.” The king proclaims the Lord’s decree: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father. Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession. You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.’” Now then, you kings, act wisely! Be warned, you rulers of the earth! Serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling. Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities— for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him!
Psalm 2

Dear God, I don’t know if this has anything to do with this passage, but as I read it I was just thinking about how we are all so divided. Not only nation against nation, but within the nations there is conflict between political parties, churches, families, etc. frankly, I’m not sure what it would look like for us to all be on the same page, working together towards a common purpose. It seems that the best way to unite a group is to give us a common enemy. Maybe that is why political leaders naturally vilify their opponents. That’s the best way to galvanize their own support.

So what does unifying leadership really look like? I suppose it looks like Jesus. It looks like selling grace/mercy/freedom instead of power/judgment/fear. Some pastors even try to lead through fear. I’ve had two young men come to our clinic in the last six months, each of them terrified of the tribulation. They had been listening to pastors that lead through fear.

Maybe the problem with leading with love and mercy is that it tends to attract but not galvanize. People get comfortable and then they get lazy. Is it our sinful nature that needs that extra motivation to work and stay together? Even now, is there any part of my discipline of sitting here and praying to you that is driven by fear, or is it simply pursuit of you?

Father, whether I am leading with my family, my work, my community, or wherever, help me to lead with mercy and joy. Help me to allow the fruits of the Spirit to flow out of me. I want to be a source of your kingdom coming to earth and your will being done here as it is in Heaven.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today! The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did. For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”
Psalm 95

Dear God, since these are meant to be songs, sometimes I try to imagine sitting in church and singing them. Or singing them with my family. The first half of this psalm lends itself to that picture, but the last part seems like an awkward thing to sing. But is it?

The next thing I like to do is see who wrote it (this one is unknown) and then try to put myself in their place as they pinned these words. In this case, it seems that someone wanted to acknowledge you and worship you, but part of that worship was to fear you and your judgment for disobedience. At first, that seems harsh to me–a bit of a downer for a song like this. But is it?

Father, yes, you are powerful and worthy of my worship. And yes, you are demanding and worthy of my obedience. To obey is better than to sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). So help me to worship you through both my praise and my intentional obedience. Love through me. Work through me. Enter the world through me. And let your kingdom come and will be done through me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
Psalm 1:1-3

Dear God, my wife and I were driving the other day and she noticed a cypress tree in someone’s yard. She remarked how good it looked even though it wasn’t by a river–where we usually see cypress trees. Obviously, that tree has access to water from somewhere.

What do I do to make sure I have access to enough water? The psalmist here has some thoughts on both what to do and what to NOT do:

• NOT do: follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.

Do: delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.

So am I doing enough to guard my heart against being wicked? Do I join with mockers? Do I NOT love? Or do I delight in your law? Do I follow it? It reminds me of the teaching the exhorts is to follow your laws because you designed them for our joy and peace, not just to arbitrarily give us laws to follow.

Father, one of the fruits of the Spirit is the “joy” that the psalmist refers to here, and the way to cultivate the soil of my heart (or at least one of the ways) is to simply avoid evil and mockery and embrace your commands. Help me to be mindful of both of those facts as I go through this day.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:12-14

Dear God, “the sins lurking in my heart.” I have them. We all do. Mine usually come back to some sort of selfishness or insecurity. They become about what I want. I want love, admiration, leisure, etc.; and then I let myself act in a way that will get me those things.

The irony is that the more I do the things that I think will get me what I want, the less appealing I am as a person. People don’t like needy people. You can’t get love by asking for love. You can’t earn admiration by seeking to be admired. And you can’t get fulfillment through leisure. On the contrary. When I selflessly give love is when people are more likely to return it (only if it’s not demanded or done on a quid pro pro basis). When I humbly serve without needing anything in return is when people are more interested in following my example. When I am generous and sympathetic to someone instead of badmouthing and judging them is when people will see something in me that is comfortable in my own skin.

Father, I suppose the best way to know all of the sins lurking in my heart is to, every day, clean house by fertilizing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in my life and then letting that fruit crowd out the weeds and thorns of the sin that binds me. So fill me with love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, kindness, goodness, and self control. Let them completely envelop my life so that the sin is crowded out. Only the Holy Spirit can get me there.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.
Psalm 62:1-2

Dear God, as I read this passage of David this morning, the words that strikes me are the verb and it’s adverb: “wait” and “quietly.” He could have used a lot of verbs and adverbs here.

• Walk calmly
• Run briskly
• Pray earnestly
• Sing joyfully

You get the idea. But David went the other way. He waits quietly before you. Have I ever waited quietly? What does that look like?

I’ve known people to have gone on silent retreats before. In fact, I attended one once. But I don’t think that’s what David is doing here. I doubt he went on silent retreats. But this makes me think that he did find time to just be still and quiet before you. Maybe he learned to do this as a shepherd when he was a boy. If you’re not used to it, being alone with your thoughts can be hard and scary.

Father, this is probably something I should attempt to do more. Help me to learn to wait quietly before you. Help me to make room for the Holy Spirit to grow. And please protect my thoughts from Satan.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.
Psalm 63:1-8

Dear God, I think the most remarkable part of this psalm is the context. At the top it reads, “A psalm of David, regarding a time when David was in the wilderness of Judah.” This psalm came out of David not out of a time of abundance, but a time of struggle. We don’t know which wilderness story for David this is. Was it when he was running from Saul? Absalom?

Of course, the last three verses of this psalm are the reason I struggle with Psalms. David shift from praising you to hoping for your wrath for his enemies:

But those plotting to destroy me will come to ruin. They will go down into the depths of the earth. They will die by the sword and become the food of jackals. But the king will rejoice in God. All who swear to tell the truth will praise him, while liars will be silenced.
Psalm 63:9-11

The truth is, Jesus want me to love my enemies and hope for their reconciliation to you, even if it costs me. David didn’t know that and so he sometimes took his love for you and his humility before you and linked it to his disdain for his enemies. Of course, I don’t know what it’s like to have both the number of enemies David did and the types of enemies he did.

Father, help me to worship and praise you in all circumstances. Help me to glorify you in the midst of my victories and my defeats. Help me to love everyone around me and yearn for their joy and peace to be found in you, whether they are a friend or a foe. And thank you for everything. I do worship you as my God. You are worthy of all of my praise.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.
Psalm 121:1-8

Dear God, I think the most important thing to know about this psalm is that it is “a psalm for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.” I like the idea of a group of people, walking together and singing this song along the way. Worshipping you through this song. Is it a song that Jesus used to sing with others when they walked to Jerusalem for the Passover? Did he sing it on his way to the fateful Passover? Put into that context–Jesus singing this as we walked to his torture and death–the song gains even more meaning and poignancy.

I haven’t even made it to work yet, and I’ve already had a work problem to solve this morning. But thankfully, you helped me solve it. And it wasn’t a slam dunk by any means. I recognize your provision. I hope that when you look down and see the problems I’m trying to solve, you see that the problems involve loving others and that I’m part of a group that is trying to do our best to represent you.

When I first read this passage this morning, I thought about the divisions between us and how there are so many people who are ideologically opposed to each other when the truth is, we all want the same thing. Why does it always take something special to unite us? Well, I know why. I’ve said it many times before. Satan’s Plan A is to divide us and he very rarely needs Plan B because Plan A is very good.

Father, as I do a radio interview today on a Tea Party radio show, and as I speak to both Tea Party and Democrat groups over the next 8 days, help me to be a united. Help me to love. Help me to be part of getting all of us to look to you, where our helps comes from. Keep watch over all of us. Unite us in our love for you and our love for each other. And when others who don’t love you look at us, let them see the God of the universe who is worthy of love because you love us so much.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen