Category Archives: Psalms

How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe. Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion. And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting.

Psalm 133

Dear God, I ran across this Psalm this morning, and it was so nice and short I thought I would just spend some time with it. Maybe I’ll even try to evaluate it as my wife would a poem.

First, I try to imagine what David was experiencing when he wrote it. Thankfully, the text gives us a hint. Before the Psalm starts it says, “A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of David.” So it’s not a song ABOUT pilgrims. It’s FOR them. David loved them. He loved his fellow Israelites, and he felt a kindred brotherhood with them. He appreciated their unity. He gave them a song to sing to help encourage their camaraderie and bind their spirits together. Since it was a pilgrimage (perhaps to celebrate the Passover), perhaps it was about worshipping you and remembering what you have done for all of them. Regardless, it was the unity of spirit that touched him and he wanted to say something about it.

Harmony is repeated a couple of times. It is precious. It is refreshing. Precious as the anointing oil poured over Aaron. Harmony often has to fight out sinful nature. We have our own brilliant thoughts and when people don’t agree with us we lose that harmony. But when we can find a common cause around which to rally, it can be “wonderful” and “pleasant.” David is making sure they don’t overlook how precious this experience is because it doesn’t happen all of the time.

“Refreshing as dew.” I wonder how much dew Israel gets. It’s so dry there, does it often get humid enough / cold enough to leave dew in the mountains? Is it unique? I always think of dew as kind of messy. It messes up my shoes when I walk through wet grass. It keeps me from mowing on a cool morning. But David calls it refreshing. And he calls this unity refreshing. When is the last time I experienced unity with a group of people? Whenever I do, refreshing is a good description of how it feels. Energizing would be another word.

And over all of this, in the midst of this unity, you pronounce your blessing. You love it when we come together. You anoint it. You encourage it. You redeem us in it and remind us that the world is not about us.

Father, this psalm should probably be read at the beginning of every Christian retreat, every church service, and every holiday gathering for family. It reminds us of how tying our hearts and purposes together with others and joking together for a common goal can a beautiful experience through which you can bless us with your peace and joy.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.

Psalm 62:7

Dear God, this is one of my biggest struggles. Man, do I love to receive glory and praise from others! I have different board committee meetings this week and an actual board meeting for the nonprofit where I work. These people are my bosses and I want them to be impressed with me. The irony is that the purpose of these meetings is for me to be accountable to them—not impress them with any type of bravado.

But when things are down, where do I run? To you. You are my refuge. I’ve fasted and prayed for things before. I’ve even gotten better about praying to you in real time for problems that come up throughout the day. In fact, I have a couple of meeting topics today that could use your blessing and wisdom. And there are times where I feel like one of my roles in these particular meetings is to remind people that all of our victory and honor come from you and that you alone are our refuge.

Father, this is a day where my tendency is for me to want to increase in the eyes of others. I’m sorry for that. Help me to decrease as you increase. Be glorified in me so that others might become closer to you in their own lives. And please guide us and give us wisdom. Provide for our needs so that others might feel a touch of your presence.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.

Psalm 73:21-24

Dear God, I have three friends, in particular, who are going through trying times right now. I wonder how much this passage applies to all three of them. Each of them is facing a very different set of circumstances, but I thought of each of them as I read this piece of Psalm 73. How much of their responses to their respective situations are because their hearts are bitter? Do they seem like senseless animals to you?

Of course, now it is time to turn the mirror on myself. Am I seeking your counsel in real time when I face a challenge? Am I asking for your strength? Do my words and actions bring you glory? Are others drawn to you because of my life?

Father, where there is anger and/or bitterness in my heart, let there be love and selflessness instead. Where there is fear, let me instead seek the right balance of your power and your shelter. And for my friends, I pray that each one will hear from YOU today. Even though I know at least one of them isn’t accustomed to calling on you, I pray that all three will and that they will find that, even though they might seem like a senseless animal, they belong to you and you are holding their right hand. Thank you for holding my hand too, Father.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

Dear God, I just read an editorial about the unity/disunity in our country. It mentioned that we are descending into tribalism within our society and see other groups with differing opinions in our societies not so much as fellow Americans with different opinions, but as enemies who must be vanquished, even if the are fellow Americans. I started to wonder if that same thing doesn’t start to have some truth to it when it comes to members of churches too.

I found one set of statistics interesting. In 1994, apparently Republicans and Democrats saw each other strongly unfavorably at rates of 17% and 16%, respectively. Now those numbers are 43% and 38%. We have certainly lost a common enemy (in the country, we can’t even agree about whether or not Russia is the enemy, and in churches, we have lost sight of Satan as our enemy) and started to turn on those who disagree with us.

Father, taking this verse, I guess my desire is that you would help me to remember that life is short, make me an instrument of your peace, and the help us all to find common positive goals around which we all can rally. Unite us as a nation through constructive dialogue. I don’t want a prayer for unity to mean you have to give us enemies to achieve it. I’m hopeful (although not confident) that we can unite through positive forces and that you haven’t designed us to always need negative forces to unite us.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.

Psalm 103:1-2

Dear God, I confess to you that I am too blind to see half of the good things you do. I’m sorry for that. You deserve so much more gratitude and worship than you get from me.

I’m off work for a few days, and one of the things I really struggle with is knowing how to handle unstructured time. When I wake up in the morning on a day with a plan (whether it be work or just something else to do—even if it’s to drive to Waco for a football game) then I am usually good to go. But if I wake up and the day is before me and I don’t have anything to do then I am pretty worthless. What does all of this have to do with this passage? Well, I can’t help but wonder if some of that time shouldn’t be spent with you trying to see what you are doing beyond what I can see.

Father, I really don’t want to lose as you. I really don’t want to miss the moments when I can praise you. And I don’t want to miss the opportunities to hear your still small voice and respond.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands.

Psalm 119:143

Dear God, pressure and stress are such relative things. For someone like David (not necessarily the writer of this Psalm), he experienced a level of stress that I will never know. As king in that environment, I can’t imagine what he saw and had to live up to on a day-to-day basis. In my little life, on the other hand, I worry about the financial and operational well being of the place where I work, my own family’s financial situation, my wife, my children, my family, my friends, etc., but in comparison to others, my burden is not that bad. As I’ve taken to saying, my problems are first-world problems.

Yet, I can feel that pressure and stress. Worrying about those things I listed above can get to me. For example, I am constantly concerned about revenue at work. Will we be able to sustain our operations? I always worry about my children and I can’t imagine a day when I wouldn’t. No matter how well they are doing, they are my loves and I think of them constantly. I worry about the health and wellbeing of relatives and friends. But I am learning a little better to do a few things.

1. Turn it over to you, lay down my yoke and pick up your cross. I’m still learning, and as I’ve told some people before, there’s a fine line between living by faith and living in denial, but I’m getting better.
2. Being open about the burdens and sharing them as appropriately as possible helps. For example, as I’ve worried about work in the past, the more I share it with the board the better. The more I share with my wife the better I do. The more I confide in friends. The more I pray to and worship you. You get the idea. It is not good for man to be alone.

Father, I do indeed find joy in your commands because your commands are for my good. Help me to remember to be humble and bring others closer to you as I reach out to them through my own stress and pressure.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

The Lord is a friend to those who fear him. He teaches them his covenant. My eyes are always on the Lord, for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies.Psalm 25:14-15 

Dear God, I tend to king of blow off verses–especially Psalms–that mention enemies because I just don’t have many people who are actively out to get me, but I think my thinking is too concrete. The truth is, I have demons out to get me. I have powers and principalities of this world who want me to fail and be ripped away from you. I am vulnerable to the without you, your love, your grace, and your protection. 

I haven’t normally included Satan and his minions as part of my enemy list, but the truth is that they are probably the leaders of it. I am always so limited in my thinking and my prayer life. I forget to look beyond what I can see and recognize the evil around me that comes only to steal, kill and destroy. 

Father, I will keep my eyes only on you. Please keep me from the traps of my enemies. 

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen 

Psalm 62:1-2 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.

Dear God, it is hard for me to wait quietly. It’s hard for me to be patient. I’m more comfortable with the idea of being ok motion and purposeful. Strategic patience? That’s what I have to do. I journal these meditations on scripture because I don’t trust my mind to process my thoughts without the discipline of writing my thoughts down. 

So I guess this is how I wait quietly before you. I sit. I think about scripture. I try to hear if you have anything to say that me through it. And then I talk to you about it. Doing this has changed my life more than anything else I’ve ever done. 

Father, I wait before you. Give me what I need today. Give me this day, my daily bread. Feed me what you need me to have and love others richly through me. Make me wise and make me humble. But when it t comes to the things in my life that concern me, I lift them to you and ask that your kingdom will come and your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen