Tag Archives: Psalms

Warrior, Wimp, or What?!

Psalm 35 has David praying for God to fight his battles for him.  His enemies are constantly plotting for his downfall, and he begs God to save him.  He is lied about, has traps set for him, and is made fun of.  So, he prays for his enemies and begs God to protect and save him.

Okay, maybe you’ve got some people in your life that treat you this way.  Maybe there is a person, or a group of people, who are making life so difficult for you at home, work, or at school.  They push you out, speak poorly of you, and want to see you fail.  What do you do?

Read Psalm 35.  David turns to God for protection and help.  And he prays for his enemies.

No, I’m being serious, this is what he does.  Now, remember who David is.  This is the guy who killed a bear and a lion when he was just a kid working as a shepherd.  This is the kid who ran face to face with a giant, dropped him with a rock, and cut off his head.  This is the dude who won more battles than any general before him.  This guy is a warrior among warriors.  He knows how to fight, he knows how to kill, and he is always surrounded by a group of men who would happily kill for him. 

So why in the world is he praying for God to protect him instead of doing it himself??!!  Because it’s the right way to handle the conflict in this situation.  It’s what God wants.

How are you handling your conflict?  Have you asked God about that plan?  Have you read Psalm 35 yet?

Get to it!

His Face and His Hands

Psalm 27 is a song of courage, that God will protect us and deliver us when things are going south in a hurry.  In it, David says that all He wants is to be with God, and to see His face.  I love it in verse 8 when he says “My heart says of You “Seek His face!  Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

See, here’s some of what’s going on.  Often we want to talk to God and ask for things.  He tells us to do it.  He expects us to ask for His help, and He tells us we should come to Him with our needs.  But other times, we need to just be with Him.  Often times it’s discussed as “seeking God’s face instead of His hands”, meaning we talk to God and spend time with God just to be with Him, as opposed to needing something from Him.

What I love is David’s simple determination.  In his heart he knows he needs to spend time with God.  So, He does it.  No debate, no excuses, no “I’m not sure how to do that”.  He just does it.  He is confident God will receive him, and that he will see God’s goodness here, in this life.

When was the last time you felt a push to spend time with God, and ignored it or put it off?  Today, stop and listen to your heart.  Seek God’s face right now.  I am sure He will be thrilled to spend the time with you.  I’m headed that way right now.

A Blueprint for the Worst Day Ever

No matter how many times I read Psalm 22, I am just left with my mouth hanging open.  Read it for yourself, and understand that this is the Psalm Jesus refers back to as He is hanging on the cross.  David wrote it about himself, but it was prophecy about Jesus’ death too.  Check it out:
Psalms 22:1-31
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.
4 In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
5 They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8 “He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
19 But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him– may your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him– those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn– for he has done it.

All of the highlighted sections are mentioned either in the crucifixion story, or in Jesus’ teachings and life.  The phrase at the end “for He has done it” is seen in Jesus last words, “It is finished”.  I mean, this Psalm is written hundreds of years before Jesus is born, and so much of what if fulfilled in the Psalm is carried out by other people than Jesus.  The soldiers, the crowd, the Pharisees.  It’s just amazing.  

And God goes to such great length to help us understand that He is in charge.  The worst day in the history of the world was completely planned out before time began.  We may not understand it, but He proves it for us so we don’t have to doubt.  And when our worst day comes, if we are obedient to Him, He will equally carry us through it.  Never forget it! 

Some we know of, some we don’t. We need help with them all.

In Psalm 19 David is writing about how great God is, and this His creation sings to Him, even though it has no voice or words.  He describes how powerful and beautiful the teachings and truth of God are to people who are willing to listen and do what they hear.  Then, in verses 12-14, he closes with a prayer:

“But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults,
Keep your servant also from willful sins;
May they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
Innocent of great transgression.
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

This is my prayer for me, and for you, today.  Forgive what is hidden in us, give us the strength to say no to the things we face, and strip them of their power to control us.  God, may it be like this for us today.

A psalm of David. A prayer of Jason.

Psalm 15

“Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?  Who may live on your holy mountain?


Those whose walk is blameless,
who do what is righteous,
who speak the truth from their hearts;
who have no slander on their tongues,
who do their neighbors no wrong,
who cast no slur on others;
who despise those whose ways are vile
but honor whoever fears the Lord
who keep their oaths even when it hurts;
who lend money to the poor without interest
and do not accept bribes against the innocent.


Whoever does these things will never be shaken.”

So Lord, today here is what I ask you:
Help me live a life that people can’t fairly accuse me of the wrong things.
Help me to live the life You describe in the Bible.
Help me to tell truth because my heart is filled with truth.
Help me to shut my bitter mouth when I want to put someone else down.
Help me to serve others, not use them.
Help me to speak positively of everyone around me instead of tearing them down to feel better about myself.
Help me to run away from a lifestyle of sin, and never to look at it with envy.
Help me to find the people who fear and love you, and celebrate them in my mind and life.
Help me to make worthy promises that change the world, and keep them when it costs me mine.
Help me to look for and create new ways to be generous every day.
Help me to defend those who are innocent, and never sell them out for a profit.
Because when these things happen, I will be unshakable. 

Just like You.

A Mouthful of Lies

Psalms 10:1-18 (NIV)
1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.
3 He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
5 His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and your laws are far from him; he sneers at all his enemies.
6 He says to himself, “Nothing will shake me; I’ll always be happy and never have trouble.”
7 His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.
8 He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victims.
9 He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
10 His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength.
11 He says to himself, “God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees.”
12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”?
14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out.
16 The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.
17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

I read this Psalm this morning, and I have to wonder, where am I in this Psalm?  I don’t consider myself to be one of the wicked in verse 2.  I love Jesus and try to follow Him.  He’s my King, the one in charge.  But I read the description of the wicked; boastful, greedy, prosperous.  The wicked take advantage of the fatherless and the oppressed.  They also revile God’s laws, and ignore His ways.

So, maybe I’m not wicked in this sense.  But am I a partner with wicked people.  We read so much about how people are treated in other countries, and about how we prosper as Americans from it.  Either through our buying habits and how cheaply we can get things, or through how we treat other countries and their people.  I don’t know, this one just makes me wonder.