My God, in You I Trust

  

To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust; let me not be put to shame.

Psalm 25:1-2

O Lord, You who rule, Lord of heaven and earth, I call You Lord, though I am not worthy to be called Your servant for from my youth I did not serve You. But I served Your enemy, the devil. Him I served diligently.

Nevertheless, I do not doubt Your grace for I find in the word of Your truth that You are a bountiful, rich Lord to all those who call upon You. Therefore, I call unto You. O Lord hear me, hear me, O Lord! With full confidence and assurance, I lift up my soul. I lifted up my heart just to You, for You are our Lord and Father. You are our Redeemer, this is Your name from days of old.

Therefore it is, dear Lord, that I trust in You, for I truly know You are a faithful God over all who trust in You. If I am in darkness, You are my light. If I am in prison, You are with me. If I am forsaken, You are my comfort. If I am in death, You are my life. If they curse me, You bless. If they grieve me, You comfort. If they will kill me, You will raise me up. And if I walk in the dark valley, You will ever be with me. It is right, O Lord, that I lift up my grieved and miserable soul to You, trust in Your promise, and am not ashamed. And it is in Christ's name that I pray this,  Amen. 

Prayers from Rev. Simon, a persecuted Christian 

Lenten Devotion Day 1 - Psalm 6

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger,

or discipline me in your wrath.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;

O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.

My soul also is struck with terror,

while you, O Lord—how long?

Turn, O Lord, save my life;

deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.

Psalm 6:1-4

I have a confession to make: I have a hard time saying, “I’m sorry.” Or, perhaps, more accurately, I say, “I’m sorry, but …” My acknowledgement of how I have hurt someone or disappointed someone is often followed by my excuse for why it happened. However, I don’t think I’m unique in this. Perhaps you, too, have a hard time saying, “I’m sorry.”

Psalm 6 is the first of seven penitential psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) frequently used as part of the Christian church’s Lenten observance, starting today with Ash Wednesday. The theme of these seven psalms is consistent: the psalmist expresses deep sorrow for his sin, asking God for help and forgiveness. In today’s psalm, David itemizes his distress. Both his body and his soul feel overwhelmed with terror. David realizes he is experiencing the consequence of his own sin. He cries out in physical and spiritual pain, knowing that God’s discipline is justified for the ways he has disobeyed God.

David’s confession before God is anchored in his confidence that God will forgive. He calls out for God’s deliverance, convinced that God will hear and answer because of God’s steadfast love. In spite of the situation in which David finds himself, he knows that he will not permanently abide in terror and distress because of God’s unfailing love. “Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer” (vv. 8–9).

As we enter this Lenten season, we can say, “I’m sorry” before God. When we confess before our merciful Lord, we are assured of God’s forgiveness. Instead of saying, “I’m sorry, but,” we can say, “I’m sorry because of your steadfast love and forgiveness!” What a wonderful God we serve!

Prayer: Holy One, we confess before you our sinfulness, our brokenness, and our need to experience your abundant mercy. Help us, each day, to come before you and say, “I’m sorry.” In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.

By Leigh Boelkins Van Kempen

My God, In You I Trust - Psalm 25:1-2

To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust; let me not be put to shame.

Psalm 25:1-2

O Lord, You who rule, Lord of heaven and earth, I call You Lord, though I am not worthy to be called Your servant for from my youth I did not serve You. But I served Your enemy, the devil. Him I served diligently.

Nevertheless, I do not doubt Your grace for I find in the word of Your truth that You are a bountiful, rich Lord to all those who call upon You. Therefore, I call unto You. O Lord hear me, hear me, O Lord! With full confidence and assurance, I lift up, not my head or my hands as the hypocrites do in the temples, but my soul. I lifted up my heart, not to Abraham, for he never knew us, nor to Israel, for he never had knowledge of us, but just to You, for You are our Lord and Father. You are our Redeemer, this is Your name from days of old.

Therefore it is, dear Lord, that I trust in You, for I truly know You are a faithful God over all who trust in You. If I am in darkness, You are my light. If I am in prison, You are with me. If I am forsaken, You are my comfort. If I am in death, You are my life. If they curse me, You bless. If they grieve me, You comfort. If they will kill me, You will raise me up. And if I walk in the dark valley, You will ever be with me. It is right, O Lord, that I lift up my grieved and miserable soul to You, trust in Your promise, and am not ashamed.

Prayers from Rev. Simon, a persecuted Christian 

A Cry in Troubled Times - Psalm 25

Sometimes our lives as believers can be very difficult. David, before he became king of Israel, found it so when he was being hunted by King Saul, his own father-in-law. Saul, out of jealousy and hatred, wanted to kill David. So David escaped with the help of his wife (read the story in 1 Samuel 18-24) and lived in fear for his life for the next few years. The Apostle Paul suffered many things as well – and his list can be read in 2 Corinthians 11:25-27.

In our lifetime we see people facing these same kinds of issues today – people who are being hunted for no other reason than that they believe in Jesus Christ. It is hard to face such persecution. That is when we turn to Scripture to find both advice and comfort.

Other Christians in past years have done the same, and we can learn from their testimonies too. One such instance is this study, written by a minister whose people were being killed for their faith in Jesus. Rev. Simon used the words of David, as they are written in Psalm 25, to talk with God about his own pain and fears.

We pray these lessons will be an encouragement to you as you turn to God in the same way Rev. Simon did. As you hear the heart of this man weeping for his friends who were dying, possibly facing the same kind of treatment if those who sought his life would successfully find him, please also hear the peace and hope in his heart from knowing God was still in control. Please read and hear his confidence that God was very near to those who were being killed. Such hope and peace gives us, as it did Rev. Simon, the ability to praise God even in the face of death (see Matthew 5:10-12).

Psalm 25 Of David.

1 In you, Lord my God,

    I put my trust.

2 I trust in you;

    do not let me be put to shame,

    nor let my enemies triumph over me.

3 No one who hopes in you

    will ever be put to shame,

but shame will come on those

    who are treacherous without cause.

4 Show me your ways, Lord,

    teach me your paths.

5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,

    for you are God my Savior,

    and my hope is in you all day long.

6 Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,

    for they are from of old.

7 Do not remember the sins of my youth

    and my rebellious ways;

according to your love remember me,

    for you, Lord, are good.

8 Good and upright is the Lord;

    therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

9 He guides the humble in what is right

    and teaches them his way.

10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful

    toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.

11 For the sake of your name, Lord,

    forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

12 Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?

    He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.

13 They will spend their days in prosperity,

    and their descendants will inherit the land.

14 The Lord confides in those who fear him;

    he makes his covenant known to them.

15 My eyes are ever on the Lord,

    for only he will release my feet from the snare.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,

    for I am lonely and afflicted.

17 Relieve the troubles of my heart

    and free me from my anguish.

18 Look on my affliction and my distress

    and take away all my sins.

19 See how numerous are my enemies

    and how fiercely they hate me!

20 Guard my life and rescue me;

    do not let me be put to shame,

    for I take refuge in you.

21 May integrity and uprightness protect me,

    because my hope, Lord, is in you.

22 Deliver Israel, O God,

    from all their troubles!

Psalm 95 - Hearken to His Voice!

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; 
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 
Let us come before Him with thanksgiving 
and extol Him with music and song. 
For the LORD is the great God, 
the great King above all gods. 
In His hand are the depths of the earth, 
and the mountain peaks belong to Him. 
The sea is His, for He made it, 
and His hands formed the dry land. 
Come, let us bow down in worship, 
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; 
for He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, 
the flock under His care. 
Today, if only you would hear His voice, 
“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, 
where your ancestors tested Me; they tried Me, 
though they had seen what I did. 
For forty years I was angry with that generation; 
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, 
and they have not known My ways.’ 
So I declared on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
Psalm 95

God speaks to us in this Psalm to tell us what it is that He essentially wants in worship, what makes worship true worship. It is that today we would listen to His voice! That is what He wants. He wants us to heed his voice--not just come together.

It is commendable for people to come to a church service, but the value of it soon vanishes if all we do is sit while our thoughts are elsewhere. The central fact of worship is to listen to the Word of God, the voice of God. That is why the exposition of Scripture must be the central thing in public worship. Those churches that have departed from this are making a travesty of worship. Worship must include listening to the voice of God, hearing what He has to say, and letting His Word correct our attitudes and our reactions. I wish it were possible for each of you to watch people during the hour of worship. Externally it looks as though you are all paying attention. You sit there quietly, with rapt, turned-up faces, your eyes open and staring straight ahead, apparently attracted by what the Word of God is saying. But having sat there myself, I know it is not always true. Some of you are playing golf. Others of you are rehearsing a business deal. Some of you are planning a trip. Some are going over a conversation you had two days ago. It would be fascinating at the end of a service to know where everybody has been! But God is desirous that whatever else you may do in a service, when His Word is speaking, listen! And not only listen, hearken! Hearken means to heed the Word, to do something about it, to let it really change you.

Hardening the heart is the exact opposite of hearkening to His voice. If you hearken to His voice, you are not hardening your heart. If you harden your hearts you are not hearkening to His voice. The two are mutually exclusive. He gives us an example of what He means by "hardening the heart." It occurred shortly after the Israelites had come through the Red Sea and had journeyed only a week or two into the wilderness beyond. They came to a place where there was no water, and they all became thirsty. They had hardly had time to become very thirsty when the leaders of the people came to Moses and began to complain. "What are you doing? Leading us out into this wilderness to perish? Where is this God that is supposed to be taking care of us? Why hasn't He provided water for us?" They demanded that God prove Himself again.

That, says God, is what it means to harden your heart. This is the problem God has with us. It disturbs God that people can come week after week and hear stirring and glowing reports of what He is doing in many lives and see the evident change that has come to many and experience the release and freedom He is bringing about in many hearts, and still, the minute anything goes wrong with them, they are ready to fall apart.

Prayer: Lord, we pray that You will help us to hearken, to not be like the fathers of old who resisted You, vexed you, and grieved you for forty years. When we hear Your Word may we do something about it; may it change us. Thank you for Your Word and Your love and Your incredible patience with us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Life Application: Besides church, are we purposefully seeking quiet times and spaces when we can pay attention and hearken to God's word letting Him speak peace into our souls?

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Psalm 95 - Why Give Thanks?

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before Him with thanksgiving
    and extol Him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.
In His hand are the depths of the earth,
    and the mountain peaks belong to Him.
The sea is His, for He made it,
    and His hands formed the dry land.
Psalm 95:1-5

The psalmist is giving the basic reasons everyone should give thanksgiving and praise to God. They apply not only to believers but also to all people. Each person has a responsibility to praise God, for all are creatures of His hands. In Romans 1, the apostle Paul points out that one of the charges God brings against people is that "although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him" (Romans 1:21). They did not recognize their relationship to Him.

It is a constant source of amazement to me that people can be so blind to the fact that they are not, as they often imagine themselves to be, independent creatures making their own way through life. We take for granted all the forces that keep us alive and boastfully talk about being self-made people. We strut through life as if there were no one else we need to recognize as the source of our strength and power.

Dr. H. A. Ironside used to tell of an experience he once had at a restaurant. He ordered his meal, and just as he was about to eat, a man walked up to his table and said, "Do you mind if I sit down with you?" Dr. Ironside said that it was quite all right, so the man sat down. As was his custom, Dr. Ironside bowed his head and said a silent word of thanksgiving to the Lord before he ate. When he lifted up his head, the man said to him, "Do you have a headache?"

Ironside said, "No, I don't."

The man said, "Well, is there anything wrong with your food?"

Ironside said, "No, why?"

"Well," the man said, "I saw you sitting there with your head down, and I thought you must be sick, or there was something wrong with your food."

Ironside replied, "No, I was simply returning thanks to God as I always do before I eat."

The man said, "Oh, you're one of those, are you? Well, I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow, and I don't have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in!"

Dr. Ironside said, "Yes, you're just like my dog. That's what he does, too!"

That little story suggests that when people will not give thanks to God, they are acting like irrational animals. Such is the basis of this appeal by the psalmist: no matter how we may feel or what our attitude toward God may be, we are bound, as creatures dependent upon His love and grace, at least to give thanks to Him as our Creator.

Psalm 96:8 says, "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name." God is always worthy of our thanksgiving, not just when we feel like giving it. We should do it for His name's sake. Doubtless it would make a great difference in our worship if we would remember that praise is not something that merely reflects our transient feelings but is something we ought to do simply because God made us, and we cannot live a moment without Him.

Prayer: Lord, I give thanks to You because You are so worthy of glory. Forgive me for taking You and all that You do for granted. I love you Jesus! It's in Your name I pray, Amen.

Life Application: Does our thankfulness move beyond TGIF - Thank God It's Friday? Does God's character and goodness stir us to deep gratitude for His mercy and love toward us?

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Psalm 84 - The Secret of Usefulness

How lovely is your dwelling place,
    Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
    for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
    Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
    they are ever praising you.
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
    they make it a place of springs;
    the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
    till each appears before God in Zion.
Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
    listen to me, God of Jacob.
Look on our shield, O God;
    look with favor on your anointed one.
Better is one day in your courts
    than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
    the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
    from those whose walk is blameless.
Lord Almighty,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you.
Psalm 84

Here the secret of usefulness is set forth. "Blessed are those whose strength is in you."

Many of you have been Christians for a long time. When you get in difficulties or troubles or pressures, where is your strength? Have you found that your strength is in God, that He is the One who makes a difference?

One Saturday night I came home after a day away from my church responsibilities, and I was very tired. My wife told me some of the things that had been happening, some of the pressures that had come that day from the church and from the family. They were the kind of things I would normally want to lay before the Lord and pray about. But I didn't feel like praying. I was tired, and I wanted to go to bed. I thought to myself, "What's the use of praying, anyway? I'm so tired that my prayers wouldn't have any power."

Then it struck me: What a thing to say! What difference does it make how I feel? My reliance isn't upon my prayers but upon God's power. It always bothers me to hear Christians talk about "the power of prayer." There isn't any power in prayer. There is power in the God who answers prayer. I was rebuked in my own spirit by the remembrance that it makes no difference how tired I happen to be. So I prayed--very briefly, because the power of prayer doesn't lie in the length of it, either. Charles Spurgeon used to speak of those who had the idea that the power of the ministry lay in the lungs of the preacher. But it doesn't lie there, either. Power lies in the God who is behind prayer. "Blessed are those whose strength is in you."

Prayer: Lord, You are the strength of my life. When I am weak and weary, let me turn to You for the power I need. Help me to realize that the power is not in my prayers but in You alone, Whom I pray to. I love you! In Jesus' name, Amen

Life Application: Are we missing the wonder of the divine invasion, which is Christ-in-you? Do we place the full weight of our weakness and weariness on that powerful Resource?

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Psalm 8 - Man and God

LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! 

You have set Your glory in the heavens. 

Through the praise of children and infants 

You have established a stronghold against your enemies, 

to silence the foe and the avenger. 

When I consider Your heavens, the work of your fingers, 

the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, 

what is mankind that you are mindful of them, 

human beings that you care for them? 

You have made them a little lower than the angels

and crowned them with glory and honor. 

You made them rulers over the works of Your hands; 

You put everything under their feet: 

all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 

the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, 

all that swim the paths of the seas. 

LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 

Imagine the scene. Here is young David out under the stars at night watching his sheep. The air at that time and place was not darkened with smog or polluted with the irritants that fill the atmosphere today. The stars were brilliant, and the moon, in its full phase, was crossing the heavens. He felt, as we have all felt as we have stood under the stars at night, something of mingled mystery and awe as he looked up into the star-spangled heavens. He considered the beauty of nature and its silent witness to the wisdom of God. All the breath-taking beauty of this scene broke upon his eyes as the sun set. He was astonished at the greatness of a God who could create such things.

Thirty centuries after David wrote these words, we feel the same awe when we consider the starry heavens. Astronauts have been physically able to walk on the same moon that David could observe only from a distance, yet all the knowledge that has been gained about the universe in which we live only serves to deepen our impression of the tremendous wisdom and power of God. How vast is the universe in which we live! These billions of galaxies whirl in their silent courses through the deepness of space. How tremendous is the power that sustains it all and keeps it operating as one harmonious unit! That is what impressed this psalmist.

Then he faces the inevitable question that comes to those who contemplate God's greatness. "'What is man," he asks, "in the sight of a God who could make a universe like this?" You will recognize that this is the question that cries for an answer in our day. What are humans? Where did they come from? What is their purpose here? Why do they exist on this small planet in this vast universe? These are the questions that are being asked more and more.

The psalmist goes on to answer his own question: "You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor" (Psalm 8:5). Man has a unique relationship to God. He was made to be a little less than God. What is included in that remarkable expression is the revelation of God's purpose for man. According to the Bible, God made man to be the expression of God's life, the human vehicle of the divine life, the means by which the invisible God would be made visible to His creatures. Man was to be the instrument by which God would do His work in the world and the expression of the character and being of God. He is the creature nearest to God. There is none other nearer, for God Himself was to live in man. That is the revelation of the Bible. Man is such a unique being, such a remarkable being, that God Himself intends to live in Him to be the glory of man's life.

Prayer: We thank You, Father, that in You we find our true worth and identity. Thank You that You live in us through Your Holy Spirit. Thank You that Jesus took on the very nature of man so that He could identify with us and take our punishment for our sins and give us His salvation. In His name we pray, Amen.

Life Application: God created human beings to be fully alive in union with Him. Are we allowing God to restore that union with the risen Christ to be fully alive in and through us?

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Psalm 77 - From Despair to Victory

You are the God who performs miracles;
    you display your power among the peoples.
With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
Psalm 77:14-15

Psalm 77 has tremendous value for anyone who has ever faced life's serious questions: Is there a dependable God? Are there absolute values in life? Is there meaning to life; is there any purpose to this existence? Here is a man who finds his way from the despairing conclusion expressed in verse 10, "And I say, 'It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed"(Psalm 77:10 RSV) to the triumphant declaration of verse 13: "Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God?"

He does it by meditating on the deeds of the Lord. He thinks long and hard about certain actions of God in history--certain concrete, stubborn facts that cannot be forgotten or explained away, which have been witnessed by thousands and even millions of people, and the results of which have permanently altered the course of history.

The events of the Exodus were redemptive. What was God doing down there in Egypt with these people, bringing plagues upon the Egyptians, sweeping through the land in terrible judgments, eventually taking in death the firstborn of the land? What are these? Miracles, yes, but designed to buy back a people. Here they come, bought back and brought out of the bondage of Egypt. All this is to picture for all time the purpose of God's activity. All the miracles of both the Old Testament and the New Testament have this quality about them.

What does it mean to redeem? It means to restore to usefulness something that has been rendered useless. When I was a seminary student, I spent three years as a summer intern in two different churches in Pasadena, CA. And, probably like seminary students yet today, when I arrived in Pasadena in the spring of each year I arrived penniless, with nothing to hold me over until the first paycheck came. The first time this problem happened, I discovered a way of solving it that I then used every year that I was a summer intern. As soon as I arrived in Pasadena, I took my typewriter down to the pawnshop and hocked it. That carried me over until I got my first paycheck. Then, when the first paycheck came, I would take the necessary money and go down and redeem the typewriter. When that typewriter was in the pawnshop, it was absolutely useless. I could not use it; the pawnbroker could not use it; no one had the right to use that typewriter. It was rendered utterly useless to anybody. It was only when it was redeemed that it was put back into functional service.

That is what redemption does, and that is God's special work. Everything He does in human life is aimed in this direction. These mighty activities of God, recorded as miracles, are all redemptive in character. They serve to buy us back. They restore us. They chip away at all the harmful build-ups of years of wrong living, wrongful habits, and hurtful attitudes and strip them off to restore us to useful functioning again.

Prayer: Father, thank You for Your special work of redemption in the history of Israel and in my own life as well. Thank You that by Your work You give purpose and turn me from despair to victory. In Christ's name I pray, Amen.

Life Application: How do God's redemptive miracles help us answer life's tough questions? Are we amazed how God's redeeming grace moves us from inefficacy to absolute victory?

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Psalm 77 - The Correct Focus

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will consider all your works
    and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
Your ways, God, are holy.
    What god is as great as our God?

Psalm 77:11-12

The crucial words in these verses are "I will." They indicate that the psalmist has caught hold of himself. He is no longer the victim of his feelings, and that is the point. The control of his life shifts from his heart to his head, and that is the way God intended it to be. He sees that the place to begin is not with himself, as he has been doing, or with his circumstances, but with God. And the proper order is not with prayer and then meditation, but the reverse: to begin with meditating about God, which leads to petition based on an understanding of who God is.

That is the way out, and it points up the trouble this man has had before. He began his prayer with himself at the center. You can see that in his words. This problem that has brought him to God occupies his mind. This man's whole thought is, "What is happening to me? Look how I cry and nothing happens."

The result of that is always the same. When self is at the center, then the heart takes over, and the mind is governed by the feelings. We then find ourselves limited to what the Bible calls "natural thinking," or thinking on a limited narrow plane, which does not take into consideration all the facts. Here is a picture of a man who is giving way to his feelings, allowing them to drive him into increasing distress and despair. He finds himself attempting to be logical, but only on this one plane of thought, related to self. That is why he misses the point so completely.

The heart is a powerful factor in human thinking. When the heart, the emotions, and feelings get hold of us, and control our thinking, then we discover that we are helpless to reason properly. But when something stops us, then the head and the will can assert themselves and take over.

What is wrong with beginning with myself? The answer is obvious. People are limited beings, so when you begin with the person, your thinking is necessarily limited. But when you start with God, you are starting with the great fact that includes all other facts. You have broadened your vision to take in every aspect of truth. Someone has described that kind of thinking as "cubical thinking." Truth is not a single level of thought; it is a cube. It has sides, other aspects, which need to be considered. All truth is related to other truth. You will discover that as you relate a fact to other truths that touch it on every side of the "cube," you see this fact in a different light from when you consider it by itself.

Have you begun to learn how to handle the temptations to doubt that come to you; how to systematically, thoughtfully, and carefully begin where God wants you to begin and work through from that basis? Have you risen above the limitations of natural thinking and begun to think spiritually?

Prayer: Father, teach me to start not with me and my own limited understanding, but with You. When I begin with meditating about You, Lord God, this leads to petition based on an understanding of who You are. Please help me, Holy Spirit, to take my eyes off myself and put them on You. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Life Application: We lose heart when our thoughts are self-focused and mired in life's problems. We will find the picture changes when God is the starting point of our meditation.

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Psalm 77 - A Crisis of Faith

I cried out to God for help;
    I cried out to God to hear me.
When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
    at night I stretched out untiring hands,
    and I would not be comforted.
I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
    I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
You kept my eyes from closing;
    I was too troubled to speak.
I thought about the former days,
    the years of long ago;
I remembered my songs in the night.
    My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
“Will the Lord reject forever?
    Will he never show his favor again?
Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
    Has his promise failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be merciful?
    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”
Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
Psalm 77:1-10

Here is a man who is really trying to be honest. He says, "I have analyzed my situation: I tried prayer all night long. In the past I have been given help, but no help has come now. God has made my heart to sing in the past, but it is empty, barren, and cheerless now. Why is this? I have thought about it: I searched my own life, my own heart, and these questions have come to me, and I cannot answer them. My conclusion must be that I have misjudged God. I have thought that God was changeless, that He would always respond every time I came to Him, but He has not. Therefore, I am driven to the irresistible conclusion that He is like a man, and you cannot count on Him."

This psalmist is facing the possibility of losing his faith. All that he once rested on, which has been such a comfort to him, which has strengthened him and given him character and power among men, seems to be nothing but a crumbling foundation that is disappearing fast. Soon he must lose all that he has held onto in the past. This is the "day of [his] trouble" and his present distress. Is that not the hidden problem with many of us? I have lost track of the times people have called me up and said, "I just don't know what to do. I've tried prayer, I've tried reading my Bible, I've tried to think through, but nothing seems to help. I don't know what to do. What's happening to me?"

Apparent unresponsiveness from God is not unusual. All of God's saints have experienced this from time to time. This is part of the standard program God has for disciplining and training His own. "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear" (1 Corinthians 10:13a). The faithfulness of God is deliberately put into contrast with the statement, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man" because every one of us tends to suffer from the feeling that what is happening to us is unique. But many have experienced similar temptations if they are seeking to live the life of faith.

The prophet Isaiah declares the reason this is true. Isaiah reveals what God says. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8). That is, God says, "My reason is above yours. You understand so little of life compared to what I see in it. My thoughts are not your thoughts"; therefore, you can expect there will come times when you will not understand but will be perplexed. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts; as the heavens are above the earth, so much greater is His vision of what reality is. If we are limited then to the tiny section of life that we can grasp with our puny understanding, it is only to be expected that there will come times when we do not understand what God is doing. So do not be troubled by these times of perplexity. They are normal experiences coming to all in the life of faith.

Prayer: Our Father, I am so grateful that the things Your Word talks about are not remote from my experience, that You are the God who is interested in life. When I cannot understand, teach me to trust in You. When I can't see Your hand may I trust Your heart and rest on You. In Your son's precious name, Amen.

Life Application: When we lessen our trust in God, the object of our faith, our faith is weakened. Have we grasped the need to re-focus on God's character revealed in Christ Jesus?

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Psalm 51 - A Willing Spirit

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from Your presence 
or take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation 
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51:12

Several years ago, while I was preparing to preach a sermon on this psalm, I received an anonymous letter from someone in my congregation saying that he was a Christian but was involved in a very serious and continuing moral failure. The letter was an attempt to be honest and tell me the trouble in his life. I didn't know if that person would be in the service the next Sunday or not, but I hoped he would be.

I decided to refer to the letter in my sermon for two reasons: first, because it was anonymous, and I could do it without betraying a confidence; and second, because the problem was of such a serious nature that I wanted to help the person if I could.

The writer had acknowledged that he knew the action was wrong but finally excused himself on the basis that God had not yet given him the power to break away from it. That was self-deception. The truth is that God has given us the power to break away from these things. Peter clearly declares: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3). The very possession of the life of Jesus Christ in us is the power that it takes to break away from habits of sin. No one will ever be free from the awful grip of evil upon their lives until they understand that they already have from God all that it takes to be free, if they will but step out upon it.

David is also asking for help. "Lord, give me this willing spirit," he says, and God immediately gives it. Then it must be acted on. That is the point. Do not wait for a feeling to come that you are forgiven. God has said you are forgiven. Do not wait for a feeling of power to possess you. God has declared He has already given you the power. As you believe Him (and that is what faith is), you can do what you need to do and what God wants you to do.

That is what happened with David, and that is what happened with the anonymous letter writer. After preaching that sermon, I found out the person had been in that service, because he later wrote a second anonymous letter. This time he shared how God had used that message to deliver him from the grip of the evil relationship he had described before.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for giving me all that I need for both forgiveness and power through the Lord Jesus. Help me to act according to Your will and to have a willing spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Life Application: We can choose to be helpless victims of ruinous habits, but God provides an alternative. Are we willing to be set free by Christ's divine power?

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Psalm 51 - A Cry for Mercy

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
Psalm 51:1-2

What a marvelous understanding of the nature of sin and the character of God's forgiveness is found in these verses! There are three things David asks for. First, he understands that sin is like a crime. If criminals are to be delivered from the effects of their crime, they do not need justice but mercy. Sin is an illegal act, a violation of justice, and an act of lawlessness and rebellion and therefore requires mercy.

Then he says, "Blot out my transgressions," and thereby he reveals that he understands sin is like a debt. It is something owed, an account that has accumulated and needs to be erased.

Finally he cries, "Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." He understands that sin is like an ugly stain, a defilement upon the soul. Even though the act fades into the past, the dirty defiling stain remains a stigma upon the heart. So he cries out and asks to be delivered from these things.

Notice that David understands well the basis for forgiveness. He asks on the basis of two things: first, "according to your unfailing love." He understands that he himself deserves nothing from God, that God is not bound to forgive him. Some people are never able to realize forgiveness because they think they deserve it, that God owes it to them. But David knows better. He realizes that only because of God's love may he even approach God to ask. On the basis of that unqualified acceptance, that marvelous continuing love-that-will-not-let-me-go, he says to God, "I am coming to you and asking now for this."

Second, as David appeals to God "according to your great compassion," he again indicates his understanding of the character of God. God is not a penny pincher; He does not dole out bits of mercy, drop by drop. No, He pours it out. His are abundant mercies. When God forgives, He forgives beyond our utmost imaginings. Two figures of speech that are used in the Old Testament depict the forgiveness of God. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12). How far is that? Well, how far do you have to go east before you start going west? You never come to west. Then God says He will "hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). Someone has added that he puts up a sign that reads "NO FISHING." Do not go down there and try to fish old sins out once God has dealt with them. What relief comes when we begin to understand this fullness of God's forgiveness.

Prayer: Father, thank You that I can come to You with my sin and cry out for mercy and love. Your love is steadfast; your mercy is abundant. I trust that You are always willing to forgive. Help me to do the same Lord Jesus. In Your name I pray, Amen.

Life Application: The Word of God teaches the true nature of sin, and the astounding basis for God's forgiveness. Are we learning to live in these liberating truths?

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Psalm 50 - A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High. And call on Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you and you will honor Me...Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor Me and to the blameless I will show my salvation.
Psalm 50:14-15, 23

What does God want from us? He does not want mere hymn singing, although that is fine. Nor does He want only prayer, although that too is fine. He does not simply want our attendance, although that is fine. What He wants, first, is a thankful heart. That is what He seeks, a thankful heart. Each one of us is to offer to Him the sacrifice of thanksgiving. A sacrifice is something into which we put effort; it costs us. Have you ever asked yourself why the Scriptures stress thanksgiving so much? Both the Old and New Testaments emphasize that above everything else, God wants thankfulness. "Give thanks in all circumstances," says the apostle Paul, "for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Why is this? It is because thanksgiving only comes as a result of having received something. You do not give thanks until you have received something that comes from someone else. Therefore thanksgiving is the proper expression of Christianity, because Christianity is receiving something constantly from God.

Of course if you have not received anything from God, then you have nothing to thank Him for. Though you come to the service, you really have nothing to say. God is a realist. He does not want fake thanksgiving. I know there are certain people (and they are awfully hard to live with) who think that Christianity consists of pretending to be thankful. They think it means screwing a smile on your face and going around pretending that troubles do not bother you. That is a most painful form of Christianity. God does not want you to go around shouting, "Hallelujah! I've got cancer!" But there is something about having cancer to be thankful for. That is what He wants you to see. There are aspects of it that no one can possibly enjoy, but there are other aspects that reveal purpose, meaning, and reason. God wants you to see this--what He can do with that situation and how you can be thankful. Thanksgiving is the first thing He wants in worship.

The second thing is an obedient will. "Fulfill your vows to the Most High." Notice the kind of obedience it is. It is not something forced upon you; it is something you have chosen for yourself. A vow is something you decide to give, a promise you make because of truth you have seen. You say, "I never saw it like that before. I really ought to do something about it. God helping me, I'm going to do such and such." That is a vow. God says, "I'm not asking you to do things you have not yet learned are important. But when you have vowed something, then do it. Act on it. Obey it."

Prayer: Lord, I offer to You right now the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Thank You that You are at work for good both in me and through me. Grant that I might obey your truth out of a heart of gratitude. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Life Application: We can expend much energy complaining, blessing no one. How can we re-focus our thoughts so that we have an attitude of gratitude no matter our circumstances?

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Psalm 45 - The King in His Beauty

All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad. Daughters of kings are among your honored women; at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.
Psalm 45:8-9

These verses describe a marriage service. Traced for us here is a remarkable series of preparations. First, the groom has prepared himself. The writer says, "All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia." These are burial spices. You remember that when the women went to the tomb on Easter Sunday morning, they carried with them a quantity of spices--myrrh and aloes--in order to wrap the body of the Lord and preserve it in its death. And yet here these same spices are present at the wedding. What does this mean? This marriage is made possible out of death; somehow out of death comes this fragrant incense that makes glorious the scene of the wedding. You can see how beautifully this fits with what the apostle Paul describes for us in Ephesians 5:25 when he says that Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. He died for it. He went into the bonds of death for us. Why? In order that He might present to Himself a glorious church, a beautiful bride, without spot or blemish or any such thing.

Then, he has prepared a place. We read of where this wedding is to take place: "From palaces adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad." It is a picture of a beautiful place, and it reminds us immediately of Jesus' words to His disciples before the cross. He said to them, "I am going there to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2). That place is being prepared now. It is a place of beauty and glory beyond any possible description. These terms used here are simply a way of suggesting to us what it is like: ivory palaces filled with music and gladness with a rejoicing company around.

And finally the bride herself is prepared: "At your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir." In Oriental custom, the bridegroom himself, who paid for the golden dress, always presented this golden dress to the queen. This is also a wonderful picture for us. Who is it that is preparing us for this day, for this sharing of life together? It is He who is preparing us. He has clothed us with His own righteous golden robe. Gold, in Scripture, is always the picture of deity, and this is a hint of what Peter speaks of: "You may participate," he says, "in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). Do you really grasp this? This is true! Jesus Christ is blending our lives with His and giving us all His position and all His privileges. All that belongs to Him belongs to us. One of the things that is most seriously wrong with the church today is that we are forgetting the privileges we have. We do not reckon on them, we do not think about how tremendous they are. Yet here stands the bride, ready to join Him, dressed in gold that He has provided.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are our beautiful King, and we long for you like a bride longs for her husband. Thank You for adorning us in Your own righteousness that we might dwell with You forever. We love you Jesus. In Your name we pray, Amen.

Life Application: Do we truly by faith grasp how we participate in the divine nature? How does Jesus blend His Life with ours to give us His position and all His privileges?

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Psalm 40 - A Song of Resurrection

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
Psalm 40:2-3

The Holy Spirit spoke marvelously through David, causing him to record his own experiences and yet express truths that were beyond his experience. His language grew greater than the event he was trying to describe. The only ultimate fulfillment was to be in those coming days when the Messiah would appear among men in the flesh. Psalm 40 is, in a sense, our Lord's own autobiography. He Himself tells us why He came to earth, what was accomplished, and what His experiences were.

This is a description of resurrection. "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire" or, as the Hebrew has it, "out of the pit of tumult," out of a terrible experience, out of a place of desolation and despair and death.

Life is often filled with death. Every experience that is opposite to what God has designed for us is an experience of death. Bitterness and shame and sorrow, hate and greed and loneliness, are all forms of death that come into our lives right now. That is what our Lord was experiencing. He understands these things because He has been through them Himself. Ultimately they led Him, as they will lead us, to that final moment when life ends and death is before us--the deep, dark desolation of death. But, He says, the Lord drew me out of that. He lifted me up from a slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, and set my feet upon a rock and made my steps secure.

That is a beautiful description of the experience of resurrection. None of us has ever been resurrected. There is a great difference between what happened to Lazarus and what happened to Jesus. Lazarus was really resuscitated; he was restored to this life almost as though he had been given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But Jesus was resurrected. He was the firstborn from the dead. He stepped into a whole new experience of life that God had designed from the beginning for humanity. That is what the Messiah is describing here. The result is, "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."

A new song describes a new experience. When God does something great for you, you do not sit down and recite a proverb or compose a paragraph or devise a recipe. You write a song, because singing is one of the best ways we have of expressing what is happening to us. And so He has a new song to celebrate a new kind of living, resurrected life. The effect of that resurrection life, He tells us, is going to be widespread. "Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD" (Psalm 40:3). The effect of the resurrection of Jesus was that the story of Christianity, the message of the Christian gospel, exploded in the Roman world as the church literally thrust out in every direction and shook the world of that day.

Prayer: Oh Lord, You have the power to bring life from death. Thank You that through the resurrection of Jesus You have given me new life. May I proclaim Your saving acts to others. May I not hide Your righteousness in my heart but speak of Your faithfulness and saving help. I love you Jesus. Amen

Life Application: Bitterness, shame, hate, sorrow, and loneliness are all forms of death. Do we believe and act on His indwelling Presence to dispel every form of death we experience?

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Psalm 22 - The Suffering Savior

The Suffering Savior — Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?...
a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. 
All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment...
I will declare Your name to my people; in the assembly of men I will praise You...
They will declare His righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
Psalm 22:1, 16-18, 22 31

In many ways this is the most amazing of all the psalms. In it we have a picture of the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus painted by the psalmist David one thousand years before Jesus Christ was born. It constitutes one of the most amazing predictions of all time.

At least nine specific events or aspects of the crucifixion are described here in minute detail. All of them were fulfilled during the six hours in which Jesus hung upon the cross. Moreover, the latter part of the psalm clearly depicts the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The probability that the predictions of these nine events would be fulfilled by chance in one person, on one afternoon is inconceivably small. The chance that all this could occur by accident is beyond any realm of possibility our minds could imagine. Yet all was fulfilled as predicted in this amazing psalm.

It is common knowledge that on November 22, 1963, President John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, while riding down a Dallas street in a car. Suppose there had been in existence a document that predicted this event, and we knew it had been written in AD 963. That was about the time of the height of the Byzantine Empire, when most of the Western world was ruled from Constantinople, much of Europe was only sparsely inhabited by barbarian tribes, and America was not yet discovered.

Suppose that a document had been prepared in that ancient day that predicted that a time would come when a man of great prominence, head of a great nation, would be riding down a street of a large city in a metal chariot not drawn by horses and would suddenly and violently die as a little piece of metal hurled from a weapon made of wood and iron penetrated his brain. This weapon would be aimed at him from the window of a tall building, and his death would have worldwide effect and cause worldwide mourning. You can imagine with what awe such a document would be viewed today. Such a prediction would be similar to what we have in Psalm 22. That hypothetical prediction would have been made even before the invention of the automobile or firearms and five hundred years before the discovery of America. It would be regarded as fantastically accurate. Yet we have that very sort of thing in this psalm.

The psalm has two major divisions. The first twenty-one verses recount for us the torments of an unknown sufferer who is entirely alone and is crying out to God in His agony. Many scholars assert that these first twenty-one verses represent the thoughts that went through the mind of the Savior as He hung upon the cross and suffered there. From verse twenty-two to the end the sufferer is no longer alone but is in the midst of a large company and is praising God and shouting in victory. It ends with His claiming the worship of the entire world.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, it is unfathomable to me what You endured on the cross. Thank You for Your willingness to suffer and die. I worship you as my Savior and Lord. In Your name I pray, Amen.

Life Application: When Jesus became sin for us He endured unthinkable separation from the Father fulfilling amazing prophecy. What implication does that have for us today?

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Psalm 20 - Help From the Sanctuary

Help From The Sanctuary —  Psalm 20

May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May He send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May He remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests. Now this I know: The LORD gives victory to His anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of His right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 8 They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. LORD,  Answer us when we call!
Psalm 20:2

That is wonderful—"help from the sanctuary"! The sanctuary is always a picture of the place where we meet with God. In Israel it was the temple, the place where the Israelites came to get their thoughts straightened out, to get their thinking corrected. There they met with God, and there they heard the Word of God, the mind and thoughts of God.

In Psalm 73 the psalmist is deeply troubled by the prosperity of the wicked, that perennial problem that can still bother us: Why do the ungodly prosper while the righteous seem to be downtrodden all the time? This had upset him—until he finally went into the sanctuary. There he began to perceive their end. There he began to see the whole story; he began to see the full picture, and his thoughts were corrected. This is what the sanctuary does.

For us the sanctuary is the Scriptures. There is where we get help. It is there that our minds are illuminated, that we begin to see the world the way it is, not the way it appears to be. There is not one of us who has not already learned that life is not the way it seems to be, that what looks to be the answer and what we are convinced at first is the way things are often turns out to be exactly the opposite. Life is filled with illusion, with deceit; things are not what they appear to be. Doesn't your heart cry for somebody to tell you the truth, to tell you the way things really are, to open your eyes to what is going on? That is what the Bible does. And unless you are in the Scriptures, there is no help. "May you find help in the sanctuary, in the Scriptures," is the psalmist's prayer, "that your eyes might be enlightened and you might understand."

Help from the sanctuary and support from Zion. Zion is another name for Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom. In the Scriptures it stands as a symbol of the invisible kingdom of God with which we are surrounded, made up of ministering angels sent forth to serve those who are to be the heirs of salvation. In other words, all the invisible help that God can give you in the day of trouble, in the hour of pressure, is made available by prayer.

Remember that in the Garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus was praying and sweating drops of blood in the height of His agony, an angel appeared and ministered to Him and strengthened Him. That angel was made visible to Him in order that we might be taught a lesson of what happens when we pray. I have gone into prayer depressed and defeated, but while I have prayed I have felt my spirits caught up, changed, and strengthened. I came out calm, at rest, and at peace. Why? Because I have received help from Zion.

Lord, there are far too many places I turn in times of trouble. Teach me to turn to your sanctuary for the help that I need. Thank you that You hear my prayer and answer me with invisible help. And thank you, dear Lord, for the sanctuary, the truth, the guidance, found in Your Word. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Life Application: Where do we turn when our hearts are troubled and our minds confused by all that is happening in our world? Where is a place of quiet confidence and rest?

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Psalm 19 - Hidden Faults

Hidden Faults — Psalm 19

Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
Psalm 19:12b-13

"Forgive my hidden faults." Is that your prayer? Do you know what will happen when you pray that way? You might think that God will take a sponge and wipe around inside you so you will not even know what those hidden faults were. But God does not do that. His way of dealing with hidden faults is either to send somebody to point them out to you or to bring them out through some circumstance in which you are suddenly confronted with what you have done or said and you find that it is ugly and you do not like it. That is the way God cleanses us from hidden faults. He opens up the secret places.

Usually he does it through other people because, as God well knows, we cannot see ourselves, but other people can see us. These faults are hidden to us but not to others. They see them very plainly. And we can see their hidden faults better than they can. You know that you can see the faults of somebody you are thinking about right now better than that person can. You say, "I don't see how that person can be so blind." Someone is thinking that very same way about you. That is why it is always proper to say, "Lord, cleanse me from hidden faults. Help me to see myself through the eyes of a friend who loves me enough to tell me the truth."

And then, "Keep me from willful sins." Willful sins are those in which you are confident that you have what it takes to do what God wants. Self-confidence is presumption. God never asks us to do anything on that basis. If we depend upon ourselves, we are acting presumptuously, and any activity that stems from self-confidence is a presumptuous sin. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." For me to act as though there is anything that I can contribute is to be guilty of this kind of sin. The cure for this is dependence upon the activity of God in you as a believer. So David is praying, "Lord, let me realize that without You I can do nothing. Help me to depend upon You to work through me. Then I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression."

Lord You speak to me through the world You have made and the Word You have spoken. Give me a teachable heart. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Life Application: What are two crucial areas for our lives that need exposure? Are we open to praying about them and to allowing God to answer our prayers in His way?

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Psalm 139 - A Prayer of Passion

A Prayer Of Passion: Psalm 139:19-24

If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me you bloodthirsty men!
Psalm 139:19

Why do these psalmists seem all of a sudden to interject these bloody thoughts? Why this sudden word of passion, "If only you would slay the wicked!" This has troubled many because it seems so far from the New Testament standard, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). How shall we understand these things?

We need to recognize that everything the psalmist asks for is not necessarily a reflection of God's will. We are reading the experiences of believers, and their thoughts are not always reflections of God's perfect will. At times, the Psalms earnestly mirror the human viewpoint, and we need to understand these passages in their context. In this paragraph, the psalmist, having been gripped by his close relationship with God, now naturally comes to the place where he asks God for something. That is also what we do. When we are aware of being near to God, being dear to Him, we tend to ask God for things, but those things are not always in keeping with God's best for us. That is what this psalmist is doing.

He asks God to take care of the problem of the wicked. His suggested manner of handling it is rather naive. He says, "Lord, wipe them out," as though such a simple remedy for human ills had never occurred to the Almighty. Have you ever felt that way? One of the refreshing things about these psalms is the honesty they reflect.

There are several things we need to note about this: For one thing, this psalmist's request falls short even of the Old Testament standard. It is the Old Testament that first says, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). The New Testament and the Old Testament are not opposed to one another in this matter of moral standards. But this man has not yet learned this. In his honesty, he says "Lord, it seems to me the easiest way for You to handle this problem of evil would be to slay the wicked. Why don't you do that?"

Here is the case of a man who has felt God's hatred against sin but not yet God's love for the sinner. That is why, I think, he concludes with these words: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting " (Psalm 139:23-24). Is he not saying, "Lord, I don't understand this problem of evil? It appears to me the easiest way is for you to eliminate the evil person. But Lord, I also know that I don't think very clearly, and I don't often have the right answer. So Lord, in case I don't have the right remedy for this problem, let me add this prayer: 'Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Father, how desperately I need to be led through the complexities of my life. Help me not to settle for simple yet wrong solutions but to be willing to let You work out Your own purposes knowing that You have taken all the factors into consideration. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen

Life Application: How much of our prayer time is occupied with petitions formed by our finite understanding? Is there a better way to pray? Have we yet felt God's love for sinners?

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