Category: Psalms (Page 4 of 7)

What Do You Say When You Pray?

February 27, 2014 / admin

“I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’”

(Psalm 16:2)

We all know the story of the elderly couple whose love had grown both old and cold. She complained to him, “Do don’t tell me you love me anymore!” He replied, “I told you that I loved you the day I married you. If I ever change my mind I’ll let you know.”

She didn’t find it very funny.

Frankly, in my experience, women seldom laugh at that story. Men, foolishly, do.

Yet it gets retold again and again—mostly by men who never seem to notice (or maybe just don’t care) that the women are not laughing with them.

David was determined he would not treat the lover of his soul this way. In Psalm 16:2 David tells us what he prays when he bows before the heavenly lover of his soul.

The upper case (capitalized) “LORD” is the English translation’s way of telling us he is using the personal, covenant name of God: Yahweh. The lower case “Lord” is the translators’ rendering of the Hebrew Adonai.

The difference is not unimportant.

Yahweh designates God as the covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. He is the one who pursues us. He seeks us out. He establishes covenant with us—taking upon Himself the obligation of forming and keeping the covenant. He simply invites us into relationship with Himself. That, of course, ultimately and finally found expression through Jesus Christ and His redemptive work at the cross and in His resurrection. God is personal and personally seeks you in love.

Adonai, on the other hand, emphasizes God as “master” or “owner.” He is over us. He rules us. God has authority over us. He has the right to our submission and obedience.

Thus, “I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord,” is tantamount to saying “In view of your great redemptive love that sought and bought me for yourself, I gladly bow my entire life to you, I am glad to live under your rule and authority and to curb my life to fulfill your mission and to build your kingdom.”

I say to the lover of my soul, “You are my Owner, Master, and Lord.”

It is sacrificial and pursuing love that makes a life of submissive obedience both possible and delightful. Such love woos our submission and obedience and in so doing transforms it into an expression of our love to Him.

Indeed, David must add, “I have no good apart from you.” I can’t even enjoy life without sharing it with you, Lord! Good just isn’t good unless I can enjoy it in fellowship with you.

Oh great Lover of my soul, thank you for being the initiator, pursuer, and complete provider in our relationship. Thank you for making me your own through Jesus. I bless you for sending your Holy Spirit to make large in my eyes the magnitude of your love. Gladly and with my whole heart I say to you again today, “You are my Lord. Own this life. Rule me in every part. Walk this day with me, making all your good gifts scattered throughout these coming hours a fellowship of joy as we share them together.

Singleness of Heart

August 26, 2013 / admin

“Every man is ultimately concerned with something. He has given his heart, his allegiance, to something–set his direction. Thus the Scripture speaks of the ‘godly’ man in the Psalms, the man whose heart is ready to seek God. His counterpart has set his heart to seek things which are going to pass away. No man can be headed in two directions at one time.” (Elizabeth Elliot, The Liberty of Obedience, pp.49-50, emphasis added)

The Inescapable Presence

June 30, 2013 / admin

“But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped … Nevertheless, I am continually with you, you hold my right hand.” (Psalm 73:2, 23)

The clash between truth and apparent reality in this world had nearly become too much for the psalmist. He had almost lost his footing in faith. He had a deep crisis of faith and confessed that he had nearly succumbed and given way. Yet when God prevailed in his life and once again gave him perspective (v.17), the psalmist awakened to discover “I am continually with you”! Throughout the entire crisis he had remained in God’s favor, relationship and presence. Though he could not see it, the entire ordeal had transpired in God’s presence, with God near. Indeed, he could confess that through the entire experience “you hold my right hand.”

All our depression and every crippling crisis in actuality is based on a facade. When God seems far away, removed, and inactive it is but a half-drawn picture that ignores the greater reality of God’s inescapable presence with us through all things. We doubt God’s presence while immersed in God’s presence. Sometimes, for His own sovereign reasons and sanctifying purposes, God suspends the sense of His presence, but never His actual presence.

Forgive me, Lord, for my failing faith. Keep me. Awaken me to the reality of your presence and the riches I have in you. I ask this in the Name of Him who promised, “I am with you always” and “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Amen.

Psalm 23 Remix

February 11, 2013 / admin

“The Lord is my slave-driver,

I must never be satisfied.

He compels me to try harder.

He makes me labor more furiously;

He leads me into noisy activity.

He implores me to ignore the emptiness within

and just keep going;

He prods me in the paths of perfectionism

for His reputation’s sake.

Even as I walk through the valley of the shadow of burnout,

I fear a breakdown;

But no one can see the real me;

Your expectations and Your people,

they goad me on.

You prepare a list of expectations before me

in the presence of my peers;

You provoke me on and on,

My cup seems more parched than ever.

Surely serenity and rest will elude me all the days of my life.

And I will dwell in the land of the harried forever.”

(Song of the Satisfied Soul, pp.27-28)

The Silences of God

November 19, 2012 / admin

“My soul waits in silence for God only” (Psalm 62:1, NASB)

“I am reminded that in music silence is not silence. Musically, silence is called a rest. David was a musician. It seems to me – though I am no musician – the key to understanding the silence in the music is to never lose sight of the notes immediately before and after the silence. It is connecting the dots between those notes and interpreting the silence in its context that transforms silence into rest. Context, musically speaking, instructs you on how to read the silence. The same is true spiritually. Trouble is, in the midst of silence you haven’t heard the next note yet. All you have are the notes that have gone before. The music that led you to this moment tells you something is now unresolved. It leaves you listening, longing for those notes which will resolve the melody that has been played out to this point … We need to trust the Conductor enough to know that He will have more notes to be played. Only in this kind of faith-rest can we be ready to hear the next notes in this strain of divine music.” (Long Story Short, p.135)