August 23, 2017
When God declared David a “man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22), it wasn’t because David was sinless. David had many shortcomings just as we all do. But David was quick to confess his sins. He shed real tears of repentance when he did wrong. He had an abiding desire to please God and do His will. It truly grieved David to sin against God. David’s heart was “loyal” (1 Kings 11:4) to the Lord.
Through Christ we can have our sins forgiven and our hearts made new. Yet, we still sometimes stumble into sin while living in this world. David’s habit of confession and repentance is still needed in our lives. As the apostle John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
August 21, 2017
Like the psalmist, I can make the same observation. We’ve had some really lean years along the way as we planted WCC and labored in the Lord to see it grow. I was in my early 30s and my children in single digits when we started. There were times that we couldn’t pay the mortgage on the house, nor put gas in the car. On several occasions I drove the old Suburu to seminary with the gas gauge on “E.” But never ran out of gas along the way. Sometimes our cupboard was empty, but our stomachs never were. Because someone would show up at our door with groceries, or stick a “twenty” under the windshield wiper of the car. My wife and I often felt overwhelmed, but if you ask our grown children about it today, they always thought we were rich. For the Lord did not forsake us and our children were never hungry. The lean times taught us to trust the Lord as Provider above all others. Those times taught us to be thankful and rely on God.
August 19, 2017
The word “lovingkindness” is the English translation of the Hebrew word “chesed.” It might be translated variously as “covenant love, steadfast love, loyal love, unfailing love,” etc. It is essentially the equivalent of the New Testament Greek word, “agape.” And as the psalmist wrote, God’s love is “precious.” It is this amazing character trait of God that moved Him to send His son, Jesus to die in our place. As Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…” (John 3:16). God “so loved.” It is this love of God that moves us to put our trust in Him. Like chicks under the wings of a mother hen, we hide in the shadow of His loving salvation. Listen to the heart cry of Jesus over the city of His people who would not respond to His love, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Luke 13:34).
Are you willing to put your trust in the lovingkindness of God?
August 17, 2017
David cried out to the Lord to be both his advocate and avenger. He prayed that the Lord would “plead” his case as a defense attorney would one falsely accused, and “fight” for him as a warrior defending his own.
Yet, what David brought before the Lord as a prayer, those in Christ can depend on as a promise. The Lord Jesus is our Advocate. As the apostle John wrote, “… if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). And the Lord Jesus is our Avenger. As the apostle Paul wrote, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19).
David’s prayer has become our promise. Jesus is our Advocate and Avenger.
August 14, 2017
The psalmist asks the Lord to be merciful towards His people according to the proportion of their hope in Him. This is not a request for God’s mercy according to their works, not according to righteousness, nor lack thereof, but according to the measure of the hope they have placed in God. The psalmist’s scale is for the Lord to give them mercy in proportion to their hope. Yet, I would ask for more. I would ask that the Lord show mercy even when (and especially when) my hope is weak. And I ask that His mercy would “be upon us” for others when their hope needs encouragement too.
July 28, 2017
David’s psalm concludes with a beautiful chorus, urging the Lord to exercise His own strength, to put it on display, so that all can see Him lifted up to the highest place. David commits his fellow worshipers to always sing and give verbal praise to God’s omnipotence and demonstrated power.
July 26, 2017
Is anyone in trouble? Call on the Lord. But by what name should one call? Call out to Jesus. “For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Act 4:12). For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13).
July 21, 2017
David’s psalm anticipated the reality of going to sleep in this world and awaking to the righteous face of the Lord in the next. The Spirit inspired him with expectation of a day when he would be fully “satisfied” to be found in the Lord’s “likeness,” made righteous and fit for living in His presence.
This “face” and this “likeness” belongs to none other than the Lord Jesus. For as the apostle Paul wrote, “Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). And as the apostle John revealed, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
Can you join with David in saying, “As for me…”?
July 18, 2017
The Lord looks. The Lord sees. The psalmist uses anthropomorphic language to describe the Lord’s intense interest in humanity. Some men may doubt God’s existence, but the Lord knows all things about man. He looks at the heart. He searches for those that search for Him.
As God has said, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).
July 9, 2017
David wrote this psalm while hiding from Saul’s pursuit. During this time he was being falsely accused by a certain man from Saul’s tribe named, Cush, whom David feared would “tear him like a lion.” In this psalm, David invited the Lord to be both his judge and deliverer. He called on the Lord to defend him. David’s dire condition caused him to pray not only for his situation, but that all wickedness in the world would come to an end.
Have you ever looked around at the world we live in, and prayed that the Lord would bring the “wickedness of the wicked” to an end? Have you ever prayed that the Lord would “establish the just?” Of course, we tend to put others in the first category and ourselves in the “just” one. That’s why God is the only one capable of such a judgment, for He alone can “test the hearts and minds.”
One day, David’s prayer will be answered. The wicked will be judged and their time brought to an end. And the Lord Jesus Christ will establish the just, those who have been made so by believing in His Name. Until then, we can pray as David did, depending on the Lord to be our Savior and Defender.