Psalm 121

Psalm 121

Everyone, even the strongest saint, needs to hear words of encouragement. Not so much “you are great” but rather “our God is great.” Some scholars believe this psalm was originally a spoken and reply psalm. Verses 1-2 were recited by one person. Verse 3 would be from a priest or leader, and verse 4 would be said in reply. Note in verse 4 the care of the Lord is large and general. But verses 5-8, spoken by the leader, show His care is personal and more individual. It is almost as if the speaker says, “I know God will take care of the big picture,” and the leader replies, “Yes, but He will take care of you as well.”

Many times we can feel great confidence in God's control over the big picture stuff. He will keep the universe and the galaxies on course. He will work out the events of world history and national politics. But are we sometimes a little shaky about our lives and homes? We are strong in verse 4, the big picture stuff, but God is also caring about the little stuff in our lives. Count the times “you” or “your” is used in this poem.

“Lord, give me confidence in Your care for me personally. AMEN.”

Lessons my pigs taught me about sin

As you may know, I have a hobby of growing and selling pigs. It is a great source of protein, good exercise, often humorous, occasionally frustrating, and can be an insight into spiritual matters. 

A few weeks ago we had a hot and dry spell. Temps were normal for late summer but very hot for spring. Every day I would make sure my pigs had fresh, clean water. I went to significant trouble and expense to make sure that their watering supply would be sufficient and available.

Hogs are reported to be among the most intelligent animals on or off the farm. It is true that they have a high degree of intelligence for short-term problems, but they are painfully short-sighted. Frequently I would come in at the end of the day to discover that my hogs had turned their water supply over so they could have a mud hole in which to wallow. I’m not sure how they did it. I would make sure the barrel was on solid ground and would ratchet strap it to a tree. At the end of the day the ratchet strap would be off, and the water would be poured out; the barrel would be down the hill, and they would be desperately thirsty. Smart enough to know how to get short-term satisfaction but not smart enough to be able or willing to examine the long-term cost.

That is the way sin works in our lives. We figure out how to find short-term satisfaction but fail to count the cost of our willful moment. That is the nature of sin. The short-term satisfaction, thrill, or pleasure is all we seem to be able to think about. We fail to consider all that the short-term delight will cost us. By the way, lecturing the pigs on how foolish they are and how troublesome they can be and how if they would make better choices, we would all be better off didn't work. Doesn’t work on people either.

So what to do? In both cases, working with pigs and people (and myself), being kind, graceful, and gentle are the best solutions. In some cases it actually helps, but even if it doesn’t produce ideal results, it helps bring a little peace to our own souls.

Psalm 120

Psalm 120

This Psalm and those that follow are called the Songs of Ascent. While not sure what ‘ascent’ we are talking about, the best guess is that they were sung as pilgrims made their final approach to Jerusalem.

Rather than the privilege of living in Jerusalem, the ‘city of peace,’ this person is living in “Meshech.” Meshech refers to a region populated by semi-nomadic bandits. These were a people who, unlike most nomads, who follow flocks, were always uprooting their lives and tents to go plunder and pillage. We may be more familiar with the ravages of the Huns, drug cartels, or street gangs. We might get a sense of this poem with this: “I want to live in a safe town, sink roots, have a family, do honest work, and live in God’s peace. But I, unfortunately, live in the friction zone of a gang turf war. I want to live in God’s shalom, but everyone around me is bent on conflict. " There is a desire for justice for these people (vs. 2-9). In our world these people are still here. The best way to not become like them is to pursue peace.

“Lord, in a world of conflict, help me be an agent of Your peace. AMEN.”

Psalm 119:169-176

Psalm 119:169-176

Tav 

The poet/disciple pleads that God would seek him, the isolated and endangered sheep! 

The poet/disciple is not resting on his laurels or past adherence to the Lord and His word.  For 168 verses, he has declared his love for and commitment to the Word of God.  We might expect in the last refrain that he might lessen the intensity of his pleading.  The opposite is true.  In these last lines it is as if the poet/disciple is giving one final effort to appeal to God.  It is not uncommon that the person who is closest to the Lord is most profoundly aware of their need for His grace.  The person who believes himself to be a “pretty good Joe” is most profoundly distant from God.  

In the first four verses of this section, the poet/disciple expresses his desire to honor God with four vocal expressions.  In those four verses we see the word translated “cry” (v. 169) is more completely translated “song of joyful praise” and was used to describe a sort of victory cry that would sweep through an army. The word “supplication” (v 170) is descriptive of a pleading for mercy, favor, or help.  In the next verse (v. 171), the poet/disciple sings the praise or glory of God.  Then he talks about “singing” (v 172). Interestingly, this word is more accurately translated as “respond,” but its root word means “to dwell.” To us, a modern metaphor would be the poet/disciples say his default setting is to respond to life with praise for God.

The poet/disciple asked for the Lord’s hand to be his ever-ready help because the Lord’s salvation is his great desire.  He connects this to delight in the law and the precepts of God.  Many people will talk about wanting the blessing of God, and much is said and written about how to obtain the blessing of God.  But the Holy Spirit inspired the poet/disciple to say the means by which the hand of the Lord will work is the Word of the Lord.  The work of the Lord’s hand is not so that the poet/disciple can have all the things he wants.  Rather, the objective the poet/disciple seeks is the opportunity to offer praise to the Lord.  

The last verse of this lengthy Psalm is powerful and profound.  Having read this Psalm, we might expect that this is a man of great piety, and he clearly is, but his self-understanding is that he is a lost sheep.  The holier a person, the more profoundly aware they, in absolute terms, are unholy.  Those closest to God are the ones aware of how far and above all God is.  This is not the lost sheep of apostasy but the one who, in moments wanders off, but is aware of that wandering.  They are aware because they, consistent with the whole theme of this Psalm, “do not forget Thy commandments.”

“Lord help me to always return to You. AMEN

Psalm 119:161-168

Psalm 119:161-168

Shin 

The poet/disciple being persecuted by princes clings fast to God. 

There are two things that the politically powerful desire above all else.  They want to be loved and adored by their people, and they want to be the most feared by their enemies.  The poet/disciple is a disappointment to his princes.  While they persecute him without just reason, he reserves his awe/fear and his love for the Lord.  At best a ruler might make and enforce good laws, but it is for the Word of God that the poet/disciple rejoices as if he found a great spoil. The prince is never more than a steward of power, but God is the holder, creator, and source of all power. 

The poet/disciple is so moved that seven times a day he praises the Lord.  There are two ways of addressing this phrase, and both are excellent spiritual disciplines.  The poet/disciple may have used ‘seven’ as the symbolic number of completion.  The number seven is often a figure for the completion of anything, e.g., creation.   If this is the case, the poet is saying for the whole day, “I praise Thee.”  The other possibility is that seven refers to seven specific times of prayer for the disciple.  This practice is seen in a 10th-century sermon that called for religious observations at breakfast, 9:00 AM, noon, 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM, bedtime, and midnight.  Either pattern, if faithfully carried out, is appropriate.

The promise of verse 165 is one of the great promises of Scripture.  “Those who love Thy law have great peace” is the first part of the promise.  Peace here is the greatest of all the Hebrew words, “shalom.”  It is more than an absence of stress or struggle; it is the wholeness and completeness of life.  It is an overflowing abundance of well-being in the confidence that God loves and cares for us (His character) and that He is able to bless our lives with His very best (His power).  The love of God’s law opens us up to the blessings of a relationship with God where ultimately all is well.  The second line says basically the same thing, except from a negative perspective.  The one who loves God’s Word is protected from the stumbling block.  This carries with it the ideal that the one who loves God’s Word is, by knowing the Word, able to see danger in advance.  It is like the advantage of having a light to shine on a dark path. (Vs. 105) The poet/disciple finds that the great spiritual blessings of the Word have begun to trickle down into the level of daily living.

The poet/disciple is still under persecution; he is still suffering for his faith. Nevertheless, he speaks with a great positive voice about the benefits of God’s Word.  The Word of God is neither a magic talisman nor a collection of spells and incantations.  It is the introduction to the One who gives hope and joy.  This life of confident joy is lived out because the poet/disciple constantly keeps the love of God’s Word a priority.  It is a reciprocal relationship, as he loves the Word, it empowers him, and as it empowers him, he grows to love the Word.  

“Lord, help me to have a constant growing commitment to Your Word. AMEN

Psalm 119:153-160

Psalm 119:153-160

Resh 

Because God cannot suffer those who are faithful to His word to succumb, the poet/disciple begs for helpful pity. 

As we look at this passage, one question might come to mind.  In 154, the poet/disciple said, “Plead my cause…” We might ask, “With whom would God plead a case?”  God doesn’t need to plead with anyone; He commands.  This question misses the nature of the word "plead."  The emphasis of this word is not on the asking but on the volume or decibel level of the communication.  The word here is not about a persuasive argument set forth by a lawyer or philosopher. This word here is a loud, noisy, clamorous, contentious argument.  This is more of a shouting match than a discussion.  What the poet/disciple is asking for is that God’s redemption will be obvious and bombastic. The conflict has been building to a head, and the poet wants to see God’s explosive words coming to his defense. 

Because they have rejected God’s Word, God’s rescue is not available for the wicked, nor are the wicked capable of providing rescue.  But for the poet/disciples, God’s Word is a source of mercy, which expresses itself in revival or renewal.  The poet/disciple is determined to remain loyal to God even when he senses that he is alone and surrounded by the wicked.  Earlier the poet/disciple speaks of streams of tears that he has because the wicked “do not keep the law” (v. 136).  Now there is a different expression; now we see the poet/disciple loathes the treacherous.  What has happened?  There comes a point at which the villainy that comes from disregard of God’s law causes the poet/disciple to reach a breaking point.  The word translated “loath” comes from the root word that means “to break, snap, or be cut off.”  There comes a point that even this most patient of God’s loyal people have had enough.  It is important to note why this breaking has come about.  It was not an offense to the poet/disciple or even his persecution.  Rather, it was the rejection of God’s way, with some special attention to the betrayal of what is right.  It is the same behavior that caused such great sorrow in verse 136, “They do not keep Thy law/word.”  It is possible for those who are fully committed to God to find great sorrow and great revulsion in the same behavior of the wicked.  We need to beware when we notice that we have only one or the other of these responses.  

The poet/disciple concludes this passage with a reaffirmation of his affection for the Word of God; this is set in contrast to his disdain for the wicked. He hopes that according to the mercies of the Lord he will be renewed.  The Word can bring this renewal because it is truth in total.  The word translated “sum” in the NASB is literally “head.”  Imagine a column of numbers added together, but rather than the total being on the bottom, it is at the top of the column; it would be the head or sum.  In the next phrase there is an emphasis on the singularity.  Literally, this line says, “And forever every one of Your righteous judgments.”  The point the poet/disciple is making is if you look at the individual commands of God or the totality of them, you find the same beautiful righteousness.  

“Lord, speak boldly in support of Your saints and Your Word. AMEN”

Psalm 119:145-152

Psalm 119:145-152 

Qoph

“Oh, that God would hear his crying by day and by night. “ 

The poet/disciple pleads with God with his whole heart for the Lord’s help for the purpose of living according to the laws of God.  How often our pleas with God are so that He will give us what we want.  This poet/disciple pleads for help to live faithfully.  The poet/disciple describes in this section his predawn and after-dark devotions.  Before the sun is up, he is waiting on the promises of God, and with eager anticipation, he looks forward to the nighttime to meditate on God’s word.  We have lost the meaning of meditation in Western culture.  We have mistakenly associated meditation with Eastern mysticism, in which the goal is to empty the mind. (This, by the way, is an extremely unwise idea.  In emptying the mind, it is more susceptible to the power of the demonic.  The meditation the poet/disciple is speaking of is an active engagement of the mind. In fact, the Hebrew word is most often translated “complain.” The poet/disciple is not advocating complaining against God but rather contrasting the word and will of God with the daily reality that we live and face.  To meditate is neither to have an empty mind, nor is it a mere academic exercise.  It is to look at the reality of our life and see how it conforms with or rebels against the Law of God.  Both externally and internally we face conflict between what is and what ought to be.  Meditation is the act of arguing about how these realities battle and how we move toward what God wants.  

In verses 149-150 the poet/disciple expresses two realities that his meditation has brought to mind.  First is the reality that he needs God’s mercy to revive him.  As he has wrestled with the reality of his life, he has come to the conclusion that he is still in need of mercy and that merciful revival and renewal will come through God’s ordinances.  Second, those who are following the way of wickedness are drawing near.  Perhaps the poet/disciple uses the hours of night to study God’s word to avoid the persecution of his enemies.  Perhaps the enemies are getting close to him, and his danger is growing.  The poet/disciple is aware that his persecutors are closer to him than they are to God.  He is comforted with the awareness that God is closer still.  There are two truths that the poet/disciple lays hold of as he closes this section.  God is near, and His word is still true.  The poet/disciple recalls that these words have always been a part of his life and that they predate him and secured them for all ages to come.  No matter the pressure of persecution, the poet/disciple has the eternal Word of God.

“Lord, when the hard times come help me to cling to Your Word. AMEN”