Psalm 78

 Psalm 78

The retelling of the history of God’s care for His people is a recurring theme in the book of Psalms.  Part of that retelling includes the unfaithfulness of Israel and Judah toward God and His dealing with them.  This is the core of Psalm 78.  In this Psalm there is a key theme about God’s grace that we need to take to heart and marvel over.  Sometimes people try to strike a bargain with God.  It is sort of a foxhole religion: “God, if you get me out of this, I promise I will do better, turn over a new leaf, etc.”  That is what we see in verses 34-39.  While we may hold this foxhole religion with some disdain we see here a picture of God’s superlative grace.  

In the just punishment of Israel’s sin, they turn to God.  In the crisis of the moment they find “religion”.  The wrath of God being expressed in the oppression by their pagan neighbors generates repentance and revival.  We all have a tendency to get religious when we are in a fix, suffering, or in trouble. It is hard to find the very impious just before life and death surgery.  Piousness is treated like a credit card, it is whipped out and promises are made about future payments (good deeds) in exchange for current purchase.  “If I get a good outcome from this operation, and I will pay with good deeds in the years to come”.  In ministry you see this with great frequency; people get really holy when they are about to get the short end of a divorce, a criminal charge, or a medical diagnosis.  Church attendance spiked in the U.S. for the three weeks after 9/11.  But once the crisis has passed, the religious fervor cools; the worship and the change of heart were only flattery aimed at fooling the “old man upstairs.”  We have all seen it, hated it, and perhaps done it.

But here is the marvel.  We all know it is a hypocritical, feigned pile of double-dealing jive, but grace prevails.  Verses 38-39 are almost unbelievable.  For the first 34 verses, this psalm describes Israel’s miserable moral failure in contrast to God’s faithfulness.  Verses 35-37 describe their faith as the crisis variety that was nothing more than flattery and lies that never went near the heart.  Then in verses 38-39 we see God’s mercy and compassion in forgiving and holding back His wrath because His compassion took into account human frailty.  He knew their hearts were divided even as they confessed their sins and turned to Him.  He knew it was lies and flattery and He had mercy anyway.

I once had a conversation with a Christian man who was dying.  He was just days away from his end.  He was tormented by the fears that maybe he was insincere in his faith and God would not accept him.  I was once asked, “How do I know if I really mean it when I repent or I am just saying it?”  I had someone ask if, because they didn’t understand all that baptism means when they were baptized, did  they need to be baptized again.  When a person looks back at public sin with self-loathing and they wonder if the actions of repentance are God-driven or culturally driven, what do we say?  These are not the questions of people looking for a license to indulge.  It is a reminder that we need to stress and address the greatness of God’s grace.  C.S. Lewis put it this way in That Hideous Strength. “This is the courtesy of deep Heaven, that when you mean well He always takes you to have meant better than you knew.  It will not be enough forever. He is very jealous; he will have you for no one but himself in the end.”

What more can we do than to love the One who so respects and honors us even when we are an alloy of selfish and pious motives?  When we consider this great grace, we are bound to want to do right, and little by little our motives become more pure.  We may still have doubts about the purity of our motives, but that itself is perhaps a good sign that we mean well and God can take that as very close to pure motives.  

“Thank You God that You are great in mercy. AMEN”

Psalm 77

 Psalm 77

When we are in the deepest of distress, we often ask, “God, are you there?” We believe this psalm was written during Babylonian captivity. The Jews faced a 70-year sentence. Along the way they felt like they would never again experience God's goodness. There is an interesting progression of their sorrows in verses 2 & 4. In verse 2 the psalmist is telling about his troubles. In verse 4 he can't sleep, nor can he talk. In small troubles we are chatty, but sometimes troubles are so great we become silent.

The grief is so great that the psalmist is wondering if God's very nature has changed (v. 10). Nothing could be worse than to find that God is no longer true to Himself. The cure for this extreme anxiety is to recall the great works of God. Truly no one, no god, is like the Lord God, v. 11-15.  The psalmist recalls God's faithful rescue of Israel and the history of the Exodus. In this moment of personal silence, he recalls when God made a great display. We can still feel like God is absent. At that moment the thing to do is recall God's great record. 

“Lord, in my quiet pain remind me of Your history of rescue. AMEN.”

Psalm 76

 Psalm 76

We believe this psalm was written on the occasion of the destruction of the army of Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians. It would be insightful to read 2 Kings 19. It is tempting at times to feel that those who are disrespectful toward God are getting away with it. We may feel like God is either unwilling or unable to do anything about their blasphemy, or worse, God isn't there at all. But there is an important paragraph that addresses this issue. In verses 8-10 we see that the sayings of the rebellious actually work God's purposes. Read those verses carefully and slowly. If God struck down the defiant at their first outburst and small rebellion, who would notice? But by allowing them to grow louder and more aggressive, who could miss their obvious downfall? “The Wrath of Men" actually ends up praising God. That night 185,000 troops were killed, and the news went with the retreating Sennacherib back to Damascus. After his assassination, that history went into what we call Turkey.  We do well to be disturbed by the disrespect of evil people towards God. But God will use that for his purposes. His justice will be shown. 

“Lord, help me to honor Your name and release those who don’t into Your hand. AMEN.”

Psalm 75

 Psalm 75

God's judgment is perfect both in timing and in justice. That is saying a lot. We tend to want justice, at least as we perceive it, now at this moment. This is usually a moment of our emotional peak. But God claims both time and justice as his own in verse 2.

Often the wicked carry on in arrogance and self-aggrandizement but only so long as circumstances are good and seem secure. But allow things to begin to melt or totter, and there is a sudden silence in their arrogant boasting. Whether God is working through direct interaction or providential events matters little. In the midst of the storm, fire, plague, or crisis, arrogance is a much less displayed characteristic.

In the midst of a crisis there is a tendency to look for rescue. The wicked will look in the wrong places, v. 6. Even in that moment they have a resistance to acknowledge God. It is God who puts down or exalts one or the other. So for our part, we are not intimidated by circumstances but praise the One who is over all things.

“Lord, use events and circumstances to grow our confidence in You. AMEN.”

Easter Week 2026

 Easter Week 2026

In the hauntingly beautiful song “May It Be," which concluded the film “The Lord of the Rings," there are two Elvish phrases from J. R. R. Tolkien's mythical language: “Mornie utulie, mornie alantie." That translates into “darkness has come” and “darkness has fallen." Tolkien, who knew 35 languages, wrote these in a perfect tense to indicate that the darkness was complete and unavoidable. That is not a bad theme for us to reflect upon during Easter Week.

Our tendency is to want to avoid the darkness and hardship of our journey. But that is an exercise in futility. In John's description of the triumphal entry we have an oft-overlooked moment. Some Greeks wanted to see Jesus. When Jesus was made aware of their interest, He said, “The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified." In some way the gentiles coming to Jesus marked a transition, a completion of one phase and the beginning of another. We might expect that what would follow would be a positive motivational talk about the wonderful bright future. However, a couple of verses later, Jesus says, “Now, My soul is troubled. What should I say, ‘Father save me from this hour?’ But this is why I came to this hour. Father glorify Your name.” Faced with the next phase, with what was to come, Jesus, at the level of His soul, His psyche, was agitated, tossed to and fro, was in turmoil. The only way to avoid the monumental troubling of the soul was to reject the will of the Father. The darkness, the cross, and the suffering cannot be avoided; they must be endured.

It is in this context that Jesus gives us the call to come and endure the darkness as well. Verses 24-26 of John 12 are not the kind of words that spring from a message of ever-increasing blessings. They are an invitation to walk through “the valley of the shadow of death.” They are words that tell us the loss we experience now is real and painful and without anesthetic. It is a promise of companionship in the darkness and suffering that is beyond imagination.

So much of our life is focused on and trying to avoid suffering. As disciples, that isn’t a real possibility; it is, however, a formula for anxiety. When our focus is on the good life now, every moment of the future is a threat to that life, a threat that grows as the years progress. As disciples, that 'good life now’ kind of life is not a possibility. Certainly a holy life is better, but it is not easy. Godliness brings greater peace but not greater ease. The world, the flesh, and our pride tell us we can have a self-satisfying life now, but it remains an unfulfilled promise. God is wanting to sanctify, to make us into glorious saints, and this only happens in the crucible of hardship, of dying to self.

The writer of Hebrews tells us Jesus “for the joy set before Him endured the cross." Before the joy, the misery; before the resurrection, death; before the new kind of vitality, agony. We need to realign our thinking. Rather than trying to manage, hide from, or escape the current darkness, we need to despise the suffering it will cause us, because on the other side is the overwhelming sense that all is well, whole, and hope-filled with the love and glory of God. For that joy set before us, we embrace dying to self, which is the mark of being a disciple.

Easter week 2026 and the darkness seems to be growing without restraint. At almost every level and in every direction the news is dark. In my heart and life I feel the presence of the darkness. In the universal church, darkness seems to be advancing. In the political world the clouds grow darker. So what do we do? We remember that even for Jesus the harsh reality was a troubled soul during Easter week. But come the first day of the week, Joy will explode. Walk faithfully in the darkness, my friend, because Easter is coming.

Psalm 74

 Psalm 74

It is hard to comprehend the emotional, psychological, and spiritual pain of those faithful Jews who witnessed the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians. The first 10 verses describe the wanton disgrace and degradation of the Temple. And the apparent unconcernedness of God. What is most loved and cherished, the house of God's presence, is ruined and defiled.

But notice in the moment of greatest misery what the psalmist does. He reflects on God's greatness and His history of care for His people. Current misery does not erase or negate God's historic faithfulness. The telling of God's care in the Exodus and His orderly universe is evidence that even in this moment of misery, He can rescue again. The psalmist gives two reasons for God to act. First, in verses 18-21, because of the relationship He has with His helpless people. These are not strangers in need but His “turtledove.” Second, in verses 22-23, His own cause or reputation. God's history of loving kindness and grace is apparently a call for His rescue of His faithful people before the nations.

“Lord, when I face difficult experiences, help me to recall Your greatness and goodness. AMEN.” 

Psalm 73

 Psalm 73

This is one powerful and applicable Psalm. Written during the Babylonian captivity, it is applicable for anyone, at any time, who has been faithful to God and has struggled in life while watching wicked people prosper. We see evil people living a life of ease, comfort, and wealth while the godly barely make it. And it prompts us to question Divine justice. The psalmist asked the kinds of questions we might ask, and in his own thinking considers the answers painful.

But the solution is found in verse 17. This was painful: “...until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end.” We cannot be at peace in this world until we worship God and, in that relationship, understand both now and eternity. All peoples have found the success of evil people a problem. The ancient Greeks said, “The prosperity of the wicked is a reproach to the gods.”

It is only in the worship and understanding of God that we can make sense of the fact that our lives, as a result of that faithfulness, can at times be difficult.

“Lord, in worshiping You, help me find meaning for both time and eternity. AMEN.”