March 31, 2024

Psalm 23.4 (NIV)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Spiritual forces cannot work while we are trusting earthly forces.*

In the sci-fi movie, Pitch Black (which I have not seen in its entirety), a group of travelers gets stranded on a seemingly deserted planet because their space ship crashes or malfunctions. (Told you I haven’t seen the whole movie!) It turns out that the planet is inhabited by blood-thirsty, flying creatures that only come out at night. This is a problem because night on this planet lasts a really long time and the sun is killer hot in the day time and for some reason the group (the ones who haven’t been eaten already) must get to the other side. Although their trek across the pitch black wasteland was terrifying, they were safe from attack as long as they carried some form of illumination. They could hear the creatures flapping around (and eating each other!) just outside the circle of light, but they had nothing to fear as long as they remained in the light as they walked through “the valley of the shadow of death.”  (I do not recommend this movie.)

 

What is your “valley of the shadow of death”? According to one commentator, it was significant that the psalmist uses the term “the valley of the shadow of death” rather than the “valley of death” to indicate that “there is no substantial evil in it.”* We are often afraid of things that don’t pose much of a threat while we rush headlong into the real danger of temptation.

As we travel the path God has prepared for us, it is good to remind ourselves: Bad things might happen to me but evil can’t touch me as long as I am walking in the circle of his light.

Faith is often the child of fear.* 

March 30, 2024

Psalm 23.2, 3 (NIV)

He leads me beside quiet waters; he restores my soul.

We shouldn’t demand impressive signs from God, but listen for God’s still, small voice through his Word.*

What is it like to have your soul “restored?” Is it a physical experience or is it totally spiritual? Could David be describing both? This poem may be about sheep and their shepherd but the human application is about us and God’s provision. God provides us with physical rest and renewal when we need it. Often, our bodies may need to be recharged before our souls can get fired up.

The literal translation of the Hebrew for “quiet waters” is “waters of rest.” These are not the rapids found in a mountain river nor are they the stagnant waters of a swamp, but they are the clear, pure stream that “flows from the fountain of living water.”* Remember the old Simon and Garfunkel song, “Bridge over Troubled Water”? The 20th century song evokes a picture of safety as one passes through turbulent times. David’s song is about an oasis, a tranquil place far from trouble.

 

The psalm says that God leads us to this quiet place. That means he is there with us. Sometimes all it takes is a few moments alone with him to refresh us. His presence is like a mini-vacation from the world.  As one person describes it, he “re-animates.”* He brings us back to life.

When you feel like your battery is running low, take time out and go on a retreat with God. Walk beside the still waters of his Word. Listen for his voice. Let him restore your soul. You will find it more refreshing than a spa day!  

The Bible does not say, “He leads me in the path of astonishing productivity and mind-blowing accomplishment whereby he is exceedingly impressed.” No, God makes us lie down in green pastures and leads us beside still waters so our souls may be refreshed.*

March 29, 2024

Psalm 19.14 (NIV)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight. 

Men can choose what to set their hearts on.*

If I had written this psalm, I would have worded it in reverse order. I would have asked first for my heart to be pleasing because a pure heart doesn’t produce impure words. Perhaps it was for the sake of poetry that David listed his request in this order.

There is no question, however, that David wanted to please God. It was not enough for him to have the approval of men. He could say and do the righteous things but he needed God to be pleased with the meditations – the deepest thoughts – of his heart. As David knew, “If our heart and spirit are not right, our motivations will not be right.”*

We are capable of putting on a mask of piety and masquerading as a Christian. Some do it to fool others. Sometimes we do it to fool ourselves. But we never fool God. The meditation of my heart may be reflected in my words and actions – or not. No one knows for sure what is in my heart except God.

No gift from God can be used to its full potential if the recipient has a heart that is not in tune with him.*

March 28, 2024

Psalm 19.7 (NIV)
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

The Word of God is living, active, and life-shaping not because of our prowess but because of his empowerment.*

Human law is imperfect. It does not revive the soul. It doesn’t do anything special!

It has been said that there are two “books of Divine Revelation” – the heavens, and the Bible.* Indeed, according to verse one of this chapter (see discussion on Psalm 19.1), “nature reveals the glory of God,” but “the law reveals his will and moral character.”*

When David wrote this psalm, he had only a small portion of scripture as his reference point. (Did he know that he himself was writing scripture?) He had access to some history and the law but not the Gospel. If the law, which was “given not to bring about redemption but to point up the need for it”* could be called “perfect” in its incompleteness and inability to save us, how much more so is the Gospel, which is the Good News about salvation?

 

How blessed we are to live in a time when we no longer know only in part and prophesy only in part; a time when perfection has come and imperfection is no longer needed. (I Corinthians 13.9 and 10)

Without Jesus the Old Testament is full of unexplained ceremonies, unfulfilled prophecies, and unattainable standards.*

March 27, 2024

Psalm 19.1 (NIV)
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Nature speaks of nature’s God.*

Other nations worshipped the sun, moon, and stars but David exposes these objects as nothing but God’s handiwork, calling upon men to worship the creator rather than the created. Even if people refuse to praise God, the skies will announce his praiseworthiness. All of creation shouts his glory. How can people be deaf to the sounds of nature giving glory to its Creator?

In Romans 1.19 and 20, Paul writes, “What may be known about God is plain . . . because God has made it plain.  . . . For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,  so that men are without excuse.” Nature’s message about God is “as a legible book,”* and ignorance is not an excuse because there is no such thing as ignorance when it comes to creation.

While God reveals himself in nature, it is not a complete manifestation of God. Only through his finest work, his Son, is God’s will disclosed and his salvation made available. Jesus is the only creation worthy of our worship.

From the excellency of the work we may easily infer the infinite perfection of its great author.*

March 26, 2024

Psalm 18.35 (NIV) 
You stoop down to make me great.

God, who must stoop to view the skies and bow to see what angels do, looks to the lowly and contrite, and makes them great.*

In James 4.10, we are instructed to “humble ourselves before the Lord,” and if we do, James says, we will be lifted up. It is one of the paradoxes of God (along with “you can’t out-give God” and “the last shall be first and the first shall be last”) that when we humble ourselves, God lowers himself to lift us up.

 

God demonstrated humility through his Son, who “was willing to come down to our level because he knew there was no way for us to rise to his.”* There is no greater example of humility than that of Jesus who went from being God to allowing himself to be made “a little lower than the angels.” (Hebrews 2.9) He emptied himself, “not of his identity, but of his divine majesty in order to become human.”* If you have ever had to give up a place of honor for an inferior one, you have an inkling of what it meant to be Jesus. But, “your place in heaven was more important to him than his place in heaven, so he gave up his so you could have yours.”*

Jesus tells us, in Matthew 23.12, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” How much nicer it is when God stoops to lift us up – and how much higher we can go!

The highest honour in heaven will be the reward of the greatest humility on earth.*

March 25, 2024

Psalm 18.19 (NIV)
He rescued me because he delighted in me.

He delights to weave the adversity of our experience into his beautiful plan for our lives.*

David could have claimed that God rescued him because he deserved it. David was royalty – chosen by God to be the first of a dynasty that culminated in the Messiah. He was a warrior, a shepherd, a poet, a musician, and a king, but he was also an adulterer and a murderer. Yet, David maintains that God’s favor is due to his delight in him.

Is it presumptuous to believe that the words of this Psalm apply to me as well as to David? I can’t claim to be as great a person as David but I’m no greater (or less) a sinner, either.

Jesus, who was God in the flesh, demonstrated God’s delight in humanity. Unlike us, he found that other people were not a source of stress, but a source of joy.* Where I might find it draining to deal with people and their problems day in and day out, Jesus was energized by it - because his Father delights in us! I have done nothing to deserve it but I know that God delights in me. Maybe it will never be said of me, “She was a woman after God’s own heart,” but perhaps on my tombstone could be engraved these words: She was special to God.

God’s plans for us are for our benefit.*

March 24, 2024

Psalm 10.1 (NIV)

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

God is everywhere all the time. It’s just that most of us are so busy with everything else that we don’t notice.*

We know this about David: he isn’t afraid to express his feelings to God. We know that God is never distant, that he never hides himself, and David knows it, too. We have a God who cares when we feel abandoned and listens when we complain about it. Unlike in other relationships, we can tell him what is on our hearts and be confident that it will strengthen our bond, not destroy it.

Do you ever feel as if God has abandoned you? Feelings change. Feelings are unreliable. When it feels like God is gone, have faith in his faithfulness. He is not off somewhere out of reach. He’s not busy. We have his attention beyond just the time we want it. He never stops watching us, hanging on our every word, sitting on the edge of his seat ready to catch us when we fall.

We stand afar off from God by our unbelief, and then we complain that God stands afar off from us.*

March 23, 2024

Psalm 9.10 (NIV)
For you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

It wasn’t right that the Son of God was forced to hear the silence of God.*

If David is correct, those who seek the Lord may be tried and tempted like Job; hunted by enemies like David; or feel forsaken as Jesus did on the cross . . . but they are never forsaken.* Is it possible, though, that David’s words, like a proverb, are applicable most of the time but not all of the time? After all, it was his words, from Psalm 22.1, that Jesus called out from the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27.46; Mark 15.34) 

While feelings are not reliable indicators of condition, if Jesus felt forsaken then I think it is safe to believe that for a moment, he was forsaken. In that instant, Jesus experienced Hell so that we wouldn’t have to. In the words of another writer: “As he hung on the cross, ‘made sin for us,’ he was left to struggle without a sense of his Father's presence.”*

We may feel forsaken at times as well, but God has promised many times in his Word that he will not forsake us (Deuteronomy 4.31 and 31.6; Joshua 1.5; and Hebrews 13.5, to name a few); and there are numerous promises made to those who seek him - Deuteronomy 4.29; Psalm 34.10; and, in Acts 17.27, we are told that God wants us to seek him and that he is not far from us. 

Jesus knew, even as his Father turned his face away, that all he had to do was cry out, “My God!” and God would return to him.

The omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable.*

March 22, 2024

Psalm 8.3, 4  (NIV)

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

God’s goodness extends far beyond our understanding.*

The work of his fingers! God put the universe in place with the work of his fingers - not even a wave of his hand or the crossing of his arms and blinking of his eyes, I Dream of Jeannie style. If he created the universe with a wiggle of his fingers, did he have to move at all to make me? And what are we that he is mindful of us (that his mind is full of us)? Does every crafter care so much for every tiny little item he produces? “Oh, yeah.  I made 7,205 of that model but I remember something special about each one and I think about it every day.” Probably not.

So what makes us so special? God does. He made us special. He created us in his image. David goes on in verse 4 to say, “You made him [man] a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.” He doesn’t tell us why. The only thing we know is that in Genesis 1.27, God says, “Let’s make man in our image,” and that was that.

 

In Romans 9.20, Paul raises the rhetorical question, “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” He says that the potter has the right to make a lump of clay into something for noble purposes or common use. He is making the point that “you and I are simply jars of clay – fragile and unspectacular – but inside these humble vessels, God stores the treasure of his presence.”*

It’s not what’s on the outside that makes us special – it’s who we carry around inside us.

No other . . . creation of God rejects him . . . and denies his  . . . existence. . . . Yet God continues to love us passionately and to remain deeply involved in our lives.*