Psalm 73: Location, Location, Location

"But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord my refuge..." (v.28)


The experts say that there are only three things to consider when buying a piece of property; location, location, location. The same could be said about life. Life is about about location, location, location, and when you understand this you live in a radically different way. Confused? Let me point you to four ways in which location matters.

1. Location, location, location: You live in a dramatically fallen world.
You simply have to be prepared. You simply have to understand. You simply have to live with realistic expectations. You simply must bring a biblical understanding to the place where you now live or you will be constantly unprepared and disappointed. You and I live in a very, very, broken world where there is trouble on every side. Your body and your mind are affected by the fall and don't always work the way they should. Your family and friendships will not work as they were designed. The government over you does not function as it was created to function. The physical environment is broken and suffers under the weight of the fall. The Apostle Paul says it very well in Romans 8; "the whole world groans, waiting for redemption." There's no escaping it; you are located in a place where trouble of some kind will greet you every day. You live in a place where somehow, someway, temptation will greet you every day. The more you face the harsh reality of how broken your world is, the more you will live prepared for the troubles that come your way.

2. Location, location, location: The big battle is fought in your heart.
In acknowledging the brokenness of the world where you live, you do not want to give way to spiritual environmentalism where you blame all of your struggles on things outside of you. That was the mistake of the medieval monastery. The thought was that the way to live a righteous life was to separate yourself from the evil world around you; so the monastics built walled communities of separation. But as it turned out, these communities tended to repeat all of the ills of the surrounding world from which they had separated. Monasteries were a failure because they neglected one very significant biblical truth; the biggest danger to every human being is located inside of him not outside of him. There is something dark and deceitful that still lurks in the heart of every one of God's children who has not yet been fully glorified; sin. It is only ever the sin inside of me that draws and hooks me to the sin outside of me. The big battle for righteousness is always fought inside of you and not outside of you. Every day there is a war fought for control of your heart and your jealous Savior, with the zeal of gorgeous redemptive love, will not share your heart. He will not rest until your heart is ruled by him and him alone.

3. Location, location, location: You will run somewhere for refuge.
In the middle of trouble, when you are in the heat of the battle, you will run somewhere for refuge. You will run somewhere for rest, comfort, peace, encouragement, wisdom, healing, and strength. Asaph gets it right at the end of this psalm of trouble and hope; there is only one place to run where true protection, rest, and strength can be found. You and I must learn to make the Lord our refuge. The are many false refuges that we tend to run to. Perhaps in trouble you run to another person, hoping that they can be your own personal messiah. Perhaps you run to entertainment, hoping to numb your troubles away. Maybe you run to a substance, trying your best to turn off the pain. Maybe you are tempted to run to food or sex, fighting pain with pleasure. Since none of these things can provide the refuge which you seek, putting your hope there tends to just add disappointment to the trouble you're already experiencing. God really is your refuge and strength. Only he rules every location where your trouble exists. Only he controls all the relationships where disappointment will rear its head. Only he has the power to rescue and deliver you. Only he has the grace you need to face what you are facing. Only he holds the wisdom that, in trouble, you so desperately need. Only he is in and with you and for you at all times. He is the refuge of refuges. Do you run to him?

4. Location, location, location: Where you are heading, trouble will be no more.
You could argue that the biblical story is about three locations. The Garden in Genesis that was a location of perfection and beauty, but became a place of sin and trouble. The hill of Calvary that was a place of horrible suffering and transforming grace. And the New Jerusalem, that place of peace and refuge; lit by the brightness of the Son, which will be our final refuge forever. Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, your story will not end with daily trouble and temporary refuge. No, your final location will be utterly unlike anything you have ever experienced, even on your best and brightest day. You are headed for the New Jerusalem, where the final tear will be dried and trouble will be no more.

Today you will face trouble of some kind. Today you will run somewhere for refuge. Today there is hope and help to be found. May God be your refuge, and as you run to him, may you remember that he has promised you that there will be a day when you trouble is no more.

Psalm 73: Getting It Right

"But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord my refuge, that I may tell of all your works." (v.28)


It is a grace to get it right because so often I get it wrong. No, I don't mean that I fall into gross and willing sin and I don't mean that I am seduced by the old arguments of new atheism. No, I don't mean that I occasionally question the tenets of my faith or question whether ministry is really worth it. No, getting it wrong is much more subtle than that. Getting it wrong is not about the big, dramatic, consequential moments of life. No, getting it wrong is much more about the little mundane moments of everyday life. It is very easy to let up your guard and be all too relaxed in these moments precisely because they are little moments. It is also tempting to minimize the wrong choices that you make in these little moments because they are little moments. But the opposite is true. The little moments of life are profoundly important because they are little moments. Little moments are the moments we live in everyday. The character and course of a person's life is not set in three or four grand, significant moments of life. No, the character of a person's life is shaped in 10,000 little moments of life. It is the character that was formed in the mundane that you carry into those rare consequential moments of life.

The last verse of Psalm 73 is a manual on getting it right and because it is, it is also a manual on what it looks like to get it wrong. Getting it right means acknowledging God's presence, remembering his rescue, and obeying his call.

Getting it right: Acknowledging God's Presence. Perhaps there are no more important words to have constantly ringing in the ears of your heart than these, "...it is good to be near God." "Near God" is something you could never have earned, deserved, or personally achieved." "Near God" is the exact opposite of where sin takes you. "Near God" brought Jesus to earth and required him to die. "Near God" restores to you what sin destroyed and what only grace can restore. "Near God" is where you were designed to live. It is very important that grace has brought you close to God once again. Grace means he is in you and you are in him. Grace has made it impossible for you to be alone. You see, God's greatest gift to you is the gift of himself! But you and I don't always acknowledge his presence. There are moments in life when we get it wrong; where we live as if he doesn't exist and is not near. When we do this we either panic in the face of the normal difficulties of life in this fallen world and in the face of the perplexities of God's sovereign plan or we fall into trying to do God's job, and in so doing, complicate our lives all the more. Are you getting it right; does your daily living celebrate that grace has brought you near to God and God near to you?

Getting it right: Remembering God's Rescue. In a fallen world, that does not operate in the way that the Creator intended and where temptation and danger are encountered every day, these words are vital as well, "...I have made the Lord God my refuge." Under the heat of life in this broken world you will become weary, wounded and discouraged and when you do you will run somewhere for refuge. It is vital to remember that God is the only hiding place worth running to. It is he and he alone who can heal the wounds of your heart. It is he and he alone that can give you the strength you need to get up once more and continue. It is he and he alone that can give inner peace when there is little peace to be found around you. It is he and he alone that can forgive you when you have sinned and strengthen you when you are weak. But often we forget that grace has given us refuge. We forget that God welcomes us to run to him. So we run to the creation rather than the Creator for refuge, and when we do, we never get the solace for which we are seeking. We may successfully numb ourselves for a while and we may distract ourselves for a while, but our hearts are not strengthened or encouraged. Because the replacement refuges of people and things cannot relieve our burdens, but only distract us from them, we have to go back to them again and again. Sadly, when we get it wrong, forgetting that God is our refuge, while running to people and things, we never end up strengthen and encouraged. No, we only end up fat, addicted, and in debt. Are you getting it right? When you are weak, weary, and discouraged do you run to the one refuge that can provide refuge; your Lord?

Getting it right: Obeying God's Call. Getting it right is not only about living in the comfort of God's presence and refuge, but it is also about answering his call. Getting it right is about constantly remembering that God gives you himself and his grace not so that you can make your little kingdom work the way that you want it to work. No, he gives you the grace of his nearness and the grace of refuge so that you will have what you need to give you to the thing to which he has called you; the big sky work of his kingdom of grace and redemption. "...That I may tell of his works," says it very well. No longer do I live for my own glory; the glory of getting what I want, indulging what I feel, and satisfying my needs. No, I now live with the recognition that I have been sovereignly gifted and positioned so that all that I do and say would point the people around me to the one glory that will only ever satisfy their hearts; the glory of God. And I live looking for opportunities to point to his work as Creator, his work as Sovereign, and his work as Savior. But sadly, I don't always get it right. Often I live as if there were few things as important as my schedule, my plans, my comfort, and my success. Where the rubber meets the road in daily live, I put myself in the center of my world and forget that that place had been reserved for God alone. When I make it all about me, I live in low-grade frustration and irritation and I miss the daily opportunities that God gives for me to connect myself to something that is vastly bigger and fundamentally better. Are you concretely living for something bigger than your own daily agenda?

Because of God's grace, we often get it right; but because of remaining sin, we so often get it wrong. In which place are you living today? May your hands be productive because in your heart you get it right (God is near, he is my refuge, and I will obey his call.)

Psalm 73: Immanent Sovereignty

"But it is good to be near God." (v.28a)


You are not a distant Lord,
a detached Master
moving the pawns
on the board
in an impersonal act
of winning.
Your Lordship
does not separate
me from you
as a serf
would be separated
from a king.
No, you accomplished
your sovereign plan
by invading my
dark and messy world
in the person
of your Son,
giving yourself
in radical grace
to people
who saw no value
in your nearness.
You are Master,
but you are
Emmanuel.
You are Lord,
but you are
Father.
You are King,
but you are
Friend.
You are Sovereign
but you are
Shepherd.
Your rule is not from
afar.
No, your rule brings you
near.
I have hope today
because you are not
distant.
And I celebrate
the amazing
rest and strength
to be found in the reality that
your sovereignty
has brought you
near.

Psalm 73: Desire

"...And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you." (v.25b)


You and I are creatures of desire. There is nothing you ever choose, do, or say that is not the product of desire. Desire not only directs your choices, it shapes your dreams. Desire forms your moments of greatest joy and darkest grief. Desire makes you envious of one person while being glad you're not another. Desire keeps you awake at night or puts you soundly to sleep. Desire makes you willing to get up in the morning or causes you to be frustrated at the end of the day. Desire makes you expectant and hopeful in one moment, and demanding and complaining in the next. Desire sometimes makes you susceptible to temptation and at other times is the thing that defends you against it. Desire can lift you up to God or it can make you a willing friend of the devil. Desire can make you a celebrant or drive you to the pit of depression. Desire can make you the best of friends or cause you to drive people away. Desire can cause you to lovingly edit your words or make you willing let it rip with little regard for the damage your words will do. Desire will make you willing to give or cause you to hoard everything you have. Desire will cause you to submit to the King or to set yourself up as king. Desire can cause you to fight for freedom or can be the very thing that causes you to be addicted. Desire can give you power or rob you of the power that could be yours. Desire is your biggest problem and one of God's sweetest graces. But there is one thing for sure; your life is always shaped by desire.

The great spiritual war that is being fought for control of our hearts is a war of desire. (See James 4:1-4 and I Peter 2:11). Remember this biblical principle; whatever rules your heart will control your words and behavior. You and I are human beings. We do not live by instinct. We have been designed by God with the capacity to desire. This means that everything you do or say is done or spoken out of the want for something. You and I are always seeking something. You and I are always living for something. Beneath everything we do is the desire for something. It is here that the war of right and wrong is fought. It is here that the direction of our lives will be shaped. You cannot let yourself think that the war for what is right is a war of behavior. If you fight the battle of behavior alone, the battle will not be won. You must be willing to fight the spiritual fight at the place where your behavior is formed; in the desires of the heart.

Every day, in all the situations and relationships of your life, this war rages. It is about whether you will live in fear of man of fear of God. It is about whether you will live to possess some part of the creation or live to please the Creator. It is about whether you will live to achieve some personal success or live in the way the Creator designed you to live. This war is about what you treasure the most and want the most. This war is about what set of desires will set the agendas for the way that you will respond in the situations and relationships where God has placed you. Spiritual warfare is all about the desires of the heart.

Now, I would invite you to be humbly honest in this moment. What do you really want? If you were to respond to the following, how would you fill in the blanks? "If only I could have ______________ then my life would be ______________ ? It is so easy for us to say that we are living for God, when, in fact, at the street level our lives are often shaped by the anxious pursuit of other things. Perhaps for you that is the desire to get married that preoccupies too much of your thinking and shapes too many of your choices. Perhaps for you it is the desire to be successful that has eaten your schedule with frantic workaholism. Perhaps it is the desire for physical things that has left you empty and in debt. Perhaps it is the desire to avoid failure that has made you more demanding and controlling than you thought you would ever be. Perhaps it is the desire for physical health that has reduced you to fearful body self-consciousness. Perhaps it is the desire for ministry success that has turned you into more of a mini-messiah than a servant. Perhaps it is the desire for comfort and ease that has caused you to be way too self-absorbed. Or maybe it is the desire to be affirmed and respected that causes you to ride the roller-coaster of people's responses to you. Where does the war of desire rage for you?

Could you say with David, "There is nothing on earth I desire besides you?" Does this sound ethereal and impractically super-spiritual to you? Does it feel like a moral impossibility to you? In fact, David is expressing in a phrase exactly where God wants each of us to be. It is the reason each of us was given life and breath. We were made for God. We were created to love him above all else. We were designed to live with his glory as the single motivator of all that we do. Desire for him was intended to shape all the other desires that we would rightly have. You see, it is not wrong to desire comfort, acceptance, peace, success, order, health, etc... In fact, there would be something wrong with you if you did not desire these things in some way. But these desires must never rule you, because when they do they replace God as the ruler of your heart. The move from desire to idolatry is a shockingly short step.

So, we all need to cry out for help once more, we all need to seek God's rescue and his power, because we must all humbly admit that there is evidence in our daily living that the war of desire still rages in our hearts. There are times when Jesus is our priceless treasure, but there are other times when we would rather have other things than him. This means that we cannot quit seeking his help until the day when we are able to say with complete singleness of heart, "...There is nothing on earth I desire besides you."

Psalm 73: Where do you Run? Where do you Hide?

"...I have made the Lord God my refuge,..." (v.28)

When it all becomes
confusing,
when what is good
seems not so
clear,
when wrong seems
like its
winning,
where do you
run
where do you
hide?
When you wonder
if its worth it to
honor
worship
fear
obey,
where do you
run
where do you
hide?
When disappointment
surrounds you
and weariness sets in,
where do you
run,
where do you
hide?
When your soul
is growing
bitter
and you heart is at its
end,
where do you
run,
where do you hide?
When evil seems to
prosper and good suffers
again,
where do you
run,
where do you
hide?
When my flesh is
weak
and my heart may
fail,
there is one thing I have
learned;
You are the only place of
refuge,
You are the only place to
hide.
You are
Counsel
Guidance
Glory
Strength.
I have nothing besides
You.
So in the darkness of
confusion
when I need a place to
hide,
I run to the only place to
hide.
I run to
You.

Psalm 73: The Old Story

"I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works." (v.28b)


In case you hadn't notice it, your Bible isn't arranged by topic. I know that this frustrates some of you. You wish that your Bible was structured like an encyclopedia which alphabetized tabs on the side of the page so you could easily find your subject of interest. But your Bible isn't organized that way and that is not because of Divine editorial error, but because of Divine intention. Your Bible is a narrative; a story. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that your Bible is a theologically annotated story; a story with God's notes. The grand, over-arching story of Scripture is meant to be the story that unpacks and makes sense of the story of your life and my life.

Your Bible is not a collection of religious stories. No, it is one story, the grand story of redemption. The Bible has one central character; God himself, specifically in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. From cover to cover the Bible is a narrative of the wondrous works of a God. Perhaps the four most important words in all of Scripture are the first four words; "In the beginning God..." You simply cannot understand yourself, your world, and the meaning and purpose of life unless you view them from the vantage point of the existence, character, and plan of God.

This grand story of the works of God that the Bible records is meant to give you:

1. IDENTITY. The only way you can properly understand who you are and what you were given life and breath to do, is when you look at yourself through the lens of the narrative of Scripture. It is only here that you will learn that you were made by God and for God; that everything you are and have comes from him and that you were made to live for something vastly bigger than yourself.

2. UNDERSTANDING: You will never know all that you need to know, in order to live as you were designed to live by human experience, research, and analysis. That is why God immediately began to talk with Adam and Eve after he created them. He knew that they were not designed with the innate ability to figure it all out on their own. So God spoke to them. In the same way, God speaks to us in his Word so that we can know and understand, and in knowing and understanding live as we were created to live.

3. COMFORT: The world in which you live can be very confusing. You see this confusion even in this Psalm, when it looks like the bad guys are winning. It often seems like the world has spun into chaos. It sometimes looks like there is little reason and purpose to the things that happen to us and around us. But the biblical narrative comforts us with another reality. The Bible story tells us that our world is not out of control, but rather, under the careful personal control of One who is the ultimate definition of everything that is good, true, wise, and loving. We can rest, not be because we understand what is happening, but because we know the One who rules it all.

4. SALVATION. Clearly, this is the ultimate reason for the Word of God. Without it we would not know how dire our situation actually is. Without it we would not know that our biggest problem does not exist somewhere outside of us. No, it exists inside of us and it is called sin. The biblical story is the world's most accurate diagnostic; telling us what is really wrong with us. And because it is the world's best diagnostic, it alone can provide us with the world's best cure. The narrative of Scripture is the narrative of redemption. It chronicles the great things God has done and is doing to rescue, forgive, and deliver us from our sin. The epicenter event of the biblical story is the cross of Jesus Christ, for it delivers to us the one thing that we desperately need, but cannot achieve ourselves; new life.

5. HOPE: The biblical story, because it is a story, has a plot. It is a story that goes somewhere. The Bible welcomes us to peer into and to listen to eternity. And as we do, we can live with the hope that what is today will not always be. There will be a day when the struggle is over. There will be a day when the sickness, sadness, and sin of this broken world will end and we will be like God and with God forever. The God, who wrote the end of the story, has guaranteed the end of the story by the raising of Jesus from the dead. The Bible says that Jesus is the "first fruit" that guarantees that we will be raised out of this fallen world as well.

Now everyday you tell stories; stories of the events of your life and the escapades of others. Sometimes these stories are funny, as you recount some human pratfall. Sometimes these stories are dramatic as you talk of the mysteries of daily life. Sometimes these stories are sad; picturing the pain and loss of life in a fallen world. Sometimes we like to tell stories that put attention on us or trump the story that someone else has just told. But, I would ask you today, do you like to tell THE story? Do you find joy in pointing to the wondrous works of your Creator, Sovereign, Savior God? Do you love to point to what he has done more than you enjoy pointing to what you have done? Do you love to help people see his works? There is only one story that imparts identity, understanding, comfort, salvation and hope. It is God's story. Has it become your favorite story; the one you can't wait to tell.

The old hymn says, "I love to tell the story of unseen things above; of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love." Do you?

Psalm 73: The Destiny Hermenuetic

"...until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I considered their end." (v.17)



There are two things that I find myself repeating over and over again:

1. No one is more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you more than you do.
2. Human beings do not live life based on the facts of their existence, but based on their interpretations of the facts.

There is no such thing as a human being who is not an interpreter. Every human being is a theologian. In some way every person is asking and answering deeply spiritual questions. Every human being is a philosopher. Everyone seeks to understand the meaning and purpose of life. Every human being is an analyst and a researcher searching for understanding of the people, locations, and situations that they encounter every day. Every human being is an archaeologist picking through the past; looking to understand where they have been, what they have experienced, and what they have done. No one actually lives thoughtlessly. They may be unaware of their thoughts. They may not be intellectual or academic, but everyone pushes life through the sieve of the personal worldview that they have built for themselves. This worldview is authoritative and life shaping. It does not determine what we see so much as it determines how we see it.

This interpretive function is called hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the science of interpretation. You carry around with you your own personal life hermeneutic; that is, your particular way of making sense out of life. Now let me take this one step further. Your hermeneutic is what gives sense to your behavior. Everything you do and say has underlying meaning and purpose when understood from the vantage point of your worldview. For example, if I was raised believing that a certain race of people were dangerous, it would make sense for me to be afraid of them and to do everything I could do to avoid them. If I was convinced that coffee led to cancer, then it would make sense that I would restrict my intake of coffee. The thoughts of your heart are very important because those thoughts tend to precede and determine your behavior.

Asaph's (the writer of Psalm 73) problem was not just jealousy and discouragement. No, his problem was rooted at a deeper level. Asaph's problem was a defective hermeneutic. His view of life lacked a crucial ingredient and without this ingredient he was not able to make sense out of what was going on around him. You see, he looked around and every where he looked it seemed that the bad guys were winning. The arrogant, proud, and lawless guys seemed to have all of the wealth, health, pleasure and ease. It didn't make sense. How could a just and holy God allow the bad guys to prosper and the good guys to suffer? Asaph began to wonder if it was worth it to obey God. He says in the psalm that he got so embittered that he was like a beast before God (v.22).

But Asaph was making a devastating interpretive error. His view of life was missing a piece that must be included in order to understand correctly what is and what God is doing. Asaph's view of life had no destiny to it; no eternity it was marching toward. You see, without eternity, Asaph was right. If this present physical world is all we have, then all life is about what you can experience, acquire, and enjoy in the here and now. If this life is all that there is then you would expect a good God to bless those who follow him right here, right now and curse those who mock him right here, right now. But this is not all there is. From day one the world has always been marching toward a destination. Life was never meant to be understood and lived without a final destiny in view. The only way to understand life is to understand that this (the right here world you are now living in) is not meant to be a destination, but a place of preparation for a final destination.

This means that you can't live today with a destination mentality as if this is all that is. You can't live with a destination mentality expecting to experience all of God's good things right here, right now. You can't live with a destination mentality that forgets that God will do whatever he needs to do in the here and now to assure that you will be prepared for then. You can't live with a destination mentality that allows you to envy people who have what you don't, right here, right now, but who are marching toward an eternal disaster.

You and I must live with a preparation mentality. The trials, injustices, hardships of today do two things for you and me. They remind us everyday that this is not our final destination. You can't look at the personal and societal brokenness and suffering that is all around us without remembering that the God who made this world and everything in it, this God who is the definition of everything that is good, wise, loving, and true, could not be satisfied with the world as it is. The trials of today remind us that our God has promised to one day make all things new. But there is another thing the difficulties of today do for you and me. They drive us to the end of ourselves. They drive us beyond our autonomy and self-sufficiency. They drive us beyond our own righteousness, strength, and wisdom. And in so doing, they begin to mold us into what God intends us to be doing; preparing for our final home.

So, today as you look around and it seems as though the bad guys are winning, put on your destiny glasses and look again. Grace has given you something better than they are now experiencing. Grace has given you eternity; a destination so glorious the most eloquent words on a page could not do it justice.

Psalm 73: The Wrong Guys

"For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." (v.3)


I think about it all the
time.
It doesn't seem
fair.
It doesn't seem
right.
I try to make the equation work
but it doesn't.
They don't give you
the time of day.
They couldn't care less
about your law.
They are proud
of their pride.
They are so arrogant
their tongues
strut.
They mock your
existence.
They scoff at your
boundaries.
They not only make threats,
they resort to
violence.
Their boasting is their
bling.
I usually swallow
my questions,
but I'm roaring
inside.
It makes me tired to
think about it
and it does make
my obedience
seem like a waste.
They seem to have little
trouble.
They seem to seldom
suffer.
But I do!
And while I suffer,
they are
fat and happy.
Then in my
confusion
it hit me; this is but
a moment
a dream
a mist
a vapour
a quick passage through
a temporary place.
This is not
my home.
This is a journey
toward home.
They think this is home
but this is not
home.
Please guide me on
my way.
Please hold me with
your hand.
And when I am
weary
and my heart is about to
fail and my reserves of strength are
gone,
please help me to
remember
that they have ease and riches
but
I have You
and you will be my
Strength and Portion
forever.

Psalm 73: Envy is a Window

"For I was envious of the arrogant." (v.3)

This side of heaven all of us do it and most of the time we do it without knowing that we are. It is such a natural thing for sinners to do. Perhaps every day, someplace, at some moment we want what someone else has. Everyday we are jealous for the possessions, position, or prominence of another person. There is probably never a day when we are free of envy.

Maybe you're standing on the corner and someone drives by in a BMW and you say to yourself. "It must be nice!" Or, maybe you see someone coming out of an upscale restaurant and just for a moment you want their life. Or maybe you've just heard about you neighbor's vacation and you wonder how they pulled that off. Or perhaps it's dreaming of being your boss's boss. Or maybe its a dark moment when your mind thinks about being with another man's wife. Or it could be as mundane as wishing that you were as slim as Sally or as athletic as Josh. Or perhaps you spend too much time being a YouTube voyeur on the lives of the rich and famous. Or maybe your struggle with envy is not so well defined. Maybe it shows itself by making complaint the default language of your daily talk. Perhaps it shows itself in constant feelings of dissatisfaction. Or maybe it's revealed by irritation that bubbles below the surface all the time. It is safe to say; if you're a sinner, envy lurks around the corner all the time.

You see, envy gets right to the heart of what sin is about. 2 Corinthians 5:15 says that Jesus came so that "those who live should no longer live for themselves." The inertia of sin is inward. It causes me to shrink my world down to the size of my life. It causes me to daily worship at the altar of my wants, my needs, and my feelings. Sin puts me at the center of my existence; the one place that neither I nor any other human being should be. Sin causes me to be obsessed with what I have and don't have, with what I have in comparison to what others have, and with what I've determined I need to have in order to be happy. Sin causes love of others to be replaced with entitlement, and service of others to be replaced with demand. Sin makes me quickly impatient and easily irritated. Sin makes it easier for me to complain than it is to praise. Sin makes complaining more natural than thankfulness. Sin causes my eyes to be bigger than my stomach and my "I wants" to constantly outsize my "I haves."

Why does sin do all of this? Because the DNA of sin is selfishness. Sin is about the higher law of self. Sin puts you and me in God's position. Sin is self-focused and self-possessed. That dark day in the Garden, Adam and Eve didn't eat that forbidden fruit out of love for God and one another. No, these people, created to live for God and with others, stepped over created boundaries in an act of outrageous selfishness. We are still paying for their selfishness today! Loving God above all else means submitting all I want, all that I think I need, and all that I feel to his good, wise, loving, and holy lordship. Sin causes me to quest for lordship and imprisons me in bondage to me. I have written again and again about the redemptive implications of this, but here is one thing that you and I need to recognize and humbly accept everyday; the thing that Jesus came to rescue us from is us!

So, it is no wonder that envy is such a problem for us. But your Lord has the power to redeem your envy as well. By his grace he can help you to see what your envy reveals about your heart and your continued need of his rescuing, restoring, empowering, forgiving, and transforming grace. Here's what you need to understand. Your particular struggle with envy is a window into the real struggles of your heart. Let me explain.

1. Envy is a window on the true treasures of our heart. Oh sure, we would all like to think that we love God above all else. We all want to believe that his plan is more important to us than anything we would plan for ourselves. We would like to assume that what God promises us is more precious to us than anything we could ever set our eyes on. But envy reveals that these things are not yet completely true to us. Envy reveals that there is still a war of treasure raging in our hearts. Envy exposes the fact that the treasures of this physical, created world still have a powerful ability to seduce, tempt and side-track us. Envy tells us that we still look for satisfaction to things that do not have the organic capacity to satisfy the craving of our hearts. Who or What you envy tells you what you treasure.

2. Envy is a window on how easily and consistently we forget. We do have the amazing ability to stand in front of a closet that is bulging with clothes and say that we don't have a thing to wear. We do have the capacity to stand in front of a refrigerator filled with food and say there is nothing to eat. And we do have the ability to stand in the middle of lavish blessing and feel as if we are poor and needy. The sin of forgetfulness is one of the root sins of envy. We forget that, in God's grace, we have been given what we could not earn, achieve, or deserve. We forget that the Creator of all things and the Controller of all that is, is our Father and he is not only able to meet all our needs, he is willing to do so. Envy forgets blessing and in forgetting blessing assumes poverty and in assuming poverty gives way to hunger and this feeling of hunger tempts us to look to and long for what simply will not satisfy.

3. Envy is a window on the war within. Envy is a reminder. Envy is a warning. Envy is the sounding of an internal alarm. Envy tells you that you must not live with a peace-time mentality. Envy tells you that this is not the time to chill and relax. Envy reminds you that there really is a war that is still raging for the rulership of your heart. Envy calls you to be a humble and disciplined soldier. Envy calls you to examine your heart and interrogate your desires. Envy calls you to live watchfully and prayerfully. Envy warns you to reject assessments of arrival. To the degree that you crave what you Father has not chosen to given you, to that degree you heart is still out of step with him. The fight still goes on.

Now, maybe after reading this you're thinking, "Wow, Paul, that was really discouraging!" Here's what you and I need to remember. Our Savior walked on this earth where the war of envy rages, but he was envy free. Why? Not because he had it all, but because he was willing to forsake it all for you and for me. Think about this; rather than wanting all that was his right as God, Jesus was willing to forsake it all so that the battle for our hearts could and would be finally won. He walked away from glories our minds are to small to conceive in order to deliver to us these glories that our minds are to small to conceive. He was not propelled by envy. No he was propelled by love and that love is the most powerful reason for hope in the universe. So, we can affirm the struggle. We can confess when envy yanks us off his pathway. And we can know for sure that there will be a day when envy is no more and we will live forever in the kingdom of his love, fully and completely satisfied.

Psalm 73: To Good to be True?

"Truly God is good to Israel..." (v.1)

I don't think we have categories that get at what these words are saying. The words roll off your tongue so easily your mind barely has time to consider their content. The words are so familiar and mundane they barely draw interest out of us, let alone awe. At breakfast you'll say something like, "Wow, this cereal is good!" Or, "We had a good time at the park." Or, "Let me tell you where to get a good cup of coffee." Or, Sam is really a good husband." So maybe when we read that God is good what is supposed to happen inside of us doesn't happen.

When you read the words, "God is good," your heart should be filled with wonder, amazement, gratitude, humility, and love. Or to capture what our response should be in one word; AWE. Now, this is where the problem lies. I am convinced that many of us live day after day without any awe whatsoever. We live days, maybe even weeks, without wonder and amazement. We walk through the situations and locations of our daily lives without an overwhelming sense of gratitude. We don't notice the glory display that is all around us that points us to the one glory that is truly glorious; the glory of God. No, we see:
a busy schedule,
dirty dishes,
bills to be paid,
competitive children who are fighting once again,
the mean neighbor,
the hard boss,
too much traffic,
laundry that is piling up,
the car that needs repair,
the movie we have to see,
the blogs we can't live without,
the cool restaurant we can't wait to visit,
the vacation around the corner,
the relative who is mad once again,
the championship season,
the garage that is too full to house the car anymore,
the problems at church,
the weight we didn't mean to gain,
the dreams that are slipping through our fingers...

For sinners, the road between awe and complaining is very short. You and I were created to live our lives in the shadow of awe. Every word we speak, every action we take, every decision we make, and every desire we entertain was meant to be colored by awe. We were meant to live with eyes gazing upward and outward. We were meant to live with hearts that are searching, and hungry and being satisfied. Bad things happen when human beings lose their sense of awe. Bad things happen when we have no wonder inside of us. Bad things happen when we are no longer amazed. Bad things happen when we look around and nothing impresses us anymore.

When sin takes awe away from you, that sense of divine wonder that is meant to shape every person's life, you look for ways to fill the void. Now think about it, if you are not getting your wonderment vertically, that is, from the Creator, then you will look for it somewhere in the creation. You will be shopping for the buzz of wonder where it simply is not to be found. Your friends and family cannot give you the awe you seek. That new restaurant will blow you away, but it won't introduce you to the heart satisfying wonder of God. That new car will make you happy for a while, but it has not the capacity whatsoever to fill your soul with glory. The Psalmist here gets at the dilemma in a single word, "good." You're looking for "good," pure, unadulterated, imperishable, unending, and unfailing good; because you're wired that way. You're looking for the kind of good that can lift you out of your boredom and quiet your longings. And that good is only to be found one place; God. God is good in every possible way. He is good in righteousness. He is good in power. He is good in grace. He is good in his faithfulness. He is good in mercy. He is good in holiness. He is good in justice. He is good in his rule. All his words are good and true. All his actions are good and right. When he is angry he is good. When he preserves life, he is good. When he takes life he is good. When his words are hard, they are good. When his words are gentle, they are good. His promises are good. His provisions are good. His plan is good. In all of the universe, you can only say this about God; he is good all the time and in every way.

Nothing in creation is like him. Everything around us is flawed in some way. And even before the fall, no glory in creation compared to the glory of the Creator. But sin makes us blind to the glory of God and because we are blind, it causes us to live without awe.

No, it is not too good to be true. There really is a God who is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, who is the sum and definition of all that is good, true, and loving. He is not only good, but he places his goodness on us! Not because we deserve it in any way, but simply because he is good, gracious, loving, and kind.

Think about it. The One who is the sum and definition of all that is truly good has placed his goodness people like you and me. Now that's a reason for AWE! And remember that is good news that is not to good to be true!

False witnesses

"Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence." (v.12b)

It really does hurt when you've been falsely accused. It's painful to think that someone is convinced that you did something that you didn't do. It's frustrating to be accused of a wrong you had nothing to do with. It's maddening when you seem to be able to do nothing to explain or defend yourself. All of us have experienced it. We play the accusation over and over in the DVD player in our brain. We rewind the accusatory conversation. We wonder what people think about us, haunted by the soiled reputation that we're convinced that we'll now carry around. We look for ways to justify ourselves. We search for things we can say and do to restore our reputation. It's painful to be innocent, yet unable to life with the charges that have been made against you.

Your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ was in that place, but he put himself there on purpose. Confused? Let me explain. Jesus came to earth knowing exactly what he was going to be facing. He came as an act of submission to the Father's great redemptive plan (See John 6:38.) He came with a willing spirit; willing to face the very things that we all work to avoid and find so painful when they are unavoidable. Passages like Isaiah 53 and these verses in Psalm 27 give us a window into how deep the love of Christ.

It's almost impossible to conceive that the King of Kings, the Great Creator, the Sovereign Son of God would submit to this:

He would submit to being betrayed by a close friend.
He would submit to being led away toward a wrongful trial.
He would submit to being forsaken by his closest followers.
He would submit to false accusations.
He would submit to gross injustice.
He would stand silent as he's being mocked.
He would submit to slaps on the face.
He would not defend himself against physical torture.
He would submit to a mob that would call for his death.
He would submit to the pain of a crown of thorns.
He would be willing to drag his cross to the place of his execution.
He would submit to being identified with criminals.
He would submit to nails being driven into his limbs.
He would be willing to have his Father turn his back on him.

Yes, he knew the cruelties and injustices that he would face. And he was willing. In that final moment before he faced the unthinkable, Jesus prayed something very similar to Psalm 27:12, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." Or in other words, "Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes." But then he added these words of amazing submission, words that made our salvation possible, "...but not my will, but yours be done."

Jesus knew the plan. From the first moment of his life on earth, he knew that he was marching toward that moment when he would be turned over to the desire of his foes. He knew false witnesses would seal his death. He knew, but they did not. They didn't know that they weren't in charge. They didn't know that they were part of a greater plan. They had no idea that long before they were born; God had chosen to turn their moment of deceit and injustice into a moment of triumph and salvation.

He knew false witnesses were in his future; he was the Savior and he was willing.

Rest

"...be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (v.14b)

Rest:
a faint dream for many
a treasured commodity
in a fallen world,
a thing so needed,
yet so easily interrupted.
The Garden was a place of
rest,
no violence in creation
no weed or thorn
no cleft between God and man
no reason to hide
no cause for fear
no need unmet
no grief to face.
Bright sun
pure love
unfettered peace
unstained beauty
man and God
worship and love.
But a voice
interrupted the rest:
strategies of death
words of deceit
actions of rebellion
fingers of blame
expulsion from the Garden
judgment and death
rest interrupted
rest shattered.
So we wait for the Lord.
His grace strengthens
His presence comforts
His promises assure
His power activates
His rule guarantees
that someday rest,
real rest
pure rest
eternal rest
will reign once more.
No violence in creation
no weed or thorn
no cleft between God and man
no reason to hide
no cause for fear
no need unmet
no grief to face
between God and man.
Yes, rest, true rest
will live again
and last forever.
So we wait for the Lord
to restore us to that place.
Bright Son
pure love
unfettered peace
unstained beauty
God and man
together forever.
Until that day,
with hearts
that are strong
and hope
that is undimmed
and joy
that embraces the future,
We wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27: A Plan for Your Life

"...that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek him in his holy temple." (v.4b)

Now, admit it, you love you and you have a wonderful plan for your life. Somehow someway we all are too focused on our own lives. All of us get captured by what we want, what we feel, and what we have determined we need. Everyone of us is a dreamer. We've all been given the amazing capacity to envision the future and to plan toward it. A dream is imagination, coupled with desire and projected into the future. There are things that you'd love to have as part of your life. There are things that you'd like to accomplish. There are locations you'd love to experience. There are relationships you'd like to enjoy. There are situations you'd like to avoid. Every day you get up and you work toward some kind of dream.

But dreamers don't just dream their dream, they also dream to be sovereign. In some way, at some time, all of us have wished that we'd enough control over our lives to guarantee that the things we've dreamed, we'd be able to experience. We'd like to control people and situations just enough to ensure that the "good things" we've dreamed would actually come true. What does the Bible call all of this? The Bible calls it worship.

You see, you and I are worshippers. This is one of the things the separates us from the rest of creation. As worshippers we're always living for something. Something is always laying claim to the affection and rulership of our hearts. There's always something that commands our dreams. There's something that we look to to give us identity, meaning and purpose, and that inner sense of well-being that everyone seeks. Now, Scripture says that there are only two choices (Romans 1:25). You're living in pursuit of the creation or the Creator. You're looking for your satisfaction and meaning in the physical created world, or you're finding it in the Lord.

What this means is that there's a war of dreams that rages in our hearts, and in the middle of the fog of this war it's so easy to get it wrong. It's so easy to think that because I have my theology in the right place, because I am biblically literate, and a functioning member of a good church, that my life is shaped by worship of the Lord. But, that may not be the case at all. On closer inspection, it may actually be the case that underneath all of those things is a life that's driven by personal success, or material things, or the respect of others, or power and control, etc. I am deeply persuaded that there's a whole lot of idolatrous Christianity out there. The most dangerous idols of all are those that fit well within the culture of external Christianity.

It's here that Psalm 27 is so helpful and convicting. What's David's dream for his life? What's his plan? Well, it sounds so spiritual as to be impractical, but it gets right to the heart of why we were created in the fist place. David says, in Old Testament language, "I want to spend my life in worship of the Lord. I want to dwell in his temple and gaze upon his beauty." The shekinah glory presence of the Lord filled the holy place of the temple, like a cloud. It was a physical picture of God dwelling with his people. David was saying, "I want to be where God is. I want to do what I was created to do."

No, David isn't some super-spiritual mystic. David gets it right. His quest is for a life that's shaped and directed by a daily worship of the Lord. David knows who he is: a creature created for worship. David knows who God is: the only "thing" in the universe that's truly worthy of worship. His dream is the best dream that you could ever dream. Far from being impractical, this dream, if lived out at street level, will bring purity and peace to your life.

What's your plan for you life? How close is your plan to the plan God had for you when he gave you life and breath? Is there, perhaps, something in your plan that competes for the place that only God should have?

May your plan for you be identical to his plan for you!

Stumbling at the Cross

"When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall." (v.2)

What is it that the Psalms look to? What's the theme that courses its way through Psalm after Psalm? What gives the Psalms their meaning and depth? The things that the Psalms point to again and again aren't things at all. No, it's a person and his name is Jesus. It's not as though some of the Psalms are Messianic. All of the Psalms point to the person and work of the Savior in some way! Psalm 27 is a powerful example.

You can't help but think of the cross when you read the words of Psalm 27:2. There was a dramatic moment in time when evil men advanced against Christ. It was a moment of jealous injustice. It seemed unthinkable that this could actually happen to the Messiah. Yet, this horrible moment wasn't outside of the sovereign plan of the God of grace. What seemed like the darkest moment in all of human history was in fact a bright and shining moment of redemptive love. What seemed like a sad moment of defeat was, in fact, a moment of eternal victory. Psalm 27 looks forward and captures what New Testament passages look back at about the cross. Here are two examples.

From Peter's first sermon in Acts 2:23-24:

"This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and
foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him
to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him
from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because
it was impossible for death to keep it's hold on him."

And Paul's words about the cross from Colossians 2:14,15

"Having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that
was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away,
nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and
authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing
over them by the cross."

Doesn't Psalm 27 predict exactly what these passages look back to and say about the cross? These words, "when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall," mirror Paul's words, "he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." The cross wasn't an unexpected moment outside of the plan of God where Jesus faced temporary defeat. On the contrary, it was the ultimate moment of stumbling for the forces of darkness. In what looked like the enemy's time of triumph, he was actually being dealt his ultimate defeat. From the moment of the fall of Adam and Eve, the enemy was destined to stumble at the cross. There was no possibility that Jesus would be attacked and defeated. Peter makes it clear that the outcome had been determined before the foundations of the earth had been put in place. God had controlled the forces of nature and written the events of human history to bring the promised Messiah, the sacrificial Lamb, the hope of the world to this point. The hope of the universe rested on this moment. Yet, there was no doubt his moment of suffering would be the universe's moment of victory and freedom. This circumstance of death would be a triumph of eternal life. It was destined to be; it would not be Christ, but the enemy, who would stumble and fall.

Read Psalm 27 and see your suffering Savior. Read Psalm 27 and celebrate your redemption. Read Psalm 27 and remember that in the stumbling of the enemy, your life and hope is to be found. Read Psalm 27 and be filled with deep appreciation for sovereign grace.

The enemy stumbled at the cross so that your hope would never stumble and fall. If you have hope in Christ, you have hope that's guaranteed and sure.

Psalm 27: Functional Blindness

"...to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek him in his holy temple." (v.4b)

I would like to think
that others are blind,
but I am not.
I would like to think
that I have
clarity of vision,
a penetrating insight
that lights my way.
I am good
at recognizing
the sight problems of others.
I am skilled
at pointing out
the gaps in their vision
and the blind spots
that alter how they
see
and the way they
respond.
I would like to
believe
that I have 20/20 vision,
but the evidence points
to the sad fact that
I don't.
I have the stunning ability
to look around
and not see You.
I see my
busy schedule
tasks to complete
problems to solve
people to see
demands to be met
things to repair
pressures to face
temptations to fight
pleasures to consume
things to build
things to tear down
plans to make
difficulties to survive
huge responsibilities
and short days.
I gaze at my life
every day
and again and again I fail
to see You.
It is a scary
reality,
humbling to admit.
Though this world
is filled with
Your glory,
I exist
so much of the time
glory blind.
In Your love
You created a world
that is a sight and sound
display
of Your magnificent
glory.
No matter from what perspective
we're looking,
no matter what vista
we're taking in,
no matter
where we're standing
and which way
we're gazing,
Your glory is visible
and evident.
Yet, again and again
I fail to see
Your beauty.
So I seek Your
healing
one more time.
Please place Your
powerful hands
on my broken eyes
and give me sight again.
Please place your
powerful hands
on my wayward heart
and make it seek again.
Don't let me be
so blinded
with me and mine,
that I fail to see
You.
For it's only
when my eyes
see Your
beauty,
and my heart
is filled with Your
glory
that I'll quit
seeking
identity
meaning
satisfaction
purpose
fulfillment
and life,
where it can't be found.
So I would pray
this simple prayer,
"Please touch me by
Your grace
so that there'll never
be a day
where I haven't
somehow
someway
gazed upon
Your beauty."

Life as a Student

"Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors." (v11)

Do you think that you've arrived? Do you tend to think that you've learned what you need to learn and now know what you need to know? Do you see yourself as having more answers than questions? Do your carry around a hunger to know? Do you want to understand more deeply and more fully? Do you have a humble, open, and seeking heart? Are you approaching life with the mentality of a student?

Here is a prayer to be taught. Do you pray this? How often? I think there's much pride of knowing and the accompanying mental lethargy in many of us. There was a time, in the early years of our faith, when we couldn't get enough. We had a voracious hunger for truth and a lively fear of falsehood. We lived with the humbling realization that there was so much that we didn't know. We loved walking through the gallery of God's wisdom, taking in the treasures there. We loved listening to fellow students who were further along the path of wisdom than us. We loved to be pointed to nuggets of wisdom that could have only come from the mouth of the Divine. We loved to study the Word of God; to examine each phrase, comparing Scripture with Scripture. We could not get enough, we were not satisfied, we were students.

But something happened along the way. Perhaps we got distracted by the physical pleasures of the created world and began to live more like tourists than students. Perhaps we got discouraged by the troubles of the world and felt our study was not helping us. Maybe we got sidetracked by our own purposes and plans and had little time left to be students. Or perhaps our hunger was blunted by assessments of arrival. Perhaps we came to think that we knew all that we needed to know.

Yet, there are two reasons that remain to pray this prayer; depth and danger. Why would I pray to be taught again and again and again by the Lord? Because his wisdom is just that deep and vast. His wisdom has no boundary. His wisdom has no bottom. His wisdom has no ceiling. If for 10,000,000 years I would sit for twenty-four hours a day at his feet and listen, I would only scratch the very surface of the wisdom that is his. If I gave every day of my life to study only the wisdom that is captured on the pages of Scripture, I could study until my very last day and not have mined all the treasures of wisdom that's there. So, once more, I pray to be taught because the wisdom of God is just that deep.

I also pray this prayer because I live in a world of danger. It's a world where the sounds of falsehood echo more loudly and repeatedly than the sounds of wisdom. Living in human culture is like sitting in a 20,000 seat arena just before the concert begins. Everyone is talking at once, a den of voices so loud and pervasive you can barely hear yourself think. Every day a thousand voices speak into my life and the vast majority of those voices have not gotten the flowers of their insight from the wisdom garden of the Lord. They tell me who I am. They tell me what life is about. They tell me how to invest my time. They tell me how to use my resources. They tell me how to conduct my relationships. They tell me what is true and untrue. They tell me what my goals should be. They tell me what the good life looks like. They tell me what I should be, and do, and want. They offer me a comprehensive system of wisdom, that's well thought through and that's attractive on many levels, but that competes with the true wisdom that can only come from God. It's so easy to be taken captive. It's so easy to have Divine wisdom corrupted by human wisdom. It's so easy to breathe in the polluted air of a culture that no longer actually thinks that God is, let alone that he is wise.

So, with a lively acknowledgment of the vastness of the depth of God's wisdom and a healthy fear of the germs of falsehood that are everywhere around me, I accept the fact that this side of eternity I live in the middle of a raging wisdom war. So, I pray for the strength, protection, direction, and encouragement that can only be found when I am a student of the Lord. Morning after morning I bow my head and humbly pray, "Lord, please teach me your way."

Psalm 27: Breathing Violence

"...for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence." (v.12)

"Breathing out violence," perhaps no two words in Scripture more dramatically capture the powerfully damaging presence of sin than these two words. Imagine a human being, who was made in the image of God, made for loving worship of the Lord and loving community with others, getting to the place where they've fallen so far from God's original intention that they actually exhale violence! You don't have to look very far to see the dramatic damage that sin does to human beings. The high rate of divorce, the violence that is present in every major city in Western culture, the scourge of physical and sexual abuse of children, and something as common as the high level of conflict that exists in all of our relationships in one form or another.

You may be thinking, "Paul, I'm not sure how it's going to help me to think about all of these terrible things." Here's what's important about these two scary words and what they depict; you and I will never understand and celebrate the magnitude of God's transforming grace until we understand the deep damage that sin does to the human heart. You see, sin isn't about human beings being basically okay and just needing a little tweaking in order to be what they were meant to be and do what they were meant to do. No, the damage of sin reaches to every area of our personhood, deeply altering what we think and what we desire.

Isn't it a stunning fact that after Adam and Eve fell, the very next generation was stained with sibling homicide! And consider what Genesis 6:5 says about the impact of sin on human culture. "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of his heart was only evil all the time." Let that divine report of the damage of sin on the human heart sink in, "that every inclination of his heart was only evil all the time!" Could the statement be any stronger? This is what sin does. Its effect is so pervasive and so comprehensive that it influences everything we do and everything we say. It causes us to think, desire, choose, say, and do things that are the polar opposite of the way we were created to function. So, we don't actually love our neighbor. No, we're jealous of him, or we see him as an obstacle in the way of what we want, or we treat him as an adversary, or we ignore him altogether. And we don't love God with our whole hearts. No, we put creation in his place. We'd rather have the temporary pleasure of physical things than the eternal satisfactions that can only be found in him. Sin causes us to place ourselves at the center of our universe. Sin causes us to be obsessed with what we feel, what we want, and what we think we need. Sin causes us to set up our own little kingdom of one, where our desire is the functional law of the land. And as little kings, we want to co-opt the people around us into the service of our kingdom purposes, and when they refuse or unwittingly get in the way of what we want we rage against them. Sometimes it's the quiet rage of bitterness. Sometimes it's the vocal rage of angry and condemning words, and sometimes it's the physical rage of actual acts of violence against another. This is what sin does to all of us.

In light of the fact that sin brings all of us to the point that we all "exhale violence" in some form at some time, it's amazing how much peace and cooperation exists in our relationships. What's the explanation for this apparent contradiction? It can be said in one word: grace. There's not a day where you and yours are not protected by the most powerful, protective, and beneficial force in the universe; the grace of God. Every situation, location, and relationship you're in every day is made livable and tolerable by his grace. In the majesty of his love, God causes his grace to restrain us, just as he causes the sun and the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust. Why does he do this? He does it because of his great love and for the sake of his own glory.

This means the every day you experience the power of his grace. Every day God keeps us all from being as wicked as we have the potential to be. And if he would for a moment withdraw his hand of grace, this world would explode into chaos and violence unlike anything any of us could conceive. You see, you only ever begin to really celebrate grace when you begin to understand how deep and pervasive the effects of sin are. As Jesus said when that woman washed his feet with her hair, "The one who has been forgiven much, loves much."

Take time to consider the ravages of sin on us all because when you do, you'll leave with a deeper appreciation of grace than you've ever had. And that appreciation won't only cause praise to come out of your mouth, but it will also change the way you live.

Realistic Expectations

"For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling..." (v.5)

It's a problem as people face marriage. It's a problem as people think about the workplace. It's a problem as couples anticipate the birth of their first child. It's a problem as we think about our friendships. It's a problem as people think about their life in the church. What is the problem that I'm talking about? It's the problem of unrealistic expectations. Why do we have unrealistic expectations for all of these inescapable dimensions of human life? We have them because we don't take seriously what the Bible has to say about the condition of the world in which we live. Here it is; sin has cast this world into trouble.

There's no escaping it, this world isn't functioning as it was designed to function. The Bible warns us that we're living in a world that's literally groaning, waiting for redemption. We live in a world where disease and death exist, neither one of which was part of the initial plan. We live in a world of deceit and disappointment, neither one a part of God's original intention. We live in a world of rebellion and sin, neither a part of the "good" that God created. We live in a world of suffering and loss, both so far from God's plan. We live in a world of violence and war, surely not the handiwork of the Prince of Peace. We live in a world where lust and greed motivate hearts, not what God intended the heart to do. We live in a world where all of these things touch all of our lives. No relationship is free of disappointment. No institution is totally free of corruption. No location is free of difficulty. No moment in our lives exists untouched by the fall.

Why is this so important to acknowledge? First, much of the disappointment we face is that we've carried unrealistic expectations into the situations and relationships of our daily lives and we do that because we've not taken seriously what the Bible says about the fallen world in which we all live. Here's an example I've seen again and again as I've worked with struggling husbands and wives. Couples enter marriage not taking seriously the fact that they're both flawed people, living in a fallen world. Because of this they don't prepare well, as individuals or as a couple, for the difficulties of building a healthy, God-honoring relationship. Consequently, they're caught short and unprepared as sin within and difficulty without rear their ugly heads in their marriage. Their unrealistic expectations lead to a lack of preparation, which cause them to react rather than act carefully. In the end they're not only suffering the troubles of life in this fallen world, but also they're suffering the fact that they've troubled their own trouble. All of this creates the tendency for a husband and wife to play to one another's weaknesses instead of their strengths, instead of preparing themselves with the wisdom principles of God's Word and seeking the enabling power of God's grace. God's Word is very, very honest about how broken the world we live in actually is. This honesty is God lovingly helping us to be aware and prepared as we live with one another and wait for the ultimate restoration of everything that is.

But there's something else. Unrealistic expectations cause each of us to live more independently and self-sufficiently than we ever should. In reality, we're all in need of daily rescuing, forgiving, and empowering grace. We need that grace because none of us is free from the presence and power of sin. This means that, moment by moment, we need to be rescued from us! We also need the grace of God so that we'll be able to love the weak and failing people that we're always in relationships with. But there's something else here. The Word of God is intended to be a "lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway." We'll only live properly in this broken world when we're being guided and protected by the light of its wisdom in the situations and relationships we live in every day. When I live unaware of how profound my need is and how broken my world is, I don't hunger for the brilliant wisdom of God's Word and I'm left to my own foolishness. And in my foolishness, I respond to things in a way that only deepens and complicates the troubles that I'm already struggling with.

You can be sure of this; your day of trouble will come. Yet, in your trouble God hasn't left you alone. What is it that he gives you in your trouble? He gives you himself! He is what will keep you safe. He is near and he comes to you armed with transforming grace and liberating wisdom. But its vital that you live with eyes and heart open to what Scripture says to you about you and the world in which you live. If you do, you'll live in a way that's humble and needy, seeking the grace and wisdom that you so desperately need and that God so willingly and lovingly gives. Be realistic. Remember, there's amazing grace for every realistic thing you'll be called to face.

Psalm 27: Fearless Forever

"The Lord is my light and salvation - whom shall I fear?" (v.1)

In a world that is held
in such deep darkness
where the light of truth
often seems more of a flicker
than a flame,
in a world where
deceit
dishonesty
falsehood
and foolishness
divert and distort
the lives of so many,
in times when a myriad
voices
say so
much
about so many things,
where confusion seems
readily available
and clarity seems
hard to find,
in a world where opinions
rise to a place
where only truth should be,
and every voice
seems to get an equal hearing,
in the constant cacophony
of ten thousand
contradictory voices,
it is a wonderful
and amazing thing
to be able to say
with rest and confidence,
The Lord is my Light!
My heart has been lit
by the illuminating
and protective glory
of His
powerful and transforming grace,
my mind has been renewed
by the luminescent presence
of His truth-guiding
Holy Spirit,
and my life has been guided
down straight paths
by the ever-shining lamp
of His Word.
I am not afraid,
but it is not because
I am strong
or wise.
I am not afraid,
but it is not because
I have power
or position.
I am not afraid,
but it is not because
I have health
or wealth.
I am not afraid;
but it is not because
my circumstances
or relationships
are easy.
I am not afraid
for one glorious reason;
I have been lit by the
Lord of Light.
In the darkness
of this fallen world,
I no longer walk
in the night,
but I have been given
the Light of Life.
I am not afraid
because Light lives in me.
This one amazing reality
gives me rest;
I have been rescued from
darkness
and transported into the
light
and I am not afraid.

Psalm 27: The World's Best Security System

"The Lord is my light and salvation - whom shall I fear?" (v.1)

It was only the second house we'd ever owned and we thought we ought to take all the necessary precautions to keep our family, our possessions and our investment safe. So we contacted the local security company and had them revitalize and update the security system that had been previously installed in the house. It should be called an insecurity system. It's never quite worked the way it was designed. The crucial motion detector that was installed in the living room malfunctioned quickly. The system is still there, but we never use it anymore.

There are all kinds of security systems that you can look to in your life. Perhaps you look to your investments; you track their growth, and you dream of the life they'll provide for you in the future. Yet in your heart of hearts you really do know that there is no such thing as a truly secure investment. Occasionally you do face the fact that the comfortable future that you've envisioned you may never experience because the return on those investments are determined by things that are way outside of your control. Or maybe your security system is your relationships. You've sought to build around yourself a circle of loving people. You're thankful every day for your family and friends. You find real comfort in their presence in your life and the love they seem to have for you. You do everything you can to make those relationships healthy. Yet in your quiet and reflective moments you know that you can't depend on the permanence of those people in your life. An accident or a disease could remove a loved one very quickly. Sin could do irrepairable damage to one of those relationships. A necessary move could put distance between you and someone you thought you'd always have near. Perhaps your security is in the body of Christ. You're deeply thankful that God has gifted you with a church that has practical biblical preaching and solid Christian fellowship. You should be thankful, but you should also face the fact that this side of eternity the body of Christ is marred by difficulty. Our family was in a wonderful church that radically changed with the removal of a leader due to ongoing sin.

Perhaps your security system is actually you. Maybe you live with lots of self-confidence. You had a plan for your life and so far you've been able to pull it off. You've been able to be successful at the things you've attempted. You've built business and economic success that appears to bode well for your future. You've learned to trust yourself. You've learned to trust your intuition and your instincts and you've learned when to act fast and when to hold your cards. You're pretty secure with the way that you've conducted your life. I had an investment banker who controlled the portfolio of many people tell me that he was at the top of his game. He had confidence in his own ability, as did many investors. But, it all came crashing down with one mistake. His error cost a client his fortune and his other customers quickly abandoned him.

Or maybe you have no security system at all. Maybe your days are a cycle of concern, fear and dread. Perhaps you hyper-analyze every decision you make and you brutalize yourself with doubt after you make them. Perhaps you look back with regret at past decisions. Perhaps you give yourself way too much credit for the development of your story. Maybe, if you were able to be honest, you'd have to admit that you not only fear people, circumstances, and the future, but you fear something nearer, you fear you. You've no confidence in yourself and you look at life as a big minefield. You're just working hard to not get blown up!

Deep in our hearts we all know that the typical places we look for security really offer us little of what we seek. That's why this Psalm is so practically important. The very first verse of Psalm 27 introduces us to the world's best security system. It isn't to be found horizontally as you scan all the potential places where security can be found. Deep and lasting security, resilient hope, and sturdy rest of heart and mind, can only be found vertically. You'll only know the rest for which you seek when you begin to embrace the astounding reality of who you are as a child of God. If you're God's child you're the object of the love of the person who rules everything that there is to rule. It's fundamentally impossible to be in a situation, location, or relationship where he's not present. It's impossible for anything to exist outside of the sphere of his control. It's impossible for anything or anyone to be more powerful than him. It's impossible for anything or anyone to be wiser than him. It's impossible; for what he desires, has chosen, and has planned not to come to be. He rules every microbe of physical and spiritual creation. There's no rule of law that stands above him. There's no one to whom he must answers. His is perfect in every way, existing entirely without flaw of will or character. He's the beginning and epicenter of everything that's good, loving, wise, and true. He never forgets and his never fails to deliver on any of his promises. And Scripture says that he exercises his rule for the sake of his body, the Church. (See Ephesians 2:22, 23.)

You're secure not because you have control or understanding. You're secure even though you're weak, imperfect, and short-sighted. You're secure for one reason and one reason alone. God exists and he is your Father. He'll never leave your side. He'll never fail to provide. He'll make good on everything he's promised. And he has the power to do so; HE IS LORD!

Psalm 27: On Christ the Solid Rock

"...he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon on rock." (v5b)

We all look for it. We all refuse to live without it. We all think we've found it, but it can only really be found one place. What is it that I'm talking about? Well, here it is; every human being is on a search somehow someway to find that solid rock on which to stand. That one thing that they can bank on. That one thing that will keep them upright when the storms of life are raging. That one thing that will remain firm for the duration. That one thing that will give them security when nothing else does. That one thing that will give them that deep and abiding inner sense of well-being that every rational human being desires. That one thing that gives you the courage to face what you otherwise wouldn't want to face. That one thing that you can rely on. That one thing that will keep you safe. Everyone is searching for that solid rock.

No human being enjoys feeling that they're living in the sinking sand of unpredictability, disappointment, and danger, with no rock to reach for and stand on. In fact, this quest, this desire for surety which is with us everyday, points us again and again to the reality of God's existence and our identity as his creatures, his image bearers. We aren't hardwired to live by instinct. Like God, we're in possession of thoughts, desires, and emotions. Like God, we're beings of vision and purpose. Like God, we're spiritual beings. As people made in his likeness, we long for our hearts to be satisfied and our minds at rest. We think, analyze, and wonder. We toss our lives over and over again in our hearts, trying our best to make sense of the mystery of our own story and recognizing the scary reality that there's little that we're actually in charge of. In our honest moments, we know that we couldn't have written ourselves into the situations, locations, and relationships that make up our daily lives. We couldn't have written the story of even one day. Yet, we long for our lives to make sense. We long to have meaning and purpose, and we long to have lasting stability.

The problem is, that the longer we live, the more we know that there's little around us in this fallen world that's truly stable. I have a wonderful marriage to a lady who in many ways is my hero, but our marriage is still marred by our sin and this reality still introduces pain and unpredictability into a relationship we've been working on for 37 years! You may think your job is a source of stability, but a bit of a turn in the global economy could have you out on the street in a relatively short period of time. It may seem that your material possessions are permanent, but every physical thing that exists is in a state of decay and even in their greatest longevity they don't have the ability to quiet your heart.

So here's the dilemma of your humanity. You're clearly not in control of the details or destiny of your life, yet as a rational, purposeful, emotional being, you cry for a deep and abiding sense of well-being. In your quest, what you're actually discovering is that you were hardwired to be connected to Another. You weren't hardwired to walk the pathway of life all by yourself. You weren't hardwired to be independently okay. You weren't hardwired to produce in yourself a system of experiences, relationships, and conclusions that would give you rest. You were designed to only find your "solid rock" in a dependent, loving worshipful relationship with Another. In this way, every human being is on a quest for God; the problem is we don't know that, and in our quest for stability, we attempt to stand on an endless catalog of God-replacements that end up sinking with us.

In fact, our inability to find security for ourselves is so profound that we'd never find the One who is to be our Rock on our own, no he must find us. The language of Psalm 27 is quite precise here, "he will...set me high upon a rock." It doesn't say, "I will find the rock and I will climb up on it."

Here's the hope for every weary traveler whose feet are tired of the slippery instability of mud of a fallen world. Your weariness is a signpost. It's meant to cause you to cry out for help. It's meant to cause you to quit looking for your stability horizontally and begin to cry out for it vertically. It's meant to put an end to your belief that situations, people, locations, possessions, positions, or answers will satisfy the longing of your heart. Your weariness is meant to drive you to God. He's the Rock for which you're longing. He's the one who alone is able to give to you the sense that all is well. And as you abandon your hope in the mirage rocks of this fallen world, and begin to hunger for the True Rock, he'll reach out and place you on solid ground.

There is a Rock to be found. There is an inner rest to be experienced that's deeper than conceptual understanding, human love, personal success, and the accumulation of possessions. There is a rock that will give you rest even when all of those things have been taken away. That rock is Christ and you were hardwired to find what you are seeking in him. In his grace, he won't play hide and seek with you. In your weakness and weariness, cry out to him. He will find you and he will be your Rock.

"On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."

Psalm 27: Sight Problems

"...that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord." (v.4)

I've learned so much from George. He's been my friend for over thirty years. He's a man of insight and determination. He's dealt with some of the harshest realities of life in this fallen world. George is blind. The things that George struggles with in his overt blindness have taught me much about the covert blindness of the heart that every sinner struggles with in some way. There's a way in which George's entire life is shaped by recognition of his blindness and daily strategies to compensate for it. I've learned so much from George.

1. I've learned that there are no more important set of eyes than the eyes of the heart. Yes, George is physically blind, but spiritually he's very good vision. Everyday George exercises that mysterious ability that God gives to his children to see the unseen. Now, to people who have embraced the truth that their entire hope in life is centered in a God of grace and glory who is a spirit, the exercise of this gift of spiritual sight is essential. I've learned from George that your life is always shaped by what your eyes see. If this is true of the physical eyes, how much more is it true of the eyes of the heart?

2. I've learned how important it is to humbly accept your blindness. George's life is one of courage, hope, and accomplishment precisely because he doesn't live in denial. As a young boy, he confronted the sad reality of his blindness and determined that he would do anything in his power to live, fully live, even though he was blind. Scripture is quite clear about the blinding power of sin. Sin is deceitful and guess who it deceives first? I have no problem whatsoever seeing the sin of my wife, children, and friends, but I can be quite surprised when mine is pointed out. Spiritual blindness not only blinds me to the reality of my sin, but it also blinds me to the glory of God that's everywhere around me. God has created his world to be a constant sight and sound display of his power, glory, faithfulness, and love. Yet, the eyes of my heart can be so clouded by the duties of the day, by the busyness of the schedule, and by the problems of life, that I don't see the God of grace whose glory is evident everywhere I look. Like George, I need to accept that I have a significant sight problem that has the power to radically alter the way I live my life.

3. I've learned that you always deal with your blindness in community with others. When George got serious about dealing with his handicap, he welcomed people in his life who had the concern, knowledge and skills to help him. Hebrews 3:13 talks about how we need to "encourage one another daily less we become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." The fact of the matter is this; personal spiritual insight is the product of community. I need people who not only help me to see what I couldn't see without them, but I also need people who will loving help me to admit how blind I actually am and who will teach me how to live, fully live. Even as long as sin remains in me, I will continue to have pockets of spiritual blindness.

4. I've learned to long for 20/20 vision. George has learned to accept his blindness. He's learned to open himself up to a community of help. He's learned how to compensate for his handicap. But, George is not content. He longs for the day when he'll be given eyes that see clearly. He looks expectantly for the day when he'll no longer be blind. In the same way, there should be a deep desire in the heart of every sinner to see, really see. We should be tired of being deceived. We should be weary of being blind again and again to the beauty-display of the glory of God that's everywhere around us and that's meant to fill us with a moment-by-moment sense of his presence and grace. We should be tired of the way our lives are bent and twisted by our blindness; tired of the reality that we wouldn't do and say the things that we do if we were really able to see. And we should live for the day when the eyes of our heart will no longer be blind and, with 20/20 vision we will be welcomed to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord forever!

I've learned so much from George. I've learned that I'm more like him than unlike him, and in a profound way, that's changed my life.

Psalm 27: What is Your One Thing?

"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek him in his temple.) (v.4)

It's an incredible statement, one that I'm not sure I could honestly make. It's made even more powerful when you realize that it's written by a man who's under attack. His "one thing" isn't safety, or vindication, or victory. His "one thing" isn't power, control, or retribution. No, even under personal duress, the
"one thing" that David wishes for is to be in God's house taking in the grandeur and glory of the beauty of the Lord. This desire was designed to be the central motivating desire of every person created by God and made in his image. And yet, this side of the Garden, it seems a statement that could only ever be made by a deeply devout human being.

It does beg the question, "What's your one thing?" What's the "one thing" that your heart craves? What's the "one thing" that you think would change your life? What's the "one thing" that you look to for satisfaction, contentment, or peace? What's the "one thing" that you mourn that you've had to live without? What's the "one thing" that fills your day-dreams and commands your sleepy meditations? What's your one thing?

The spiritual reality for many of us is that that "one thing" is not the Lord. And the danger in that reality is this; your "one thing" will control your heart and whatever controls your heart will exercise inescapable influence over your words, choices, and actions. Your "one thing" will become the one thing that shapes and directs your responses to the situations and relationships of your daily life. If the Lord isn't your "one thing," the thing that is your "one thing" will be your functional lord.

Here's what you say to yourself when something is your "one thing," "Life only has meaning and I only have worth if I have___________ in my life." The problem is that the "one thing" catalog is virtually endless:

1. Power: Life only has meaning/I only have worth, if I have power and influence
over others.
2. Approval: If I'm loved and respected by________.
3. Comfort: If I have this kind of pleasure/experience.
4. Image: If I have a certain look or body image.
5. Control: If I'm able to have mastery over this area of my life.
6. Helping: If people are dependent on me and need me.
7. Dependence: If someone is there to keep me safe.
8. Independence: If I'm completely free of the obligation or responsibility to take
care of someone.
9. Work: If I'm highly productive and get a lot done.
10. Achievement: If I'm recognized for my accomplishments.
11. Materialism: If I've a certain level of wealth, finance, nice possessions.
12. Religion: If I'm adhering to my religion's codes and accomplished in it's
activities.
13. Individual person: If this one person is in my life and happy there and/or
happy with me.
14. Irreligious: If I am totally independent of organized religion and have a self- made morality.
15. Racial/cultural: If my race and culture are ascendant and recognized as superior.
16. Inner ring: If a particular social or professional group lets me in.
17. Family: If my children/parents are happy/happy with me.
18. Suffering: If I'm hurting or in a problem, only then do I feel noble, worthy of
love or free of guilt.*

You see, in every situation and relationship of your everyday life, there's a "one thing" war being fought on the turf of your heart. You and I are only safe when the Lord really is the "one thing" that commands our hearts and controls our actions. Yet there are many things that compete with him to be the "one thing" that's the one thing that your heart craves.

Where are you looking for meaning and worth? What's the "beauty that you wish you had in your life? What's your "one thing?"

*List adapted from Hannibal Silver (Doctor of Ministry Project, Westminster Theological Seminary)

Psalm 27: Two Words You Never Want to Hear

"Do not turn your servant away in anger." (v.9b)

It is such a comfort
to me,
such a source
of hope
and strength
and daily joy.
It gives me reason
to get up in the morning
and to press on
even
when I am discouraged
and weak
and lonely
and afraid.
It gives me reason
to face with courage
the struggles within
and the difficulties without.
It reminds me
that I can stand
before you
as I am,
completely unafraid
and ask of you
what I have asked before
and will ask again,
Your forgiveness
and Your help.
What gives me this
courage?
What offers me this
hope?
It is this one thing.
I know for certain
that there are
two words
that I'll never hear.
I know that You will never
look me in the eye
and say to me,
"Go away!"
You will not send me
from your presence.
You will not drive me
from your grace.
You will not separate me
from your glory.
You will not eliminate me
from your promises.
You will never
ever
ever
send me away.
Because your anger
was borne by Another.
Because my separation
was carried by Him.
Because He was
sent away,
I will never be.
So, in weakness,
failure,
foolishness,
and sin,
I stand before you once more
with courage,
hope,
comfort,
and joy,
because I know
that in all the
dark things that
may be whispered to me
in this dark and fallen world
there are two words I will never hear.
And so with gratitude and joy
I get up to face the day
but as I do, I do it
without fear.

Psalm 27: Sign Beauty

"...to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." (v.4c)

God has filled his world with beauty.
There is the beauty of:
the delicate orchid
the spotted leopard
the multi-hued sunset
the pillowy cloud
the golden sun
the delicious meal
the giant oak
the irridescent snake
the white-capped wave
the ribbony grain of wood
the song of a bird
endless variety of music
the flash of lightening
the shimmering scales of a fish
the new white snow
the rugged rocks of the mountain
the tender kiss
the whisper of the breeze
the green curtain of the leaves
the security of a father's voice
the tender touch of a mother's hand
the crystal display of a starry night
the percussive song of a rainy day
the green of the pasture
the blue of the sky
the black of the night
the brown of the soil
the yellow of the bee
the red of the rose
the white of the cloud.

All of the things have been painted with beauty, but it is not ultimate beauty. The beauty of the created world was never meant to be the beauty that would fill the eyes of our hearts. It was never meant to be the beauty to which we would look for satisfaction and peace. It was never meant to be the beauty that we would give ourselves to search for, live for, cry for, and die for. No, the physical glories of this created world are meant to be sign glories. The amazing beauty that surrounds us every day was designed to be sign beauty. All of the beautiful things that we see, touch, taste and hear every day, were designed to be signs that would point to the ultimate beauty that can only be found in the One who created them.

So, when you're looking at the beauty that surrounds you in the physical world that's your present home, require yourself to look beyond the signs to the stunning beauty of the God to whom each sign points. Only his beauty can give you hope, strength, and peace. Only his beauty can give you life. Don't be like the family that saved for a year to experience the glories of Disney World, packed the car in anticipation, drove hundreds of miles, and stopped at the first Disney World sign and had their vacation.

Perhaps our hearts feel empty and our souls are dissatisfied because we've tried to get from sign beauty what only ultimate beauty can give us. Look beyond the orchid, the lightening, the bird, and the leaf and see the Lord. In him you will find true beauty, the kind that really does satisfy.

Psalm 27: Inner Strength

"Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (v.14)

This side of eternity you and I are called to wait. We're called to recognize that the most important, most essential, most beautiful, and most lasting things in our life are things over which we have no control. No, these things are the gracious gifts of a loving Father. He never is foolish in the way he dispenses his gifts. He never plays favorites. He never mocks our neediness. He never plays bait and switch. He never teases or toys with us. His timing is always right and the gifts that he gives are always appropriate to the moment. He is kind, faithful, loving, merciful, and good.

The One on whom we wait is a dissatisfied Messiah. He will not relent, he will not quit, he will not rest until ever promise he has made been fully delivered. He will not turn from his work until every one of his children has been totally transformed. He will continue to fight until the last enemy is under his feet. He will reign until his kingdom has fully come. As long as sin exists, he will shower us with forgiving, empowering, and delivering grace. He will defend us against attack and attack the enemy on our behalf. He will be faithful to convict, rebuke, encourage, and comfort. He will continue to open the warehouse of his wisdom and unfold for us the glorious mysteries of his truth. He will stand with us through the darkness and the light. He will guide us on a path we could never have discovered or would never have been wise enough to choose. He will supply for us every good thing that we need to be what he's called us to be and to do what he's called us to do in the place where he's put us. And he will not rest from his work until every last microbe of sin has been completely eradicated from every heart of each of his children!

Yet, with all of this being true, we find it hard to wait. We aren't always "strong" in our waiting. No, waiting for many of us becomes a time for increasing fear, doubt, discouragement and susceptibility to temptation. As faith grows weak, our resolve begins to dim, and we begin to secretly wonder if its worth it to obey.

Why? Why do we struggle to be "strong and take heart," when we are being called to wait? Perhaps the answer is found in Romans 4: 18-21.

"Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father
of many nations, just as it has been said to him, 'So shall your
offspring be.' Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that
his body was as good as dead - since he was about a hundred years
old - and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver
through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened
in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God
had the power to do what he had promised."

Why did Abraham grow stronger in faith as he waited those many long years? It isn't because he played mental denial games. No, the passage makes it very clear that he faced the facts of the situation head on. In his time of waiting, Abraham had a very different experience than we often do because Abraham did something that we often fail to do. Here it is. The temptation, in times of waiting, is to focus on the thing we are waiting for, all the obstacles that are in the way, our inability to make it happen, and all of the other people who haven't seemed to have had to wait. Along with this we rehearse to ourselves how essential the thing is and how much we are daily losing in its absence. All of this increases our feeling of helplessness, our tendency to think our situation is hopeless, and our judgment that waiting is futile.

While it's true that Abraham considered the facts, they weren't the focus on his meditation. No, his focus was on the God who had made this promise. Everyday Abraham would get up and remind himself that the God who'd made the promises on which he was waiting was absolutely able to deliver them. The God who made heaven and earth would have no trouble causing an old woman to deliver a promised child! Abraham didn't fill his mind with his own weakness and the seeming futility of the situation. No, he filled his mind again and again with the glory of God's immeasurable power, and as he did, he grew stronger and stronger in faith.

Somewhere in your life you are being called to wait. In your waiting, you are being given an opportunity to deepen and strengthen your faith. So, get up tomorrow and fill yourself with vitamins of truth. Nourish your heart with the nutrient food of the glory of God. Feed on the strength-giving meat of his goodness, grace, and love. Snack throughout the day on his power and his presence. And watch the muscles of your heart grow stronger as the days go by. Feed on your Lord and be strong!

Psalm 27: Goodness

"I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." (v.13)

I have one place of confidence,
one place of rest
and peace
and hope.
I have one place of surety,
where courage
can be found
and strength
waits for the taking.
I have one place of wisdom
where foolishness wanes
and truth grants freedom.
Alone I am not confident,
no pride in strength
or knowledge
or character.
I know who I am,
the duplicity of my heart,
the weakness of resolve,
the covert disloyalty
that makes me susceptible
to temptation's hook.
I have one place of confidence,
it isn't a theology
a book
a set of principles
a well-researched observation
a worldview.
No, my confidence is in You.
You are my hope because
You are Good.
I rest in the goodness of your
sovereignty,
in the goodness of your
power,
in the goodness of your
faithfulness,
in the goodness of your
wisdom,
in the goodness of your
patience,
in the goodness of your
mercy,
in the goodness of your
holiness,
in the goodness of your
grace.
I have learned
and I am learning
that the physical delights
of the created world
were not designed to be
the source
and hope
of my confidence.
No, all of those things
in their temporary elegance
were meant to be
signposts
that point me to the
eternal
never-failing
always available
never-changing
always holy
grace-infused
goodness that can only be found
in You.
I have learned
and I am learning
that confident living
always rests its foundation
on You.
I am confident
because of this solitary thing,
You are
and you are good.

Psalm 27: Why Would God Ever Answer Me?

"Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me." (v.7a)

I never get used to the moment by moment miracle of prayer. It's an amazing thing that God would ever even once listen to me, let alone answer! In little moments and big, again and again, I choose my own kingdom over his. I often run to him for help for messes that in my foolishness and rebellion I've made. I've no righteousness to present as an argument that he should hear me. I've no autonomous wisdom that I can present as a reason for his attention. I've no independent track record of good deeds that would get his attention. I've often been more fickle than loyal. I often justify my sin rather than seek his forgiveness. I struggle with being more attracted to the temporary pleasures of this physical world than I am committed to godly living. The desires of my heart wander again and again. I forget my identity as his child, and in my amnesia seek identity where it was never meant to be found. Again and again I contradict the theology that I say I believe with the way that I live. I sadly have to ask for his forgiveness for the same things over and over again. Undeserving is the way I always stand before him.

This is precisely why David appeals to God's mercy as he prays. He can't look to himself for any reason that God would listen and respond. Yet, the miracle of his existence and ours is that he doesn't have to fear God's rejection or fall into thinking that prayer is an exercise in spiritual futility. Why? Because God is his own reason for answering. Prayer finds its hope, not in the qualifications of the one praying, but in the character and plan of the God who's hearing. He answers because of who he is. He answers because of what he's doing. He answers because he loves to see us come and he loves to provide just the grace for that moment.

Maybe you're thinking, "Paul, be more specific. Why exactly would God respond to me.?" Here are five reasons:

1. Because of his love. He's the ultimate wise, patient, kind, gentle, and forgiving father. He delights in his children. Because of his great love, his eyes look out for us and his ears are always attentive to our cries. Because of his love, he invites us to bring our cares to him and he assures us that he really does care for us. He's never too busy, or distracted, or too tired to hear and answer. He doesn't refuse to answer because of our weakness and failure. He doesn't get impatient because we have to come again and again. He is love and he loves to exercise his power and glory to meet the needs of his struggling children.

2. Because of his grace. Grace provides the whole structure and standing of our relationship with him. If it weren't for the grandeur of his forgiving grace, we would have no relationship with him at all. Because of his grace, he's unwilling to rest until the work of transformation is complete. In grace he looks on us and knows that this work isn't done. We've not yet been completely formed into the likeness of his Son. Although the power of sin has been broken, he knows that the presence of sin still remains. He hears our prayers because, when we pray, we confess that we still need the grace of forgiveness and deliverance, and in so doing, place ourselves in the center of what he's committed himself to complete; his work of redemption.

3. Because of his faithfulness. He doesn't change his mind. He doesn't ride the roller coaster of the rise and fall of emotions. His heart isn't a battle-zone of conflicting motivations. He doesn't get bored, exhausted, or distracted. He won't quit what he's begun. He won't forsake those upon whom he's placed his love. He won't harden his heart, shut down his mind, and turn his back. He won't take a break or go to sleep. He will never tell you that you've asked too much or you've come to him too often. You never have to work to figure him out. You never have to wonder if his response to you will change. He's absolutely faithful to every promise he's made and every provision he's offered. Your hope in prayer is rooted in his faithfulness, not yours.

4. For the sake of his kingdom. As I come him in the patterns laid out by Christ and pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," I pray words that bring him delight. He loves the exercise of his will. He finds joy in the success of his kingdom. The spiritual growth and prosperity of his children means the growth and prosperity of his kingdom. He is King and he delights in his children recognizing his lordship and submitting to his rule. Every good thing he does for his children is done to rescue them from their self-focused kingdom of one, and to welcome them into the expansiveness of his kingdom of glory and grace. And his ears will continue to be attentive and his hands will be active until his kingdom has been fully and completely established forever.

5. For the sake of his glory. The thing that God is most committed to is his own glory. But here's what you need to understand. His commitment to his own glory is your only hope. Because he's committed to his own glory, he's committed to draw to himself a multitude of people who forsake their own glory and do the one thing that they were created to do; live for his. So his commitment to his own glory causes him to listen and respond, listen and respond until all of his children no longer look to the shadow glories of creation for their satisfaction, but rather look to him. Because he's committed to his own glory, I can go to him in prayer knowing that he'll hear and he'll answer.

So even though you've nothing to bring to the Lord that would commend you to him, you can approach him with confidence. He really does delight in hearing and answering his children. Your hope in prayer is never found in you, it's always found in him.

Psalm 27: You're Talking to Yourself

"My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" (v.8)

I find myself saying it all the time. When people hear it they laugh, but actually I'm being quite serious when I say it. Here it is. No one is more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you more than you do. You're in an unending conversation with yourself. You're talking to yourself all the time, interpreting, organizing, and analyzing what's going on inside you and around you.

You may be talking to yourself about why you feel so tired. Or maybe you woke up this morning with a sense of dread and you're not sure why. Perhaps you were surprised by how angry you got at the remark of that co-worker. Or maybe you're rehearsing to yourself your schedule for the day, wondering why you agree to so many things in one day. Perhaps you're reliving a conversation that didn't go too well. Or maybe you preparing yourself for a conversation that may be difficult by conjuring up as many renditions as you can imagine, so you can cover all the contingencies. Maybe your mind has traveled back to your distant past and, for reasons you don't understand, you're recalling events from your early childhood. Or maybe you're simply telling yourself to "buck up,", "slow down," "hang in there," or "take charge."

The point is that you are constantly involved in an internal conversation that greatly influences the things you decide, say, and do. In Psalm 27, David lets us eavesdrop on his internal conversation. He's exhorting himself, in the midst of his trouble, not to run away from God, but to run toward him. Now that's good self-counsel!

What do you regularly tell yourself about yourself, God, and your circumstances? Do your words to you encourage faith, hope, and courage? Or do they stimulate doubt, discouragement, and fear? Do you remind yourself that God is near, or do you reason within yourself, given your circumstances, that he must be distant? Do you encourage yourself to run to God even when you don't understand what he's doing? Or do you give yourself permission to back away from him when you are confused by the seeming distance between what he's promised and what you're experiencing? Are you your own best defense lawyer, laying out arguments for your innocence in places where you're actually guilty? When others talk to you, is your internal conversation so loud that it's hard to concentrate on what they're saying?

Here's the question. How wholesome, faith-driven, and Christ-centered is the conversation that you have with you every day? Do you remind yourself of your need? Do you point you, once again, to the beauty and practicality of his grace? Do you tell yourself to run toward God in those moments when you feel like running from him?
Would you be comfortable with someone playing a public recording of the private conversation you have with you every day?

No one is more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you more than you do. How well are you counseling you? Reach out for help one more time today. Confess that you don't counsel yourself very well and rest in the rescuing grace of the One who is called the Wonderful Counselor.

Psalm 27: The Shortest Distance between Two Points

"Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my enemies." (v.11)

My Dad was the guru of shortcuts. He lived on an endless quest for the shortest route to all of the places to which he regularly drove. My Mom used to kid my Dad that most of his shortcuts were in fact "longcuts." In his search for the shortest distance to wherever, my Dad would say again and again, "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line."

The life to which God has called us is the ultimate straight line. This line starts with dead rebels and ends with people alive and reformed into the likeness of God's Son. The problem is that our living is seldom a straight line. We all take daily detours of thought and desire that move us off the straight path that God has placed us on by his grace. He has redeemed us from the jungle of our rebellion, lust, autonomy, foolishness, and self-focus and placed us on the narrow pathway of his Son. The problem is that we all tend to get tricked into taking detours that get us off God's path and into trouble.

Our problem is two-fold. First we get diverted because we are impatient. The trip to where God is taking us is not an event, it's a process. And the process isn't easy. God's road takes us through the heat of the sun, through storms and cold, through the dark of night, through loneliness and confusion. So, we get tired and impatient and begin to convince ourselves that there's a better way. But, this isn't all. We get diverted because we're disloyal. Our hearts aren't yet fully committed to God's glory and his kingdom. We're still attracted to the shadow glories of creation and we still carry around in us allegiance to the small-agenda purposes of the kingdom of self. So in our impatience and disloyalty, we see pathways that appear easier and more comfortable, but they only ever lead to danger.

There's no time when this temptation is more powerful than when we're facing difficulty. This is exactly what the verse we're considering recognizes. When you are being hammered by the enemy, it's very tempting to debate within yourself as to whether God's way is the best way. It starts with bad attitudes. Perhaps you begin to doubt God, doubt his goodness, and question his love. Perhaps you give way to anger, impatience, and irritation. Or maybe you begin to allow yourself to envy. You wonder why the guy next to you has such an easy life, when yours is so hard. These bad attitudes lead to bad habits. You quit praying because you reason that it doesn't seem to be doing any good. You stop reading your Bible because those promises don't seem to be coming true in your life. You quit attending your small group because you can't stand to hear the stories of God's love that others share, when your life is so hard. You even begin to give yourself reason for missing the Sunday worship service, reasons you once wouldn't have given yourself. Before too long there's a coldness and distance in your relationship with God that would have shocked you in the early days of your faith. Your difficulty has deceived you into thinking that you've reason for wandering off God's straight path, and your attitudes and habits have placed you on the dangerous side-paths of the kingdom of self.

Have you gotten off God's straight path? Have you given yourself reason to take side-paths? How about praying, once again today, "Teach me your way, O Lord, lead me in a straight path."?

Psalm 27: Mercy Prayer

"Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me." (v.7)

I have no resume
to hold before you,
no track record of accomplishments,
no letters of commendation,
no rights of birth or ethnicity.
I hold nothing
that would place you in my debt,
nothing
that could curry your favor,
nothing
that would obligate you.
I wish unbridled zeal
would commends me to you.
I wish unbroken obedience
would draw your attention.
I wish model wisdom and model love
would convince you that I'm worthy.
But I have none of these things
to offer you.
I stand before you with shoulders bent
and hands that are empty.
I approach you with no
argument in my mind
or words to offer in my defense.
I stand before you
naked and undeserving,
broken and weak.
I am quite aware of the
duplicity of my heart,
the evil of my choices,
and the failure of my behavior,
but I am not afraid
because I stand before you
with one argument,
with one plea.
This argument is enough.
This plea is sufficient.
This argument is the only thing
that could ever give me
courage,
rest,
and sturdy hope.
So I come before you
with this plea;
your mercy.
Your mercy is my rest.
Your mercy is my hope.
Your mercy makes me bold.
Your mercy is all I need.
Your mercy
tells me you will hear.
Your mercy
tells me you will act.
Your mercy
tells me you will forgive.
Your mercy
tells me you will restore.
Your mercy
tells me you will strengthen.
Your mercy is my
welcome,
plea,
and my rescue.
I rest in this one thing,
You are mercy
and
You will answer.

Psalm 27: Uber Music

"I will sing and make music to the Lord" (v.6)

While the minor-key music
of the fallen world
drones on
sung by the choir
of the lost,
the blind,
the deceived,
the wounded,
the poor,
the weak,
the rebel,
the lame,
the willful,
and the enslaved,
singing the sad notes
of a world
once beautiful,
now broken,
of hearts
once pure,
now corrupted,
of darkness
where light was meant to be,
of death,
where life was meant to flourish,
of slavery
where freedom was designed to reign,
You have given me
a song to sing.
It is a song
of boundless love.
It is a song
of rescuing grace.
It is a song
of tender mercy.
Its verses tell
how redeeming hands
touched a broken world,
giving life again
giving freedom again
giving peace again
giving hope again
giving broken hearts
a reason to sing again.
Its chorus swells
to heights never before sung
and its constant refrain
is
Alleluia,
Alleluia to the Lamb,
Alleluia.
Your grace
has placed in my mouth
the only song worth singing.
Your love
has placed on my tongue
the only words worth repeating.
Your mercy
has returned to my heart
the only music worth playing.
It is the song of songs,
and one million years
into eternity
it will be
as beautiful and new
as the moment
the first note was sung.

Psalm 27: Take Heart

"...be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (v.14)

You've heard it said many times, "Take heart, this too will pass," or, "Take heart, it's not as bad as you think it is,", or, "Take heart, you love one another, this will eventually work out." Usually when you hear the words, "take heart" someone is trying to make you feel better about something that's got you down. Maybe it's a tough circumstance that you're having to endure, a hurtful moment in a relationship, or a disappointment you have to face. The "take heart" response of the person who's near you is an attempt to temporarily alter your feelings about the thing that's upset you. The person speaking means well, but the "take heart" they offer you doesn't really offer you much to hold on to. You stand in the middle of something that's bigger than you and over which you've no control and you're invited to hope that it isn't as bad as it seems. Well, that's an offer of hope that, when examined, doesn't really give you any concrete reason to be hopeful.

Psalm 27 ends with a "take heart," but this "take heart" offers a very different hope than we often offer one another in moments of difficulty and disappointment. What makes this "take heart" different is that it's a call to wait on the Lord. It isn't about trying to change emotions; rather it's an invitation to rest in the one place where rest can really be found; in the Lord.

Who is this one in whom you can "take heart?"

1. He's the definition of love. Scripture says something amazing about the love of God. It doesn't simply say that God is committed to faithful love. It doesn't just say that God loves you even when you don't deserve his love. It doesn't only say that he loves you better than anyone else will ever love you. No, what the Bible says about God can't be said about anyone else. It says that, "God is love." God is the essence, the source, the ultimate definition of love; and love that's true love has God as its source. If there was no God there would be no love. I can "take heart" because my life is held in the hands of the One who is the essence of love.

2. He's the source of all wisdom. In Colossians 2, the Apostle Paul says that, "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ." Think how radical this is. As believers in Jesus Christ, we know that wisdom isn't an outline, a theology, or a book. We know that wisdom is a Person and his name is Jesus. You get true wisdom, not by experience, education, or research, but by relationship. When you come to Christ you're now in a personal relationship with the One who is wisdom. You can "take heart" because the One who holds you defines everything that wisdom is about.

3. He's a God of awesome power. How do you do justice to describing the power of God. There's nothing to which it can be compared. There are no analogies to it to be found anywhere in the created world. The thunder storm, the tempestuous sea, the hurricane, and the tornado, with all of their great power contain an infinitesimal fraction of the power of God. This is the One who created the world and everything that's in it. This is the One who holds the world together simply by the exercise of his will. When you rest in him, you can "take heart" because he really does have the power to deliver everything he's promised you.

4. This is a God of unchallenged rule. In Daniel 4 we are reminded that God rules over the "host of heaven and the inhabitants of earth." We are further reminded that no one has the authority to stop his hand or question what he does. God is in absolute control over the world he made. What he wills happens. His plan will be done. His kingdom will be established. He won't lose any of the children he's chosen to be his own. When I'm in difficulty and I run to God, I'm running to the One who's in absolute control of every circumstance that appears to me to be out of control. Now that's a reason for "taking heart!"

5. He's a God of glorious grace. God's grace means that I can rest assured that I'll have everything I need to be what he wants me to be and to do what he wants me to do in the situation in which he's placed me. I'm no longer restricted to the limits of my own strength and wisdom. By his grace, I've a new identity and a new potential. I'm a child of God; the risen Christ now lives inside of me. I need no longer fear people or circumstances; I don't have to feel weak in the face of suffering or temptation, because I no longer rest in the resources of my own ability. I'm in Christ and he's in me. This new identity gives me new potential as I face the realities of life in this bent and broken world. God's grace gives me reason to "take heart."

When I'm in difficulty and I "take heart" in the Lord, rather than be weakened by the difficulty, I grow stronger. The more I meditate on the glory of God, the more my faith grows; the more my faith grows the more I respond to life with hope and courage; the more I respond to life with hope and courage, the more I harvest the new fruit in concrete changes in the situations and relationship that I am facing.

If you're God's child, you have reason to "take heart," no matter what you're facing.

Psalm 27: Not Yours

"My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" (v.8)

I cannot say my heart is pure,
no,
not because it is riddled with lust
or
stained with hatred,
but because
it does not always long for you.
My heart longs,
for comfort and ease,
for power and control,
for possessions and position,
for acceptance and recognition.
It longs for so many of the things
that carry the promise of
satisfaction
contentment
happiness
joy.
Yet, my heart is wired for you,
wired
to only rest in the rest found
in You.
It would be easy to reason
that I am okay.
I am not a thief.
I am not a murderer.
I have not stolen the spouse of another.
But this reality I cannot escape,
my heart is not pure,
because it does not always
long for you.
I have hated in my heart.
I have stolen with my thoughts.
I have lusted in secret.
I have done all these things
because my heart
doesn't always belong to you.
Lord, once more draw my heart to You.
Capture my thoughts.
Command my desires.
Submit my will.
Direct my plans.
Make my heart pure,
not because it is free of struggle,
but because,
it no longer seeks,
identity
meaning
peace
purpose,
that inner sense of well-being
in You.
When my heart finds life in you,
It will not longer
seek it in another.
I wish I could say I am pure,
but the battle still rages,
and rescue is still needed,
so that the longings of my heart,
will not pull me away,
but will draw me
ever closer
to You.

Psalm 27: Sinned Against Again

"Though an army besiege me..."

Your Lord has chosen to keep you here in this world that's been so bent and twisted by the Fall. He's chosen you to live in an environment where there's no perfection to be found. He's chosen you to live as a flawed person among flawed people. He's chosen to keep you where injustice, corruption, jealousy, greed, anger and conflict are everyday occurrences. He's not coated you with situational teflon, protecting you from the disappointments and hurts of a world gone bad. There's no way you and I will avoid being sinned against. There's no way we'll escape being besieged. God's covenant promises to you don't include a "being sinned against" exemption clause.

So, how do you do when you're sinned against, again? Wives how do you do when your husband comes home and treats you harshly? Husbands what do you do when your wife seems more demanding than thankful? Parents how do you respond when your children make a mess of the great family day you'd planned? Workers how do you deal with the fact that that fellow worker has been speaking negatively about you to your boss? What do you do when no one notices how well you've served? What fills your thoughts when that friend has proven to be disloyal once again? How do you deal with family injustice and favoritism? What do you do when the irresponsible choices of others have altered your life, maybe even for the long run? You see, you'll not escape these experiences. Your life won't be free of interpersonal trials and you're responding to them daily in some way.

What's the typical way you respond to being sinned against? Do you give way to fear, trying to conceive all the possible "what ifs," as if figuring out what could happen will protect you from it actually happening? Do you tend to wallow in the "if only's" of what could have been, wishing for outcomes that have already passed you by? Do you bunker down and determine to live self-protectively, telling yourself that you've been taken once and it won't happen again? Are you tempted to strike back in anger, wanting that person to hurt in the way that they've hurt you? Do you tend to slip into your cocoon of silence, refusing to deal with the person who's hurt you? Do you speak and act in haste? Do you allow the failure of others to initiate a new round of doubtful thoughts about the Lord, his love, mercy, and grace?

What do all of these reactions have in common? They make what's happening to you the most important thing in your life. They make your disappointment the saddest thing in your life. They make your feelings the most accurate indicator of how good your life really is. Yet, here's the truth of what's happening in those moments of being sinned against; you've been called to endure those experiences because of the choices of another. You and I aren't in control of our lives, we're not the writers of our own stories. Our individual stories have been embedded in the story of another. We're not the chief actor in the drama that's our own lives. The decisions of someone else are driving the plot of each of our stories. No, I'm not talking about the person who's mistreated you; I'm talking about your Lord. You're facing what you are facing, not simply because of the sin of that other person, but because of the wise choice of a loving Redeemer. The fact is that God has us exactly where he wants us. He never manages a poor schedule and he never gets a wrong address. He places us in interpersonal difficulty because he intends that difficulty to be a workroom of redemption. This was exactly what Joseph understood when he endured the life-altering injustices of his brothers. Hear his words; "You intended to harm me, but God meant it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20) Because this is true you can respond to being sinned against in brand new ways.

Let me suggest four God-centered, grace-recognizing ways to respond to being sinned against.

1. Run to the temple. Run to your Lord, not away from him. Instead of meditating on all the nasty things that you've had to endure at the hands of the person who's hurt you, give yourself to examining, meditating upon, and recounting the beauty of your Lord. Let your mind consider his love, mercy, grace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, wisdom, power, forgiveness, and kindness. Require yourself to consider that this moment may not be a contradiction of his character qualities, but rather a demonstration of them.

2. Remember your place. Your life no longer belongs to you. Your story is no longer just your story. You've been welcomed to the kingdom of another and your life is part of the plan and purposes of that kingdom. Don't allow yourself to begin to think that you're in the center of your universe. Remember, you've been chosen to live for the glory of another, and when you do, you'll reach levels of personal contentment and joy that aren't possible any other way.

3. Learn your lessons. God has you in the painful moment, not simply to reveal himself to you, but to grow and change you through it as well. He's chosen to keep you in this fallen world because he hasn't finished redeeming you. Sure, you long for the grace of release and the grace of relief, and sometimes you do experience these, but primarily this moment is a moment of refinement. The heat of interpersonal difficulty is meant to purify us, something that each of us continues to need.

4. Reflect his light. In these painful experiences, God is not only calling you to submit to his will, but to actively give yourself to the values and work of his kingdom. He calls you to reflect the light of his character. He calls you to suffer in ways that can only be explained by his presence and power in your life. Jesus said it this way, "that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

Remember, you're not alone and what's happening to you isn't an accident. You're the child of the King of Kings, the Creator, the Sovereign God, the all-wise and all-loving Savior. In ways that are hard to grasp, you're being loved. Rest in that love and run to its source, saying no to all those other responses that only add further trouble to the trouble you're already experiencing.

Psalm 27: The Pursuit of God Paradigm

"Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors."

Your life is more organized than you think. No, I don't mean that you make good use of your smartphone or your PDA. And I don't mean that you've been able to successfully control your schedule so that your days are orderly and predictable. What I mean is that your life is organized around the pursuit of something. You're not as spontaneous and reactive as you may think. Your sudden impulses may not be as impulsive as you think they are. Your snap decisions are probably more thought through than you realize. You're living for something and that something is a powerful organizing force in your life.

Confused? Well, journey with me back to the beginnings of human life in the Garden. You know significant things about who human beings are and how they function if you pay attention to what happens in humanity's early moments. Immediately upon creating Adam and Eve God begins to talk to them. Why? Because, unlike the rest of animate creation, people do not live by instinct. Peoples' lives are directed by the thoughts and motives of the heart. Every person is a theologian. Every person is a scientific researcher. Every person is a philosopher. Every person is an investigator. Every person is developing a functional view of life that becomes the tool by which they make sense out of what is and what they experience. People are also beings of purpose. They are moved by passions and desires. They live in pursuit of treasures to which they have assigned value. They have things they crave and things they detest. They run after things they love and run from things they hate. They find joy in the acquisition of what is a treasure to them and experience disappointment when their treasures slip through their fingers like sand.

This is why God immediate talks to Adam and Eve. He knows the kind of creatures he has made and so he immediately begins to define for them the paradigm that is to shape their living. He tells them what to think and what to desire. These early words make it very clear that these people were created by God and were designed to live for God. This means that everything they would do as human beings would be shaped by their love for, worship of, and obedience to God. That is what the Bible calls, "God's way." It is the unique lifestyle that will shape the actions, reactions, and responses to life that a person who acknowledges God's existence, character, and plan.

But there is another way of living that structures people lives as well. It is what the Proverbs calls, "a way that seems right to a man." Eugene Peterson makes the observation that there is a replacement trinity foe the true Trinity. It is holy wants, holy needs, and holy feelings. Here my life is functionally organized by what I want (some earthly thing that has become my treasure), what i tell myself I need (this treasure rises in influence until I am convinced I cannot live without it), and holy feelings (an emotional life that is dictated by how close I am to possessing the treasure that I have set my heart on. Here too, I am never really spontaneously reacting to life. What seem to be impulsive reactions are shaped by wants, needs, and feelings that attach themselves to the treasure is crave.

What is important to recognize is that there is a war between these two paradigms that wages in my heart. Sometimes I get it right and my life really is structured by a pursuit of God, a rest in his grace, and obedience to his plan. But other times, I am driving by my selfish cravings, convincing myself that I cannot live without this thing that I am so zealously pursuing. It is also important to recognize that God's paradigm brings life and man's paradigm leads to death. It is only when my life is shaped by a pursuit of God that I can live with a heart that is satisfied and at rest.

Your life really is more organized than you think. What paradigm shapes your responses to life and structures your day? Don't be afraid to confess that you often get it wrong. Your Lord not only offers you his forgiveness, but he also fights for your freedom. So you can say, "Lord, so often I get it wrong, won't You teach me your way once more today."

Psalm 27: Safe

"For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling.." (v.5)

I am safe,
not because I have no
trouble,
or because I never experience
danger.
I am safe,
not because people affirm
me,
or my plans always
work out.
I am safe,
not because I am immune from
disease,
or free of the potential for
poverty.
I am safe
not because I am protected from
disappointment,
or separated from this
fallen world.
I am safe,
not because I am
wise
or strong.
I am safe,
not because I deserve
comfort or have earned my
ease.
I am safe,
not because of
money
or power,
or position,
or intellect,
or who I know,
or where I live.
I am safe because of the glorious mystery of
grace.
I am safe because of the presence of
boundless love.
I am safe because of
divine mercy,
divine wisdom,
divine power,
divine grace.
I am safe,
not because I never face
danger,
but because you are
with me in it.
You have not given me
a ticket out of danger.
You have not promised me
a life of ease.
You have chosen to place me in
a fallen world.
I am safe
because you have given me
the one thing
that is the
only thing
that will ever keep me safe.
You have given me
You.
I am safe
from my evil heart
and this shattered world,
not because I can escape
them both,
but because in the middle of
temptation and trial,
danger and disappointment
sickness and want,
You give me everything
I need to
fight temptation
and avoid defeat
and to point others
to the safety
that can only be found
in You.
So, I will wake up tomorrow
and face the anxiety
of not knowing,
the fear of my own weakness,
and the reality of the fall.
I will live with
faith,
courage,
perseverance,
and hope.
And when danger comes,
and it will,
I will whisper to
my weakening heart,
"Emmanuel is your shelter,
You are safe."

Psalm 27: The Delusion of Independence

"Do not hide your face from me, do not turn away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject or forsake me, O God my Savior." (v.9)

Do you view yourself as a person in need of help? Do you seek to live more independently than you should? How do you respond when God sends someone your way to correct or confront you? Do you bolster yourself with evidences of your righteousness or do you regularly look in the mirror of the Word of God and admit how needy you actually are? Do you live with a sense of need for the heart-educating classroom of grace or do you think of yourself as a grace graduate? Do you think of others as needier than you? Even as you minister to others, do you think of yourself as one in need of ministry as well? When you seek to understand why you do the things you do, do you look outside of or inside of yourself for the answer?

One of the sad results of sin is that it causes all of us at some time and in some way to buy into the delusion of independence. Independence is what the serpent sold Adam and Eve, but this independence was as counterfeit as the old proverbial three dollar bill. The counterfeit currency of independence is the reward that the enemy continues to wave in front of each one of us. The lie goes this way, "You can be whatever you want to be and do whatever you want to do." This lie is designed to make me believe that I'm wiser and more righteous than I actually am. It makes me think that I'm a mature person living in a colony of the immature. It causes me to reason that if I do bad things, I do them not because of what's inside of me, but because of the pressures that I am forced to deal with that are outside of me. This lie is meant to convince me that I'm capable and okay.

Here's what the Bible makes blatantly clear; the quest for Independence never ends in independence. It always ends in slavery. Why? Because I was carefully designed by the Creator to live in a dependent, obedient, and worshipful relationship with him and in humble, interdependent, relationships with other human beings. The quest for independence is not simply a spiritual mistake; it's a fundamental denial of my humanity. The pursuit of independence always leaves me addicted to a list of things that I've looked to in order to give me hope, life, strength and rest; in a vain attempt to distract myself from the evidence that I'm not, in fact, independent, I get hooked on things that have the ability to distract me, but can never give my heart rest.

The message of Psalm 27 and the rest of the Bible is clear, I'm a person in desperate need of help and if I walk with God for thousands of years I will continue to need his help as much as I did the first day I reached my hand out for him.

Does the way you relate to members of your family picture a person who believes that he's in daily need of help? Does the level of your commitment to Christian fellowship depict a person who thinks he's in need of help? Does your personal devotional life paint a portrait of a person who humbly acknowledges his need of help? Is your life a picture of the celebration that will result when you begin to grasp that, by the grace of Jesus Christ, you have been brought into personal relationship with the only source of the kind of help that you truly need; God himself? Do you love God's truth, love his people, love his gatherings of worship, love the work of his kingdom and love the hymns of his grace, all because you've humbly acknowledged the depth of your need and joyfully embrace the heart-transforming reality of his help?

The only way you'll ever run to the Helper is by running away from the delusion of independence. Why not do that once more today?

Psalm 27: Singleness of Focus

"One thing I ask from the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." (v.4)

Do you live with singleness of focus? Is your life shaped, structured, and directed by the pursuit of one glorious, fulfilling, heart-satisfying thing? Or is your life a picture of a constantly changing narrative of fickle affections careening from one hope to the next?

You see, you don't live by instinct. Your life is directed by the thoughts and motives of your heart. You're always interpreting and you're always desiring. You always live in pursuit of something. You're always evaluating your progress toward that thing that you think will give you life. You're always in the possession of and in the service of some kind of dream. Maybe this is the best way to say it; you're living for something.

Now, Scriptures like Psalm 27 and Matthew 6:19ff remind us that all the things that a human being could live for fall into two categories. The first category is the CREATOR category. This means I'm living for what only can be found in God. It means my life is shaped and directed by my resting in the pursuit of his grace, glory, goodness, and plan on earth. Another name for this is the Kingdom of God. The second category is the CREATION category. This means that I'm seeking to find my identity, meaning and purpose in something that's been created. So, I look to my job, friends, possessions, a position, etc...to satisfy my heart. Another name for this is the kingdom of self.

Now, what does all of this have to do with singleness or fickleness of focus? It's only when I'm hooking my life to the glory and grace of God and it's only when I'm getting my identity from him, that I can truly live with singleness of focus for the long run. Why is this? It's because it's only God who has the power to satisfy my heart. I was made for him. I was made to have my life shaped by an acknowledgement of his presence, a rest in his love, and an active allegiance to his purposes. When I live this way, my soul is satisfied and my heart is at rest.

On the other hand, when I seek to satisfy my heart by the pursuit of a seemingly endless catalog of God-replacements, my heart will be anything but satisfied. So, I will abandon one dissatisfying creation dream for another, only to have that one leave me empty as well. I'll run from my friends, to my job, to my possessions in the frantic pursuit of what can only be found in the Lord. My life will be characterized by fickleness rather than singleness of focus. Why? Because my heart was created to be satisfied in God and God alone.

Is your life shaped by one great desire, a desire for the Lord? Or is it a picture of the constantly changing focus that's the result of asking the creation to offer what only the Creator can give. Your heart will only rest when He is the "one thing" that gives your life focus.

Psalm 27: The Worship of Another

"...at his tabernacle I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord."

Sacrifices,
I don't want to have to make
sacrifices.
I want my plate
full
and my schedule
empty.
I want to be with people
I like,
people who are low in
maintenance and high in
appreciation.
I want control over
my time
my energy
my money
my things.
I want my days to be
predictable
and my plans
unobstructed.
I want to experience
success
and successfully to avoid
failure.
I would rather be served than
to serve.
I would rather get the gift than
to give.
I guess this all points me to
one stunning reality.
There is never a day when
my life is
idol free.
There is never a week
when I don't give myself to the worship
of another.
It is sad to say
and humbling to admit,
that the chief of these
false deities
is none other than
me.
I am the sovereign
I want to serve.
I am the king
I want others to obey.
I am the lord
I want to rule my days.
Yes, it is true,
Dear Father,
I want to be
You.
My dissatisfaction is not because
You are not
wise
faithful
loving
good,
but because I do not get
my own way.
So, once more I
bow,
once more I make my
confession,
once more I plead for
mercy
pardon
power
deliverance.
Once more I ask,
Dear Savior,
Please free me
from me
and cause this selfish heart
to find
joy
satisfaction
motivation
delight
in doing the
one thing
I was given breath
to do,
offer myself as a
sacrifice
in the service of
You.

Psalm 27: The Rejection of Rejection

"For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up." (v.10)

Unthinkable
irrational
impossible to conceive.
The Trinity
torn asunder.
The Son
wrenched from his Father.
Salvation realized.
I am
the liar.
I am
the thief.
I am
the gossip.
I am
the rebel.
I have wanted
my own way
in
my own time
at
my appointed place.
I have rebelled
against your law
and I have
set up my own.
I deny
your kingship
while building
a kingdom of my own.
I think
my wisdom
is wiser than you.
I think
my plan
is better than yours.
I crave
the sovereignty
that only you should have.
But you did
the inconceivable
you accomplished
the undoable.
You stood
in my place
and you satisfied
God's wrath.
But
in the process,
the Three in One
was torn in two.
In the process,
The Father
did the most painful thing
that has ever been done.
He turned his back
on You.
You withstood
this pain
so that I would never have to.
You took my
rejection
so that I would only ever have
acceptance.
So, I can
rest assured,
I can
live in hope,
I can
enjoy true peace,
Because I know
that you are always with me
For long ago
on the cross
your rejection
was for me
the final rejection of rejection.

Psalm 27: Spiritual Muscles

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (v.14)

When God asks you to wait, what happens to your spiritual muscles? While you wait do your spiritual muscles grow bigger and stronger or do they grow flaccid and atrophied? Waiting for the Lord isn't about God forgetting you, forsaking you, or being unfaithful to his promises. It's actually God giving you time to consider his glory and to grow stronger in faith. Remember, waiting isn't just about what you're hoping for at the end of the wait, but also about what you'll become as you wait.

So, waiting always presents me with a spiritual choice-point. Will I allow myself to question God's goodness and progressively grow weaker in faith, or will I embrace the opportunity of faith that God is giving me and build my spiritual muscles?

It's so easy to revisit your belief system when you're not sure what God is doing. It's so easy to give way to doubt when you're being called to wait. It's so easy to forsake good habits and to take up habits of "unfaith" that weaken the muscles of the heart. Let me suggest some habits of "unfaith" that cause waiting to be a time of increasing weakness rather than of building strength.

1. Giving way to doubt. There's a fine line between the struggle to wait and giving way to doubt. When you're called to wait you're being called to do something that wasn't part of your plan, and therefore something that you struggle to see as good. Because you're convinced that what you wanted was right and good, it doesn't seem loving that you're being asked to wait. You can see how tempting it is then to begin to consider questions of God's wisdom, goodness and love.

2. Giving way to anger. It's very easy to look around and begin to think that the bad guys are being blessed and the good guys are getting hammered,(see Psalm 73). There'll be times when it simply doesn't seem right that you have to wait for something that seems so obviously good to you. It'll feel that you're being wronged, and when it does, it seems right to be angry. Because of this, it's important to understand that the anger you feel in these moments is more than anger with the people or circumstances that are the visible cause for your waiting. No, your anger is actually anger with the One who's in control of those people and those circumstances. You're actually giving way to thinking that you've been wronged by him.

3. Giving way to discouragement. This is where I begin to let my heart run away with the "If only_____," the "What if_____," and the "What will happen if____." I begin to give my mind to thinking about what will happen if my request isn't answered soon, or what in the world will happen if it's not answered at all? This kind of meditation makes me feel that my life is out of control. Rather than my heart being filled with joy, my heart gets flooded with worry and dread. Free mental time is spent considering my dark future, with all the resulting discouragement that will always follow.

4. Giving way to envy. When I am waiting, it's very tempting to look over the fence and wish for the life of someone who doesn't appear to have been called to wait. It's very easy to take on an "I wish I was that guy..." way of living. You can't give way to envy without questioning God's wisdom and his love. Here's the logic; if God really loves you as much as he loves that other guy, you would have what the other guys has. Envy is about feeling forgotten and forsaken, coupled with a craving to have what your neighbor enjoys.

5. Giving way to inactivity. The result of giving way to all of these things is inactivity. If God isn't as good and wise as I once thought he was, if he withholds good things from his children, and if he plays favorites, then why would I continue to pursue him? Maybe all those habits of faith aren't helping me after all; maybe I've been kidding myself.

Sadly, this is the course that many people take as they wait. Rather than growing in faith, doubt, anger, discouragement, and envy destroy their motivation for spiritual exercise, and the muscles of faith that were once robust and strong, are now atrophied and weak.

The reality of waiting is that it's an expression of God's goodness. He's wise and loving. His timing is always right and his focus isn't so much on what you'll experience and enjoy, but on what you'll become. He's committed to using every tool at his disposal to rescue you from you and to shape you into the likeness of his Son. The fact is that waiting is one of his primary shaping tools.

So, how do you build your spiritual muscles during the wait? Well, you must commit yourself to resist those habits of "unfaith," and with discipline pursue a rigorous routine of spiritual exercise. What's the equipment in God's gym of faith? Here are the things that he's designed for you that will build the muscles of your heart and strengthen your resolve: the regular study of his Word, consistent godly fellowship, looking for God's glory in Creation every day, putting yourself under excellent preaching and teaching of Scripture, investing your quiet mental time in meditating on the goodness of God (for example, as you are going off to sleep), reading excellent Christian books, and spending ample time in prayer. All of these things will result in spiritual strength and vitality.

Is God asking you to wait? What's happening to your muscles?

Psalm 27: The Back of God's Head

"Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior." (v.9)

It is a wonderful thing for every child of God to know that the one thing you and I will never, ever see is the back of God's head. He will never hide his face from us. He'll never turn his back on us. He'll never turn and walk away. He'll never reject or forsake us. He'll never cast us off. Perhaps the most glorious mystery of our lives is that we've been chosen to have is his face forever toward us. We've been chosen to have his smile forever on us. We've been blessed to have him look on us with love and grace forever and ever!

What's stunning about the favor of God is that we could never have done anything to deserve, achieve or earn it. I was irritated with my wife yesterday, no not because she's a sinner and not because she did anything wrong at all. No, I was irritated because she didn't fit as well within my sovereign plan for the day as I wanted her to. In an instant I began to look at the one human being that I love most on this earth as an obstacle rather than an object of my affection. It wasn't long before I was filled with remorse and a sense of how deep my need still is for the rescuing grace of the Lord. You see, what's stunning about the favor of the Lord isn't just that there was a period in my life long ago when I got it all wrong and when I wanted to be my own king. No, even as God's child I still get it wrong. I still have moments when I'm much more excited about my kingdom than I am about God's. I still forget the glorious reality of his love for me and hook my life to the flawed glories of the created world.

Yet, in all of this, God doesn't get exasperated. He doesn't grow weary. He doesn't wonder why in the world he redeemed me in the first place. He doesn't look for ways to show me how much I have hurt him. He doesn't harbor bitterness or hold a grudge. He doesn't hide his face or run and walk away. He's patient in love and persevering in grace even though I still am not able to earn his favor.

Why am I so blessed? I am blessed, because in the most painful moment in human history, Jesus willingly subjected himself to the rejection of his father. He took on my sin and allowed himself to be rejected. In this unthinkable moment of substitution, the Trinity was torn apart as the Father turned away from the Son. Now, here's what you and I have to understand; Jesus was willing to suffer the horrible rejection of his Father so that you and I would never, ever have to experience it ourselves.

Jesus willingly looked at the back of God's head so that we would never look at anything but his face. So, today, when you envision God with the eyes of your heart, envision his face, because, if you are his child, it's the only thing you are ever going to see!

Psalm 27: Under Attack

"When my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall." (v.2)

Under attack again.
Such is life
in a broken world
where sin still
lives
where the enemy still
lurks
where broken
things
and broken
people
do not do the things
they were made to do.
Under attack again.
Why was I surprised?
Why did I give way
to anger
to fear
to discouragement
to vengeance
to questioning
the one thing that is
sure
safe
constant
reliable?
You have promised
to keep me
to protect me
to nurture me
to love me
to defend me
to defeat my foes.
I have rested
in the hollow of your hand.
I have hidden
under the shelter of your wing.
I have had your peace
put me to sleep.
I have had your presence
comfort my heart.
I have had your Spirit
give me new strength.
Yet somehow
when under attack again
I forgot you
and in forgetting
I did what I
regret
I said what gives me
grief
I even questioned
You.
The enemies I face
are too great.
The brokenness around me
is too pervasive.
The sin inside of me
I cannot escape.
So I have come home again,
home to this one thing
I daily need
in moments
mundane and great,
the rescue that only
can be found
in You.
I know that in the face of
your wisdom
your control
your power
your righteousness
the enemies of my soul
will stumble
will fall
will crumble in defeat.
When evil comes
and it will,
I will
remember you
run to you
believe in you
rest in you
and with
hands that are clean
and a
heart that is pure
I will fight evil,
not with words
of evil
or actions
of vengeance
but with the one thing
the enemy cannot defeat,
worship of You.

Psalm 27: Someday

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living." (v.13)

"Someday, maybe, someday." We've all said it, but it's not really a statement of hope. It's more often a fatalistic resignation to the death of some kind of dream. "Someday I'll get a decent job." "Someday we'll be able to afford the kind of house our family really needs." "Someday I'll get myself in shape." "Someday I'll finally find a good church." "Someday I'll find that special person to love." "Someday we'll get our finances in order." "Someday I'll go back to school." "Someday I'll quit saying someday." "Someday," is a way of communicating what we wish would happen, but deep down inside don't really think will. But we say it because it makes us momentarily feel better about the things in the here and now that we've trouble accepting.

The reason our "somedays" are more fatalistic than hopeful is that in our sane moments we all know that we don't have the power and control over our world that we would need to have in order to guarantee the realization of our dreams. We also know that we're harvesting the choices that we've made that have led us to where we are. So our "somedays" are more medicinal and therapeutic than hopeful predictions of what surely will come. They are mental pills to get dissatisfied hearts through disappointing days.

The "someday" of Psalm 27 is very different. It is a statement of confidence that's both deeply encouraging and powerfully motivating. When David says that someday he'll see "the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living," he isn't caressing some future dream in order to help him accept present disappointment. In fact, this statement isn't a wish or a dream at all. It's not really a hope for some future outcome. No, what David makes here is a statement of IDENTITY. David is remembering who he is and in remembering who he is, he's remembering what he has now and in the future.

Who is David? He's a child of the God of Israel. He's one of God's chosen ones; the object of God's love, the recipient of God's promises. The God who's his father, is a God of immeasurable power, unfathomable wisdom, inconceivable sovereignty, untainted truth, and abounding grace. David's God isn't only the ultimate definition of what's good; he has the power and control to produce every good thing that he's promised his children. He's in absolute control of every location, circumstance, individual, natural force, institution, and relationship. As Nebuchadnezzar said, after being humbled by this God, "He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: 'What have you done?'" (Daniel 4:35)

Trust in God isn't a thin hope in some not very sure outcome. Hope in God is rather a present investment in a future guarantee. What God says, will be done. What God has promised, will come to pass. His word is reliable because, in his grace, he wants to bless us and in his power he has the ability to do anything he's promised to do. When you live with his promises in view, you live with confidence, courage, and unshakable hope. You then become free of anxiety and worry. You become free of vain attempts to manipulate people and situations in order to get what you want. You place yourself in the hands of a sovereign God of grace who knows exactly what you need, when you need it, how you need it, and where you'll need it. And because your Father is good, he'll never turn a deaf ear to your cries and he'll never abandon you in your hour of need. No, you won't always understand what he's doing and you'll be tempted to think that he's gotten his timing wrong, but the more you entrust your life to him the more you'll experience his faithful grace again and again.

Who holds your "someday?" Are you still attempting to change things that are beyond your power and out of your control? Have you simply given up; and in your disappointment resigned to play mental dream games to keep yourself going? Look up! Your Father controls it all and he looks on you with grace and favor. It's never ever risky to place your past, present, and future in his hands. His "someday" isn't a "someday" at all, no, it's a "will be."

Psalm 27: The Theology of Beauty

"That I might dwell in the house of the Lord to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord." (v.4)

Beauty
What is
beauty?
How is
beauty?
Where is
beauty?
Is beauty without a
beginning?
Is beauty without an
end?
Could it be that there are
only
two kinds of beauty?
In this world there is
Source beauty
and
Reflected beauty.
Source beauty is
true beauty
pure beauty
timeless beauty
independent beauty
definitional beauty
divine beauty.
Reflected beauty is
shadow beauty
tainted beauty
dependent beauty
ill-defined beauty
creation beauty.
All sin is sin against
beauty.
Idolatry puts
Reflected beauty
in
Source beauty's place.
Sin hammers reflected
beauty
into the shape of
ugly.
Sin then names ugly
beautiful.
The more distant it is from its
source
the less beauty there is to be
found
in reflected beauty.
Source beauty is not to be
manipulated
or
ignored.
It is only
ever
eternally to be
worshipped.
In the
Incarnation
the feet of beauty
touched earth
to reveal
beauty
to teach
beauty
to restore
beauty
to help beauty be
seen
experienced
worshipped
loved
in order that
in the hearts of men
Source beauty
would be restored
to its
rightful place.
But
I still live
in the middle of
a beauty war.
And in the
fog
of the
conflict
I do not see beauty
clearly.
With battle scarred
eyes
I look at what is
ugly
and I think I see
beauty.
Please heal
my eyes.
Please restore
my heart
so I may
gaze no where else
but
see
love
worship
the beauty
that only
ever
emanates
from you.

Psalm 27: One Thing

"One thing I ask of the Lord...that I might dwell in the house of the Lord...to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord." (v.4)

One thing,
One thing,
One thing!
It's hard to imagine
One thing
When I seem to be attracted
to so many things.
It is a continuing
struggle.
It is a daily
battle.
It is my constant
war.
The world of the physical
attracts me
excites me
magnetizes me
addicts me.
I confuse consumption
with satisfaction.
I confuse satisfied senses
with true joy.
I confuse a stomach that is full
with a heart at rest.
Sometimes I would rather have
my appetites satisfied
than a grace filled heart.
Sometimes I would rather hold
the physical
than have the eyes of my heart
be filled
with the beauty of
the spiritual.
I am tired of only seeing
what
my physical eyes
can see.
I want eyes
to see
what
cannot be seen.
I am tired of craving
people
possessions
locations
circumstances
positions
experiences
appearances...
Somewhere in my heart
I know that only you
satisfy.
Deep in my heart
I want you to be
enough.
I must quit
moving
running
driving
pursuing
consuming.
I need to
stop.
I need to
be quiet.
I need to sit
in the seat of grace
and wait
and wait
until these blind eyes
see
until this cold heart
craves
the one beauty that
satisfies
the one beauty that
is You.

Psalm 27: Wanting What's Right When You are Wronged

"When evil men advance against me...One thing..." (v2,4)

If you had an army of evil men out to "devour your flesh," if there was a plot against you to end you life, what would you want, what would you do. The response of the Psalmist here is significant and challenging. When you are being wronged, when a family member, a neighbor, a member of the body of Christ, or a co-worker has wronged you or in some way is out to get you, it is so easy to lose your way. It is so easy to drop the good things that you have been doing; things that protect your heart and nurture your soul. It is so easy to meditate on evil and forget what is good, true, beauty, and wholesome.

Perhaps losing your way for you means that you allow your mind to be consumed with playing the DVD in your brain over and over again of what that person said or did. Perhaps it means allowing yourself to give way to the fears of what in the world could happen next. Maybe losing your way means fantasizing ways in which you could settle the score; you know, the things that you would like to say and do to that person that would make them hurt the way they have hurt you. Maybe losing your way means that you allow your hurt and dismay to take you away from good habits of personal devotion and ministry. Or sadly, perhaps losing your way means beginning to doubt God, his promises, his presence, and his love.

I wish I could say that, in the face of mistreatment, I had never lost my way, but I can't. I was a young pastor. I was doing everything that I could to grow and exercise the teaching gift that God had given me. But there was a critical man in our congregation who seemed never to be satisfied. One evening he came to me and said, "Paul, your preaching in killing us!" Now, these are happy words for a young pastor to hear. I said, "Well, what do you suggest?" He handed me a set of tapes and said, "I suggest you listen to these." Naively, I said, "And what do you think I should get out of the tapes?" He said, "Just mimic the preacher on the tapes, that will be better than what we have been getting."

I don't think I realized how hurt I was. I know I did think I had lost my way. But the very next Sunday, when I got up to speak and looked out at the congregation, everyone's head was the normal size, except for my critical friend. To me his head looked to be the size of a fully-inflated beach ball. I seemed unable to ignore his reactions. It seemed impossible to avoid his critical gaze. I think I hated that man and I know I was determined to do anything I could to convince him that I was a good preacher. I was no longer preaching to honor God and his calling. I was no longer preaching for the spiritual benefit of the congregation. I was no longer working to prepare content that was true to the text, I was preparing content that I thought would finally silence my enemy in the fifth pew.

But my preaching got worse. I was fearful and nervous. I stumbled over my words. I was not confident with my content. I was a mess and I was increasingly discouraged. I didn't know it, but in my hurt and distress, I had run from the Lord rather than to him. I thought winning would heal my heart, but my heart would only be healed, confident, and satisfied when it was filled with the love of the Lord. The acceptance of this man would never be achieved and if it were, it would not satisfy my heart.

At the end of the morning service one Sunday, I noticed the oldest lady in our congregation hanging around, waiting to talk. I waited until the crowd had cleared and ask her what she wanted. She said, "Paul, I don't want to talk about me, I want to talk about you. Over the last few weeks I have become concerned about your preaching. You have lost all of your confidence. I have become convinced that someone has gotten to you and that you are preaching to please that person and not the Lord." I couldn't believe what I was hearing! then she said, "Monday you get up, forget that person, and study God's Word and then you preach what God has given you with confidence and joy or we're all in trouble." And she turned and walked out of the church.

At that moment I knew she was right. In the face of mistreatment, I had lost my way. I had not run to the Lord. I had not allowed my heart to be healed by his grace and my confidence to be restored by his presence. I had decided I would beat my "enemy" at his game. I had decided that I would win. And it left me with a empty heart and a mouth that was unable.

I did get up that Monday morning and confess my sin. And I did enter that next Sunday with excitement at the truths that God had given me to share. And it was not long before my critical friend had left the church.

I would ask you one question, "When you are wrong, where do you run?" There is only one place where your heart can be healed, restored, satisfied, and protected. It won't be healed by winning human wars. It won't be satisfied in human acceptance. It won't be restored when you have meted out vengeance. It will only be filled, satisfied, and at rest when it is filled with the beauty of the Lord.

Psalm 27: People in Need of Help

"Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior." (v.9)

Do you ever feel overwhelmed? Do you ever feel that the tasks that God has given you are too big for you to do? Do you ever feel that God has gotten a wrong address? How do you go about assessing your need of help?

It's something all human beings do. It's called "measuring you potential." We all do if often. The little toddler, who's standing on newly mobile legs, looking across the room at his Daddy as he holds onto his mothers knee, is measuring his potential to make it the five steps from Mommy's knee to Daddy's knee. The teenager who's driving to his first day at his first job, holding the steering wheel with clammy, nervous hands; he's measuring his potential to do well enough in this new world of employment without getting himself quickly fired. The bride who's an upset stomach as she's having her hair coiffed, is measuring her potential to live in life-long intimacy with another human being.

A person normally measures his potential based on two factors. The first is his track record. He does a quick scan of his life assessing how he's done so far. He looks to the past to give him some kind of read on his potential for being successful in the present. He next examines the size of the task. Does he have what it takes to take on a task of this size?

While there's some logic to this way of assessing personal potential, the little phrase in v.9 which says, "you have been my helper," reveals the inadequacy of this kind of assessment for a believer. The problem is that it doesn't account for your new identity, and therefore, new potential as a child of God.

God is the ultimate Helper. He alone has the grace to rescue you from you. What does this mean? He gives you power to deal with all the sins of thought and desire that get in the way of you doing what God has called you to do. Not only does he help you with internal weaknesses, he alone is able to remove external obstacles. Because he's our helper, we don't have to place the completion or success of the task on our shoulders. It's not our job to complete the task, it's our job to obey God's call; he will complete the task. I don't have the power to get people to respond. I don't have the power to make situations change. I can't make my husband or wife love me. I can't get my children to believe. I can't force two people to reconcile. I can't make my neighbor be committed to peace. It's not my job to make these things happen. It's my job to respond to the call of God in each of these areas; the hearts of people and the control of situations are in his hands.

He promise is that when we go he goes with us. He'll never call us to do a task without giving us what we need to do it. He's unshakably committed to meet the needs of his people. He is unshakably committed to the success of his kingdom. Since you're his child, wherever you go his presence and power go as well. He really is with you always and he really is the Helper that you need.

So how are you measuring your potential? Are there places where you're living more in fear and avoidance than with courage and hope? Are there places where you feel completely overwhelmed? Could it be that as you've assessed your potential that you've forgotten who your helper is? You're now personally connected to the ultimate source of help. How's that for potential?

Psalm 27: Watch out for the Flesh Eaters!

"When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall." (v.2)

I wish that it were
peacetime
but
right now
you can't live that way.
Temptation is all around.
It's a smile
a whisper
a wish
an invitation
a sword.
There's little escape,
so little time to rest,
evil flirts with you
but will consume your flesh.
Do you really think
you're not at risk?
Has your enemy
lost his power
to tempt
to seduce
to ensnare
to trap?
Do you really have
the liberty
to coast
to rest
to relax, to slide on through?
When no day is an escape
there's seldom rest,
evil hungers for you
to digest your flesh.
There is war being made;
darkness and light
truth and lie
right and wrong
wise and foolish
holy and sin
God and the devil
demon and Friend,
So there's little escape
there's precious little rest,
evil lurks out there
it will eat your flesh.
This world
is shattered glass.
It does not look
It does not do
as designed.
You are infected
with the disease.
You are flawed
from within.
Sin still lives.
It is a law
a war
a prison
a trap
a drug.
Not many roads of escape
really not much rest
evil sings to you
but will devour your flesh.
There is but one
escape.
Just one thing
you can do.
Focus your eyes on
what you see.
Fix your gaze.
Look at the beauty
the treasure
the majesty
the glory
the Lord.
Run to the temple
Be in awe.
Be enthralled.
Meditate.
And remember
what's holy
what's eternal
what's gorgeous
what's true.
Bask in the beauty
It will rescue you.
Because there's little escape
there's a famine of rest,
evil waits for you
but will dine on your flesh.
May beauty be
your fortress.
May glory be
your rock.
May the Lord be
your refuge
Until the war
is over
Until you've arrived
at rest
Until evil has been
crushed
And you're home at last.
For there's scant escape
there's a real lack of rest,
evil hunts for you
to consume your flesh.

Psalm 27: Why I Hate to Wait

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (v.14)

I hate to wait,
I have places to go
I have people to see
I have things to do.
I love me
and I have a wonderful plan
for my life.
I hate to wait.
I don't like obstacles
in my way
or people that disagree
or processes that take too long.
I hate to wait.
I don't like lines
or traffic
or delayed appointments
or tardy people.
I hate to wait.
I wake up everyday
with an agenda.
I know
what I want to accomplish.
I know
how I want it done.
I know
where I want it done.
I know
when I want it done.
I know
who I want to do it.
I know
why it has to be done this way.
I hate to wait
because
I am the one having to wait.
I don't mind
that you have to wait
but I don't want to have to
wait with you.
I hate to wait
because
I tend to put myself
in the one place
I am never supposed to be
and
I tend to want to be
the one thing
I should never crave to be.
I hate to wait because
I want to be
in the center of my universe
and I want to be
my own sovereign.
When I forget your plan
When I lose sight of your will
When I begin to think
that my life belongs to me
When I fall prey to
the delusion
that I am wiser than you
and
my way is better than yours
Then I hate to wait
and
I curse the obstacles in my way.
But you are sovereign
and you are
Good
and loving
and gracious
and kind
and mighty,
filled with compassion
overflowing with mercy.
You bought me
with the price of your Son.
You forgave me
and the cost was his death.
For all my attempts
at independent wisdom
and
self-sovereignty
the truth is
that my life does not belong to me.
So
once more I fall to my knees.
Once more I open my hands
and
give my life back to you
and say
"You do in, with, and through me
what you think is best
and
I will follow
and when
your wisdom and grace
require it,
I will be willing
to wait.

Psalm 27: Losing Heart

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

What causes a person to lose heart? What makes a person want to give up? Why do we ever entertain fantasies of running away? What causes us to have little enthusiasm for what we once found very motivating?

Your motivation to continue is only as strong as what you've placed your hope in. Perhaps this is why we so easily lose heart in the face of obstacles, opposition, or difficulty. Perhaps what we've unwittingly done is to have tried to build our reason to continue on the shifting sand of flawed and impermanent things that were never meant to be the foundation of our meaning and purpose or inner sense of well-being. No human being is capable of carrying your hope. This side of heaven we're all weak and flawed in some way. No circumstance can carry your hope. Every situation you're in is in someway touched by the brokenness of the fall and isn't under your control. Amassing physical pleasures and possessions won't give you lasting hope. For all of their momentary enjoyment, they fill the sense, but do not satisfy the heart. When you look horizontally for your reason to continue you'll inevitably end up losing hope.

This is precisely why you could hear no better advice than in the three words that begin and end the last verse of Psalm 27, "Wait for the Lord." What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for your husband to finally become romantic? Are you waiting for your wife to finally agree that your marriage isn't so bad after all? Are you waiting for that job that will fulfill you? Are you waiting for life to get easier? Are you waiting for your church to finally become all a church could be? Where do you look and say, "If only I had________ then my life would be_________?

There's only one place where stable and reliable hope can be found. There's only one place of rest for your heart and surety for your soul. There's only one reliable place to find your reason to get up in the morning and continue. There's only one source of motivation that's sturdy enough to weather the storms of life in a fallen world. "Wait for the Lord" really does say it all.

When your hope is in the Lord, when you're getting your inner sense of well-being and security from him, when he's the reason you continue even when things are hard, then you're building your life on something that's reliable and sure. When you're waiting on the Lord, you've placed your hope in One who's the ultimate source of everything that's wise, good and true. When you wait for the Lord, you're placing your safety in the hands of One whose power is unmeasurable. When you wait for the Lord, you're getting your comfort from One whose love is boundless. When you wait for the Lord, you can be secure in the reality that he rules over all things. When you wait for the Lord, you can live with confidence because you know that every one of his promises is true. When you wait for the Lord, you can be hopeful even in weakness because you know that his grace is sufficient.

We lose heart because we tie our hope to the wrong things. What are you waiting for? To what have you tied your hope? "Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27: Where You Gonna Run, Where You Gonna Hide?

"The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid." (v.1b)

We all look for a place to hide. We all have places where we run. We all search for shelter. We do this because we've all experienced, at various times and in many different ways, the danger of life in a fallen world. This world, broken by sin, really is a dangerous place.

There's the danger of being sinned against. Most of our experience of being sinned against takes place in the mundane little moments of everyday life. Maybe you're nursing the wounds from something someone said to you. Maybe you're dealing with the hurt of what someone did to you. They're not really big things, but they unsettle you and make you wonder whom you can trust. But being sinned against isn't always so mundane. Perhaps you've been hospitalized from injuries from a mugging. Maybe you're dealing with the devastation of an unfaithful spouse. Maybe you've lost your job as the result of the lies of someone who envied your position. There's no way of matriculating through this fallen world without being sinned against by someone at sometime.

There's the danger of living in a world that doesn't operate as was intended. We live in a world where things like racism, materialism, corrupt government, and war alter the lives of many. We live in a world where disease and pollution are virtually inescapable. We live in a world where earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis are present realities. The brokenness of the environment in which we live touches us all.

There's the danger of temptation and spiritual warfare. You and I really do live in a world where an evil one exists. There really is a cosmic battle going on. There's an enemy who wants to plant deceit, division, destruction, and death anywhere he can. You and I've never experienced even one day that's been free of seductive lies being whispered in our ears and seductive visions being held before our eyes. Temptation assaults all around and wear us down; such is life in the fallen world.

There's the danger that you are to yourself. Sin reduces all of us to fools. It makes right look wrong to us and wrong look right. It makes us want to live more for the moment than for long term gain. Sin makes us self-absorbed and self-focused. It causes us to be self-excusing and self-atoning. It makes us defensive and self-protective. It causes us to opt for individuality rather than community. The danger of the fallen world isn't only around us, it's inside us as well.

So, when you've been wounded by the dangers of this broken world, where do you run to for refuge? When you're perceptive enough to see the danger coming where do you run to for protection? When you're exhausted with the difficulty of the journey, where do you turn for rest and retreat? Do you run to other people, hoping that they'll be your own personal messiah? Do you run to food, numbing your mind with the edible glories of creation? Do you run to YouTube or your iPod hoping to distract yourself out of your pain? Do you drink more than you should or bury yourself in busyness? The problem with these things is that they were never designed to be a place of refuge for you. When you ask these things to be your shelter, you'll always be disappointed because their solace is temporary and they've no ability to heal the soul. But there's another thing; they always end up addicting you and, in so doing, hurt you as well. Take food, for instance. It gives me very quickly diminishing comfort, so I soon need more. You can see how this would end in a cycle of addiction.

You're gonna run, and you're gonna hide. Here's what you need to understand; there's only one true place of shelter. The Lord really is the world's only reliable stronghold. He has the power to protect you and he has the grace to restore your soul. He gives strength to the weary and returns the joy of the broken. He's able to renew you, body and soul. Heaven and earth obey his commands. He's the shelter of shelters, the only safe place to hide. He delights in holding you in the hollow of his hand. He takes joy in covering you in the shadow of his wing.

Today you'll run to something. Today you'll hide somewhere. Why not this time run to the Lord?

Psalm 27: Days of Beauty

"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek him in his holy temple." (v.4)

I have a vision problem;
my eyes are okay,
but my heart
doesn't see very well.
I live in a world
where your beauty
is everywhere visible.
It is there
in the lily.
It is there
in the cascading wave.
It is there
in the multi-hued sunset.
It is there
in the stars of the night.
It is there
in the power of the storm.
It is there
in the rhythm of the rain.
It is there
in the grandeur of the mountain.
It is there in the
lace of the clouds.
It is there
in the succulence of the apple.
It is there
everywhere I look.
But often
I do not see your beauty.
I must confess
I am so blind.
I see
my busy schedule.
I see
things to be fixed.
I see
obstacles to my plan.
I see
bills to be paid.
I see
things to be done.
I see,
but I fail to see your beauty.
Yet there is more:
I call things beautiful
that are not beautiful to you.
I am attracted to things
that you call ugly.
I even begin to believe
that there are things
more beautiful
than you.
And I want these things more
than you.
So I serve these thing more
than you.
So, Lord
correct my vision.
Please restore
the eyes of my heart.
Graciously make
the days that I have left
to be
days of beauty
because my heart
is filled
with visions of you.

Psalm 27: Going to School

"Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors." (v.11)

So, who's schooling you? There's never a day that passes without you being taken to school in some way. Life is really all about teaching and learning. And there's a way in which neither stops from the first until the last day of your life. So, perhaps one of the most important diagnostic questions that each of us should be asking is this, "Do I approach life as a student?"

If you are committed to know and understand, if you're committed to journey from ignorance to knowledge, and from foolishness to wisdom, if you're interested in more than your own plan and perspective, then it only makes sense to learn at the feet of the world's best Teacher. Who could know more or be wiser than the One who put the universe into motion, who presently holds it together, and who controls its destiny? Who could know more about the true meaning and purpose of life? Who could know more about your identity? Who could know more about the environment in which you live? Who could know more about the foundational questions of life? The Proverbs say it very well, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom?" I like John Calvin's paraphrase, "There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God." There can be no better place to go to school than to the University of the Lord and there could be no better course of study than the "way of the Lord."

His way is wisdom and wisdom requires understanding his way. So where are you going for wisdom? Whose school have you been attending? Who shapes your definition of the meaning and purpose of life? Who tells you who you are and what you should be doing? Who crafts the way you look at the surrounding world? Who defines your problems? Who instructs you as to how they will be solved? Who helps you to determine your life direction? Who tells you what's functionally important and what isn't? Who shapes your relationships? Who clarifies your thinking in moments of difficulty. Are you really a faithful student in the school of the Lord, or do you just audit now and then when it's convenient?

Let me suggest the characteristics of a student in the school of the Lord.

1. A healthy cynicism toward your own wisdom. Sin reduces all of us to fools, but it does something else that's even more insidious; it makes us believe that we're wise. Independent wisdom was both the seductive temptation and the delusional desire of the Fall. One of the primary reasons Adam and Eve were attracted to the fruit was that it was "desirable for gaining wisdom." But eating the fruit didn't result in wisdom, no, it opened the floodgates of foolishness and we've be drowning in it's waters ever since.

You and I were never created with the autonomous capacity to be wise. Wisdom doesn't come through research, experience, and study. Wisdom comes by revelation and relationship. You only get wisdom from the One who is its ultimate source, the Lord.

2. A humble sense of need. We all get lulled to sleep by feelings of arrival. You know what it's like. We all have the capacity to be too easily satisfied. Because we know more today than we did yesterday, we quit working to know more tomorrow. Rather than gratitude for what God has taught us, motivating us to learn more, we get smug and lazy, quite content to consider ourselves to be God's graduates.

3. A willing and open heart. Willingness and openness are the essential characteristics of any good student. Why, you may ask? Because learning not only shows me what I didn't know, but points out the places where what I thought I knew was, in fact, wrong. I cannot tell you in my many years of teaching how many defensive students I have met. "Defensive student" is an oxymoron, like "jumbo shrimp" or "low-fat butter." You can't be defensive and be a student. You have to open up your heart. You have to be willing to be told that you're wrong. You have to submit yourself to someone who knows better and knows more. Defending what you know won't lead to either further or corrected understanding. Willingness to listen, consider, and change are in the heart of every good student.

4. Discernment, focus, and determination. Discernment means that you have to make sure that you're submitting yourself to qualified teachers. Paul says in Colossians 2:8: "See, to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." Once you're sitting at the feet of those who represent the Teacher of teachers, then continued learning takes focus. You live in a world of many, many voices. All of them are interpreting your world and all of them are vying for the allegiance of your heart. And you have to remember that learning is a process not an event. One truth opens the doorway to another truth. One truth functions as an interpreter of a truth previously introduced, but now understood more fully. Learning is a lifelong process and because it is, it requires perseverance.

5. Commitment to act on what you're learning. Any seasoned teacher will tell you that the real learning takes place after the students leave the classroom and practice what they've been taught. The God who's your teacher will orchestrate events, situations, and relationships for the purpose of causing you to live what you've been learning. Life is his classroom and every new location on each new day provides a rich and God-given environment to understand more deeply and to live more wisely. So, good students always carry with them the commitment to look for ways to apply what they've been learning and they know that as they do, their learning will continue.

By God's grace we haven't been left to our own wisdom. We've been brought into personal communion with the One who's the source of everything that's wise and true. So, these questions remain. Are you a committed student? Whose school are you attending?

Psalm 27: The Good Life

I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." (v.13)

If you could paint a portrait of your version of the "good life" what would it look like? What's the golden personal dream that fills your mind when you say to yourself, "If only I had...."? What's the one thing in your life that you tell yourself would make you happy?

You see, it's very tempting to associate the good life with something physical. Perhaps it would mean living in a certain location. Maybe it would mean getting that job that you've always dreamed of. Or it could mean having the special relationship with that special person. Maybe for you it would be earning a certain amount of money. Maybe it would be looking a certain way or experiencing a certain level of physical health.

When you define the good life by these kind of physical experiences there's a second thing that happens; you tend to judge God by his willingness to deliver them to you. You unwittingly begin to evaluate God's goodness by whether or not he gives you the thing that you've set your heart on. But often God doesn't give us the things that we've set our hearts on precisely because we've set our hearts on them. Because we've set our hearts on them they're a spiritual danger to us. So, God is responding to us in a way that's good, even though it doesn't feel good at the moment. It's often in these moments of want that we're experiencing the "goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Because he loves us and because he's good, God keeps from us those things that fight for control of our hearts and therefore, fight for the place that only he's supposed to have.

Imagine a little child running to the house one afternoon and saying to his mom, "Mommy, I am hungry...I want a candy bar, a can of soda, and a bowl of ice cream." Now pretend that you respond, "I'll make you a peanut butter sandwich with some apple slices on the side." There's a good possibility that your child won't run over to his neighbor friend's house and say, "You won't believe what a good Mom I have...I asked for unhealthy treats and she responded by giving me things that were much better." Probably the more likely scenario is that the child would immediately protest to his mother, "I don't want peanut butter...I want candy...why can't I have candy?" At this moment your child doesn't think of you as the definition of parental goodness!

Being confident of the goodness of the Lord shouldn't be confused with an assumption that because God is good, he'll give me the things that I've set my heart on. In his grace, God is freeing you from the small confines of your little definition of what's good so that you can experience the huge and satisfying good that he's planned for you. Grace welcomes me to experience what is eternally right, true and good. Grace invites me to good that I could never have imagined, deserved, or earned.

It's nice to have a nice house and a comfortable life, but it's even better to have come to the place where you no longer need those things to feel good about your life. Sure God will bless me with physical things, but every good physical thing that he gives me is meant to be a sign that points me to the good that can only be found in him.

This is the bottom line. The good that God promises me isn't a situation, possession, position, or relationship. The good that he promises me is himself. What could possibly be a better gift than that!?

Psalm 27: Family Forever

"Though my Father and Mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me."

I deserve to be
forsaken
to be forever cast away.
I deserve to be
rejected
to have you turn away and stay.
I have debated your goodness.
I have questioned your law.
I have doubted your wisdom.
I have run from your love.
I deserve your
anger
to be punished for my wrong.
I deserve your
righteous judgment
the full weight of your law.
I have wanted what I wanted.
I've walked from your grace.
I have trespassed your boundaries.
I have envied your throne.
I don't deserve your
affection,
the many things I could not earn.
I don't deserve your
provision
the daily gifts of your love.
I don't deserve the rights of
family,
to be called your son.
I don't deserve the warm
reception,
Tender care and endless help.
I don't deserve to call you
Father
to be welcomed in your home.
So you came to be
rejected,
To have the Father turn His face.
Your bond of family was
broken
You came to stand in my place.
You didn't deserve to be
rejected
It came because of your love.
You didn't deserve to be
forsaken
Yet you were willing to the end.
So now I have a
family,
Forever I've been received.
I am never
forsaken
Even when I'm all alone.
When fatherless and
friendless,
You are with me even then.
I have been given a
family
I did not deserve or earn.
The Lord has
received me.
I will never be alone.
Once more I will forsake you.
I will question your love.
Once more I will debate you.
I will turn from your face.
But you will come as a
Father.
You will treat me as a son.
You will forgive and
restore me.
With great patience and great love.
In you I've found a
family.
In you I have found grace.
And what I've found, I've found
forever.
Forever Father.
Forever family.
Forever welcomed.
Forever love.

Psalm 27: Caught in the Middle

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

We spend a lot of our lives "caught in the middle." We head to work and get caught in the middle of a traffic jam. We enter a conversation and get caught in the middle of an argument. We make an investment and get caught in the middle of a market downturn. We join a church and get caught in the middle of a theological controversy. We dream of our future and then get caught in the middle of things we did not forsee and would not have chosen. We really do spend much of our time caught in the middle of being caught in the middle.

When you are required to wait it means that you are caught in the middle of something and when you are caught in the middle of something, it immediately means that you are part of something bigger than you. Being caught in the middle is diconcerting and irritating because we all tend to give into the delusion that we have more power and control over our lives than we actually have. Self-sovereignty is the dream of every sinner. It's hard for us to trust ourselves to the wisdom, power, and control of another. We want to write our own dramas and we want to be the central character of the story. But the spiritual reality of the universe is that we are not the authors of our own story. Our story is a part of a larger story that is written by the Lord. In this story we are never on center stage. That is a position to be occupied by the Lord alone.

So, when you recognize you are caught in the middle of something, you are recognizing something that is profoundly important. Let me detail how practically important this insight is.

1. It means you were meant to live for something bigger than you. You are not in contol. You're story is not ultimate. You have been created to be part of something that is larger than your wants, your needs, and your feelings. You are connected to something that is bigger than your relationships, your situations, and the locations that you move in everyday. You are waiting because God said you are a part of His kingdom. God, who's timing is always perfect, works according to His wise plan and at the right moment. But as you wait, He is doing something in and for you. He is crafting you into the person His grace alone enables you to be.

2. It means you were created to be dependent. The independent, this-is-my-life-and-this-is-what-I-will-do-with-it view of life is a delusion. That thought that you have everything you neeed to be what you are supposed to be, and to do what you are supposed to do is a fantasy as well. Each of us is dependent on God for our physical life. We all know that we do not control the many, many things around us that must work in order for our lives to work. We all know that our life dosen't work according to our plan. We couldn't write the story of today and accuratly predict what we will face. Contrary to what we often think and how we often act, we all live a life of reliance on God.

3. It means that the things you need most you cannot provide for yourself. God has controlled the forces of nature, and the events of human history in order to give me the one thing I desperately need and could never earn, deserve, or achieve; new birth. Without the intervention of his powerful heart and life and His transforiming grace, I would be a dead man walking. But He has given me life and He is now working to change me into what, if left to myself, I could never be. I wait because His grace is still at work. I wait because He is not done and I am not yet complete.

4. It means the final chapter of your story has been written, but has not yet unfolded. There are more places God has written for me. There are more characters to appear in my story. There are circumstances that He has designed for me to encounter. There are moments of blessing and times of difficulty that have already been written into my story by the One who is not only in control, but who is wise, gracious, kind, and good. He already knows the exact path He will cause me to walk and how that path will result in His glory and my good. I could never write an autobiography that would accomplish what the story He has written for me already has and will accomplish.

5. It means that the one you are waiting for is trustworthy. I know that there are times when waiting is painful. I know there are times when it seems as if it is impossible to wait. But you and I must remind ourselves that we wait, not because irrational and impersonal forces function as obstructions and interferences in our lives. No, we wait becasue the world is carefully administered by the One Person who is ultimate in power, ultimate in authority, and ultimate in wisdom, while at the very same time being ultimate in love. You are being asked to wait by One you can trust.

6. It means that in those moments when you are "caught" you can rest. Don't give way to panic. Don't give into doubt because this is not what you would have planned. Don't allow yourself to play out all of the "what if's" and "if only's" in your mind. You are waiting because there is a plan. You are waiting because your life is under the control of One who is wise and good. You can rest, not because you know what is happening, but because you know the One who is in control of what is happening to you right now. You can rest because you know He has made you a part of something wonderful, and He know's what He is doing in you is good, even though at this moment it feels as if you have been caught in the middle.

Psalm 27: From Your Lips to the Messiah's Ears

My son, Darnay, and I were fortunate enough to get tickets for an NBA playoff game. The local home team, the Philadelphia 76ers, was playing their rival, the Boston Celtics. I had never before and never after experienced the noise of that night. As we entered the arena, the air was already alive with anticipation. People were high-fiving one another before the game started, just because they were excited to be in the building! The volume began to crank up as the teams were being introduced and continued to build as the game progressed. The fires of enthusiasm were stroked by the closeness of the game and the historical rivalry of the two teams. By the third quarter the entire crowd was on its feet doing what could only be characterized as screaming at the top of their lungs. I tried to make an observation to Darnay, but he could not hear me, I tried again, only to have us break into laughter at the impossibility of communicating and the complete frenzy of the crowd.

I remember walking to the car and thinking about things. One, I couldn't think of another time when I had shouted so loud for so long and, two, I realized my ears were ringing from the audio stress I had just put them through.

What makes you shout? We all do it. Sometimes it is a response of complete surprise. Sometimes it is the result of sheer delight. Sometimes it is a way to get attention. Sometimes it is the reflex of fear. Sometimes it is the product of anger. Sometimes it is the anguish of disappointment. Sometimes it is verbalizing pain. Sometimes it is the welling up of a grateful heart. Who do you shout at and what do you shout for? Where do you want your shouting to go; from your lips, to whose ears? The point is that in your life there are things that make you shout and what makes you shout reveals something about what is going on in your heart.

Now, let me make what at first may seem a weird connection for you. There is a direct connection between shouting and worship. Before you think I'm crazy, let me explain my statement. Worship is a tricky word. It conjures up in our minds all kinds of formal ritualistic religious images. But worship, in its most basic biblical usage is an identity that shapes activity. You are a worshipper, that is why you worship. What does it mean to be a worshipper? It means that you are a purpose-driven or value-driven being. There is something that is always laying claim to the rulership of your heart. There is something for which you are living. There is something of value that gives shape to why you do what you do and say what you say in the situations and relationships of your daily life. There is something you look to to give you identity, meaning and purpose, and an inner sense of well-being.

Now, let me make the practical connection between shouting and worship. If I am a salesman, who lives for the affluent life that successful sales calls provide, if I get my identity from the big house and luxury car that those sales make possible, then I will shout in anger when traffic keeps me from a potential sale. I am not actually mad at the traffic, I am made because the traffic is in the way of what gives me value. I will also shout for joy when I read the email that informs me that the last call resulted in the biggest single sale of my career.

Shouting really does reveal what is important to you. If you are a parent, listen to what makes you shout. If you are a worker, listen for what makes you shout. If you are one of God's children, listen for what makes you shout. If you are married, listen for what makes you shout. Listen and consider what is really important to you. When the thing that is my true treasure in life is taken out of my hands, I will shout in dismay and when it is placed in my hands, I will shout for joy. Shouting really does reveal what has come to rule your heart.

That is what makes this part of Psalm 27 so remarkable. David says that when he makes sacrifices he shouts for joy. And in saying this, David reveals what is really important to him. It is important to him to admit who he is. Sacrifice is only necessary in the life of a sinner. So, when David says he sacrifices with shouts of joy, he is humbly embracing the reality of how deep and consistent his problem with sin actually is. You will only ever be excited with the sacrifice that brings forgiveness when you find comfort in admitting who you really are.

But there is more. David sacrifices with shouts of joy because he is utterly amazed that a righteous God, who is repulsed by his sin, would graciously make a way for him to be forgiven. Could there be a more needful and glorious reason to shout than the fact that in this broken world, populated by lost, flawed, and rebellious people, that real forgiveness is possible? What could bring you more joy than to realize that you can stand completely exposed before God, without even a hint of fear, because a sacrifice has been made that has paid your penalty and grant your forgiveness?

Without ever knowing it, when David shouted as he made his sacrifice, he was shouting to Jesus. All the sacrifices of the Old Covenant looked to that sacrifices that was to come when the Messiah, the Shepherd Lamb, would suffer cruel torture and be hung as a criminal, so that all who put there trust in Him, would be fully and completely forgiven.

Yes, you shout, if even under your breath. And, yes, your shouting reveals something about what is important to you. When has the reality of your forgiveness last caused you to shout for joy? When have you been so filled with gratitude that you wanted your joy to go from your lips to the Messiah's ears?

Psalm 27: Why Bother?

"I am confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." (v.13)

I consider
the brokenness of the world
and I think,
"Why bother?"
I look
at the corruption all around me
and I cry,
"Why bother?"
I wonder at
my inability to live with my neighbor
and I ask,
"Why bother?"
I face
my war with sin inside and outside,
and I ponder,
"Why bother?"
I look
at the problems of the culture around me
and I lament
"Why bother?"
I scan
my world, broken by disease and misuse
and in sadness say,
"Why bother?"
I consider
the statistics of violence and abuse
and I think,
"Why bother?"
I am assaulted
with the reality of endless wars between nations,
and overwhelmed say,
"Why wonder?'
I am defeated
by temptation's power
and cry,
"Why bother?"
I ponder
how good is called bad and bad good,
and frustration says,
"Why bother?"
I search
for hope like a parched man for water
but end up thinking,
"Why bother?"
I look
to myself and see weakness and want,
and my grief says,
"Why bother?"
Perhaps
I should live for leisure and comfort
and give into,
"Why bother?"
Maybe
I should exist for the here and now,
and forgetting forever say,
"Why bother?"
I am tempted
to live for power and control
and for greater things say,
"Why bother?"
Perhaps,
personal pleasure in the here and now
is what it's all about,
"Why bother?"
But in
exhaustion I look up and not around
and I say,
"Why bother?"
Because you are and you are good.
Why bother?
Because you dispense goodness and grace.
Why bother?
Because you bring life out of death.
Why bother?
Because you have a plan and it will be done.
Why bother?
Because I have been welcomed into your Kingdom of Life.
Why bother?
Because I am always with you.
It is true
that my eyes don't always see
and my heart isn't always confident.
It is true that darkness overwhelms me
and fear leaves me weak.
But you come near.
You remind me once again
that I can be confident
because
you were unwilling to say,
"Why bother?"

Psalm 27: Productive Delay

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

For years I just didn't get the biblical concept of waiting. Waiting seemed a meaningless drag, forced onto us by the fact that Someone else is in charge of the narrative that is our lives. We hope, we dream and we wait. We cry, we plead and we wait. We run, we work and we wait. We minister, we serve and we wait. We think, we study and we wait. Sometimes we wait, we wait and we wait. Such is life in the middle of God's great, big redemptive story. So, with gritted teeth and emotions that fall short of joy, we resolve ourselves to the fact that we'll have to wait. God is God and we are not...so what can we do? We wait.

I guess my concept of waiting was along the lines of what I experience in the dentist's office. My appointment has been scheduled for 10:00 am, but I know that I won't be seen until 10:45. I'm already uptight at the time I'll waste, sitting in that office with nothing to do. The last physician's office I was in even had a sign that read, "No cell phones please!" So, you look for some way to make the mind-numbing minutes go by. But what seems to be hours, at a quick glance at your watch, proves to have been only six minutes. What happens next, all of us have done. To pass the time, we pick up magazines that we wouldn't normally ever choose to read. You know that you're a man who's been in the dentist's office for too long when you are now reading "Ladies Home Journal" and thinking that the ingredients in the recipe that you're looking at actually seem quite tasty. You're tempted to tear it out and take it home with you! You want to call your wife and say, "Dear, I've found the best recipe for chicken," when suddenly you think, "What am I doing?"

But waiting on God isn't like this at all. Waiting on God isn't about the suspension of meaning and purpose. It's part of the meaning and purpose that God has brought into my life. Waiting on God isn't to be viewed as an obstruction in the way of the plan. Waiting is an essential part of the plan. For the child of God, waiting isn't simply about what I'll receive at the end of my wait. No, waiting is much more purposeful, efficient, and practical than that. Waiting is fundamentally about what I'll become as I wait. God is using the wait to do in and through me exactly what he's promised. Through the wait he's changing me. By means of the wait he's altering the fabric of my thoughts and desires. Through the wait he's causing me to see and experience new things about him and his kingdom. And all of this sharpens me, enabling me to be a more useful tool in his redemptive hands.

Waiting on God is restorative. It's one of the tools God uses to remake us into what we were designed to be in the beginning. Yet, I don't like to wait and I still struggle to wait well. How about you? The next time God calls you wait, don't let your mind go to the dentist's office. Picture in your mind the nimble and skilled fingers of a potter, who's putting pressure on the clay right where it's needed, so that it will take on the beauty that is it's potential. And with this picture in mind, give thanks for the very moment that would have once have driven you crazy.

Psalm 27: Hearts at Rest

"Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear..."

I would like to say
that
my heart is at rest,
but I can't.
I would like to think
that
I always rest in God's care,
but I don't.
I would love to declare
that
my faith is unwavering,
but it isn't.
I wish it was a fact
that
fear is a thing of my past,
but it simply isn't.
It would be nice to know
that
trust's struggle is over,
but it isn't.
I wish I never wanted
to be
my own sovereign,
but I do.
I want to have unbroken rest
in
the hand of God's love,
but I don't.
I long to face difficulty
without
question or doubt,
but I don't.
I do not want to
re-question
my Father's love,
but I do.
I wish I never questioned
the
Lord's good plan,
but I do.
The struggle is better
than
it once was,
but not done.
My rest is more consistent
than
it used to be,
but not complete.
My heart enjoys a greater ease
than
in earlier days of faith,
but unrest comes.
I have lived with you
and
seen your care,
but questions come.
I have seen you do
what
I could not have conceived,
but still doubt.
I have been in awe
of
the provisions of your grace,
but anxiety comes.
I have submitted myself
to
your will and way,
but still rebel.
So with rest in your forgiveness
and
confidence in your power,
I come.
With a needy heart
that
craves your help,
I pray:
"Help me Father today
to
let go of my need,
to always understand.
Enable me to live in rest
when
I don't know before
what will happen.
Help me to have a restful heart
when
opposition is great,
and all I have is you."

Psalm 27 and Everyday Life

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.

8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Savior.

10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.

11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.

12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.

13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27 really is an amazing psalm. There are moments when it soars with the thoughts of what it means to be a child of the Lord. There are places where it reaches into the harshest realities of life in a very broken world. There are times when this psalm is a scalpel, cutting through the layers and exposing the heart. It is a psalm of worship, commitment, trouble, beauty, and patience. There's a way in which Psalm 27 is a biblical worldview done as a podcast. There simply is much more there than you think there is after your first reading.

So, like I did with Psalm 51, I'm going to spend some months camping on Psalm 27.

I had a friend who had quite a large rose garden. He was very dedicated to doing all the daily tasks that were necessary to keep his roses healthy. But it hit him one day that he'd taken no time to actually enjoy the roses that he was so zealous to tend. So, one afternoon he did just that. He sat down in front of one of his rose bushes for three hours. As he sat, he began to see, smell, and hear things that he wouldn't have experienced any other way. Contrary to what you may think, the time didn't drag on. He was enthralled by the created glory that he was taking in. And as he sat there, he began to realize why those bushes were worth the commitment and the effort that he'd been investing. But there's more; after his three-hour gaze of that one bush, he would never, could never, look at roses as he once did. That afternoon he saw, really saw, what a rose was about and new sight had changed him.

So, I'm inviting you to sit down with me in front of Psalm 27. I'm inviting you to keep your eyes focused and your ears tuned. I'm inviting you to open your heart to what you may have been too busy to see. I'm inviting you to "gaze upon the beauty of the Lord." And I would imagine that if you are willing to do that, like my friend, somehow, someway, you'll get up a changed person.

Psalm 51: Grace that Hides

It seems like the last thing you would want to pray. It seems like it would be the thing that you'd fear the most. Who would want God to "hide his face?" God "shining the light of his face" on us is a picture of acceptance and blessing. The darkest moment of suffering for Christ was when God turned his back on him in those final moments on the cross. In a horrible moment of grief Christ cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Yet, as David stands before God as a humble repenting man, he does what seems to be unthinkable; he asks God to hide his face. What is it that David is pleading with God to do?

On the other side of lust, adultery, and murder, David is filled with the sense of the enormity of his sin. The weight of what he's carrying isn't just about how he used his God-given position to take a woman who wasn't his and use her for his pleasure. The weight on him wasn't just about how he plotted the death of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. The weight had to do with his understanding of the extent of his problem with sin. David acknowledges the fact that he came into the world with this profound moral problem (v.5). He scans his life and can't recognize a point where sin wasn't with him. But there's an even deeper awareness that sits on David's heart like a lead weight. He's come to understand that his sin was directly and personally against God. What he did, he did in the face of God. He rejected God's authority and made himself his own master. He rejected God's wisdom and acted as if he knew better. He rejected God's call and decided to do what pleased himself rather than what pleased God. In the middle of the outrageousness of his rebellion, how could David ever stand before a holy God?

This confusing request actually demonstrates that David gets it right. He understands the comprehensiveness and the directness of the rebellion of his sin.
He understands that as a sinner he can't stand in the presence of a holy God. What David doesn't understand is that when he prays for God to hide face, he's praying for the Cross. Something needs to come between God's holiness and my sin. Something needs to happen so that sinners, like David, can stand in God's presence and be completely unafraid. David couldn't have possibly known where the story of redemption is going, so he asks the only thing that makes sense to him, "Lord, won't you please hide your face from my sin, because if you don't, I'm doomed."

The Cross was what David was pleading for. The Cross provides our covering. The Cross provides our cleansing. The Cross makes it possible for God to accept us fully without compromising his holiness. The Cross allows me to be accepted, not based on what I've done, but based on what Christ has done. The Cross allows sinners to be declared righteous! Christ covers us, so that as God looks on us he sees the perfect righteousness of Christ that's been given to our account.

Isn't it amazing that the the life, death, and resurrection of Christ means that sinners no longer have to be afraid of God's face? Christ has answered David's prayer. He took the Father's rejection so that we'd be able to stand in the Father's presence and be unafraid. So we don't have to ask God to hide his face and we don't have to search for ways to hide from God. Jesus has made it possible for sinners to stand before a holy God and rest until the sin inside those sinners is no more.

Psalm 51: The Amazing Grace of Self-Knowledge

I have counseled people for many years and one of the things that has impressed me over and over again is how self-deluded people (including me) can be. It's amazing how hard it is to see ourselves with accuracy. It's been my experience over and over again that we see the other person with a fairly high degree of accuracy, but can't seem to see ourselves with the same precision. I've had angry people get quite angry when I would suggest that they were angry! I've had controlling people posit that they thought themselves to be quite serving. I've watched vengeful people seem unaware that they lived to settle the score with others. I've worked with men who are eaten with the cancer of lust, tell me that sex wasn't a big struggle for them. I've had bitter wives give me the litany of ways they thought that they were loving their husbands. I've counseled a gymnasium full of teenagers who really did think that they were wiser than the surrounding authorities. I've sat with ungracious and legalistic pastors and heard them talk of their allegiance to a theology of grace.

Why are we so deluded? The reasons are many. We make the mistake of comparing ourselves to the diluted standards of the surrounding culture; standards that fall far below God's will for us. We also make the mistake of comparing ourselves to others; always able to find someone who appears to be more sinful than we are. We spend so much time arguing for a righteousness that it leaves little time to reflect on the reality of remaining sin. Add to all of this the basic nature of sin. Sin is deceitful. It hides, it defends itself, it wears masks, it bends its shape into more acceptable forms, it points fingers of blame, and it even questions the goodness of God. Sin always first deceives the person who is sinning the sin.

So, since sin is by its very nature deceitful, we need help in order to see ourselves with accuracy. Another way to say this is that personal spiritual insight is the result of community. We don't get it all by ourselves. We need ministry of two communities in order to see ourselves with the kind of surgical clarity with which David speaks in this Psalm. First, we need community with God. He's the ultimate opener of blind eyes. Through the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit we begin to see ourselves with accuracy and become willing to own up to what we see. But the Spirit uses instruments and this is where the second community comes in. God employs people in the task of giving sight to other people. For David, that was the prophet Nathan. With the skill of a seasoned pastor, he got inside of David's defenses and told him a story designed to engage his heart and stimulate his conscience. Through the words of this wise man and through the lens of this simple story, David's heart broke as he saw who he was and what he'd done.

There's a whole lot of people who are blindly stumbling their way through life. But their blindness is made even more powerful and dangerous by the fact they they tend to be blind to their blindness. A physically blind person is never blind to his blindness. He's immediately confronted with the fact that he's unable to see and he gives himself a whole catalog of ways of living inside the boundaries set by this profound physical deficiency. The scary reality is that one of the things that keeps spiritually blind people blind is that they're not only convinced that they see, but they're convinced that they see quite well! And so they don't seek help for their blindness. Why see help for a condition from which you're convinced you don't suffer?

So, you know whenever you encounter a person who sees him or herself with precision, clarity, and accuracy, you know for sure that grace has visited them. It's only God's grace that can enable blind eyes to see and it's only God's grace that can produce in us the willingness to accept what we've seen.

From the very first words of Psalm 51, you know you're reading the words of a man of unusual personal insight. From the beginning you know you're listening to a man who's humble and clear. People simply don't usually talk about themselves with such clear and self-indicting words. And so you know this man's been visited by a God of grace and one of his tools of grace, because sinners simply don't arrive at this kind of clarity alone.

Psalm 51: Forgiveness

If the universe wasn't ruled by a God of forgiveness, there would be no Psalm 51. It would be an act of self-destructive irrationality to stand before the One who controls it all and admit that you've willingly rebelled against his commands; but that's exactly what David does. He embraces the two realities that if understood and acted upon, will fundamentally transform your life. The narrative of redemption, that is the core content of Scripture, is the story of the interaction of these two themes. They provide the sound and smoke of the drama of life in this fallen world.

These two themes are, in fact, the major themes of every system of philosophy or religion. They come to us in two questions that somehow, someway, everyone asks. What is people's biggest most abiding problem? (Or, why do people do the things they do?) And, how will this problem ever get solved? (Or, how does lasting change in a person take place?) The thing that separates one worldview from another is that each worldview gives a different answer to each question.

By coming to God with humble words of confession, David demonstrates that he's embraced the unique answers that God (in his Word) gives to these universally asked questions. What's wrong with people? The Bible is very clear and very simple; the answer is sin. The Bible directs us to look inside of ourselves and not outside. The Bible calls us to admit that we are our greatest problem. And the Bible chronicles how sin within distorts our thoughts, desires, choices, actions, and words. But the Bible does more. It shows us how sin puts us at war with God. It demonstrates to us how sin causes us to want to be self-sovereigns and our own law givers. Scripture pictures what happens when we try to set up our own little claustrophobic kingdoms of one, rather than living for the kingdom of God. The Bible requires each of us to accept, at the most practical of levels, that we have profound moral flaws within us that we can do absolutely nothing in ourselves to solve.

But David's words of confession prove that David has embraced something else. He comes because he really does believe that there's hope and help to be found. He knows that admitting sin is not a death sentence. He knows that, although he can't solve his greatest problem, there's a place where the solution can be found. The only hope for sinners is forgiveness. To put it even more forcefully, the only hope for sinners is that the One who's in charge of the universe is a God of forgiveness. The bottom line is this; if God is unwilling to forgive, we're doomed. But he's willing! The story that winds its way across the pages of the Bible is a story of God's active willingness to forgive. He controls the forces of nature and directs human history to bring the universe to the point where the Final Priest, the Sacrificial Lamb, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ comes to earth, lives a perfect life, and gives himself as a sacrifice for our sins. All of this is done so that our deepest problem (sin) will find its only solution (forgiveness) without God compromising his character, his plan, or his law in any way.

The content of the Bible is the worst of news (you're a sinner) and the best of news (God is willing to forgive). It's only when you're ready to admit the worst that you then open yourself up to what's best. All of this means that you and I don't have to live in denial and avoidance. We don't have to play self-excusing logic games with ourselves. We don't have to give ourselves to systems of penance and self-atonement. We don't have to point the finger of blame at others. We don't have to perform our way into God's favor. No, we can come to him again and again just as we are, flawed, broken, and unclean and know that he'll never turn away anyone who comes to him and says, "I have sinned, won't you in your grace forgive?"

There's no sin too great, there's no act too heinous, and there's no person beyond hope. The offer is open and free. There's no requirement of age, gender, ethnicity, location, or position. God welcomes you to come. He only asks that you admit your sin and you seek what can only be found in him, forgiveness. He is able, he is willing, and with grace that we will maybe never be able to fully grasp, he says, "Come."

Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears
The Bleeding Sacrifice in my behalf appears
Before the throne my surety stands my name is written on His hands

He ever lives above, for me to intercede
His all redeeming love, His precious blood to plead
His blood atoned for all our race And sprinkles now the throne of grace

Five bleeding wounds He bears, received on Calvary
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry “Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One
He cannot turn away, the presence of His Son
His Spirit answers to the blood And tells me I am born of God

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear
With confidence I now draw nigh And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

(Arise, My Soul, Arise by Charles Wesley)

Psalm 51: Broken Bones

I must admit it, I have a low tolerance for difficulty. I am a project-oriented person, so I tend to have an agenda for every day. I know exactly what I want to accomplish and what a successful day will look like. I don't want to have to deal with interruptions or obstructions. I want the situations, locations, and people around me to willingly participate in my plan. All of this means that it's counter-intuitive for me to view difficulty as something beneficial. I've little time and tolerance for "broken bones."

My problem is that my Redeemer is the redeemer of broken bones. Maybe you're thinking, "Paul, what in the world are you talking about?" "Broken bones" is a physical metaphor for the pain of redemption. In case you've not noticed, God's work of delivering you from your addiction to self and sin and molding you into his image, isn't always a comfortable process. Sometimes, to make our crooked hearts straight, God has to break some bones. I gotta confess, I don't like broken bones.

I love the way the prophet Amos talks about this in Amos 4. It's a bit of a disconcerting passage until you wrap you brain around what the prophet is saying about why God is doing what he's doing. Listen to the "broken bones" phraseology of this passage.

"I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
and lack of bread in all your places."

"I also withheld rain from you
when there were yet three months to harvest;
I would send rain to one city
one field would have rain,
and the field on which it did not rain would wither;
so two or three cities would wander to another city
to drink water and would not be satisfied."

"I struck you with blight and mildew;
your many gardens and your vineyards,
your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured."

"I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;
I killed your young men with the sword,
and carried away your horses,
and I made the stench of your camp
go up into your nostrils."

"I overthrew some of you,
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were as a branch plucked out of the burning."

Now, you have to ask, "Why would a God of love do this to the people he says he loves?" Well, there's a phrase that's repeated after every stanza of this scary poem that's the answer to this question. Pay attention to these words, "yet you did not return to me." These acts that seem like the product of vengeful anger are actually acts of redemptive love. You see, in doing these things God is actually fulfilling his covenantal commitment to satisfy the deepest needs of his people. And what is it that they need most? The answer is simple and clear throughout all of Scripture; more than anything else they need him!

But this is exactly where the rub comes in. Although our greatest personal need is to live in a life-shaping relationship with the Lord, as sinners we have hearts that are prone to wander. We very quickly forget him and begin to put some aspect of the creation in his place. We very soon forget that he's to be the center of everything we do, and we put ourselves in the center of our universe. We easily lose sight of the fact that our hearts were made for him, and also that deep sense of well-being that all of us seek can only be found in him. We rapidly forget the powerfully addicting dangers of sin and think we can step over God's boundaries without moral cost. So, God in the beauty of his redeeming love will "break our bones." He'll bring us through difficulty, want, suffering, sadness, loss, and grief in order to ensure that we are living in pursuit of the one thing that we desperately need, him.

It's time for us to embrace, teach, and encourage others with the theology of uncomfortable grace. As long as sin still lives inside of us, producing in each of us a propensity to forget and wander, God's grace will come to us in uncomfortable forms. You may be wondering where the grace of God is in your life, when actually you're getting it. But it's not the grace of release or relief, no, you're getting the uncomfortable grace of rescue, relationship, and refinement.

So, if you are God's child, resist the temptation to doubt his goodness in the middle of your stress. It's time for us to stop thinking that our difficulty is a sign of his unfaithfulness and inattention. If you are God's child and you still recognize the battle of sin within, then those difficulties are sure signs of rescuing redemptive love. God isn't withholding his grace from you. No, you're experiencing uncomfortable grace; grace that's willing to break bones in order for your heart to be true. This grace is unwilling to give up. This grace won't turn it's back. This grace won't accept the status quo. This grace won' compromise or grow cynical. God hasn't forgotten you. He's loving you with real love and he's giving you real grace. And he'll continue to do so until you're finally free of your propensity to wander away. Now that's real love!

Psalm 51: Celebrating Redemption

We should be the most celebratory community on earth. There should be a deep and abiding joy that's the back-beat of everything we do. Each of us should carry around with us a deep sense of privilege for who we've become and what we've been given in Christ. We'll spend eternity celebrating redemption, but there's something wrong if the rehearsal for destiny's celebration isn't beginning now.

It should be in our minds, it should flood our hearts, it should be constantly on our lips; we have been redeemed! Chosen out of the mass of humanity, forgiven by the sacrifice of Jesus, accepted into God's family, the Holy Spirit now living inside of us, God working to empower us against and to deliver us from sin, the great paradigmatic truths of the biblical narrative now open to us, the mutual-ministry fellowship of the body of Christ our regular experience, and a guaranteed future in God's presence and free from sin and struggle. We've been redeemed! The scope and breadth of it boggles the mind. It's almost too much for our hearts to take in. Given what we couldn't deserve, love in the middle of our rebellion, and given acceptance we could never earn. We've been redeemed! We've been redeemed! We've been redeemed!

Unlike the rest of creation, human beings are good at celebration. Last night I sat looking out an eight-floor window over the Philadelphia Art Museum and watched the annual 4th of July fireworks display. It was a fittingly celebratory end to a two week celebration of our nation's birth that Philadelphia calls, "Welcome America." Welcome indeed! Welcome to remember the beginnings of the freedoms you now enjoy. Welcome to remember the patriots who gave their hearts, minds, and lives to secure this freedom. Welcome to walk the streets and enter the buildings where American freedom took it's shape. And welcome to days of celebration with others who're reflecting, remembering, and recognizing the freedom that now shapes their daily lives. National freedom is a thing worth celebrating, as is another year of life, or the end of the harvest season, or twenty-five years of successful work. But all of these appropriate celebrations pale in comparison to the meaning and majesty of the reality of redemption that should flood the mind of every believer every day.

Hymn writers get it right as they employ the full elasticity of human language to pen songs of celebration. How about this old gospel hymn?

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am.

Refrain

Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.

Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.

I think of my blessèd Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long:
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.

I know there’s a crown that is waiting,
In yonder bright mansion for me,
And soon, with the spirits made perfect,
At home with the Lord I shall be.

Or what Christian does not know these celebratory words?

O for a thousand tongues to sing
my dear Redeemer's praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim
and spread through all the earth abroad
the honors of thy Name.

Jesus! the Name that charms our fears
and bids our sorrows cease;
'tis music in the sinner's ears,
'tis life and health and peace.

He speaks, and listening to his voice,
new life the dead receive;
the mournful broken hearts rejoice,
the humble poor believe.

Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb,
your loosened tongues employ;
ye blind, behold, your Savior comes;
and leap, ye lame, for joy!

Glory to God and praise and love
be now and ever given
by saints below and saints above
the Church in earth and heaven.

Or what about this contemporary song of celebration?

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev'ry bitter thought,
Ev'ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
"Finished!" the vict'ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

FINAL CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God - slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

What will you celebrate today? That raise you've been working toward? That new car you've dreamed of for two years? The local team that finally won a championship? An anniversary? A birthday? The first steps of that toddler? The lack of traffic on the way to work? The deli sandwich that was better than ever? The new shoes that you thought you'd never find? Your new iphone? If you're a human being, you're a celebrator. The question is, in all of your celebrations, do you turn again and again to celebrated the most amazing, the most magnificent, the most mind-bending thing that a human being could be chosen to experience; redemption?

You have been redeemed! You have been redeemed! You have been redeemed! Now, go out and celebrate!

"O lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise." (Psalm 51:`5)

Psalm 51: Ready, Willing and Waiting

Lord,
I think I can honestly say
I am ready, willing, and waiting.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to see my sin as you see it.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to acknowledge that I am my biggest problem.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to run from wrong.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to seek your help.
Ready, willing and waiting
for my mind to be clear.
Ready, willing, and waiting
for my heart to be clean.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to acknowledge what you see.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to rest in your compassion.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to hide in your unfailing love.
I am ready, willing and waiting
to be washed by you.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to admit that I acted against you.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to prove that you are right and just.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to confess that my problem is from birth.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to examine within.
I am ready, willing, and waiting
to be whiter than snow.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to hear joy and gladness.
Ready, willing, and waiting
for brokenness to give way to joy.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to have a steadfast heart.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to celebrate your grace once more.
I am ready, willing, and waiting
to teach others your ways.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to help them turn back to you.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to have you save me from me.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to sing songs of your righteousness.
I am ready, willing, and waiting
to declare your praise.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to bring the sacrifice of a broken heart.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to see your people prosper.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to see you worshipped as is your due.
But, I am also
Ready, willing, and waiting
to be protected by your love.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to be held by your grace.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to be hidden in your mercy.
Ready, willing, and waiting
to be defended by your power.
Because I know
that I won't always be
ready, willing, and waiting.

Psalm 51: Reductionism

There's loads of knowledge to be found, but wisdom is rare commodity. Why? Because wisdom is one of sin's first casualties. Sin reduces all of us to fools. You see the empirical evidence of the foolishness of sin on almost every page of Scripture. You see foolishness in full operation in the tragic story of David and Bathsheba. This is why David says, "Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place."

You read the story of David's sin and you say to yourself, "What was he thinking? Did he really believe that he'd get away with this? Did he completely forget who he was? Did he think that God was going to stand idly by and let this happen?" But David is not some extreme case of foolishness gone wild; you see evidence of the same foolishness in each of our lives daily. The components of the foolishness of sin still corrupt and interrupt our lives again and again. People could say of us again and again, "What was he thinking? What was she thinking?"

What does foolishness look like? Here are four of its most significant aspects.

1. The Foolishness of Self-centeredness. We were created to live for something, someone bigger than ourselves. We were designed to live with, for, and through the Lord. God is meant to be the motivation and hope of everything we do. His pleasure, his honor, and his will are the things for which we are meant to live. But the foolishness of sin really does cause us to reduce our lives down to the size and shape of our lives. Our living has no greater purpose than self-satisfaction and self-fulfillment. Does this sound harsh? Well, ask yourself, why do you ever get impatient with others, why do you ever say things you shouldn't say, why do you get discouraged with your circumstances, why do you give way to anger, or give in to self-pity? The answer is that, like me, you want your own way and when things don't go your way or people are in your way, you lash out in anger or you turn inward in discouragement. Our problem isn't just the difficulties of life in this fallen world, but the foolishness that we bring to them, that causes us to trouble our own trouble.

2. The Foolishness of Self-deception. We're all very good at making ourselves feel good about what God says is bad. We're all very skilled at recasting what we've done, so what was wrong doesn't look so wrong to us. I'll tell myself that I didn't really lash out in anger, no, I was speaking as one of God's prophets. I'll tell myself that that second look wasn't lust, I'm simply a man who enjoys beauty. I'll tell myself that I'm not craving power, I'm just exercising God-given leadership gifts. Foolishness is able to do something dangerous. It's able to look at wrong and see right. Had David been able to see himself with accuracy and if he'd been able to see his sin for what it really was, it's hard to imagine that he would have continued to travel down that pathway.

3. The Foolishness of Self-sufficiency. We all like to think of ourselves as more independently capable than we actually are. We weren't created to be independent, autonomous, or self-sufficient. We were made to live in a humble, worshipful, and loving dependency upon God and in a loving and humble inter-dependency with others. Our lives were designed to be community projects. Yet, the foolishness of sin tells us that we've got all that we need within ourselves. So we settle for relationships that never go beneath the casual. We defend ourselves when the people around us point out a weakness or a wrong. We hold our struggles within, not taking advantage of the resources that God has given us. The lie of the Garden was that Adam and Eve could be like God; independent and self-sufficient. We still tend to buy into that lie.

4. The Foolishness of Self-righteousness. Why don't we celebrate grace more? Why aren't we more amazed by the wonderful gifts that are ours as the children of God? Why don't we live with a deep sense of need, coupled with a deep sense of gratitude how each need has been met by God's grace. Well, the answer is clear. You'll never celebrate grace as much as you should when you think you're more righteous than you actually are. Grace is the plea of sinners. Mercy is hope of the wicked. Acceptance is the prayer of those who know that they could never do anything to earn it. But the foolishness of sin makes me righteous in my own eyes. When I tell my stories, I become more the hero than I ever was. I look wiser in my narratives than I could have been. In my view of my history, my choices were better than what they actually were. Often it isn't my sin that keeps me from coming to God. No, it's my righteousness that keeps me from him. Sadly I don't come to him because I don't think I need the grace that can only be found in him. I don't seek the rescue of that grace because I'm right in my own eyes.

Sin really does reduce us all to fools, but happily the story doesn't end there. The One who is the ultimate source of everything that's good, true, trustworthy, right, and wise is also a God of amazing grace. You don't get freed from your foolishness by education or experience. You don't get wisdom by research and analysis. You get wisdom by means of a relationship with the One who is Wisdom. The radical claim of the Bible is that wisdom isn't first a book, or a system, or a set of commands or principles. No, wisdom is a person and his name is Jesus Christ. When you and I are graced into acceptance with him, we're drawn into a personal relationship with Wisdom, and Wisdom begins a life-long process of freeing us from the stronghold that the foolishness of sin has on us. We're freer than we were yesterday, but we aren't yet completely free. Imagine, there will be a day when your every thought, desire, choice, action, and word will be fundamentally wise! Because of Wisdom's grace, that day is coming.

It makes such sense that a repentant man (David) would reflect on his need of wisdom. Sin, in reducing us to fools, causes us to do foolish things, even though we think we're wise. And for this we need more than information, education, and experience. We need exactly what we find in Christ; grace. Wisdom is the product of grace, there is simply nowhere else it can be found.

Psalm 51: Sacrifices

Perhaps
if I give you
some of my time.
Perhaps
if I give you
some of my strength.
Perhaps
if I give you
some of my things.
Perhaps
if I give you
some of my thoughts.
Perhaps
if I give you
some of my success.
Perhaps
if I give you
some of my relationships.
Surely
these sacrifices
will bring you delight.
Surely
these offerings
will bring you joy.
I'm quite willing
to give a tithe
I'm quite willing
to interrupt
my schedule.
I'm quite willing
to volunteer
to serve.
I'm quite willing
to do
my part.
But I get the sense
that you're not satisfied
with a piece of me.
I get the sense
that momentary giving
momentary service
momentary sacrifice
momentary ministry
the momentary turning
of my heart to you
will not satisfy you.
But I must admit
that I'm afraid
of what you require.
I'm afraid of a
broken spirit.
I'm afraid of a
contrite heart.
I'm afraid to be
crushed by your grace.
So I try to
distract you
with my service
distract you
with my time
distract you
with my money.
Deep inside
I know what you want.
Deep inside
I'm sure of what you require.
I'm afraid
because I want to hold onto
my heart.
I want
to give it to other things.
I want to
pursue pleasures
outside of you.
I'm afraid
to give you
what would satisfy you.
I'm afraid of a
broken heart.
So I regularly offend you
with empty offerings
and vacuous praise.
Hoping
to my own destruction
that you'll be satisfied.

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51:17)

Psalm 51: Appealing to God's Glory

You're always in a safe place when you're appealing to God's glory. This is exactly what David does in Psalm 51:18,19; "In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build the walls of Jerusalem." Why? "Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar." David is essentially saying, "God bless your people because if you do, they'll live for your glory." This is what all truly biblical prayer will do. Now, we often reduce prayer to a laundry list of self-focused needs in which we ask God to exercise his power for the sake of our comfort or for the purpose of self-glory. You know the requests:

God give me wisdom at work (so I can make more money and acquire more power).

God alleviate my financial woes (so I have more money to spend on the pleasure and possessions that will make me happy).

God help my daughter to be more respectful (so that my evenings will be more peaceful so I can get the things done that I want to get done).

God work in the life of my husband (so I can finally experience the marriage of my dreams).

God give me a better relationship with my neighbor (so he will like me enough to make his dog quit trampling my flower beds).

God please heal my body (so that I can do the physical things that I love to do).

So much of our prayer has nothing to do with the glory of God. Regrettably, in much of our prayer we're actually asking God to endorse our pursuit of a whole catalog of self-focused false glories. For God to be willing to do that would not only mean a denial of who he is, but it will also mean our destruction.

But perhaps you're thinking, "Paul, it doesn't seem loving for God to be so focused on his own glory. How does it help me to have God's zeal for his own glory be greater than his zeal for anything else?" This is a very good question and worthy of an answer.

First, don't fall into evaluating the character of God as you'd evaluate the character of a human being. God is not a man and cannot be judged by the standards that he's set for human beings. For a human to be obsessed by his own glory would be a horrendous spirit of pride and self-aggrandizement. But not so with God. He's a being of a different kind. He's in a position unparalleled in the universe. To judge God by the laws he's set for people is like judging a poodle by goldfish standards. They are different kinds of creatures. The goldfish was designed to live under water. If you attempt to apply that standard to your poodle, it will drown quickly!

So, it is right, good, and beneficial for God to find his greatest pleasure in his own glory simply because he is God. It's important for you to understand the logic of what you have just read. If God were to deny his own glory, he would by that act cease to be God. To be God, he must be above and beyond every created thing. Willingness to subjugate himself to anything other than himself would cause him to no longer be Lord over all. God's zeal for his glory really is the hope of the universe. You see, the hope of everything that's been created is that the pure, holy, wise and good plan of God would finally and ultimately win. This is the only way in which all that's been broken by sin will someday be restored. If God would forsake his glory (and therefore, his glorious purposes) all of his promises would have less value than the paper on which they were printed and the hopes for salvation of every sinner would be dashed. You see, in delighting in his own glory, calling us to live for his glory, and enabling us to do so, God frees us from our self-destructive addiction to self-glory and the endless catalog of false glories that comes with it.

So, God's unshakable commitment to his own glory is the most loving thing he could ever do for us. It's what redeems us from us and breaks our bondage to all the things in life that we wrongly think will give us life, but only lead to emptiness and ultimately death.

So when you pray, appeal to God's glory as David did. When you do this you're not only submitting your heart to God, but you're asking him to love you with the kind of liberating love that only he can give you. Each time you pray this way you celebrate your freedom as a child of God, and you grow in your ability to recognize the difference between GLORY and glory.

Psalm 51: Sermon on the Mount (vs.6, 10)

Confession results in deeper personal insight. Further confession leads to greater insight. This is one of the graces of confession. You see this spiritual dynamic operating in the life of David in Psalm 51. This man, who was so completely blinded by his own lust, that he wasn't only able to use his God-given position of political power to take another man's wife, but also able to put a contract out on her husband and have him killed, is now not only able to see his behavioral wrongs, but the heart behind them as well. Whenever anyone is able to see himself with this level of clarity, you know that God's grace is operating in his life.

Hear David's words, "Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place." David is recognizing a new awareness. He is acknowledging a new sightedness. He understands what God is working on.

You and I will only ever be holy by God's definition, if we put the moral fences where God puts them. We tend to put the fences at the boundary of behavior. For example, rather than telling our children the importance of a respectful heart and the issues of heart that cause us to not respect others as we should, we instruct our children to use titles of respect when they're relating to others. Now there's nothing wrong with this as far as it goes. The problem is that enforcing certain behaviors won't create a spirit of respectfulness. A child, who's mad at his teacher for an assignment she's given may say, "Whatever you say Mrs. Smith!" in a tone that's anything but respectful. The teacher immediately knows that the child has used a title of respect to tell her that he doesn't respect her at all, but to tell her that in a way that won't get him into trouble!

This is where Christ's teaching, from the "Sermon on the Mount," is so helpful. Christ draws the fences in much closer. He calls for us to fence our hearts because he knows that it's only when we fence the heart that we'll willingly and successfully stay inside God-appointed behavioral fences. So he says, "You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:27, 28)

Consider the importance of what Christ does here. He isn't adding to the Seventh Commandment. No, he's interpreting it for us. He's telling us what the intention and extent of the command has always been. The commandments all address fundamental issues of the heart, or as David says, "the inmost place." The commandments not only depict God's claim over our behavior, but more fundamentally God's ownership over our hearts. But there's something else of importance here. God knows what lust lusts for. Lust doesn't lust for more lust. Lust lusts for the physical experience of the thing that's the object of the lust. A heart controlled by sexual lust won't be satisfied with better and more graphic fantasies. No, a lustful heart craves the actual experience and will only be satisfied when it's actually experienced the thing for which it lusts. This is why it never works to put the fences at the boundary of behavior. Even if I've placed clear fences there, I'll cut through them or climb over them if I haven't first fenced my heart.

Now again David speaks for all of us and his words are so echoed by Christ that it almost appears as if Christ was thinking of David and Bathsheba when he spoke these words.

Have you fenced your heart? Have you tried to stay inside of behavioral boundaries only to have climbed over them again and again? Go and read the wisdom of the "Sermon on the Mount" (found in Matthew 5-7) and ask God to "teach you wisdom in the inmost place." By God's grace, determine to fight the battle of thought and desire, knowing full well that it's only when you win this battle that you can be successful in the battle of behavior. And rest assured that when you fight this battle you aren't fighting alone, but your Lord wages war on your behalf.

Psalm 51: God's Pleasure

I must admit
I am embarrassed
by
what gives me
pleasure.
It doesn't take
much
to make me
smile.
I get
real pleasure
from
a good steak
nice chocolate
a comfortable
bed.
I want the joy
of
cold soda
and
hot tea.
I want the bathroom
to
be empty when
I need it.
I want the streets
I drive on
to
be free of other
drivers.
I want people
to
respect my opinions
and
validate my plans.
I want my wife
to
be satisfied
with me as
I am.
I want
my bills all
paid
and plenty of money
to
do the pleasurable
things
that make me
happy.
But God
isn't like
me.
His pleasures
aren't a sad
catalog
of
low-grade
idolatries.
His desires
aren't shaped
by
ravenous self-focus.
He
doesn't
live
in a perpetual state
of
self-absorbed
discontent.
His pleasures
are never
regrettable
ugly
or
unholy.
When
God smiles
his reason
is holy
and his purpose
is
pure.
He finds
great pleasure
in his glory
and
great joy
when
the repentant
turn
from the pursuit
of
their own glory and
turn
toward his.
He has
great pleasure
in
the success
of
his plan
and finds
satisfaction
in seeing
his children
turn
from their pleasure
to
live for
his.
Someday
by his grace
the pleasures
that give me
pleasure
will be
the things that
please God.
Until then
my
hope is in the
fact
that he finds
delight
in rescuing those
who
have been led
astray
by their pleasures
because
once more today
I'm
going to need
that rescue.
And I'll need
it
every day until
my
deepest pleasures
are nowhere to be found
in
the creation
and only to be found
in
the Creator.

Psalm 51: Righteous Judgment

"...so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment." What an interesting thing for a man who's confessing sin to say! Why would David be talking about God's justice? Now, it makes sense when you have the sense to confess, to remind God of his mercy, but to stand before him and remind him of his justice is another thing all together.

Let me suggest that there are two ways that the justice of God should comfort we sinners. First, his justice means that his assessment of me is accurate. It isn't colored or slanted by prejudice or bias of any kind. It isn't shaped by any kind of hidden personal agenda. God's assessment isn't weakened by favoritism or the cynicism of previous experience. God's view of me is pure and accurate in every way. What he says about me is absolutely true. Every judgment he would make of wrong attitude, thought, desire, choice, word, or action, is valid and true.

Unlike my experience in this broken world, I don't have to fear that God will wrongly associate me with some group, or have his view of me colored by a grudge, or have his perspective on me colored by irritation or impatience. I can rest assured that God's view of me is trustworthy in every way. And because God's view of me is untainted by sin, it's clearly more reliable than any view that I'd have of myself.

Second, the way that God responds to me as Judge is right and pure as well. God's discipline of me is without personal bias. It isn't weakened by anger or impatience. His justice is never distorted because he's lost his temper or is tired of dealing with me. To add to this, since he isn't only just, but merciful, loving, and kind as well, God's justice is always restrained and tempered by these things. He's a God of mercy who meets out justice. He disciplines us in love. His kindness colors how he responds to the sins of his children.

The way that God exercises his power is without blemish. He isn't like the leaders we're used to, who use power for personal control or privilege. He isn't like a leader who has an inner circle of sycophants that he treats differently than he does everyone else. He doesn't use his power to place people in his debt or to use situations to his advantage. His justice is the benevolent justice of a holy king.

So, I can place myself in the hands of the justice of the one who sees me with accuracy and deals with me righteously. But there's even something more here. Unlike David who looked forward to the coming of his future "son," the Lord Jesus Christ, we look back on his life on our behalf. We stand before God unafraid, not because we're acceptable to him, but because his justice has been satisfied by the death of Jesus. So, God is to us both the One who's just and the One who justifies! He can forgive my rebellion and sin without compromising the purity of his justice in any way!

I don't have to manipulate God's view of me.

I don't have to run from him in fear.

I don't have to rationalize away my wrongs.

I don't have to work to shift the blame to someone else.

I don't have to put forward false pretenses.

I don't have to marshal arguments for my acceptability.

I don't have to try to buy my way into his favor.

No, I can be who I am and what I am and stand in the light of his righteousness without fear, because Jesus has taken my sin and suffered my stripes. So the One who is my Judge is also my Justifier. There is rest! There is hope!

Psalm 51: The Grace of a Clean Heart

"Create in me a clean heart." Could there be a more fundamental prayer request than this? Could there be anything more essential than this? Could there be any hope more beautiful than to believe that someday your heart and mine will be totally free from impurity of any kind? This is the most radical claim of all the claims of the Gospel. This is the epicenter of what the cross of Jesus Christ alone can produce. This is the thing that the keeping of the law could never do. Sin is a tragedy of the heart. Redemption is about the fundamental reorientation and restoration of the heart. That David would pray such a prayer not only tells you much about his own sense of need, but also tells how great his faith is in the transforming power of the grace of God.

Let's think about the theology of the heart that's behind David's request. Human beings have been made by God in two parts, the inner man and the outer man. The outer man is your physical self, your body. The body is the house you've been given for your heart. It is your "earth suit." Someday you and I will get a new suit. (Some of us are particularly relieved that this is true!) The inner man is given many names; mind, emotion, will, soul, spirit, to name a few. All of these terms are collected into one big basket term, heart. The heart is the control center of the human being. It's the center of your emotions, cognition, and desires. The heart is discussed in over 900 passages of Scripture. It's one of the Bible's most well developed themes. Essentially what the Bible says is that the heart is the steering wheel of the human being. The heart controls, shapes, and directs everything you choose, say, and do. What controls the heart will therefore exercise unavoidable control over your behavior.

What does this have to do with David's courageous request? David understands something that's fundamental to repentance. It's that sin isn't first a matter of behavior, it's first a matter of the heart. That's why Jesus said that to look at a woman and lust after her, carries the moral value of the physical act of adultery. You see, since your heart guides your actions and words, if you allow your heart to lust, it won't be long before you commit the physical act.

Or we could look at the other side of the coin. Worship is not first an activity. No, worship is first a position of the heart. It's only when my heart esteems God above everything else, that I'll serve him with my time, energy, money, and strength. Impurity of the heart is not primarily about bad thoughts or bad desires. No, impurity of the heart is really about love for something in the creation replacing love that I was only ever meant to have for the Creator. And when I love something in creation more than I love God I'll think, desire, say, and do bad things.

Now, what all of this means is that our biggest, most abiding, most life-shaping problem exists inside of us and not outside of us. What we actually need to be rescued from is us. What needs to be transformed in our lives is not so much our situation and relationships (although they need transformation as well). What really needs to be transformed are our hearts. What we need are hearts that are clean, that are single-focused in their allegiance to God and His glory. We need grace to transform what we love, what we crave, and what we serve. And what's the bright and golden promise of the cross of Jesus Christ? It's a new heart!

Here's the gorgeous message of the Gospel. Even though I've bowed again and again to an endless catalog of God replacements, even though I've loved myself more than I've loved God, even though I've rebelled against God's kingdom and sought to set up my own kingdom, God comes to me in grace and wraps arms of love around me and begins a process that will result in the total transformation of the core of my personhood, the heart. He won't rest and He won't relent until He's created in you and me a completely pure heart!

So we wake up every morning knowing that by His grace our hearts are purer than they once were, and by His grace they'll be purer than they are today. So with thankfulness for the transformation that's already taken place and with the courage of hope of the transformation that's yet to come, we wake up, look to heaven and say with David, "Create in me a clean heart."

Psalm 51: The Hardening of the Heart

Could there be a scarier spiritual dynamic than the hardening of the heart? Could anything be sadder than to watch a warm and tender man become cold and hard? Could anything be more spiritually dangerous than the capacity of a sinner to grow quite comfortable with doing what would have once assaulted his conscience? What's worse than coming to a place where you actually have the capacity to feel right about what God says is wrong? What could be more threatening than the thought that, as sinners, we have an amazing capacity to deceive ourselves? David's story is a case study of this kind of danger. David prays for a broken heart because, in his confession, he's realized that his heart has become hard.

When you read the story in 2 Samuel 11 and the words of confession in Psalm 51, you can't help but ask, "How did David get from the anointed King of Israel to a murdering adulterer? How could this good man end up in such a bad place? Such is the dangerous deceitfulness of sin and the disaster of the hardening of the heart. Here's the thing we all need to remember; sin isn't an event, no, it's a progressive movement of the heart that results in disobedient behavior.

Let's consider David's story. David inadvertently saw Bathsheba bathing. The fact that he saw her wasn't sin, but what he did with what he saw began the process of sin. It's clear that David wasn't repulsed by the temptation. It's clear that he didn't seek God's help. Why is this clear? Because of what he does next. David sends a servant to try to find out who this woman is. This isn't the action of a man who's running away from temptation. David immediately begins to move toward what he knows is wrong and so in his heart he would have to be justifying what he was doing. David finds out that this woman he was lusting after was married. But again, he doesn't stop, he doesn't run. No, he uses his political power to bring her to the palace. What did David tell himself he was going to do next? How did he justify what he was about to do with a married woman?

At each point as you read the story you want to scream, "David, stop, don't do what you're thinking of doing!" But he doesn't stop. Upon bringing Bathsheba to the palace he has sexual relations with her. As you read the account, you find it hard to believe that this is the same man that Samuel anointed to be king because of the character of his heart. But the plot thickens as Bathsheba becomes pregnant. Once more, instead of the pregnancy awaking David from his self-deception, it rather becomes the occasion of even deeper and greater sin.

David does his best to use Uriah to cover what he has done. If he can get Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba then perhaps the pregnancy will be attributed to Uriah and David's sin will be hidden. But Uriah refuses to participate in David's scheme. So what David does next, in lust-driven anger, is hard to imagine even though by this time you know now that sin has a firm hold on him. David has his soldiers set up Uriah so that he'll die on the battlefield. And then David marries Bathsheba.

It's a tawdry and disgusting story, one you wouldn't read if it were a paperback at your local bookstore. But the story is helpful, for it pictures how sin is a progressive system of sinful desire and self-deception. It stands as a pointed warning to us all.

I know you're like me and you too would like to tell yourself that you're not like David, but you know you are. Like me, you too get attracted to things that are outside of the boundaries that God has set for you. Like me you're quite skilled at covering, minimizing, rationalizing, justifying, defending, or otherwise explaining away your sin. Like me, you don't always stop at the first warning that something is wrong. You permit yourself to step even closer to evil, telling yourself that you'll be okay. Like me, you allow yourself to meditate on things you should repudiate. Like me, you participate in the hardening of your own heart even as you tell yourself that you can handle it, that you'll be okay.

The physical acts of sin are not actually where the real action takes place. By this I don't mean that behavioral sin isn't sin. What I mean is that the real moral war of sin and obedience is fought on the turf of the heart. It's when the battle for the heart is lost that the battle of physical resistance to sin will be lost as well. When the heart become hard, the system of internal restraint that keeps one pure ceases to function as it was designed to function, and we say "yes" to what God has called us to say "no" to.

But there's hope for us. Jesus came to give sight to blind eyes. He came to release the captives from their prison. He came to give us new hearts. He came to break sin's dominion over us. He came so that we'd have the power to say, "No!" when temptation comes our way. He came so that we could live with open eyes and soft hearts. He came so that we could turn to him in confession and receive his forgiveness, just like David.

Psalm 51: Wisdom is a Person

Sin is all about foolishness. Sinners are fools who're able to convince themselves that they're wise. When I sin I convince myself that my way is better than God's way, that my thoughts are wiser than God's thoughts, that what I desire is better than what God has planned for me. Sin is all about how a fool is able to swindle himself into thinking that what's wrong is actually right.

Think of sin in its original form in that awful moment in the Garden. There would have been no disobedience if Adam and Eve had refused to listen to the voice of another counselor. What was this counselor seeking to get them to do? He was enticing them to question, if but for a moment, the wisdom of God. He was enticing them to think that he was wiser than Wisdom himself. And he was temping them to believe that they could be as wise as God.

Check out what Moses records as being one of the things that attracted Adam and Eve to the forbidden fruit. Here's what's said in Genesis 3:6b, "and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise." Now this phrase is worth unpacking.

You and I will never understand the full range of the temptation of Adam and Eve, David, or ourselves until we understand the fundamental nature of wisdom. Wisdom, in its purest form, is not an outline, it's not a theology, it's not a book, it's not a system of logic. Wisdom is a Person. You don't get wisdom by experience, research, or logical deduction. You don't get wisdom by education and experimentation. You get wisdom by means of a relationship to the One who is the source of everything that's wise, good and true. In talking of Christ in Colossians 2:3, Paul says that "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" are hidden in Christ.

Adam and Eve had all the wisdom they needed, no, not in their independent ability to figure themselves and life out, but in the relationship they had with Wisdom; a relationship that hadn't yet been tainted by sin. Tragically, they took the bait, turned their back on Wisdom, and received the exact opposite of what the snake had promised them; foolishness. This act of foolishness and disobedience began a storm of foolishness that has flooded humanity ever since.

No longer wise, now born into the world as fools, we all need to be rescued from ourselves. And yet, even though there's empirical evidence that we're fools (debt, addiction, obesity, conflict, anger, fear, discouragement, fear of man, etc...), we convince ourselves that we're wise and head confidently down pathways that lead to destruction and death. The way that seems wise to us isn't wise and the way that is wise looks to us to be the way of the fool. You can't argue us into wisdom, because every wise thing you would say is filtered through the grid of our own foolishness.

And so, we need what David needed. Blinded by his own false wisdom and able to take tragically foolish actions that would forever alter his life, David needed rescue. No, he didn't need rescue from Bathsheba. No, he didn't need rescue from the temptations that accompany positions of power. No, David need to be rescued from himself. He was held by the hands of his own foolishness. What David needed was Wisdom to come near and break David's hold on David. Like us, David needed the rescue of the Wisdom Redeemer. Then and only then would he be wise. Then and only then would he see, confess, and turn from the foolishness that had so deceived him.

Thankfully, the One who is Wisdom is also a God of grace. He delights in transforming the hearts of fools. He finds joy in gifting us with the wisdom that can only be found when He's in us and we're in Him.

Psalm 51: Hoping for a Broken Heart

I am too satisfied
with the things I say
the things I do
the attitudes
of heart
that shape my reactions
day
after
day
after day.
I too easily
accept
quick assessments
of my own righteousness
in situations
where I have been
anything but
righteous.
I am too skilled
at mounting
plausible arguments
structured
to make me feel okay
about what I think
what I desire
what I say
what I do.
I am too defensive
when a loved one
makes an attempt
to call me out
and suggest
for a moment
that what I
have decided
said
or done
is less than
godly.
I am too
comfortable
with the state of things
between
You and me
too relaxed
with the nature
of my love for You
too able to
minimize
my need for Your
grace.
In the recesses
of my private
world
there is so much
that is wrong
that I am able
to convince myself
is right.
There are attitudes there
that should not be.
There are words there
that should not be
spoken.
There are thoughts
that do not agree
with Your view
of me
and mine.
There are desires
that take me in a
different direction
than what You have planned
for me.
I make decisions
based more on what
I want
than on what
You will.
So I am hoping
for
wise eyes
that are able
to see through
the cloud of
self-righteousness
and see myself
as I actually
am.
I am praying
for
wise ears
that are able
to hear through
the background noise of
well used platitudes
and hear myself
with clarity.
And I am longing
for
a humble spirit
that is willing
to
accept and confess
what You reveal
as You break through
my defenses
and show me
to me.
I am hoping
for
a broken heart.

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51: 17)

Psalm 51: Emmanuel

You haven't really understood Psalm 51 until you have realized that every word of this penitential psalm cries for Jesus. Every promise embedded in this psalm looks for fulfillment in Jesus. Every need of Psalm 51 reaches out for help in Jesus. Every commitment of Psalm 51 honors Jesus. The sin that's at the heart of this psalm will only ever find its cure in the grace of Jesus.

Yes, Psalm 51 is a prayer of confession. And it's true that Psalm 51 is all about what true repentance produces in the heart and life of a man. Psalm 51 defines how true repentance always produces heartfelt worship. But more than anything else, Psalm 51 is Emmanuel's hymn. The forgiveness of Psalm 51 rests on the shoulders of the One whose name would be Emmanuel. The Jesus who would provide everything that David (and we) need took a glorious name. It is a name whose implications are almost too wonderful to grasp and too lofty to imagine. It's a name that summarizes everything the biblical narrative is about.

Genesis 1 reminds us that people were created for relationship with God. This was to be what separated us from the rest of creation and defined our lives. Genesis 3 chronicles the horror of people stepping out of the fellowship in pursuit of the vaporous hope of autonomy. The covenant promises of the Old Testament are God saying that he'll make a way for that fellowship to be restored. The cloud of glory in the holy place of the temple was a physical manifestation of God's presence with his people. All of these things were steps on a ladder that was leading to Emmanuel. The announcement of the angels to those bewildered shepherds was God's announcement that Emmanuel had come. The promise of the Spirit, fulfilled in the visible flames of Acts, declares that Emmanuel had come to stay. The hope of heaven is only understood when you grasp what it means to dwell in the presence of Emmanuel forever.

What is all of this about for you today? David's hope is your hope because David's confession is your confession. You will only get what God has given you when you understand that you need much more than a system of answers, what you actually need is a Redeemer. Why? Because only a Redeemer can rescue you from you! And so God didn't simply offer you legal forgiveness. Praise him that he did that. But he offered you something much more profound. He offered you himself. He knew that your need was so great that it wouldn't be enough to simply forgive you. He literally needed to unzip you and get inside you or you would never be what you were supposed to be and do what you were supposed to do.

And so the whole redemptive story marches toward Emmanuel, the Redeemer who would destroy sin's dominion in our hearts by making our hearts the place where he, in his power, wisdom, and glory would dwell.

So pray Emmanuel prayers. Sing Emmanuel songs. Exercise Emmanuel faith. Live in Emmanuel obedience. Be motivated by Emmanuel glory. And be glad the hope of hopes has come! Emmanuel is with you now and forever!

Psalm 51: Enough

Enough is the persistent problem this side of eternity. Enough is what we seldom seem to get right. Enough is what trips us up, again and again. Enough is one of our deepest sources of trouble. Enough is what we find such difficulty in being satisfied with. Although the definition is different for each of us, the struggle with our enough is that it tends to keep expanding. And when it does, we never seem to have enough.

It's the thing that slaps you in the face in Psalm 51. How could what David had been given not be enough? Born into a family of faith, anointed by the great prophet Samuel, chosen to be the king of Israel, set apart to be the father of the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ! How could it not be enough?

Through David, the promised Messiah would come and provide salvation for the world. David's anointing was much, much more than than a position of leadership in a tiny little Palestinian kingdom. It was much more than the blessing of God's appointment to a certain place and a certain time. No, the reign of David was about a far greater kingdom; the kingdom of God. And yes, that reign was about more than a place and time. In his anointing, God was connecting David to time and eternity; for the Lord of David is the hope of history, the king of eternity, the one with whom the Israel of God would one day dwell.

So, why was all this not enough for David? It wasn't enough because what started out as God's kingdom morphed into David's kingdom. What was to be driven and shaped by the will of God became controlled by the desires of David. What was to be motivated by spiritual vision got kidnapped by physical sight and sexual craving. The plan of God that was to bring life, sadly became a plan of man stained by lust and death. Having lost the war between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self, David no longer viewed what God had given him as enough.

But don't be too hard on David. His dilemma is your story too. You get angry in traffic; you get irritated at people; you overeat; you fantasize yourself beyond God's boundaries; you get addicted to power, possesions and people precisely because, in your sin, you are not satisfied. What God has given you in the awesome gift of His grace in Christ Jesus is simply not enough. Christ-satisfied hearts live joyfully inside of God's will, while dissatisfied hearts fall prey to all kinds of temptations. Enough is the war that rages inside us everyday.

There will be a day when we will be satisfied. There will be a time when what God has given us will be enough. There will be a moment when we will all be so satiated by the presence and glory of the Lord that we will finally be free from the desire for more.

May each day be a step toward satisfaction. May we grow daily in the experience of being filled and satisfied by Him. As the old Christian chorus says, "May the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." May we say with joy and integrity of heart, "He is enough."

Psalm 51: Building the Walls

It's always the fruit of true repentance and it's captured in these words, "In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem." When my heart turns from sin, it turns to concern for what God wants and what others need. In repentance, my heart turns from the love-of-self driven purposes of my kingdom of one, to the transcendent purposes of God. And what is God's purpose? He calls me to love him above all else and to love my neighbor as myself. What does this have to do with praying that God would "build the walls of Jerusalem?" Everything!

David's sin wasn't just a sin of the eyes and the body. No, all the wrong that David did was rooted in the sinful thoughts and desires of his heart. David allowed himself to think things about Bathsheba that he should have never thought and he allowed himself to crave what didn't belong to him. Then he permitted himself to plan what he should never have planned. With a heart now captured, David committed adultery and murder.

The war of sin is not first a war of the body. The battle ground on which the war of sin rages is the heart. There's a war of thought and desire that rages in every situation and relationship of daily life. It's a war between the desires of God and the desires of the sinful nature. So, is true repentance just about letting go of wrong behavior? No, true repentance begins with the heart. In true repentance, I confess to my selfishness. I confess that my problem isn't just that I do bad things, but that I do bad things because I'd rather have what I want than what God has willed for me. What does this have to do with building the walls of Jerusalem? Everything!

So, not only is the battle of sin a matter of the heart, but because it's a battle of the heart, all sin is against God. Sin is rooted in worshipping the creation more than I worship the Creator. Sin is about loving myself more than I love God. Sin is about desiring to be sovereign and constructing my own kingdom rather than finding joy in the greater purposes of the Kingdom of God. Sin is about forgetting God and living as if I were at the center of the universe. In my sin I exchange God's holy will for my selfish desire.

But, because I've replaced God's will for what I want, in my sin I not only don't love God, I don't love my neighbor either. David didn't love Bathsheba, he wanted to possess her. His lack of love is powerfully portrayed in the fact that he murdered her husband! The very fact that sin is about self-focus and self-love, guarantees the fact that I'll not love you the way that I should. Here's the principle: If you and I are ever going to keep the Second Great Command, we must first keep the First Great Command. It's only when I love God above all else that I'm free then to love my neighbor as myself. Now, what does this have to do with building the walls of Jerusalem? Everything! Let me explain.

Having confessed his sin and having rested in God's forgiveness, David's heart now turns toward the Lord and toward his neighbor. Jerusalem was the epicenter of the national and spiritual life of the people of God. It was the City of God, the place where the great temple of Solomon would be built. For Zion (Jerusalem) to prosper meant that God's blessings of grace were on his people. You see, in this prayer, David is no longer thinking of himself. No, he's praying that the riches of God's grace would be on the lives of all of those around him.

But there's more. When he asks for the walls to be built, it's very clear that David is praying for the building of the temple in Jerusalem. You know that because he says (in v.19) "Then there will be righteous sacrifices...to delight you." Rather than his mind being dominated by his own purposes, his heart now goes to the purposes of God's kingdom. He's praying that God would receive the worship he deserves and the glory that's due his name. No longer is David's vision dominated by a woman he wants. No, now he finds joy in envisioning hundreds and thousands of people making their pilgrimage to Zion to worship the One who alone is worthy of the adoration of their hearts.

Here's real personal transformation, the man once captured by dark and evil lust is now filled with love for others and a deep excitement with the glory of God. Only grace can create such a fundamental transformation.

Psalm 51: Unfailing Love

I wish I would live with You in view;
Eyes to Your glory
Ears for Your wisdom
Heart for Your grace.
But I live with me in view.
Eyes to my kingdom
Ears for my opinion
Heart captured by my will.
I know I was made for You,
I know that Hope
Meaning
Purpose
Identity
My agenda for everyday,
Is to be found in You.
But I want my own kingdom
I love my own glory
I define my own meaning
I delight in my control.
There's a war that never ends;
The battleground is my heart.
It's a moral skirmish
Between what you have ordained
And what I want.
So I don't find pleasure in Your glory,
I don't delight in Your law.
But my heart doesn't rest,
I know there's a better way.
I know you are God
And I am not.
My sin is more than
Bad behavior
A bad choice
Wrong words.
My sin is a violation of the relationship
That I was meant to have with You.
My sin is an act
Where I replace You
With something I love more.
Every wrong thing I do
Reflects
A lack of love for You,
Reflects
A love of self.
Help me
To see
To acknowledge
To weep
And say,
"Against You, You only have I sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight."
And then help me to rest
In Your mercy
In Your great compassion
In Your unfailing love,
Even as the war goes on.

Psalm 51: The Lord's Prayer

I don't think you could say more dangerous words than these. I don't think you could pray a more radical prayer. I don't think you could wish for something that will turn your life more upside down than this. I think that most of the people who say these words would probably hesitate if they really understood what they were saying. I think we would all pause before we repeated this prayer if we clearly understood that we were actually praying upheaval into our lives. This is simply a prayer that can't be answered without the tearing down and rebuilding of many things in our lives. Had David prayed and lived this prayer, Psalm 51 wouldn't be in the Bible.

Here are the radical words I have been alluding to, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." I must admit that I don't always greet God's kingdom with delight. There are things that I want in my life and I not only want them, but I know how, when, and where I want them! I want my life to be comfortable. I want my schedule to be unobstructed and predictable. I want the people around me to esteem and appreciate me. I want control over the situations and relationships in my life. I want people to affirm my opinions and follow my lead. I want the pleasures that I find entertaining to be available to me. I want the ministry initiatives I direct to be well received and successful. I want my children to appreciate that they have been blessed with me as their father. I want my wife to be a joyful and committed supporter my dreams. I don't want to suffer. I don't want to live without. I don't want to have to deal with personal defeat or ministry failure. What I am saying is that I want my kingdom to come and my will to be done.

In this way, I stand with David. In David's kingdom, Bathsheba would be his wife. In David's kingdom, Bathsheba would have had no husband. In David's kingdom he could have Bathsheba and the blessing of the Lord on his reign at the same time. So, David acted out of zeal for his own kingdom, forgetting that he was sent as the ambassador of a Greater King. Sadly, I do the very same thing. I get mad at one of my children, not because they broke God's law, but because they broke mine. I get impatient with my wife because she is delaying the realization of the purposes of my kingdom of one. Or I get discouraged with God because he brings the very uncomfortable things into my life that I work so hard to avoid.

"Thy kingdom come," is a dangerous prayer for it means the death of your own sovereignty. It means your life will be shaped by the will of another. It means that you will experience the messiness, discomfort, and difficulty of God's refining grace. It means surrendering the center of your universe to the One who alone deserves to be there. It means loving God above all else and your neighbor as yourself. It means experiencing the freedom that can only be found when God breaks your bondage to you! It means finally living for the one glory that is truly glorious, the glory of God.

You see, the prayer that Christ taught us to pray is the antidote to sin. Since sin starts with the heart, it's only when my heart desires God's will more than it desires my will, that I'll live within the moral boundaries that God has set for me. And it is only God's grace that can produce this kind of heart.

"Thy kingdom come," words of surrender, words of protection, and words of grace that can only be prayed by those who've been delivered by the Redeemer from the one kingdom that always leads to destruction and death, the kingdom of self.

Psalm 51: Nathan's Legacy

No shouts
No pointed fingers
No flashing eyes
No red-faced accusations
No inflammatory vocabulary
No bulging forehead veins
No derogatory names
No scary threats
No arrows of guilt
No cornering logic
No "how dare you?"
No "I can't believe you would!"
No "what were you thinking?"
No public confrontation
No published rebuke
No arrest warrant
No handcuffs
No leading away to be charged
No list of crimes
No human tricks
No trying to do God's work
No hope of forcing a turning
No confidence in the power of man
No human manipulation
No political posturing,
No, none of these.
Just a humble prophet
Telling a simple story
A sinner with a sinner
Not standing above
Alongside, together
Wanting to be an instrument
Hoping to assist a blind man to see
But no trust in self
Speaking calmly
Speaking simply
And letting God
Do through a familiar example
Painted with plain words
What only God can do
Crack the hard-shell heart
Of a wayward man
And make it feel again
See again
Cry again
Pray again
Plead again
Hope again
Love again
Commit again
To a new and better way.
Not the legacy of
Self-righteous
Impatient
Condemning
"I'm better than you"
Anger
But the harvest
Of a man of grace
Giving grace
To a man
Who doesn't deserve grace
But won't live again
Without it.

Psalm 51: What in the World is Hyssop?

It seems such a strange request from a man who's in the throes of grief over sins that he can't deny and can't take back. I would propose to you that it was exactly the right thing for David and each of us to pray whenever we're confronted with our sins. But when you first read the word in Psalm 51, it does make you wonder, "What in the world is hyssop?"

Researching the plant won't give you much help. It produces a delicate white flower and is thought by some to have medicinal qualities. But this is one time that wikipedia.com won't help you. What you really need to know, in order to understand the grieving in David's request, is Old Testament history. David's mind goes to that original Passover, when the firstborn of Egypt were stricken dead and the houses of Israel that had blood on the door frames, were passed over. What does this have to do with David's request? Here it is. God directed the Israelites to take a branch of hyssop and dip it in blood and paint the door frames with it.

Here is David, grieved by his sin and bowed before God between the "already" and the "not yet." Already the blood of the first Passover had protected Israel from death and made their exodus to freedom and the land of promise possible. Already the Mosaic system of constant animal-blood sacrifices covered the sins of God's people. But the promised Lamb had not yet come. Not yet had his blood been spilt, once and for all, in the final moment of sacrifice that forever ended any need for further sacrifice.

So, reflecting on the past, David's words actually reach into the future. They form the ultimate backdrop to the future prayer. For embedded in this cry for cleansing
that remembers the spilt blood of deliverance (Passover) and the shed blood of forgiveness (Mosaic sacrifices), David cries for the one thing that anyone who acknowledges his sin will cry for; cleansing.

When your sin really does become ugly to you, when it produces pain in your heart and sickness in your stomach, you celebrate forgiveness, but you want something more. You want to be clean. You long to be once and for all purified from all sin whatsoever. You want your sin to be once and for all washed away. You want to be free of every dark residue of sinful thought, desire, word, or deed.

Yes, you'll love the fact that you can stand before God dirty and unafraid because of his comprehensive and freely given grace. You'll love the fact that his forgiveness of you has been full and complete. But you'll grow tired of needing and seeking forgiveness. You'll mourn the hold that sin has on you. You'll be frustrated with the way that sin seems to infect everything you do. And you'll begin to plead for what the blood of Jesus alone is able to do; wash away your sin! In this moment of need and helplessness, you'll cry, "Purge me with hyssop Lord, dip the branch of your grace into the blood of your Son and cleanse me once and for all!"

David never sang this great old hymn, but maybe he'll hear it some day and remember the tear-stained prayer that followed the visit of Nathan. Maybe someday he'll celebrate final cleansing with a chorus of the ages singing:

"What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
O' precious is the flow,
That makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus."

Psalm 51: Moral Vulnerability

Beauty compelling
Tugging, seducing
Wanting and craving
Weakened resolve
Lingering, staring
Moral transgression
Look of desire
Selfish rebellion
Act of betrayal
Weakened resolve.
Long consideration
Dreams of possessing
Evil hoping
Enemy lurking
Heart now racing
Battle raging
Nervous thinking
Flesh growing weaker
Drawn to the darkness
Weakened resolve.
Wrong seen as righteous
Plausible lies
Twisted pretenses
Self swindling
Guilty logic
Deluded perspectives
Weakened resolve.
Deciding and choosing
Date and location
Concrete plans
Words of acceptance
Verbal contract
Shared deception
Anticipation
Tracks covered over
Weakened resolve.
Deed now accomplished
Fleeing the scene
Dark of night
Trembling hands
Afraid of discovery
Made up stories
Weakened resolve.
Morning remorse
Hard to imagine
Fear of discovery
Rehearsed denials
Lust unweakening
Purity lost
No undoing
Weakened resolve.
Protecting secrets
Telling lies
Acting the part
Believable excuses
Internal battles
Hunger for more
Weakened resolve.
Haunted by guilt
Crushed by conviction
No more delusion
Power of truth
Weakened resolve.
Stain of iniquity
Remorse of transgression
Cries for forgiveness
Hope for mercy
Cast on compassion
Admission of guilt
Weakened resolve.
Bitter harvest
Sweet forgiveness
The grace of cleansing
Joy in acceptance
Rescuing Savior
Loving Redeemer
Patient Father
Acting in power
Sins bondage broken
No more compulsion
Freedom is given
Weakened resolve.
Confession of weakness
Tell of his mercy
Worship and service
Willing obedience
Resisting temptation
Steps of protection
Weakened resolve.
Seeking assistance
Sacrifice gladly
Witness to battle
Praise and thanksgiving
Long perseverance
Gone is deception
Weakened resolve.

Psalm 51: Everyone's a Teacher

Do you know that God has called you to be a teacher? You say, "Come on, Paul, you've got to be kidding! I've never been to seminary. I freeze up whenever I have to say something in front of a crowd. I don't feel that I'm as biblically literate as I should be. I don't think God really intends me to be one of his instructors."

Let me explain what I'm talking about. It's true that God sets apart certain people for formal teaching ministry in the church. He gives them the gifts and grace necessary to do the thing he's called them to do. But the formal ministry of the Word in the body of Christ is only one aspect of the church's teaching ministry. Paul says, in Colossians 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom." It's clear here that he's talking about the myriad of everyday life ministry opportunities that God will give everyone of his children. According to Paul, you have been called to teach. And if you want to understand what that means, you need to understand that there's no real separation between life and ministry. Rather, the Bible teaches that every dimension of human life is, at the very same time, a forum for ministry.

Now this is where David comes in. He says, in Psalm 51, "Restore to me the joy of my salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways..." David is reminding us that what qualifies us to teach in the personal ministry context of daily life, is the grace that you received in your own moments of need. This teaching isn't about laying out a comprehensive theology of grace. Most of us wouldn't be qualified to do that. No, what it's actually about is realizing that my story of God having rescued me by his grace, is a tool that God intends to use in the lives of others. As I teach others, by being willing to share my own story, I am actually being a tool of transforming grace in their lives. In this kind of one on one, informal ministry, I'm not teaching the person ABOUT grace. No, I am sharing my EXPERIENCE of grace. People learn, not because I've opened the dictionary of grace, but because I've shown them the video of grace in operation.

So, are you a good steward of your story of grace? Have you thought about how to tell your story in a way that puts God and his grace in center stage? Have you looked around and considered who's living with or near you who could benefit from your story of grace? Where've you tended to not let your gratitude shine as brightly as it should? Where've you been unwilling to talk honestly about how much you were (and continue to be) a person in need of rescue?

So, it's true, you have been called to teach. Maybe not as a pastor, small group leader, Sunday School teacher, or a foreign missionary. But you have been called to a daily life of Gospel transparency, where you're ready, willing and waiting to share your gratitude for the grace you've been given, with someone who needs it just as much as you.

Psalm 51: Natal Trauma

You probably don't need me to remind you of this, but there's nothing less innocent than childhood. You see the moral dilemma of children when quite young. For example, have you ever seen the body of a yet wordless infant stiffen up in anger? You know the scene. It's nap time. You've fed and changed him. You've sung every song known to human culture and finally he's asleep. You make your way to the door of the room and just as you're ready to make your escape, you hear this ear-piercing scream. You turn around and there he is, red-faced and with his entire body rigid with anger. Now you have to visit what's going on there. Clearly, this little one isn't suffering out of need. All of his needs have been taken care of. No, he's angry, and he's angry because at that moment you're not doing what he wants you to do. His rigid-body scream is saying, "Mommy, I love you and I have a wonderful plan for your life!"

Or consider this scenario. You take your five year old to Toys R Us. You place him in the cart and you aim the cart down the middle of those wide aisles. You do that because you don't want Johnny to be able to grab everything his heart desires. You get through the store without too much conflict and you find yourself in that final checkout aisle. Now this aisle is designed to be a conspiracy against your parenting, because at eye level and quite reachable are those $6.95 to $8.95, blister-wrapped items. So Johnny says to you, "Mommy, I want one of those." You say, "Johnny, mommy is not going to buy you anything else." Johnny says, "But Mommy, It's a "Captain X Bonco Figure" and I don't have any of them. Billy has all of them. He even has the play station that goes with it. I'm the only boy I know that has to go to someone else's house just to hold a Bonco figure." You say, "Johnny, I already said that I'm not going to buy you anything else." "Johnny says, "Mommy, if you buy this for me, I'll never ever ask for anything ever again. You say, "Johnny, you mustn't ask for that Bonco figure again, this puzzle is the only thing I'm going to buy today." At that point, Johnny begins to scream. It's embarrassing to have this encounter take place as people are waiting behind you to check out.

Now, let's examine this moment. Johnny doesn't want a mom to provide for him. Johnny doesn't want a God to provide for him. No, Johnny wants to be that God. Johnny wants to think and it will happen, he wants to speak and it will be done, and if you stand in Johnny's way, there will be hell to pay!

You see, when David says, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me, " he's exposing the ultimate natal trauma. There's a deeper birth trauma than the physical suffering that both mother and child must endure in order for the child to be born. No, the deeper, more profound trauma is the devastating reality that you can't stop yourself from giving birth to a sinner. It happens 100% of the time. It's the natal disease for which there is no inoculation.

But there's more to be said about this universal natal trauma. When David says that he was sinful from birth, he's talking about something more significant than the fact that even babies do bad things. He's actually pointing to why babies do bad things. Being a sinner is about the disease of the heart behind the aberrant behavior. The moral problem of babies is not first about behavior. They have a behavioral problem because they want their own way. They want to live in the center of their own little universe. They want to be the kings and queens of their own little kingdoms. So, they are innately self-focused and rebellious. They've their own agenda and they don't want to serve the will of another. That's why the infant stiffens his body at nap time and the little boy starts screaming in the checkout aisle of Toys R Us. Both instances of bad behavior are rooted in the most horrible of natal diseases, an idolatrous heart.

This is precisely why David prays for mercy. If my problem is congenital idolatry, then I need something more than systems of behavior modification and emotional management. I need the rescuing mercy of a Redeemer, who'll take my guilt on himself, who'll take residence inside of me, and who'll continue to persevere until I've been completely cured of the disease that's infected me since birth; sin. Thankfully, that Redeemer has come and his grace is up to the task!

Psalm 51: Wrecking Balls and Restoration

You know whether a house is being restored or condemned by the size of the tools that are out front. If you see a crane and a wrecking ball, the house isn't being restored, it's coming down. Wrecking-ball responses to the sin of another are seldom restorative. This is one of the things that's so striking about Psalm 51 and the history that surrounds it.

If God had had a wrecking-ball response to the sin of David, there would be no Psalm 51. He had every right to condemn David. David was the anointed king of Israel. He was placed in his position by God. He was put in that position in order to be a physical representation of the one true King of Israel, the Lord himself. All that he did was designed to be representative, that is, making the invisible King visible. So, David's position made the horrible sins of adultery and murder doubly reprehensible. It was right for God to be angry. It would have been just and righteous for God to tear down the house of David forever.

But God's response wasn't a wrecking-ball response. No, God's response to David was the small-tool response of restoration. I live in Philadelphia. It's an older city where much old home restoration goes on. Pretend with me that you wander into one of those grand old stone homes that's being restored. And pretend that we're watching a craftsman remove one of the three pieces of a triple-crown molding that's on the wall of this wonderful old house. The carpenter is motivated by the vision that this house could be restored to it's former beauty, so he's not yanking the molding off the wall with a crowbar. He knows that the wood of the molding is dry and brittle, and therefore, susceptible to cracking and breaking. So, he's using the small tools of restoration. He has a light-weight hammer and an apron pocket full of wedges. He tap, tap, taps a wedge into place, then moves a few inches down and repeats the process. Gently, the wedges ease the molding from the wall. You take a glance behind you and you see three piles that comprise the three types of molding that trimmed the walls. And you're impressed as you look that there's not a crack in a single piece in the three piles.

God's response to the sin of David is the small-wedge response of a Restorer. He uses the small wedge of the sight-giving words of a prophet, who tells a well-crafted story. He uses the small-wedge of conviction, causing David's eyes to see and his heart to grieve. He uses the small-wedge of forgiveness, offering David his unfailing love and mercy. He uses the small-wedge of reconciliation, drawing David to himself once again.

But here's what's vital for you to understand; he didn't respond in that way just for David's sake, but for you and me as well. Why didn't God have wrecking-ball responses to David's sin? The answer is that God had plans for David and his descendants. God knew that from the family of David would come the Messiah who would be condemned. Jesus would take the full brunt of God's wrecking-ball anger against sin. And he would do that so we would never face condemnation, and have the hope of full and final restoration.

So, in his grace, God hammers at you, but not with the sledge-hammers of condemnation, but with the small hammers of restoration. He's constantly tapping the wedges of redemption into place. He's constantly working to separate you and me from our sin. He's refinishing us by his grace so that we can shine with his character. We're forever free from the fear of the wrecking balls of condemnation. He was willing to be condemned so that we may live in beauty and for the purpose for which we were first constructed, the praise of his glory.

Psalm 51: When God is Glad

In the pain
of my confession
it's hard to recollect
the fleeting pleasures
of my sin.
My shame
hides your face.
My anguish
drowns out your voice.
The lingering visions
of what I've done
haunt
my soul
assault
my heart
dominate
my thoughts.
I want to undo
what
I've done.
I want
to turn back time
so that
my thoughts would be
pure
and my hands would be
clean.
But
lust was born
and
the deed was done.
I can't undo
what dark pleasure has wrought.
So I come to you
just as I am.
I bow before you
shamed and unclean.
The searching light
of your righteousness
puts fear in my heart
and
reveals more stains than
I ever thought I had.
I bow before you
because I've nowhere else
to go.
I confess to you
because I've no other
hope.
There's no place
to run
There's no place
to hide.
I can't escape
what I have done.
I can't erase
my stains.
So in my grief
I ask for one thing.
I long
to hear You sing.
I long
to see You rejoice.
For when my ears are graced
with Your song
and when I am blessed
by Your gladness
and when the angels
celebrate
then I can be sure
that I've been given
the greatest
of gifts
the miracle
of miracles
the thing that only love
could purchase
the blessing that only love
could offer;
forgiveness.

"Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you've crushed rejoice." Psalm 51:8

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

"I tell you that in the same way there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Luke 15:7

Psalm 51: Sin is a Relationship

Sin is much, much more than the violation of a set of rules. Sin is more profound then rebellion against a moral code. Sin is about something deeper than behaving inappropriately. It's deeper than bad actions and wrong words.

When you witness the body of an infant who's not yet able to communicate with words, stiffen up in anger, you know you're dealing with something bigger, deeper, more fundamentally disturbing than a failure to observe a code of conduct. The infant is angry because you're asking him to do what he doesn't want to do. He's outraged that you'd presume to give him directions. He wants to be the king and lawgiver in his own little universe of one. He doesn't want to live under the authority of another. He wants to make up his own rules; rules that would, of course, follow the shape of what he wants, what he feels, and what he determines he needs. The only thing that would actually satisfy him is the one thing that he'll never have, God's position. He was created to live under authority, not to be that authority. So he fights his subjugation in a vain quest for self-sovereignty.

It's the desire to be God rather than to serve God that's at the bottom of every sin that anyone has ever committed. Sin isn't first rooted in a philosophical debate of the appropriateness or healthiness of a certain ethic. No, sin is rooted in my unwillingness to find joy in living my life under the authority of, and for the glory of, Another. Sin is rooted in my desire to live for me. It's driven by my propensity to indulge my every feeling, satisfy my every desire, and meet my every need.

This is why David says, "Against you, you only, have I sinned..." He isn't denying the enormity of his sin against Bathsheba, his violation of his calling to the citizens of Israel, or his capital crimes against Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. What he's understanding in his confession is that every sin is against God. In his conviction, David understands that sin is an act of relationship, or better stated, a violation of the one relationship that's to be the shaping factor of everything I do or say. Every sin is vertical, no matter how thunderous the horizontal implications of it are. It's God, for whom and through whom we were created to live, whose boundaries that we step over, because we don't love him the way that we should.

Because sin is about the breaking of relationship, restoration of relationship is the only hope for us in our struggle with sin. It's only because God is willing to love us in a way that we refuse to love him, that we have any hope of defeating sin. It's through the gift of adoption into relationship with him, that we find what we need to gain power over sin. And what do we need? A greater love for him than we have for ourselves. His love for us is the only thing that has the power to produce in us that kind of love for him.

Sin is a relationship and it takes relationship to deliver us from sin. Christ was willing to experience the rejection that our rebellion deserves so that we could have the relationship with God that's our only hope as we grapple with the selfishness of sin.

Psalm 51: The Holy of Holies

In the holy of holies,
Where my deepest thought dwells.
In the secret place,
Of the heart,
Where no one sees,
And no one knows.
In that place where worship,
Sets the course,
For all I say,
And all I do.
In the holy of holies
Where thoughts,
Afraid to be verbal,
And desires,
Never quite spoken
Determine,
What I will seek,
And say,
And do.
In holy of holies,
Where greed lurks dark,
And anger stands dangerous.
In the shadows,
Where lust captivates,
And envy enslaves.
In that sacred place,
Of the heart,
Where I plan what I will do,
And rehearse what I will say.
In the holy of holies,
Where love is born,
Or succumbs to hate.
Where gentleness,
Falls to vengeance.
In that place where,
Thinking never ends,
And interpretations,
Become a way of seeing.
In the holy of holies,
Where feelings grow in power,
And overwhelm,
What is sensible,
Good,
And true.
In the holy of holies,
Where I stand naked,
All covering gone,
Before you,
What I am,
As I am,
Void of defense,
Stripped of excuse.
Nowhere to hide,
No reputation to polish.
In the place where you,
Can see,
And hear,
And know.
May you do there,
What I cannot do.
May you create there,
What only mercy can give.
May you hold back,
What I deserve,
And give what,
I could never earn.
May you create in me,
A clean heart.

Psalm 51: The Terrible Trinity

The Bible doesn't pull any punches as it describes the scary reality of sin. You have the powerful words of Genesis 6:5 "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time! Could there be a more forceful way of characterizing the pervasive influence of sin on everything we do?

Or you have Paul building his case for the sinfulness of everyone, that reaches this crescendo, "All have turned away, they have together become worthless, there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:12).

Along with this, the Bible very clearly unpacks the underlying spiritual dynamics of sin as well. Passages like Luke 6:43-45 and Mark 7:20-23, teach us that sin is first a matter of the heart before it is ever a matter of behavior. Romans 1:25 alerts us to the fact that sin, in its essence, is idolatrous. It is when God is replaced as the ruler of my heart that I give myself to doing what pleases me rather than what pleases him.

Psalm 51 is one of the definitional passages when it comes to sin as well. David employs three words for sin that really define the nature of what our struggle with it is all about. The first definitional word he uses is the word, TRANSGRESSION. To transgress means to acknowledge the boundaries and willing step over them. I trangress when I knowingly park in a no parking zone. I know I'm not supposed to park there, but for the sake of person convenience, I do so anyway. Often our sin is just like this. We know that God had forbidden what we're about to do, but for personal success, comfort, or pleasure we step over God's prohibition and do exactly what we want to do. When we trangress, we not only rebel against God's authority, but we convince ourselves that we're a better authority, with a better system of law than the one God gave us. Propelled by the laws of personal wants, personal feelings, and personal need, we consciously step over God's boundaries and do what we want to do.

But not all of our sin is conscious, high-handed rebellion. So, David uses a second word, INIQUITY. Iniquity is best described as moral uncleanness. This word points to the comprehensive nature of the affect of sin on us. Sin is a moral infection that stains everything we desire, think, speak, and do. Sadly, no infant since the Fall of the world into sin, has been born morally clean. We all entered this world dirty and there's nothing we can do to clean ourselves up. Iniquity is like inadvertantly putting a pair of bright red socks into the wash with a load of whites. There'll be nothing that escapes the red stain and remain completely white. In the same way, sin is pervasive. It really does alter everything I do in some way.

But there's a third word that David uses that gets at another aspect of sin's damage. It's the word, SIN. Sin is best defined as falling short of a standard. In our moments of best intention and best effort, we still fall short. We're simply unable to reach the level of the standards that God has set for us. Sin has simple removed our ability to keep God's law. So, we fall short of his standard again and again and again. In your thoughts, you fall short. In your desires, you fall short. In your marriage or family, you fall short. In your communication, you fall short. At your job, you fall short. With your friends, you fall short. We simply are not able to meet God's requirements.

This "terrible trinity" of words for sin really does capture with power and clarity the nature of the war that rages inside each one of us. Sometimes I do exactly what God requires, but I don't care because I want what I want and so I step over his wise boundaries. Sometimes I look back on what I've done, thinking that I'd done pretty well, only to see ways in which my words and behavior were once more stained with sin. And over and over again, I'm confronted with my weakness and inability. I fall short of God's standard even in moments of good intention.

How can this terrible trinity do anything other than to drive us to seek the grace that can only be found in the divine Trinity? In our sin we need a Father who's not satisfied with leaving us in this sad state of affairs, but will exercise his sovereign power to set a plan in place that will rescue us from us. In our sin we need a Son, who is willing to take our punishment so that we can be forgiven. And in our sin, we need a Spirit who will dwell within in us, empowering us to do what we would not be otherwise able to do.

We haven't been left to the ravages of the terrible trinity, because we've been rescued by the love of a better Trinity. Thank you, Sovereign Father, for your gracious plan. Thank you, Sacrificial Son, for standing in our place. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your empowering presence. In you Triune Lord, we really do find help and hope.

Psalm 51: Longing for Jesus

It is dramatic anticipation at its finest. It is the best of foreshadowing. Every line drips with the drama of the necessity of what's to come. It's one of those moments when it's very clear that the present makes no sense without the future. If you know your Bible at all, you can't read Psalm 51 without feeling it. If this Psalm has no future, then it's cries are the vain screams of the tormented heart of a desperate man and little more. David's entire hope in the present is tied to an event in the future. No future, no hope. Welcome to the story of redemption.

You see, David's sin, Nathan's confrontation, and the resultant conviction and confession are a mini-chapter in the grand, origin-to-destiny story of redemption. David's prayer for forgiveness cries for more than a God who's willing to forgive. David's plea reaches out for an actual means of forgiveness. You may say, "There was one. God had instituted a system of sacrifices for the atonement of sin." But the sacrificial system clearly was not enough. There was one dead give-away; everyday the offerings had to be made over and over and over again. The repetition of the sacrifices was necessary because the blood of bulls and goats couldn't atone for sin. The whole system of sacrifice itself looked forward to the offering of the ultimate sacrifice that would finally and completely satisfy God's' holy justice and anger, resulting in no further need for sacrifice.

David didn't fully understand it, but the cries he prayed and penned in Psalm 51 were a cry for the final Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the drama of this Psalm. In acknowledging the power and pervasiveness of his sin, David isn't only reaching out for full and complete forgiveness, but for deliverance as well, the kind of deliverance that can only be found in the spilt blood of the promised Messiah, who would someday hang willingly on the hill of Calvary. Psalm 51 is a hymn of longing. Psalm 51 longs for Jesus.

As David prayed for mercy, unfailing love, and great compassion powerful enough to wash away transgression and create purity of heart, he wasn't praying for a thing, no he was praying for a Person. Jesus is the mercy for which David prays. Jesus is the unfailing love that is his hope. Jesus is the compassion for which he cries. Yet, David can pray with confidence because the decision had been made. The end of the story had already been written by a sovereign, Savior God. Jesus would come at the precisely planned time. His whole life would march toward that dramatic moment when he would in agony cry out to his Father, "It is finished!" "Father I have done what you sent me to do. I have offered myself as the final sacrifice. Redemption is accomplished."

Every time you acknowledge your sin, you long for Jesus too. But you're not longing for the final sacrifice, because it's been made. No, you and I long for the final deliverance. We long for that moment when we'll be taken to the place where sin will be no more. We long to see Jesus, to be with him, and to be like him. Isn't it comforting to know that that final deliverance has been written into the story as well? It is our guaranteed future. And so we long with hope.

Psalm 51: Already, Not Yet

Psalm 51 lives right in the middle of the "already" and the "not yet." Why is that worth observing? Because that's exactly where you and I live as well. We live right in the middle of God's great redemptive story, that's what the already and the not yet is about. If you're going to live right and well, you need to understand where you're living.

Here's where you and I are, in the great story of redemption. Already the "mercy," "unfailing love," and "great compassion" that David cried out for have been provided for us in Christ. The ultimate sacrifice of forgiveness that David's prayer looked forward to has been provided by the blood of Jesus that was spilt for us on the cross. God harnessed the forces of nature and controlled the detailed events of human history in order to bring his Messiah Son to earth at just the right time and place to provide for you and me the one thing we desperately need and cannot provide for ourselves; forgiveness.

Already the Holy Spirit, for whom David prayed, has been given to you and to me. It's almost beyond the limits of our rationality to consider that that Holy Spirit actually lives inside of us teaching, correcting, convicting, and empowering us every day.

Already, God's great book of wisdom, grace and warning - the Bible, has been given. When David talks about teaching sinners God's way, he looks forward to the gift of the Word, God's ultimate tool of instruction. We live every day with the Word in our hands, celebrating the wisdom that it gives us that we would have no other way.

So, as we celebrate the already, we need to be very aware of the not yet. This world is still a terribly broken place, not yet restored to what it was created to be. There's never a day when we are not touched with its brokenness in some way.

Sin that has wreaked such havoc on each one of us has not yet been finally and totally defeated. The sin that still remains in us, continues to affect everything we desire, think, do, and say. Even in our moments of best attention it's right there with us subverting our desires, capturing our thoughts, and distorting our behavior.

The devil, who is the enemy of all that is good, right, and true, hasn't yet been finally destroyed. He still lurks about with deceit in his eyes, destruction in his hands, and trickery in his heart.

So, we live with celebration and anticipation. We celebrate the amazing gifts of grace that we've already been given, while we anticipate the end of the struggles that will face us until the final chapter of the great story of redemption comes. We do live in the in-between. We do live in the hardships of a world that teeters between the beginning and the end. But we don't need to be discouraged and we don't need to fear, because the end of all those struggles has already been written and so we're guaranteed that the things that are not yet will someday be.

Psalm 51: Your Ultimate Fear

What's the thing that you dread most? What's your biggest fear? What are you convinced you can't live without? What would your biggest personal disaster look like? I got to thinking about the question of my own ultimate fear as I was reading Psalm 51 once again. David prays "Do not cast me away from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me." (v.11). This should be our greatest fear in all of life, but is it?

She had it all and maybe that's why she was so afraid. She was living in a nicer, larger house than she ever thought would be hers. She had nicer clothes and nicer things than she would ever have imagined. She had the uber-successful husband and three beautiful children. She went to a great church. They had wonderful family vacations. She ate her breakfast, on most spring and summer mornings, on the stone deck overlooking the beautiful valley that opened up beneath the hill on which her house had been built. But morning after morning she'd sit there and worry. She'd worry about her marriage, was it really as solid as she thought it was? She'd worry about their finances, was her husband's job as stable as he said it was? She'd worry about her children, were they doing as well as she thought they were? She'd worry about her health and the health of her husband. She'd even think about the possibility of a natural disaster ravaging their property or an economic disaster destroying their finances.

Something very significant had happened to her and she didn't even know it. The very things for which she'd been so grateful, the very things that she once thought she didn't deserve, had morphed into things that she was convinced she couldn't live without. What she once greeted with surprised gratitude, were the sources of major anxiety. The things that once seemed out of place in her life, had become the very things that defined her life. And so she lived with a low-register drone of fear through every day.

But there was something else that had changed. The thing that was meant to define her life, and that once did, no longer defined her. There had been a time when everything in her life was defined and evaluated by her relationship with God. There was a time when she greeted God's grace with a surprised gratefulness. She'd been quite aware of her sin and deeply appreciative of the forgiveness that she'd been given. She'd once carried a lively sense of privilege in having been given an acceptance with God that she could have never earned or deserved. There was a time when she would greet each day wondering what she would have done if God hadn't made himself known to her, hadn't accepted her in his family, and hadn't graced her with his presence.

But now these thoughts were no longer center-stage. No longer would she identify herself as a sinner, rescued by grace. No longer did she get her meaning, purpose, and sense of well-being from the Lord. Now she was more concerned about losing her mansion than being cast out of God's house. Now she was more concerned about losing her husband than God removing his Spirit from her. That once heartfelt and wholesome question, "Where would I be without the Lord?" had been replaced by the question of how she'd cope with the loss of any one item in her personal catalog of material things.

But I didn't think long about David or about my friend, because my mind turned to me. What is the thing in the world for which I'm the most thankful? The loss of what is the thing I fear the most? The existence of what in my life gives me meaning, purpose, and that inner sense of well-being?

"Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me."

Psalm 51: The Gospel of Prosperity

It is an interesting way to conclude a prayer of humble confession.

"In your good pleasure make
Zion prosper;
build up the walls of
Jerusalem.
Then there will be righteous
sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to
delight you;
the bulls will be offered
on your altar." (verses 18 and 19)

Yes, this prayer of confession really does end with a prayer for prosperity. David is so bold as to not only ask God for mercy, but to also ask God that he would bless him and not only him, but all of Israel! You may think, "Hasn't this man learned his lesson? After all of this, hasn't he learned what is really important?" But we need to look at this final piece of David's prayer again and this time more closely.

What David is requesting is completely different from the modern "health and wealth gospel" prayers for prosperity. Those prayers for prosperity have one fatal flaw in them. They are prayers for prosperity for the purpose of the delight of the person praying the prayer. Not so with David. He has lived a little self-focused life. He has now been caught up in the call to live large, that is, for a kingdom greater than his own. This prayer is evidence that he's learned the lesson of the danger of living for his own delight. This prayer for prosperity is the result of a radically changed heart.

Why does David pray for prosperity? For one reason, the glory and delight of the Lord. When God prospers people who are no longer living for their own little kingdoms, but are living for his, the result is the furtherance of his kingdom purposes on earth, which results in his glory. Give wisdom to a man who is living for God's kingdom and he'll use that wisdom to advance God's kingdom. Give money to a man who loves God's kingdom and he'll look for ways to invest that money in kingdom causes. Give a house to a person who seeks God's kingdom and his house will be a place of hospitality, love, and ministry. David prays for prosperity, not for his glory, but for the glory of the Lord to whom his heart has now turned.

But there's more. When people are blessed by the Lord they turn to him in humble, sacrificial worship. It's in those moments when I am cogently aware of God's forgiveness and gratefully aware of his undeserved blessing that I willingly offer to him what I would have once held to tightly. God delights in the sacrifices of his people, because when they are worshipping him in this way, they are doing the thing for which they were created. When I've quit looking for satisfaction in the created world and begin to find my satisfaction in the Lord, then I'm willing to hold loosely to the things that once held me. It's here that my delight is the Lord's delight.

So is it right to pray for prosperity? It is and you should. But not for the sake of your kingdom, but for the success of his. Not for the sake of your delight, but for his. You see, when God prospers people who are living for him, they use that blessing to serve him all the more, and for this he gets glory and in this he finds great delight!

Psalm 51: On Being Sustained

It's a curious phrase, "and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." What does it mean to be sustained by a willing spirit? What is it that David prays for here and how does it fit with the confession that makes up the rest of this remarkable Psalm?

Human beings are simply not self-sustaining and we were never designed to live as if we are. The doctrine of creation confronts us with the reality that we are neither physically or spiritually self-sustaining. We were created to be dependent. Dependency is not therefore a sign of weakness. Rather it is a universal indicator of our humanity. Humans are dependent beings. Yet we do not like to be dependent. It is the legacy of our falleness to do everything we can to conceptually and functionally repudiate the doctrine of human dependency.

So, all fallen human beings tend to buy into two attractive, but dangerous lies. These are the lies that were on the tongue of the serpent on that fateful day of manipulation and disobedience in the Garden. The first lie is the lie of autonomy, which tells me that I am an independent human being with the right to invest my life however I choose. The second lie is the life of self-sufficiency, which declares that I have everything I need within myself to be what I am supposed to be and do what I am supposed to do. Because we do not want to live for God, but for ourselves, we are easily seduced, at the mundane, everyday level, by these lies.

But David now has his eyes open. He sees the lies for what they are. He had wanted his own way. He had opted for independence. He had stepped outside of God's boundaries. He had used his power in the service of his own kingdom, rather than God's. And it had all been exposed and came crashing down around his feet. David had tried the path of independent, self-sustenance. This is his prayer of repentance.

God has promised to sustain us by his grace. He has pro