Timing

Psalm 18:1-15

          Sometimes timing makes all the difference. I have missed being in a car accident by only a few feet. If I had been just a split second sooner or later it would have been me. If I hadn’t taken that phone call as I was leaving the house, or made an unplanned stop at the store, I would have been right in the middle of a mess. I would like to see a four dimensional map of my life and be able to track all the near misses I have had over time. I bet there were many near misses that I don’t even know about.

          There were of course moments where I was hit by life, or life hit me. Just because I am a Jesus-follower doesn’t mean my life has been bump free. There have been some bumps, and even some collisions with circumstances that have left me with some dents and in need of repair. There have been some emotional collisions that have left their mark. There have been some mountaintop and deep valley spiritual moments which have shaped my spiritual journey. Life happens to us all.

          Our psalm today has a known origin in a moment in time and under known circumstances in the life of David. We know the details because it is also recorded in 2 Samuel 22. He was being chased by King Saul, a king who was a little bit over the edge crazy. Saul had been trying to kill David for years. David was on the run and had finally been vindicated by the LORD. Saul finally realized the David was not trying to usurp his authority and take over the kingdom. His jealousy had gotten the best of him and warped his thinking about David.

          After all the anxiety and struggle David had been through in that time in his life, the pain and sorrow, disappointments and discouragements, he still pulled in close to the LORD. He still had a life of worship. He still knew and proclaimed the truth about the LORD. He expressed his real feelings and brought those into His presence.

          For David, the LORD was a place of absolute safety. He had known relative safety as he had hidden in caves repeatedly during those years of being chased. He came to know the LORD as a rock, a fortress, a shield, and a stronghold. These all speak to the safety against the weapons of that day. The LORD had preserved his life.

          There had been moments in those years when David thought his life was over. The circumstances had become so stacked against him that he couldn’t see any way out. He had felt the tightening noose of Saul’s army chasing him repeatedly. There was no place for him to hide. And yet, right in the middle of all that, he called out to the LORD and the LORD answered. He heard David’s cry for help.

          And then David describes the LORD’s intervention in terms of an earthquake, a volcano, a thunderstorm, and hail and lightning. Whatever way the LORD intervened, the enemy didn’t like it. They were routed and they knew it was the LORD who had done it on David’s behalf. The LORD’s intervention was violent and intimidating to those people. And they experienced those things as an intervention by the LORD. They knew their fight was over, and they had lost.

          Do you see justice happening in your life? If not, don’t get too discouraged. Perhaps the LORD has a storm coming right in the path of those who oppose your just cause.

Stand Up for What’s Right

Psalm 15:4-5

          Most people want to live in a just world, a world where everyone gets a fair shake. Unless of course you are one of the corrupt people, and want to hang onto your power, the power you obtained by doing injustice. Then you want things to stay just the way they are, but put on a good show by saying that things must change. In order for things to actually change, the evil power-grabbers would have to give up most of their power, like that is going to happen!

          In order for justice on a less global scale to happen, a scale closer to home, we must do four things, according to this psalm. Each is presented in a pair of statements about the character of the person who will be allowed in God’s presence in heaven. Each gives us a good picture of what a Jesus-follower’s walk should look like. Not that a righteous walk gains entrance to heaven; only perfection does that. But since we have accepted Jesus’ payment for our sins, we can now, through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, live a life that pleases the LORD, a life that reflects His character in this world.

          The first, (which is really the second, honest communication being the first from verse two and three), is that our judgments would line up with His judgments. We would have the same attitude toward evil behavior that the LORD does. We would reject the actions of the same people the LORD rejects. Those He would label vile, we label vile. We boo at the evil and cheer at the good. We reject the baser actions of people and applaud those who get it right. Too often we spend so much time pointing out the evil that we miss the opportunities to honor those who are doing it right.

          The third deals with the way we make decisions and keep our commitments. Too many people back out of their commitments too easily. I love the way the writer speaks of keeping his commitment, He says we need to keep it “even when it hurts.” When it is inconvenient is when we need to keep it. When it is hard to keep our word is when our character gets tested. We need to do what we say. Our walk must match our talk. People are looking at us, wondering if we are people of integrity. We need to keep our promises.

          Some people solve this by never making promises, never making any real commitment, always keeping their options open. They say “I’ll think about it.” Or if they want to put a spiritual spin on it they will say “I’ll pray about it.” I’m not saying that everyone who says one of these things is making an excuse, but if they don’t actually think or pray, it is an excuse. Let your “yes” be your “yes.”

          The fourth and final practical example of what righteous living looks like deals with money, a delicate subject for most people. The first half of this pair of instructions deals with a rule that was given by the LORD around lending money. When someone made a loan to a poor person, they were to do it without charging any interest. That’s right, 0% loans. In doing so they recognized that their wealth was not theirs, it was the LORD’s, and they had an obligation to help the poor. To charge interest would be a double insult: they can’t afford to pay it, and you don’t need it.

          The other side of money has to do with how money corrupts justice. It is not just the bribes that are taken, but the more subtle taxes and exemptions that get added to legislation that favor one group above another. All these laws have the effect of taking money from one group and giving it to another. They are done as favors for past or future actions. They pervert justice.

          All these specifics answer the question asked in the first verse of this psalm, who is qualified to enter God’s presence. And since we all fail, we must rely on the LORD’s mercy. We must humbly bow before Him, submitting our past, present and future into His hands. And then live a life that honors Him, that reflects His loving character to the world.

Late!

Psalm 10:1-18

      One of the great struggles of any belief system is the problem of evil. Everyone must wrestle with this question, not just Jesus-followers. Even the Atheist must answer the question. That is because it is in the center of every human heart. We may be able to give a good, well reasoned explanation for why evil happens, and why the LORD doesn’t show up, but when you are in the middle of a struggle, these logical answers don’t satisfy the deep longing of our hearts. We don’t want an explanation, we want action.

      This tension between the substance of our faith, that the LORD is present with us upholding  His plan, and our feelings of separation continue to rise in the life of the believer. Our feelings often don’t match our stated and deeply held beliefs. So what do we do when we feel the LORD is far away? How do we handle this seeming disconnect between faith and feeling?

      For many people feelings become the driving factor in their lives. When negative feelings become overwhelming, faith seems to go out the window. Feelings become the primary guidance system of their lives. But feelings are just one data input for our lives. We have the Word, godly counsel, prayer, our five senses, and feelings. Each has a place in our decision making and self-regulating. Feelings should not be elevated to the top.

      Our Psalm for today highlights this tension between feelings and faith. The writer feels as though the LORD disappears when difficulties arise. When the writer wants action, the LORD is nowhere to be found. The evil person keeps on going the wrong direction, doing the wrong things. He brags about the evil he is doing. He seems to be getting away with impunity. The evil person doesn’t even have the LORD on his radar screen.

      And what bugs me more is that the evil man seems to get smooth sailing while those who serve the LORD seemingly hit storm after storm. It doesn’t seem fair. The arrogance of the evil man doesn’t get punished. In fact, it seems to get rewarded with earthly prosperity. So he pats himself on the back and says that he is invincible.

      Now just in case you might be tempted to side with the evil person, the writer outlines the treachery of this evil enemy. They aren’t just passively sitting around taking advantage of the opportunities that come their way. They are actively looking for victims. They know what they are doing is wrong and they still do it. They ambush their victims. And they pick out the weakest, the most vulnerable, and mercilessly take advantage of them. And then he has the guts to flaunt his evil, saying that the LORD doesn’t even notice what he is doing.

      No wonder the writer calls out to the LORD, begging for intervention. He wants justice, and he wants it now. And this is perhaps the most difficult part of the problem of evil. We want evil corrected in other people, but we don’t necessarily want it corrected in us. We want justice at the expense of the person doing wrong to us, but we don’t necessarily want justice at our expense. We want the evil in others stopped, but we want the evil in us to be given a free pass.

      It feels as if the power of the LORD sits idly by and does nothing to stop the puny little power of the evil person. It would take no effort at all for the LORD to correct the evil person, and yet He doesn’t seem to exercise that very small amount of energy on our behalf, the most vulnerable. The LORD will punish nations, but seems unwilling to help us. He hears, but He doesn’t seem to act.

      It can be hard to keep our feelings from running our lives. But in the middle of a crisis, we must keep our heads. We must anchor ourselves in the LORD. Justice will not happen in this life, but this life is only the first frame in a feature length film. And we know the rest of the film is the happy ending for those who trust Him during this first frame.

Up from the Grave

Psalm 9:13-20

      Even as there seems to be some relief on the horizon, we can still be in a battle. Often in life when we get some relief, it isn’t complete relief. Very few people have no problems at all. We all seem to have some struggles. And as the old saying goes, “When it rains, it pours.” Often troubles seem to compound, one after the other. When one strikes, others seem to follow. Some even counts bad things in threes. I personally think they happen in sets of fours, but who’s counting!

      Even as the writer of our Psalm has been worshiping and rejoicing in the deliverance that he has already experienced, he is still struggling with some current troubles. From his words, it seems as though he is pretty low. He feels like he is scraping the bottom of the barrel. He says that he needs to be lifted up from the gates of death. That is a pretty low place. He is so low that he feels he needs to be lifted in order to reach a place where he can render praise.

      I get the picture of a trapped coal miner. No matter how loud he shouts, “I’m alive,” the words won’t seem real until he reaches the surface and is greeted by his family. He must rise from the depths before his message can be heard.

      So it is with our writer. Until he is lifted from this final persecution he won’t be able to deliver the message of praise that he wants to deliver. Even while he declares the fate of his enemies, falling into their own traps, he declares that the LORD won’t forget him and all who trust in Him. What a powerful faith, one that sees what isn’t yet a reality as if it were the reality.                 The fate of nations that stay in rebellion against the LORD is sealed. They will fall. They will be defeated, never to rise again. The schemes they devised to trap others will become their downfall. The very things they developed in order to defeat their enemies will become the very things that will defeat them. That is because the LORD is the One who is in charge of justice. He stands on the side of those who stand alone in this world. He stands with those without a voice. Whose side are you on?

      You see, the LORD isn’t bound by time. He has no drop dead date. His end will never come. We, on the other hand, had an expiration date. Our mortal bodies will give up the breath of life. Our hearts will stop beating. Our brainwaves will become silent. And at that moment we will enter eternity, heaven or hell, the presence of the LORD or eternal separation. But the LORD isn’t mortal. Nothing stops Him. As long as time ticks, and beyond time, the LORD will still be.

      So even as our writer struggles with some current difficulties, he knows that they are but temporary. The final outcome is in the LORD’s hands. It isn’t unknown or uncertain. As permanent as the LORD’s presence is, so the outcome is. The LORD will bring justice.

Justice!

Psalm 7:1-5

      Most people don’t like going to court. Standing before a judge can be intimidating. Even in a system where the rule of law is the standard, sometimes you just don’t know what will happen. Guilty people get off on a technicality, and the innocent (at least of that crime) get put away. And it can be hard to know the outcome before the verdict is read. We know this because of the late breaking news reports of verdicts. People stand outside the courtroom waiting to hear the outcome. It is often not easy to figure out which way a jury will vote.

      The truth is that we all are guilty, that we all deserve hard time. Some of us deserve it more than others. And King David was no exception. Even leaders, great leaders, are not perfect. We all have chinks in our armor. We all have the feet of clay of the book of Daniel.

      David faces what he sees as injustice happening and he is receiving the negative results of the injustice. He seeks a judgment. He wants the gavel to fall. He wants those who are opposing him to be brought down to size.

      David’s fear is that he will be torn to pieces. I am not sure if he feels this literal threat, or if he is just driven by his fear to express this to the LORD. Fear can be a powerful force. People do all sorts of strange things when driven by fear. I can only imagine feeling like someone was going to tear me apart. The horror of the Muslim videos of executions brings this fear to the surface. “We could be next,” the person driven by fear responds.

      So David makes his case, or at least he wants to make his case, before the court of heaven. He wants the Lord to examine his conduct. From David’s perspective, he doesn’t deserve the feared action. From his angle, he has not done anything that deserves this.

      David hasn’t repaid evil for kindness. He hasn’t tipped the scale in his favor. He hasn’t done evil to someone on his side, and he hasn’t been unjust with his enemies. So if you were a friend of David you knew David wouldn’t take advantage of that friendship. And if you were his enemy you knew David would be fair in his dealings. That is a quality that is needed in a friend and leader. He was fair in all circumstances and to all people.

      Would you be bold enough to offer the LORD what David offered? Would you want the LORD to allow your enemies to have their way with you if you were found guilty? This is what David offers. If he is guilty, then he tells the LORD to let the enemy come.

      But David has a confidence. He has examined his life. He knows his heart, at least as well as it is humanly possible to know. And so he lays it before the LORD for examination and confirmation. If he is found to be in the right, he wants the LORD to give the verdict and punish his oppressors. He doesn’t want any more delay.

      What makes this so hard for us is that we either don’t examine our hearts, or we do and we know we wouldn’t be able to make these statements. We don’t really want justice, because our own guilt would be laid bare. So we not only do evil ourselves, but we end up condoning others who do it. We end up not point our finger at any sin because we are afraid others might come to discover our sin. So we become silent about sin.

      But unless we are honest about sin, we can’t be honest about our need for grace. Jesus, the perfect sinless man was punished for our guilt. If we accept that payment, our guilt no longer is part of the judgment equation. If we confess our sin, the guilt that we have carried is reckoned as being Jesus’. And since He rose demonstrating victory over the grave, we have no fear of judgment. What a relief!