A personal look at a popular Psalm

Attending a funeral recently I was reminded how personal the 23rd Psalm is. Just notice the pronouns. To King David, God wasn’t someone else’s God, and he certainly wasn’t distant. He was near. And he was personally involved in King David’s life.

No wonder this is the Psalm that is read by the bedside of the suffering. But it isn’t just for funerals, it’s for any time that our soul needs to be reminded that we are not alone. Read it again, noticing the personal relationship available with God.

1    The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2    He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
         He leads me beside the still waters.
3    He restores my soul;
       He leads me in the paths of righteousness
         For His name’s sake.
4   Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
          I will fear no evil;
          For You are with me;
          Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5    You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
          You anoint my head with oil;
          My cup runs over.
6    Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
          All the days of my life;
          And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
          Forever (Psalm 23:1-6)

Whatever you are facing today, remember you do not walk alone. Call out to your shepherd.
He will not leave you in your valley of despair, he will walk with you and bring comfort (23:4).
If your enemies are circling, God is preparing your provision and protection in that hour (23:5).
If you are unusually anxious, He will bring you to green pastures and still waters (23:2).
If your burden of guilt is greater than you can bear, God will provide mercy as you come to him (23:6)

Aren’t you glad you can say, “The Lord is my shepherd” and not simply yours, theirs, or someone elses?

Seeing life through God’s eyes…

In the middle of his sermon on the mount Jesus uses a metaphor that hardly seems to make sense. He talks about a good eye, a bad eye, and a body full of light and darkness. Here is the passage:

Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light.  But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! (Matt. 6:23-23, NLT)

To understand this word picture you simply need to insert the idea of desire. Desires in the Bible can be good or bad. When we desire the things God desires our desires are good. When we desire things contrary to God’s will our desires are bad.

So using Jesus’ metaphor, here are some questions to help you determine what you really desire.

What is your eye drawn to?
What are you watching and reading?
Which websites would appear the most frequently on your accountability report?

That’s why Jesus uses the metaphor of the eye and the body. He is giving us a diagnostic tool for our hearts. It’s like he is saying,

Do you want to know what’s going on in your heart – What do you look at?

The word for good eye comes from the Greek word haplous. It implies a single-minded devotion and generosity. Various translations capture the word as healthy or clear. But it might be best understood as an undeterred focus. It is like the mother who whispers to her new-born child, “I can’t keep my eyes off of you.”

Here’s the point in less than 20 words.

The bad eye looks through the lens of selfish desire and sees one’s wants as the highest priority.

This is the American way. Whether on the internet or at Wal-Mart, we shop with our eyes. We look, we want, we desire, and we buy. We are raised on the understanding that the things we buy will satisfy so we keep buying . . . but we’re never satisfied.

 The good eye looks through the lens of God’s desire and sees other’s needs as one’s responsibility.

What if I quit looking through the lens of my desire, and started looking through the lens of God’s desire for a hurting, dying world? How might that change my life? What might I see? Perhaps I would no longer see my wants as the highest priority. Maybe I would actually begin to see other’s needs as my responsibility. That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “your whole body is filled with light” (Matt. 6:23).

Songwriter Brandon Heath understands this when he pleads with God,

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the once forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see. . .

To watch Heath’s music video go here: [vimeo http://vimeo.com/1710532] http://vimeo.com/1710532

Now ask yourself, through whose eyes am I seeing?

The things we think we possess…

There are three truths about our money and possessions that we tend to forget in a volatile economy. Yet the Bible presents them over and over again. These truths can be explained in a few minutes, but they will take a life-time to truly learn.

Think grace given, not wages earned.

The Biblical word grace means gift. Everything you have is a gift from God. The next breath you take. The next time your heart beats. The education you received. The talents God has given to you. The job God supplied.  The consumer who still desires the service you provide. It’s all a gift from God. We tend to think that we earned it, but this is not the case. You might have participated, but God provided. For the Scripture says,

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights
 (James 1:17)

Think stewardship, not ownership.

The word steward is an archaic term, but it was prevalent in the Biblical world. Stewards were people who managed the possessions of another. In America we tend to think in terms of ownership. When we own something we believe we can do with it as we please. But if all we have is a gift from God, then all we have is to be used for God. That seems to be the Apostle Peter’s focus:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (1 Peter 4:10-11).

You should invest your time and money wisely– they are His, not yours.

Think eternally, not temporally.

Two thoughts help us embrace this principle: (1) Don’t assume this is all there is to life, and (2) don’t believe the lie that these things satisfy.

When we are guided by these thoughts we are more likely to think in terms of our heavenly citizenship not our earthly one.

Pay careful attention to what the apostle Paul says,

For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.  (Phil. 3:18-21)

Finding hope in despair…

During difficult times we all need hope. The Psalmist captured it this way:

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation (Psalm 42:5).

 I can’t remember who said it, but the words were wise:

If I am in despair my hope must be in the wrong place.

A simple search on the phrase hope in brought about the following results. Read them slowly and soak them in.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love (Psalm 33:18).

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you (Psalm 33:22).

Though he slay me, I will hope in him (Job 13:15).


 So that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments (Psalm 78:7)

Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word (Psalm 119:74).

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word (Psalm 119:114).

. . . Hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption (Psalm 130:7)

. . . But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love (Psalm 147:11).

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him” (Lamentations 3:22-24).

And here are some others passages on hope:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

. . . so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain (Hebrews 6:18-19).

So if you find you’re in despair, perhaps it’s time to refocus your hope. What are you hoping in…?

Dissecting an expectation…

In sixth grade my parents got me a biology kit. My 12-year-old friends all got chemistry kits, but I think my parents were afraid I might blow up the house, so I received a biology kit–complete with shrimp-like creatures, fruit flies, and a frog to dissect. Perhaps you remember dissection from your high school biology class. You cut, you observe, you make notes, and then you start the whole process again.

In relationships we have expectations. We all have these expectations: whether parent to child, husband to wife, neighbor to neighbor, or employer to employee. Dissecting the expectation helps me understand what’s going on in my heart, and how the Spirit of God wants to change it.

Most expectations are unspoken. Like the inside of the frog, nobody knows what’s going on in there unless you open em’ up. So let’s open up the expectation, discover what prompts it, and where it will lead.

A desire becomes a demand.
I think that would make me happy.

A demand gets expressed as a need.
I think I can’t be happy without it.

A perceived need sets up an expectation.
I think if you loved me you’d give it to me.

An expectation leads to disappointment.
I think you don’t really love me.

Disappointment leads to punishment.
I think I’ll make you pay for not loving me.

Punishment leads to bitterness.
I think I’ll never forget how much you hurt me.

These are six progressive steps, and they reveal just how deadly expectations can be to the growth of a relationship. Jesus said,

Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

What if our only expectation was the desire that Jesus had developed? We simply expected to serve God and serve others better…

 

Believing in what we cannot see

The Bible says that “Faith is the realization of things hoped for, the confidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Perhaps you, like others, struggle to put your confidence in something or some-one you cannot see. Some people believe that if they can’t see it, it can’t possibly be real.

Imagine that I am holding in my fist a 1941-42 wartime mercury dime. A friend of mine tells me that such a piece is valued at $250. Because my fist is closed, you can’t see it. You simply have my word that it’s there. Whether you can see it or not, however, doesn’t make it any less real. Reality isn’t limited by what you see anymore than it is limited by what I see.  Let’s say that I wanted to determine whether you really trust me. Imagine that, in my system of values, whether you believed me was more important than all the things you did to impress me.

The best way for me to determine the sincerity of your belief is for me to ask you to put your confidence in me for that dime even though you have not yet seen it. If you do only that, I say, the dime can be yours. But you must believe even though you cannot see. When someone asks me if I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior, my answer is a definitive Yes!  When they ask me how I can believe in what I cannot see, my answer is that I believe God when He says He cannot lie (Titus 1:2) and that His promise of eternal life to those who believe in His Son (even though they haven’t yet seen Him) is true (John 1:12).

And one other thing, I believe that one day He will open His hand, but I won’t look upon a $250 dime. Instead I will see for the first time the scars from the nails that bought my salvation.  Do you still want to believe only in what you can see?

Why it feels like it somebody else’s fault


Have you ever felt like you only do what you do because somebody else did what they did? In four brief paragraphs author Paul Tripp brings insights that are at once clarifying and convicting.  Read them first, then go read Romans 7:14-25, and then read them again.  While he applies these thoughts to regret in the middle of your life the broader application is appropriate for each of us.

The reason regret tends to hit us so hard in midlife is for years we have been convincing ourselves that the problem isn’t really us. Perhaps the biggest and most tempting lie that all of us tend to embrace is that our greatest problems exist somewhere outside of us. This is an attractive distortion because we are surrounded, in this fallen world, by people and things that aren’t operating as they were designed – so there are plenty of available things to blame. I can always find someone in my life who hasn’t responded to me properly. I can always identify a difficult situation that I have had to go through. We all tend to take the unrealistically demanding boss, the consistently rebellious child, the all too impatient spouse, the rude neighbor, or the gossiping extended family member as proof that the seeds of what we are harvesting, in fact, belongs to someone else.

There is an important spiritual dynamic in operation here. Because we are believers, the heart of stone has been taken out of us and has been replaced by a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). This means that when we think, desire, say and do what is wrong, we experience a God-given unease of heart – conscience. When this happens we all seek heart relief. There are only two ways to find this relief. We can place ourselves once again under the justifying mercies of Christ and receive forgiveness, or we can erect some system of self-justification that makes what is wrong acceptable to our conscience. An angry father who has just ripped into his rebellious son will tell himself that it is vitally important for his son to respect authority. This justification re-colors his sin of anger against his son. Or a wife, who has developed regular patterns of gossiping about her husband’s sin to her friends, will tell herself she is seeking prayer and accountability. She now feels comfortable doing something the Bible calls sin. Or a teenager who lies to his father about what he is doing tells himself all the time that he has to because his father just “lives for control.”

It’s an old argument that goes something like this, “His sin makes my sin not sin.” We have all used it, and it does us harm. Our growth in grace, our relationships with others, and our harvest as God’s children have all been crippled by our strategies of pseudo-atonement. We have been given a Savior who is magnificent in love and grace, yet in the face of his mercy, we function as our own replacement saviors again and again.

Notice how radically different Paul’s perspective is in Romans 7. The whole logic of the passage is based on the fact that Paul is locating his struggle with sin inside of himself.  For Paul, the foundational war is not a war with difficult situations (in many places Paul recognizes they exist) or sinful people (Paul tells stories elsewhere of having to deal with them), but a war with the gravitational pull of sin within. Romans 7 can be uncomfortable for us because it takes us to the very place of self-indictment that we have tended to work so hard to avoid. In our skill at avoiding this place, we have set ourselves up for the shock of regret that tends to hit so hard at midlife


Paul David Tripp in Lost in the Middle, p. 113-114

Words that build up

The Bible regularly addresses our speech patterns. It specifically discusses the way that we should talk to one another. James says it so well,

From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way (James 3:10).

Of course we know the words we shouldn’t say. But what about the words we should say?  The apostle Paul reminds us of some of those words when he writes,

Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another . . . (I Thes. 5:11).

The word for encourage one another is the Greek word paraclete. It is translated elsewhere as the word comfort. In John’s gospel it speaks of the Holy Spirit coming as the comforter. Literally it means to come along side someone. What a picturesque word. You can almost see someone who is stumbling being supported by the words of someone who is coming along side of the–almost like they can lean on that person’s shoulder. Also included in this passage is the word for building up. It is the word edify. It is a word that is used for construction. Coupled with the word encourage, it means that we are not only hoping to get someone through a difficult time, we’re hoping to rebuild them.

When I was in high school I looked forward to watching the Six Million Dollar Man. Six million dollars wouldn’t go very far today in rebuilding a person with genuine bionic parts. Nonetheless, the opening of that show was always the same: We can rebuild him, we can make him faster, stronger, better than he was before.

That’s the kind of thing that we’re talking about when we speak of words that build up. We’re making them better with our words. Our words are known to encourage and edify.

There is a marked contrast here to poor speech. Unfortunately, sometimes Christians are known to gossip or slander. That is language that tears others down. But edifying is a language that builds others up.

This week try to concentrate on speech construction, not speech demolition.

The spiritual benefits of fasting

In our world of instant gratification and fast-food restaurants most of us assume that when we’re hungry that means we should eat. But what might happen if our stomach’s prompting was a reminder to pray, not simply to eat? Such is the purpose of fasting.

In his excellent article, Nine Reasons to Fast other than It’s Swimsuit Season Don Whitney references Biblical occurrences for fasting. Here they are as food for thought (sorry I couldn’t resist that one).

1-To Strengthen Prayer (Ezra 8:23; Neh. 1:4; Dan. 8:3; Joel 2:12; Acts 13:3)

There’s something about fasting that sharpens the edge of our intercessions and gives passion to our supplications.

2-To Seek God’s Guidance (Acts 14:23)

Fasting does not ensure the certainty of receiving clear guidance from God. Rightly practiced, however, it does make us more receptive to the One who loves to guide us.

3-To Express Grief (2 Sam. 1:11-12; 1 Sam. 20:34)

We may also fast because of grief over our sins. Although it’s not a spiritual self-flagellation, biblical confession does involve at least some degree of grief for the sin committed. And inasmuch as fasting can be an expression of grief, it can serve as a voluntary, heartfelt part of confession.

4-To Seek Deliverance or Protection (Esther 4:16; 2 Chron. 20:3, 4)

Fasting, rather than fleshly efforts, should be one of our first defenses against “persecution” from family, schoolmates, neighbors, or coworkers because of our faith. Typically, we’re tempted to strike back with anger, verbal abuse, counter accusations, or even legal action, instead of appealing to God with fasting for protection and deliverance.

5-To Express Repentance and a Return to God (1 Sam. 7:6; Joel 2:12)

This is similar to fasting to express grief for sin. But as repentance is a change of mind resulting in a change of action, fasting can also signal a commitment to obedience and a new direction.

6-To Humble Oneself before God (Psalm 35:13; 1 Kings 21:27-29)

Fasting, when practiced with the right motives, is a physical expression of humility before God, just as kneeling or prostrating yourself in prayer can reflect humility before Him. . . Remember that fasting itself is not humility before God, but should be an expression of humility. There was no humility in the Pharisee of Luke 18:12, who bragged to God in prayer that he fasted twice a week.

7-To Express Concern for the Work of God (Neh. 1:3-4)

A Christian might feel compelled to fast and pray for the work of God in a place that has experienced tragedy, disappointment, or apparent defeat. This was the purpose for Nehemiah’s fast when he heard that despite the return of many Jewish exiles to Jerusalem, the city still had no wall to defend it. After his fast, Nehemiah then went to work to do something tangible and public to strengthen this work of God.

8-To Overcome Temptation and Dedicate Yourself to God (Matt. 4:1-11)

There are times we struggle with temptation, or we anticipate grappling with it, when we need extra spiritual strength to overcome it. Perhaps we are traveling (or our spouse is traveling) and temptations for mental and sensual unfaithfulness abound. At the start of school or a new job or ministry there may be new temptations, or it may seem appropriate to dedicate ourselves anew to the Lord. . . In times of exceptional temptation, exceptional measures are required. Fasting to overcome temptation and renew our dedication to God is a Christlike response.

9-To Express Love and Worship to God (Luke 2:37)

Fasting can be an expression of finding your greatest pleasure and enjoyment in God. Fasting honors God and is a means of worshiping Him as such. It means that your stomach isn’t your god as it is with some (see Phil. 3:19). Instead it is God’s servant, and fasting proves it because you’re willing to sublimate its desires to those of the Spirit. . . Another way of fasting to express love and worship to God is to spend your mealtime in praise and adoration of God. A variation is to delay eating a particular meal until you have had your daily time of Bible intake and prayer. Just remember that your fast is a privilege, not an obligation.

The above article was adapted from the book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Don Whitney (chap. 9, NavPress, 1991).

God’s promises when people suffer…

Suffering doesn’t differentiate among its victims—both the child and the retiree get cancer.  The parent lies awake for the choices that their prodigal son or daughter make. Suffering is unavoidable.  

The book of 1 Peter was written as an encouragement to those who were suffering. It concludes with a wonderful verse and four action words that God promises to perform in our lives as we trust him through the difficult times.

And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you into his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (1 Peter 5:10).

He will restore. The ESV Study Bible captures it well:

God will eventually restore whatever they have lost for the sake of Christ. Though suffering will come first it will be followed by eternal glory.

That’s beautiful. Is your suffering a result of standing with Jesus? Then whatever you have lost will be returned and more.

He will confirm. This is a word used only here in the entire Bible. It has the idea of strengthening in spiritual knowledge and power. This means there are things to learn from the midst of suffering. There are life lessons in the pain. There are truths you can discover from the suffering that you could have learned no other way.

He will strengthen. Luke tells us that when Jesus was moving towards the crucifixion that he set his face towards Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Set comes from the same Greek word as strengthen. This is a word of resolve. The Spirit of God is strengthening, purposefully preparing, and readying your will to face the difficulties.

He will establish. The word means to lay a foundation. It is also translated: founded, grounded, and stable. God is in the process of laying a sure foundation for you that will stand against the storms of life. He has no problem laying this foundation while you are in the storms of life. While it may not feel that way now, he is making you stable.

There is no promise today that the suffering will cease or even become more bearable. There is, however, the promise that God will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you, giving the unbearable suffering a sense of purpose.