Psalm 21

[on the enemies of God]

verses 11 and 12:

Though they plan evil against you,

though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.

For you will put them to flight;

you will aim at their faces with your bows.

wow, let's inahle and exhale deeply - that is ridiculously intense.

you will aim at their face with your bows?

over the summer, I began to see and experience God as Fierce Judge. Think of God as revealed in the Old Testament. and I don't totally understand him and his decisions. head-knowledge, yes. soul knowledge, yes. heart knowledge? not yet. and maybe not in this lifetime. i am learning that is ok. He is God. I am me.

what has been life and faith changing is that because of Jesus' sacrifice, I am able to stand totally clean and blameless before this Fierce Judge. I am able to be guided, doted upon, and loved by a God who aims at the faces of his enemies with his bows completely unafraid, but rather, protected.

I stand in the eye of a hurricane because of Jesus Christ.

Because of him, his former enemies are made dearly loved children, siblings, co-heirs, workers, and servants of Christ. I pray that we would continue to let the truth that we receive mercy, even grace, instead of wrath steep deeply in out lives.

Psalm 20

verse 7:

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Some trust in GPAs and GRE scores,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Some trust in internships and high salaries,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Some trust in power and the stock market,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Some trust in titles and graduate schools,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Some trust in choosing the right job and spouse,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Some trust in being good parents and moving into the right neighborhoods,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Some trust in successful ministry and fellowship attendance,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Some trust in conversion numbers and membership growth,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Some trust in self-preservation and self-righteousness,

but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Psalm 19

verses 13 and 14:

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;

let them not have dominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless,

and innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

For those of us living in a post-Resurrection world, Jesus has completed this sinless life for us because we couldn't and didn't want to and honestly, didn't even know where to begin. It is such a tricky thing, desiring blamelessness before God because we aren't trying to earn his favor, but rather, this is how we can express it! I pray that we wouldn't pursue righteousness for our own holiness-levels, but so that we may point others to God's Holiness and Goodness through our lives.

Psalm 18

verse 1:

I love you, LORD, my strength.

What are we doing that requires strength?

What are we failing to do because it requires strength?

verse 2:

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I love this because the author presents us with seemingly contradicting pictures of God.

We have security we are defended by: a rock, a fortress, a stronghold.

And yet we also have these wildly offensive depictions as well: a deliverer, a shield, a horn.

It is good having a God who we can both seek safety in and who will go out to battle for us.

Psalm 17

verse 15:

As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Colossians 1:15 [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

In the gospels, we have stories of Christ.

Him healing mother-in-laws and asking brutal rhetorical questions and giving himself away as a ransom for ignorant and hostile hostages.

We get to see him live.

We get to see his likeness.

If we will be satisfied with seeing his likeness, how much more satisfying can it be to live in and with his likeness?

Psalm 16

This psalm has one of my favorite truths:

verse 2: I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."

Even the best things I have in this life right now, healthy and growing relationships, good health, and (ridiculous amounts of) privilege, pale in comparison to the goodness of God. Not just His goodness though.

How sad would it be if like relationships, health, and privilege, the goodness of God were limited to the earth, limited to a time and place.

Temporal.

But it's not.

Our Lord is not only good, but He is faithful and constant and steadfast.

I pray for the clarity and humility in knowing that apart from Him, I have no good thing. I want to love the Giver, not the gifts.

Psalm 15

This psalm asks "LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent?" and proceeds to list out all the requirements to live on God's holy mountain. The one in particular that stands out to me is "who speaks the truth from their heart."

This tells me two things:

1) This person has truth in their heart and

2) He or she has the love and boldness to speak it.

I am neither, but I thank God that because of Jesus, I can dwell with Him in His Sacred Tent, His Holy Mountain. And by being there, God will plant Truth in my heart and give me the boldness to speak it.

Psalm 14

3 All have turned aside
they have together become corrupt,
there is no one who does good,
not even one.

What I find challenging about this verse is the idea of collective corruption, communal corruption. Not only evil within individuals, but among them: our individual fears, insecurities, and wounds bleed out and hurt the people around us.

We have a planet filled with broken people that inevitably create broken systems, only egging each other on in selfishness and destruction.

I don't want to acknowledge that my individual refusal to care for "the least of these" (Matthew 25:40) contributes to a global disparity between the rich and the poor.
I don't want to see that my individual dishonesty in relationships is the same strain of dishonesty in hedge-fund economic practices.
I don't want to admit that my individual passivity towards sex trafficking results in even more women, girls, and boys being brutalized.

And this is what I love about God, that he offers not only individual healing, but communal restoration as well.

He is just that big.

Psalm 13

1 How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and day after day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

The psalmist presently questions the existence and power and love of God. He questions whether God will do what he says he will do: heal, strengthen, restore, save.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 I will sing the LORD's praise,

for he has been good to me.

At this time, he turns to what God has done for him in the past. Remembering God's provision and goodness in the past to bring clarity and certainty to the present.

And this time, that is enough.

Psalm 12

6 And the words of the LORD are flawless,
like silver refined in a furnace of clay,
purified seven times.

I often feel cheesy when thinking about the promises of God. I perceive them to be slogans we print on mugs and Christian t shirts rather than beautiful and rare and pure and eternal. Flawless. They are perfect and absolute truths. There are no conditions or loopholes or strings attached. They bring life and restoration our lives and our world screams for.

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

What words of God are bringing you life?

Psalm 11

3 When the foundations are being destroyed,

what can the righteous do?

4 The LORD is in his holy temple;

the LORD is on his heavenly throne.

He observes everyone on earth;

hi eyes examine them.

Lately, I have felt like my foundation of self-reliance and self-protection have been taken away.

I've been nervous, inarticulately moody, and sullen, unable to explain how or why I felt ravaged by guilt, fear, and anxiety.

I felt shaken, without a foundation.

After his rhetorical question, the psalmist assert what the foundation-less can do: know that the LORD is in his holy temple, on his heavenly throne. How frustrating is that?! The man without a foundation can do nothing but know. Know and trust that God is set apart by His goodness + justice + purity + mercy + power.

That "upright men will see his face" rather than illusions of self-importance and security.

Psalm 10

In his pride the wicked does not seek [the LORD];

in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

5 His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and

you laws are far from him;

he sneers at all his enemies.

6 He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me;

I'll always be happy and never have trouble."

The psalmist continues to describe the wicked and how they oppress others. I identify most* with this man's pride, with a religious twist. I settle for what I already have: my faith in God. I don't seek out more of God. I don't yearn to be challenged or encounter God in new ways. I think that my relationship with God is all it'll ever be, as opposed to relationship that will continue to deepen and grow in beauty and intimacy as it ages. I assume God is finite and that I covered all the bases; I've got my theology down pat and I've already been transformed by God.

My narrow view of God and my complacency crowd out any room for God. Nothing will shake me; I'll always be happy and never have trouble.

*I am starting to see how I relate to this "wicked Psalm 10" man in other ways. He's not a cartoon villain twirling an outrageously curly mustache. He stalks victims in ambush: how often do I wait for people to make mistakes and sin just to silently judge them? He murders the innocent: Is it murder if I'd rather spend 20 dollars on a new shirt I don't need than on helping someone have clean water for 20 years?

Psalm 9

5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;

you have blotted out their name forever and ever.

6 Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy,

you have uprooted their cities;

even the memory of them has perished.

I feel fake when praising God for his destruction and wrath because it terrifies me thinking of my Father act this way.

This enraged, violent God.

The only analogy I can think of that doesn't make me cringe is the thought of a child being kidnapped and sold into slavery, sex trafficked, and his or her Father doing whatever it takes to rescue His child. I am glad that God is enraged by injustice and oppression and slavery, enraged enough to do something about it and save us.

I once heard this prayer something to the effect of, "Let us love you and other people, and hate nothing but sin itself." I really like it because I don't have a hatred for sin right now. Not yet, but I'm starting to see why we need it.

Psalm 8

verses 3 & 4:

"When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?"

It is absolutely preposterous that God would care for humans - mortals comprised of decaying flesh and brittle bones, unable to truly heal themselves or truly heal each other.

I'm glad that they author finds it crazy absurd, and though he isn't able to articulate an explanation as to why God would care for humans, he praises God for who He is and He's done: "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (verses 1 & 9)

Psalm 7

There is one line in particular I find striking: "Awake, my God; decree justice."

I see this as a plea. A plea as the author looks around at the devastation and brokenness and helplessness and vicious cycles that engulf him. Overwhelm him. He sees God as absent. Asleep. Oblivious. Ignorant. Indifferent.

And yet he knows his God and knows that He is a righteous God and a righteous judge and will "layeth the smacketh down" (credit: friend).

But "decree justice?"

That is so much more than busting out guns and killing the bad guys. Decreeing justice requires complete structural renovation and public renewal. There is order and purpose that comes from authority and wisdom and fairness. Justice is so much more than the absence of conflict. We so desperately need a righteous judge.

Psalm 6

This is probably one of my favorite Psalms because of its honesty.

This is probably one of the most unsettling Psalms because of its honesty.

"bones in agony"

"soul is in anguish"

"worn out from groaning"

"i flood my bed with weeping"

"drench my couch with tears"

"eyes grow weak with sorrow"

I'm not sure what had occurred to provoke the writing of this Psalm, but it sounds long and messy and hard. All he does is describes the state he is in. There's no explanation for how or why he's there. He doesn't even acknowledge that the LORD has done anything to rescue him or comfort him yet, but the LORD has done 3 things:

1. "heard my weeping"

2. "heard my cry for mercy"

3. "accepts my prayer"

The LORD seems incredibly passive and removed and powerless while the Psalmist implodes.

I am so grateful that David, the man after God's heart, the man from which the Savior of the world would descend from, reconciling God to us, us to each other, and us to the earth, felt this way too on at least one occasion.

Psalm 5

⁵ The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who do wrong.

⁶ You destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men
the LORD abhors.

⁷ But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
toward your holy temple.

I think of myself as an arrogant person. See, even typing that I feel arrogant. It's because I think about myself alot. And I also think about thinking about myself alot, and I think self-awareness is healthy and good, but self-centeredness and self-obsession is goofy and ridiculous and terrible and easy. I will do anything I can to convince you that I like you because I want you to think that I like you and am a good person.

This is so not who I want to be.

A friend and I were talking about how I am a "like me" person. "Like me, please" is my subtle cry. As I try to follow Jesus, I pray that by his grace and power, he will transform me into a "Because of Jesus, I love you" person.

I'm also a lying person. I don't come up with elaborate lies - I'm not clever enough. Recently, I've let white lies slip into my relationship with my boyfriend, and I confess them to him because I don't want even a hint of deceit in our relationship. He and what we have are too good to chip away at in my misguided attempts at "saying the right thing" rather than showing love by trusting and being honest. I don't want a facade of political-correctness; I want a mess of loving authenticity.

Thank you God, for your mercies which endure in spite of my arrogance and lies. Mercy trumps my mess. Awesome.

Psalm 4

⁶ Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

It is ridiculously hard to believe that there is Good in the world. People often say, "Just look at the newspaper headlines." What scares me even more is when the layers of a single headline are peeled away.

24 September 2010 11:52 ET

BBC News

DR Congo Rapes 'Defy Belief,' says UN

How are the victims doing?

What drives someone to violate another person?

What does the rapist think before falling asleep at night?

How are the aid workers doing?

When did the need for the UN arise?

How is this news relayed to the rest of the world?

Why is apathy so comfortable?

How are the journalists doing?

Why is there a lack of justice?

When did sex become a weapon of war?

How does healing happen?

God.

Is there any good?

Please give me the eyes to see the light of your face shine upon us.

Psalm 3

In this Psalm, "Selah" is introduced.

Selah is a liturgical/musical instruction to the effect of "stop and listen" or "let those with eyes see and those with ears hear."

⁴ To the LORD I cry aloud,
and he answers me from his holy hill.
Selah

That one caught my attention in particular because I began to think of all those times we cry aloud to God and don't get answers.

What are we listening for then?

What are we missing now by not stopping and listening?

Psalm 2

I've decided to go through a Psalm a day and post my thoughts. Today's psalm isn't connecting with my brain. As a whole, I don't really understand it because it mentions kings and kingdoms and rulers, and I don't have any experience with them.

And then I started thinking about God's Kingdom, and how I can just think about it and gush about it and be captivated by it and desire to be a part of it and throw out hot buzz words like

revolutionary

relevant

social justice

forgiveness

missional

transformational

counter-cultural

sacrificial

reconciliation

And I can't help but think that sometimes, seeing God's Kingdom gets in the way of me seeing God.

I love looking at things my friends have created: poetry, crafts, blogs, music, photos, events, scrapbooks. Seeing what they have made shows me more of who they are and what they love and are about and want to see more of in the world. It makes me do a double-take at its creator; it points to them and their heart and that is a beautiful thing.

I want to view God's Kingdom in the same way.

I want to know the Creator and His Beauty more fully because of what I have seen.

The Kingdom is merely a taste of who God is, and that is awesome.