Psalm 107-110

June 30

Psalm 107-110

"Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies." (Psalm 108:12-13, NIV)

When you read this verse, perhaps you think of someone you do not like, or perhaps you think of a nation that has a tense relationship with your home country. But the real enemy of a Christian is the devil, sin, and death. Peter reminds us to be on guard against the devil.  "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8, NIV) But as we can see the devil only has as much power as we allow him to have. He cannot make us do anything, if we keep our eyes and hearts focused on Jesus, the devil can only tempt us.

The devil’s goal is to turn us away from Jesus; to get us to focus on anything else but Jesus. He knows our weaknesses and exploits them. But the devil is really powerless. He gets leverage when we let down our guard and he gets us to rebel against God. In other words sin is the real enemy; the devil is the one who tempts us to sin. The consequence of sin is death, not just physical death, but spiritual death, separation from God. Paul wrote; "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—" (Romans 5:12, NIV)  All sin so all die.

Jesus came to defeat sin, death, and the devil. He came to bring life and wholeness. Paul wrote to the Corinthians; "For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death." (1 Corinthians 15:25-26, NIV) Then he continued; "“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:55-58, NIV)

As the psalmist wrote so many years before, God came to the aid of humanity against our enemy. Jesus came and won the victory on the cross. He trampled down our enemy. The devil has no power, sin has been paid for and cleansed from the hearts of those who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and death was defeated when Jesus came from the grave. There will be a day when He returns and the living and the dead will be united with Christ and the devil, sin and death will be expunged from the world. In the mean time we are called to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord.

Psalm 105-106

June 29

Psalm 105-106

What is in it for me? What have you done for me lately? Sounds like the attitude of most people doesn’t it? That was the attitude of the Israelites. One minute they were singing His praises as He delivered them out of slavery in Egypt. But before long they were crying the blues wondering why he had taken them into the desert. He provided food and water, but they were not thankful. They saw God’s mighty works in their presence, the plagues that came upon the Egyptians; the Red Sea opened up and allowed them to pass then drowned the Egyptian army. They saw the pillar of cloud during the day and the pillar of fire at night. But rebellion was in their blood.

While Moses was on the mountain meeting with God, they grew impatient and had Aaron form an idol of a calf out of gold. The psalmist wrote; “"They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass." (Psalm 106:20, NIV) Most of us probably do not struggle with exchanging God’s presence for the image of a bull. But like the Israelites, we get impatient waiting on God and take things in our own hands. We may not make a calf, but we take things into our own hands. We may not of seen God move in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, but we have seen His Spirit move in our lives. We experience salvation and the forgiveness of sin and turn around and follow the advice of the world instead of obeying God’s Word.

Fortunately God is patient with us. The only way to stop the rollercoaster ride of our spiritual lives is to surrender our lives to Jesus and to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us and guide us. The Israelites had the Spirit with them, we have Him in us. “Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." (Psalm 106:1, NIV)

Psalm 101-104

June 28

Psalm 101-104

How far is the east from the west? The two never meet. That is how far God has removed our sin from us. God is a God of love, He does not want to send us away because of our sin, but He is also righteous and His righteousness prevents Him from winking at and ignoring our sin. Instead He redeems us. He pays the price that is ours to pay. Jesus came as the ultimate revealer of God. "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Colossians 1:19-20, NIV)

We deserve death and hell, but "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love." (Psalm 103:8, NIV) A definition of grace is getting what we do not deserve; while mercy is not getting what we do deserve. "he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities." (Psalm 103:10, NIV) There is only one reason God treats us as He does; love. He loves us no matter where we have been or what we have done. Jesus came for those who believe in Him and those who reject Him. But those who fear Him, those who call on His name; He adopts as His children and redeems them from the pit. He forgives our sins and heals us, satisfying our desires.

If we receive such a great gift from God of the universe from the pit of our being we cannot help but cry out; Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Psalm 92-100

June 27

Psalm 92-100

When is the right time to retire? As people live longer and are able to be active at older ages, the question keeps popping up. What should be the age that we can begin to draw on our retirement or begin to receive social security? Are mandatory retirement ages too low? Many people work their entire lives looking forward to the day when they no longer have to punch the clock. People strain and struggle now so they can sit back later. Other people want to work until they are buried. The thought of not having anything to do each day is enough to drive them crazy.

No matter our thoughts on retirement from our careers, God does not have a retirement plan for our spiritual lives. As followers of Christ we are to be fruitful with our lives whether we are old or young. "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”" (Psalm 92:12-15, NIV)

God does not tell us that after a certain number of years of service or after a certain age, we can sit back and watch and let the next generation do the work of the church. Scripture instead speaks of the older generation mentoring and teaching the younger generation while the older generation continues to serve alongside the next generation. We are to continue to bear fruit even in our old age. Our work may change. We may not be able to do the things we used to do, but we can still be fruitful. We can still have an impact on the Kingdom of God. Remember the Lord is our Rock. We can lean on Him when we get tired and need rest, but that is not an excuse to stop serving.

Psalm 89-91

June 26

Psalm 89-91

"“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”" (Psalm 91:14-16, NIV)

The devil took the words of Psalm 91:11 and quoted them to Jesus when he tempted Jesus in the desert. The devil tried to get Jesus to jump from the highest point of the temple and allow God to rescue Him to reveal to the people that He is the Son of God. Jesus reminded the devil that God also said; “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Many people are tempted to turn from God when He does not give them what they want or does not seem to answer prayers the way they want Him to answer. When trials and trouble come, some people turn from God instead of turning to Him. Especially when illness comes, when a diagnosis of a terminal illness is received people ask; why? Why doesn’t God heal those who get cancer at a young age? If the scripture says “with long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation,” why do some followers of Christ still die young? Why do good Christian people still face trouble in life?

First we have to remember that death is not final. Jesus won the victory over death when He rose from the dead. Death is a transition from life on earth to eternity. Those who receive the salvation offered by God through Jesus receive long life, eternal life. God does still answer prayers, they are just not always answered the way we want, but we can be assured God works all things together for the good.

This Psalm does not say we will not have trouble, but it does say God will be with us in the midst of the trouble. He will deliver us and will honor us as we come out of the fire refined and purified by God. When trouble comes, instead of turning away from God, we can turn to God and know that He is with us in the midst of the trouble. If we continue to love Him and serve Him and call on His name, He will hear us from heaven, will answer us, and will guide us through our trials. If our trouble leads to death, we can also be assured that at that time our faith will become sight and we will enter into God’s presence.

There is no trouble this world can bring us that God cannot bring us through.