Yesterday, with some help from Anne Murray, I posted the first of some thoughts and impressions about the fifteen songs in the Book of Psalms known as the "Songs (or Psalms) of Ascent." They are traveling songs. They were sung by Jewish pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem for the feasts that were a central part of their worship. I am continuing to think about these Psalms, today.
Me with my lovely wife, Kathy:
Showing posts with label trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trust. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Psalms of Confidence: Do you really believe what you say you believe?
Sunday, I had the privilege of teaching Sunday School at Faith Presbyterian Christian Reformed Church, our church, here, on Guam. We are doing a study on the Book of Psalms. Sunday's class was built around a video of a lecture on Psalm 11 delivered, by Dr. Godfrey at Ligonier Fellowship. If you are interested you can purchase the video from Ligonier.
You can read Psalm 11 here.
As is often the case, I didn't get done with what I hoped to say. In case any of my classmates are interested in some follow-up and for the benefit of all, here is some of what remained on my iPad at the end of class.
Psalm 11is according to The Light of the Psalms, by Michael Ross, a “Psalm of Trust.” He identifies six other Psalms as Psalms of trust, or as they are sometimes called Confidence Psalms.
Psalms 11, 16, 23, 27, 63, 73, and 91 all begin with a basic Theological truth about God. These are concepts that we don't have trouble affirming when the sun is shining. When the dark clouds of life roll in, however, we tend to say, "Maybe not today." In brief, bullet-point fashion, here are the realities about God found in the opening statements of these Psalms of Trust.
Perhaps at the beginning of these trust Psalms, we could accuse the writers of whistling in the dark. By the end, though, they have wrestled in the mud with demons within and without. Each of these Psalms ends with triumphant confidence.
You can read Psalm 11 here.
As is often the case, I didn't get done with what I hoped to say. In case any of my classmates are interested in some follow-up and for the benefit of all, here is some of what remained on my iPad at the end of class.
Psalm 11is according to The Light of the Psalms, by Michael Ross, a “Psalm of Trust.” He identifies six other Psalms as Psalms of trust, or as they are sometimes called Confidence Psalms.
Psalms 11, 16, 23, 27, 63, 73, and 91 all begin with a basic Theological truth about God. These are concepts that we don't have trouble affirming when the sun is shining. When the dark clouds of life roll in, however, we tend to say, "Maybe not today." In brief, bullet-point fashion, here are the realities about God found in the opening statements of these Psalms of Trust.
- Psalm 11, begins with the Lord as David's refuge. That thought also is part of the opening of Psalms 16, and 91. In 27 we find a similar word, "stronghold." When I checked, I saw that the alternative translation is "refuge."
- Psalm 16:8 is a deliberate action. It is the kind of response Col. 3:1 calls for, "seek the things above." David makes the Lord the center of his thoughts, as his descendant would later command. "Seek first the kingdom of God."
- Psalm 23, the most familiar of the Psalms begins with the comforting truth, "The Lord is Shepherd." It goes on to enumerate the benefits that come to a sheep in His flock.
- Psalm 27, is a vastly different picture from the pastoral scene of the Shepherd Psalm. God is my stronghold, my defense.
- When David looks at God in Psalm 63, he sees him as "My God." He is not just an abstract concept. David longs for God. God is personal. David's relationship with Him is a personal relationship.
- I call Psalm 73 one of the "slippery place" Psalms. Asaph is desperately holding on to the truth, "Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart!"
- Psalm 91 begins with a summary of what we have already seen. The Psalmist begins with a combination of military security and personal trust.
It's in verse 4 of Psalm 11 that David anchors his soul. As in a concert the momentary dissonance draws attention to the resolution when it comes. In these Psalms the present reality--honestly, even brutally expressed--provides the dark background that shows the brilliance of the truth even more vividly.
- In spite of what's going on right now, the "Lord is in His holy temple." Ps 11
- The "Lord is my chosen portion." Ps 16
- The shadow of death and the evil around me are no match for the Shepherd's rod and staff. Ps 23
- David's confidence is not because of, but in spite of his circumstances. Ps 27
- Like the Apostle Paul a millennium later, David does the arithmatic. "Your lovingkindness is better than life." Ps 63 & Phil 1:21
- In Psalm 91 is extravagant in it's reassurance. It is like a crecendoing tympany that keeps on rising.
- Psalm 73 is my personal favorite, for putting things right. The hinge-pin of the Psalm is a trip to the sanctuary (73:17). True worship is therapeutic. It sets the bones of our soul straight.
Perhaps at the beginning of these trust Psalms, we could accuse the writers of whistling in the dark. By the end, though, they have wrestled in the mud with demons within and without. Each of these Psalms ends with triumphant confidence.
“For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.” (Psalm 11:7, ESV)
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11, ESV)
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6, ESV)
“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:13–14, ESV)
“But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth; they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals. But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.” (Psalm 63:9–11, ESV)
“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25–26, ESV)
"I will . . . show him My salvation." (Psalm 91:16)
God is Who He says He is. Go live like it.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
I don't want to settle for my life turning out to be an ashtray.
Over at one of my other blogs, http://sttaspots.blogspot.com/, I posted some thoughts about the direction our lives take, and what we end up in the end.
Since the four posts there are really a unit, I'm posting all four of them in the right order, here.
Generally speaking each STTA is a stand alone. This one, however is the last of a series of four. You might want to go hereand read the last three STTAs, start with 1/14 and work back to yesterday.
"Aiming at nothing," and "Mission Creep," are ways of describing people or organizations who have no, or have lost their, direction. "Rigid," "Inflexible," or "Suffering from hardening of the categories," describes others, on the other end of the spectrum, who fail to adapt to changing conditions. How do we maintain a balance between being flexible but lacking in core convictions, and being rigid about things concerning which we ought to flex? I've been especially concerned about the end result of a life. It's possible to be so blown by the wind that the end will reveal a result determined by external, often impersonal, and sometimes hostile, forces.
It's STTA.
Since the four posts there are really a unit, I'm posting all four of them in the right order, here.
But, What Is It?
"It's an ashtray."
Back in the day it used to be common for children to give their parents gifts related to smoking. Many ceramic or metal-shop projects ended up being
gifted as ashtrays. Making a vase tall and slender, with thin walls, takes a whole lot more skill than making a short, squat, thick, kind of saucer-ish thing. That
dent in the rim of a roundish piece of metal, that was once destined to become a cup, looks a lot like a place to park a cigarette. There comes a time when increased work isn't adding to its cup-ish-ness, or vase-like quality. At some point the answer to the question,
gifted as ashtrays. Making a vase tall and slender, with thin walls, takes a whole lot more skill than making a short, squat, thick, kind of saucer-ish thing. That
"What is it?"
became,
"It's an ashtray."
That wasn't what I wanted it to be. It's not what I want, but it has to be something, so . . .
Solomon observed that "Time and Chance happens to all." I would add to the mix, skill, talent, planning, diligence, and/or lack of all the above. From time to time I work with wood. Sometimes a project gets modified because of a previously unseen blemish in the wood.
"Why did you make that that way?"
"Because a worm bored into a tree fifty years ago."
Improv-comics, moms, politicians, and football coaches all need that if-life-gives-you-lemons-make-lemonade skill. If you let those adaptive concepts get out of hand, however, you end up--well--messed up. We might praise a twelve-year-old for somewhat salvaging a project-gone-bad. The C- for the "ashtray" is better than a 0 for a no-show. When a life, or an important institution morphs into the human equivalent of a waste container for tobacco ash it is tragic.
I don't want to stand before the Lord and say about what I've done with my life, "I guess, Lord, it turned out to be an ashtray."
We aren't done yet. Stay tuned.
"What made you decide that you would make an ashtray in ceramics class?"
"Really, I never did decide. I just looked at the thing, and it
looked more like an ashtray than anything else, so. . . ."
To one degree or another, virtually every hobby project has an element of that kind of imposed parameter about it It's hard to make a long project with short lumber. Sometimes the color it gets painted is determined by what was left from the last remodel.
Setting out to make a bench six feet long, but ending up with one five feet, nine inches, because you had this lovely piece of oak just short of six feet is likely a good use of resources. Ending up with one six inches tall--not so much. Adapting is a virtue. Settling for that which clearly isn't what it should be, or won't do what it
ought to do, is unsettling, to say the least. Striking the appropriate balance requires, among other things, holding to some unalterable core values, and having a clear view of reality.
Over the years, building my greatest project--my life--I have messed up in both directions.
On occasions I have gotten hung up on minutiae. Important things
went undone, essentials were ignored, but I paid close attention to some stupid detail that a year later--maybe ten minutes later--didn't matter at all.
At other times I have let my impatience, or desire to please others, or failure to plan, or (fill in the blank) talk me out of some absolutely essential element. I settled when I should have insisted and persisted.
If you get the idea that I struggle some between those two extremes, I'd say you've got it about right. I've still got some more ideas on the matter, but how about we finish up by doing something I ought to do a whole a lot more, praying.
Lord, I need to know the difference between what is essential, and that which doesn't matter. I know that understanding Your word is essential, so help me to learn it better and obey it more thoroughly. Lord, don't let my life turn out to be something it never should have become. Amen
We aren't done yet. Stay tuned.
"Really, I never did decide. I just looked at the thing, and it
looked more like an ashtray than anything else, so. . . ."To one degree or another, virtually every hobby project has an element of that kind of imposed parameter about it It's hard to make a long project with short lumber. Sometimes the color it gets painted is determined by what was left from the last remodel.
Setting out to make a bench six feet long, but ending up with one five feet, nine inches, because you had this lovely piece of oak just short of six feet is likely a good use of resources. Ending up with one six inches tall--not so much. Adapting is a virtue. Settling for that which clearly isn't what it should be, or won't do what it
ought to do, is unsettling, to say the least. Striking the appropriate balance requires, among other things, holding to some unalterable core values, and having a clear view of reality. Over the years, building my greatest project--my life--I have messed up in both directions.
On occasions I have gotten hung up on minutiae. Important things
went undone, essentials were ignored, but I paid close attention to some stupid detail that a year later--maybe ten minutes later--didn't matter at all.At other times I have let my impatience, or desire to please others, or failure to plan, or (fill in the blank) talk me out of some absolutely essential element. I settled when I should have insisted and persisted.
If you get the idea that I struggle some between those two extremes, I'd say you've got it about right. I've still got some more ideas on the matter, but how about we finish up by doing something I ought to do a whole a lot more, praying.
Lord, I need to know the difference between what is essential, and that which doesn't matter. I know that understanding Your word is essential, so help me to learn it better and obey it more thoroughly. Lord, don't let my life turn out to be something it never should have become. Amen
We aren't done yet. Stay tuned.
I'm pretty sure it's too soon to quit.
A long time ago I built a set of shelves for my living room. There was a window in the middle of a wall. One shelf unit on the left, another on the right. The lower part of the units was deeper than the upper portion. So about thirty inches off the floor there was a ledge. I built the left unit and put it in place and was pretty pleased. I started in on the unit on the right. When I set it in place, I could immediately see that something was wrong. That ledge part of the unit looked like it was about a foot higher than the one on the left. Really it was 3/4 
of an inch, but it stood out like it was much more.
I very much wanted to be done. I remember laying down in the floor, staring at the obvious error, and trying to come up with a good reason why I didn't have to fix it. All my reasons to leave it alone were short-sighted. Consideration of how long these shelves were going to be a part of the main room in my house finally won the argument. Back to the shop. . . .
When trying to find that sweet spot between settling for that which just won't do, and adapting to that which is beyond my control, that distinction between short and long term is something to remember. Wisdom counsels us to never sacrifice the eternal on the altar of the temporary. (I heard that somewhere.) Yet, how often for the sake of temporary convenience, or short-term comfort do we settle--forfeiting long-term gains?
Maybe it makes sense, the night before that art project is due to declare it an ashtray and turn it in for a D. It makes no
sense to treat my life that way. If you are still breathing God's air, it's too early to quit.
We aren't done yet. Stay tuned. (There is much that is out of my control, but nothing is outside the reach of God. Lord willing, tomorrow.)
It's STTA.
of an inch, but it stood out like it was much more. I very much wanted to be done. I remember laying down in the floor, staring at the obvious error, and trying to come up with a good reason why I didn't have to fix it. All my reasons to leave it alone were short-sighted. Consideration of how long these shelves were going to be a part of the main room in my house finally won the argument. Back to the shop. . . .
When trying to find that sweet spot between settling for that which just won't do, and adapting to that which is beyond my control, that distinction between short and long term is something to remember. Wisdom counsels us to never sacrifice the eternal on the altar of the temporary. (I heard that somewhere.) Yet, how often for the sake of temporary convenience, or short-term comfort do we settle--forfeiting long-term gains?Maybe it makes sense, the night before that art project is due to declare it an ashtray and turn it in for a D. It makes no
sense to treat my life that way. If you are still breathing God's air, it's too early to quit.We aren't done yet. Stay tuned. (There is much that is out of my control, but nothing is outside the reach of God. Lord willing, tomorrow.)
It's STTA.
Generally speaking each STTA is a stand alone. This one, however is the last of a series of four. You might want to go hereand read the last three STTAs, start with 1/14 and work back to yesterday. "Aiming at nothing," and "Mission Creep," are ways of describing people or organizations who have no, or have lost their, direction. "Rigid," "Inflexible," or "Suffering from hardening of the categories," describes others, on the other end of the spectrum, who fail to adapt to changing conditions. How do we maintain a balance between being flexible but lacking in core convictions, and being rigid about things concerning which we ought to flex? I've been especially concerned about the end result of a life. It's possible to be so blown by the wind that the end will reveal a result determined by external, often impersonal, and sometimes hostile, forces.
Speaking to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul said, that mature Christians would not be, "tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine." (Ephesians 4:14) Yet an examination of the great Apostle's ministry indicates a remarkable flexibility. See 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 for an example.
It is absolutely clear that Paul wanted to be effective, but above that he was committed to being faithful. I need to make obedience to God the number one objective of my life. Of course, in order to do that I have to understand the commands. That is a life-long project. As I live a life of obedience, I run into a lot of forces that would toss me here and there, and carry me about. It may be to appropriate to adapt. In fact there are times when obedience demands that I flex. The Pharisees were not wrong because they kept the rules. They erred because they kept too many rules, sometimes being blinded to essential, by an undue focus on peripheral matters.
I should try to be effective, relevant, engaging, and useful, but I should never be any of those things if it means I must be disobedient to God.
There are a lot of things I face that I don't understand and
can't control, but God does, so I must trust Him.
 |
So, after four days of musing, I find myself back in SundaySchool. Mrs. Marsceau is holding up the flash cards to a song, "Trust and Obey, for their's not other way to be happy in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey.
It's STTA.
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