Psalm 148:13-14 - January 11, 2010

Ps 148:13-14 "Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. 14 He has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart." NIV

There is a people close to the heart of the Lord! Psalm 148:13-14 is a celebration of the Lord’s faithful provision for this people that He loves. Verse 14 passionately proclaims Israel as the people that have captured a special place in His heart. From earliest times the Lord set apart the children of Abraham to be a people who enjoyed a special revelation of God in their midst! Out of all the nations, the Lord found a man named Abram, and led him upon a discovery of God that would prepare the world for a restoration of intimacy with our creator.

Given a new name in the midst of a deep mystical encounter with God, Abram, now Abraham was set apart because of his faith to become the father of all those who would believe. God made Himself known to Abraham and then to the proceeding generations, as a means of unveiling his love for the people that he has created. In the Garden of Eden intimacy with God was forfeited by man’s willful sin and yet the love of God compelled Him to prepare a means of restoration. Throughout the next 4,000 years God pursued a people that He could call His own. He raised up the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to become a nation through which He could demonstrate His intimate affection and through which He could display the nature of this relationship with all mankind. The nation of Israel was born out of 400 years of slavery as God raised up a new generation of followers through which He could display His glory.

Birthed in a miraculous climate of global confrontation and supernatural manifestation, the people of Israel followed the Lord into the land of promise. Their hearts were tested, and their faith matured as they learned how to walk with God in a level of partnership and purpose that the world had never seen. Since that time the purpose of God has continued to expand throughout the generations as the purpose of God through Christ has been made known and all men have been invited to share this life of intimacy. And yet there is still a people close to the Lord’s heart. God is not a respecter of persons but still the scriptures tell us that Israel is precious in His sight. Now separated from God by their unbelief, Paul tells us that this people have experienced a temporary hardening of heart for the sake of the rest of mankind being given a window of time through which to enter into a grace relationship with God. But Israel is not replaced in God’s affections! He is the same yesterday, today and forever, and this “peculiar” people is still precious in His sight.

Paul shared the Lord’s heart in this way with such passion that he declared in Rom 11:25-26 “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved,” The nation of Israel s still in the plan of God and we are reminded to cry out for her salvation. Let your heart be open to the purpose of God in the land of promise and cry out for the spirit of revival to sweep from north to south, east to west throughout all of Israel that the glory of God may be revealed. Let the words of the Lord through Isaiah stir your heart today as you pray: Isa 62:6-7 “You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, 7 and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.”

Psalm 147:5 - January 8, 2010

Ps 147:5 "Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit." NIV

Have you ever had a problem you couldn’t solve? Have you ever faced a situation where no matter how hard you tried you could not understand it? One of the wonders of this passage is the thought that the Lord has never had this feeling. There has never been a problem to complex for him. There has never been a mystery that he could not discern. There has never been a situation that was beyond his understanding. Psalm 147:5 exalts the Lord’s power, his marvelous capacity to be all things to all people and to be the answer to every need.

Whatever you are searching for, God knows where to find it. Whatever you are seeking to understand, God understands it more completely. In all things there is God. For every problem there is God. For every need there is God! He has all the power you need, all the wisdom you need and His love compels Him to act on your behalf. He will never misdiagnose your need. He will never confuse your situation with that of another one of His children. He is “mighty in power”… and “his understanding has no limit.”

When I reflect upon these aspects of God it provokes me to consider another element of God’s greatness that is revealed in principle through this passage. What is truly amazing is this: Can you imagine any being; whether human or supernatural in nature, who being all powerful, all knowing and ever-present and yet could remain perfectly humble! Anyone given over to the sinful human nature would be compelled by possessing even a significant measure of the attributes of God to an overbearing pride. This is evidenced in the life of Paul, who even though he was one of God’s greatest servants in his generation, was assigned a thorn in the flesh to help him resist his inclination towards pride that was a result of having experienced significant dimensions of the beauty realms of God.

How awesome this passage portrays God to be in both power and wisdom and yet what is implied about God’s character through this statement is the most wonderful of all. All of these things can be true and do not conflict with one another because of one thing: God is love! The very fabric of His being, the very essence of who He is, is love!

Psalm 146:5-9 - January 6, 2010

Ps 146:5-9 "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, 6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them — the LORD, who remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, 8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked." NIV

Psalm 146:5-9 contains one of the most encouraging phrases in all of scripture. Verse 6 declares that the Lord “remains faithful forever.” Imagine the ability to “completely” rely on someone! There has never been and never will be a time when the Lord cannot be fully relied upon. There will never be a day when the Lord gets busy or distracted and fails to keep His commitments. There will never be a moment when the pressures of life are too great for Him and He has to neglect one of His responsibilities. He is altogether faithful. This is why verse 5 can be confidently affirmed. “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord.” Anyone who places their trust in God will certainly not be disappointed. They will be able to live in joy because of their assurance that God is faithful to all that He has promised.
As we consider this passage there is a second feature of it that adds to its power and beauty. This declaration of the Lord’s faithfulness is followed by the testimony of how God expresses that faithfulness! This description of the passions of God’s heart is comforting for its assurance of God’s compassion. “He upholds the cause of the oppressed…” food to the hungry, freedom for the prisoners, sight to the blind, these are the works of the Lord that display His faithfulness. All of this is encapsulated in the statement “the Lord loves the righteous!” Lean on the Lord! His love and faithfulness compel Him to act! He will not be silent. He will not grow weary. He will not refuse the cry of the humble heart! Celebrate His faithfulness and live confidently before Him.

Psalm 145:8-9 - December 31, 2009

Ps 145:8-9 "The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. 9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made." NIV

Can you say, “Thank God for mercy?” If the Lord was not intensely patient, and full of compassionate understanding who could stand before Him? David marveled at the Lord’s kindness to us when he said in Ps 8:4 “what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” NIV David was a sinful man at times, one who not only fell into temptation but committed on at least one occasion intense acts of cruelty to hide his own transgressions from the public eye. He committed adultery with a vulnerable woman and then robbed her of her husband and him of his life by arranging for his death by betrayal in battle. And yet history knows him as the man after God’s own heart. How could this be?
This is a question that is answered in this revelation of God that David walked in. David was an imperfect yet passionate worshipper who loved God and was radically committed to serving God’s purposes in his generation. He fought the Lord’s battles, led the Lord’s people, sang the Lord’s praise, prophesied the Lord’s purposes and yet was a man who sinned against God and his people in diverse and damaging ways. In many ways it could be said that if any man deserved judgment David did. And yet he received mercy from the Lord. This is where David’s revelation of God came from. He knew he deserved God’s anger. He knew he deserved judgment. But he also knew the merciful God of heaven. His testimony of God is so clear; “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all…”

What separated David from so many other leaders was his readiness to repent. David had a heart for God trapped in a human, sinful body! But because he had a revelation of a merciful God he knew that each time he turned towards the Lord in genuine repentance and humility that grace and mercy would be waiting there for him. David knew a God who is “rich in love!” Do you? David knew the Lord who is slow to anger. Do you? So many of us lose out on the confidence we can have in life because we do not understand the compassion that the Lord has in his heart for us. David writes out of this same spirit of revelation earlier in Ps 103:13-14 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” It is this understanding that enabled David to rise up after every failure and be restored to a place of grace before God. The good news is that Acts 10:34 states that God is “no respecter of persons.” The same mercy that He has shown to David, He will show to you when you fall short as you turn your heart to Him in repentance!

Psalm 145:3-7 , December 30, 2009

Ps 145:3-7 "Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. 4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. 5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. 6 They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. 7 They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness." NIV

Who can truly comprehend the greatness of God! Creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and so much more, God is above all things and within all things. He is all wise, perfectly just and holy and yet His very being IS LOVE! No one can understand the infinite God! Our minds are too limited by their point of view. How can the finite comprehend the infinite? How can the imperfect comprehend the perfect? It is impossible.
God has allowed Himself to be known by those who seek Him, but who can fully grasp all that is God? This is an impossible task, yet we are encouraged to seek Him, to desire Him, to reach for this knowledge that is beyond knowing! We exhorted by the writer of Hebrews in Heb 11:6 that God “… rewards those who earnestly seek him.” The Lord also declares through the prophet Jeremiah in Jer 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” God makes himself known to man and invites us to explore the depths of who He is. David spent his whole life in pursuit of God and yet he only touched the fringe of who God is. Every page of every book contained in the scriptures is a reflection of the men and women who lived their lives in pursuit of God and yet there is so much more of God yet to be unveiled to the human heart.

In Psalm 145:3-7 David celebrates the power of testimony to spread the knowledge of God. The story of what God has done and is doing is alive and contagious. The disciples spoke of this power when they recounted one of their post resurrection encounters with the Lord as He opened the scriptures to them. In Luke 24:32 they say “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”KJV The testimony of Christ awakened an inner burning in the hearts of the disciples and that same power is still at work today! In reference to the testimony of God David describes God’s mighty acts, the splendor of His majesty, His awesome works and His great deeds! As he tells of these things he recounts how they have moved him to meditation on the greatness of God. This is the power of testimony. God wants to make you think!!!!

When we take time to really consider the works of God from a spirit of faith how can we not rejoice? When we slow down enough to invest ourselves in considering the works of the Lord how can we not be moved to marvel at God’s ways. God wants to be known by each one of us. He has revealed himself through a manifold, multi-generation spanning love affair with mankind. God has not done his work off in a corner somewhere. He has positioned himself right in the center of all human activity, plainly displayed through both His son and His people so that anyone who would seek after God can speedily find him if he will but stop, look and listen! God is waiting to make himself known to you today. Make the time to become a seeker!

Psalm 139:13-16 - December 29, 2009

Ps 139:13-16 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

God knows you from the inside out! He knows your deepest thoughts. He understands you body soul and spirit. From the moment of conception God is conscious of your entire life. He knows where you have come from and He knows the fullness of everything that you will ever do. This truth is a vital aspect to living life to its fullest. David reflects not only on the wonder of God creating his human body, he is conscious that God created the inner being as well as the outer being. When God created us He didn’t just create a body, He placed within us our spirit and soul. These are the eternal parts of our being. Our bodies will decay and pass away, being replaced by a new glorified body for those who believe, but our spirit and soul will live forever with God.

Two principles make this knowledge vital to a full life: When we grasp the reality that God has formed us and that we are HIS wonderful creation it places great value on our lives. The Psalmist states I am…wonderfully made, and … your works are wonderful! That means that as God’s creation, I AM WONDERFUL! Secondly, when we understand the value of our lives it compels us to live that life to the fullest for the glory of God. Knowing that every day of our lives, past, present and future is already in the mind of God from before we are created invites us to live a life of purpose. If every day of our lives is recorded in the book of God then the implication is that every day matters.

Even when we were unformed, God was watching. God is a master craftsman and it is He who formed us and ordained our life purpose for us. It is because of this that David’s heart is filled with praise. God desires to fill your life with wonder as you live in the reality of the miracle that your life represents! God is intimately involved with your every moment on a level that is far more vital and engaged than most of us have comprehended. In verse 4 of this Psalm David marveled at this same principle Ps 139:4 “Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely.” Each one of us would be greatly benefited by continually stirring up this knowledge in our hearts: “My life matters and God is not only watching, He is working with me to make the most of my days!” Live today in the reality of the divine partnership.

Psalm 141:1-2

Ps 141:1-2 "O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you. 2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice."

Psalm 141:1-2 is such a powerful image of a heart of passion being released to God in prayer. “May my prayer be set before you as incense…” this heart cry creates an image of the fragrance of our prayers arising before God as a pleasing aroma! In Ge. 8:20 Noah sacrifices a burnt offering to the Lord and God’s response in verse 21 states “the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in His heart…” From the very beginning of biblical history the fragrance of offerings given to the Lord arose like incense before God and influenced his heart. What is important to realize about such passages is that it is not the smell of burning flesh that touches the Lord’s heart, but the knowledge of the costly sacrifice surrendered willingly to the Lord that creates the pleasing aroma and moves the heart of God.

David understood this concept as he cried out to the Lord in Psalm 141:1-2. His desire for his prayers to be set before God as incense reflects his understanding that God finds pleasure in a heart lifted up before Him in humility and faith. His cry is a longing to be received, a desire to find favor with the Lord, as if to say “let this sacrifice of my heart’s cry be acceptable to you.

It seems of great significance that David’s son captures the essence of this passion in the bridal imagery of Song of Solomon. It seems that David must have allowed his son to see this aspect of his walk with God because on two occasions in Song of Solomon, Solomon illustrates the pleasure that our hearts bring to the Lord through the images of a lover. Song 4:10-11 “How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice! 11 Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue.”

Oh that we would understand the pleasure that God finds in a right heart expressed through worship and prayer. Listen to the language of Solomon: “How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride…” This passage is the Lord talking about you! He loves your love! When we worship Him it brings him joy, not because we have fulfilled our duty but because we have offered ourselves freely as an expression of our love. “How much more pleasing is your love than wine…” Do you realize that your love for God is intoxicating! He is talking about you!!!!! Consider verse 11 “Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue.” This is how the Lord views the words of worship and prayer that come forth from your mouth. “Your lips drop sweetness…” Every loving word, every song of praise, every prayer of remembrance that strengthens the bond between your heart and His heart is like sweet honey to the heart of God. When we speak life giving words to the Lord in the secret place of His presence we bond our hearts to him more and more completely. Understand who you are to the Lord and lift up a fragrant offering to Him today!