Psalm 28:7 (HNV) The LORD is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song I will thank him. I found a new version of the Bible on the Blue Letter Bible that I use when I read online. It’s called the Hebrew Names Version. I think it’s also called the Messianic Jewish Bible. It uses common Hebrew phrases in the place of some of the words. I also found a really cool tool – I can look at the Hebrew text and see what the words are in Hebrew. However, the salt of this is that the translation I get for the word is just that, a translation. It isn’t the image associated with the word, and sometimes our translated equivalent isn’t quite right because it takes a paragraph to really get the word’s true meaning conveyed. But, it’s interesting nonetheless. I found when I looked at it that “therefore” isn’t used. According to the Hebrew text it just says “My heart.” After listening to Skip’s teaching on the Hebrew World View I’ve also learned that leb (the Hebrew word for heart) doesn’t just mean our literal heart; it also means the mind and emotions and spirit. So, the heart that rejoices here is really the writer’s whole self. Maybe the “therefore” is implied because of the placement of the phrase? I went back and tried to match the symbols they had for each word with the picture of the textual sentence and also noticed that there seemed to be words that weren’t translated (or maybe they were variations on the translated words given – due to tenses or placement). And, the words weren’t necessarily translated in the same order as the original text (at least that’s how it seemed to my VERY untrained eye). I’d imagine that if I actually learned Hebrew, then a lot of these issues would go away because I would understand the grammatical side of things (like, for example, the Hebrew way of writing puts the important stuff first and the less important stuff later). Anyway, all the technicalities aside, I like the image here. God is a shield, my strength. A shield does nothing on the floor, and cannot protect me if I choose not to stand behind it. It’s the same thing with God. He loves me and wants to be my shield, but I have to choose to stand in His protection. That means two things – first, I have to be close to Him so that I am surrounded and within the radius of the shield, and two, I have to trust that shield not to let anything through. I think that’s a lot of the point of knowing God. Stay close to Him, be where He is, work where He works, and trust Him, that He is Holy and good and loving. When I start wandering off to look at rabbit trails and daisies, I get hurt because I’m no longer under the protective shield of God. Similarly, when I don’t trust Him I’m likely to try to find something else to shield myself with (not a good idea because nothing is as strong and true – I’m ultimately building an idol) or I’m likely to try and start dodging bullets out in the open (how I figure this is a better plan is beyond me). I think a lot of my tendency to move away from my shield stems from a desire to be in control (a Greek mindset) and a failure to recognize and truly understand the nature of God and His love for me. And maybe that is much of the purpose of reading His Words and listening to His voice – to learn and understand who He is (or at least as much as my fragile mind can handle).
Psalm 56:9 On the very day I call to you for help, my enemies will retreat. This I know: God is on my side. I’ve been listening to Skip Moen’s classes on Living the Biblical Worldview where he explains the way the Hebrew writers of the Bible thought and how it differs from the Greek way of thinking that we are saturated with today. It’s pretty much rocked the foundations of my world. I’ve realized that many of the things I thought I knew and understood are not what I believed, and are built of a philosophy of thinking that is alien and opposite to the philosophy and mindset of the very people who wrote the book that makes up the basis of what I believe. I’m not particularly sure I’m even articulating what I’m thinking. I cannot recommend enough these classes (they’re on downloadable CDs on Skip’s website – http://skipmoen.com/products/). Anyway, the Psalm in which today’s verse lies is one of my favorites. It’s one where it talks about God collecting all my sorrows and tears in his bottle. It’s a beautiful image. This verse reminds me that God hears me. He’s never far away and He’s never not paying attention. His answers come quickly (just not always in the form I expect). It may be that to answer my cry for help, other events get set in motion, some depending on the obedience of another person, ultimately resulting in the answer I need.
Then we might discover His unfathomable mercy wrapped around His infinite holiness. This quote is from Skip Moen’s blog entry this morning. I thought it was beautiful. I think there’s a tendency to either see God’s mercy or His holiness, not both at once. But Skip makes the point that even when God has every right to demand things of us, He often chooses to ask gently. I wonder how often he chooses to discipline gently instead of throwing the book at us… Here’s the post. You might want to go back and read yesterday‘s post, too, to understand the first part of the verse.
Psalm 16:8 I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. I feel pretty shaky a lot these days. Between proposed education bills that would base my livelihood on the motivation that my students have to strive to do better and congress pushing huge bills that push us closer to socialism than to republicanism, life seems rather turbulent. Things seem so up-in-the-air. Hope is working on funding, but it’s an arena I’ve never entered, and I feel at a loss during this stage. This verse reminds me that I’m not alone. God is always right beside me to be my strength, my guide, and my protection. I can stand tall and firm because He is there. I just have to remember that when I’m freaking out.
Psalm 10:1 O LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I need you the most? For some reason I feel empty this morning. Maybe because after all the rush and chaos of the last few weeks getting ready for our inaugural gala there’s nothing left to do (it’s over) and I’m not constantly trying to get something finished or talking on the phone to people. But I feel like God is far away, too. I feel like I read and read and it all just goes in one ear and out the other. I don’t like feeling this way. And then God gives me this: Psalm 40 I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. 3 He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord. 4 Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord, who have no confidence in the proud or in those who worship idols. 5 O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them. 6 You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings. Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand[a]— you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings. 7 Then I said, “Look, I have come. As is written about me in the Scriptures: 8 I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.” 9 I have told all your people about your justice. I have not been afraid to speak out, as you, O Lord, well know. 10 I have not kept the good news of your justice hidden in my heart; I have talked about your faithfulness and saving power. I have told everyone in the great assembly of your unfailing love and faithfulness. 11 Lord, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me. Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me. 12 For troubles surround me— too many to count! My sins pile up so high I can’t see my way out. They outnumber the hairs on my head. I have lost all courage. 13 Please, Lord, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me. 14 May those who try to destroy me be humiliated and put to shame. May those who take delight in my trouble be turned back in disgrace. 15 Let them be horrified by their shame, for they said, “Aha! We’ve got him now!” 16 But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, “The Lord is great!” 17 As for me, since I am poor and needy, let the Lord keep me in his thoughts. You are my helper and my savior. O my God, do not delay. I love it. David speaks my heart once again! From the awe of His blessings to me, to my acknowledgment of my need for Him, to my plea for more of His presence, this Psalm tells the song of my heart today. I love the first part of how He rescues me and lifts me above the mud. And I love how His plans for me are more numerous than I can count (that’s a relief). I love how I, like David, can tell God when I feel like my sins are overwhelming and I feel like they haunt me no matter how many times I confess them. I love that God keeps me in His thoughts. This is a great Psalm. It’s what I needed to water my thirsty soul.
Psalm 24: 3-4 Who may climb the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. Wow, this is a tall order. There are a lot of days (okay, most days) when I feel like I’m totally unworthy to be in God’s presence. I make the same mistakes over and over and over and over again. I have trouble forgiving people for what they’ve done to me or those I love. I am afraid for the future. I am angry with my situation. I am a mess. I am SO not holy. David Loveless addressed this in our church service a couple weeks ago when he spoke about spending time with God. I tend to view God’s ability to forgive on my own ability to forgive. And I base God’s ability to forget sin on my ability to forget sin. Obviously, there’s a flaw here. I am imperfect and am not blessed with the ability to forget on command. I usually forget the things I want to remember and remember the things I want to forget. But God’s not like that. He says that when He forgives He forgets our sin. He can’t see it and He doesn’t replay it. So every time we have to go back and ask for forgiveness He doesn’t ask, “Look, didn’t you just do this same thing yesterday? What’s wrong with you?” Instead, He simply forgives us because He’s forgotten the last time we did it and asked for forgiveness. He forgets, even when we can’t. That to me is mind boggling. Because I can’t do it, it’s hard to fathom and to grasp that God does that. I can keep track of each time I stop trusting God and freak out about situations. But after forgiving me, God erases the board (and He’s got a great eraser – doesn’t leave marks or traces) and there’s nothing to add to anymore. That is awesome. It’s the only way I can ever be allowed into His presence. If He remembered all the sins I did, I’d never be as white as snow. It’d be a dingy gray. Jesus is like Tide with Stain Release (or whatever works best). Once I ask God’s forgiveness, the stain’s gone and I’m clean again. I’m wearable. I’m usable. I can finally stand in front of Him and worship Him. I like that!
Psalm 113:7 and he lifts the poor from the dirt and the needy from the garbage dump. Just because God is God, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have trouble. Even in this verse there are poor who are in the dirt and needy in the garbage dump. Actually, in some ways I feel like I qualify for those verses. However, when I look at my circumstances in light of other people around the world, say in Haiti or Africa or even China, I find that I have far more than I realize. God doesn’t leave us in our current situations (unless we completely ignore Him and do things our own way). He sees us and longs to lift us up. There’s a song called “Royalty” by these two prophetic worshipers, and it speaks to a woman reminding her that God has created her to be a queen, royalty in His house. I love this song. Not because I want to rule the world, but because it reminds me that I was adopted into the family of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the King of the Universe, and I am more than I appear. He longs to lift me back to that place that He intended for me to be – a queen, living in the house of the Most High. I was made for more than this, but I live in a fallen world. I am a child of the King, and if I remember that, I am reminded to carry myself as royalty. It’s an awesome song. We were not made to live in the trash heap. We were made to live with God. And He longs for us to come spend time with Him, reminding us of who we are really meant to be and how special we are to Him. We are not insignificant. We are loved. Remember?