Psalm 25

The Bible has a way of creating and relieving tension, and sometimes creating without relieving tension. Psalm 25 creates tension. Certainly, there is plenty of praise in this psalm, but there's also a theological quandary that David finds himself in. You can see this tension best at verses 10-11. On the one hand, David seems to be pretty strict that one has to rise to meet the "demands of the covenant" (verse 10), yet David in at least two places (verses 7 and 11) confesses and repents from his past. Holiness and grace are held in tension. It's a tension I hope we all feel, because falling to one side or the other can be somewhat dangerous.

How do we handle to the Jesus who says at one moment "Come to me, all who are weary, and I will give you rest" and at another moment says "Take up your cross and follow me" to His disciples? How do we live in the tension of radical obedience and unrelenting grace? I'm not sure I fully know. I suppose that what God has taught me in the trying times is that sometimes obedience is coming to Jesus when I am weary and taking His rest. How do you live in the tension of radical obedience and unrelenting grace?

Psalm 24

Here is another psalm that is quoted often. Not by the New Testament, per say, but by songwriters throughout the century. I think of songs that say "Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts... let us not lift our souls to another..." or "O God let us be | a generation that seeks... that seeks your face, O God of Jacob" or "Lift up your heads, O gates | lift up your heads, O ancient doors | prepare the way, prepare the way, the King is coming through..." or even a song that begins "Who is this king of glory?" Whether you know it or not, we love this psalm. We sing of this psalm often and in many ways, as we should. This psalm talks about the world as God's beloved creation, God's people are called to holiness and an attitude of seeking God's face. And God is given the glory and credit that God deserves.

I pray that as we read this psalm, that we may find appreciation for all creation. I pray that we may seek God's face and be open to finding a God beyond our imagination.

Psalm 23

Psalm 23 is one of those psalms you can't go wrong reading. When people are going through hard times, Psalm 23 gives them comfort and hope about God's presence in the valley of the shadow of death. Those grieving a loss can be comforted that God's presence is forever. When people are harried and stressed out, Psalm 23 is the comfort of quiet waters and green pastures. And for those of us who long for reconciliation and peace wait for the day when we can sit a table in the presence of our enemies (if you want to see a story of how this works out, click here). Psalm 23 is a versatile psalm- what do you think of when you read it?

Psalm 22

This Psalm is quoted all throughout the New Testament. The opening is one of Jesus' last words on the cross. The description of David's persecution matches frame-for-frame the crucifixion, so much so that the Gospels quote this Psalm yet again in describing the crucifixion scene. Hebrews will quote from the latter portion of the psalm in describing the wonder and uniqueness of Jesus. And while this psalm connects with Jesus so much, it also connects with us as well. Anyone who knows the pain of depression or anxiety knows the feeling David is talking about. The physical and emotional pain, and the collapse of hope. Toward the end, we get a glimpse of hope that David has for the future, and we can certainly see how that connects with Jesus' story of resurrection.

It seems to me that this psalm is a remarkable instance where the story of Jesus collides with my story (and your story). When we are in our darkest moments, and this psalm makes too much sense, we can know that Jesus entered into this mess and went through his own dark moments. Jesus stands by us in our dark moments, and Jesus will not leave between dark moments. The Kingdom of God is not for fake happy faces, the Kingdom of God is described by Jesus as a place for the sick- where we can all receive care.

Psalm 21

Kings aren't very popular in a democracy. In fact, the idea of the king is distasteful at best in the minds of most USAmericans. After all, as we are celebrating the 4th of July this coming weekend, isn't kingship what the Revolutionary War was all about? While on vacation, Heather and I went to a park and found a monument of an ever-burning flame to those who died in the Revolution. Indeed, kingship is not cool. So in the States, we hold on to passages in which God does not approve of monarchy for Israel, believing that things may have gone differently if Israel was a republic.

All of that being said, if we cannot identify with kingship, we miss some major portions of God's story. Certainly, monarchy can promote some of the worst in the human heart/society- marriage of church and state, so-called "holy war," misogyny, prejudice, oppression, injustice, just to name a few. Yet it would seem that these are perversions of power that humans have twisted from our own lust for more. It would not seem that these come from the way God views power.

God's power is a power that serves. Jesus' power came not from violent conquer, but radical servanthood. This psalm celebrates the glory that comes through victory- Jesus' victory was the cross (and the resurrection that followed). Jesus' glory bears the scars of crucifixion. What is our victory?

Maybe this passage will help us along (Philippians 3:10-11): I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Psalm 20

I wasn't expecting this psalm this morning, yet in the moments I have read it I have been re-awakened to an important part of life following God- blessing people. This entire psalm is a blessing not only to the king, but a psalm that can be used to bless people.

In important part of community is our ability to celebrate with one another. We recognize the need to be close when times are hard, and we recognize the need to celebrate together (Psalm 20:5). God called Abram and created a nation so that they would be a blessing to all nations. And now God's people are numbered in every nation on earth to do the same thing. Be a blessing.

I pray that, as we go throughout our day today, that these words would be on our lips and that we would be a blessing to whomever we meet. In the name of the King Jesus, Amen.

Psalm 19

This is a great psalm, a psalm of God's encounter with the world.

It begins with the world and creation's voice echoing to all people, and ends with the God-encounter in the hearts of human beings. This psalm goes to great length to remind us that there is no boundary between God's space and not-God's space. God is not restricted to certain sites or times, God is not limited in any of those respects. Yet God does choose to encounter the world in particular ways.

The most important way is through the Word- Jesus Christ. Now, what do we mean when we say that Jesus is the Word? The meaning goes back to John 1, and sometimes we mistakenly say that Jesus is the embodiment of all God said to do (which just lends itself to talk about Jesus' sinless life). Yet John seems to be talking about something much deeper. In this Psalm, David encounters God through the written word of God. Therefore Jesus as the Word is the living encounter with God. Wherever Jesus steps, there is encounter with God. I hope to see that in my life today, and I pray the same for you.