Psalm 29

If you are looking for a good Psalm listening experience, find this passage on Biblegateway.com. Then click on the "listen button" and hear a very deep voice read this passage. When he gets to the "the God of glory thunders," you definitely believe it. The power of the Lord is great here. Anyone who has any power in the world can only ascribe it to God, for God is the Almighty One, the Ancient of Days whose voice can strip the bark off the trees and yet has beautiful majesty. God uses power and glory for one particular purpose in this psalm- giving strength and peace.

The ancient gods of David's day often used their power to conquer and destroy. People today use power to control and hoard. Power is abused and it corrupts. It only makes sense, then, that ultimate power rests in the One who is incorruptible. We don't have to worry that God will destroy all but the voices God most wants to hear. We don't have to worry that God will accept bribes. Indeed, we can trust that the power of God will empower us to continue God's mission and it will ultimately bring about a never-ending peace. Amen.

Psalm 28

This is a beautiful progression in the psalm. We find David in the depths (the same place we find him often), pleading with God to hear just a whisper of God's voice. He compares God's voice to life itself, and we see a complete transformation in David when he hears God's voice.

And isn't God's voice life for us? If God had never breathed the words to create, nothing would exist. And we are dependent on that same breath today. After all, Jesus Christ is the one in whom we live and move and have our being. It is because the Spirit lives inside us that we experience the new life of Christ. It becomes my prayer, then, that we hear God's voice today. Amen.

Psalm 27

Now here is a Psalm I can identify with! Last psalm, as you may recall, was a struggle for me, but this psalm speaks right into my heart. The beauty of its words, the promises of God bursting out of every verse with a haunting yet awesome promise at the end- I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Sometimes, people are so low on hope that they are unable to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, content only about the heaven yet to come. In fact, history shows that when a group of people are marginalized and oppressed, they will often focus on heaven and Jesus coming back (one can see some of this in the slave community during institutionalized slavery in the US).

The good news of the Kingdom of God is that salvation is for the here and now and for the day yet to come. So I pray you see the glimpses of the goodness of the Lord today, so that you can hope for today and for tomorrow.

Amen.

Psalm 26

First of all, happy 100th post with "A Moment with Andy." Thank you for joining me on this journey.

But on to the point- I have a hard time connecting with the emotion of Psalm 26. I can wrap it in theological language, talk about Jesus as the blameless one (which I have done before and certainly believe that in Jesus we are graced with blamelessness), or talk about rigorous self-improvement (a phrase that gives me shudders for many reasons). But at the end of the day, I cannot imagine myself speaking this psalm to God. I can't imagine talking about how awesome I am, nor would I challenge God to find a fault in me.

Yet there is one part of this psalm that I can say with full passion- "I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells." That part I could say any day. In the Old Testament, so few people actually got to walk into the place where God's glory dwelt. And now, as we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), God dwells with us and God's glory is growing here on earth. I look forward to the day when God's glory will heal all of the scars of creation and when we will finally be re-united fully with God (Revelation 22). Amen?

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?