praise... promise... purpose...

I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. 

Psalm 89:1

I will confidently declare

the praise of my God

from this day forward

for nothing can compare

to the joy of my God

and others need to know Him

when I sing His praise

my voice I will raise

and declare His salvation

to another generation

I claim promises so dear

from God's holy pages

that meet me now today

for His Word is crystal clear

same for all the ages

His truth will stay

when I believe the book

and the love that it took

to bring about our salvation

it passes to the next generation

I will now live

with clear and holy vision

of my great God's love

for my life I will give

to follow His mission

and glorify my Lord above

when I purpose with such passion

rejecting mere worldly fashion

I am centered on His salvation

for the good of my generation

from regions dark and deep

You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah 

Psalm 88:6-7

This song is classified as "an individual lament". That means that it details the soul troubles expressed by one person. It is a dark display of depression and difficulty. But when reading it, we must not focus solely on the painful descriptions that constitute the psalm's passionate prayer to God. After all, it is a cry to the "God of my salvation" (Psalm 88:1). As such there is a real faith, even as the fear and frustration pour out in this lament.

There are times when our souls struggle with God. Events are not always joyful. Sometimes it seems to us as if God is out to get us. Tragedy strikes us. We sin or are sinned against and our lives suddenly hurt. Or maybe we will suffer for doing the right thing. "In seasons of distress and grief..." we must make a practice of prayer... even if that prayer, like this psalm, is just spewing out the painful and hurting observations to God.

God can handle our feelings. He made us this way. He can understand our heartaches and troubles like nobody else. He knows when we are overwhelmed because circumstances do not surprise Him in the slightest. He brought them to us or in love allowed them as consequences so that our hearts would desire Him. There is no place so dark that His promises and presence cannot shine on us.

When overwhelmed, we should pray. When hurting beyond words we should share the pain with God. When we feel abandoned by God, we are not. He is as close as our prayer and He knows our hurting hearts.

glorious things of Thee are spoken

Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah 

Psalm 87:3

John Newton, former slave-trader who never got over the immensity of God's grace in Christ, mused on this psalm and wrought this stately hymn. I am particularly impressed with the final verse and the lasting pleasures of God that it celebrates:

Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God;
he whose word cannot be broken
formed thee for his own abode;
on the Rock of Ages founded,
what can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation's walls surrounded,
thou may'st smile at all thy foes.

See! the streams of living waters,
spring forth from eternal love,
well supply thy sons and daughters
and all fear of want remove.
Who can faint, when such a river
ever flows their thirst to assuage?
Grace which, like the Lord, the Giver,
never fails from age to age.

Round each habitation hovering,
see the cloud and fire appear
for a glory and a covering,
showing that the Lord is near.
Thus they march, their pillar leading,
light by night, and shade by day;
daily on the manna feeding
which he gives them when they pray.

Blest inhabitants of Zion,
washed in the Redeemer's blood!
Jesus, whom their souls rely on,
makes them kings and priests to God.
'Tis his love his people raises
over self to reign as kings:
and as priests, his solemn praises
each for a thank-offering brings.

Savior, if of Zion's city,
I through grace a member am,
let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in thy Name.
Fading is the worldling's pleasure,
all his boasted pomp and show;
solid joys and lasting treasure
none but Zion's children know.

a united heart

Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. 

Psalm 86:11-12

This prayer of David's to unite his divided heart is timely. It shows me that the tendency of the human heart is to struggle in holy devotion. Really, we probably all need to pray this prayer very regularly. I know I do. Sin confuses what should be simple. If I look to myself or to a crazily complex society, I will further be divided. We live in a world where even the simplest things that God has made have shattered like crystal shards at the hands of clumsy sinners. Spirituality (whatever that nebulous concept means at any one time to each individual) has replaced Christian faith as a descriptor of religious significance even among Christians. It has become the way to seek God.

Our world muddies what God made clear. Facebook now offers fifty confused gender choices for what God made binary: "Male and Female". Personal identities in crisis should break my heart. It shows me how badly people need God to unite human hearts and bring personal clarity. How the gospel needs to burden us to see God reconcile and rebuild broken people!

I want my whole heart drawn to The Lord. I want to be united with the guiding purpose of glorifying God so that His purposes guide my choices, my conversations, and my concerns for all people... even the broken ones who cannot define the simplest things about who they are. In love, I want God to reach out to shattered lives through me. And so I ask God for a united heart and His love for His creation.

the divine kiss

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. 

Psalm 85:10-11

In God are found all the perfections of character that I need to know. The poetry of this psalm is superb. It brings together all these diverse elements of God's character in striking ways. It makes me see again the goodness of God, particularly as they are known in Jesus.

God's faithfulness and His relentless love have met in Jesus. They are there in the person of my Savior Who is both the Great Shepherd and the Great Savior Who gave his life for His sheep. And there is not a flaw in the prefect Son of God.

And in my Lord all that is right has met together with the peace of God. Righteousness kisses peace in the love of Christ, even in the hardest part of His redemptive sacrifice. At the cross God's righteous demands were paid for so that His hand could give me peace.

From earth the faithful, true, and holy Son of God hung suspended on the cross. And from heaven righteousness rains down to all who will die with Jesus to self and believe upon Him, accepting His sacrifice. Isn't the gospel the most beautiful love there is?

WORSHIP: priorities & perspective

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 

Psalm 84:10

The real worship of God is found not in our church service attendance or in an adherance to a rigid program of personal discipline. We can and often should do those things, but they can become legalistic snares to the soul, keeping it from true worship if matters of the heart are not attended to first. What is shown to us by the words of this psalm is that worship is about priorities and perspective.

The heart that adores The Lord and seeks God above all else will worship The Lord in nearly every experience. Real worship is about a passion that desires God above all else in this life. It brings that passion to everything so that desiring God is a joy that pervades everything. I should find my heart engaged with God as I sip my breakfast coffee AND as I drift off to sleep each night. That makes "a day in His courts" a real experience that is better than anything else that I know.

That also brings a proper perspective to all that I do. Nothing done with a worshipful heart is merely mundane. Focusing on God helps bring power and purpose to even the task of opening the gate for another person. It enlightens and enobles the humblist of chores. It strengthens service. We don't do it for mere men but for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It transforms a doorman into a diplomat!

shamed

Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O LORD. 

Psalm 83:16

In Your judgment

may hearts turn to You

and may mercy

grant repentance to

sinful people needing grace

Let justice flow

throughout the land

may sin be vanquished

by Your hand

so we'll seek Your face

Guilt for sin and

shame for our disgrace

would be good things if

they turned us to Your face

forgiving and creating life anew

Sometimes hard judgment

must turn us to The Lord

difficult times will teach us

to follow His Word

so we do what God wants us to do

May we know humility

and let us feel shame

to lead to holiness

and the knowledge of Your name

Our hope is in You, Lord

A people stubborn

in sinful ways

will be found troubled, stumbling,

dying all their days

until revived by Spirit's Word