Psalm 4

Psalm 4: David pleads with God

1. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
2. O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach? {How long} will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah.
3. But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself; The LORD hears when I call to Him.
4. Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
5. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the LORD.
6. Many are saying, "Who will show us {any} good?" Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O LORD!
7. You have put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound.
8. In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.

 Peace with God and peace in God are the subjects of this psalm. In it David first of all prays to the Lord remembering how God has relieved him in the past and he asks for that same grace to come again in answer to this prayer. Then he looks around at people and notices that they seem to have no heart for God at all, that they are proudly deceived by hoping that worthless protection will save them.

But, he says to them, know for sure that God has those who worship and please Him, and I am one of them, one of God’s set apart ones — different. So if this offends you or causes you to fear then do not sin against your conscience or God’s word, then do tremble and fear God and make your peace with Him. Trust Him and you will have gladness of heart and rest and safety as I do.

Obviously this psalm refers to a real time when David was in real danger and felt like he was really the only one who understood how God was protecting them. If it was during the time that Saul was looking for David trying to kill him then there were many other people hiding out with him. David wanted them to know that he would do all he could to keep them safe, but it was only God who could give them peace of heart and mind so they like him could lie down and sleep peacefully.

Yes, God is different and He wants us to be different also, set apart, even holy. Trust in Him.

Amen

Psalm 7 The Terrors of Evil

Psalm 7

1. O LORD my God, in You I have taken refuge; Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,
2. Or he will tear my soul like a lion, Dragging me away, while there is none to deliver.
3. O LORD my God, if I have done this, If there is injustice in my hands,
4. If I have rewarded evil to my friend, Or have plundered him who without cause was my adversary,
5 Let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake {it;} And let him trample my life down to the ground And lay my glory in the dust. Selah.
6 Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; Lift up Yourself against the rage of my adversaries, And arouse Yourself for me; You have appointed judgment.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples encompass You, And over them return on high.
8 The LORD judges the peoples; Vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me.
9 O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds.
10 My shield is with God, Who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.
12  If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready.
13 He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.
14 Behold, he travails with wickedness, And he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood.
15 He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, And has fallen into the hole which he made.
16 His mischief will return upon his own head, And his violence will descend upon his own pate.
17  I will give thanks to the LORD according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

The first time David met King Saul was after he had killed the giant Goliath. Shortly after that Saul took the boy David into his own court because he had been told that David was a good musician and that his music could relieve his own worried conscience. So David played a flute or harp and sang songs in Saul’s household about the Lord’s doings. It was not long before they all realized that he was different, that he knew God intimately so he could sing so sweetly about God. In today’s jargon we would say he had a relationship with God that showed them all that God was instructing him, making him what they saw him to be.

But that became a problem to the jealous King and Saul changed his feelings toward David, wanting to get rid of him. David had to run for his life and hide from Saul out in the country, in the wilds, for safety. He needed to watch carefully ahead, behind, and all around him every minute each day and all night lest Saul or some of Saul’s men find him. Saul even sent his army out to get David so it seemed there was no help for him unless God intervened, which He did, and this psalm tells about the ruses and tricks of the jealous wicked Saul and how David trusted God and and thanked Him for deliverance.

This psalm is full of very picturesque language. Notice the lion tearing and dragging away his prey, treacherous friends, trampling of life and honor, the pit dug in the path, the snare ready to spring, the shield and the sword, the bow and the fiery arrows and the violence all ending up in victory. Today we might use different words to describe our surroundings but like David we have turmoil and trouble and the same faithful God to deliver and keep us in spite of them all.

Every one of us can put ourselves right into this psalm, maybe not into the same cave or hideaway that David and his men were in, but in the same need of help from God. Read the psalm again, pray it and trust.

It will make a difference

Psalm 3 Believers can rest in God

Psalm 3: Resting in Jesus

1. O LORD, how my adversaries have increased! Many are rising up against me.
2. Many are saying of my soul, "There is no deliverance for him in God." Selah.
3. But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
4. I was crying to the LORD with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.
5. I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustains me.
6. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me round about.
7. Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God! For You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek; You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
8. Salvation belongs to the LORD; Your blessing {be} upon Your people! Selah.

This Psalm of David probably refers to the time when he was hiding in a cave to escape those who wanted to harm him. How could he lie down and sleep and not be afraid of those looking for him if he did not trust in the Lord? But he did pray with confidence to God and he lived to sing this song as a testimony.

Just like they said to Jesus that God would not help him, so they say to us and they said it to David. But God did hear his prayer. He hears our prayers for help and we too can lie down and sleep without fear, for the Lord will sustain us also. We can also be sure of His care for us even if we do die.   Verse 8 tells us that all the praise belongs to God and that He will bless His own!

I am trusting You, Lord Jesus. Trusting only You.
Trusting You for full salvation great and free!

Psalm 2 The world in a mess & rage

Psalm 2: The world in a mess and a rage

This Psalm asks a Question, gives an Answer, a Confirmation and a Lesson. It asks ‘Why’ in the first 3 verses, then God answers in the next 3. After that Jesus Christ confirms the answer in the next 3 and we hear the recommendation in the last 3 verses.
First section, the Questioner looks at the earthly material universe and does not like what he sees, so he asks why?.

1. Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing?
2. The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3. "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!"

Second section, The Creator has His own supra-materialistic plan for the World, and He is not pleased that men are trying to leave Him out of the picture altogether.

4.  He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.
5. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying,
6. "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."

Third section: Jesus Christ God’s Son is the King and He tells us that His commission is to take over and rule all the nations of the world.

7. "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
8. 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the {very} ends of the earth as Your possession.
9. 'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"

Last section: Take care all rulers and leaders that you listen carefully because God’s King will demand full accountability and will be as angry with the disobedient as He will be pleased with those who trust Him.

10. Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.
11. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.
12. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish {in} the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

How could it be better said that worldly rulers in a rage against God will end up losers, and their plans for a brave new world will not succeed, for Christ’s Kingdom is coming and it will never end?

Psalm 1 The good and the bad

Right in the middle of the Bible we find 150 songs that God gave to David, and the first one is very definitely about the difference between good and bad.

Psalm 1

1.  How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3.  He will be like a tree {firmly} planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
4.   The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5.  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6.  For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.

These lines were written almost 3 thousand years ago, so the language and setting is a bit different from what we use in the city today. They were written about people living in the country, so there are references to country things. Neither were the thought police around to tell us that we must not say that there are good people are that there are bad ones.

The word blessed means happy or having good things happen to you, and the word man as used here means people, human people. And of course the writer is talking about things from God’s point of view, for Jesus said that God is the only one who is really good, and He is also the One who does good for the people who please Him.

Pleasing God then means not walking in the bad way, not standing in the bad way nor sitting with those who make fun of the good way. God will send good things to that person, for He is able to control all the circumstances.

Gladly hearing and thinking about God’s word -- what He has said – is what we should be doing instead of those bad things. The good person is now compared to a tree growing in the best well-watered field which is always loaded with lush fruit, a rural picture of prosperity and blessing.

However those people who are not blessed, who are not pleasing God get none of these good things. They are compared to the worthless residue of the wheat plant after the grain is threshed out of it, they are blown away. And the final part warns us that God Himself sees and knows all kinds of people and that He will surely bless the good and cut off the wicked.

Difference or different, which or both?

Wha??

Of course you noticed that the title has what appears to be a spelling error. It is not an error but a purposeful spelling. Different and Difference are two similar words and they are incorporated in the one word I used. Today's society seems to want to tell everyone that we have no differences - that we are not different - that we are all the same. This is not true. We are different and we have differences and that is what this blog is about. And these differentces do matter.

And we should be talking about and living like these differences. Those around us may think we can be silent or secret about our religion, but that is not Christianity. It is open to all and we should be too.

God our Creator is different and His Word to us, the Holy Bible, will be the judge and final authority for what the differences are and how they affect us in this world and in the next one. We need to know what God has said.

Don