The Earth is Full

After a week of vacation with the family, I'm back online and posting my thoughts about my daily devotional readings. This week, my focal chapters are Psalms 33 to 36. I hope you will read them slowly and prayerfully with me - all four chapters today, and then one chapter per day for the next four days. Watch for those verses that "jump out" at you, the verses that "grab" your attention, the phrases the "glimmer" and "stick" in your mind for several minutes - or maybe the rest of the day!

One of the first phrases that jumped out at me this morning was the first half of Psalm 33:5 - He loves righteousness and justice. I knew immediately why I was drawn to this verse. In some ways it was a continuation of yesterday's sermon in which I spoke about God's truth that we are called to proclaim. I mentioned love and justice. Righteousness is related to love in Scripture. In most scenarios, it means "covenant faithfulness" - a relational ethic grounded in a God-given identity. Love summarizes that ethic. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law. (Romans 13:10)

And justice is likewise related to love, for justice enforces the requirements of love in an unloving society. Justice seeks to right the wrongs that unloving actions have caused. Justice seeks to undo the hurts caused by overlooking or looking down on one's neighbor. Justice seeks restoration and healing and the return to a loving community.

God loves righteousness and justice.

And the more I looked at this verse, the more my eye was drawn to the second half of the verse: The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Lovingkindness is an interesting, smashed-together word. It is a word that is difficult to translate. Some translators have preferred the word "mercy" (think of the end of Psalm 23 - surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life). Some have used the word "goodness." Some have used the phrase "faithful love." It is a curious word that contains elements of all of these ideas.

It is certainly God's love. And it is an act of grace that we should receive such love. And it is an act of God's faithfulness to his own covenant that gives that love over and over and over again.

But perhaps the most wonderful thing about it is its availability! The whole earth is full of it! And the whole earth testifies to its abundance. The whole earth speaks of God's faithful love toward undeserving people. It is not far from any of us. It is everywhere we look - if we look!

And somehow, that was precisely the word I needed to hear this morning. The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Teach Me, O Lord!

I didn't have to go far in our reading today to find the verse that jumped out at me and then stayed with me through the entirety of the material. Right at the beginning of Psalm 25 there is the declaration:

I lift up my soul. 

Then, in verse 4, there is the plea:

Make me know Your ways, O Lord;Teach me Your paths.

Maybe it is because I am already turning my mind toward a sermon and toward Bible studies that I need to prepare this week, but for some reason, that cry stuck with me. Teach me Your paths. Teach me Your paths. Teach me Your paths.

To his disciples and earliest followers, Jesus was known as Rabbi (Teacher) before he was known as anything else. One of the lessons he had to teach was who he really was. But this was not a new work of God. This was a continuation of a long work of instruction that God has been doing. As individuals and as various associations of humanity (nations, ethnicities, etc.) and as humanity as a whole, our minds are darkened as a result of our own rebellion against God (sin). We do not see God rightly. We do not understand ourselves rightly. And we do not look at each other rightly. God must teach us what is right and good.

So this morning, I lift up my soul to the Lord, and I plead with the Great Teacher to make me know the ways of life and to teach me the paths that are right.

Let Him In

The phrase that immediately jumped out at me this morning from Psalm 24 was

And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in! (vs. 7)

The imagery is drawn from the city gates - gates that would need to be thrown wide open so that the King and his entourage might enter the city in regal fashion. The appeal of the last part of Psalm 24 is to welcome the king.

Almost as soon as this verse jumped out at me, I thought also of Revelation 3:20:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  

Both images are images of doors. Both images indicate the need for us to give a welcome to a God who is outside of us. Both images imply that this God wants to come. And both images imply that God's entrance into our lives is a good and glorious and fulfilling thing.

So how open am I to the activity of God this morning? How welcoming am I of God's activity and presence in my life? Have I thrown open the gates and thrown wide the door so that the King of glory can enter in? Have I laid out the welcome mat and responded to the grace of God's loving attention in my life?

Too often, I fear, I fail to throw the gates open wide. I may open them a crack so I can peer through, but I do not surrender the city of my heart to this Mighty King. Far too often I am sticking my hand out the door for a blessing rather than stepping back and letting God have his way.

But today, I pray with King David - and I hope you will join us - that the doors to our hearts, the doors to our families, the doors to our churches, and the doors to our communities will be thrown open wide in a glad surrender to the Almighty King! May the King of glory come in today!

Back to the Psalms

If you are new to the blog, these are a few devotional thoughts focused on a slow reading of Scripture. By slow reading, I mean four chapters per week. The challenge is to read all four chapters on Monday and then go back and read one chapter per day for the next four days.

Our focus in the month of September is Psalms 21 to 36, and our focus this week is Psalm 21 to 24.

Psalm 21 is our focal reading on this Tuesday morning.

Compared to some of the other psalms, Psalm 21 is not as accessible or as easily understood as many others. David is writing this song form the perspective of his kingship. Few of us can truly enter into his experience. Few of us have literally had a crown of fine gold set upon our heads - along with all the blessings and responsibilities that come with it.

At the same time, the salvation and victory that God has accomplished for us (vs. 5) is greater and deeper and more profound than any victory that David might have had in mind. His was a victory of a few years. Ours is a victory for eternity. His was an earthly glory, ours is an eternal one. Our praise should be higher than his praise just as our salvation is greater than his salvation!

So this morning, I will give thanks for my salvation. God has won a great victory through the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is a victory worth singing about. It is a victory worth talking about. It is a victory that should fill our lives with a profound and unshakable joy and hope. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39). In Christ, and in Christ's victory, we have been given an eternal and lasting glory!

May the light of that glory fill our faces today. May the depth of that joy brighten our lives. May the presence of love make us witnesses among our peers. May today be a day of blessing and good things (vs. 3)!