Cast Your Burdens on the Lord

Our reading this week is Psalm 54 to 57.

All of the psalms in our reading this week are psalms of David, and they were inspired by his own life events when he was on the run from King Saul. In those years, David faced not only the constant threat of capture and violent death at the hands of Saul, but also betrayal by friends and public scorn by many who were powerful in Israel. It was a daunting time, and all David had to rely upon was promise of God (delivered by the prophet Samuel) that he, David, would be king over all of Israel.

Along with the promise, he had memories of God's providence - his victory over Goliath and over Philistine enemies. But I am sure those memories seemed to grow increasingly distant as the years dragged on and he was still in danger and still not king.

What was his secret during those difficult years? What sustained him as he lived hard in caves and was frequently on the move for fear of discovery? How did he keep his focus when every circumstance in his world seemed to whisper and sometimes shout of his defeat?

We see the answer to these questions in these psalms. He states both his difficulty and his solution throughout. Psalm 55 gives a perfect example:

His speech was smoother than butter,
But his heart was war;
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords.
Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. (55:21-22)

Despite the disappointment and hurt by the betrayal of a friend, despite the on-
going hardships of life, despite the sorry circumstances that seemed to never change, David made it a habit to cast his burdens upon the Lord and let God sustain him. It is a great habit to cultivate. To begin every morning and to end every day with the giving of our burdens and heartaches to God and then moving on to praise and some statement of trust in both the goodness and the power of God.

We can lament our present circumstances, and we can still honor God with our worship. We can complain to God about our situation, and we can still trust in God's goodness to us. We can unburden ourselves of our hurts and heartaches, our grief and our grievances, and we can still love God with both our words and our obedience.

And in the midst of our struggles, we find, as David did, that God is sufficient. God provides. God sustains. The Apostle Paul echoes these very same sentiments - this very same truth - in 2 Corinthians 4:

For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you.But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (4:5-17)

So cast your burdens on God this morning, and let Him sustain you - today and throughout the week!

Psalm 50 - A Song about Justice and Mercy

Well, I'm late posting the blog this week thanks to the MLK Jr holiday yesterday.

This week, we continue reading in the Psalms - Psalm 50 to 53. And somehow, on the week that we observe MLK Jr Day and recognize his accomplishments, it seems very right to dwell on Psalm 50. It is a song about the justice of God.

The Psalmist takes for granted that there is great injustice in the world. Many of the more common injustices that the prophets speak against are absent here - too obvious to be named, perhaps. Instead, Asaph, the song-writer, gives a short list of charges against God's people - people who ought to know better!

I do not reprove you for your sacrifices [God says] (vs 8). . .
But to the wicked God says,
What right have you to tell of My statutes
And to take My covenant in your mouth?
For you hate discipline,
And you cast My words behind you,
When you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
And you associated with adulterers.
You let your mouth loose in evil
And your tongue frames deceit.
You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother's son. (16 - 20)

This may not be an exhaustive or even extensive list of injustices within a community, but it is more than enough to start with, don't you think? Willfully forgetting the word and the way of God includes a multitude of sins. The perversion of good is seen in a community's acceptance, praise, and honor given to thieves; and it is seen in the friendly association with those who forsake their marriage promises; and it is seen in the evil things that people say to and about one another - even their own brothers. A person can read this and then read the headlines and find plenty to feel guilty about!

This is what injustice looks like when we break it down into little pieces. These are not the big, systematic injustices and evils of a community - racism, political and business corruption, and human trafficking. These are the little things that make those bigger things possible.

It is against such people and such a community that Asaph cries:

May our God come and not keep silence;
Fire devours before Him
And it is very tempestuous around Him (3)

But though we live in a corrupt society, filled with those who forget the words of God and honor those who break their promises and who lie against their brothers, still God is merciful:

He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me;
And to him who order his way aright
I shall show the salvation of God. (23) 

To which we can all say, "Amen." May we do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with our God!

A Song about Perspective

We are reading Psalms 46 to 49 this week.

As I got to Psalm 49 this morning, my first thought was that this psalm has the flavor of Ecclesiastes. And if you want a fuller treatment on the perspective of the Psalm writer, take a bit and read though the book of Ecclesiastes at one setting. It is a humbling read!

My second thought as I read Psalm 49 was that Jesus was probably humming this psalm under his breath as he told the story of the rich man who built big barns and contented himself in his wealth. (Luke 12:16 - 21) The ideas and the point of the message are the same.

This is a psalm that calls us to consider something unpleasant (our own mortality) so that we can appreciate the the true value our souls before God's eternity. The wealth of this world, we cannot take it with us when we die - or in the title of one of John Ortberg's books - When the Game is Over It All Goes Back in the Box. 

Most of us don't take the eternal view of life. We are content with trying to "win" at the activities before us. Wealth is one of our main markers for success in this life. It shows we have done well.

But wealth is an unsteady and inadequate foundation upon which to build for eternity. God and the Eternal Kingdom have no exchange rate for earthly wealth. When all the world is His, what need does He have for a few dollars of our "made up" money? "Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, is like the beasts that perish." (49:20). It is a sobering thought.

So, in what are you placing your trust this week? Where do your hopes and satisfactions lie? There is only one place that is eternal, and there is only One who can get us there. Will you renew your trust in him today?

Thirsty for God

This week I am reading Psalms 41 to 45, and as I read all five of those psalms this morning, there was no one verse or phrase or word that jumped out at me. Rather, there was a sense or perception I received
from all five that impressed me: a deep longing for God. The psalm writers (and at least two are named in these selection: David and the sons of Korah), in every psalm, express a heart-felt longing for the presence and activity of God. This is true whether the writer is celebrating the king's wedding (Psalm 45) or is anxious and sick (Psalm 41). The desire for God, the longing for God, the hunger and thirst for God are writ large in every poem.

We see it most clearly in Psalm 42:1 & 2.

As the deer pants for streams of water,
So my soul pants for you, God.
My soul thirsts for God, the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God?

It is desire made plain - expressed simply, yet we see it in all of the psalms.

And the question that came quickly to my mind this morning was: am I longing for God this morning?

It is a Monday morning, and as soon as my alarm went off, my head filled with all things I have to do today. And that not being enough, my mind soon turned to all the things I had to do this week. Bible studies to prepare, meetings, people to visit and check on, administrative duties, and phone calls I need to make. But in the midst of it all, am I longing for God? Do I thirst for the presence of God's Spirit? Do I hunger for the Divine love and mercy and activity?

So my prayer this morning is one of longing - that I may desire God more and that in my longing for him I should find Him at work in me.

Back to the Psalms!

In this first month of a new year, we are returning to the Book of Psalms for our devotional readings. We are picking up where we left off: Psalm 37. This week, we will read through Psalm 40.

I found the first six verses of Psalm 36 to be amazingly timely - both as guidance for a new year and as meaningful for the current situations in our world and nation. David is identified as the writer of this Psalm, so that gives us some understanding of the circumstances out of which he composed this poem. Here was a man who was long pursued by those who sought him harm. He begins his song: "Do not fret," or "Do not worry," or "Don't be anxious." If any man in Scripture had cause to be anxious and worried, it was David, yet his faith in God's providence and plan shines through!

In contrast to worry - we might say the opposite of worry - David inspires his listeners to trust in the Lord. And this trust immediately eventuates into action - trust in the Lord and do good. When we are surrounded by difficult circumstances and difficult people, it is easy to set our hearts on evil and on wickedness. They seek to hurt us; we seek to hurt them. But David cautions us here. Indulging in our desire to do evil is to embrace the way of worry. The path of trust is filled with us doing good for the Lord's sake. Rather than worry this new year, look to do good!

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Many have misunderstood this verse to reveal some way of manipulating God into getting what we want. But this is not a playbook on how to manipulate the Almighty. On the contrary, this is road-map to peace and fulfillment. As we delight in the Lord, our hearts will be transformed. We will be changed as we follow God and love Him and seek after Him daily. And as our hearts are changed, they are drawn into alignment with God's heart so that eventually, we are desiring what God desires. Why, then, wouldn't God give us what we want? It is also what He wants! And since He only wants what is best for us, we can be assured that our heart's desire is for our own
good and the good of others. It will be in accordance with Truth and Beauty and Goodness.

So, commit your way to the Lord! That's a great challenge at the beginning of a day, the beginning of a week, and the beginning of a new year. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust Him. And do good. It will keep you from worry and it will lead you to peace.

A Prayer for You

Our reading this week is Ephesians 3 to 6, and there were actually two sections that really spoke to me this morning. I hope they speak to you as well.

The first begins in verse 16 of chapter 3. Paul tells the Ephesians that he is praying for them. And more than that, he tells them what he is praying for them. He is praying

that [God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

My initial feeling at reading this was conviction. I was convicted for the smallness of my own prayers for others. I mean, honestly, when was the last time you prayed a prayer like this for someone else? Are we not much more inclined to pray quick prayers for help or healing or strength for the day or peace for the grieving? Band-aids for the deeply wounded and broken, but seldom reaching for an understanding of the God's deep plans or the heights of God's love. When was the last time we actually disciplined ourselves to pray for our families and our friends and our church members and our neighbors that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith and that they would be filled up with the fullness of God? The fullness of God!

Yet this is precisely what the Apostle Paul prays for his friends in the community of Ephesus.

So I was challenged to pray this very prayer with Paul for those I know this morning - and I hope that you will join me in that prayer.

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Then moments after I prayed this prayer of Paul's, I read the opening verses of chapter 5 where Paul says:

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

 The imagery here is so powerful - as a fragrant aroma! And the command is so clear - be imitators of God [by] walking in love. No wonder Paul prayed such a prayer in chapter 3! We need the strength of the Spirit in our inner selves. We need Christ to dwell within us. We need to be rooted and grounded in his love so that we can accomplish the task set before us - the task of being a fragrant aroma! A powerful, memorable, and meaningful presence in the lives of others!

So I was moved to pray again - to pray for those of you who read this, and to pray for those I know in my own community - to pray the prayer of Paul in Ephesians. May the love of Christ fill your life until it overflows from you! Amen.

Watch Out!

Our reading this week covers parts of two books - the last two chapters of Galatians and the first two chapters of Ephesians. It is a conclusion and an ending - just not in the usual order, and this may illuminate some ideas that we often overlook due to familiarity. So I invite you to read prayerfully and read attentively this week, and let us see what God may say to us.

It did not take me long in reading these four chapters this morning for one of the verses to jump out at me. Perhaps it is is because I had skimmed the news headlines this morning, but Galatians 5:15 sparkled blindingly at me:

But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

The Holman Christian Standard translation renders "take care" as "watch out"!

Here is something that requires a warning sign - our unloving treatment of one another. How easily we fall in with the crowd. How quickly we move to condemn, to bite, to tear down, to belittle, to dehumanize. Social media is a multiplier of this tendency, but it is not the cause. The real reason we are such a bickering, hateful, uncaring society is because our hearts are corrupt and we have not heeded the command of God. Social media has just given us all a larger platform from which to reveal the mess in our hearts.

Watch out!

Of interest to me is that the judgment for breaking God's command about love is not God's direct intervention. Instead, it is God allowing the natural consequences for our unloving actions to have have their full effect. We bite and devour, thus breaking God's law, and we discover that we ourselves are being devoured.

The better option - God's option - is that we refrain from biting and devouring one another and walk according to God's Spirit. Paul contrasts these two options in verse 19 to 23. Reading verses 19 to 21, do you not think of our own society? And reading verses 22 to 23, we see God's plan.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Gal. 5:25)

What a challenge for us today - and everyday! Walk by the Spirit! Love our neighbors as ourselves! Let the fruit of God's Spirit - love, joy, peace, and all the rest - fill our lives!