2015 New Year's Greeting from High Crag

From the Road, Psalm 25 on "Teach Me"

Here is a short sampler of the references from Psalms 25 and 119 that say, “teach me.”

Psalm 25:4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all the day long.

Psalm 119:64 The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!

Psalm 119:124 Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.

Pick one of these and use it as a prayer. Ask for a teachable spirit. Notice the topics of the lessons asked for.

Heavy reading on a needed topic. We tend to fight the last war, this is not 2001. This will end up another 100 year war/conflict, but not a European/western war. Home court rules and outcomes.

Remembering Your Way Out of Darkness

This week we turn from God’s memory in Psalm 25 to our memory as described in Psalm 77 – a psalm of  lament with a happy ending. The Psalmist begins in a dark place, then, through his memories he comes out of the shadows of doubt through a confession of faith. The role of his personal memory in this prayer journey is woven throughout the Psalm. For the purposes of our study we will consider the role our personal memories have in shaping, encouraging and helping to describe our devotional lives.

The Psalmist gives us first an out-loud prayer. Jesus prayed this way. Hebrews 5 reminds us, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” When the lights go out for you, do you pray out loud? Read again the Psalmist’s words of lament, “In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah. You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.”

It is the Psalmist’s own memories of God’s actions and attributes that enable him to “seek the LORD.” The memories of his actions are divided into days and deeds. The memory of the days of the LORD that begins in verse 5 is followed by the memory of the deeds of the LORD starting in verse 11. The attributes of the LORD are described in a confession of faith that ends the Psalm, starting in verse 16. Redemption is accomplished, applied, and confessed from his memory of the LORD’s actions and attributes. This psalm gives practical, usable knowledge of God for comfort in dark places, when “my soul refuses to be comforted.”

A Prayer about God's Memory

We have looked at the language of the Psalms, considering first his presence and then the role of the heart. Now we shift to the role of memory—first God’s, then ours. We will now turn to Psalm 25.

This Hebrew alphabet acrostic Psalm is about trust and guidance in an unstable world that includes shame and guilt. The last verse is not a stand-alone prayer, but a needed bridge from the individual to the covenant community. I am not alone in this unstable and hostile world. David’s first-person singular prayers, 1-7 & 16-21, and creed, 8-15, are followed by a prayer, 22, for all the covenant people. David prays about themes common to many of us, external threats that create crisis, chaos and unwelcome change coupled with the internal wounds of his own sins.

God’s memory is mentioned at the end of the first prayer in verses 6&7:” Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!”

David prays for the LORD to remember his mercy and steadfast love (twice) and his goodness. What he wants God to forget, not to remember, are the sins of his youth and transgressions. This comes after a plea for what we commonly refer to as a guidance prayer/request based upon a trust in the LORD expressed in his description of the LORD as he prays.

The 25^th Psalm’s two prayers can be used as a Psalm whose very words can become our prayer using the words and images to expand the language of our prayers. This week our consideration of Psalm 25 and conversation about it will focus on what we want God to remember and to forget in our prayers.

As the Heart Waits and Seeks

This week we return to Psalm 27 to consider our topic of the heart.  We return to this compact Psalm that begins with questions and ends with this declaration of faith: “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

This is the third and final week of considering how the use of the word heart in Psalm 27 can “shape, encourage and describe our devotional life.” This is a personal Psalm sprinkled with first persons in almost every line. David starts the Psalm with two questions related to fear but gives us his source of courage and peace with these opening verses: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” The Lord is “my light, my salvation, and the stronghold of my life.” We can remember, meditate on, and speak these three word pictures in our prayers when the shadow of fear crosses our path.

In the parallels of poetry the word of the week heart is used with I that is so often used in this personal Psalm of David. Here are the three examples: “Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.” Again, “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.’ Hide not your face from me.” Then in an appeal to his readers or listeners, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

The desires and prayer of David’s heart are expressed in this verse: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” In the presence of the Lord, his house/temple, where his light, salvation and strength are found will David’s fears/enemies be defeated by the Lord.

Fear is a battle for the heart in Psalm 27. Even the fear of death is confronted in this verse, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!” The answer to the fear of death is resurrection based upon the three word pictures at the beginning of the Psalm.

This week we will consider what it means for our hearts on a daily basis to both seek and wait in our devotional lives.

An Acceptable Heart

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” - Psalm 19:14

This is the final verse of Psalm 19 after three divisions – a creation fireworks starburst, then the glory of verbal revelation, and finally a confession of sin that is graced-based.

Psalm 19 ends with the Psalmist placing his heart in the center of his prayer, reflecting both public and private acts of worship and communication with “O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” This was done “in your sight,” (that is, in your presence). What a way to end a Psalm!

In considering how the language of the Psalm can “shape, encourage and describe” our devotions, the word “heart’ is often used. In Psalm 19 the request is “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.” The Psalmist wants the words and meditations of his heart to be acceptable to the LORD. His worship/devotion is concentrated in his heart. His prayer for acceptance is grounded in the LORD as redeemer, not his own efforts. The Psalmist confessed, “Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;..”

Verse 1 can help shape our devotions, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” We can certainly see the glory of God in the creation we share. Verses 7-11 shape our attitude about the verbal revelation from the LORD. The mix of images in verse 10 is so descriptive, “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”

Verses 12 and 13 encourage us to confess our sins to a gracious and redeeming God. This confession comes before the prayer of the Psalmist’s heart to be accepted in the sight of the LORD. Listen to the prayer-shaping encouraging words, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.” This is why the LORD is my rock, steadfast because of his grace as my redeemer.

So now back to the final verse, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Reflect, think about, and reread this verse to shape, encourage and describe your devotion life, your heart in the presence of our LORD, our rock and our redeemer.

The Heart is the Matter

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” So begins Psalm 14. We will consider the heart and the language about the heart in the Psalms in “shaping, encouraging and describing” our Christian devotional life and experience. The heart is at the center of our devotion, worship and daily lives. Paul echoes this idea in Romans 10 reflecting on what Moses wrote: “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Conversion, the decision to follow Jesus as Lord as a disciple, is a matter of our hearts. Our devotional lives are expressions of our heart in the presence of God.

Our heart is where our passions, dreams, desires, affections, and our memories lodge. Our heart and the memories that reside there are controlled by the defaults or habits of our heart. These automatic choices make us comfortable and help us to feel safe in a changing and sometimes dangerous world. The heart dwells on what we chose to see as determining our significance. Tim Keller writes, “Where you find your significance is where you find your salvation.”

Psalm 14 reminds us that “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.” What does the LORD see our hearts seeking after moment by moment?

Consider the following verses. Remember the context is the whole Psalm.

Psalm 26:2 – “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind.”

Psalm 36:1 – “Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.”

Psalm 119:32 – “I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!”

Psalm 28:7 – “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.”

Psalm 73:26 – “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalm 9:1 – “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.”

Psalm 19:14 – “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

Psalm 21:2 – “You have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah”

Psalm 25:17 – “The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses.”