Positive Cure for Your Negativity (Psalm 130)

What a Psalm; what a series. Faith waits ON God (vv 1-4) that waits FOR God (vv 5-8). As long as I know he is coming for me, I can wait on him. Saul waited on God (willing to serve him), but did not wait for God (when Samuel tarried his coming), and so Saul lost the kingdom (1 Sam 13:8-14). He waited on circumstances—by serving people and things—instead of waiting for the Lord. Isn't that amazing? I wonder what you will do if Jesus keeps tarrying his coming?

Jeremiah cried out of the dungeon. Daniel cried out of the den. Jonah cried out of the whale. Feel like you can't pray? CRY! "Since it is our duty to cry, it is in our interest to cry," because crying turns waiting from being hopeless resignation, into hopeful expectation. But be careful to hope, not based on your own opinion or imagination, but based on what is promised to you in God's word (v 5).

Look at how this Psalm is built. Climb the ladder with me. We go from death to life (1-2), guilt to forgiveness (3-4) darkness to light (5-6) and slavery to freedom (7-8). In the first four verses the psalmist cries for forgiveness from the guilt of sin, and in the last four for deliverance from the misery of sin. God notes our sin, but notices our tears and faith, and above all takes note of Calvary. So "there is forgiveness (v 4) . . . for with the Lord there is mercy" (v 7).

This is a double-header. First, forgiveness brings out holiness (v 4). Second, suffering brings on sanctification (v 8). As F.B. Meyer puts it, "Mercy is antiseptic to depravity." Ha! That means forgiveness of the sin which caused your suffering is more important than getting deliverance from the suffering itself.

Let me open a window on that word so you won't be so slow. The paralyzed man in Mark 2 had his friends drop him from the drop-ceiling in order to get him in front of Jesus so he could be healed. However, Jesus' first word to him was not, Get up and "walk it out," but "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Oh, turn off your halo. You know you are always asking God to stop your suffering, but not willing to ask him to save you from sinning. You're just like Augustine. When he was twenty-something he prayed, "Lord make me morally pure . . . but not yet!"

Martin Luther classified this as a "Pauline Psalm," because it promises forgiveness of sins by God's grace to anyone that exercises faith, totally apart from self-righteousness, self-effort, rules or religious rituals. That means the closer the pilgrims got to the Temple Mount, the better idea they got of Pauline doctrine. They were reminded that the sacrifices were a substitutionary atonement, and that we are justified by an imputed righteousness. Otherwise no one could "stand" (v 3).

Consider this. "I cried to the LORD" (v 1) and said, "Lord . . ." (v 2). Okay, I can see you missed it. Five times he calls on the LORD (Jah or Jehovah), and three times on the Lord (Adonai). Okay, let me instant replay and slow it down.

In the King James Bible "LORD" in all capitals translates the name Jehovah. Whereas "Lord" translates the name Adonai. Jehovah is his covenant name, promising salvation. Adonai is his controlling name as Lord and master. So you can cry to the LORD to deliver you precisely because of his Lord-ship over all obstacles in the way of delivering you. How'd you miss that, all these years?

There is "plenteous redemption" (v 7). As Matthew Henry says, that means "enough for all, enough for each, enough for me." And redemption from sin includes redemption from all other evils. Wait. Because that means in God there is more than forgiveness—there is deliverance. You know why? Because it included for them (and includes for us) (1) freedom from slavery, (2) victory over the enemy, and (3) a Promised Land for eternity.

Awesome! Amazingly awesome.

Getting Better by Degrees (Psalm 128)

The Songs of Degrees (Psalms 120-134) are organized in triads. There are five groups of three. The trinity goes: (1) trouble, (2) trust, (3) triumph. God allows trouble so we trust him, and we move through trust to triumph. So when you look at Psalm 128 you see the closing song of the third series.

It pictures what heaven is like. Wait. You better blow the dust off your Bible and read it, because Psalm 128 pictures the happiness that Israel and humanity enjoy when Jesus is seated as King in Zion.

Can I take a teaching moment right here? According to the gospel of Mark, the first word Jesus preached was about the kingdom. I know you don't believe me, but you ought to believe the Bible.

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:14)

Jesus calls all the nation to repent in light of the "good news" about "kingdom come." But when the Bible talks about the "kingdom of heaven," the word heaven is not being used of a far-off place in "the sweet by-and-by" (or even the land of Far, Far Away). Nor is it a shorthand reference to a generic eternity (like the perfume that was invented by Calvin Klein only in 1988, yet called "Eternity").

"Heaven" is God's "kingdom," which is a space and time expression of God's perfect will. I think I said something; you just missed it. The Psalms of Ascent drag it down from the lofty heights so we can make it visible in life. When Zion becomes the capital of the King, it becomes the center around which the world revolves. That means that it becomes the center of all blessing. Happiness will be general (v 1) and specific (v 2), the curse on the earth will be reversed (v 2), no one will be childless (vv 3,6), longevity will be restored (Isa 65:20; Zech 8:4), and there will be peace and prosperity (vv 5-6).

Don't get it twisted. This is heaven. Heaven is not above. Heaven is when Christ the King comes.

Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. (Ps 128:1)

Everyone is blessed who fears the Lord. Fearing the Lord is believing he is who he says he is and who he reveals himself to be, and then submitting to his Lordship. Walking is step-by-step living. Verse 4 starts with the adverbial interjection: Behold! Behold is a verbal hand-clap calling attention to the sad situation that too many of God's own people do not fear him.

Blessing is portrayed four times and two ways in this text. The word in verse 1 (asher, as in the son of Leah) means "happy." The word in verse 4 (barak as in Obama) means "successful." Why did the James gang use one word for both? Because blessing describes the good that comes to people that please the Lord. BlessedNESS comes from God's blessING. So if you bless God you are blessed by God. Let me be kind and rewind. Happiness is tied to holiness just like obedience is tied to fearing God. Hello somebody! Reverence for God is visible-ized by conformity to his will. Being pleasing to him is visible-ized back in "blessing."

Can I give you my "sidewalk definition"? Blessing is God's glory formulated for your good.

I didn't hear you shout, but you should have. When God pronounces you blessed (v 4), you are. Period. So no matter how bad your life is right now, if you are obedient you have his blessing—so you ought to be happy! (Great little counseling tip right here.) Why don't you tie your happiness to your holiness instead of to your happenstance? I mean, why wouldn't you want to be happy with his fellowship even if you were suffering, and with his blessing even if it didn't give you what "you wanted"?

Do you have a burden for blessing? What do you want heaven to be? How about faithful saints (1), successful servants (2), productive parents (3-4), social justice (5), and satisfied seniors (6). Only a dark, "reverse negative" awaits the ungodly.

Let's Raise Up (Psalm 127)

Before you cross the threshold to start any task, do you seek God's blessing? Oh, I see. You thought you were your own source of blessing.

Don't act so ditty, like you can do even one thing independent of God. I know how you wrestle with the nightmare of care. Look up higher, and take God along with you.

Okay, here's an exercise. Read the first line of each of the Songs of Degrees, beginning with Psalm 120, and string them all together. "In my distress I cried unto the Lord, I will lift up mine eyes to the hills, let us go into the house of the Lord, unto thee lift I up mine eyes, if it had not been the Lord, they that trust in the Lord, when the Lord turned again the captivity."

This Psalm is assigned to Solomon. He was a father and a builder. God nicknamed him Jedediah. It means "Beloved." God gives his beloved sleep. He even gives to his beloved while they sleep. I know you don't believe me, so let me call the roll.

• God gave Adam a bride while he was sleeping.
• God gave Abraham a covenant while he was sleeping.
• God gave to Jacob a pillar and a promise, while he was sleeping.
• God gave to Solomon wisdom while he was sleeping.
• God gave to Daniel the interpretation of Nebby's dream while sleeping.

Do I need to draw you a picture? When Jesus was sleeping in death, God gave him sons and a seed to satisfy him (Isa 53:10; Heb 3:6).

Work is a blessing to enjoy and not a burden to endure, because doing God's will is nourishment and not punishment (see Jesus' own view in John 4:32,34). Blessing comes to the faithful even when they are resting. Hallelujah. One day the Satanic world order will be obliterated (Zech 13:2), and all these blessings will be realized in full.

We are his children (Ps 127:3), and we will be more than conquerors (vv 4-5). In the mean time, we have a house to build, a city to protect, and a seed to raise up.

Vision Across Your Valley

Sometimes getting through a trial is like Easter Sunday resurrection. But sometimes it is like return from Babylon.

Israel came back from captivity, but it was only to step into a vulnerable, desolate and dangerous, tentative no-nation status. They suffered from the Samaritans, the Ammonites and the Arabs (Neh 2:19; 4:4 cf. Ezra 4).

According to missiologists, more Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined. Sorry to sour your Father's Day.

How do you pray when that happens? Sometimes you pray at the table before you eat. Routine. Sometimes you pray on your bed before you sleep. Doesn't mean much. But sometimes you put physical expression in your prayer (like at the death of a loved one). The old Puritans used to say that you need to pray until you've prayed, and liquid prayers are the best kind. Guess you haven't really "cried" in prayer unless you're crying.

"In every prayer we lift up our soul, the eye of our soul, to God, especially in trouble." Matthew Henry.

In Psalm 123, the songster squeezes a prayer into a look (up). What is begun by the chief musician (v 1) is continued by the choir (v 2) and concluded by the congregation (vv 3-4).

He also looks to his master's hand for
1. Direction
2. Provision
3. Protection
4. Correction
5. Caressing

Subjects of a king. Servants of a master. Children of a heavenly Father. He is full of mercy for the maligned. Mercy to do the right thing. To rebuild the temple and restore worship of the King.

It is not until we read the last verse that we discover something. The thing that is amazing me is that he does this WHILE he is bearing disrespect (for motivation see 1 Pet 4:13). Want to go deep? In this Psalm Jesus credits us with his own faith, and burdens himself with our fear.

Nobody wants to bear disrespect today. Least of all the child of God. The spiritual leader. The head of the home. How does this Psalmist do it?

1) He looks to the throne in faith (v 1).To look to him means to trust him. To trust him means that when you have a problem, you really and actually turn it over to him by faith. Can anybody say "patience"?

2) He looks to God's hand in hope (v 2).The master's hand is the source of your provision. Do you follow his hand? It never fails. Even king’s hearts are in his hand (Prov 21:1). Hallelujah.

3) He looks for God's mercy in pain (vv 3-4).

Seventy years in Babylon. Two generations born and buried. Now we need revival after midlife crisis. The Devil doesn't want us back in the ring. People who promised to help us are not reliable. We are fully disrespected.

But God chooses and uses the despised and rejected. So NOW is our finest hour.

Assistance for the Resistance

THE PSALM

What's in a number? In this case, Psalm 122 contains a profession of the King's love for his people in community.

That's a profound passion, so don't miss it. Let me give you three C's of Christianity: community, commission, and compassion. Okay, since you're not into postmodern-speak, let me throw down some Old School terms next to them: church (community), cross (commission), and Christ (compassion).

If that's not what it's all about, I don't know my Jesus very well. Watch this.

Fifteen songs of ascent. Solomon authored the one in the center. David authored two on each side of that central anthem. The rest are orphans, but probably compiled by Hezekiah. Psalm 122 is said specifically to be by David, who is said specifically to be a man after God's own heart (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:11). So Warren Wiersbe provides a neat outline of what was on the king's heart (which is what our heart should beat for) in this Psalm.

David had a heart for God, 1-2

David had a heart for praise, 3-5

And David had a heart for prayer, 6-9

Slick. Sweet. Right now the King is coming, but he's not back yet. He fought the battle and won it all. Want to be a complete subject in the kingdom? It's a trinity—three C's: community (the spiritual kingdom), commission, and compassion. Psalm 122 provides divine assistance to the Resistance. Come here and let me show you.

First, start with determined dedication (a heart for God). Then, deepen your devoted adoration (a heart for praise). Finally, follow God's purpose in desperate dependence on him (a heart for prayer).

Most issues of life are heart issues. I don't mean to diminish doctrine or deprecate the need for knowledge, but I am with Donald Miller on this one. He doesn't quite say it this way, but truth is impotent until heeded. So you don't just need to read your Bible every day; you need to heed it every day. And that has to do with what goes out from your heart.

That's when you will begin to see the fruit of the Spirit start to work. Joy (v 1), love (v 6), peace (vv 7-8). Peace is the sign of true prosperity. Sunshine and glory. You ain't blessed if you stressed.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Our last Psalm (121) was sung when the city was sighted from a distance. But this one was chanted as they got up to the gates.

Hold it; you missed that. Too many times you have gone to church, heard the sermon, shouted Amen from the distant pew, but then walked out and promptly stepped out of the gate God invited you to enter. His word corrected you and his Spirit convicted you. You agreed mentally (and perhaps even vocally), but when you walked . . . you went back the other way. Look, if you're going to get to the gates, GO IN!

DOCTRINAL APPLICATION

Okay, I know some of you are type-D personalities. I haven't said nothing if I haven't said something doctrinal, prophetic and deep.

The church is a bride. It is also a city (Rev 22). She is "built" (like a Brick House, the Commodores would say). Matthew Henry points out that means the houses strengthen and support one another (a "closely knit unit," Unger says), as "a type of the gospel church." And its real strength came because justice was administered there—by a man after God's own heart.

Peace is in the walls (for the citizenry). Peace is in the palaces (for the ruling gentry). Prophetically, the nations will sing this Psalm to one another antiphonally as they go up to Jerusalem during the Millennium (see Isa 2:2-3; Jer 50:5; Zech 8:21-23, and for a complete statement of the process, Zech 14:16-21). Gotta go!

What is their hurry? To get to that justice administered by a king after God's heart. That's what blessing is, because his justice will mandate peace. The authority of the twelve apostles, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, will derive from their King (Isa 32:1 cf. Matt 19:28; Luke 22:30). Are we deep yet?

INSPIRATIONAL APPROACH

Go Old School with my girl, Pat Benatar. Worshiping in community with the people of God gives assistance to the Resistance.

Many times I've tried to tell you

Many times I've cried alone

Always I'm surprised how well you

Cut my feelings to the bone

Don't want to leave you really

I've invested too much time

To give you up that easy

To the doubts that complicate your mind

We Belong to the light

We Belong to the thunder

We Belong to the sound of the words

We've both fallen under

Whatever we deny or embrace

For worse or for better

We Belong, We Belong

We Belong together

Step INSIDE the gates. Faith makes present what grace promises. Trust in your trouble and you will triumph. Our High Priest pleads for us. Our Prince delivers us. Our welfare (community) is bound up with our King. Be soul-conscious in sensitivity (compassion, v 8). And exercise that compassion in fulfilling the commission (v 9).

Blue Light Razz

There is one of the candidates on one of the debates who is getting a smattering of support from some Evangelical (mainly Fundamentalist) Christians. He is a dark horse in one of the major political parties. And it doesn't really matter which one, because debate season reminds me why I keep a safe distance from politicians.

In a speech on the floor of the House he had some things to say about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Three years ago he was the lone congressman to vote against House Resolution 676 recognizing and honoring the 40th anniversary of the Act.

Seems like politicians feel like they have to explain why they are idiots whenever it is an election cycle.

You will recall that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed "To enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the Attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity."

So among other things, it prohibited the use of Federal funds in a discriminatory fashion, barred unequal application of voter registration requirements, encouraged the desegregation of public schools and authorized the United States Attorney General to file suits to force desegregation, and banned discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other places of public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.

Sounds like a good thing on the surface. But it seems we need at least one politician and Presidential-hopeful to tell us why it was not smart.

But first, let's back up. Here is the gentleperson's take on the Civil War: "Lincoln's original goal was to preserve the union NOT to free the slaves. He was only pushed to emancipation by the circumstances of a prolonged Civil War; if the North had succeeded militarily sooner the slaves would not have been freed."

Wow. He sweeps us off our feet with facts our teacher did not tell us. Yes, those statements about Lincoln and emancipation are true, historically. However, that does not mean that slavery was not the precipitating factor of the war, because there would have been no split from the union by the Southern states except for the controversy over allowing new states to become slave states if they wanted to. All you have to do is read the constitution of any Confederate state, and read the ancient "blogs" written by the Confederate leaders of the time, and you find them all saying the war is about slavery. It is only after they lose the "cause" that you find the South re-writing history to say that the "cause" was freedom, etc. Yeah, right! "States" rights.

Freedom to be a manstealer and own people as property.

Get this. According to this Representative and would-be Presidential nominee, it "did not improve race relations or enhance freedom. Instead, the forced integration dictated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 increased racial tensions while diminishing individual liberty."

Hmmm. I don't think it forced integration. What it did was force de-segregation. He gets it twisted. Had southern states done the right thing and eliminated their own Jim Crow laws, there would have been no need for the federal government to "violate the rights of private property" by insisting that all states enforce observance of the constitution.

He says, "The federal government has no legitimate authority to infringe on the rights of private property owners [notice how he makes this a State's Rights issue, not a right-wrong issue—because he is in the moral wrong; people who are addicted to their sin always want to be able. . .] to use their property as they please and to form (or not form) contracts with terms mutually agreeable to all parties [especially when one party can take advantage of another, because, for the other party the choice is to either agree or don't survive]. The rights of all private property owners, even those whose actions decent people find abhorrent, must be respected if we are to maintain a free society."

All right then. Let's respect the property rights of pedophiles. Read the last sentence of the previous paragraph again. Do you see how crazy politicians are? Decent people have always regulated abhorrent actions, and it has never been a threat to our freedom. Since when does freedom mean we must respect injustice and immoral actions?

Certain Southern states and communities had 100 years to make it so that no black woman had to stand up in deference to a white man who arrived on the bus, just because she was black. Instead, to defend their right to treat people as property, they turned fire hoses and police dogs on marching women and children who had been organized by the churches.

Even politicians, it seems, must at times deal in realpolitik. Hence this stark admission: "America has made great strides in race relations over the past forty years." But wait, because he's not done yet. "However, this progress is due to changes in public attitudes and private efforts. Relations between the races have improved despite, not because of, the 1964 Civil Rights Act."

They lost the Civil War. They should give it up and get over it. A hundred years of Jim Crow proved that no changes in the law would have meant no changes in public attitudes.

The chicken party has two right wings.

Join the Journey

It's the beginning of summer. Things are stagnant. A "plateau" as they say. So what do I do? Start a new series on Sundays. Maybe nobody new will come, so can I dump on you? There is a lot I can't say on Sundays, and more I can't put into the separate study sheets. So here is some of the rest; the behind the scenes stuff that provides both inspiration and information to the series.

THE PSALMS

I have always loved the Psalms. One of the things that amazes me is all the books within this book. First, there are the five books of Psalms, with parallels to each of the five books of Moses (maybe more on that another day). Then there is Psalm 119, one acrostic Psalm in 22 alphabetic parts. Whoa! But right after that there are the Songs of Degrees called the Psalms of Ascent. Here are fifteen Psalms as one part (Psalms 120-134).

THE SERIES

These Psalms are amazing me, because they were sung by the tribes as they trekked to the temple.

You missed that. Israel was originally intended as a pilgrim people, only sojourning on life's journey (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all dwelt in tents). Even after they exited Egypt at the Exodus and came into Canaan to possess the land, God still needed to give them a reminder of their pilgrim nature. So three times a year they were to come to the temple to worship the Lord at the major religious feasts (Deut 16:16).

Now you have to understand, Jerusalem is geographical. Okay, I used to be slow, too, so let me rewind. Today, construction (and trash) fill-in and obscure the craggy lay of the land surrounding Mt. Zion (the political capital) and Mt. Moriah (the religious center). As a matter of fact, a major valley in between them has almost been entirely obliterated over the millennia. And of course, navigating the Kidron Valley and Gehenna (the Hinnom Valley) is not difficult now. But back in the day (David's), it was a dangerous deal to scale the heights and reach holy land. You were literally going up to where heaven touched earth and changed it, and the will of God was done on earth like it is in heaven.

HISTORICALLY

It's not just that Mt. Moriah was so high. But the temple was surrounded by valleys that were so low. You descended at least 600 feet, only to have to ascend that much more again. So the Temple Mount was an impressive sight—surrounded by sorrow, sadness and suffering.

Don't miss the metaphor. The temple is made of massively magnificent white marble. All wooden structures are overlaid with gold. When the sun rises and sets, it hits God's house, and the glint and gleam is reflected like a beacon. It is truly a light to the nations and a city set on a hill.

You could see it from afar. It was almost too resplendent to gaze on directly. But to get there from here required descending through the shadow of the valley, and winding around craggy cliffs on the road to the top. Foes without and fears within. What would give you the momentum and motivation to get there? Praise!

DOCTRINALLY

Ready to go deeper? These fifteen Psalms are organized in five triplets (groups of three). The theme in each triplet is (1) trouble, (2) trust, and (3) triumph. So in each group there is an ascent. You start off in trouble, and rise through trust to triumph.

PSALMIC SURVEY

Psalm 121 is the second Psalm in the first triplet, so its keynote is trust. In verses 1-2 the Messiah speaks and states his determination to gain deliverance from the trouble described in Psalm 120. What he will not do is described in verses 3-4. What he will do is stated in verse 5. What he will not allow is listed in verse 6, and what he will accomplish concludes the psalm in verses 7-8.

TEXTUALLY AND EXEGETICALLY

Keeper, keepeth, and preserve (6x in this Psalm) are all the same Hebrew word, referring to the actions of one who is protector and guardian. It is what the shepherd does in tending and watching over the flock.
The word behold (appearing at verse 4) is a word with a purpose. It always points to a fact that should be amazing you.

INSPIRATIONALLY

This is a far-reaching word of teaching. Too many Christians today want to be settlers and not sojourners. Life is short; we still want to be settlers. We get robbed of our goods; still settlers. Even in our amusements; settlers and satisfied. Our society is disintegrating; we are settled and secure. We are tourists with the Lord and settled in the land, instead of being visitors down here and living for the life ahead. We are "leisure suit" Christians, sedated and settled. We need to feel the urgency of the temporary instead of being blinded by the contemporary.

Gradually ascending in spirals, these Psalms reminds you to be "homeward bound."