Psalm Sunday: 119:27 – Meaning

Help me understand the meaning of your commandments, and I will meditate on your wonderful deeds. Psalms 119:27 NLT

Among things we tend to forget, frequently, about Jesus’ ministry is how much of it was clarifying the meaning of what God had intended to impart through His chosen people up to that point. Israelite leaders had thought no adultery was limited to physical action on that end, leaving them open to fantasize about anything that popped into their minds — as long as they didn’t act on it. Jesus clarified that big time: entertaining thoughts beyond “s/he’s attractive” when you are married to them is a sin.

Take this tough test today: which commandment(s) do you not seem to have a full grasp on? Which one, fully understood, would change things in your mind on a daily basis? Which one, fully integrated in your life, would show the biggest change to the people around you?

I’m not asking you to do anything with this information. It’s up to you whether you want your life to have meaning.

Whether you do or not, you know something important about who you are today, and where God ranks in your life.

Psalm Sunday: 66:4 – Praise in Prayer

Everything on earth will worship you; they will sing your praises, shouting your name in glorious songs.” Psalms 66:4 NLT

How often do we only come to God with our requests? No matter how good a lot you have in this life, this life isn’t easy. For Christ followers, this life is, gracefully, as close as we’ll get to hell. I know I don’t spend enough time thanking God for that reality. Even when this life is at it’s worst, isn’t that a wonderful backstop?

Everything you say to God, every prayer you faithfully submit, is being kept. In a golden bowl. To be poured out in faithfulness when this world is fully, completely, overcome.

Say a thankful, praise filled prayer today. Don’t have the words? Find an old hymn or new song from Passion this year. Close your eyes and sing it as a prayer to God. Don’t be afraid, ever, to shout His name in worship.

Psalm Sunday: 82:3 – Defend

Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Psalm 82:3 NIV

God has made a clear declaration: I am your God and you are my people. Jesus, as He did with so many things, took God’s declaration deeper. God isn’t just your God, Jesus clarifies, He is your father.

God doesn’t want to simply rule over your life. If that was it, He would have made you to simply have your life ruled over. Instead, God chooses the route of love, the same route all parents ultimately realize they must take. God wants to influence your life so you will acknowledge that, whatever your circumstance today, you are not alone.

You may be weak, poor, and oppressed. You may be “fatherless” to the world, but your Father is always waiting for you to get home.

Psalm Sunday: 116:2 – Bend

Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! Psalms 116:2 NLT

Prayer can seem strange, right? If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, what’s the point in talking to God — He already knows what’s going on! Even more than that, we’re called to pray continually, without ceasing. How are we supposed to get everything done? Are we all supposed to be monks?!?

Obvious, right? You’ve heard that before. You might also have reminded yourself earlier this week of “talk less, say more” when we looked at Matthew 6:7. You may be comfortable praising God, thanking God, and asking God in your prayers. But if you don’t practice listening to God when you pray, you’re missing out on the point of prayer!

God already knows. He doesn’t learn when you pray. You learn when you pray. Well, you may learn when you pray. You may grow closer to God when you pray. Prayer lets us get to know God.

Next time God, the almighty creator of existence, pulls Himself from the throne and puts His ear to your heart, put your ear to His. Stop. Listen. Learn.

Oh, yeah: now is as good a time as any. Give it a try!

Psalms 77:4 – Cardboard

You don’t let me sleep. I am too distressed even to pray! Psalms 77:4 NLT

How often do you eat crackers? For me, it’s really only in the winter, when it’s cold enough to have chili or stew. I’m not much of a soup person, and don’t bother much with crackers otherwise. So inevitably, each fall when football is on and chili’s in my bowl for the first time, I pull out a sleeve of crackers leftover from the last season. Cardboard. The crackers have taken on the taste of the box I pulled them from. It’s quite disgusting. But I’ve done it enough that I can predict it’ll happen in the next six months.

That’s trivial. But prayer can become like those crackers left on the shelf to expire. It can become stale. If you feel when you’re trying to communicate with God that it’s just you, rambling endlessly, day in and day, the act of prayer can have a shelf life shorter than saltines. If your in this rut, how do you break out? How do you communicate freshly with God? How can you put a gauge on your soul to bring you in line with God’s will when God doesn’t seem to be answering when you ring?

The Psalms are a great starting point. David knew the nature of God as well as any man ever, excepting Jesus, and David recorded for us many of his prayers throughout Psalms. When you’re prayer hits a wall, head to Psalms. You’ll find the prayer you couldn’t figure out to pray, and most likely, you’ll find the exact words you need are thousands of years old and still music to God’s heart.

Psalm Sunday: 113:3 – Sun

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. Psalm 113:3 NIV

The sickness I had last week has subsided with antibiotics, so I was able to enjoy creation again this weekend. Tonight, I am burnt nearly to a crisp. I was fortunate to be able to spend most of the weekend outdoors. We moved into a new house this time last year, and with a baby on the way, all we were able to do was maintain. So the grass got mowed, but the rest of the place just did as it pleased until this winter thawed. We really spent the weekend taming it.

I spent most of the time outdoors playing “Oceans” and “Hosanna” from Hillsong United on loop for all passersby to hear. I tried to keep my eye on the creator while doing these chores. I had several hours to myself today to do it. I was overwhelmed by the end of the day, thirsty and hungry, but the most lasting thing will be the burn. I played in the sun nearly sun-up to sun-down the past two days, and the sun was in full force in glorifying God.

I hope this past week’s devotions have helped you connect more with God in your everyday interactions with His creation. You’ll be surprised how amazing the world seems when you work on seeing it through the lens of its Creator.

Psalm Sunday: 22:27 – Remember

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, Psalm 22:27 NIV

Across the world today, billions of people will see a cross. In the days of David, this brutal method of extending a torturous death was predicted but not yet in use. In the days of Paul, crucifixion was reserved for subhumans; Cicero declared it unconscionable that crucifixion be used on a Roman citizen.

But we know. We understand it’s purpose. Not only did God not wait until we cleaned our act up, He waited until humanity was as deep in sin as it seems it could possibly get. He waited until the worst possible individual death-by-torture had been institutionalized. There can be no question that God knew exactly what He was doing.

And so, today, in nearly every corner of the world, we retell the story that put crosses on top of buildings the world over. We fall to our knees, lift our eyes to the cross and our hearts to heaven, and we remember that “It is finished.”

Psalm Sunday: 5:3 – Expect to Wait

Listen to my voice in the morning, lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. Psalms 5:3 NLT

Good morning! Happy Sunday! I’ve been expecting you.

Traditionally, this is the day we celebrate Jesus entering Jerusalem seemingly victorious. I remember vividly the great fanfare of palm leaves entering the sanctuary every year on this day. But we already know the next act of the story. We know this euphoria didn’t last. If you’re familiar with the gospels, you’ll recall the disciples tried to keep Jesus from returning to Jerusalem despite this welcome.

Jesus knew what had to be done. And so He came to Jerusalem, and He waited expecting His prophecies about Himself to be fulfilled. During this week, the gospels also tell us Jesus prayed fervently asking for another route to accomplish the same means. I think we have to acknowledge, then, that Jesus had a choice. Jesus had to accept in His human form that this was the only course which would forever restore our relationship with God.

I think it’s plain that Jesus was afraid. As we learn anything else from Jesus, we should learn how to fear. Knowing His death would allow Him to accept God’s full wrath for every misstep of humanity, fear seems, um, appropriate?

But Jesus didn’t abort. Knowing the coming pain from the ravaging of His human body, that He wouldn’t suffocate but would bleed to death, He waited expectantly. Fearing not the death of His body but the wrath He would take from God, knowing though He never sinned He would feel the pain of sin, Jesus waited expectantly.

Bring your requests to God. Wait expecting God’s reply.

Psalm Sunday: 32:5 – Acknowledged & Forgiven

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. Psalm 32:5 NIV

Life ain’t easy. The only sure things are death and taxes. But you can’t take life too seriously, you’ll never get out alive.

This life is a struggle, and as a species, we try to make the best of it. We do the best we can to bend nature to our will. When nature won’t succumb, we try to predict it so we can minimize the impact to us. If I’ve noticed one thing in my short time here, it is our obsession with melding the physical world to will of our collective minds.

But, below the surface, there’s another war going on in each of us. Our will battles with itself. We want to be happy, but we also want to remember. Remembering brings back all our insufficiencies, all the times we couldn’t bend the world to our will. And somewhere in the actions we took to make our will happen or in response to our will failing, is sin.

We may write off our accidental sin, or perhaps better, have accepted God’s grace and mercy for those times we didn’t know what we were doing. But these moments, the sins you intended, are hardest to let go of and to accept God’s forgiveness for. After all, if you haven’t forgiven yourself, why would God? So after the sin has been forgiven by the Father, you still cling to the guilt.

Guilt is the deadliest disease man has encountered, and it is of our own making…of your own making. Guilt does have a physical impact (see two verses earlier), and though it won’t put as many bodies in the ground this year, this battle of the will to maintain guilt over seeking joy will keep many from experiencing the freedom God wants for us here in this life and potentially the next.

Let go and let God.

Father God, we pray today that you will hear the cries of the prisoners; that you will look down on us and have mercy Lord. That you will free us from the prisons of our sin and the shackles of guilt we have put on ourselves. Lord, help us to see clearly, to see that if You and Your blameless Son don’t condemn us then we have no grounds on which we can condemn ourselves. Father, set us free today.

Psalm Sunday: 6:6 – David and Disney Princesses

I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. Psalms 6:6 NLT

What’s the first image thing that comes to mind when reading this passage? You could be forgiven for seeing a Disney princess flinging herself on a bed in a tantrum about a guy. If you have, or have been, a teenage girl, perhaps you saw a real-life version of the same tantrum.

Those tantrums are in anguish, and they’re attention seeking. They seek an outcome, a change in circumstance. The only real difference in the Disney-fied tantrum is who the fit-thrower has acknowledged is in control.

I don’t recommend tantrums in generally. I definitely don’t recommend tantrums for getting parental attention. However, if it’s good enough for David to get God’s attention, it’s more than good enough for us!

But this expression of remorse must have all the ingredients. Having the sin is the easy part. Having acknowledged your sin fully is challenging. We must also repent – turn fully away from the sin. We can’t ask for forgiveness with the next sin on our schedules.

Once you’ve taken care of all of these requirements, you need to call out to God for forgiveness with the same passion as David recorded for us.

I hope you’re ready. Find a quiet place today, and call to God for forgiveness. Acknowledge your sin. Ask for strength to seek God when you’re tempted.