Psalm 61 - Sacred Vows

This psalm splits into two parts, the first part where David is crying out to God for help and the second section where David speaks words of faith and praise while asking for blessing. It is verse 5, the first verse in the second section that caught my thoughts today.

For you have heard my vows, O God. You have given me an inheritance reserved for those who fear your name.

 What I notice first off is that David has made vows to God. Consider what it means that David has made vows to God. David has made a solemn promise to God. From reading other psalms and writings we can guess that this involves serving God, telling others about God, being committed to living a life that he believes God has laid out for him. This is not done lightly or something that David takes seriously. we can see from other writings that David is committed to obedience to God and in that obedience refuses to harm the anointed king Saul, in spite of Saul's attempts to kill him. He doesn't make this vow because God makes vows to him in return. He makes vows because David finds God worthy of his devotion, and worthy of making vows to. David values God.

What do you value to that level? To what or whom, would you make sacred vows and how far would you take them? I think Davids example calls us to consider these questions.

For some of us, vows with God make sense. When I was 13, God touched my life in a powerful way and saved me. While at the time, I believed that God saved me physically, with full understanding of the situation, I know God saved me spiritually. At the time, I was feeling the burdens of life and felt alone and without support and tried to take my life (in a naive way that would not have worked) God told me, "I love you and this is not what I want for you." That made all the difference and I vowed to God that I would never try to take my life again or allow those thoughts to have power over me. Besides the obvious result of being alive, I am secure emotionally knowing that I am loved, regardless of what people, or circumstances may try to communicate to me.

Additionally, I anticipate taking marriage vows, at the right time, with some one. He has shown he is worthy of sacred promises by who he is as a person and how we take care of each other. In him, I see God's love and feel safe and secure.

So again, ask yourself, What do you value to that level? To what or whom, would you make sacred vows and how far would you take them?

Psalm 59 - Powerful Love

^{Hmmm...so here we have another Psalm that speaks of judgement of the wicked..another psalm written by David while he was running from Saul and his followers. There seems to be a lot of this in my readings this week. The interesting thing is that in seasons of my life, I have needed just that. I have needed to be reminded that others felt persecuted, that others got angry and just wanted God to take care of the people around them who were choosing to be wicked. In this season, I find myself wanting to slide over these passages because they don't connect with how I feel in this season of my life. Instead, I want to read verses that encourage me to grow in love, to grow in service, and to grow as an influencer of my environment. Of course I could jump to another portion of the Bible, and I may do that in the future, but today I want to wrestle some more with these psalms.}

^{David's words tell about the injustice of the situation he is in.} 

³ For look, they lie in wait for my life;
The mighty gather against me,
Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.
⁴ They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.

I am reminded of a letter I read in an article in the Huffington Post called, Dear Hypothetically Gay Son. In it, he writes the letter he would hope to write to his future son if that son were to tell him that he was gay. The phrase that I was reminded of while I read the above words in the psalm were,

Our home is a place of safety and love. The world has dealt you a difficult card. While LGBT people are becoming more accepted, it is still a difficult path to walk. You're going to experience hate and anger and misunderstandings about who you are out in the world. That will not happen here. You need to know with every fiber of who you are that when you walk in the front door of your home, you are safe, and you are loved.

^{This father is acknowledging that his son is on a road that will lead to misunderstanding and persecution, but promises that his home will be a place of safety. The father goes on to say that he will be the son's defender, for he loves every part of who his son is and would go to war for him.}

^{David also finds himself  in a place of persecution, calling on God for help.}

⁹ I will wait for You, O You his Strength;
For God is my defense.
¹⁰ My God of mercy shall come to meet me;
God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.

 Just as the father in the letter promises to be his son's defender, David knows that God will be his defender and responds with trust and later with honor for God.

¹⁶ But I will sing of Your power;
Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;
For You have been my defense
And refuge in the day of my trouble.
¹⁷ To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my defense,
My God of mercy.

So, in making this connection between the letter and the psalm, I am reminded of several things:

•  Reading about persecution and judgement reminds me that even though I may not relate it in my life, it is important for me to be creating a safe place for those who are feeling persecuted. I am called to compassion and love.
• I am also reminded of the beauty of love, the father for his son and God for David. The love that fully accepts and stands ready to defend others. A love that I strive for.
• I am also reminded to be grateful for the people in my life who operate in this love. Those who have stood by me, created a safe place for me, and have stood as my defenders.

Why might God have you reading these messages...this blog...what's message is in it for you? 

Psalm 58 - The Importance of Injustice to Motivating Justice

This morning I read this psalm in the New Living Translation on my phone, and then started pondering it and considering the role of injustice in our world. As I sat down to write about it, I opened up the New King James Version and started to skim through it, but got no further than verse 1.

Justice- do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge people fairly? (NLT)

Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men? (NKJV)

What immediately struck me was the term silent ones in the NKJV. While I had originally considered this psalm in the light of people making choices that were actively unjust, that new term caused me to consider those who don't actively see justice.

Does this change anything for you? For me, it causes pause because it means I suddenly need to consider whether I have been silent while an injustice has gone on. I have to consider whether I am in the number that this psalm is speaking about. 

The other thing this highlights, is translational differences. In fact, before I looked at the second translation and started typing this, a conversation ensued this morning about translations, which was started with the comment made by a Biblical scholar who referenced the New English Version version of a scripture in his writings but then in a side note mentioned that that particular writer didn't see it as a accurate version, presumably because it is a translation that is based on ideas not a word by word translation. This progressed into a conversation as to whether adjustments that were made by scribes and scholars who were writing down oral records and transcribing religious writings that are included in the Bible were divinely managed...which led to a discussion of whether a sentient God could make the translations or adjustments that were not divinely inspired fade away...which led to talk about free will...and on iy went, but I digress from where we started. All this is to say that my morning prepared me to notice and be sensitive to the differences in translation.

So let's go back to this psalm, while the psalm starts with this question, it very quickly answers it with no and goes on to tell of the wickedness of the men this psalm is directed towards. But as I pondered all of this, I started to think of the role of wickedness and injustice. Some of the thoughts I had were:

• If there wasn't injustice, would we appreciate and understand the importance of justice?
• Because we have injustice, we have opportunities to speak out for and practice justice, how important is that is develop into the people we were created to be? Without injustice, could we reach and become all that God ordained us to be?
• If the world was just (which would alleviate many struggles that exist in the world), would we appreciate that state of affairs, or would we not realize the beauty of that state and just see wickedness in a different form?

I don't know about you, but if I look at my decisions, I can see times when I stood up for justice and times that I failed to. I believe that it is more the former than the latter, but I guess that I am not the best judge of that. What about you? What do you think about some of the questions above and what questions are you left with?

Psalm 57 - Intimate Trust

Have you ever had a person that you trusted completely? After reading and rereading this psalm, I kept coming back to this phrase in verse 1, "For my soul trusts in You;" I really love the way the words are used to express a trust that is more than the idea of "I trust you." It is not just me that trusts, but my souls, the core and essence of my being, with all pretense and outward masks stripped away. Something deep inside me trusts. For me, this creates an intimacy to that trust. Not just that I believe the information the other person is sharing, but that I trust in their being and how their being interacts with me.


I know that I crave such intimate trust with people, and I think most people do also, but our society breeds so much distrust that it is difficult to achieve that and believe it is possible. In a world where we see relationships fall apart so easily because of betrayal and selfishness, how can we expose our soul to another person and give them ultimate power over us because in giving this most intimate trust comes the ability for that person to cause us the greatest pain and scar us the most. Would you give someone the key the causing you the deepest pain? Do you believe another the other person will flawlessly guard that gift and never cause pain? Are you willing to risk some level of pain in order to have the joy of that intimacy? Maybe you have walked that road before and now bear the scars.


In this psalm, as David faces trials and difficulties, he has found that intimate trust with Go and I believe that in finding that trust with God, I am able to give that trust to others in my life. When I rest secure in the knowledge that God will care for and guard my soul, I can give that intimate trust to another person, knowing that God will cover the minor scars. I believe that the joy that can be found in sharing that intimate trust with God and a few others in my life is worth the risk of pain, but only because I know the steadfastness of God. Whiler I may get scars from the people I choose to give this intimate trust to, I know that that is never true from God.


What saddens me in the world, is when I listen to the others stories and they feel they are scarred by God and this crushes their ability to find intimate trust with others. I think what is saddest for me is that in listening to the story, it is always a person, who claims to be acting in God's name that has broken trust. With an intangible God, it can be difficult to separate God and people who claim to serve and act for God. These two become mixed in our emotions and we end of putting the pain or betrayal we have received from a person onto God. Now God is big enough to bear it and God will still be there waiting for you when you realize that is wasn't God who caused the pain and God will be there to once again share intimate trust with you.


Have you had an experience that has made trust hard for you? Have you felt betrayed by God? If you have, I urge you to revisit those memories and see if it is God, or a person claiming to act in God's name that is at the root of the pain.

Psalm 55 - Crash and Burn

Well, this is a long overdue post. I was sharing on Wednesday night with a couple of guys from church that I felt a call to get back to this spiritual practice and asked them to check-in with me on it...accountability is a great tool for getting into good practices.

But, for a return to the blog, this psalm was particularly interesting. We get a sense of what David is feeling right away.

Give ear to my prayer, O God,
And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.
² Attend to me, and hear me;
I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily,
³ Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the oppression of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble upon me,
And in wrath they hate me.

 As I read this, I thought, well, I am in a great place and certainly am not relating to David's fear and feel of persecution. As I continued to reflect on this and started thinking about David running from Saul, who had been a close friend, I remember days that I could relate to David's distress. A great sense of gratitude came over me and I remembered the days some one I had been really close to was doing everything possible to make my life difficult and I recognized that those days were in the past.


To feel persecuted by some one who you have developed a relationship with, not only becomes distressing because of the persecution, but also because of the relationship. Possibly it is lost, or at least damaged to some degree. But what was once love, is now twisted into something else. For me, it was such a terrible feeling and I can relate to David being chased by some one who he still cares a great deal for, trying to understand why this is all happening to him...but here I am digressing, because the piece of the scriptures that really grabbed me this morning were later in the psalm.

¹⁶ As for me, I will call upon God,
And the Lord shall save me.
¹⁷ Evening and morning and at noon
I will pray, and cry aloud,
And He shall hear my voice.

 As I read these verses, I felt the peace and strength of the reminder that God is faithful. God listens and God is there. Many times in the psalms, David and other psalmists talk about how God has heard them and has been faithful and this is as true in my life as it was for them. I was also reminded of a song, Crash and Burn by Savage Garden. When I listen to the song, I can't help but think of God.

When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart
I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you
It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

I encourage you to listen to the whole song or look at the rest of the lyrics and listen to the song on YouTube.


So, are you feeling persecuted or overwhelmed? Know that God is there for you, but also, if you drop me a line, I will be honored to pray for you, that you would feel God's faithfulness.

Psalm 52 - Duality

As I read this psalm, I think I was thinking about duality within us and although the psalm doesn't describe the duality of one person, i saw it that way....

So do you ever find yourself filled with thoughts that belong to your sin nature. Thoughts that don't become acts because of the Christ in you...but you think them, feel them, and sometimes wish for them...but are stopped by your sense of right and wrong.

Maybe I am the only one who experiences such a thing...I hope so, but I doubt it.

I definitely find myself wrestling with desires that the duality in me struggles with. The desire to let myself go with abandon and pursue pleasures that could become very destructive but they run up against the wall of righteousness and my desire to live a long and healthy life.

It can be a difficult thing and a real struggle.

Look at these verses from the psalm:

 ² All day long you plot destruction.
      Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor;
      you’re an expert at telling lies.
 ³ You love evil more than good
      and lies more than truth.

⁸ But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God.
      I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.
 ⁹ I will praise you forever, O God,
      for what you have done.
   I will trust in your good name
      in the presence of your faithful people.

In these two portions we can see both the evil plotting and  the strength of living in unity with God. While it wasn't describing just one person, I can't help but wonder. I think of David and his anger towards the people who persecuted him and his commitment not to return evil for evil, but I can only imagine that he must have been tempted. And then I remember how he got Bathsheeba. David certainly had a duality as well.

So how do you fight the duality in you? Is it a daily struggle or just an occasional battle?