Day 158: Psalm 13, 14, 15 and 16

Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? . . . Those . . . who keep their promises even when it hurts (NLT, Psalm 15:4).

Ever heard one of these? Hey, I was just going to call you! Or, I’ll feed it and take care of it – you’ll never even know we have a dog! Or, We’ll play catch tomorrow. Or, No, that dress doesn’t make you look fat. Or, We’ll do lunch.

Would you believe it if someone said any of these things to you? Have you ever made one of these promises and not really meant it? Paul wrote: I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do (Romans 7:14).

We say things like, Cross my heart and hope to die. Or, On the eyes of my sainted mother. Do those words make us more likely to tell the truth? [1]. John Stott writes: “Swearing is really a pathetic confession of our own dishonesty” [2]. The reason we have to swear oaths is our tendency to lie.

We shouldn’t need to sign our name, pinky swear or provide collateral. Our lives should be enough to make people confident that what they hear from us is the truth.

The NIV contains the words unfaithful, faithless, or some version of not faithful 68 times, always referring to humanity – never to God. Isn’t it good to know that God keeps his promises? The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made (Psalm 145:13).

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Can you commit to always tell the truth? If not, why? Ask God why you might find it difficult to be truthful.

Day 157: Psalm 9, 10, 11 and 12

[The wicked] freely strut about when what is vile is honored among the human race (Psalm 12:8).

Regarding sin’s downward spiral, Paul concludes: Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them (Romans 1:32).

Have you noticed how our heroes have changed? The TV shows of my youth included Saturday afternoon westerns featuring Roy Rogers wearing a white hat and crusading for justice; Marcus Welby, who was not only a brilliant physician, but a good man; the town of Mayfield, home to Ward and June Cleaver and their boys Wally and Theodore. They were good kids even though the Beaver had a knack for getting into trouble.

Were those shows to be remade today, Roy Rogers would be running from his past, Dr. Welby would be addicted to painkillers, and Leave It to Beaver would be retitled: The Adventures of Eddie Haskell.

There actually might be something healthy about realizing our heroes are just regular men, women and children with all the faults and shortcomings inherent to fallen humanity. People, even good people, can get hurt falling from pedestals.

At the same time, are we living in a time when what is vile is honored among men? If we are, things may not be that different than they’ve always been. Apparently, 3,000 years ago the psalmist was experiencing the same thing.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

How can we encourage noble behavior from our children when their heroes do not?

Day 156: Psalm 5, 6, 7 and 8

What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (NIV 1984, Psalm 8:4).

Years ago, a man with whom I was in a discussion said, rather snobbishly: “I don’t believe in an interventionist God.” And I thought: How sad for you.

Verse one speaks of God’s glory being manifested in creation: Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. My deist friend would most likely have been quite comfortable with this portrait of God, but no doubt stopped reading before verse four.

Deism is the belief in a detached creator God who has set the world to run on its own, much like a watchmaker engineering a watch which he then winds up and lets go unattended. God exists but he has no involvement or interaction with creation. There’s nothing personal or intimate about the deist God.

Theism (for our discussion Christian Theism) teaches that not only did God create the universe, but that he is still intimately and personally involved with people.

The Psalmist here acknowledges not only man’s smallness compared to the vastness of the heavens and earth God has created, but also draws attention to the truth that God takes special notice of humanity… his crowning creation.

This highlights God’s transcendence – his otherness (he is above and separate from the created order, which is the hallmark of deism) – and his immanence (the idea that God is close to and involved with his creation which is where deism and theism part company).

Thinking of God’s attentiveness to his creation always takes me back to the story of Hagar in the desert when she spoke to God: You are the God who sees me (Genesis 16:13).

What is man that you are mindful of him? The writer is literally declaring that God’s mind is filled with thoughts of and care for you.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

How does it make you feel to know that you are on God’s mind?

Day 155: Psalm 1, 2, 3 and 4

His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night (NIV 1984, Psalm 1:2).

Meditating on God’s Word is not reading it, memorizing it, or even studying it. It’s chewing on it, turning it over in the mind, allowing it to percolate and become part of us.

St. Benedict (AD 480-547) is credited with giving us the meditative practice of lectio divina. Lectio divina begins with a slow, purposeful reading (lectio) of the Word combined with an attitude of attentiveness (careful listening) to God’s voice. We progress to meditating on the Word (meditatio ), which is a pondering and simmering time. From there we transition to prayer (oratio), centered in what we have been reading and what God has been speaking. This is followed with the final segment of lectio divina, contemplation (contemplatio), in which we joyfully rest in the presence of God.

On what are you meditating? Scott Wenig writes that the mind wanders every seven seconds [1]. When idling at a red light, standing over a sink full of dishes, or sitting at your desk, where does your mind go? Answer that and you’ll know what you’re meditating on.

It is in meditating on the law, God’s Word, that it really becomes a part of us.

Where does your mind go when it wanders?

TODAY’S MEDITATION

What does God want to say to you through his Word?

Day 154: Job 40, 41 and 42

If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again! (Job 41:8).

In the final chapters of Job, after Job has pleaded his case and his friends have arrogantly and at the same time naïvely spoken for God, God speaks. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? (38:4). Have you entered the storehouses of the snow? (38:22). Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons? (38:32). Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? (39:1). Does the eagle soar at your command? (39: 27).

And Job admits he is no match for the Lord God Almighty (40:4).

God then proceeds to illustrate further his own glory and majesty by pointing to some of his creations that man cannot tame: Look at the behemoth (maybe an elephant; possibly the hippopotamus), which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox (40:15). Can you pull in the leviathan (some posit this is the crocodile, others the whale) with a fishhook? (41:10).

You gotta laugh at this imagery: If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again! Though never backing away from his claims of innocence, about this time I’m sure Job was thinking to himself: I challenged God once and I’ll never do that again either!

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Have you ever made a hasty and foolish challenge only to think better of it after it was too late? If you’ve been wrestling with God, is it time to say “Uncle”?

Day 153: Job 37, 38 and 39

Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? (NIV 1984, Job 38:2).

How often do we… let me start over; how often do I presume to speak for God? This is a danger to which pastors are especially prone. In today’s world, the closest thing to the Thus saith the Lord of the Old Testament prophets is the Sunday morning message preached from pulpits all over the world.

We attend school to ensure we are interpreting the Scriptures correctly, and speak with confidence that we are representing God accurately. Yet at the same time, we must be careful to leave our dogmatism at home, for we are human and our understanding of God’s Word and God’s ways are dynamic (at least it should be), shifting over time as we grow deeper in knowledge and deeper in relationship with our Creator.

When Jesus said, It is written… (Matthew 4:4), he left it at that. But on other occasions he said, You have heard that it was said . . . But I tell you… (5:21,22). He spoke with an innate authority (which we will never have), refuting the law’s popular interpretation yet never refuting Scripture itself.

Rather than darkening God’s counsel by presuming to speak for him with words without knowledge, we must be careful rather to let the voice of God speak for itself through a correct and responsible interpretation of the scriptural text.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Do you speak for God, or do you allow God to speak for himself? Who’s better at it?

Day 152: Job 34, 35 and 36

His thunder announces the coming storm (Job 36:33).

Three friends sat silently while Job grieved. Then they opened their mouths causing him to suffer even more. Elihu, a younger man, sits quietly out of respect for their age and standing in the community, but he has reached his limit; he can hold his tongue no more. Chapter 32 tells us he was angry with Job for not admitting his guilt, and angry with his three elders for their inability to convince Job of his need for confession.

Elihu expresses his conviction that God cannot possibly do wrong (34:10), and asserts that a man’s suffering must be interpreted as punishment for wrongdoing. Since God rewards the upright and punishes the sinful, suggesting a just man might also suffer is the same as accusing God of evil.

As far as Elihu is concerned, God is not hard to figure out. Those who do right don’t have to fear God’s reprisals, and those who do wrong only get what they have coming to them. Easy to read, just as thunder is a sure sign of an approaching storm, suffering is a sure sign of God’s displeasure.

As we get older, we find out things aren’t always so black and white. Are there opinions you held strongly in youth about which you’ve learned to be more flexible with a few years under your belt?

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Examine the dogmas of your youth. Is it time to admit some questions just don’t have easy answers?