Psalm 24

"To Yahweh belong earth and all it holds,
the world and all who live in it;
he himself founded it on the ocean,
based it firmly on the nether sea."
Psalm 24:1-2

Who is this God who keeps surprising me with more than I anticipate? Who is this God who pulls back a corner of the creation and allows me to look in and hear God say, "I did good don't you think?" Who is this God who brings the quiet onin such a way that the flapping of the bird's wings sounds louder than a jet flying over?
"Who is this king of glory?
He is Yahweh Sabaoth,
King of glory, he!" (vs. 10)
God has created this earth and set it in motion and then given us the chance to stop and open our eyes to the glory that is right in front of us. It is a chance to see the presence of God in all his glory and so often I think I'm just to busy to stop and see. When my busyness keeps me from stopping it also keeps me from seeing God. Today I'm going to stop and look until I see.

Psalm 23

"Yahweh is my shepherd,
I lack nothing."
Psalm 21:1

It isn't always easy being a sheep to God's shepherd. It isn't that God is mean, nasty, or abusive as much as it is that I'm stubborn. When I trust myself in God's hands I literally lack nothing. I have everything that I need and it is always enough.
But I don't always like to rest in the places that God has put me. There are so many times that I like to wonder off to see if there isn't something a bit better, prettier, easier, more filling, etc. So I get out ahead of the shepherd and he has to call me back.
I want to be content in where God places me and where God leads me. But to be content I have to remember each and every moment that God is the one who leads not me!

Psalm 22

"Yet you draw me out of the womb,
you entrusted me to my mother's breasts;
placed on your lap from my birth,
from my mother's womb you have been my God."
Psalm 22:9-10

Lord, you draw me out of that which is safe and thrust me into the light that is not what I have become comfortable with. Lord you promise that you will not leave me nor forsake me and yet that which is new is unknown and frightening.
But Lord I trust you because you have been faithful in the past. You have kept me from wondering to far off the path of faith when it would have been easy to stray. You have carried me when I had nowhere else to turn and worked through me in ways that I would not have known were possible. You have opened doors for me that I never expected or anticipated in know could have opened myself.
Lord I will continue to be as faithful as possible in all the small ways and leave the big things up to you!
I am yours Lord, do with me as you will!

Psalm 21

"Rise, Yahweh, in your power!
We will sing and play in honor of your strength."
Psalm 21:13

When the people of God gather to worship the primary purpose should be to praise God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Worship is a response to God's power, love, justice, and grace. But sometimes our gatherings of worship become stale and lifeless. (I know that I have been a part of some of these and probably even led some of them.) When things become stale in worship it isn't because God has suddenly become boring. It is most likely the case that we have either stopped remembering the power and grace of God in the past and/or we have stopped looking for God's justice and love in the present.
There is some music, both religious and secular, that helps me remember and look for God. I don't completely understand why but I know in those times of dryness when I am in most need of God's power that I can turn to those songs and suddenly I am back to where I need to be praising God for his power and glory.
In fact I think I need to find some music now.

Psalm 20

"may we shout with joy for your victory,
and plant our banners in the name of our God!"
Psalm 20:5

Displaying a flag or banner has always been a way of claiming territory or proclaiming allegiance. That allegiance might be to a country or a school or even an expression of delight for a particular season of the year. These are public demonstrations of our inner feelings and loyalties. If you are on Facebook then you have seen someone post an invition or challenge to make public your faith by cutting and pasting a particular phrase, etc.
But there is something about a flag or banner that requires consistancy. You wouldn't think of placing an IU flag on your house and then walking around inside of it dressed in the Black and Gold of Purdue or the other way around. In the book of James it speaks about being double-minded and how you can't want two opposing things in your life. So if you have planted your flag of faith in words does the rest of your life reflect it? Do you speak of the love of God but then verbally attach someone of a different political party? Do you proclaim that God is a God of grace and then withhold that grace from people who have hurt you?
What territory in your life is God asking for you to give over to him today that your life might more accurately reflect the claims that you have made?

Psalm 19

"And from pride preserve your servant,
never let it dominate me.
So shall I be above reproach,
from grave sin."
Psalm 19:13

Pride is a dangerous sin in many ways. Pride is something that keeps us from allowing God to work in our lives because we can do it ourselves. Pride is something that makes us think we are better than others. Pride leads us to objectify others and use them rather than relate with them.
But pride is also dangerous in other ways. The fear of being prideful keeps us from using the gifts and talents that God has set before us for Kingdom benefits. The fear of pride in our lives keeps us from saying yes to the possibilities of life even when it is exactly what God intends for us.
So can we walk this line between pride and humility without falling into sin? It isn't easy but I think it is possible with God's help. If we can bring others into our lives who we give not only permission but also the expectation of being brutally honest with us we can hopefully stand against pride and if at the same time we can have people in our lives who constantly remind us of the gifts and talents that God has given to us we can rise out of the fear based inaction that can cripple us. It is best if the people who do this are one in the same but for that to happen would take deep personal relationships with a huge amount of love, patience, and trust.
Do you have those people in your life? If you don't why not? If you do, are they speaking truth into your life that you are willing to listen to?

Psalm 18

"Yahweh, you yourself are my lamp,
my God lights up my darkness;"
Psalm 18:28

There are days I'm sure for all of us that just seem to be dark. It doesn't matter if the sun is shinning or not but the mood around us is dark and gloomy! It is in those days when we have to be willing to ask ourselves where are we going to expect hope to come from, where are we going to gain light in the midst of the darkness.
The easy answer is to simply say that we should let God be our light and everything will be ok. But when you are in the midst of the darkness that answer rings a bit hollow. Sometimes the darkness is just overwhelming and seems to last forever.
It is those moments of darkness that I force myself to remember. To remember how God has been with me and others in the past. I remember even the smallest of glimpses of light that I have seen and I hold on to them like a dog with bone not letting anyone dare come close enough to take them away.
Those days are work. There isn't any other way to put it! When you find yourself in the midst of darkness it takes great work to look for the light of God but it is always there. Never has there been a time that I have experienced either myself or with others that together we couldn't name the light that we had seen.
So today if the darkness surrounds you can you find a point of God's light to latch on to? Can you find a people who will wait with you counting on the new day that God will be bringing to you? Can you let God be the light that will give you hope for a new day?

Psalm 17

"For me the reward of virtue is to see your face,
and, on waking, to gaze my fill on your likeness."
Psalm 17:5

I want my life to conform to this phrase, that to see God is reward enough for me. Whether it be in abundance or sorrow, need or joy, whatever comes my way may I look upon the presence of God!
So I am left wondering about the things that I have placed as a priority in my life that keep me from seeing God? There are many I'm sure and most of them are personal enough that I won't share them here but it forces me to think deeply about priorities and expectations.
What would I give up in my life to see God? What would you give up in your life if you knew it was keeping you from walking hand in hand with God?

Psalm 16

"I bless Yahweh, who is my counselor,
and in the night my inmost self instructs me"
Psalm 16:7

Sleep is a time that God has designed to renew our bodies. It is also a time when we can have our minds and spirits renewed as well.
I must say that I am not one who normally remembers his dreams. When I wake up it is as if I have turned off my brain and know nothing of that time from sleep to awaking. Yet every once in awhile God speaks into my life in the night in ways that have fundamentally changed me. At times it has been a clear voice asking me a question at a pivotal point about decisions that I faced. It has been scriptures that have suddenly come to me in my sleep that I then need to look at and ponder. Those scriptures have given me sure guidance at times that I have needed it the most.
As I look back upon these times one of the consistent things that I see was the busyness of my life in those moments. I remember those times as being hectic and there not being much space for prayer, thoughtfulness, or listening. Yet God found a way to break through that busyness and speak into my life anyway.
I take a lot of comfort from the experiences of God breaking into my life even in the night because I wasn't making room for him during the day. So I will continue to look for God's counsel both during the day and even at night so that I might be renewed, restored, and continually challenged to follow God more fully.

Psalm 15

"Yahweh, who has the right to enter your tent,
or to live on your holy mountain?"
Psalm 15:1

There is no one who has the "right" to enter God's presence expect one, that is Jesus. The description of the psalmist would exclude everyone in the Old Testament and all but one in the New. Many of us might get close in several areas but no one has them all covered.
So we do not have a right to enter God's presence but we do have an invitation. Jesus says, "Come unto me all you who are burdened and I will give you rest." Jesus invites us in as brothers and sisters, as friends to the place where God dwells.
God has gone out and searched for us to come to his banquet. We who have nor right to be there, who can never repay the invitation have been invitede to come join the party.
Who has the right? Only Jesus who invites us all to come and join him!

Psalm 14

"Who will bring Israel salvation from Zion?
When Yahweh brings his people home,
What joy for Jacob, what happiness for Israel!
Psalm 14:7

This fall I went 'home'. Well not really but I stopped in Weston, Oregon, the first place I lived as a child. Weston sits in the rolling wheat fields of Northeast Oregon right on the edge of the Blue Mountains. It is literally not even on the road to nowhere now as the highway has long sense gone around it.
In returning to this place I had the chance to look at the memories of my early life. I realized the house I had thought I grew up in didn't look a lot like the house that I actually did live in. Somethings were the same but much smaller now then they seemed to be when I was 5. There wasn't a lot of emotional attachment for me to Weston. I think I had only actually been back there once maybe twice sense we moved and that had to be maybe 40 years ago. But because I had the time and was within several hundred miles I knew that I not only wanted to but needed to go home.
I was actually very surprised at what happened there. What started out as curiosity and a chance to get some pictures to show my kids and others of where I had lived as a child turned into something much more. The only way to really say it was that God lead me home. It seems that God wanted to do some work in me there and the location triggered a lot of things that I wasn't expecting. What started out as a tracing of roots turned into a healing of hurts. I couldn't have done it without God leading the way and gently inviting me to go to places that I had not wanted to go before. But the result was great joy!
Going home isn't always to celebrations, sometimes it is to embrace pain that needs to be healed. Having gone home with God at my side I have a new appreciation to the joy that only he can bring.

Psalm 13

"But I for my part rely on your love, Yahweh;
let my heart rejoice in your saving help.
Let me sing to Yahweh for the goodness he has shown me."
Psalm 13:5

I do not want to simply rely upon your love God! I want to bathe in it and let it fully surround me. I want to stand in the midst of your love and feel it cascade over me as if I was standing in the midst of a waterfall. I want to be consumed by God's love so that every other temptation that promises temporary pleasure might pale in comparison.
I want to sing of God's goodness each and every day!

Psalm 12

"Help, Lord, for the godly are no more;
the faithful have vanished from among men."
Psalm 12:1

There are days when it all seems to be fruitless. Where is the hope? Where is the support? Where are the possiblities for God's redemption?
It is in the midst of those days that we cry out to God with great desire and we simply ask:
"Lord show me a sign of life and hope and that will be enough for today."