Meditation Marathon, Psalm 34:15-22

After Psalm 34's middle section directed toward children (but applicable for all ages), the stellar Psalmist turns the focus back to the deliverance that was the focus in the first part of the Psalm.

Psalm 34 is one of David's many Psalms. A paragraph before the Psalm notes: "Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away."

That strange story is found in 1 Samuel 21: David is on the run from an angry and jealous King Saul who wants to kill him. He seeks refuge in Gath (recall that this is the place from which the giant Goliath came), which is ruled by Achish (apparently also known as Abimelech). When the king's servants remind him that Israel praises David as having struck down "tens of thousands" (while their king Saul is credited only with "thousands"), David worries that he's worn out his welcome before it began. Fearing for his life, he feigns insanity, drooling into his beard and scratching the doors of the gate. The king of Gath is disgusted that a madman has been brought into his presence and sends him away.

It is only one of many times God delivered David from his enemies. David doesn't think he was so clever to think of the insanity ruse. He recognizes God's sovereignty and his hand of deliverance.

In gratitude and praise, David writes this beautiful Psalm. David was a mighty warrior and a virile man; he was also a man after God's own heart. As an image of the Creator, David was creative. He was a skilled musician and talented poet. He played the harp well enough to be called into the royal palace as the king's personal musician. He didn't simply write rousing fighting songs; he wrote formal poetry. Psalm 34 is one of the best examples; it is an acrostic poem with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet beginning each verse.

Working within this formal structure, David crafts a wonderful song of deliverance that concludes with gospel truth. Let's look at verses 15-18:

The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
When the righteous cry for help,
the LORD hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.

Like any good poet, David infuses this section of Psalm 34 with powerful language and imagery.

God not only sees his children, but he also hears their cries. As we saw in an earlier post when looking at verse 8 ("taste and see"), utlizing more than one sense makes this passage come alive. God looks and listens "toward" believers. As in the Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:24-26), his face shines upon them.

But the Lord's face is turned against evil doers. He does not shine the light of his countenance upon them. Notice that it's not a mere matter of them failing to have peace in this life; they have no heritage. Even the memory of these workers of iniquity is cut away from the earth's collective consciousness.

Contrast that with what God does for the righteous. He hears their cries for help and he answers. He delivers them out of every trial. He is near to those whose hearts are breaking with grief. He saves those whose spirits are crushed with despair. Notice the active verbs (always the mark of a good poet): The LORD hears, delivers, and saves.

Our powerful God rescues us from every distress. He does so because he is also a personal God who loves us.

This theme of deliverance continues in verses 19-22. The contrast between God's goodness to his people and his judgment of the wicked is even more pronouned as the Psalm surges into its final crescendo.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
He keeps all his bones
not one of them is broken.
Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The LORD redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge
in him will be condemned.

God knows that we have many afflictons. He knows the extent of every struggle, the cause of every pain, and the sorrow in every heart. But he will deliver us from all these light and momentary struggles (2 Corinthians 4:17).

He knows how every bone cell grows and every blood corpuscle flows. The promise that he keeps every bone and not one of them will be broken doesn't mean that no believer will ever break an arm or be diagnosed with cancer. It does mean that these decrepit bodies laid in graves will be resurrected one day into glorified bodies with no vestiges of brokenness or disease. And it points to the Redeemer who will make that happen, the One whose bones were not broken, but whose blood was shed for our salvation.

In contrast to the afflictions of the righteous (the memory of which will disappear), afflictions will kill the wicked (the memory of whom will disappear). And that's not the worst of the bad news for those who hate God and his people; they will be condemned. They have no peace in this life, they have no hope at death, and they have no fellowship with God forever. As our pastor, Rev. Patrick Edouard, likes to say: "For the unbeliever, it's bad, worse, and worst."

"But it keeps getting better for Christians," he explains, "life is good now, it's better when we die, and it's best when Christ returns."

David's Psalm concludes with a resounding salvation crescendo: The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. The Lord is our Redeemer. Not a single believer will be lost. No believer slips through the cracks. None is ignored or overlooked. Any believer who takes refuge in Christ will be rescued from life's storms and given safe harbor for eternity. No believer will be condemned!

In the hymn, And Can It Be?, Charles Wesley wrote:

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

That truly is amazing love! How can it be, that You, my God, should die for me?

Meditation Marathon, Psalm 34:11-14

Even though it's been a week since my last "Meditation Marathon" post on Psalm 34, there are still some priceless gems than need to be mined.

The first two blog posts focused on the gems found in verses 1-10, but verses 11-22 contain some of the most encouraging comfort found in the precious wealth of the Psalms.

Let's look first at verse 11:

Come, O children, listen to me:
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

When I see this imperative to children, I am immediately reminded not only of my years spent raising our four children, but also of my current interaction with them as adults. A mom tries all her life to lead her children into righteous ways. Some of that teaching is obvious, but much of it is far more subtle.

There's a saying that goes something like: Witness for the Lord all the time; if necessary, use words. Mothers spend many hours teaching their children Bible memory and catechism questions and answers, but children learn more than we know about our Christian faith from watching us react to life's trials and interact with other people. There are countless opportunities for instruction. Struggling with pain can be a visual lesson in dependence. Viewing beauty in creation can be an occasion to praise the Creator. God fills a mother's life with these teachable moments. If you're a young mom, I pray that God will open your eyes to these opportunities and give you the ability to seize them.

My most memorable teaching experiences were conversations when one of my children was drying dishes while I washed, or riding in the passenger seat while I drove. It was one-on-one time of a special caliber, characterized by an uncharacteristic freedom of expression. That freedom came from being together, but not face-to-face. Facing the kitchen window or the front windshield seems to give a child the courage to express things too difficult to say while looking into a mother's eyes.

The next three verses talk about what kinds of things a parent wants to impart to children:

What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

Doesn't this section of Psalm 34 sound like something from Proverbs? These verses demonstrate that Solomon learned much from his father, David. David wrote this Psalm, but Solomon wrote many of the Proverbs. I easily envision Solomon as a boy, sitting at his father's feet and listening to David say these very words. It's easy to imagine a parent calling a child and urging the child to pay attention to this instruction.

"Do you want to live a long life, son? Do you want to love your life, daughter? Do you want to enjoy the genuinely good things in life? Then resist sinning with your speech; keep your tongue from evil and don't speak deceitfully. Make a conscious effort to turn away from temptation and work hard at doing good. Pursue peace."

May God grant all of us the ability to do these things! And may he grant all parents the ability to see and seize every teaching opportunity!

Project notes

Brightly colored sticky notes are strung along the shelf edges on the hutch above my computer monitor. I'd been having trouble keeping track of all my different projects, so now I write each new project on a sticky note and post it in front of my work area.

I just posted the 21st sticky note. It's definitely time to finish some projects and start tearing down those sticky notes!

The sad thing is, when I look at them, there isn't a single one I can complete and take down today! Some are quite simple, but involve work I can't do today. Most will take a lot of time and effort.

This week I've been doing a lot of correspondence for various projects and scrambling to meet deadlines. One of the deadlines that sprung on me was taxes.

I know taxes are as certain as death and as predictable as the sunrise, but I thought I had some time. For weeks I'd been thinking that I didn't have to rush for once since, for the first time in something like fourteen years, I didn't have to work on college financial aid information for me or any of my four children.

When I woke in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and couldn't get back to sleep, I suddenly realized that our college daughter (who graduates this May), will need to sign her return before she leaves for Rome next week.

Crunch time.

This morning I faxed the necessary information for her return to the tax preparer. But I can't pull down the "TAXES" sticky note yet because we still have to work on ours.

Meditation Marathon, Psalm 34:4-10

The Lord continues to impress his truths from Psalm 34 on my mind. This is the Psalm that contains those well-known words: "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!" (verse 8).

Tasting and seeing involves two senses. A valuable writing insight I learned from Jeanette Windle in a seminar she taught at the 2008 HACWN Writers Conference: to make a scene come alive, incorporate multiple senses.

God does this in Psalm 34. Not only can we experience the goodness of God as a delectable delight, but we also can experience God's goodness as a beautiful view. This "extra-sensory" description conveys the blessing and beauty of God's bountiful goodness.

The plea to taste and see God's goodness follows a heartfelt confession of God's faithful provision and protection:

I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them (4-7).

The Lord hears us when we cry to him. He answers us and delivers us. When the concerns and anxieties of this world threaten to choke us, God delivers us from all of them. Because he does this, we can look to him with faces that reflect his radiance, with faces that will never be eternally vanquished and shamed. The grip of sin around our necks has been broken and we freely breathe in God's redemptive breath. Our purple faces lighten and brighten with joy.

Like the modern confessional poets, the Psalmist confesses his personal story. "This poor man" cried out to God and God heard him! He delivered him, not just from some, but from all of his troubles!

"The angel of the LORD" is often used in the Old Testament to indicate the pre-incarnate Christ. Christ doesn't merely drop in for a brief visit when we're in distress; he camps out at our place. And he isn't merely walking beside us; he surrounds us with his love and protection. His powerful protection isn't merely defensive; he goes on the offense to deliver all those who love and honor him.

No wonder the Psalmist breaks into multi-sensory praise!

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing (8-10).

When we take refuge in the Lord, we are blessed. When we love and honor him, we lack nothing. We may not have everything we want, or even everything we think we need, but God knows what we really need. We will never lack the blessings of eternal life and the blessings of already living in hope.

A strong lion at the peak of his prime can easily attack and bring down his prey. I don't know about you, but this old lady feels quite the opposite from a young lion. Yet even that young lion may fail to find food and will go hungry. But God cares for this old lady. He promises that all those who seek him will not lack any good thing.

May God grant that today you will taste and see God's goodness in your life. May your radiant face never be ashamed because it is turned toward God. May the angel of the Lord encamp around you and deliver you out of all your troubles. May you seek God's will and never lack any good thing!

Meditation Marathon, Psalm 34:1-3

For the last few days, I've been mining riches from Psalm 34 in a meditation marathon.

In God's providence, a good friend led a Bible study this week and was struck by several verses that she emailed me: from Psalm 34.

And in the votive silence of this morning's early communion with God, his revealed truth filled my soul with calming warmth and dazzling light.

Psalm 34 come alive for me; I was tasting and seeing that the Lord is good!

God showed me that the work I was complaining about was just what I need, in fact, it was the very thing I enjoy.

Psalm 34 is an acrostic poem in Hebrew; each verse begins with the successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I'd love to be able to memorize it--in Hebrew.

The entire Psalm is priceless and I am incapable of communicating all its riches. I feebly attempt a beginning.

Psalm 34 starts with a verse that struck me this morning as a personal command from God:

I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

We are commanded to persevere in praise.

My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the humble hear and be glad.

Our persevering praise is to be directed to the Lord in humble adoration. We must not boast in ourselves or do anything for our own glory and recognition. Our boast must be in the Lord alone (echoed in Jeremiah 9:24, 1 Cor 1:31, 2 Cor 10:17, and Gal 6:14). It is the humble heart that can hear this command and be glad. God enables the humble spirit not merely to "hear and obey" like an emotionless zombie or robot, but to "hear and be glad."

This glad hearing and praising ought not be limited to the individual. From the wellspring of a humble heart, this solo joy overflows:

Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together!

That is my plea to you today. The Lord willing, I'll continue with Psalm 34 in my next post.

Winter, Olympics, and Psalm 33

Coming out of this morning's votive silence, I could blog about a great overnight "winter getaway" with my husband, the beauty and dedication of Olympic sports, singing a new song, or God's corporate justice and mercy.

This winter has been long for everyone, but perhaps especially for someone who makes his living delivering mail on miles of snow-drifted and ice-covered roads. And perhaps for someone who works from her home and has had many weeks when her only outing was to church on Sunday. And particularly for someone who hasn't had a vacation for a couple of years. We just wanted to go somewhere else and pretend for one brief evening that it wasn't winter.

The solution was a quick trip to a hotel with an enclosed water park: soaking in a hot tub beside a small "waterfall" and bright plastic flowers, viewing painted murals of bright blue sky and puffy white clouds, hearing children shriek and watching them dance under cascades of falling water, and even flying down a cold, dark, wet tube (only once for me, but several times for Dave). It was a rejuvenating change of scenery from these four walls for one night.

We spent some time watching the amazing synchronization of Olympic pair skating and the magnificent control of mogul skiing. Seeing these physical feats fills my mind with praise for our Creator God who made man a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor.

The obvious dedication of the athletes makes me wonder about priorities. What would the world look like if every Christian was so dedicated to the faith? Does Olympic dedication border on idolatry? And I love hearing stories of self-made millionaires, but a man who made a furtune from computer spam? That's just not right! In spite of these disquieting thoughts, I enjoy seeing what people, created by God in his image, are capable of doing with the gifts he has given them.

This morning I read Psalm 33's directives to "Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! (1)" and to "Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts" (3).

Whatever skill God gives us, whether that's skating or skiing or singing or playing a stringed instrument or writing, we are to do it with all that is in us. We are to do it "skillfully" and forcefully (there's no other way to interpret "loud shouts").

If that's the attitude of the Olympic medal hopefuls, who am I to criticize? God knows their hearts.

He knows the hearts of those who have switched national loyalties in order to pursue their Olympic dreams. National fervor is a big part of the Olympics. Do the newly adopted countries admire these transplanted sports heros as much as they admire someone born and raised in their land?

What would the world look like if nations had as much zeal for the Christian faith as they do for their Olympic teams? So many nations have so much passion for anything but the faith!

Psalm 33 says:

The Lord brings the counsel of
the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God
is the Lord,
the people whom he has
chosen as his heritage! (10-12)

Is there any nation that can say its God is the Lord? Nations may plot the overthrow of the Christian faith and the oppression of believers, but God frustrates those counsels in his eternal plan. His counsel is the only one that endures. Notice that his plans are "of his heart" and "to all generations." God loves his people. He will defend them and provide for them throughout the generations of believing families. God's covenant people are his nation and his heritage!

Psalm 33 concludes:

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on
those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord:
he is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O Lord,
be upon us,
even as we hope in you (18-22).

God sees each person who believes in him and hopes in his steadfast love. He delivers his people from death and keeps them alive in famine.

It's interesting that after the Psalmist speaks of God frustrating the plans of the nations and blessing the nation who fears him, he then speaks of a corporate ("our") soul that waits for the Lord and a corporate heart that is glad in him. That unified soul and heart is possible when "we" corporately trust in his holy name.

Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, as we hope in you!

Mourning to Dancing; Morning to Joy

Psalm 30 is a psalm of David that was sung at the dedication of the temple. Picture the people of Israel, singing this beautiful Psalm written by their beloved King David--who had longed to build the temple and long prepared for its building--but who was no longer with them.

The desire of David's heart was to build a beautiful temple for the Lord. He spent years making intricately detailed plans and accumulating gold, silver, and precious stones. But God withheld the fulfillment of that desire from him. Since David had been a man of war, God chose his son Solomon as the one who would build the temple.

We may have the most godly desire to serve God in a worthy and admirable way, but God--in his infinite wisdom--may withhold that desire from us. For his own perfect reasons (whether we see them or not), God may choose to appoint someone else to the task for which we long.

Even if God withholds our heart's desire for service, however, we can sing with David:

Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning (4-5).

You have turned for me my
mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
that my glory may sing your
praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give
thanks to you forever! (11-12)

Imagine Solomon and the people singing David's words of praise, knowing how he would have enjoyed singing with them at the temple's dedication! But David was no longer in the land of the living. By the time the temple was dedicated, he had been translated to his eternal home.

David didn't grumble and complain to God about withholding the temple-building blessing. He submitted himself to God's will. He did all he could to provide materials and prepare Solomon for the task. And he praised God for his constant care and lifelong love. He was able to see how God always turned his mourning into dancing and filled each new morning with joy.

May God turn your mourning into dancing and fill each morning with joy.

Light in the Land of the Living

Psalm 27 is that beautiful Psalm that begins:

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life:
of whom shall I be afraid?

Verse 4 says:

One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD,
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.

This morning I was struck by the phrase "all the days of my life," particularly when considering the end of the Psalm:

I believe that I shall look upon
the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!
Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!

The phrase "in the land of the living" also struck me. My tendency is to read promises of blessing and think only of future hope that will be fulfilled in heaven.

But David makes plain in this Psalm that our hope isn't an ephemeral "pie-in-the-sky-going-to-heaven-when-I-die" hope that is only for the future. Our hope is also for here and now.

David desires to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. Although I believe this desire includes life after death, it also seems to encompass this earthly life. The Bible often uses the phrase "all the days of his life" to indicate a believer's sojourn on earth. David knows he will gaze on God's beauty in heaven, but he also wants to recognize it now. He wants to recognize and revel in God's beauty. Not only the beauty of stunning sunrises and jeweled humingbirds in God's creation, but also the beauty of orchestrated events and personal blessings in God's providence. These reflect God's beauty to David and David reflects on them while he lives. He lives in a hopeful awareness of God's beauty, while seeking God's will by inquiring in his temple.

The idea of earthly experience as a foretaste of heavenly hope is reiterated firmly in the Psalm's conclusion. David believes that he will look upon God's goodness before he dies and goes to heaven, while he's still in the land of the living.

Now that's an encouraging thought! We all wait on the Lord. Some of us wait for the birth of a grandchild; some of us wait for deliverance from this body of death. Some of us wait for good news; some of us wait for bad reports. Some periods of waiting are more difficult than others, but we all wait.

Psalm 27 shows us that we can wait with with hope, looking to the Lord who is our light in the land of the living.

Hidden Chai

For weeks I've been longing for a steaming cup of Bigelow's Vanilla Chai tea.

I can't buy it in any local stores, but I ordered some online many months ago. That supply went quickly and all winter I've been thinking how nice it would be to start my day with that aromatic tea. A significant portion of its pleasure is simply inhaling its warm fragrance.

The last few days I've been feeling down; perhaps seasonal, perhaps situational, perhaps a little of both. In any case, I decided this morning that I've had enough feeling sorry for myself and I needed to take some positive actions, including (but not limited to) ordering more Bigelow Vanilla Chai tea!

Before ordering the tea, however, I thought I ought to at least make sure I truly was out of it. Sure enough, tucked away behind a larger box in my pantry cabinet, was a smaller box: Bigelow Vanilla Chai tea!

Although I don't often forget about food on my shelves, this action is very typical for me. I tend to think and feel as if I'm missing something, when the very thing I long for has been right under my nose the entire time!

I feel as if I'm missing God's blessings when they are already in my life; all I need to do is look for them and recognize their reality.

And, yes, I'm typing this while holding a huge cup of steaming tea in front of my face, inhaling the fragrant aroma, and gratefully sipping Bigelow Vanilla Chai tea.