I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 136-142.

The first of today’s psalms is a responsive reading.  I would love to hear it done by a group in several different ways.  Most groups would have the worship leader read the part which changes and the congregation read “His faithful love endures forever.”  Yet, when I read this I imagine the congregation reading the first part and the worship leader responding.  Another option which intrigues me would be having a group of people where the part being read goes from one to another.  I imagine these different ways of reading this because its message strikes me powerfully and responsive readings have become so rote that we tend to miss their power.  We need to find new and innovative ways to communicate the message which God gave His people long ago.  A message which has not, and does not, change, no matter how much some might wish for it to do so.  Let us give thanks to God for He is good.

Again today we have a theme I touched on yesterday.  We cannot escape from God’s presence no matter where we go.  There are two sides to this.  On the one hand, we cannot hide anything we think or do from God.  On the other hand, we cannot be any place where He is not aware of what we are experiencing and come to our aid in our time of need.  The psalmist does such a wonderful job of expressing both of these thoughts.  He even manages to capture the comfort we can feel from our inability to hide our wrongdoing from God.  An element of that comes from the fact that we need not be embarrassed to confess to God our sins: He already knows.  As important, God cares deeply for us and wishes for us to embrace the goodness He has in store for us if we do His will.  Let us welcome God’s examination of our lives and beg Him to show us what we have done, are doing, are about to do which is wrong so that we can correct our path.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 120-135.

I am going to touch on several things which the psalmist writes about in today’s psalms.  I doubt that I will be able to tie these things together because the psalmist does not tie them together.  Our help comes from God.  There are those who look to the mountains, or to the sea, and even some who look to idols.  Sometimes I look to the mountains or the sea when I need help, but not because I think they will help me.  No, I look to the mountains or the sea because they remind me of their Creator.  As for those who turn to idols for help, those idols have ears, but do not hear, eyes, but do not see, and mouths but do not speak.  I will trust in the Lord without Whose help I would already have died.  God watches over those who trust in Him all of the time.  He never sleeps, not even to take a short nap.  God’s eyes are upon us when we stay home and indoors and when we travel, even to the end of the earth and beyond (yes, God was watching over those men who walked on the Moon).

We can work ourselves to death, but if our effort does not have God’s support our work will be in vain.  However, if we are doing God’s work, He will give us time to rest and refresh our strength.  I am reminded of the pastors who spend so much time doing “Church” work that they neglect their wives and children.  When I wrote that I realized that those pastors have fallen into the workaholic trap that many others do as well.  God does not desire that you spend so much time doing His work that you do not have time for the family He gave you.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 117-118.

Everyone should praise God because He loves us deeply and faithfully.  He will never stop loving us.  His love means that we need not fear anything.  God acts for our best interest and no one and nothing can harm us against His will.  We may be outnumbered and surrounded on all sides by those who wish us harm, but we can stand and fight for the cause to which God directs us without fear.  God’s strength will over come whatever stands against us.  The metaphor of battle which the psalmist uses here powerfully applies to many of the problems we will face.

However, the psalmist uses a second metaphor in today’s passage, one which we often overlook.  This metaphor was applied to Himself by Jesus which often leads us to miss some of the meaning which it has.  “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”  Jesus was rejected by the religious leaders of His day.  Those who presented themselves as the experts on doing God’s will rejected the centerpiece of God’s will.  In the same way, many of those today who strive to present a moral code for others to live by reject the central assumptions upon which any actual moral code must be built.  In pre-modern buildings, all parts of a building were aligned off of the cornerstone.   If the cornerstone was not cut properly and then positioned properly, all of the rest of the building would not line up properly and will fall apart.  In the same way, if try to build our lives without God we will end up with a misshapen mess that constantly falls apart around us.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 108-116.

Put your confidence in God and sing His praises with all of your heart.  The psalmist writes about how he joyfully rises with the dawn to praise God to everyone.  He does this in the face of those who curse him despite his attempts to do good to them.  I was going in a different direction here, but it just struck me that the psalmist is writing about people who have started to believe the lies they tell about him, that is why they curse him.  We face the same thing today.  People convince themselves that their behavior is perfectly OK, then call you a hater when you point out how destructive their behavior actually is.  They convince themselves that those who attempt to point out how they hurt themselves with their behavior hate them for things beyond their control.  So, they curse such people with curses like those listed by the psalmist.  What they do not realize is that they are calling such curses down upon themselves.  Nevertheless, let us continue to show such people God’s love, not the false love they demand from us.  

Once again I am not sure how I am going sure how I am going to get the idea in my mind written down here, but I am going to try.   I always hesitate when I write something like the previous sentence because I am afraid that I am suggesting that, if I do a good job you should praise me.  However, the fact of the matter is that I write such things to make clear that if you find what comes after insightful or useful, the praise goes to God, not to me.  Which brings me into the point I want to make.  Those who fear the Lord will do good.  This contains a real paradox.  If we fear the Lord we will do His will out of fear of what He will do to us if we do not.  But as we do His will, we experience His love and love drives out fear by making us realize that He wants what is best for us.  Which leads us to do God’s will in order to return to Him His love.  But as we continue on this path we realize that there is nothing we can do for Him which He needs from us.  Which cycles us back to His love.  He gives us commands because He loves us and His commands instruct us to do what is in our own best interest.  

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 105-107.

Today’s psalms focus on praising God for what He has done.  Psalms 105 and 106 describe how God cared for Israel from Abraham through the Exile.  The psalmist calls on us to praise God for these wonderful things which He has done.  Reviewing these great deeds of God reminds us that His love is faithful even when we are not.  Then in Psalm 107 the psalmist calls on all who have experienced God’s redemption to speak up.  If God has done great things for you tell others about it.  Help them see how God could save them from their troubles.  The wise will see that history demonstrates God’s great love for the righteous.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 98-104.

Today’s psalms all share a common theme.  Some of them have other themes as well, but they all share one theme.  They call on us, and all of Creation, to praise the Lord.  All should praise the Lord because He acts with justice and righteousness.  In many ways these follow on after yesterday’s declaration that praising God brings joy.  This comes about because He made us and we belong to Him.  God is good and His love and faithfulness continue forever.  Each generation has the opportunity to experience God’s love.

I want to put special focus on Psalm 101 because it provides us a guide to what being truly righteous involves. Here are the steps which will lead us there.

• Live a life of integrity, even in private.
• Refuse to look at anything vile or vulgar.
This one can be tough. Sometimes we feel that we need to read the details about a terrible crime in order to know if the accused is actually guilty. But doesn’t it often turn out that we had no reason to actually pass judgement on the accused one way or the other?
• Have nothing to do with those who deal crookedly.
Even when their crooked dealings have nothing to do with our connection to them they may be able to use us to further their crimes or we might inadvertently profit from them.
• Reject perverse ideas and stay away from evil.
This one is similar to the previous. Staying away from evil makes us less likely to be tempted by it.
• Do not tolerate those who slander others.
• Do not endure conceit and pride, in yourself or others.
• Do not hire those who practice deceit and do not hang around with those who routinely lie.
• Search out faithful, righteous people with whom to spend your time.
They will encourage you to live a life of integrity and call you to account when you are tempted to do wrong.

This reads as such a simple formula. Yet is much harder than it looks.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 90-97.

The psalmist reminds us that our lives are short.  In the scheme of history we live for but a moment.  We do not have much time to do God’s will, do not waste the time that you have.  This reminder sets the stage for the two intertwined themes which fill most of the rest of today’s psalms.  The more we praise God and thank Him for what He has done the more we experience His joy.  And, what has God done for which we should thank Him?  He protects those who trust Him.  If we put our faith into action (because if our faith does not cause us to act, it is not really faith), we will not fear.  The psalmist does a great job of summing up the sources of human fears and shoes us that our faith in God will remove those fears.  Human nature causes us to fear what might come at us out of the dark; we fear the inability to see where there might be danger that we could avoid if only we knew it was coming.  Human nature also causes us to fear dangers we see coming that we cannot avoid; the fear that happens when you see a car coming around the corner too fast and know that it will crash into you.  The psalmist reminds us that if we truly trust God we will not fear these things because we know that God controls the outcome.  If we give Him control, whatever happens will further His will and bring us joy.

I was going a different direction with this, but when I got to that point I was reminded of this:  My Mom served others all of her life.  She constantly looked for ways she could be of service.  Even in the last few years of her life she did so.  When she essentially lost her vision to macular degeneration, she still found ways to be of service.  However, all of that stopped, or so I thought, almost a year before her death.  She suffered with a relatively mild form of dementia towards the end and was physically unable to care for herself.  So, she could no longer carry on conversations, partly because of her failing memory and partly because she did not trust what she remembered.  Further she could no longer do anything for others.  She had to allow the nurses and aides to do for her.  I did not understand why God did not take her, her joy in life had been serving Him and I did not see her doing anything for Him anymore because she could not.  Then we got word that she was unresponsive.  I went to see her and realized that even though she could no longer respond to our presence, she knew we were there.  So, I and my siblings took turns staying at her side (others among my siblings spent more time at her side than I did).  I observed how heartbroken one of the aides was to see that my Mom was dying and realized that even in the state she had spent the last months my Mom had still been serving God.  Her faithful witness unto the end had lifted the spirits of those caring for her.  No matter how helpless you think that you are you serve God’s purposes on this earth.  Take joy in that fact until the end, until God calls you home to be with Him.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 82-89.

As I read the first two psalms of today’s passage they made me think of a message from God different than the one I think the psalmist intended.  The first addresses those who think they are above everyone else and should direct others decisions.  Those who think they are the experts to whom everyone else should listen.  An examination of their record indicates that instead of doing good they hand down judgments which favor the wicked.    Then in the second the psalmist addresses Israel’s enemies, those who seek to destroy God’s people.  It struck me that today it addresses not just those who seek to destroy the Jewish people or the nation of Israel.  It speaks to me today of those who want to eliminate the godly from our society.  But they are not just coming after those who act righteously, they seek to drive God from the world.  The storm they are unleashing will demolish them rather than those at whom they seek to aim it.  God will not be, cannot be, harmed by their actions and He will defend those who rely on Him.

There is another theme which runs through these psalms.  I am not sure that I can capture it in coherent thought, but I am going to try.  The psalmist cries out his longing to be in the presence of God, a longing which hopefully we share.  The psalmist describes how you can develop such a longing, and why you should wish to do so, if you do not already have it.  There is joy which comes from walking with the Lord, from being close to Him that surpasses anything else you can experience.  If we but ask Him, God will teach us His ways.  Let us call on God to restore and revive us, not for the first time, but again and again.