Tag: Psalms

The Answer Was Right There All Along

At the end of “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy asks Glinda for help getting back to Kansas, to which Glinda says, “You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas.”

Dorothy had been through a harrowing journey with the scarecrow, the lion, and the tin man on the yellow brick road to Oz, dodging the evil witch and flying monkeys, en route to a man behind the curtain blowing smoke and mirrors, all in hopes of solving their problems.

In the end, each character learned that the solution to his problems was right in front of him the whole time.

In life, we often face problems and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. We try to solve these problems with our own wit, and often self-medicate our own anxieties through TV, music, food and drink. At the end of the day, our problems still plague us.

However, when I read Psalm 4, I am confronted with the same truth that Dorothy faced at the end of The Wizard of Oz. My solution was always right in front of me.

In opening Psalm 4, King David writes, “HEAR me when I call, O God of my righteousness: Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.”

David’s first response was prayer, and in his prayer, he praised God for continually helping him in distress and hearing his cries.

David’s prayer life was so robust, and he often praised God even in the storms of life, because David had an intense faith in the Lord. You see this in his writings in the Psalms.

Often, David describes the calamity he faces, but then contrasts that calamity from God’s mercy, strength, love and grace. Psalm 4 is no different.

In Psalm 4:2, David asks his fellow man, “How long will ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing?” He then writes “Selah,” which is an instruction to stop and ponder.

Human nature gravitates toward the vain, the empty. When David asks “How long will you love vanity?” he is asking “How long will you love emptiness?”

What are some things that we love that, at the end of the day, are empty and worthless?

How often do we get caught up in the temporary things of the day-to-day life and fail to take a moment to consider the goodness of God and the eternal things of His Kingdom? And how often do we misplace our priorities on those temporary things of this world while neglecting the eternal things of the Kingdom?

We become like Dorothy, needlessly taking a frightful journey down a yellow brick road to meet a “wizard” that offers no real solutions.

In the second phase of Psalm 4, David expresses his faith.

“But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: The LORD will hear when I call unto Him. Stand in awe, and sin not, commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.”

David tells us that the Lord sets apart His people. As His people, we are different, and we are set apart for God’s higher purpose. We are special.

Special items are set apart from the rest. The classic 1964 1/2 Mustang may be kept in the garage, while the 2003 Honda Civic sits in the driveway. The Civic may be driven more, but the Mustang’s trips are special, and are for certain occasions.

Likewise, when we become God’s children at the point of faith, the Lord sets us apart. We may not see the same highway miles as the rest of the world, but our highway miles are ordered and have a special purpose.

Like a car collector takes special care of his classic, God takes special care of us. Thus, He hears and answers our prayers in the most perfect way possible.

On that note, David implores us to take time, to stand in awe of this, and to ponder this in our hearts as we rest upon our beds.

David then concludes the Psalm by calling the people to worship, while praising God for the joy that He has given, and the provision He makes.

Life is not a bed of roses. (Seriously, why would that even be a good thing? Roses have thorns.) Life comes with trials and tribulations.

When we focus on life’s problems, often problems are all we see. How can we overcome these problems and find ourselves back in a peaceful place?

Simple. Remember that God has set you apart. Pray to Him, and trust Him to bring you through the storm. You have the power to do that, and you don’t even have to be wearing the ruby-red slippers in order to find peace in the Lord.

The Lord: Protects, Rescues, and Comforts

Has the entire world ever collapsed on you? I mean, has everything that could go wrong in your life gone wrong, at the worst possible moment, and has it all gone wrong at the same time?

Have you ever had the time where you employer laid you off, your spouse walked out, the bills came due and the transmission on your car blew up, all at the same time?

The problems in life can pile up and become overwhelming. Scripture not only validates this experience, but shows us how we can find peace during those super-storms of life as well.

In Psalm 3, King David had been evicted from the palace, thanks to a coup led by his own son, Absalom. He was on the run and hiding in the wilderness.

To the casual observer, it seemed that David’s time as king may have been ending, with many believing that not even God would step in and help him.

King David wrote, “Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. ²Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.”

King David acknowledged his troubles and even came to terms with how they made him feel. Not only were troubles piling up against him, and enemies rising from every direction, but he also experienced the intense loneliness that often comes with life’s storms.

Despite the ongoing betrayals and problems against him, however, David never lost faith in the Lord.

In verse 3, David acknowledged that the world turned its back on him, “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.”

David knew that even when no one else loved him, and when there was nothing but bad news on the horizon, God still loved him, and stood as his shield, and encourager. For David, that was enough to keep his head up, and to keep him moving forward.

Knowing God still had his love and favor upon David, he reached out to God, and then praised Him for his deliverance.

Psalm 3:4-5 says, “I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. ⁵I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.”

David prayed, God listened, and the Lord sustained.

I will tell you that there is nothing this world can do that can truly hurt you, because beneath your family, possessions, wealth, and even your body, is your soul. And nothing can touch your soul if you belong to the Lord.

I have personally experienced times when I was attacked on all sides, with troubles arising from my family, my work, my church and my finances, all at the same time. I will tell you that the Lord was with me.

With the Lord’s presence and favor upon me, I was able to withstand the storms, pass through the fire, and I stand here today able to tell you about it. There are scars… but there is also hope, and the promise of a Spiritually abundant life ahead.

So, when you feel that this world is about to swallow you whole, don’t give up. When there’s trouble on all sides, don’t surrender. And when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, don’t despair.

God is still there, and He will answer you and pull you through, if you trust Him and call out to Him.

The Heathen Rage

Let’s face it. The world has descended into chaos. If you only watch 30 minutes of cable news, you will undoubtedly come to that conclusion.

We have protests in the streets of the United States, for causes ranging from open borders to supporting Palestine. The Middle East is an ever-increasing powder keg, with tensions rising between Israel and Palestine, along with instability in other parts of the region.

Asia is unstable as well, with tensions rising between China and its neighbors.

Situations like this have us asking the same question that the Psalmist asked in Psalm 2, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?”

The psalmist answers in verse 2, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.'”

The reason the heathen raged in the Old Testament times is that they rejected God and rebelled against His will. The reason the world rages today is that the people have rejected God, and seek to pursue their own wills and desires instead.

The result, of course, is open rebellion against God which leads to the chaos that you see in the streets and on the world stage.

Now, it would be easy to sit back, watch the news, and say, “That’s awful!”

Unfortunately, too many Christians fall into the comfort trap of observing the evil in the world and denouncing it without considering their own Spirituality.

The Psalmist states in Psalm 2:6, “Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.”

The world rages and rebels against God, but the Psalmist worships God and trusts in the Christ that is coming into the world.

The psalmist goes on to encourage others to do the same, saying in verse 12, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”

So, the message we take from Psalm 2 is that the world is chaotic, but the Lord is peace. The world may rage in rebellion against God, but we are to trust in Christ.

The world may seek its own power and glory, but we rest in the power and glory of the Lord.

So, don’t be disheartened by the news, the images of the riots, and the threat of war. Trust the Lord, and be at peace waiting for His arrival.

Chasing Happiness

What is happiness? Can you define it? Or can you merely describe it?

The Declaration of Independence states that God endowed man with the right to pursue happiness, and today, many people are doing just that. The tragedy is that most people cannot tell you what happiness really is. They can merely describe a situation in which they believe they would find themselves to be happy.

The blessing is that God not only has given us the gift of happiness, but has also explained through His word how to unwrap that gift.

In Psalm 1, the Bible says “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the unGodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”

That word “blessed” can also be translated “happy.” To understand what it means to be blessed or happy, we have to understand what those literal words mean. “Blessed” was translated from a Hebrew word that means “to be confident and secure.”

And when you think about the ways people describe the happiness they pursue, doesn’t that definition hold up?

How many times have you heard someone say, “I just want to be with my family.”

“I just want my kids to be safe and healthy.”

“All I need is a roof over my head and food in the fridge.”

People save for retirement so they can achieve a status where they don’t have to grind at a 40-60 hour per week job in order to make ends meet. People dream of winning the lottery, not so they can buy multiple luxuries, but for the idea that they will no longer have to worry about money and deal with financial insecurity.

The sad part is, both of those avenues to happiness often fail. How many lottery winners actually go on to “happily ever after?” Very few. Most will tell you winning the lottery actually ruined their lives.

Retirement accounts can be wiped out by market crashes, company collapses, or divorce decrees. Furthermore, even if you make it to retirement with a healthy balance, often the fixed income from that account fails to keep up with inflation.

So, is happiness unattainable?

Quite the opposite.

Psalm 1 actually gives us the formula to attain true happiness, true confidence and security.

Psalm 1:1, which I quoted above, tells us exactly how to undermine happiness. Happiness is undermined when we walk in the counsel of the unGodly, stand in the way of sinners and sit in the seat of the scornful.

Walking in the counsel of the unGodly means to follow and live by the advice of unGodly people. It is important to remember that Godliness has less to do with personal morality, and more to do with aligning oneself with God’s teachings.

One can be faithful to their spouse, have integrity in business, but have a heart in rebellion against God, thus rendering themselves unGodly.

When taking the advice of others, it is important to make sure that advice lines up with scripture. Following a course of action that contradicts scripture, even when you can logically and emotionally justify it, leads to disaster. Trust me on this one.

Following a course of action that is contrary to scripture, even when others validate and understand it, will lead to emotional and Spiritual devastation.

Standing in the way of sinners means to exalt and promote yourself the way sinners do. To stand, or to have standing, means to have prestige and honor. It means to have a right to something, and to belong.

We all want these things. The problem to happiness is when we seek these things the way the world seeks them. When we self-promote out of pride, we are hindering our own happiness.

Scripture teaches that the standing we have that brings true happiness is the standing we have in the Lord through the Gospel.

And sitting in the seat of the scornful means to rest in anger and bitterness. The poster children for this category are the political commentators we see on cable news. Do any of these people even appear to have tasted happiness?

When you sit back, look for flaws, and complain, you will never be happy.

So, now that we have covered how not to be happy, how do we achieve happiness? Psalm 1 answers that question in the next two verses.

Psalm 1:2-3 says, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Notice the man’s source of happiness. It’s in the law of the LORD (which is basically scripture, the Bible.) This man finds confidence and security in the Lord, and thinks about him all day and night.

If this sounds boring to you, that’s a pretty good indication that you’ve fallen into the categories listed in verse 1.

Getting your mind into the scripture goes beyond just rehashing the basic fundamentals of the faith and the do’s and don’ts of life. It also means contemplating God’s character, how He interacts with man, and by doing so, how He interacts with you.

The alternative is to spend the day focused on your anxieties and challenges in life. Either that, or trying to distract yourself from them through movies, entertainment, social media, retail therapy, excessive eating, or substance abuse. If we’re honest with ourselves, this has never worked, and has always robbed us of happiness.

On the other hand, you can get your mind into the scriptures, learn of God, and then face your challenges with the confidence and security of knowing that the eternal creator of all things is controlling what you cannot. And, you’ll have the peace of knowing that He has good will toward you. He loves you.

Do you have family problems? You can stay focused on those problems all day, or you can consider how God brought Abraham, Jacob, David and others through their family problems. Maybe you can consider the testimony of a Christian friend who went through their own family problems, and how God brought them through that.

And as God gives you hope through that meditation, you don’t go into a state of denial over your family problems, but you can learn to go through them with peace. And, by thinking on how scripture teaches you to work through those problems, you will be able to see those problems through to a happy conclusion.

Psalm 1 goes on to describe what it looks like when we do this. Verse 3 says the blessed (happy) man is “like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

The picture painted here is of a tree planted by the river with a healthy root system that is continually supplied with life-giving water from the river. That tree is solid, produces fruit, and doesn’t wither.

Likewise, when we stay plugged into our source of life and happiness, we too experience Spiritual health and well-being, to the point that we bear fruit and make an impact to this world. And when that happens, we find confidence and security.

Our source of life and happiness is the Lord. As that tree’s root system gravitates toward the rivers of water, our minds should gravitate toward the Lord, toward our source of life and happiness.

This is where we will find stability and prosperity. This is where we will find happiness.