Psalm 81-82 Not Just Worship

Psalm 81 was entitled “A Song For The Holiday” but it comes off as anything but cheerful.  God sent a special message that said:

“I took the load off their shoulders … When you were in trouble, you called, and I saved you … I tested you … My people, listen.  I am warning you … please listen to Me … open Your mouth and I will feed you.  But My people did not listen to me; they did not want me.  So I let them go their stubborn way and follow their own advice.  I wish My people would listen to Me; I wish they would live My way.  Then I would quickly defeat their enemies and turn My hand against their foes … I would give You the finest wheat and fill you with honey from the rocks.”

My commentary did a lot of explaining:

“It is delightful to sign praises to God and to pray, but if we want Him to listen to us, we must listen to him… Worship and service go together, and this means we must obey what the Lord commands and not have spiritual deafness … The greatest judgment God can send is to let people have their own way … When we disobey the Lord, not only do we feel the pain of His chastening, but we also miss out on the blessings He so desires to give us.  The Lord gave Israel water out of the rock, but He was prepared to give them honey out of the rocks (Deut 32:13).  He sent manna from heaven, but He would have given them the finest of wheat.  The word if is small, but it carries big consequences.”

Father, I don’t want to feel the pain of Your chastening, nor do I want to miss out on the blessings You have prepared for me.  Keep me from having spiritual deafness.  Don’t simply let me have my own way.  You love me more than I could ever love myself, so don’t let me, through my disobedience, shortchange myself of Your blessings by my own willfulness.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 79-80 Reading What I'm Feeling Today -- Such Is God's Timing

“Lord, how long will this last? … Show Your mercy to us soon … God our Savior, help us so people will praise You … Hear the moans of the prisoners.  Use Your great power … Shepherd of Israel, listen to us … show Your greatness … Use Your strength, and come to save us… God, take us back.  Show us Your lovingkindness … God All-Powerful, take us back … God All-Powerful, come back.  Look down from heaven and see.  Take care of us … With Your hand, strengthen the one You have chosen for Yourself… Give us life again, and we will call to You for help.  Lord God All-Powerful, take us back.  Show us Your kindness so we can be saved…”

Father, I pray this for someone I love dearly, in his stead.  You know the ache of my heart.  He hasn’t chosen to talk about his problems with me.  Please place people in his path who will assure him of Your presence in his life and Your love and care for him.  Change his heart, God.  Please lift the veil that Satan has placed over his eyes and his heart so that he may see Your goodness and feel Your love and mercy for him.  Ban Satan from deceiving him.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 78 - A Reminder We Need To Read Regularly

It says that God gave us His teachings and commanded us to teach our children so their children would know them and they would tell their children (our great-grandchildren!)

He reviewed much of the history of Israel because it teaches that “the one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history,” my commentary said.

What they did is what we do:

“They continued to sin against Him … They decided to test Him … They had not believed God and had not trusted Him …”

Verse 29 says, “God had given them what they wanted.”  My commentary said, “Sometimes God’s greatest judgment is to give us what we want.”

Despite all they did against Him, “In His mercy, God forgave them and held back His wrath, but they were a generation that grieved His heart.”

“They kept on sinning, they did not believe … so He ended their days without meaning and their years in terror … Their hearts were not really loyal to God … Still God was merciful.  He forgave their sins and did not destroy them.  Many times He held back His anger and did not stir up all His anger.  He remembered that they were only human …”

“They tested God and turned against God Most High; they did not keep His rules.”

Father God, help us to examine our lives and our thoughts and our beliefs and actions.  Use these verses to cause us to admit how we do the same.  Let us learn from history and from our mistakes and give us grace so that we will not repeat them.  Remember that we too are only human.  Thank You for loving us in spite of that fact.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 76-77 He Makes A Way Through The Sea

I once had a bumper sticker that read, “I Know The Future – God Wins!”  And that’s what Psalm 76 is all about.  My commentary says Asaph shared four basic truths about Jehovah God:  He wants us to know him, trust Him, fear Him, and obey Him.

Psalm 77 finds Asaph in despair about God’s apparent rejection of His people.  He moves from praying to remembering to questioning.  “He’d led the people in worship, yet he found no comfort in his own heart.”

My commentary said, “It isn’t a sin to question God, but it is a sin to demand an immediate answer or to suggest that God needs our counsel.”  Asaph asked in anguish, “Will the Lord reject us forever?  Will He never be kind to us again?  Is His love gone forever?  Has He stopped speaking for all time?  Has Go forgotten mercy?  Is He too angry to pity us?”

He thought God had changed, but He hadn’t.  He looked at his circumstances and focused on himself and saw no hope.  “But when we look by faith to the Lord, our circumstances may not change, but WE do.”

Verse 19 gave me hope:  “You made a way through the sea and paths through the deep waters, but Your footprints were not seen.”

Father, I need Your help and intervention right now.  I feel the sea  surrounding me and the deep waters.  Make a way.  Make a path.  Help me as I pray for wisdom.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 74-75 God Is STILL On The Throne

In Psalm 74, the nation itself was in despair after the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians, my commentary said.  They were crying out to God and hearing no word from Him.  “The people felt that they were cast off forever, desolate forever, humiliated forever, and forgotten forever.”  In verse 12, though, “He lifted his eyes by faith from the burning ruins to the holy throne of God in the heavens and received a new perspective on the situation.  No matter how discouraging the situation was, Asaph knew that God was still on the throne and had not abdicated His authority to the Babylonians.”

He remembers the covenant.  “The Jews had mocked the prophets that God sent to them to turn them from their idolatry.  Israel had not honored God’s name … The Lord was paying attention to His covenant!  That was why He was chastening His people.  Asaph was concerned about the glory of God’s name and the survival of God’s people … The nation had been ravaged, the city of Jerusalem had been wrecked and the temple had been destroyed and burned – but the essentials had not been touched by the enemy!  The nation still had Jehovah God as their God, His Word and His covenant had not been changed, and Jehovah was at work in the world!  God is at work in our world today, and we need not despair.”

Father, thank You for Your faithfulness despite the unfaithfulness of our leadership.  Please guide and direct us to choose the person You want us to have as the next leader of our country – one who will honor and glorify You and lead us to return to You.  You are still on the throne and You are never late.  You know what You are doing.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 73 -- When The Worshiper Doubts

Asaph was a music minister, and he let his thoughts take control of his heart as he saw the non-churchgoers prospering and the churchgoers having problems.  That made no sense to him.  After all, wasn’t God supposed to bless His people?  It got to the point that he asked himself “So why have I kept my heart pure?  Why have I kept my hands from doing wrong?”

He had been a believer.  He’d had a clean heart (not sinlessness, but total commitment to the Lord – my commentary).  He’d been standing on what he knew, my commentary stated.  But it seemed to him that unbelievers don’t face the problems he’d been facing.  “When pondering the mysteries of life, hold on to what you know for sure, and never doubt in the darkness what God has taught you in the light,” my commentary said.

He had become a doubter.  My commentary said there’s a difference between doubt and unbelief.  Doubt comes from a struggling mind, while unbelief comes from a stubborn will that refuses to surrender to God.”  Asaph didn’t understand that “it’s an act of disobedience to envy the wicked.”

He began to wrestle with what he saw and felt.  “Based on the evidence he could see around him, Asaph came to the wrong conclusion:  that he had wasted his time and energy maintaining clean hands and a pure heart … We don’t serve God because of what we get out of it, but because He is worthy of our worship and service regardless of what He allows to come into our lives.”

Asaph returned to the Temple to worship and get a better perspective by spending time with the Lord.  “After all, Jehovah isn’t a problem to wrestle with but a gracious Person to love and worship, especially when you are perplexed by what He is doing.  God is awesome in His sanctuary, and when we commune with Him, we see the things of this world in their right perspective.

He became a conqueror.  He figured out that “the ungodly have everything they want except God, and the godly have in God all that they want or need.  He is their portion forever.”

Father, when I wrestle with doubts, bring me before You in worship and help me to see You clearly and to remember what You have already shown me about Yourself.  Don’t let me listen to the lies and the wrong beliefs of the wicked.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Psalm 72 -- Prayers For The KING

This psalm is entitled “A Prayer For The King”.  Since we don’t have a monarchy here, my first thought was, “Would this be something to pray for our president?”  The first request was for God to give him good judgment, and that would truly be something to pray for.  But as I read the rest, without that God-given good judgment, it sounds like we’d be in for more of the same.

My commentary pointed out that neither David nor Solomon ruled the entire area that God set forth in His covenant with Abraham.  “This privilege is reserved for Jesus Christ,” it said, and I saw multiple references to Jesus in these verses, although His name is not mentioned.  I particularly like reading, “Let the people of the desert bow down to Him.”  That speaks of His sovereignty over even the entire Middle East, despite what each sect or country might think of Him today.  “Let all kings bow down to Him and all nations serve Him.”  Amen!  “He will save their lives … their lives are precious to Him.”  Again – Jesus.  “Let the nations be blessed because of Him, and may they all bless him.”  Yes!

And how will this ever happen?  Verses 18-19 say, “Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does such miracles.  Praise His glorious name forever.  Let His glory fill the whole world.”

Yes, Father.  Make it so.  Even in this new year.  Crust Satan’s head under Your feet.  Don’t let him wreak havoc as he did last year.  Be Lord of us all!  Help us to trust and follow You!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford