Category: Daily Devotionals

Psalm 55         2 Corinthians 11 & 1 Corinthians 3

‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.’ ^{Matthew 7.15-20 ESV}

For the Christian one of the most emotional and spiritually painful times can be when division occurs within the church or the ‘Kingdom of God’. Psalm 55 has much to say on this topic. Typically, division arises around personalities but it can also occur because of differences over aspects of theology or the way the church expresses itself. Where it does happen things other than the glory of Christ have risen to the dominant place in peoples’ minds. In David’s time the kingdom of God was a nation ruled by a king under God and division was rebellion against the king.

Frequently when David orders his thoughts and communion with God into a psalm he carefully constructs poetry according to ancient Hebrew literary conventions. Here it appears emotion has taken over and the psalm jumps around as he pours his heart out before God which in itself captures the level of upset he feels. ‘Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught … Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.’ ^{vv 1,2,5} David, as king, lived in a time when each year brought round the season for war. He was not afraid of conflict with other nations and he had repeated evidence of God’s faithfulness to him in such situations. What was different this time was the enemy was once the closest of friends, one of his own. ‘But it is you, a man like myself, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among worshipers.’ ^{vv 13,15} We do not know who this enemy is, perhaps the closest match to the description is Absalom although whilst the psalm identifies him as a close friend it does not call him a son. Absalom was however a very smooth talker whilst plotting to forcibly overthrow his father, ^v23 Conspiracy was rife in the walled capital of Jerusalem with, ‘Destructive forces at work in the city; threats and lies never leaving its streets’. ^{v 11} Arrogance has replaced a fear of God and the enemy defies the covenant God has made. ^{v 20} It could be said that similar things can occur within a church when division strikes and historically it accurately describes the church when politics and religion have become so closely entwined they could not be separated.

David’s initial reaction is to flee, leave behind the boiling city and find solace in the wilderness. ‘Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert’. ^{vv 6,7} David prays that confusion will fall upon his enemies, bringing to mind the tower of Babel and in various ways he calls for God’s judgement on them. The psalm ends with a lesson to himself. ‘Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken … but as for me, I trust in you’. ^{vv 22,23b}

The Corinthian church, as an expression of the kingdom of God, early in its life experienced division of two types. Firstly, by dividing itself according to the teacher people favoured instead of faithfulness to the gospel, or as Paul expresses it, the wisdom of God as opposed to the wisdom of this world. ^{1 Corinthians 3} Then in 2 Corinthians 11 Paul severely warns against teachers who change the gospel for personal gain. He calls them, ‘deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.’ ^{2 Corinthians 11.13} Psalm 55 provides a helpful analysis of the fruit of such teaching and Jesus words in Matthew 7 tells us to look beyond ‘smooth talking’ to the fruit of their words and life.

How are we able to check that we are living a gospel centred life?

Jesus Paid It All – Kim Walker-Smith

Psalm54 and 1 Samuel 23. 14-28

The setting for this short psalm is the wild desert area east of the town of Ziph, south east of Hebron in Judah.  David and his band of 600 are dodging from one place to another trying to escape Saul and his army. The Ziphites told Saul of David’s whereabouts and Saul asked them for more precise information which they were able to provide. Saul then closed in on David, he was one side of a mountain and David’s men were running away on the other side. Just at that moment Saul received a message that the land was being attacked by Philistines and he broke off to go and meet the new threat. It reads like a film script. Psalm 54 is David’s prayer in the middle of this threat to his and his followers’ lives.

It is quite simply a prayer for help. David’s confidence in God’s help is deliberately and structurally placed in the very centre of the psalm, ‘Surely God is my help, the Lord is the one who sustains me.’ ^v4 This is a prayer, expressing an inner certainty before he has experienced God’s answer. He cannot know how God will respond or what will actually happen but in the middle of turmoil his trust is in God.  In our lives we can easily be overtaken by events and it feels as if they control us and our future. The odds may seem overwhelmingly against us and we can lose hope.  This can relate to so many aspects of our lives, our work, relationships, finance or our safety. Things may have got to the place where we have run out of options. God is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card but he is always our help and sustainer. It greatly helps if like David we have known him as our help and sustainer already in our lives. Sometimes we need to reach a point of crisis to turn to him. It is this message that the work of organizations like Christians Against Poverty bring to people when there seems like no hope.

David opened his prayer in the name of God. The name of God represents his authority and power or might. ‘Save me, O God, by your name, vindicate me by your might.’ ^v1 When I first became a Christian, we frequently sang a chorus that started, ‘In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, we have the victory.’ People have prayed in God’s name throughout scripture. Jesus spoke to the disciples, ‘Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.’ ^{John 14.13} Peter and John prayed in the name of Jesus of Nazareth for a lame man in Jerusalem’s temple court and he walked. ^{Acts 3.6} If something is prayed in God’s name it clearly must be done so in accordance with his will and authority. The purpose of such prayers is God’s glory. It will also bring joy to his people for they glory in God. In the lame man’s case it caused many to praise God and to come to faith. It did not however prevent continuing persecution of the church from the religious authorities.

David ends his prayer with a promise to praise and offer a sacrifice to God in the form of a freewill offering. ‘I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good.’ ^v6 This is in anticipation of the Lord’s deliverance and is therefore an act of faith. Freewill offerings were not linked to the festival calendar but were voluntary and personal. They remain a joyous way Christians worship and give thanks to God for particular blessings. However, for the Christian all giving is to be a matter of freewill and a ‘cheerful heart’ rather than a regulatory requirement.

If you find yourself in a David like position. Is there a prayer you can pray in the name of Jesus?

Love has a name – Jesus Culture

Psalm 53

We live in an age where the secularist often derides believers in God as anti-intellectual or emotionally immature. On the other hand, believers are frequently dismissive of agnostics or atheists as people who have no hope or basis for moral conduct. One such argument may go, if we are all an accidentally evolved collection of atoms what does it matter what one collection of atoms does to another? A good starting point to think around the philosophical competing views of, ‘Is there a god?’ is Tim Keller’s book, ‘The reason for God,’ or get a quick introduction on his Youtube channel.

Psalm 53 does not take a neutral position as its starting point. The psalmist is quite clear, it is the fool who convinces himself that, ‘There is no God.’ ^v1 His reason for that is that he (assuming the psalmist is a man) has a pre-existing relationship with God and he draws upon evidence from the past where God had kept his promises. ^V5 When an existing believer has experienced God at work in their life or in their community it provides a confident basis on which to build personal trust in him and also to give a reason for their faith. It equips one to comply with Peter’s instruction, ‘In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.’ ^{1 Peter 3.15} I would argue that some of the most compelling evidences of God’s existence are the lives changed by Jesus’ saving grace.  It is a natural trait to want to jump straight to the bottom line, that is the assertion there is a God, missing out the reason why one would want to do so. In Peter’s case, the reason is his heart condition of revering Christ as Lord. Peter also reminds us of the importance of how we say things as well as what we say. This contrasts somewhat with the psalmist who holds a more confrontational position.

The psalmist looks at the people who have sought to destroy the people of Israel and connects their lack of faith and reverence for God with corruption. ‘They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; for there is no one who does good.’ ^v1 This is repeated in verse 3 as he imagines God searching for faithful and honest people. The psalmist then draws upon a time when Israel was treated dreadfully by their enemies and suffered greatly filling them with fear. ‘They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on God. But there they are, overwhelmed with dread where there was nothing to dread. ^vv4,5a God did however step in and take saving action. ‘God scattered the bones of those who attacked you; you put them to shame, for God despised them. ^v5b

The psalmist concludes by appealing to Israel to remain faithful to God, in continuing times of trouble. He is looking forward to God’s salvation for his people and the fulfilment of ancient promises. ‘Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad! ^v6 Salvation did indeed come out of Israel but not as he imagined through military might. It came in the person of Jesus to establish a kingdom through a victory over sin and death. He came as an expression of God’s love for people while they are still rejecting him and pursuing ways that offend him. God’s response to people who say, ‘There is no God,’ was to send Jesus, to show them God. He is and was not what people expect because despite his awesome greatness he came in humility. ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ ^Romans 5.8

Have you ever felt threatened by people through their conduct or aggressive beliefs?

How could you respond in a way that demonstrates your own faith in God that reflects Jesus’ sacrificial humility?

Psalm 52 and 1 Samuel 22. 9-23

Corrie ten Boom was a young woman and member of a watch making family in Holland during the Second World War. The whole family hid Jews in their home and helped them escape the Nazis. Eventually they were discovered, arrested and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. Four of the family died, Corrie was released through a clerical error and two weeks later all the women in the camp in her age group were killed in gas chambers. Her sister, Betsie, died of ill health (16.12.1944), prior to her death she told Corrie, ‘There is no pit so deep that He [God] is not deeper still.’ The ESV Global Study Bible’s sub title for Psalm 52 is the Steadfast Love of God Endures. A summary of Corrie’s and her family’s lives can be found on, https://www.tenboom.org/about-the-ten-booms/

The opening stanza vv1-4 originally applied to Doeg, the Edomite, who betrayed David and killed a whole family of priests, in total 85, who provided sustenance to David as he was running for his life when threatened by Saul. It equally applies to anybody whether individual or organizational that plans and carries out evil. The psalm characterizes such behaviour as boasting of evil, v1 discussing plans for evil, v2 loving and enjoying evil vv 2,4 lying or being deceitful. v3
God did not prevent Doeg from carrying out his evil actions in conjunction with Saul. The psalm does however say that whatever their temporary prosperity God will judge them and bring about their destruction. v5 The psalm contains the inference that this is an eternal judgement as well as one applied to one’s mortal lifetime.  The psalm contrasts David, who made God his refuge, with Doeg who sided with and relied on the rich and powerful.
Verses 8 to 9 contrast the wicked who are ‘uprooted’ with the godly who become like a green olive tree. Olive trees are long lived, up to 500 years, and so the image is of endurance in God’s love. ‘I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.’ v 8 Because the psalmist has such confidence in God’s love he is able to wait in hope. ‘I will wait for your name, for it is good in the presence of the godly.’ v9 Corrie ten Boom was an example of a woman who waited upon the Lord, endured and overcame.
When we are feeling embattled and even find we have enemies, are we able to wait for the Lord?

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord – Chris Tomlin

Psalm 51.1-6 and 2 Samuel 11 and 12

A rich and a poor man lived in the same city. The rich man had many sheep and cattle and the poor man had only one ewe lamb. When the rich man received a visitor, he took the poor man’s only lamb to prepare a meal for the visitor. The lamb, being a ewe, was the poor man’s only hope for a future as from it he could breed more sheep. This is the story Nathan the prophet told David ^{2 Samuel 12.1-10} to expose to him the depth of sin he had committed against God and Uriah the Hitite. ^{2 Samuel 11} It was a case of sin mounting upon sin through the abuse of power. In the Harry Potter books there is a mirror where you see the greatest desire of your heart. Psalm 51 is like a mirror that has exposed David’s heart as God sees it.

The opening stanza ^{vv 1,2} is a plea to God for mercy purely on the basis of God’s love. There are no excuses offered or bargaining on the basis of other good things he has done.  He knows he has no capacity to cleanse himself from sin. He knows God knows his actions and his heart. One sin led to another. He coveted another man’s wife and by abusing power committed adultery with her.  To cover up his sin he tried to hide his adultery by making it plausible that Uriah was the father of Bathsheba’s child and when this failed because of Uriah’s loyalty to the king and his fellow soldiers, he conspired with his leading general to murder Uriah. In legal terms because of David’s power and status there were no consequences for David and he got to make his mistress, whether forced or willing, his wife.

Only when confronted with his sin did David repent and plead for mercy. Just as God through Nathan convicted David of his profound sin and rebellion against God, who had blessed him greatly, so it is God, whether through the direct action of the Holy Spirit or by other means who convicts us of our sin. Verse 3, ‘For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me,’ ^v3 accurately describes how God penetrates our consciousness and raises our awareness of our need for cleansing. Clearly David had treated Uriah with fatal abject disregard and yet David’s words addressed to God are, ‘Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.’ ^v3 This not to ignore the criminal injustice done to Uriah, but to emphasize that all sin is fundamentally against God.

David recognizes that God has the right to judge and is right in his judgements. ^v4 He also understands that he is intrinsically rebellious against God. ^{vv 5,6} This is frequently a major obstacle that prevents people from seeking God’s mercy as our pride does not want us to accept it. Paul confesses the truth of his inbuilt rebellion against God in Romans 7.19-20, ‘For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do— this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.’

Can you remember a time when you became particularly aware of rebellion against God’s ways and a need for his mercy?

Have mercy on me, O God – Graham Kendrick