Category: Daily Devotionals

Psalm 33

Have you felt eager anticipation to join in praise to God?  To join the company of God’s people in singing fresh songs to him.  David must be the epitome of a worship leader.  As we discover afresh some new aspect of God’s nature and salvation so our emotions can burst out and we understand David’s opening exclamation, ‘Sing joyfully to the Lord’ or as the ESV puts it ‘Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous.’ ^v1

The Lord God remains the same, it is our understanding that refreshes or we grasp some new aspect of his character. ‘Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!  For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.’ ^vv8,9 

All the reasons David found to praise God are perfected in Jesus.  Jesus’ words are right and true, ^v4  he perfected righteousness and justice in his death and resurrection. He is the Word of God and by his word all things were made. ^{v6, John 1.3}  Jesus has called to himself a people who are his inheritance. ^v12, ‘As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ^{1Peter 2.5}

The Lord sees all ^vv13,14 and, ‘the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,’ ^v18  or as Peter says, ‘For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.’ ^1Peter 3.12  Our hope is in him, ^v20  as Peter again reminds us, ‘He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.’ ^{1Peter 3.3,4}

In the light of this whenever you feel the urge and want to join in a new song, do so with all your heart and skill giving a shout for joy. ^v3

New song in my heart – Rob Smith

Won my heart – Emu Youth

Psalm 32 and 1 John 1.5-10

Have you ever experienced someone who believed their persistent and rigid refusal to accept they are wrong was a sign of strength?   Where this occurs it not only harms those around them, it damages the person them self.  It exposes their own weakness and frailty and can lead to a warped perception of reality.  Internally great mental and spiritual stresses are set up.  Frequently lasting damage to relationships occur because the means to resolve the problem has been denied.

God counsels us in Psalm 32, ‘Do not be like the horse or the mule which has no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle.’ ^v9  The pressure of one’s deceit when one is in self denial eats away internally and can feel like a heavy weight upon you.  David describes this, ‘When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of the summer.’ ^vv3,4  This is highly destructive in our human relationships and also in our relationship with God.

What is the pressure relief valve in such a case?  It is the acknowledgement of the problem.  That opens up a pathway for resolution.  This is the case in our interpersonal reactions and also between ourselves and God.  David says, ‘I acknowledge my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.  The apostle John makes the same point that our relationship with God is restored through Jesus’ sacrifice. ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ ^{1John 1.9}

David experienced the relief and joy of being forgiven and Psalm 32 was written to celebrate that and to guide others into what he had learnt from bitter experience.  So, he opened the psalm with, ‘Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.’ ^vv2,3

Oh how I need you – Sons and Daughters

Psalm 31

The fear of shame or public humiliation has frequently controlled people’s lives.  It can be the fear of one’s actions becoming known, a sin revealed.  At other times it may involve not living up to the expectations of others or one’s own.   A broken promise can turn in to shame and broken relationships.  Shame has led to life changing, even life taking, abuse and now we are far more aware of self abuse arising from a sense of shame.  Shame can feel like a place that is impossible to escape from or survive.  How we need a God who understands and brings about restoration at times like these even if it is our actions that take us to the place of shame.  David twice utters the prayer in Psalm 31, ‘Let me never/not be put to shame.’ ^vv1,17

In Jesus we have a God who has experienced dreadful public shaming even though, in fact because, he was sinless.  As we read David’s cry to the Lord for mercy ^{vv 9-13} we can say it was like that for Jesus but worse.  Because of his enemies he became an object of contempt and dread even to his closest friends and family, stripped naked, beaten to near death, ridiculed, nailed to a cross and publicly taunted whilst in great pain until he died.  The crowds who had just days before hailed him as a hero now conspired against him and plotted to take his life.  It was in those last moments that Jesus used David’s words, ‘Into your hands I commit my spirit.’ ^v5  He did not go on as far as we know and add David’s words, ‘deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.’ ^v5  But that was what he did, trusting in a faithful Father to restore him through resurrection for his name’s sake. 

The grounds for David’s appeal was for the Lord’s ‘name’s sake,’ ^v3 referring to God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7.8-11 that he would cut off David’s enemies.  Similarly, we can also appeal to God’s promises however deep our feelings of despair.  David does not pretend that his sin has not contributed to his situation ^v10 but this does not prevent him from appealing to the character of God.  God is righteous, ^v1 a rock and a fortress, ^v3 a redeemer, ^v5 abundant in goodness, ^v19 and preserves the faithful. ^v23

At the end of the psalm David has passed through the trial and praised God for his mercy.  From his experience he urges others to trust in the Lord.  ‘Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.’   In God, through Jesus, we can find complete acceptance.

‘No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame’ – Graham Kendrick, Matt Redman

Psalm 30

When questioned by a self-righteous Pharisee, why a woman known only as a sinner was allowed to touch him and anoint his feet with ointment, Jesus replied with a story that showed that those who have been forgiven most have the greatest love for Jesus. ^{Luke 7.36-50}  Her thanksgiving and love were expressed through kissing and washing Jesus’ feet with tears, drying them with her hair and anointing them.  We should never be shy about our thanksgiving, praise and love for God.

After a series of laments from David when he was in the midst of troubles, in Psalm 30 we have a celebration of praise and thanksgiving for salvation from troubles.  However, this psalm recognizes that life’s challenges do not stop and we have continuing need for the Lord’s mercy.  The psalm opens with an exclamation of praise, ‘I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and not let my foes rejoice over me.’ ^v1  Do we reflect on times when we have known the relief of the Lord’s victory in our life and praised him for it?  It may be when we first knew his salvation, possibly when he gave us victory over a particular sin, when we were raised from a serious sickness, protected or removed from the threat of harm.  Then we can join in with the thanksgiving, ‘O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you healed me.  O Lord you have brought up my soul from Sheol (death); you restored me to life.’ ^vv2,3

David considered such times as discipline from God but without them he could not experience the joy of God’s subsequent blessing. ^vv4,5  Going through such experiences has increased David’s resilience and he praises God for it, ‘By your favour, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong.’ ^v7  Despite this David still experiences despair when he feels remote from God ^v7  David appeals to God for mercy on the basis that we are made to praise God. ^v8,9  David praises God with his whole being dancing, singing and gladness.  Charismatic worship is no new phenomena.  If we have experienced God’s victory in our life let us join in with David and say, ‘O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.’ ^v12

I will sing of the goodness of God.

Psalm 29

How do we envision God and what impact does that have on us?  Our experiences both enable and limit our imagination.  Consider the authors of the three major prophetic books.  Isaiah saw, ‘the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne.’ He cried, ‘Woe is me!’  He knew he was too unclean to speak the word of God until a Seraphim put a burning coal to his lips taking away his guilt. ^{Isaiah chp6}  Jeremiah experienced God’s hand touching his mouth so he could speak and then God gave him a sequence of visions concerning his judgements. ^{Jeremiah chp1}  Out of a storm Exekiel saw four spectacular living creatures, ‘Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel.’  Above them a figure like a man of awesome appearance revealing the glory of the Lord, and Exekiel fell down. ^{Exekiel chp1}  Each by understanding the greatness of God, his holiness and power was equipped to boldly speak the word of God.

David was raised to praise God’s glory, power and holiness through the experience of an awesome storm that swept in from the Mediterranean into northern Canaan (now Lebanon) and south to the Desert of Kadesh, sweeping over Jerusalem.  If this is God’s creation, how much more powerful is the Creator?  Grasping the awesomeness of God draws one into worshipping his holiness. ^v3  There are times when envisioning the greatness and holiness of God can lead one into simply repeating his name.  Eighteen times David repeats the name of the Lord (Yahweh) in this short psalm and seven times he refers to the power of the voice of the Lord.  This is a psalm to be read aloud declaring the glory of the Lord.  ‘And in his temple all cry, Glory’ ^v9 

From this psalm we are to take confidence that, ‘The Lord is enthroned forever. The Lord gives strength to his people.  The Lord blesses his people with peace.’ ^{vv 10,11}

In the words of the Anglican liturgy, ‘Go forth and serve the Lord.’

Ascribe to the Lord