Savoring the Scripture

A Prayer for Perspective  Psalm 89 Scripture attests repeatedly that God shows himself strong when circumstances seem most dire. Ligon Duncan  A perspective is a particular way of viewing things. When someone desires to look at objects far away, they use a telescope, which is designed through the use of lenses and mirrors, to make distant objects appear nearer. Likewise, if someone wanted to inspect a minute object, they would use a microscope to enlarge the object. Through what perspective, what way of viewing things, do we filter the sufferings and perplexities of life? In Psalm 89, the psalmist, aware of God’s past steadfast love, faithfulness, and covenant commitment to His people, faces circumstances that make him feel as if God has broken His covenant with His people. It seems as though God has broken His promises. But he works through his questions with perspectives that can be helpful to us when we must think carefully about our own adversity.  A perspective of pr...

A Prayer when Darkness is Your Closest Friend Psalm 88 Psalm 88 is the portrait of a godly man crying to the Lord in great suffering—and seeing no light at the end of the tunnel. Ligon Duncan  Psalm 88 is said to be the darkest of all Psalms. One-third of the Psalms are lament psalms. Their tone is one of sadness and searching, looking for God in the midst of their suffering. But typically the lament psalms show a progression of sorrow and questioning to confident trust by the end of the psalm (Psalm 13 for example). However, Psalm 88 does not follow that progression. Instead, according to Tim Keller, the very last word in this Psalm in Hebrew is ‘darkness.’ The psalmist ends without a hope that his situation will be improved or settled. He concludes the psalm saying, “Darkness is my closest friend” (Psalm 88:18 NIV).  Ligon Duncan in his excellent booklet on Psalm 88 says, “Not everyone gets a happy ending in a fallen world—and that includes even godly believers.” But while t...

A Prayer of Anticipation  Psalm 87 For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Hebrews 13:14 NASBS Phil Wickham recently released a new song  Hymn of Heaven  which is a beautiful song about the believer’s anticipation of our eternal home. The lyrics begin like this: How I long to breathe the air of Heaven Where pain is gone and mercy fills the streets To look upon the One who bled to save me And walk with Him for all eternity For the believer there should be great anticipation for the day we behold our Savior face to face. There ought to be a great longing and seeking that “city which is to come.” The bliss of that moment when we step into eternity will outweigh all the sorrow of all the days we spent here.  Scripture is not silent about the superiority of “the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22). Thinking on some of the glorious gains awaiting us will strengthen our hearts and increase our joy and longing for that day when o...

A Prayer for Comfort Psalm 86 He is able…to give hope and joy under the heaviest sorrows. Matthew Henry Paul, in 2 Corinthians, gives us a wonderful description of the Lord. He is the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). For the believer, our Heavenly Father is the source of all comfort we look for and receive. To be the source of comfort means that God is where our comfort comes from and can be obtained. And He is able and willing to comfort us in ALL our affliction. He comforts in any trouble, distress, anguish, affliction, hardship, trial, tribulation, irritation, disappointment, setback, financial distress, or sorrow we face today. There is no situation that befalls us where we lie outside the reach of God’s comfort.  Psalm 86 is David’s cry to the Lord for God to be gracious toward him according to His abundant love and truth. There were many times in David’s life where this psalm would’ve been appropriate for...

A Prayer for Restoration Psalm 85 When the storm-cloud darkens, Then’s the time to sing. Eben Rexford The previous Post  talked about truths we can hold onto during the season of waiting on the Lord. I looked at Habakkuk’s prayer song in Habakkuk 3 written for the people to sing to sustain them while they waited for the day of deliverance. God had been favorable to Israel in the past, and based on His covenant love, they knew He would revive them again. But there would be years of waiting. Psalm 85 has a similar theme. The psalmist remembers God’s past faithfulness, and he calls on Him to rescue them again according to His steadfast love.  This is the story for every believer. We can look back at God’s redemption of us at the cross of Christ, and we can rejoice that our sins are covered, God’s wrath removed, just like those of Psalm 85. Yet each of us lives in a world still affected and broken by the curse. We each have areas in our lives where we need the Lord to act in His r...

In the Midst of the Years: when we must wait for God’s deliverance Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. ‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-18‬ ‭ESV‬‬ The book of Habakkuk is the record of Habakkuk’s wrestling with the Lord. Habakkuk faces the challenge to “trust in the purposes of the Lord despite confusing perceptions of precisely what he is doing” (Robertson).  In Habakkuk we see the prophet crying out to the Lord as he faces difficult circumstances which have left him utterly confused, and through his dialogue with the Lord, he comes to a place of acceptance and joy.  The Background Habakkuk lives in a time when the righteous are surrounded by the wicked and it seems their violence, their strife, their perversion of justice is going unnoticed by the Lord. So...

No Good Thing Will He Withhold Psalm 84 Heavenly pilgrims are not left uncomforted or unprotected. Charles Spurgeon There have been many times when I have comforted my own anxious heart with the promise of Psalm 84:11, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” No good thing does He withhold.   Many years ago, I read the autobiography of George Muller. He recounts when his wife was very ill to the point of death, he read Psalm 84:11 to his wife and himself. “To my own heart the verse was a great support, for I said to myself again and again, ‘I walk uprightly, and therefore my Father will withhold nothing from me, that is good for me; if therefore the restoration of my dearest wife is good for me, it will be surely given; if otherwise, I have to seek to glorify God by most perfect submission to His holy will’ (wholesomewords.org). His example of trust in the Lord to never withhold that whic...

  O God, Do Not Keep Silence Psalm 83 The prayer here is that in the existing emergency God would not seem to be indifferent to the needs and dangers of his people, and to the purposes of their enemies, but that he would speak with a voice of command, and break up their designs. Barnes  Bitterness is a feeling of antagonism, hostility, or resentment (Dictionary.com). It is holding someone liable, a replaying of our grievances, a withdrawing of warmth (Keller). Bitterness, resentment, and a lack of forgiveness exalts ourselves to the place of judge in someone else’s life. It is to act as though we know best how God ought to deal with another’s sin. So what do we do when these emotions rise up within us? One thing we can and must do, as Asaph does in Psalm 83, is to pray. Psalm 83 is an imprecatory psalm. It is a cry of God’s people to the Lord to rise up against their enemies and deliver His “treasured ones”. Perhaps a call for God to punish your enemy makes you feel uncomforta...