Savoring the Scripture

. Trusting God in the Dark Psalm 106 To trust God in the light is nothing, but to trust Him in the dark—that’s faith.  Spurgeon  Psalm 106 is another remembrance Psalm that walks through the Israelites’ history. The composer of Psalm 106 sits in exile waiting on the Lord’s deliverance. What we will see in the recounting of their history is that when God delivers the Israelites, then they believe in Him. But when things are hard, when they are thirsting in the wilderness, or craving more than manna to eat, when they grow impatient waiting for the Lord, their response is not one of faith. They trust God in the light but fall away in the dark. As the writer of Hebrews testifies, “the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard” (Hebrews 4:2 NASBS, emphasis mine). They lacked the faith that would trust God in the dark.  These things are written as an example for us and they are written for our instruction (1 Corinthians 10:11)....

A Prayer when God’s Providence is Painful Psalm 105 God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them. John Piper Psalm 105 is a remembrance psalm. Remembrance psalms were to help the people of God build up “confidence for the present and hope for the future as they contemplate God's great acts in the past” (Longman). It is a beautiful psalm recounting God’s deliverance of the people of Israel from captivity in Egypt and God’s faithfulness in keeping His covenant promises to Abraham. However, in the midst of the psalm it says, “When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave” (105:16-17). It might be easy to read quickly past those words and miss that the fulfilling of God’s promises was wrought through the painful providences of Joseph’s life.  The story of Joseph takes place in Genesis 37-50. Joseph, the firstborn son of his father’s favorite wife, becomes the...

A Prayer for Provision Psalm 104 Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me “Great is Thy Faithfulness” Throughout the pages of Scripture, the evidence that God provides for His people is repeated over and over again. Even in the midst of Israel’s rebellion, the Lord said to them, “It is I who answer and look after you” (Hosea 14:8). His tender care for His own has continued through history and reaches to each one of His children today. God is even now looking after each one of us, and He knows exactly what we need before we even ask (Matthew 6:8). “Psalm 104 is a hymn that celebrates God as Creator and Sustainer of all life on earth” (Longman). Because He is Creator and Sustainer, God says, “every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills”(Psalm 50:10), and in fact the entire earth is the Lord’s. There is no need we could conceive that our G...

As Far as the East is From the West Psalm 103 “As far as the east is from the west.” As far as possible; as far as we can imagine. These are the points in our apprehension most distant from each other, and as we can conceive nothing beyond them, so the meaning is, that we cannot imagine our sins could be more effectually removed than they are. Albert Barnes  Jerry Bridges popularized the saying, “Preach the gospel to yourself every day.” The gospel, the truth of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and its consequences for those who believe, is not just for the unconverted. Rather, the beautiful truth that our sins are forgiven because of Christ’s death in our place, our being declared righteous on Christ’s merit, and the power we now have to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to righteousness is to be daily embraced and lived out in the life of every believer. About the imputed righteousness of Christ, Robert Haldane says, “To that righteousness is the eye of the believer ever to be di...

A Prayer for Broken Families Psalm 102 Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you! Psalm 102:1 Divorce. Estrangement. Abandonment. Early childhood trauma. Broken boundaries. Miscommunication. Rebellion. Psychosis. Abuse. Feeling unloved. Bitterness. The effects of the fall on the family have been numerous. Even the very first family God created was marked dramatically by sin. Adam shifted blame on his wife Eve for disobeying God. Cain envied his brother Abel, which led to murder. Cain was estranged from his family as God sent him out as a wanderer.  Sin has deeply affected family relationships. Where love, encouragement, joy, peace, and closeness should be, there can be hatred, criticism, fear, strife, and coldness. Where there should be nourishment and an environment for flourishing, there is instead rivalry and selfishness.  The context of Psalm 102 is “A Prayer of the Afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD” (NASB). Family contention is a...

A Prayer for Integrity Psalm 101 To be holy is to be wise. C. Spurgeon Psalm 101 is written by David presumably when he is about to become king of Israel. It is his resolution to be a man of integrity. Acting with integrity is a rare quality. Spurgeon says, “What we are at home, that we are indeed.” What we do when no one is looking, when no one will know what we have done or have not done, those are the moments that reveal our integrity or lack thereof.  Daniel was another man who displayed integrity. When captured and brought to Babylon, the Scripture tells us, “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank” (Daniel‬ ‭1:8‬). Daniel could have made excuses to himself and others about why he could break God’s laws for him as a Jewish man living in exile, but he was resolved to live with integrity.  In 2 Kings 12, Jehoash had the priests collect money in order to make repairs to the temple. The priests then gave the mo...

Serve the Lord with Gladness Psalm 100 Here in the South, we have a chain of fast food restaurants where the customer service is expected to be the best. Its employees are trained to reply to the customers’ requests with, “My pleasure!” Our response in our service to the Lord wherever He has placed us should be in our hearts, “It’s my pleasure, Lord!”  In 2 Corinthians 12:15, Paul tells the Corinthians, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” In essence he tells them that it is his pleasure to be spent, be expended, or exhaust himself for the benefit of their souls. This is not the only place Paul communicates the idea that he is glad and rejoices to serve others, even at the expense of himself. To the Philippians he said, “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all” (2:17). And to the Thessalonians: “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not on...