Savoring the Scripture

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled  Psalm 112 The only cure for fear is for the eye to remain steadfastly fixed on the Lord. To be occupied with our circumstances and surroundings is fatal to our peace. A.W. Pink  Fear. None of us are immune to this emotion. We have all felt it at times in our lives, sometimes legitimately when we’ve been in danger. Other times, fear has proved to be a foolish waste of time. Some people seem to lack a fear over anything. Others are fearful most of the time. Most of us live somewhere in between, not completely consumed with fear but occupied too often with anxious thoughts. “While fear is a normal emotional response to life in a fallen world, when it grips our heart, we turn our gaze away from God and to the circumstances around us. We focus on the problem instead of the One who rules over all things. We place our trust not in God to help and rescue us but in things, methods, or even ourselves. This is idolatry” (Holy Fear, Cristina Fox). Psalm 112...

To Know Him, To Love Him, and to Live for Him Psalm 111 Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it. Ezra 7:10 This past week in Sunday school we discussed a couple of words that are not very familiar for some: orthodoxy and orthopraxy. While I was reading this morning, I came across another word connected to the first two: orthokardia. All three share the same beginning, all three play an important role in our spiritual lives, and all three are found in Psalm 111.  Simply defined, orthodoxy is right doctrine, orthopraxy is right practice, and orthokardia is right-heartedness. All three are needed in the Christian life and are interwoven together. What we know about God (orthodoxy) increases our affection for Him and our right posture before Him (orthokardia). Both what we love and the truth we know shape our daily practical living (orthopraxy). In Psalm 111, the psalmist begins by praising the Lord and giving thanks to Him “with my whole heart” (111:1)....

Our Mighty and Merciful Priest King Psalm 110 Consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. Hebrews 3:1 One of the most beautiful images of Christ in the Scriptures is found in the beginning of Hebrews where it tells us “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3). David longed for and sought to behold the beauty we see here (Psalm 27:4), and it is astounding to think that God became flesh, and we have seen “His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Psalm 110, a Psalm of David, leads us to look at the Lord, our Savior, as both mighty King and merciful High Priest. “The writers of the New Testament quote Psalm 110 some fourteen times, more than any other psalm in the psalter. For them the words of Psalm 110 were brought to life in t...

A Prayer for the Abused Psalm 109 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18 Abuse is defined “as any action that intentionally harms or injures another person” ( healthyplace.com ). Abuse can take many forms: physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, and other forms. One of the reasons abuse continues is because it is often cloaked in secrecy, deception, and manipulation. Victims feel powerless and at times even feel they are somehow responsible for the abuse they have suffered. The effects of abuse are long term. If you or a loved one have suffered abuse, you know personally the suffering and sorrow that accompany abuse, where a person of power, in position, influence, or physicality, preys on another in order to take advantage.  In Psalm 109, the psalmist is crying out to the Lord for justice. It is a very strong imprecatory psalm. The imprecatory psalms are ones in which the author “calls down calamity, destruction, and God’s anger a...

A Prayer for Strength against the Foe Psalm 108 When I am weak Then I am strong. Grace my shield; And Christ my song. Spurgeon In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian reaches the Valley of Humiliation where he meets a terrible foe, Apollyon. At first Apollyon uses only words and intimidation to try and dissuade Christian from continuing on to the Celestial City. Christian however remains resolute. In rage at Christian’s firmness, Apollyon attacks Christian with fiery darts, some of which Christian is able to deflect but is wounded by others. They engage in an intense battle in which Christian begins to despair of life. But at the moment of desperation, Christian is able to reach his sword and cry, “Do not rejoice against me, oh my implacable enemy, for when I fall, I shall yet arise!”(Micah 7:8) While thrusting his sword into Apollyon, causing him to retreat, Christian cries again, “Even so, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us”(Romans 8:37). As a result, Apolloyon fl...

Prayer and Praise for Deliverance Psalm  107 The Lord's deliverances are of the most complete and triumphant kind, he neither leaves the soul in darkness nor in bonds, nor does he permit the powers of evil again to enthrall the liberated captive. What he does is done for ever. Charles Spurgeon Psalm 107 begins the fifth and final book of the Psalms. It is a psalm filled with hope. Two verses are repeated throughout the psalm. “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress” (107:6,13,28), followed by, “Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!” (107:8,21,31). Through various trouble,  distress, fainting, longing, darkness, shadow of death, affliction, destruction, and storms, the people of God know on Whom they should call, and their God delivers. And “the Lord delights to come in when no one else can be of the slightest avail” (Spurgeon).  The psalmist calls on whoever is wise t...