For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great (Psalm 25:11).
For the sake of your name.
Not mine.
Because my name, frankly, is not worth saving.
But my name is so loud in my own ears that
it drowns out your voice
your wisdom
your word.
Perhaps the only way I can serve you is to stand as the object of your mercy.
That will be enough
and more.
Happy Monday, Beloved
Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way (Psalm 25:8-9).
I’m a teacher.
I teach.
I teach the excellent students, whose eyes are bright with understanding and a deep desire to learn and grow and understand the things of life.
Aaaand I teach the other ones, the ones I lovingly call “pathetic lumps of flesh.”
I offer what I have to both, because both need it.
Howeversomuchmoreso with God. He offers his wisdom to saint and sinner, because both desperately need it.
Why does he do this? I mean, I get teaching your followers, but why waste wisdom on the wicked? Well, it’s right there at the beginning of the verse:
Because he is good.
Also, I think God remembers something that I tend to forget:
That sinner?
That humble man?
They are both me. Just depends on when you catch me.
Happy Friday, Beloved
Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord (Psalm 25:6-7).
Selective memory is a beautiful thing.
David knows who he is.
More than that, he knows that God knows.
David’s asking God to conveniently forget the less savory aspects of his life, and to remember only that he loves David. My grandma had that ability to pick and choose what she remembered. We thought it was dementia–perhaps it was a spiritual gift.
Anyway, here’s the amazing thing: God does it. When God looks at David, he chooses not to remember the sin and rebellion and foolishness. He sees only his Beloved.
He does the same when he looks at you and me.
How do I know this?
Well, we’re here, aren’t we?
Happy Thursday, Beloved.
Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long (Psalm 25:4-5).
This is a psalm asking for deliverance. David is in a world of hurt here–stressed out, ill, and under attack by slanderous enemies. I would expect to find David asking for deliverance, healing, retribution, even forgiveness.
I didn’t expect this.
David asks God, in the midst of all this yuck (pardon the deep theological terminology) to teach him to be more like God.
Um…wow.
I wish I could tell you that, in the midst of deep physical and emotional crisis, I would ask God to make me more godly. Alas, I am far more likely to ask him to heal me and cause my enemies to explode.
If you decide to stop reading my blog now, I’ll understand. But, there I am.
Beloved, I hope that God never allows great pain and sorrow into your life. I don’t care if it would make you more godly–I like you too much, and I’m just too selfish. However, if the yuck of this sinful, broken world has to slop over into your life, I pray that God would use it to show you his ways, teach you his paths, and basically make you more like him.
Just don’t go looking for trouble, OK?
Happy Wednesday, Beloved.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame…(Psalm 25:1-3a).
Shame
Not embarrassment…not awkward self-consciousness, but full-blown shame.
Look, I’ve been embarrassed a time or two
or twelve.
I’ve blown my lines in front of a large audience, I’ve driven my car over a curb amid a symphony of honks and jeers. I’ve dropped the fly ball that should have been an easy out.
Hey, I once walked into a tether-ball pole in full view of the entire playground.
I know embarrassment.
But shame, the way David is talking about it here–shame is different. Shame strikes to the very core of your being. Shame isn’t about what you did.
It’s about who you are.
So…who are you?
If you are a child of God, you cannot be put to shame, because the very core of your being is Christ.
Because you are his Beloved.
So whether your enemy is some guy named Ted, or some disease named Cancer, or some life-wrecker named Self, you will not be put to shame, because your hope is in Him.
But, I gotta tell you, if you walk into a tetherball pole you’ll still feel like an idiot.
Happy Tuesday, Beloved.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me, and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24).
This psalm ends with a request. Like I said when we started, this is a powerful way to check the state of your relationship with Christ. If the thought of God searching your heart frightens you, you’ve got to ask, why? A few things to notice here:
Are you in a place where you can ask this of God? Can you afford not to?
Be courageous, Beloved. Ask him in.
Happy Monday.
If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. (Psalm 139:19-22)
Wow. Right in the middle of this psalm celebrating the wonder of God’s love and care for me, I get called to a holy war. What’s that about? If you do a little study on this verse, you find that it echoes the ancient Near East covenant language between King and Vassal. The vassal swears that any enemy of the king will be his enemy.
Are you impressed with my scholarliosity?
Study Bible footnotes for the win!
But God is a God of love, right? Aren’t we supposed to love everyone?
Show me where it says that in the Bible.
Well, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”
Oh yeah, he did…huh.
I’ll admit—this is a toughie. It seems to me that, in light of the gospel, we should be pretty careful about hating people. There is plenty for us to hate—the ways of the world, the devil and his schemes, our own flesh—plenty that rises up against God. People seem pretty far down the list.
I think this passage is not so much a call to war as a call to total allegiance. You have a God who knows every thought you have ever entertained and loves you anyway. He surrounds you, literally, with his love and protection. Pledge your fealty to him again. Go forth into your Friday as the sworn enemy of all that stands against him.
Serve the king who loves you, Beloved.
Happy Friday
How precious to me are your thoughts, Oh God! How vast the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. (Psalm 139:17-18).
Can you imagine what goes on in the mind of God?
No, I don’t suppose you can. Me neither.
It’s like the worm I dig up in the yard knowing my thoughts.
No…it’s more like the microbial parasite living in the worm that I dig up in the yard knowing my thoughts.
No…it’s more like the subatomic particles that make up the microbial parasite living in the worm that I dig up in the yard knowing my thoughts.
Which probably doesn’t happen.
And yet, God wants us to know at least a portion of his thoughts. That’s why he gave us his Word. You can fall asleep with his thoughts in your mind and awake with his thoughts in your heart. You can move through this day meditating on his Word, and making his thoughts your thoughts.
Because he wants you to know him.
Because you are his Beloved.
Which is just one of the many reasons that it is better to be you than a worm.
Happy Thursday, Beloved.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16).
Predestination…or free will?
Look, first thing on a Wednesday is not the time to get into a discussion that heavy. Let me just say—it’s both.
No, really.
OK, here we go. God created all things, ya? Therefore, he created time. He is not bound by time, the way you and I are. God exists at all moments in history simultaneously. Simply put, all time—past, present, and future—is now to God.
This brings up all sorts of cool thoughts, but let’s just focus on one: You know the moment you ache for, that moment when Christ returns and you get a glorified body and there will be no more night or pain or sorrow or sin or tears? That blessed someday?
Well, Beloved, it isn’t someday to God.
It’s Today. It’s Right Now.
When God looks at you, he sees you as you are today—pimples, gray hairs, and all. (And, by the way, how is it that I can have both pimples and gray hair going on at the same time?)
But God also sees you as you will be—glorified, complete, utterly and thoroughly his. That is as real and immediate to him as the blotchy mess you might be on this particular Wednesday morning.
There is only One who can actually see the finished product, and he says it’s perfect.
Chew on that today, Beloved.
Happy Wednesday.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes beheld my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:15-16).
He knows you
and
He has known you
since before
you
were
you.
He has written your story…and you know what?
God just loves a happy ending.
Happy Tuesday, Beloved.