It seems like God’s Word has been really timely lately. Every time I turn to the Psalms to read for the day, there is a passage that applies to what’s going on, or what will go on. Sure, I might be reading too much into the relevance of what I’m reading, but it’s relevant none-the-less and is a cool reminder that what God has spoken is just as applicable now as then.

Today I’ve been thinking a lot about sin, grace, and forgiveness. It’s only fitting that I read Psalm 51, written by David as a response to Nathan confronting him about wrongly sleeping with Bathsheba (and later having her husband killed in battle!). It is a beautiful plea to God to remember His lovingkindness in the wake of our transgression.

One thing I never really thought of is the fact that our sin, our offense, is really between us and God. Unfortunately, innocent by-standers feel the fallout of that mistake, but what makes it a sin is that we violated what God commanded. I usually think about the brokenness between me and other people, rarely do I think about the brokenness between me and God.

David doesn’t throw up his defenses and try and talk his way out of it, he deeply knows what he did was evil (comparing it to a broken bone) and that God will be just with His verdict. David begs that his heart would be cleansed and that God would not take His Spirit away from him. If only we all felt the weight of brokenness like David. I can’t remember the last time I begged God to let His Spirit remain in me.

Ultimately, David knows there is nothing he can do to be in right standing before God. Only God can restore and deliver. David understand this, and what an awesome testimony of God’s grace and compassion it will be! He will go on to teach “transgressors” and “sinners” of what God has done out of His great love.

It seems like we have a lot to learn from David, especially in terms of how we respond to the sin of other people:

• We are not to come down in judgment, that is God’s role. I remember a wise man (Steve Larson) saying that we, as Christians, are in the business of reconciliation. Because of the fact that God restores and delivers, we must act in the same way to repair brokenness and come alongside the sinner.
• No one is above reproach. David was a “man after God’s own heart” and he did something incredibly stupid. Who am I to think I am any better? Such a somber reminder that we need to always be on guard.
• God is so good. We need to rejoice in the fact that God is both loving and just, and to tell people of the story of His redemption.

Editor’s note: All credit for the title goes to the very funny Kathryn Saldanha. She’s surprised no news people have used it yet.

Today Bernie Madoff is being tried today for losing $65 billion of investor’s money in a scheme, and now faces 11 criminal charges, up to 150 years in prison and $170 billion in restitution. This scheme has been going on for two decades, and not once did investors question how they would get a promised 46% return on their investment – which is totally unheard of.

Now, all the greedy people are mad. You turn on the news and you see wealthy Floridians yelling at reporters that nothing could be done to Madoff that would make them feel better about losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even millions, in this investment scheme.

Sorry folks, I don’t feel bad for you. Your greed caused you to chase after a too-good-to-be-true investment, and now you’re paying the price. I’m sure your lifestyle won’t change that much, since you’re completely loaded and have multi-million dollar houses anyway.

Granted, I’m generalizing. I’m sure there are people that don’t have much that will suffer from this. But for the most part Madoff’s investors were high rollers.

The Grave Truth
It’s only fitting that this morning I spent time meditating on Psalm 49, which is all about the reality that we take nothing with us when we leave this life. People are out there chasing fame and fortune – there are cities and streets named after people – but what does that profit you when you die. Nothing? In fact, your name will be forgotten among the generations.

More than that, the pursuit of all things self-glorifying also robs us of true wisdom, understanding, and the fullness of life, for this life and the next. The psalmist says that God will reach into the grave to redeem the soul of the upright, but the man who chased after his own praise will be consumed by the grave. His glory won’t follow him, he will be left with nothing.

I can’t help but think of the despair that chasing money and fame causes in this life. Those people lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe millions. That’s probably more money than I will make in my lifetime, and they are completely distraught. We are in an economic downturn that has led people to the point of killing themselves because they’ve lost their job, they money, and now believe they have nothing left to live for. What a sad, desperate picture of people chasing things that won’t follow them to the grave.

God, that we would chase after the redemption of our souls and not the riches of this world.

It seems like I am always forgetting that God is God and I am just a man. He knows what is best for me, so why would I even try and fight it? Let alone question it.

The earth will melt, and He will not be moved. Kingdoms are destroyed at the sound of His voice. He causes wars to cease and bows to break. Of course the best place to be is right where God would have me. I strikes me as funny that the Hebrew word for “cease” in Psalm 46:10 gives us the image of sinking down, like in mud or quicksand. It’s like we need to stop, and sink into the reality that God is our refuge. We become immovable in that truth, as God is immovable.

I need to remember to cease striving and know that He is God.

One of my favorite Don Miller ideas is the “lifeboat mentality.” In Searching For God Knows What, he talks about this exercise they did in elementary school where a bunch of people are on a lifeboat, and one has to be thrown out for the survival of the remaining. There’s a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, etc. Who do you throw out? Obviously, whoever is “least valuable” will be sacrificed.

Don goes on to see this “lifeboat mentality” worked out in our lives, that we are constantly comparing ourselves to those around us to make sure we’re better than them. That way we won’t get thrown out of the cultural lifeboat. This gives way to us being frustrated when someone wastes our time, or we get angry when someone cuts us off. Anything that is perceived as saying, “I’m better than you,” we become furious.

But as Christians, if we really find our worth in who God says we are, we should never get mad, angry, or frustrated with people that damage our self-worth. It’s not their place to damage it, because our worth comes from God.

Reality is, I feel the pain of that damage all the time, and Katie can attest to the fact that I become defensive, angry, and bitter. In a similar way, I think we look around and see those who reject God being successful and affluent, when our own lives may be marked with suffering and hardship. Again comes defensiveness, anger, bitterness, and maybe even lack of trust or faith in God. What a sweet reminder Psalm 37 has been:

Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.

If we really rest and wait patiently for what God is doing, we’ll save ourselves a world of heartache and evildoing.

Our culture (religious and otherwise) seems to have an understanding of how we are to treat each other as human beings. The glorious golden rule: treat others as you would like to be treated. Of course, we only really follow that when it’s convenient. I see plenty of people not treating others how they would like to be treated. Just yesterday I saw a woman rudely chew out a girl for talking during a movie. Sure, it was somewhat warranted, but you don’t need to tell her she’s “one of the rudest effing people she’s ever met.” There’s a much more caring way to say such things.

For the Christian, Jesus raised the bar. We’re not only to treat others fairly, but we’re supposed to love people. Even our enemies. Actually, especially our enemies. Everyone loves people who love them back, but we show our obedience to God by loving the “hard people” and being sacrificial in our relationships.

But long before Jesus, King David was stepping up in a huge way. Reading through the Psalms it seems like he was often in turmoil, or getting slaughtered on the battle field, or his enemies would be pressing in around him. But in Psalm 35 he gives us a further glimpse of his prayer life. He not only prays for his enemies, he laments with them. He is compassionate towards their pain and sickness. He fasts to prepare his soul and loves them like a friend, brother, or mother even.

If we were to love the people in our lives who are treating us much better than David’s enemies, in the way that David loved his enemies, how much greater of a world would this be? More than that, how much greater would be the perception of the God we serve? May it be so.

I have always been a fan of nature. Ever since I was a kid, I loved being outdoors and going camping. I don’t know what it is – maybe the beauty in the created, the mystery of the woods, the grandeur of the mountains. There came a turning point (probably my first camping trip after becoming a Christian) where nature became more than something to be enjoyed, but it became a means of worshiping God for His power. Even today, the closest I feel to God is sitting on top of a mountain with my snowboard strapped to my feet. There is something about being immersed in His dwelling place, away from distraction and chaos. Floating through the woods in fresh powder . . . there are few things better.

Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Heart!
I love that David took the opportunity of a storm (granted, probably a pretty wicked storm) to write Psalm 29 and to worship God for just how powerful and majestic He is. Matthew Henry, as he always does, paints a beautiful picture of what stirred in David’s heart:

It is the probable conjecture of some very good interpreters that David penned this psalm upon occasion, and just at the time, of a great storm of thunder, lightning, and rain, as the eighth psalm was his meditation in a moon-light night and the nineteenth in a sunny morning . . . So composed was David, and so cheerful, even in a dreadful tempest, when others trembled, that then he penned this psalm; for, “though the earth be removed, yet will we not fear.” He calls upon the great ones of the world to give glory to God. To convince them of the goodness of that God whom they were to adore, he takes notice of his power and terror in the thunder, and lightning, and thunder-showers, his sovereign dominion over the world, and his special favour to his church.

It reminds me of a story Troy Nesbitt told at Cornerstone about a boy in a thunder storm. The boy’s mom was concerned that he would be afraid of the horrendous storm, so she poked her head in his room to find him staring out the window crying out, “Bang it again, God! Bang it again!”

Oh God, would we be so enthralled by Your power and majesty as shown in Your creation that we would cry out in wonder! That we would call out to everyone to give You the glory due to Your name.

It’s hard not to get caught up in a moment. I think part of the curse is that we are short-sighted, finite beings. So whether the moment is joyful or painful, it’s usually all we see.

And Now, The Rest Of The Story
A couple nights ago, Katie and I were watching a movie called Lars and the Real Girl, which we both thought was absolutely amazing. But, were we to watch only specific parts, or even to stop halfway through, there would be confusion, distaste, and maybe even anger toward the filmmakers. How could they let that happen? But when you finish the movie it all makes sense.

In Psalm 27, David gets it. He knows that he has to finish the end of the story. In fact, David already knows how the story will end, he just needs to remind himself.

“I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.”

When things are hard we tend to narrow our view way down, and in that moment we think that God has abandoned us, that He is playing this cosmic joke, and we usually get angry. If only we had the sense to zoom out and see the whole story. God has seen us through hard times before, and God will see us through hard times again. Why would this moment be any different?

We have to remember to be strong and take courage, for we will see the goodness of the Lord.

A few years ago, I heard a sermon by John MacArthur called The Sufficiency of Scripture. I was amazed at his meditation and insight on Psalm 19. Absolutely beautiful.

One thing he talked about (unfortunately, not documented in sermon transcription) is our desire to defend the scriptures, and to defend God. He said, “The Gospel is like a lion, you just need to let it out.” Why do we feel like we have to defend and justify God? If we really believed that His law is perfect and has the power to restore, His testimony is sure and makes us wise, His precepts are right and cause our hearts to rejoice, His commandment is pure and enlightening, to fear Him is to bring about cleanliness that endures forever, His judgments are true and righteous, and all of this being more desirable than gold, if we really believed that maybe we wouldn’t be so quick to want to defend God but we would just turn lose the Gospel and point people that way.

Just maybe.

For all you Eastern Orthodox followers (which I am guessing is none since only our family reads this), happy Clean Monday! Whether you are from the east or the west, the season of Lent is in full bloom. I really am amazed at how hard it is to follow something whole-heartedly. It’s easy to slip into a state of just getting something done, rather than savoring and reflecting. I am continually praying that God would change my heart.

Slippery Slopes
A couple days ago, I wrote about being aware of our heart. One thing I have noticed with the psalmist is not just blamelessness in his heart attitude, but overt confidence in his ways. The idea behind being blameless is not necessarily that you don’t do anything wrong (since we all know that we all do wrong), but it’s owning up to it, keeping short accounts, asking forgiveness. A good test is if you get nervous when a person calls, or your boss asks you to his/her office, or Johnny Law comes knocking on your door.

But more than that, it’s like the psalmist doesn’t even need to worry about making sure he’s blameless because he steps confidently knowing he is walking according to what God has commanded. What’s the secret? Meditation on the Lord’s instruction. In Psalms 16, 17, and 18 we see that day and night he thinks about it. He places it before him, literally in front of his eyes. And the result is that his feet are sure. Not only that, but it’s like God makes his feet bigger so his steps are all the more secure.

The paths of life are slippery enough as it is, I pray that I would do my part in meditating over God’s instruction so I can walk confidently through life with big feet.

Editor’s note: This post was actually published the morning of March 2, but was meant for March 1. I think I’m breaking all blogging community rules by back-posting, but whatever.

I remember being a kid and seeing all those “I Wanna Be Like Mike” commercials. And it was true, everyone wanted to be like Michael Jordan because he was cool, an amazing basketball player, won a ton of championships. The man had everything that someone could desire in this world.

Sometimes, to be honest, I still want to be like Mike. Fame and fortune has it’s appeal. But then I read Psalm 15, and it makes me want to be like the man who abides and dwells with God.

The one who:

• walk with integrity
• works righteousness
• speaks truth in his heart
• does not slander
• does no evil to his neighbor
• does not take up a reproach against his friend
• despises a wicked or depraved person
• honors those who fear the LORD
• swears to his own hurt and does not change
• does not put out his money at interest
• does not take a bribe against the innocent

He who does these things will never be shaken. That seems worth more than fame and fortune. God, may it be so.