February 2021 ~ Matt Mitchell

Sunday, February 28, 2021

"Rejoicing Comes in the Morning" Psalm 30 [Matt's Messages]

2/28/2021 06:00:00 AM COVID-19, Fortifying Truth, Lanse Free Church, Matt's Messages, Psalms, Worship at Home 0 comments

“Rejoicing Comes in the Morning”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

February 28, 2021 :: Psalm 30

Psalm 30 is a fun one because it’s a joyful testimony song.

King David is overjoyed because God has blessed him, saved him, rescued him from a near-death experience.

So David is just full of overflowing joy that he wants to turn into maximal praise.

And he wants everybody else to join with him in praising God.

Not just because of what the Lord has done which is wonderful, but because of how the Lord did it which is even more wonderful, and also because of why the Lord did it which is even more wonderful–because this is what the Lord is like.

Psalm 30 reveals the gracious heart of God for His people.

King David rejoices in God’s gracious heart to flip our troubles up-side-down and bring about a dramatic turnaround, a spectacular reversal of our situation–for those who belong to Him.

I love it because Psalm 30 does not downplay or de-legitimize our sorrows, but it perfectly contrasts them with the lasting joy that the Lord always and ultimately brings for His people.

The key verse is verse 5:

“For [the LORD’s] anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

David says, “That’s how it is with Yahweh! That’s how He is!”

Weeping is real and may stay the night as an unwelcome guest, but you can count on it, because of the LORD, rejoicing comes in the morning!

I don’t know about you, but I need to hear that these days!

So let’s look into Psalm 30 and make it our song today.

As I said, Psalm 30 is a testimony song by King David.

God’s been wonderfully good to him, and he has written a song to praise God for it. Look at verse 1.

“A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.”

Now that word the NIV translates “temple” is literally “house.”

So this could be the LORD’s house, the temple which David got everything ready for to build but didn’t get to build himself. Maybe he wrote this song to be sung by Solomon and everyone when it finally got dedicated. That’s possible.

Or maybe because this is such a personal song, David wrote this for the dedication of his personal palace. We’re not sure.

It was definitely for singing, and not just for David because he specifically calls upon other faithful believers to join him in singing. We’ll see that especially in verse 4.

But the voice of this psalm is first person singular, “I, me, my, mine.”

This is David’s personal testimony, which is a testimony of praise. Second part of verse 1.

“I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name.”

You can just feel the joy emanating from this guy, can’t you?!

David has been rescued, and he is reveling in it, and reflecting his praise to the One Who did it for him.

David recognizes that he was rescued by the LORD. He gives the LORD all of the credit, all of the glory.

And he’s so glad that his enemies did not get to rejoice. Verse 1 again.

“I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths [the Hebrew word is the word for pulling something up out of the water, like a bucket, David was saved from drowning so to speak and the LORD] and did not let my enemies gloat over me.”

“They thought I was going down for the count, but they were foiled and frustrated!”

The LORD had the last laugh. Verse 2 again.

“O LORD my God [note the personal relationship], I called to you for help and you healed me.”

Apparently, King David had been sick.

We’ve seen that sort of thing before. Remember Psalm 41, “The Song of the Sick King”?

It looked like David might die, and the vultures were circling.

But David prayed, and the Lord raised him up. Pulled him up. It was only a near-death experience. Verse 3 again.

“O LORD, you brought me up from the grave [he had just about died, one foot in the grave]; you spared me from going down into the pit. [Therefore we sing!] Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name.”

You see how he draws everybody into praising God with him?!

Praise like this is contagious.

I have three short points today of practical application from Psalm 30. Three things we ought to be doing ourselves as we model our lives off of this psalm. And the first is simply:

#1. EXALT THE LORD.

David would be so happy if we did that with him.

Exalt the Lord.

We don’t use that word “exalt” very often these days. To “exalt” means to lift someone or something up, to speak of something or someone very highly.

David says that he will exalt the LORD. He will give him high praise.

And he wants us to “Praise Him! Praise Him!,” too.

Have you ever had a near-death experience?

A couple of years ago, in like two days I lost control of my mini-van two times.

The first time, I was just driving down the road in icy conditions out on 53 right about at the stoplight at the Shortway, and I tapped the break and the van just did a 360 on me. Nobody was really coming, but it was really scary.

And then it was like the next day or right around there, I was coming down my own driveway which was icy, and something was coming down Maple towards the post-office, and my van would not stop. It would not stop.

And then right before the intersection, it stopped.

In times like that, we should exalt the LORD.

“Thank you, Lord! Praise you, Lord!”

And we should call upon others to exalt the Lord with us.

And, of course, how much more have we been saved than just from near-death experiences?

In Jesus Christ, we have been saved from a living-death experience.

The Bible says in Ephesians 2, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins...[Spiritual death.] But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved” (vv.1, 4-5, NIV84).

How much more should we who have been saved like that, exalt the LORD who has lifted us up from those depths? Brought us up from that grave?

And didn’t let our enemies (the world, the flesh, and the devil) gloat over us.

Exalt the Lord!

Because this is what He is like. Look at verse 5.

“Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. [Why?] For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

This is what the Lord is like. This is how He is for His covenant people.

Yes, he disciplines us. Yes, he has a chastening kind of anger.

Apparently, we’re going to see that David knew that he had somehow brought this sickness on himself. It was a discipline from the Lord.

But as true as the Lord’s chastening anger is, it is temporary and fleeting, only as long as it needs to be for achieving His redemptive purposes.

This is what His deepest heart is like to His people: “His favor lasts a lifetime.”

Yes, we may weep. But that’s temporary and short-lived, as well.

“...weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

You can on it! Just like the morning.

If you belong to Yahweh, then rejoicing will inevitably come and will one day last forever. A morning that last a life time. A bright morning that lasts forever.

“[R]ejoicing comes in the morning!”

Ever had a long night? It seemed like it would never end?

But you knew it would. Morning always comes.

And that’s the metaphor here. Morning is certain and bright.

Now, the New Testament takes this even further. In the New Testament, the sorrow is not just temporary but the Lord even uses that sorrow to bring the lasting joy. Like the labor pains that issue into the joy of new birth.

The Lord Jesus said in John 16, “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief [The Cross], but I will see you again [after the Resurrection and then again at His return] and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” (vv.20-22).

"[R]ejoicing comes in the morning!" Count on it.

And exalt the Lord.

Now, in verses 6 through 10, I think that David does a flashback. I think, here he takes us back to what got him into this trouble in the first place. The backstory of this testimony song. Look at verse 6.

“When I felt secure, I said, ‘I will never be shaken.’ O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.”

I think that David got presumptuous and over-confident in himself.

There is a right way to say, “I will never be shaken,” (when you are trusting in the Lord’s unfailing love) and a wrong way to say, “I will never be shaken.”

I think that David is saying that he got careless and complacent.

He decided that he was–on his own, in his own power, in his own position, in his own prosperity–unshakable.

I want to thank one of you who left a gift in my box at church this week.

These are some removable cleats for walking on ice. One of you, I don’t know who, it was an anonymous gift in my box, one of you took pity on me because of my stories about almost slipping and even actually falling and gave me these to put on my shoes to “get a grip out there” on the ice.

Thank you!

Now, what if I said, “Hey, I have these ice cleats now. I can walk anywhere. In fact, I can go running down Viaduct road when it’s a sheet of ice.”?

How do you think that’s going to go?

Beware of self-confidence instead of God-confidence.

Yes, He gives us stability. Verse 7 says that God had given David a mountain!

“O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm...”

We can stand firm, and that’s from the Lord.

Don’t be afraid of standing firm.

But don’t twist it and think you can stand firm on your own or even trust in God’s good gifts instead of God the good-gift-giver.

Don’t trust in the mountain. Trust in the one Who made the mountain stand firm.

If you don’t, then for a time, He may hide his face, which is a terrifying prospect.

And that’s, apparently, how David got into his predicament and almost died.

But then he did the right and only right thing to do; he cried out for help.

#2. CRY FOR MERCY. V.8

“To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:”

David repented of his smug self-sufficiency and humbly asked the Lord to restore him to health.

By the way, this is not saying that every time we are sick, it’s because we sinned.

It doesn’t work that way.

God doesn’t that work that.

Sickness is in the world because of sin, but not all sicknesses are because of our own particular sins.

But in this case David knew that his sickness, his being near death, had something to do with bad choices he had made, and he needed God’s own mercy and grace to raise him up again.

And he made a bold prayer when he did. Listen to this. Can you see yourself praying like this? V.9

Lord, “What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help.”

That’s a gutsy prayer. Humility and gutsiness in the same prayer.

David says, “Lord, what good would it do for me to die right now? If you take me right now (and I know I deserve it), You will have one less worshiper above ground.”

But if You are merciful to me, I’ll praise you and I’ll proclaim Your faithfulness.

The grave won’t do that. But you can count on me to!

Can you see yourself praying that way?

Well, it’s here in the Bible to teach us.

Heather said to me that it’s kind of like what Paul was saying to the Philippians in chapter 1 of his letter when he said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to die or live because to die meant to be with Christ which is better by far, but it would help the Philippians more if he stuck around a little while longer. So he figured that the Lord would keep him alive a bit more at least for them (vv.21-26).

Here David is telling the Lord that it very well could be better for God’s own glory if He prolongs David’s life at this point.

If He doesn’t, David is a goner.

“Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help.”

That’s what David said, and it’s a good prayer for us today, as well.

I think there are probably 50 times a week that we each could pray verse 10.

“Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help.”

Cry for mercy.

Because the Lord loves to give it!

The Lord is so merciful.

Remember Who He is?!

“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7).

He is the God of not just second chances but whole new situations.

He is the God of turnarounds.

He is the God of turnabouts.

He is the God of inversions.

He is the God of reversals.

He is the God who flips everything right-side-up.

That’s what He did for David. Verse 11.

“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.”

#3. SING FOR JOY.

When the Lord does His thing and turns everything around, you’ve got to give Him praise.

“That my heart by sing to you and not be silent.”

How could we be silent when we’ve been given so much?

I love the metaphors here in verse 11.

“You turned my wailing into dancing;”

I don’t know? Maybe that wasn’t a metaphor. He might have been literally wailing, and now was literally dancing.

David danced before the Lord.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to show you what I think it looked like! I don’t have the moves.

But David danced, and he danced for joy.

And he says that the LORD removed his sackcloth which was this very coarse fabric associated with mourning and lament and grieving and repentance and sadness.

David says, “The LORD removed David’s sackcloth and He “clothed me with joy.”

What a beautiful picture! Clothes made out of joy.

Can you imagine?

David dancing in clothes of joy.

And singing all the while.

“O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.”

Because the Lord deserves it. That’s what kind of God He is.

He is the God of turnarounds, and turnabouts, and spectacular reversals.

He is the God who flips everything right-side-up.

That’s what He was doing at the Cross and the Resurrection.

And that’s what He is doing in our lives today.

“[H]is anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

Sing for joy!

***

Fortifying Truth - Psalms - Fall 2020 / Winter 2021

01. Majestic and Mindful - Psalm 8
02. All Our Days - Psalm 90
03. "The LORD on High Is Mighty!" - Psalm 93
04. "The LORD Is My Shepherd" - Psalm 23
05. "Praise the LORD, O My Soul!" - Psalm 103
06. "The Blessing of Aaron's Oily Beard" - Psalm 133
07. "A Dying Thirst for the Living God" - Psalm 42
08. "Our Fortress" - Psalm 46
09. Unrestless - Psalm 131
10. "Sun and Shield" - Psalm 84
11. "With Songs of Joy" - Psalm 126
12. "His Love Endures Forever" - Psalm 136
13. "How Many Are Your Works, O LORD!" - Psalm 104
14. "My Soul Waits for the Lord" - Psalm 130
15. "Remember David" - Psalm 132
16. "My Son" - Psalm 2
17. "Search Me" - Psalm 139
18. "Cleanse Me" - Psalm 51
19. "A New Song" - Psalm 96
20. "Hear My Prayer, O LORD." - Psalm 86
21. "May All the Peoples Praise" - Psalm 67
22. "A Wedding Song" - Psalm 45
23. "My Feet Had Almost Slipped" - Psalm 73

"My Feet Had Almost Slipped" Psalm 73 [Matt's Messages]

2/21/2021 06:00:00 AM COVID-19, Fortifying Truth, Lanse Free Church, Matt's Messages, Psalms, Worship at Home 0 comments

“My Feet Had Almost Slipped”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

February 21, 2021 :: Psalm 73

Psalm 73 is a song that tells a story.

It’s a good story with a happy ending.

But it’s a scary story. It’s a cautionary tale.

Psalm 73 is a song that tells the story of a man who almost slipped and fell hard.

He almost did. In the end, he regained his balance, but he almost went down and took others with him.

We sure have had a lot of snow and ice around here, haven’t we? A couple weeks ago right before Prayer Meeting, I took a fall out on the ice.

I was, ironically, out spreading coal ashes so that our vehicles could get in and out over the ice. So I had this big bucket of ashes, and I was walking around dumping them in a wide arc, and then all of a sudden, I had that feeling that I was going to fall.

And I thought I had it, but then...wham! Down I went on this shoulder over here. Still hurts a bit when I put on my coat. But nothing was broken, and I was able to get up and even spread some more ashes and make it to Prayer Meeting on time.

But that wasn’t the last time I felt like I was going to slip. There’s more ice out there right now.

And often I worry that I’m going to reach out to Heather Joy on one of our walks down Viaduct Road and pull her down with me!

Well, that feeling, that reality, of almost going down and almost taking others with you is metaphorically what this songwriter, a Israeli worship leader named “Asaph,” was feeling when he wrote Psalm 73.

Let me read to you the first three verses of Psalm 73.

“A psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

Asaph wrote a bunch of the psalms, but I don’t think we’ve looked at any of his yet in the two dozen we’ve studied so far in this series.

This is the first psalm of the third book of the Psalms.

In Psalm 73, Asaph wrote a testimony song about his own experience of almost slipping that he uses to teach the wisdom that he’s gained from that experience to you and me.

He starts at the end of the story in verse 1. Just to make sure you know that it’s going to have a happy ending.

“Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.”

That’s true! And that’s where he’s going to end his story in verse 28 with the goodness of God to those who love Him and are near Him.

God is truly good to His covenant people.

But! This song is about a scary time in Asaph’s life. A near disaster. A crisis of faith in Asaph’s heart. A time when his heart was not pure, and he wasn’t at all sure that God was actually good. Verse 2 again.

“But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.”

I just about went down!

And here’s where I got tripped up (v.3).

“For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

I only have two major points of application to make in this message (one covering verses 1 through 15, and the other drawn from verses 16 through 28), and here’s the first big one:

#1. DON’T SLIP BY ENVYING WHAT THE WICKED HAVE.

Asaph was nearly taken down by his own envy of the arrogant when he saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Asaph discerned a pattern that contradicted what he thought should be.

He perceived that the wicked, the evil, the bad guys in this world were often experiencing prosperity.

Good things were happening to bad people.

Often we feel and articulate the problem of evil as “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

But Aspah was feeling the question, “Why do good things happen to bad people?”

“And if that’s how it actually works, why not be a bit of a bad person myself?”

Now, it’s possible that Asaph’s envy was blinding him to some of the realities of how things actually are. Often, the wicked do not prosper even in this life. And the Lord often does bless His people even in this life.

But you have to admit that Asaph had a point.

When you look out there on the world, we do see a lot of good things coming to bad people, right?

Do I need to convince you of that?

In his song, Asaph gives us some examples. Verse 4.

“They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.”

He sounds envious, doesn’t he?

These guys have it all. They are free from “disease and disaster” (John Stott’s phrase).

They look great on Instagram. They have a 3 million followers on YouTube.

They are carefree and rolling in dough.

And they are proud of it! Verse 6.

“Therefore pride is their necklace [flaunted on display!]; they clothe themselves with violence. [Getting away with anything.] From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits [big boundless dreams and unlimited plans]. They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression [others will get hurt and have no say in it]. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.”

Literally, “Their tongues strut through the earth.”

That just reeks of arrogance! They are successful. They are prosperous. And they let everybody know it.

And people just love them for it! Verse 10.

“Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. [That’s a hard verse to translate from the Hebrew, but I think the NIV gets it basically right. People lap this stuff up! Folks like this are surrounded by a posse of sycophants who “accept everything they say without question” (Tremper Longman).] And they dare to question God Himself. Verse 11.] They say, ‘How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?’”

That’s the height of arrogance, right there, my friends.

They mock and defy God Himself. They say that if He exists (and He probably doesn’t), then He sure seems to be falling down on the job.

Asaph envied the arrogant. You can tell. Verse 12.

“This is what the wicked are like–always carefree, they increase in wealth. [And I wish I could get a piece of that! Verse 13.] Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.”

Asaph was suffering. He had been a “good little boy,” and yet he was suffering. We don’t know with what, but it was dogging his heels. “Every morning.” His trials, like God’s mercies, were new every morning. It felt like daily plague and daily punishment.

So what good did it to do to keep his hands clean? What good did it do to keep his nose clean?

Apparently, being “good” didn’t pay. But being “bad” sure seemed to.

“I thought Psalm 1 said that if I was in the Word every day that I would prosper in every way.

Well, I tried it, and it didn’t work. And those guys didn’t try it, and look at them! They’re getting away with it! There is no justice.”

He’s that close to a fall.

Now, one of the things I love about the Psalms is how raw and real they are, don’t you?

If you have ever felt this way (and who hasn’t?), there is a song for you to sing that feeling out in the Bible!

It’s so refreshing to read this honesty from this psalmist.

Don’t be afraid to tell God how you really feel.

Now, obviously, that doesn’t mean that your feelings are all right, all correct. Asaph was feeling the wrong thing and almost slipped, but he doesn’t have to hide that from God. And, in fact, he doesn’t even have to hide it from us. He sings about it for us. He tells us his experience so that we can learn from it, too.

Asaph was about to slip by envying the wicked for what they had, which seemed to be just about everything.

And, even worse, Asaph almost took others down with him. Verse 15.

“If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’ I would have betrayed your children.”

If worship leader Asaph had then officially taught what he had been thinking and feeling, he would have not only gone down himself, but also led some of the precious children of Israel astray.

And he almost did!

He could not sort it all out. And it made him miserable. Verse 16.

“When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”

This is the turning point of the song and the turning point of the story.

Asaph experienced a moment of truth that changed his whole perspective. What was it? Verse 17 again.

“[I]t was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God...”

Asaph went into the tabernacle or temple. Whichever one it was at that point.

And he met God in worship.

We don’t know what happened in there!

We don’t know exactly what Asaph experienced.

I tend to think it was just the regular old trip to the temple and looking around at what goes on there.

Sacrifices. Blood on the altar. The bread and the candles that marked the presence of God, the veil of the Holy of Holies. The great reminders of the majesty and splendor and holiness of God.

Whatever it was exactly, Asaph entered the sanctuary of God and came out with a new perspective on everything.

Especially on where everything is headed.

“...I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”

After his encounter with God, Asaph saw that things are not as they might seem.

After his encounter with God, Asaph saw that things are not as they are going to be!

I think Asaph got a view of eternity.

He saw not just what the wicked have now, but what was coming to them.

And it wasn’t something to envy. Verse 18.

“Surely [same word as verse 1. "Surely"] you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. [They are the ones who are going to slip!] How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.”

Now, that’s scary! Asaph sings that when the time comes, when the time is ripe, the Lord will like wake up and shrug off the wicked like a bad dream. Their present pleasures are going to fall off like the phantasms they are. And they are going down, down, down.

What scary words, “O Lord, you will despise them.” When that happens, no one in the universe will envy them then.

I’m sure that plenty of onlookers envied the rich travelers that boarded the Titanic on April 10, 1912. But no one was envying them on April 16th!

Don’t slip into envying the wicked for what they have.

In the sanctuary of God, Asaph got a glimpse of where the wicked were headed.

And he was reminded of what he really had.

That’s the second big point of application from Psalm 73 today:

#2. DON’T FORGET THAT YOU HAVE EVERYTHING!

You won’t slip if you see and savor everything you have because, in having God, you have everything.

Asaph almost slipped and lost everything. And he felt it deep in his psyche. Verse 21.

“When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.”

Notice that he’s saying that while his envious feelings were natural, they were still totally wrong. He was beastly and mindless and sub-human in his thinking.

Because he was forgetting what he had in God!

His feet had almost slipped, but God had not let him go down. V.23

“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.”

These last six verses of Psalm 73 are just magnificent. They just sing of the glorious goodness of knowing God! This is what we call around here, “A life-changing relationship with the Lord.”

He says, “I am always with you.”

Now, he could have said (like Psalm 139 we read last month) that God is always with him.

But he says it the other way around to mean the same thing, but to emphasize how safe it makes him feel.

“I’m with Him! I’m always with Him.”

In fact, he holds me by my right hand.

I am that secure.

Like a little kid, “Daddy’s got me by my right hand.”

How good it is!

He says, “You guide me with your counsel.” God’s own counsel. God’s own guidance.

“And afterward you will take me into glory.”

That word “afterward” is the same root word translated “final destiny” in verse 17.

Asaph knows not just where the wicked will be going, but by God’s grace, he knows where he will end up, as well.

“You will take me into glory.”

Wow. Amazing what a little bit of true worship can do in your life?!

That changes things, doesn’t it?

It doesn’t answer every theological question about why good things happen to bad people. Why God allows the wicked to prosper for a time.

Or why there is so much suffering of God’s people for a time.

But it does show that everything is not as it seems.

And everything is not as it is will be.

And it also shows us that if we have God, we have everything. Verse 25.

“Whom have I in heaven but you? [Nobody; but what else do I need?] And earth has nothing I desire besides you. [If I have You, I have everything!] My flesh and my heart may fail [I may fall apart and die!], but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

That word “strength” is literally, “Rock.”

God is the rock of my heart.

The stability and strength of my heart.

If God is the stabilizing rock of your heart, you will not slip and fall!

He is your “portion” forever.

That’s like your inheritance.

Your piece of the pie. God is your piece of the pie.

Is that enough? That’s everything!

Don’t forget that you have everything.

Do you realize you have everything?

Unless, of course, you don’t.

The song ends with a choice to make.

It’s a pretty obvious choice when you put it like Asaph does, but things don’t always feel like this out there in real life.

We need songs like Psalm 73 to bring the reality home to us. Listen to verse 27 as Asaph brings it all home.

“Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.”

Far from God. The wicked are far from God.

They might have all the VIP trappings now, but they are soon headed for total destruction.

And that includes those who claim to know God but don’t really. “All who are unfaithful” like the adulterous apostasy that Asaph was flirting with.

“[Y]ou destroy all who are unfaithful to you.”

That’s one side. Here’s the other. Verse 28.

“But as for me [here’s the happy ending to the scary story of this song! But as for me], it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”

It is so good to be near God. If you have Him, you will not slip, and you will have everything! Come near to God. Repent and put your faith and hope in Jesus Christ and His blood.

You’ll be safe from all alarms, “I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge.”

And instead of slipping and taking other people down, you’ll speak out and take other people up with you to glory.

“I will tell of all your deeds.”

Like right now, right here, giving testimony to the goodness of God.

Come near and go tell others that, in God, they can have everything that truly matters forever!

***

22. "A Wedding Song" - Psalm 45

“A Wedding Song” Psalm 45 [Matt's Messages]

2/14/2021 06:00:00 AM COVID-19, Fortifying Truth, Lanse Free Church, Matt's Messages, Psalms, Worship at Home 0 comments

“A Wedding Song”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

February 14, 2021 :: Psalm 45

I chose Psalm 45 for this Sunday because this Sunday is Valentine’s Day, February 14th. And here we are in the middle of a sermon series on the Psalms! And I don’t know when a better occasion would ever arise to preach Psalm 45. I’ve never preached Psalm 45. I don’t think I’ve even ever heard a sermon preached by anyone on Psalm 45!

Because Psalm 45 is a little different. It’s not quite like any of the other psalms in the Psalter. It’s not really a praise song. It’s not really a prayer song. It’s more of a prophetic song and even more of a royal song, but it’s not quite like any of the other prophetic or royal psalms either because Psalm 45 is a wedding song.

If anything, it’s more like the Song of Songs than any of the other psalms. But it’s not that much like the Song of Solomon either because it’s not love poems from the guy to the gal and back again. It’s a song composed by a court poet, one of the Sons of Korah (from whom we’ve heard some of their other songs in this series) written about and to the royal couple for the occasion of a royal wedding.

A song written about and to the royal couple for the occasion of a royal wedding.

There’s just nothing else like it in the Book of Psalms.

And, really, there’s nothing else like this wedding. You and I have never seen a wedding like this one in Psalm 45. It is so absolutely brilliant and beautiful, lavish and dazzling and supercharged.

And the language of Psalm 45 is so heightened and exalted and supercharged as well that it has to be talking about more than just this one stunning royal wedding. That’s why I say that it’s prophetic, as well.

Have I you piqued your curiosity?

As we read Psalm 45, you’ll see that it totally belongs in the Book of Psalms even though it is different from all the others because, in the end, it’s not just about this one resplendent couple, it’s ultimately about our Lord.

Let’s get into it. Here is the superscription. Psalm 45, verse 1.

“For the director of music. To the tune of ‘Lilies.’ [I wonder what that sounded like. I’m sure it was grand and expansive and beautiful!] Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil. A wedding song.”

So here we have a wedding song that was composed to be sung about and even to the royal couple at their royal wedding.

The king of Israel is getting married. A son of David is taking a bride to be his wife. That’s a big honking deal occasion! And so a wedding song has been commissioned.

Perhaps this was for Solomon. He certainly understood the role of brilliant pomp and opulent ceremony.

And I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that this song had been sung at every Davidic King’s wedding from Solomon on.

Because I think that this psalm is aspirational and anticipational.

This song describes what the royal couple ought to be and one day certainly will.

It’s clear that the wedding song writer was aware that he was writing something big. Look at the second half of verse 1.

“My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.”

That’s different, isn’t it? In the Psalms, we don’t normally get the songwriter telling us how he feels as he sits down to put pen to parchment.

But this son of Korah is obviously feeling it. His heart is stirred. His tongue is writing with great skill. He is feeling the inspiration, and he just knows that something big and noble and good is going to flow right out of him.

And it’s going to be about the king.

Verses 2 through 9 are addressed directly to the Royal Groom.

Verses 10 through 15 are going to directly address the Royal Bride.

And then in verse 16, the song will return to the Royal Groom, speaking really to both of them about their Royal Princes, the Royal Heirs.

And then in verse 17, the songwriter will talk about himself and what he’s doing with this song one more time to round things off.

Every true wedding has a Bride and a Groom.

And this songs starts with the Groom for he is the king. Verse 2. Listen for the exalted language. Again, this is aspirational and anticipational. This is how the king should be and how he certainly one day will be. Verse 2.

“You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever.”

Do you see how exalted this is, right from the git-go?!

It’s the king’s wedding day, and this song praises him. He is the most excellent of men, and his speech is excellent, as well. His mouth is full of graciously anointed words, blessed by God forever! It says, “forever!”

Two things here. The first thing to note is how much God cares about gracious speech. He cares about how we talk. About what we say. This is where the psalmist begins to praise the character of this king, the king’s speech, his words.

The other thing to note is that probably this king didn’t quite live up to this song lyric.

He should have! Maybe he did to a degree that no one else had yet. We don’t know.

But it’s probably more aspirational than actual. It was sung about him on his wedding day with the hopes that it would come to pass.

This was his calling. That’s certainly true in verses 3 through 5.

“Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty. In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds. Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet.”

There’s a reason why this psalm is not sung at most of our weddings.

It surely wasn’t sung at Heather's and mine.

Because this is not what every husband is supposed to be and do.

Every husband should have lips anointed with grace. But we aren’t all supposed to suit up in splendor and majesty and run out to war.

The ancient king of Israel was supposed to do that. He was supposed to have his sharp arrows pierce the hearts of his enemies and have the nations fall beneath his feet.

Here the nations are not glad like we saw last week in Psalm 67. These are not repentant and newly worshiping peoples. These are the unrepentant enemies of Israel and her king such as we saw back in Psalm 2.

And this king is called to fight and to beat them. He is called to win. To ride forth victoriously and to win.

And yet notice on whose behalf he rides in verse 4.

It’s not for his own aggrandizement. It’s on “behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness.”

Humility?! Fighting on behalf of humility and meekness. That’s surprising.

And that’s a tall order! It takes a truly great king to defend humility.

Now, verse 6 is the verse that rockets this psalm to the highest level of just about any psalm in the book.

Apparently still addressing the Royal Groom, the King of Israel, the psalmist sings about his throne and his scepter, those powerful symbols of his rule, and he appears to call him, “God.” Look at verse 6.

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.”

Now, that’s pretty unique. Most of the time, humans are not called quote-unquote “God” in the Bible unless they are actually also God Himself.

So I would normally think that this was simply a change of address. That the psalmist was turning up to God in prayer in verse 6 before turning back to the king in verse 7.

Or perhaps I would go with a perfectly good alternative translation that says something like, “Your godly throne, or the throne of God from which you rule will last forever and ever.”

But the author to the letter to the Hebrews in our New Testament quotes this verse of Psalm 45 in Hebrews chapter 1 verses 8 and 9 and says that they are about God the Son. Listen to Hebrews 1, “But about the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.’”

So Psalm 45, verse 6 is, at least, about the Son of God.

And so this song apparently is actually addressing the king of Israel and calling him “God.”

Now, of course, Solomon was not actually God. And neither were any of the sons of David in the Old Testament.

But remember Psalm 2 says that they were in some sense the “Son” of God. God had promised David that He Himself would be a father to David’s sons and they would be as God’s sons (see 2 Samuel 7:14).

And so in that sense as “sons” of God, they could even, as they sit on this very throne, be called quote-unquote “God.”

How much more, of course, could One Who sat on that very throne be called “God” because He actually metaphysically eternally was God?!

This psalm is clearly prophetic. It anticipates the Messianic King Who is actually factually divine.

And it’s also aspirational. This king on his wedding day is being called rule with justice.

Don’t miss that word “justice” in verse 6 when you see that word “God.” Don’t get hung up on “God” and miss the word “justice.”

The king’s scepter is the scepter of justice. Unbiased, perfectly fair, righteous and just in every single way.

O how we long for justice!

The Psalms and the Prophets are full of calls for justice and predictions of the day when justice will be done and be seen to be done.

The songwriter says that the Royal Groom will rule with justice.

In fact, he says that he’s been set above all of the others in the kingdom because he loves justice. Verse 7.

“You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

Now, notice something interesting there. Here the king is not called “God.” He has a God. “God, your God, has set you above your companions.”

This king has been exalted by God.

So, now, which is it? Is he God or does he have a God?

I’m sure that this was a mystery to the first listeners to this song. Scratching their heads.

Maybe a mystery even to the songwriter himself. “Why did I write it like that?”

Answer: The original king of Psalm 45 was only a quote-unquote “God,” and he had a God.

But the One that this Psalm points us to, the One this Psalm anticipates is God and is with God, has a God. Sound familiar? Check out the Gospel of John chapter 1, verse 1.

Now, it’s easy to get caught up in the exalted language and forget that this is the king’s wedding day.

This is all lead up to the Royal Wedding.

The Royal Groom has been anointed with the oil of joy, but he’s anointed with much more. Verse 8.

“All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad. Daughters of kings are among your honored women; at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.”

The Royal Groom is all decked out and ready to get married!

He is layered with sumptuous luxuriant fragrances. Remember, they don’t have any deodorants! And these scents are expensive and extravagant for this unique imperial occasion.

The music is just right. It’s swelling and bouncing off of the priceless ivory in the palace and making the Groom’s heart glad.

And it’s an international affair of state. Highborn daughters of other kings in all of their foreign finery are present.

And there she is!

Wearing a gorgeous gown embroidered with the most precious gold in the Bible, the gold of Ophir, is the Royal Bride!

And there, the song begins to sing to and about her. Verse 10

“Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father's house. [Not totally of course, but change your primary allegiance. That’s what marriage is. You transfer your primary allegiance now to your spouse. And them to you. V.11] The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord. [You can see them looking at each other as this is sung.] The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift, men of wealth will seek your favor. [Again, this is an international affair of state. The Royal Bride will receive gifts and honored requests from heads of state. She, too, will be exalted. And she too is glorious. V.13] All glorious is the princess within her chamber; her gown is interwoven with gold.

[And here’s the actual wedding procession. You can hear Pacabel’s Canon in D. You can hear “The Wedding March.”] In embroidered garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions [her bridesmaids] follow her and are brought to you. They are led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king.”

What a holy moment!

This is the best part of just about any wedding, right?

There’s the “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” And that’s joyful and awesome.

But there’s that holy moment when the Groom sees the Bride, and she comes to him in all of her beauty.

And the two come together, and they are married!

And the psalmist says that their union will be blessed with children.

In verse 16, he switches back to singing to the king. The Hebrew is masculine here. V.16

“Your sons will take the place of your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land. [Davidic succession as promised. And then the song writer tells us why he’s so excited to have gotten to write this psalm. V.17] I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.”

He knew that he was writing one for the ages!

And here we are in Pennsylvania fulfilling it on Valentines Day 2021!!! We are perpetuating the memory of this king by reading this wedding song 3,000 years after it debuted at that particular royal wedding.

So how do we apply this psalm to our lives in 2021?

It’s really different from the other psalms, so our application has to probably be a little different, as well.

I think we could legitimately draw some applications for weddings and marriages from Psalm 45. We could use the Royal Groom and the Royal Bride as models for being godly husbands and wives.

Husbands with godly speech. Husbands that defend truth, humility, and righteousness. Husbands of justice that hate wickedness. Husbands that are enthralled by their wives’ beauty (and their beauty alone).

Wives that transfer their primary allegiances to their husbands and submit to their husbands’ headship.

I think we could draw some principles for good and godly weddings. There needs to be a Groom and a Bride. There are not two grooms or two brides. Or three of anything. (It’s amazing to me that I have to say that, but I do.)

We could draw the application of holding weddings and going big with them to mark them as the special occasion that they are. How sex should saved until that wedding day when the bride comes to her groom. How beautiful music and fine clothes are appropriate for a wedding. How good it is to have God-glorifying wedding songs.

Those are probably legitimate applications to some degree, but I don’t think they are main ones that we should take from Psalm 45.

Because the language of Psalm 45 keeps bursting the bonds of that original wedding to point to something much greater. And Someone much greater!

This psalm is not just aspirational about what the kings and queens of Israel were supposed to be and do. This wedding song is anticipational of what the ultimate king of Israel would be and do.

We get our cues from the book of Hebrews that says that this Psalm prophesies of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God the Son.

So if you and I are in this psalm at all, we are all prefigured in the person of the Royal Bride.

Not each of us, but all of us together corporately are the Bride of Christ.

So we can hear the call of verse 10 to “forget” and leave as a call to sanctification and dedication to our Lord Jesus above all others.

And we can look forward to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb foretold in the Book of Revelation chapter 19 where John the Revelator says, “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints)” (19:6-8, NIV).

That’s us, brothers and sisters.

This psalm calls us to get ourselves ready for that great day of joy and gladness when many sons are brought to glory (see Hebrews 2:10 in juxtaposition to Psalm 45:16).

But the truest center and focus of this psalm isn’t us, is it? It isn’t the Bride as glorious as she is made to be.

The center and focus of this royal psalm is the Royal Groom because He is the king.

And it anticipates the King of Kings.

Every time there was a new king in Israel, and probably every time one of them got married, everybody hoped that this new king would fulfill all of Psalm 45.

But none of them did. Some of them did it more than others, but none of them did it perfectly. None of them did it fully.

Who could live up to this song?!

We know Who!

This psalm sings us to Jesus.

Who came and battled on behalf of truth and righteousness and did it from a position of deep humility.

He died on the Cross to win our salvation! He humbled Himself to the point of death.

And in doing that, he pierced the hearts of His enemies so that they all fall before His feet.

Jesus’ throne will last forever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of His kingdom. God has blessed Him forever and ever.

Here’s the application:

Love King Jesus.

Long for King Jesus.

And praise King Jesus forever and ever.

***

EveryPsalm #45 from Poor Bishop Hooper

2/13/2021 02:43:00 PM Psalms, Videos 1 comment

Beautiful capturing of the message of Psalm 45 from Poor Bishop Hooper.

"May All the Peoples Praise You" Psalm 67 [Matt's Messages]

2/07/2021 06:00:00 AM COVID-19, Fortifying Truth, Lanse Free Church, Matt's Messages, Psalms, Worship at Home 0 comments

“May All the Peoples Praise You”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

February 7, 2021 :: Psalm 67

Psalm 67 is a radiantly-beautiful, carefully-constructed prayer song that passionately asks God to bless His people so that all of the peoples of the earth will come to praise Him.

Do you ever worry that it might be wrong to ask God to bless you?

I talk to people regularly who do not want to ask God for things for themselves in their prayer times. They want to focus on other people. “Other people have it so bad. I feel bad asking God for myself. Much less to ask Him to ‘bless me.’"

And you know there’s something good about that. Because too often many of us only ask things for ourselves. We can pray selfishly. No doubt.

But Psalm 67 shows us that it is good and right and godly to ask God to bless us.

But when we do, we are to do it so that others receive the blessing through us, as well. In fact, we are to pray that God blesses us so that all of the peoples of the earth will blessed, too.

Let me show you what I mean in Psalm 67. I said that Psalm 67 is radiantly-beautiful and carefully-constructed. You can tell from the word choice and the symmetry of the psalm.

In just 7 verses there is all kinds of structure and repetition and symmetry. It starts out with a big prayer request, builds to a central declaration with matching praise phrases on either side of it, and then bookends with a repeat of some of the opening themes.

We don’t know who wrote it, but we know they wrote it good!

Let me read the whole thing for you. And listen for these words and how they land:

“Bless,” “nations,” “peoples,” “praise,” and “all.” A-L-L. Ready? Here we go.

Does the prayer of verse 1 sound really familiar to you? I hope it does.

The psalmist sticks a “selah” at the end of verse 1 even before he completes his opening thought.

I think he put a note to pause and ponder there to make sure that we all recognize the hypertext reference to Numbers chapter 6, verse 24 through 26.

When the LORD established the Levitical priesthood first led by Moses’ brother Aaron the high priest, he gave Aaron a blessing to pray over the people of Israel.

I use it several times a week when praying for my boys at night.

When I preached through the book of Numbers here, I prayed it over you at the end of every worship time in 2007, sometimes in Hebrew!

Numbers chapter 6 says, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ‘The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you [shalom] peace.’ So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.’”

Sound familiar? Well, the writer of Psalm 67 was clearly thinking about that Aaronic blessing when he wrote this song for the director of temple music to put to stringed instruments and then have everyone sing together in worship.

But here in verse 1 it’s not the priest saying it over the people.

It is the people praying it up to God. Verse 1.

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah”

Just think about that. Pause and ponder. Selah.

Not only is it good and right, but it is authorized and godly to ask God to bless you.

Israel is asking God to pour out His blessings on them.

Perhaps this was sung at harvest time. Verse 6 will lend some evidence in that direction.

Perhaps the psalmist just heard the priest pronounce that blessing over him after he had brought an offering to the temple, and he’s adding his voice in supplication for that blessing. We don’t know.

But we do know that the song is asking God for His blessing on His people.

Not that they deserve it!

“May God be gracious to us.” That means to give us what we don’t deserve and to not give us what we do deserve! “Be gracious.”

And bless us. Be good to us. Give us blessings.

“And make his face shine upon us.” That’s the greatest blessing there is! The radiance of God’s personal presence. His face! These are words of intimacy and personal relationship. For true personal knowledge of God through His shining favor.

These words are so good, it is hard to find other words to capture and restate them with!

This is a good thing for us to pray.

So have you prayed like this recently? Have you asked God to bless you?

To be gracious to you, to bless you, to make His face shine upon you?

Don’t be afraid to!

Be afraid not to–because this should be our guide.

Ask God to bless you, to bless your family, to bless your church, to bless your community, to bless your workplace, to bless your nation.

Not that we deserve it! Sometimes we pray, “God bless America,” and it comes out sounding like we’re saying, “We’re so good, God’s gotta be good to us. God bless America.”

But the song “America the Beautiful” pleads, “God shed His GRACE on thee.” Because we are not good, so we need Him to be good to us in spite of us.

But we ask for it. Verse 1. “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah”

Yes, do that!

But catch this. Follow the train of thought.

We ask for this blessing on us, but it’s not just blessing for us. Verse 2.

“...that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.”

That’s the purpose in verse 2 of the prayer of verse 1.

Israel was to sing and pray for God to bless them so that God’s ways would be known beyond borders of Israel, so that God’s salvation would be known among ALL nations.

So there’s obviously another hypertext here in the mind of the psalmist.

He isn’t just thinking about Numbers chapter 6. He’s also thinking about Genesis chapter 12.

Do you remember when we studied Genesis together and we learned about a little thing often called the “Abrahamic Covenant?” A set of promises that God made to Father Abraham?

Summarized in three words: Offspring, Land, and...Blessing?

In Genesis chapter 12, God promised to bless Abraham and to make him a blessing for all the peoples on earth. He said (Genesis 12:2&3): “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Remember that? The songwriter of Psalm 67 sure does.

His song asks God to bless them so that every other people group on earth is blessed along the way.

In many ways, this is an Old Testament song about missions.

Did you know that missions is in the Old Testament?

Most of the time when the word “nations” occurs in the Psalms, it’s a negative reference. Because the “nations” are often the enemies of Israel. We saw that back at Christmastime when we studied Psalm 2 and the nations were unsuccessfully conspiring against the LORD and against His Anointed One.

But here the nations are receiving salvation.

And we saw in Psalm 2 that they were invited to that salvation, to take refuge in Israel’s promised Messiah.

But here the people are praying for God’s blessing so that the nations will know His saving power.

Do you see how this works?

Israel was to pray that they would be blessed so that they would become a blessing.

This raises the question, “What do you do with your blessings?”

When you are blessed, what happens next?

Because in God’s economy, in God’s system, we are blessed to be a blessing.

We are not supposed to be “cul-de-sacs” of God’s blessings. We are supposed to be conduits of God’s blessings. Channels of God’s blessings.

Sometimes we get to thinking that we are supposed to be the “roach motels” of God’s blessings. They come in to us, but they don’t go out.

Often we act like a dead-end street. “Thank you, Lord, for blessing me.” And that’s it.

But when the Lord blesses us, we are supposed to be passing that blessing along.

Because there is plenty of God’s blessing to go around.

What do you do with your blessings?

We are supposed to pray for them to come in, but we should not stop there.

Ask God to bless you to bless the nations.

Ask God to bless your family to bless the nations.

Ask God to bless your church to bless the nations.

Ask God to bless your community to bless the nations.

Ask God to bless your workplace to bless the nations.

Ask God to bless your nation to bless the nations.

I’m so glad that Israel sang this song and prayed this prayer.

They didn’t do it perfectly. In fact, they didn’t do it enough in the Old Testament.

Old crankypants Jonah didn’t pray this prayer and was miffed when God was fixing to bless the city of Nineveh through his preaching!

But the faithful remnant always sang this song and prayed this prayer. And many individuals from the surrounding nations came to faith in the God of Israel in the Old Testament.

And then in the New Testament, it gets ramped up 1,000%!

And the Lord Jesus sends out His blessed people with the blessed message of the blessed gospel to bless all of the nations, fulfilling this psalm!

And answering this prayer.

“...that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.”

They weren’t just praying blessing for themselves but blessing on themselves that attracted the nations, taught the nations God’s ways (God’s laws, God’s paths), and even made His salvation known among all peoples.

Verse 3 shows that the end goal of this prayer request is joyful praise among all peoples. Verse 3.

“May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.”

Not just Israel. But all the peoples.

That’s really important. It shows the missionary heart of God and what should be the missionary heart of our prayers.

Is this your prayer? That all of the peoples would praise the Lord?

Last week, I pointed to a wall of pictures of our church family.

This week, I want to point to another wall of pictures in our church building and that’s this wall of pictures of our missionary families.

The precious servants who have answered the call to go to the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We partner with them. We send them. And we pray for them.

Are you praying for these folks? Are you praying for the peoples they are trying to reach with the gospel?

“May all the peoples praise you!”

You can see that there is a couple of blank spots here.

For the last several months, our Missions Ministry Team has been working closely with ReachGlobal, the missions arm of our association of churches to discover who our next set of missionaries to partner with will be.

We are getting close to having names and stories and countries to tell you about. We’re excited. Please pray!

We pray that “all the peoples” would praise the Lord.

All. I love it that the EFCA actually has a ministry called “The All People’s Initiative.” We have a dedicated team of people to help us minister to, and understand, and partner with people who are very different from us, Ethnically, racially, culturally.

This is Black History Month in the United States, and that’s a great opportunity each year for us in the church to learn some of the history of Black people in the United States including some of the terrible ways that they have been treated by professing Christians. Professing Christians who did not pass on their blessings to the nations but hoarded them for themselves. And on the flipside to learn about the contributions to the church by Black Christians.

This Black History Month, I’m listening to the audiobook of David Blight’s excellent biography of Frederick Douglass who had been enslaved and was our brother in Christ. What a life! What a contribution he made to our nation!

“All the peoples.”

“May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.”

And think about this. This really hit me when I was preparing this message. Think about this: We are an answer to this prayer request!

Because from the perspective of Psalm 67, we are the peoples! We are the nations!

None of us here are Hebrew, right?

None of us here are Israeli, right?

None of us here are ethnically Jewish, right?

So they were praying for us!

When they prayed Psalm 67 in faith, they were praying for the peoples including the Gentiles that live today in Central Pennsylvania! V.4

“May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah”

We fulfill that song every time we gather to worship and rejoice that we know this God!

And what we know about Him is amazing. We already said that He’s gracious. Here we find out that He is just and righteous.

He rules the peoples–or that might actually be a prophecy for the future that he will rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth.

He will set all to right.

He make all things right.

He rules righteously.

And don’t we all long for justice to come and for it come perfectly?

That’s what kind of a God we know!

So verse 5 is the exact same words as verse 3.

“May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.”

It’s repeated because it’s so important!

Is this your prayer? Do you repeat this prayer to the Lord regularly?

I remember one time a few years ago playing basketball with a group of guys and then at half-time we had a little Bible study and devotion and somebody raised a prayer request for the people in another country that were experiencing internal troubles.

And one of the young men I was with said to me, “Those people don’t deserve our prayers or our help. I say we help the people around here and don’t worry about them. They don’t deserve it.”

And I couldn’t believe my ears. And I’ve learned since then that that’s a popular notion even among professing Christians.

I’m so thankful for missionary Christians who brought the gospel to these shores. Who brought the gospel to these ears. That they didn’t keep the blessings to themselves.

I want to pray like this. I fail at it all of the time.

But I want this to be my model of a prayerful heart for the nations.

To love ALL people.

And to want ALL people know the love of God in Christ Jesus.

I want to pray for the fulfillment of the vision of Revelation chapter 7 when John say before him “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

That’s an fulfillment of Psalm 67, verse 5. “May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.”

And you know what happens when we pray like that? The Lord blesses us some more. V.6

“Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.”

Israel saw that their fruitful crops were physical blessings and signs of God’s grace.

We know that the blessings of God go much deeper than the soil. They get all the way down to the salvation of our souls.

Because the grace of this God and the justice of this God met and kissed at the Cross of Jesus Christ.

So that His righteous wrath was satisfied and He poured out His love on His people and on all of the nations so that all of the ends of the earth will fear him even in Clearfield County Pennsylvania!

Because the ultimate fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, the ultimate offspring of Abraham was named Jesus Christ, and He is the ultimate blessing for all the peoples on the earth, as well.

Psalm 67 turns our gaze upward and outward. We learn to pray missionary prayers that the nations would be glad and sing for joy.

Psalm 67 is a radiantly-beautiful, carefully-constructed prayer song that passionately asks God to bless His people so that all of the peoples of the earth will come to praise Him.

May we sing this song and pray this prayer and may His kingdom come so that ALL the peoples will praise Him.

***

20. "Hear My Prayer, O LORD." - Psalm 86

"Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom" by David Blight, read by Prentice Onayemi

2/01/2021 10:20:00 AM Book Reviews, Race 0 comments

In my ears right now. What an amazing life!

David Blight is my favorite historian of the Civil War era (I've listened to Yale lectures 3 times now). He has a tremendous grasp of the facts and a wonderful way with words. This book is very deserving of its Pulitzer. And Prentice Onayemi's voice is perfect for listening to it.

I just got to the part where Douglass is converted to personal faith in Jesus Christ.

It's more important to read Douglass's own narrative in his own words if you haven't already, but after you do, this is a great way to get a sense of the bigger picture and the entirety of his life and work.