Encourage the Good

I wonder what you think about God. I mean quietly. What thoughts circulate in your head? I guess we would like to think that God loves us because if not, then who does? But does that love feel more like a reluctant obligation or an enthusiastic commitment? I believe we want to trust in God’s power and provision. 

But is God really up to the job, does the Lord understand the complexity of my life and is what he gives me really what I need, what I want or even any good? What is the limit of my wonder, living in a big city with bright lights, fast food and sirens?

David in Psalm 19 looks to a different horizon.

This is the nineteenth  of a series that began life as a commitment to Counting my Blessings every day after ankle surgery on July 2nd 2021.

Initially I made a brief post on social media and wrote a personal daily reflection on a Psalm following the same numerical progression.

Later on in the 100 days I began to also reflect on other scriptures and combine those into my public post

These thoughts from Psalms earlier in the journey have not been made public  until now as I was writing primarily for my own benefit. I have been encouraged to share these now.

 I find myself wondering again today if it is not time for David to compose a more positive ballad. It feels like we have covered some of this ground already.

But some experiences shape us profoundly. Often, especially those where we have been on the receiving end of abuse of power or violence or both. This experience of threat, danger and imminent death has clearly marked David. Even after the fact he rehearses what happened to him and how the Lord rescued him.

This is the eighteenth  of a series that began life as a commitment to Counting my Blessings every day after ankle surgery on July 2nd 2021.

Initially I made a brief post on social media and wrote a personal daily reflection on a Psalm following the same numerical progression.

Later on in the 100 days I began to also reflect on other scriptures and combine those into my public post

These thoughts from Psalms earlier in the journey have not been made public  until now as I was writing primarily for my own benefit. I have been encouraged to share these now.

Psalm 17 reminds us that everything that we say matters. Words have an impact to build up or tear down. What we say is one of the clearest indications of who we are. Whatever is inside us tends to come out through our mouths.

This is the seventeenth of a series that began life as a commitment to Counting my Blessings every day after ankle surgery on July 2nd 2021.

Initially I made a brief post on social media and wrote a personal daily reflection on a Psalm following the same numerical progression.

Later on in the 100 days I began to also reflect on other scriptures and combine those into my public post

These thoughts from Psalms earlier in the journey have not been made public  until now as I was writing primarily for my own benefit. I have been encouraged to share these now.

David understands that God’s provision and protection go together. That God supplies all he needs and he can say with confidence that the boundary lines have fallen for him in pleasant places. 

Often boundaries cause discontent. The phrase “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” is rooted in the notion of looking enviously over the boundary line at what our neighbour has. 

This desire for more shifts our focus to what we do not have and is what the false Gods and their emissaries use to lure and ensnare us with empty promises.

This is the sixteenth of a series that began life as a commitment to Counting my Blessings every day after ankle surgery on July 2nd 2021.

Initially I made a brief post on social media and wrote a personal daily reflection on a Psalm following the same numerical progression.

Later on in the 100 days I began to also reflect on other scriptures and combine those into my public post

These thoughts from Psalms earlier in the journey have not been made public  until now as I was writing primarily for my own benefit. I have been encouraged to share these now.

At any major sporting or cultural event access is a big issue. You are issued with a ticket or a pass depending on your role and status that determines where you are allowed to go. An Access All Areas pass opens pretty much every door and gives you the right of entry to areas restricted to the general public. David is asking questions of access in todays Psalm.

Who is allowed access to the Lord? It is not just an issue of temporary access like credentials that are issued for an event.

The question is who may make their home with God. Who can dwell in your sacred tent or live on your holy mountain? The adjectives highlight the holiness of God. Who can enter and remain in the presence of the holy God?

This is the fifteenth of a series that began life as a commitment to Counting my Blessings every day after ankle surgery on July 2nd 2021.

Initially I made a brief post on social media and wrote a personal daily reflection on a Psalm following the same numerical progression.

Later on in the 100 days I began to also reflect on other scriptures and combine those into my public posts.

These thoughts from Psalms earlier in the journey have not been made public  until now as I was writing primarily for my own benefit. I have been encouraged to share these now.

I tend to think that when people stop believing the truth - they don’t believe nothing, they believe anything. I understand how we can be misled by different claims and confused by the overwhelming amount of information. I also appreciate that negative personal experience or more engaging current priorities can be a contributing factor in people dismissing God. I am well aware how the echo chambers that we inhabit recirculate our opinions and reinforce our prejudices. We are perhaps the most informed and least thoughtful generation in history

But this old Psalm starts with strong words which resonate through time. This Psalm and Psalm 53 start with the same opening refrain. That the fool says in his heart there is no God. This is a judgement being passed on a way of thinking and a way of living. 

Many philosophers have advanced their view that there is no God.

From the post enlightenment declaration of the death of God, to the French existentialists to the four horsemen of the “new atheism” there has been a constant articulation of the non-existence of God. This has been popularised by musicians, artists, writers and comedians. At it’s core is the position that belief in God has no intellectual basis. What David says here that it is the reverse that is true.

This is the fourteenth of a series that began life as a commitment to Counting my Blessings every day after ankle surgery on July 2nd 2021.

Initially I made a brief post on social media and wrote a personal daily reflection on a Psalm following the same numerical progression.

Later on in the 100 days I began to also reflect on other scriptures and combine those into my public post

These thoughts from Psalms earlier in the journey have not been made public  until now as I was writing primarily for my own benefit. I have been encouraged to share these now.

Sometimes we are in situations where what we are experiencing does not fit with what we believe.

David feels that God has forgotten him and that God has hidden his face from him. This speaks of a loss of intimacy, an inability to hear God’s voice and a sense of being under censure, unloved and abandoned.

These feelings find focus in the opening words of the psalm “How long, Lord?”. We can all endure short periods of doubt, loneliness and insecurity where the Lord seems far away. But how long will this go on for? 

This is the thirteenth of a series that began life as a commitment to Counting my Blessings every day after ankle surgery on July 2nd 2021.

Initially I made a brief post on social media and wrote a personal daily reflection on a Psalm following the same numerical progression.

Later on in the 100 days I began to also reflect on other scriptures and combine those into my public post

These thoughts from Psalms earlier in the journey have not been made public  until now as I was writing primarily for my own benefit. I have been encouraged to share these now.

Do you ever feel like an absolute minority. That everything in the world is wrong and that evil seems to have the upper hand?

David calls to the Lord and asks for help. He feels alone.

Those he thought he could depend on have disappeared. Those who were loyal have vanished. This means there are none to make the world a better place, none who stand for truth.

This is the twelth of a series that began life as a commitment to Counting my Blessings every day after ankle surgery on July 2nd 2021.

Initially I made a brief post on social media and wrote a daily reflection on a Psalm following the same numerical progression.

Later on in the 100 days I began to also reflect on other scriptures and combine those into my daily post

These thoughts from Psalms earlier in the journey have not been made public  until now as I was writing primarily for my own benefit. I have been encouraged to share these now.

David is in a situation where he is in fear of his life. Arrows are aimed at him from the shadows. There is an ambush in place. The bows are bent and are ready to fire. The threat is imminent and the danger is real. The advice he is hearing is to flee to a place. To get away and seek refuge on a mountain. But David speaks of taking refuge in the Lord.

David has been called and appointed to a particular role in a particular place. His defence is that he is upright in heart. That God who called him to this responsibility will protect him.

What is at stake here is not just personal safety it is the security of the work of God in the people of God. The very foundations of the identity of God’s people are being undermined. What is the appropriate response to this? What is to be done?

In fact the question is posed as “what can the righteous do?” The unrighteousness will of course do nothing because they approve of what is going on, they may even see some personal benefit or gain from the status quo. 

Interestingly David does not answer his own question and come up with a strategy or an action plan. Rather he affirms some truths about God.

This is the eleventh of a series that began life as a commitment to Counting my Blessings every day after ankle surgery on July 2nd 2021.

Initially I made a brief post on social media and wrote a daily reflection on a Psalm following the same numerical progression.

Later on in the 100 days I began to also reflect on other scriptures and combine those into my daily post

These thoughts from Psalms earlier in the journey have not been made public  until now as I was writing primarily for my own benefit. I have been encouraged to share these now.

Arrogance and pride are the markers of lives opposed to God’s plans and purposes

Pride is like kryptonite to Godly living and effective leadership

If your struggle is pride it may well be worth stepping away from leadership and seeking to reduce your influence over others.

Because although your schemes and dreams will find some enthusiasts attracted by the potential of sharing in the rewards. 

For the weak and the vulnerable the consequences will be wounding and entrapment and you will likely make shipwreck of your own soul.

Godless influence will reap its own harvest

In the short term interestingly it will lead to prosperity

Hang on hang on - that cant be right. Narcissists get promoted because they promise to get results and often do. Saul politically was a more successful King than David but not a great example of spiritual leadership.

This is the tenth of a series that began life as a commitment to Counting my Blessings every day after ankle surgery on July 2nd 2021.

Initially I made a brief post on social media and wrote a daily reflection on a Psalm following the same numerical progression.

Later on in the 100 days I began to also reflect on other scriptures and combine those into my daily post

These thoughts from Psalms earlier in the journey have not been made public  until now as I was writing primarily for my own benefit. I have been encouraged to share these now.