King David was known as a man who sought God’s will in all things, even though he often failed. The Psalms record many of his prayers for God to guide him and make him a good leader. Psalm 26 is one of these prayers, and verses 8-10 include good objectives for any leader:
“O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes.”
Sometimes we may not know how to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions,”[1] as Paul suggests, but in this cry to God, David gives us at least 3 things to pray about. He lists qualities he wanted to pursue, and some he wanted to avoid, but which are good for any leader. Therefore, on the model of Psalm 26, we can pray for the leaders of our countries and communities today.
We can pray for political leaders who:
worship God (who “love the habitation of your house”)
do not seek violence and vengeance (who are not “bloodthirsty men”), and
are not corrupted by money (whose hands are not “full of bribes”)
If you are like me, some days feel very eventful and productive, but other days remind me of the saying: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” There are times when we all wonder: Who cares about what I did today? Did today matter? Did anyone notice?
When recently reading Psalm 29, verse 8 struck me, which says: “The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.” Why is this verse here? Earlier in the Psalm, the voice of the Lord thunders, shatters the tall cedars of Lebanon, and flashes like fire. Who cares about the wilderness? It reminded me of the tree falling with nobody around. Why does it matter?
It matters because the Psalmist (David) wants us to know that God’s power exists even where we can’t see it and in ways we may see as inconsequential. However, to Him, nothing is inconsequential, and no detail is too small. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:30 that “even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” If a tree falls in the wilderness, God cares about it even if nobody else does.
Psalm 29 closes with “May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!” His strength and peace are available on good days and bad. On days we feel motivated and days we don’t. On eventful days and on days we feel we are in the wilderness with nobody to hear.
Today, God will notice you, and will work in ways that you may only know when you look back on them from eternity. No tree falls without His knowing about it.
May His strength and peace be with you always.
“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” – John Piper
Only one of the 150 Psalms is written by Moses (Psalm 90), and it begins with this verse:
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”
Moses lived a long life in many places, starting in Egypt, fleeing to Midian, returning to Egypt, then leading the exodus from Egypt, and spending 40 years wandering the wilderness on the Sinai Peninsula. However, Moses died without entering the Promised Land of Canaan.
Moses had many earthly dwelling places yet was never home. He tells us in Psalm 90:1, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” Why? Moses knows that the only true dwelling place of God’s people is with the Lord Himself.
As long as we are on this earth, we are “sojourners and exiles”[1] Only in the next world are we, and His people “in all generations,” from Adam to Moses to now and into the future, finally home with Him.
When we read Matthew 24:13 – “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” – what do we think of? I’m currently reading a book about the life of Queen Elizabeth I of England that focuses on her life before becoming Queen, and there is a lot that reminds me of Matthew 24:9-10, which says, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.” Elizabeth’s older sister Mary, a Catholic, pursued often violent methods to purge the country of Protestantism[1], as chronicled in the sensational book, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs[2], which soon became the 2nd most-read book in England after the Bible. John Foxe listed story after story of Protestants being tortured, burned alive, and persecuted in other extreme ways that sometimes are what we think of reading Matthew 24:13.
But there is more to the context than that. Matthew 24:11-12 say, “And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” This idea of love growing cold is immediately before “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” In a martyrdom scenario, enduring is not the same as living, so enduring means something other than staying alive. So, what does a Christian endure in order to be saved?
When Jesus was on the cross and said “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” in Luke 23:34 I believe He was modeling this endurance. On the cross, the lawlessness of the world had increased to the point where God Himself was abandoned and killed by a populist mob, fueled by a conspiracy of religious and political leaders. All of Christ’s followers were scattered like sheep without a shepherd, yet He continued to love. Yet, instead of calling upon an army of angels and freeing Himself from the cross, He forgave.
Matthew quotes Jesus as saying that while lawlessness is increasing, “many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.” Jesus said in Matthew 24:6 that “you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.” In opposition to this, false prophets will tell us to be alarmed and they will tell us that there is so much lawlessness that we need to do something other than love God and love our neighbor. Some of these prophets will claim to be the Christ (Matthew 24:5), but they will insist on a path other than that of the cross. Perhaps using a Facebook post fed through a heartless algorithm, they will say “The time is coming when good people will have to do bad things to very bad people,” even though Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
Repeating yesterday’s post, when I’m struggling to face the world as I see it, I ask about John 3:16, “Exactly which world did Jesus love enough to die for?” The answer is this one. Not just the part of it I get along with or that I’d pick to be in my Facebook feed if I had full control. Sometimes bearing our cross is just being willing to love those Christ loved, even when we don’t want to, and even when they hate us as they hated Him.
I praise God that Christ loved me, because I too easily find people I’d really prefer to stay away from, but if Christ had taken that approach, maybe He would have never come down to earth to die for me.
Father, forgive us, for we do not know what we do. We praise You that You endured to the end for our sake.
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:32
[1] At other times and places, Protestants have persecuted Catholics, or each group has fought among themselves. This is only one example among (sadly) many. [2] I’m planning a history post for next March 20, the first publication date of this book in 1563.
Do you ever get so frustrated with the world that you just want to check out? I certainly do. For example, as a blogger who posts to both Facebook and on WordPress, for me it is a lot easier to keep up with WordPress, since I can choose to see only what I want to see. Facebook, on the other hand, exists to sell advertising and sometimes the best advertising is the kind that sparks emotion – even (or especially) bad emotions.
While Facebook is great for keeping up with friends and family, it recently started adding a ton of posts with statements like “The time is coming when good people will have to do bad things to very bad people,” along with other sarcastic, angry, and bitter political posts. After a few days they must have tweaked their method again, and most of these went away. Like many, I like to have my comfortable space where I’m in control, and I didn’t want to be on Facebook while knowing they were trying (and, sadly, succeeding) at manipulating my emotions. I started feeling sarcastic, angry, and bitter, which was by their design. Sometimes I ask myself why I am even there?
Some surprising advice comes in Philippians 2:6-8, where Paul writes about Jesus that, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” In times when I want to check out from the uncomfortable parts of living in this world, these verses remind me that Jesus, as God, might have taken an attitude of preferring to stay in a comfortable space where He could be in control, but instead He jumped into the mess that is this world we see every day to show the world what love is.
Another verse that calls this to mind is the familiar John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
When I’m struggling to face the world as I see it, I ask about John 3:16, “Exactly which world did Jesus love enough to die for?” The answer is this one. The world He died for is the one where sex, anger, bitter tribalism, and political partisanship sells. The one with a lot of sarcastic, angry, and bitter people. The one with a lot of people who are more like us than we’d usually like to admit. The one where it’s easy for our love to grow cold if we focus on the problems, and not on the cross, where God took the punishment for all of it.
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 