Defending Church

"I disliked very much their hymns, which I considered fifth rate poetry set to sixth rate music. But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren't fit to clean those boots." 

- C.S. Lewis, on attending church after his conversion to Christianity as "the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England".

We live in a generation of religious cynics. That's not altogether a bad thing - there are a lot of "religious traditions" that have been elevated to the level of inspired Scripture, and we rightly question why we should do things just because "that's the way they've always been done." For too long, religious ritual was confused with authentic faith, and a generation hungry for the real thing starting looking for more than "religious tradition".

I belong to that hungry generation. "Generation X" the scholars call us -- kids raised in a post-Watergate world where things were no longer so black and white, where we are surprised not when leaders let us down, but when they don't. We tend to eschew political and denominational labels and instead seek leaders and churches who will "walk the walk". In the "church world" this trend has resulted in an exponential growth in the number of nondenominational churches in the United States: in 1990 194,000 people identified themselves as "non-denominational Christians"; by 2008 that number had increased to over 8 million in this ARIS study. Overall, I find this encouraging. Many of these non-denominational churches (including the one I attend) teach from Scripture, are active in the community, intentionally seek unity with other churches, and in general "walk the walk".

But recently I notice a more disturbing church-related trend. Some GenX leaders and plenty of younger individuals in their teens and 20s (the "Millennial" generation they are called) are ready to toss church "under the bus" if you will. Corporate worship is considered fine, but placed on a par with enjoying God in nature, spending time socializing with other believers, or reading a book by an inspirational writer. Serious study of Scripture with other believers, developing what the Bible calls "sound doctrine" and many Christians call theology, is considered sub-par to private emotional experiences.

Please don't misunderstand. Scripture makes clear that the heavens declare the glory of God, and we miss opportunities to worship Him if we only look inside church walls. He wants us to enjoy each other, and to use our gifts to edify others as well. We should study Scripture alone as well as with others, and if our relationship with God is never emotional, then we are missing an important element.

Likewise, if we reject church and our corporate worship and fellowship and study, we will never experience Christianity the way Jesus intended. As Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 12, we are parts of one body. A random, missing appendage will never function as it was intended. And yes, that body goes beyond individual expressions in local churches. One local church will never achieve the fullness of what it means to be the body of Christ -- for that we need all believers, in all places, and in all eras, and all denominational backgrounds, united by one Spirit to worship one Lord.

But since a significant portion of the New Testament is comprised of epistles written to specific, local bodies of believers, with many other references to specific, local bodies of believers, I believe we can safely say that the New Testament pattern is for "the church" to find local expressions and for Christians to gather with other believers regularly for intentional worship and study of God's Word. Hebrews 10:25 is the classic command to worship with others.

However, my defense of church goes beyond the command to gather with other believers. Like C.S. Lewis in the quote above, I find "the church" a place where people from different educational and work backgrounds, from different social and cultural settings, from different ages and ethnicities and countries, come together not to be identical, but to celebrate that with all these differences, we still worship One Lord, have One Spirit indwelling us, and have One Heart to glorify the One Who saved us. Last Sunday at church, I hugged a sweet 80-something lady, swung a four-year-old in the air, discussed the situation in Eritrea with a brother from Cameroon, and lamented over the pending move of a couple from Hungary. I messed up the recording of a sermon by my pastor who works at UPS, and caught up with a friend who works a farm with her husband. On the surface I had more differences than similarities with all these people, but we had a unity that went beyond any differences. Some of my "heroes" in the faith are those people like Lewis mentioned, those saints in "old elastic side boots" - boots worn from use in kingdom purposes, with holes in the knees of their pants from hours spent in prayer.

A sweet young friend in Niger wrote of her joy at finally getting to attend a church service. She lives out in the village and sees the stars all the time. She loves nature and helps provide food by gardening. Yet her joy reached new heights when she praised God with other believers - 8 languages all together. This is the church! She didn't have to tell me that the church she went to was imperfect. I know it was - it was comprised of humans. Yet God designed it for a purpose, and just reading about it was beautiful.

One of the Scriptures that never fails to surprise me time and again is Ephesians 3:8-10:

"To me the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places." 

I always reread that verse to see if it says what I think it says. Yep, it does. God's wisdom is made known through the church to rulers and authorities in heavenly places. Something about the church shows God's wisdom to spiritual beings. I've been in a lot of churches over the years and frankly, church would not appear at the top of my list of "Ways to show wisdom to spiritual beings." It might not even break the top 100!

And yet ... the wisdom of man is foolishness to God. For in this ragtag bunch of humans trying to worship God, with all our differences and failings of the flesh, God's wisdom is revealed. I don't know how. But there is something powerful at work -- something that cannot be conquered by the gates of hell (Matt. 16:18). As "the church" moves to advance the kingdom of God, darkness is pushed back. That promise isn't made about great social organizations like Habitat for Humanity, political parties, or even nations. It's only made about the church - that messy group of people all over the world, manifested in local bodies of believers, who sometimes have little in common besides Jesus.

And that's reason enough for me to defend church.

Psalm 122

I rejoiced with those who said to me,
let us go to the house of the Lord.
Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together.
That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,
To praise the name of the Lord according to the statute given to Israel.
There the thrones for judgment stand,
the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels."
For the sake of my brothers and friends I will say,
"Peace be with you."
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God
I will seek your prosperity.

Psalm 134

Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
Who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord.
May the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
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As we journey through life we meet fellow travellers along the way. Some journey with us for a lifetime; others for a season; still others for only a brief period of time. It doesn't matter how long we journey with another believer; our goal should be to use the gifts God has given us to impart grace to their walk with the Lord. We can encourage each other to love and good deeds and most of all, to a life of worship.

What a beautiful benediction for the journey we've been on together. Just as the travelers would end their journey with this benediction, so we who journey together can receive this as a blessing from the Lord for each other.

Thank you for walking through this Psalms of Ascent journey with me. God has been pouring into me through these Psalms this entire year, and it's not over yet. He's called me to stay in these Psalms in my quiet time for a season. They are now part of my Scripture memory file cabinet, and for the last few weeks God has "sung me to sleep" with these words, as I start at Psalm 120 and recite until I fall asleep (usually somewhere around Psalm 125 ;) ). I've enjoyed processing what I'm learning through these blog posts. But now, we each continue on our own journeys with the Lord. I'll continue blogging here, and I hope our paths cross again. In the meantime I can think of no better benediction than this Psalm and a song that takes some of its lines from the blessings in the Psalms of Ascent.

May the Lord bless you all the days of your lives -- so that you can be a tremendous blessing to many!

Psalm 133

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
Running down on the beard,
Running down on Aaron's beard,
Down upon the collar of his robes.
It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows His blessing, life forevermore.
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Unity. It's far more important to God than we like to think. Those of us from the U.S. - one of the most individualistic countries on earth - seem to especially struggle with community. But the concept of unity isn't just a challenge for rugged individualists. Even group-oriented societies have a hard time with true unity.

I think that's one reason God gave us two very clear, undeniable passages about unity. This Psalm, together with John 17, leave followers of Jesus with no doubt about God's will. He wants us to be in unity with our fellow believers. Those who are in the community of believers should actively seek unity, within individual churches but also across the church as a whole.

Our struggle isn't with understanding what God desires. It's with living out what that means. What is unity?

I think we have to start answering that question first by defining what unity is NOT. Unity is not uniformity. We don't have to look alike, act alike, or parrot each other's opinions. Paul makes very clear in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12-14 that God has equipped the church with various gifts, and as a result we all play different roles. Furthermore, we see in the example of the apostles that God used each one of them with their unique personalities. Rough-around-the-edges Peter could never play the same role as highly-educated Paul ... yet God used them both. He doesn't ask us to mimic others; we are to focus on being Christlike, not cookie cutters of our leaders or famous Christians. We can learn from others, of course, but our walk with God is unique and we undermine His intentions for us when we try to become like someone else. That's not unity.

Along the same lines, unity does not mean we have to be equally excited about ministry tasks. I know I'm not called to children's ministry. I love kids, but not in the same way that the children's church leaders do - they truly get excited to teach kids about Jesus. That doesn't mean I am out of unity with my church's Vacation Bible School focus later this month or with our ongoing children's church efforts. Likewise, the rhythm of my heart leaps at the idea of expanding the Gospel to unreached people groups, raising awareness about missions, being a "good sender" in fulfilling the Great Commission, immigrants in our country, and pretty much anything global. Those in my church whose heart leaps at the thought of 50 kids coming to next week's VBS are not out of unity with me. To fulfill the Great Commission and take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, God has to give different gifts and callings to believers, and we have to work together to make it happen. We can't just each pursue our own ministry interests without regard for others; that is at least part of Paul's meaning behind the words to the church at Philippi: "Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." (Phil. 2:4).

So what IS unity? Thankfully Scripture sheds insight here as well. Paul wrote about this to the churches at Corinth and Ephesus: 

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. - (1Cr 12:4-6 NASB)

being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. - (Eph 4:3-6 NASB)

We serve the same Lord. The same Holy Spirit works in us all. This "unity of the Spirit" is a gift that we have been given. I can rally around what He is up to, even if it isn't "my calling". I can help in practical ways, or pray, or give, or tell others who might be called to that ministry. I can trust God to put on the hearts of others what He desires them to do related to those ministries that stir the passions of my heart. I can know that above all things, God is orchestrating the work of missions. No one will ever be more interested in fulfilling the Great Commission than Him!

Bottom line: Unity recognizes how much we need each others. John Stott put it this way: "...stones need mortar in order to stick to one another....Each stone is cemented in with other stones and so is part of the building."

When it comes to working with other churches who may have different beliefs about nonessential matters, I can take a cue from Paul's words later in Ephesians 4. After addressing the unity of the Spirit which we have been granted but have to hold on to, he looks forward to a day when there will be a unity of the faith - when we have a mutual understanding of those things are not clear in Scripture. We don't have that yet, but in the meantime we can learn and grow together and see the value of gifts God has given to other church traditions. For example - Our women's Bible study group had a great discussion about how God has taught several of us to appreciate the holiness and majesty of God through some of the liturgical churches.

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. - (Eph 4:11-13 NASB)

We can also appreciate that unity will never destroy the beauty of the diversity of the global body of Christ. African drums and dancing;  slow, vocalized Scripture reading of the Cambodian church; the silent whispered hymns of the underground church in China -- all these are expressions of the church that can be fully embraced within the unity of the Spirit. God is honored by all sorts of different expressions of worship - even those that don't look like ours. When we get to the throne room, we'll enjoy the fullness of unity and diversity, as John's vision shows the ethnic distinctions intact:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." - (Rev 7:9-10 NASB)

He reigns. He wants us to walk in unity, to expand that reign throughout all the earth. That is the blessing of life forevermore - a blessing far beyond what the Psalmist could envision.

Psalm 132

Oh Lord remember David and all the hardships he endured.
He swore an oath to the Lord, and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:


"I will not enter my house or go to my bed;
I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids,
Till I find a place for the Lord,
A dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."


We heard it in Ephrathah, we came upon it in the fields of Jaar:


"Let us go to His dwelling place,
Let us worship at His footstool.
Arise, O Lord, and come to Your resting place,
You and the ark of Your might.
May Your priests be clothed with righteousness; may Your saints sing for joy."


For the sake of David your servant, do not reject Your anointed one.
The Lord swore an oath to David, a sure oath that He will not revoke;


"One of your own descendants I will place on your throne -
if your sons keep my covenant and the statutes I teach them,
then their sons will sit on your throne forever and ever."


For the Lord has chosen Zion, He has desired it for his dwelling:


"This is my resting place forever and ever,
Here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it.
I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food.


I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will ever sing for joy.
Here I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for My anointed one.
I will cloth his enemies with shame, but the crown on his head will be resplendent."

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God loves it when our hearts are set on worship. This Psalm recounts one of the many episodes that led to David being called "a man after God's own heart" (Acts 13:22).

The background can be found in 1 Samuel 4-7. The Philistines attacked Jerusalem and took the ark. Much to their dismay, it didn't bring them the victory the God's presence had afforded Israel; instead, their "god" Dagon fell before the ark with only his trunk remaining. Frightened, the Philistines sent the ark away and it remained at Kiriath-jearim for 20 years. Years later, as recorded in 2 Samuel 6, David desired to bring the ark back to Jerusalem. He initially erred by not bringing the ark according to God's commands, and after a three month pause, resumed the effort by following God's commands meticulously. Finally the ark is "home" - and David's worship is joyous: "And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might..." (2 Sam. 6:14). 

But it wasn't enough. David saw the ark home, and the nation could once again celebrate the fullness of the rituals God had established. Still, the heart of a worshipper desired more. David wanted to build a house for the Lord. God saw David's heart, and responded with an amazing answer:

When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. - (2Sa 7:12-13 NIV)

David the worshipper wanted to build God a house - and God says guess what, I'm building you one! Amazing.


This Psalm, written for an uncertain occasion, connects Israel with their beloved king. With a strong sense of the significance of God's covenant with David, the singers of this Psalm ask God not to reject the king, and remind themselves of His covenant promises.  Considering that one possible setting for the singing of these Psalms of Ascent was upon the return from the captivity to Babylon, the reminder of God's faithfulness is highly significant. They would have a new leader, and after 70 years in captivity they wanted to know that God was still for them. Singing about David's faithfulness to God and God's faithfulness to David, they would be reminded that yes, He was still sovereign over Israel.

Don't we need those kind of reminders at times? When we've messed up, or just faced the weakness of our flesh, or when the weight of living in a fallen world seems unbearable, we need to know that God is faithful. We need to connect our present circumstances to something beyond ourselves. We need perspective.

For those of us in Christ, the Holy Spirit is our assurance that the New Covenant promises will be fulfilled, to the letter. When we need it most, He fills our hearts with reassurance that He is working through us for His glory. He reminds us that today is not the end of the story. He lets us know that His unfailing love remains. And we are able to meet another day in His strength.

To me, Paul's words in Romans 8 are as reassuring as Psalm 132 must have been for the children of Israel. May God use them to minister to you today. Remember, you are part of something bigger than today's circumstances. He is FOR you!

Romans 8 (ESV)

Life in the Spirit

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Heirs with Christ

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Future Glory

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

 

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

God's Everlasting Love

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 131

My heart is not proud, O Lord,
My eyes are not haughty.
I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.
But I have stilled and quieted my soul.
Like a weaned child with its mother,
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
Both now and forevermore.
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I've struggled with this Scripture ever since I first read it. Frankly, it's one of those that pours forth as a prayer more easily than a statement.

I have always concerned myself with big questions. As a child, when I asked "Why is the sky blue?" I was unsatisfied with "Just because". I couldn't understand why it wasn't orange, or brown. There was always one more "Why?" behind my questions (and I was very excited to learn later about refraction!).

I don't know why God made me this way, but He did. As an adult I've had to learn to bring that under the control of the Holy Spirit, to approach my questions from a foundation of faith. That didn't happen right away -- first, I laid aside everything I'd grown up with and then began to pick it up, one "truth" at a time, and examine its validity. God wisely started me out with resources that helped me gain a strong conviction in the inspiration of Scripture. From that starting point, by God's grace I established my faith as my own in a way that fit who God made me to be. My faith is deep and real, but it is intellectually honest. Simply put, I think that the truth of Christianity is the most logical, reasonable things you'll ever come across. Lived out in a worldview that applies its teachings, it will "turn the world upside down".

But all this questioning hasn't stopped. I still wonder about the big questions. I'm opinionated by nature and if I don't have an opinion, my tendency is to research and learn so I can develop an informed perspective. So when I started memorizing this Psalm, my first comment to God was that I wasn't sure that was true in my life. I didn't think I was proud or haughty, but I was pretty sure I concern myself with lots of great matters and things too wonderful for me. Almost immediately God brought one of my favorite Scriptures to mind:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. (Deut. 29:29)

The things revealed. God has given us His Word. He wants us to understand it. When I ask questions about Scripture, when I seek to truly understand what something means or how to live out a truth or whether something is culturally bound or applicable today, I'm not dealing with "great matters". I'm dealing with "things revealed." Based on God's reaction to people who asked about current events and the facts before them, I think even those questions that stem from observing the world around me fall into the "things revealed" category. (See for example Daniel, Habakkuk, Mary and the disciples.)

But what about Zechariah, who questioned the angel and was struck mute for 9 months. Zechariah is a favorite example of those who fear that asking God questions amounts to questioning God. I have come to see this as the issue reflected in verse 2 of Psalm 131: our soul must be "like a weaned child". That speaks of trust. Why does the Psalmist refer to a weaned child -- one no longer nursing? A nursing child cries and wails until it is fed. A weaned child, though, knows that Mom will take care of dinner. There is a trust that simply saying, "I'm hungry" will be sufficient.

God doesn't want me to quit asking questions. He just wants all the questions to come from a place of trust. A place of "hope in the Lord". He wants me to rest in His character and know His heart, even when things don't make sense. Notice I said that our faith is reasonable. That doesn't mean it is always logical from an earthly perspective. Indeed, it's a counter-cultural, upside down life where the way to success is servanthood, the want to overcome doubts is to step out in faith, and needs are met by sacrificing for others. To live that life I have to have a firm conviction in something unshakeable -- the character of God. There will always be a lot of questions. The one thing I'll never have to question, though, is Him.

So now I rest in the knowledge that I don't concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. Those are the secret things -- and I know the One who holds them in His hand. I learned about Him through the things He has revealed.

Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord.
O Lord, hear my voice.
Let Your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
But with You there is forgiveness,
Therefore you are feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
And in His Word I place my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning,
More than watchmen wait for the morning.
O Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
For with the Lord is unfailing love,
And with Him is full redemption.
He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
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WOW. This is one of those Psalms that throws me into "Wide Open Worship". As I memorized it this week, I walked with arms outstretched to heaven, praising God for all that "full redemption" means. By the time I had it memorized, I was nearly having a "hallelujah fit".

This Psalm excites me because I've been in the depths. I've cried out to God and thrown myself on His mercy. Some Christians have the luxury of reading passages such as Leviticus 16-18's moral laws and identifying mainly through James' teaching that to violate one point of law makes us guilt of all of it. They read Paul's list of sins in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and think it's great that God pulled such people together in a church there in Corinth, but they struggle to personally relate. I'm so grateful God has allowed so many of His children to avoid the depths of depravity by being raised in the church or at least in moral homes, coming to know Him and living for Him from childhood or young adulthood. As much as I wish that were my story, it's not.

My reality is that I relate very, very literally to the Law's requirements of death. My blood ran cold the first time I realized that under the Law, I would have died. As I began to realize that I was in the depths, I knew of only one thing to do: cry out for mercy. I honestly didn't know if God would hear. But I knew there was no other option. There was no Plan B. I knew I couldn't stand before Him with the record of my sins.

How thrilled I was to know that with Him there is forgiveness. I completely understand why the Psalmist says "therefore You are feared." At first it seems counterintuitive because we think it should say "You are loved". But truly, when we desperately hope for forgiveness we stand before God our Judge as one guilty of a crime - someone who wants the Judge to grant mercy. We "fear" in the sense of reverence or respect. When I served on a jury, the convicted man begged for mercy at sentencing. He wasn't casual or light in his approach. He was thoroughly respectful. God's forgiveness should yield the same tone of respect in our approach to Him. 

So, I did all that I could do. I waited on God, and put my hope in His Word--in passages like Psalm 103:12. I threw everything I had into believing that truly, He Himself would redeem me -- through the sacrifice He made on the cross. An anonymous statement became a guide as I sought God's Word and learned that truly, Jesus' sacrifice was all I needed.

Upon a life I did not live,
Upon a death I did not die,
Another's life, another's death,
I stake my whole eternity. 

Truly, I learned that He offered unfailing love and full redemption. I learned He would redeem ALL my sins. I soon recognized myself in Scripture as the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair (Luke 7:36-50). All I could do was worship.

As I memorized this Psalm, I was taken back to those early days of awakening to the knowledge of my sins and of His full redemption. I had struggled to put those feelings into words and then a Gospel song was released that beautifully described my experience. As you listen to Cece Winans sing Alabaster Box, think back to your own cries from the depths. Praise Him for His forgiveness and unfailing love. And never forget that He has given you full redemption. There are no second-class citizens in the kingdom of God. Though no one else understands the "price of your praise", He receives it gladly. And He will use you to tell others that His full redemption is still available for all who will by faith receive it.

Psalm 129

They have greatly oppressd me from my youth - let Israel say -

They have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me.

Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.

But the Lord is righteous;

He has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.

My all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.

May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow;

With it the reaper cannot fill his hands,

Nor the one who gathers fill his arms.

May those who pass by not say,

"The blessing of the Lord be upon you;

We bless you in the name of the Lord."

I am so grateful for Psalms like this which give me full Biblical permission to know that God is on my side in any struggle with the enemy.

I can identify with being "greatly oppressed from my youth" by the enemies of Satan, the world, and worst of all, my own flesh. I have scars from "long furrows on my back". The worst of it is that most of those furrows started with seeds that I chose to plant. It's always easier to believe God is on your side when the attack is completely one that is not of your choosing. The enemy beat me up for 7 years before I came to realize that God wanted to free me from the oppression I had entered willingly. He was righteous, and cut me free from the cords of the wicked.

Maybe that's why I don't have the struggles with the latter part of the Psalm that some people do. "Zion" is used in Scripture to refer to God's habitation, or to Jerusalem as the spiritual seat of Israel. "Hating Zion" is essentially hating what God stands for, what is close to His heart. Of course those who would be coming against God's purposes should be turned back. Of course He is greatly interested that what they plant withers and dies. And of course, we should not bless what is opposed to God. Israel tried that in her history, and ended up in exile as a result.

This passage should encourage believers to be bold and continue advancing for the sake of the kingdom of God. We of all people should never be discouraged when the world acts like the world. We have the answer: a countercultural community that engages with loving acts of service and holds forth an example of radical love for each other. It's called the church. And God has guaranteed its success: Matt. 16:18 says "...upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The verbage reflects a church on the offensive. The gates of hell will not stop what God is doing in the church. His eternal purpose depends upon it! No one is more dedicated to seeing His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven than He is.

So step out in the freedom God has granted you. Move away from the oppression of your youth and into the victory of your maturity. Trust me, based on Psalm 129: God is on your side!

Psalm 128: A Blessed Life

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways.
You will eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house,
Your sons like olive shoots around your table.
Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord.
May the Lord bless you from Zion all the days of your life;
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem,
And may you live to see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel.
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Blessings come with following God.

Those of us who rightly reject the "prosperity gospel"  movement often shrink back from the fullness of the Biblical concept of blessing. We spiritualize it and relegate blessing to the eternal realm. In so doing, we limit our understanding of God's work on our lives here and now.

It's imperative that we have a sound theology of suffering. Scripture makes it clear that suffering is part of the Christian experience; Watchman Nee called it "The Normal Christian Life". However, it's just as important that we recognize that God, in His wisdom, balances the suffering He allows with blessings beyond measure.

I think it's hard for us to get our minds wrapped around all Paul meant when he wrote that God is "for us". Let that sink in. God is "for us". He wants our best. Scripture tells us that His commands were not meant to enslave, but to free. Simply put, doing things God's way makes sense. It makes sense because He's God, but it also makes sense because it works! When we fear God and walk in His ways, our lives are filled wholeness - with shalom.

That shalom is manifest in many ways. Peaceful marriages instead of turmoil and slammed doors. Wonderful relationships with adult children instead of bitterness and emotional distance. Solid, long-lasting friendships that go deep. Living long enough to see true revival after praying for it for years. And yes, based on this passage, grandchildren.

"Count your blessings, name them one by one", goes the old song. What blessings have you failed to even recognize lately, much less count? Life is hard, but God is faithful. Where has His faithfulness been evident in your life? That is a blessing.

Here's the beautiful thing about blessings: God doesn't want us to keep them to ourselves. We are "blessed to be a blessing". Every blessing we have can be turned into a way we can bless someone else. Have a wonderful home? Open it up to your small group. Have more produce or meat than you know what to do with? Share it with someone who has a need. Have you been blessed with an extra car? See if a missionary needs to borrow it while on furlough. The list goes on and on. I would like to challenge you to take the list of blessings you thought of in the previous paragraph and go one step farther. Ask God how He wants you to use each one to bless someone else.

God blessed Israel and she was supposed to be a blessing to the nations around her. The idea was that the nations would be drawn to God through Israel. Not because God made Israel rich but because their lives were so enriched by the blessings of God. God's plan hasn't changed. Today, He still wants the nations to come to know Him. He still blesses us and asks us to pass it along. As the previous Psalm proclaimed, the nations will say "The Lord has done great things for them."

As I've memorized this Psalm a song kept ringing through my ears. A song from a Christmas album, it is essentially a prayer for blessing based on different Scriptures. It's a wonderful example of how to pray Scripture, but it also beautifully demonstrates how the spiritual and temporal blessings can be beautifully interwoven in our lives to bring us to a place of blessing and wholeness. May God use this to encourage you and help you truly embrace His desire to bless you ... so that you can be a blessing to many.

Psalm 127: Unless the Lord

Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat -
for He grants sleep to those He loves.
Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.
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Some scriptures sneak up on me, weaving their truths into the fabric of my life gradually. Slowly, the truth sinks in and begins to make sense to me. Other passages, though, are like a brick dropping from the sky -- I can hardly miss the point they make. Psalm 127 is in the latter category.

"Unless the Lord builds the house" ... "unless the Lord watches over the city". What an amazing reminder that our best efforts are pointless - in vain - without the divine touch of God. All the marriage counseling in the world, the best national defense systems ... are a waste of time without God's intervention.

This Psalm lays out before us a picture of what the Puritans called "Common Grace" - the unmerited favor God bestows upon believer and unbeliever alike. It's a term used to refer to the character of God revealed in Matthew 5:44-45: "But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

In God's common grace, He builds houses, guards cities, provides food and sleep, and fills households with children who can protect parents. He doesn't just do this for people who love and follow Him. He doesn't have to do it at all. But He does - and it shows His character. He is a gracious God.

As you look across the landscape of your life, what do you see that wouldn't be there "unless the Lord..."? Unless the Lord reached down and touched me, I would still be an emotional wreck. Unless the Lord intervened, my marriage would not be the touch of grace that it is. Unless the Lord had stopped the explosion, Times Square would have been filled with death. Unless the Lord gave you tremendous insight, you couldn't have taught that lesson in another language. Unless the Lord ...

What circumstances have you burdened and overwhelmed today? "Unless the Lord" steps in, the weight will be too much for you to carry. But with His grace flooding your circumstances, your load will be lifted. Ask Him to wrap His chains of mercy and grace around the weak vessel of your life today - and pull you to a place to which you would never arrive ... unless the Lord.

Psalm 126

When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. 

Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. 

Then it was said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." 

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. 

Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev. 

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. 

He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, 

will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

Today's pain is not the end of the story. 

It's easy, in our fallen humanity, to pessimistically focus on the trials and struggles today as ultimate. It's never been this bad, we think, and it can only get worse. 

Israel knew that tendency all too well. Sent into captivity by the God they had rejected, Israel was told to plan to stay awhile in Babylon. God knew very well that the time away from the land of Israel was crucial to their spiritual well-being. At the time, though, it had to seem to them like the end of the world. 

And yet it wasn't. Their pain and suffering, their loneliness, their sorrow, was not the end of the story. God brought them back so dramatically that they could hardly believe it themselves - the Psalmist says they were like men who dreamed. Likely, men who were afraid to wake up from a dream too good to be true. 

But it was true. And as they began to praise God for His deliverance, the nations began to take notice and say, "The Lord has done great things for them." To which Israel could only say, indeed He has. 

I think it's significant that their praise and joy came first, and then the nations began to notice. Paul tells us that joy is a fruit of the Spirit. There is something about joy that's contagious! We were created for praise, and when God shows Himself strong in our lives we should be the first ones to celebrate Him. From small things like finding a parking spot at Wal-Mart on a Saturday afternoon, to big things like the return of a wayward child, and everything in between, we should be calling attention to what God is up to. "To know God and make Him known" - this is the essence of glorifying God. 

Keeping before ourselves what God has done makes it easier to pray things like verse 4 "Restore our fortunes, O Lord". When we know that He is FOR us - when we truly believe it and have hard evidence from what He has already done - we realize that like any Father He delights to do good for His children. We don't always know what that good will be, but we can delight in knowing that He loves to bless us. Especially when we're committed to blessing others and glorifying Him in the process.

The Psalm ends with some of the most encouraging words in Scripture: Tears today, but joy coming. The Psalmist didn't write these words as a theoretical statement. He had lived them. He knew that tears can be turned to joy by the intervention of a loving and sovereign God. 

A lot of you are sowing in tears right now, sowing seeds with faith and not sure if anything will come up. Rest assured, God has a plan. Joy will follow. The harvest will come. Our job is to drop the seeds in the ground and water them with our tears. The rest is up to Him. Just trust that He wants to bring you full circle back to verse 3. "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." 

Psalm 125

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people both now and forevermore.

The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous,

for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart.
But those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers.

Peace be upon Israel.

For true peace to reign, true justice must be established.

This principle lies at the heart of salvation in Christ, of course -- we could not have peace with God until His justice was satisfied, so He sent Jesus.

But the principle is true in the affairs of men as well. All true justice gives us glimpses of the character of our God, who among other attributes, is wholly and completely just. That means that He rightly and accurately, consistently, judges between right and wrong, good and evil. Scripture, especially the prophetic books of the Old Testament, is filled with admonitions that human judges reflect that same discernment.

Simply put, the good guys should win and the bad guys should lose. Without that assurance, peace is elusive and transitory at best, non-existent at worst. In our deepest heart of hearts, we know that something is not right when evil triumphs. As I write this tonight, I'm hearing stories of price-gouging from Europe, where thousands are stranded due to grounded flights. Most of us instinctively know that taking advantage of people in that way is wrong. We rightly recoil at the glimpse of humanity's potential for evil when such greed is on display. We want justice.

Sure, it's not always easy to know where the line between good and evil, between justice and injustice lies. My husband and I love to watch "Hogan's Heroes". It's about Allied soldiers in a POW camp during World War 2. It's totally unrealistic and silly, but I realized why I enjoy it: with few exceptions, the good guys and bad guys are clearly defined. I will always get to laugh as the wise "good guy" Allieds outsmart the evil Nazis yet again. It's justice served up with a side of humor, and it rings true this side of history because the evil of the Nazis has been confirmed repeatedly for 65 years and counting. In the middle of the battle, though, it's not always easy to sort things out.

That's why I think the Psalmist just totally puts the emphasis on God's ability to judge here. After encouraging the believing community to trust God - flowing perfectly from the end of Psalm 124's praise of God's deliverance - the Psalmist lifts up good and evil into God's hands to sort out. Verse 3 is so significant: God doesn't let the wicked reign over the righteous too long - but why? Because He doesn't want the hands of the righteous to do evil. Our hands were made to do good. God knows how much wickedness we can bear before we use those hands for evil. He protects us from ourselves. That doesn't mean we never do wrong - but God will guide us back to the right path.

Verses 4-5 illustrate God's judgment at a level we can never view - the heart. God knows who is upright in heart but burdened by the rule of the wicked and the injustice of the day. He knows equally who has turned to - embraced - crooked ways and rejected God's better path. And He will judge. We cannot.

I wish everything was as easy as Allieds vs. Nazis. It's not. Until the day when God makes all things right, we do the best we can ... trusting God with unshakeable faith, trusting that He surrounds us even as we see the shadow of the scepter drawing closer, trying with all our might to use our hands only for good, and keeping our hearts soft and pliable so we don't embrace and love crooked ways ... knowing in the end, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things (1 John 3:20). He'll right the wrongs and lift up those who were right all along.

"Peace be upon Israel." And peace be upon us ... peace that rests in God's perfect justice.

Psalm 124

If the Lord had not been on our side - let Israel say -
If the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us,
When their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive.
The flood would have engulfed us,
The torrent would have swept over us,
The raging waters would have carried us away.

Praise be to the Lord who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare;
The snare has been broken and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
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Wholeness. That's the word that comes to mind when I think about what the psalmist was dealing with in these verses. Again flowing perfectly with the previous Psalm in which they entrusted themselves to God's mercy, here the Psalmist leads Israel in remembering a time when God's mercy led to deliverance.

The anger is pictured vividly in these verses - words like attack, flare, and raging; animal imagery like tearing by the teeth and a bird in the snare, all combine to help us visualize the problem facing Israel. We don't know exactly which struggle was remembered here, and that's okay, because we know what happened. God stepped in.

Anger is probably the emotion I struggle with the most. For a host of reasons, nothing shuts me down like being around an angry person. And there is no emotion I have a harder time expressing. So as I've memorized this Psalm, I haven't had any trouble at all personalizing the deliverance.

But this Psalm also reminds me of another type of deliverance: spiritual. When I look back over my life and the person I was 20 years ago, I know without a doubt that "the snare has been broken, and [I] have escaped." I also know that "if the Lord had not been on my side" ... I wouldn't even want to finish the sentence. I don't want to know where I would be.

One thing God's been teaching me this year is wholeness. A new insight for me is that freedom in Christ doesn't truly come until there is wholeness. Deliverance from a besetting sin or captive situation doesn't equal freedom until something healthy is embraced instead. For example, I've been struggling to lose weight for years now. I've embraced the concept that overeating is a sin and that I need to be healthy. But my "default" until recently has been unhealthy choices. I would eat healthy because I "had" to, not because I wanted to. But on a vacation my husband and I had trouble finding a meal with veggies one day due to limited choices in the small towns we visited. By the next day, we both wanted salad. I knew then that I had turned a corner. I knew that true freedom was coming because I had replaced an unhealthy desire with a healthy one.

Wholeness is a critical concept. There are a lot of false teachings out there about freedom. One places everything on "the devil". I call this "devil made me do it" theology. There's a demon around every corner, and an entire industry exists to help you get rid of them. There is a much stronger focus on the enemy than on God.

Another false teaching about freedom is a belief shared with Buddhism; it's the idea that the desire itself is the problem. Now many Christians would be shocked at being accused of harboring Buddhist beliefs; but the reality is that while we rarely put it in those terms, we act as though desire is the problem. This is especially seen in areas of sexuality but can be reflected in any number of spheres of life. I work at a University and I have talked to Christian students who were taught, implicitly or explicitly, that considering their passions and interests in determining a career choice was wrong and even selfish. They had truly never considered that God had placed within them a unique set of skills and interests and that He might be using their passion to guide them to the field in which He had uniquely designed them to excel.

Another area I've seen this tendency to squelch "desire" - and been guilty myself - is personality. When I began walking with the Lord I thought that my personality had to go. I had to become this "ideal Christian woman" which meant quiet, unopinionated, always spiritual, and loving to work on crafts and shop at Branson malls on the way home from retreats. Well, none of those things are me. I'm frequently loud, very opinionated, growing spiritually but not always spiritual, hate crafts, and would pull my hair out if after 3 days with a group of people I had to stop and shop at a mall. I had to learn to quit denying who God made me to be. I had to embrace my personality to be free - and whole.

Freedom is a journey. If the Lord had not been on my side, I wouldn't have even known I was in a snare. He set me free. I could list the ways for hours. But tonight, I am most grateful that when He freed me from that fowler's snare, He didn't just turn me loose. He cupped me in His nail-scarred hands and began the lifelong process of making me whole.

Psalm 123

I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till He shows us His mercy.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt.
We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.
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"Eye-hand coordination." That's what ran through my mind the entire time I was memorizing this psalm. When I memorize, I look for repeated words that can help me link sections of the passage. So as I studied this psalm to find memory cues, what quickly jumped out was the repetition of "eyes" and "hand".

I'm focusing on improving health lately, so eye-hand coordination is a concept I'm familiar with. It's one thing that can be an indicator of cognitive function as well as physical ability. This Psalm helps us to see that eye-hand coordination is significant spiritually as well.

At the heart of eye-hand coordination is a simple concept: Where are you looking? Where do you trust? Where do you look to have basic needs met. "Give us this day our daily bread." That's a Biblical prayer, and one that reminds us where we should be looking. Whether basic needs, significant problems like the Psalmist will address in the next chapter, or ridicule and contempt that he addresses here ... we need to look to one place: the hand of God.

The Psalmist's request is interesting. When he looks to God, he doesn't ask God to come against those who are ridiculing him. There's a Biblical basis to expect that God would take seriously ridicule and attacks on one of His own. Acts 9:4 records Jesus asking Saul "Why are you persecuting me?" when he was attacking Christians. Gen. 12:1-3 records God's call of Abram and His promise that those who bless Abram would be blessed and those who curse him would be cursed. As the descendant of Abram, the Psalmist could have prayed this passage and asked God to curse the enemy. In fact, we see other Psalms where the Psalmist does just that. But here, we see the Psalmist's cry at what I believe is a deeper heart level: mercy.

Mercy has been defined as "not getting what we deserve" while grace is "getting what we don't deserve". That's a good Biblical definition of each from a New Testament perspective. The Old Testament word for mercy, however, combines the concepts. So the Psalmist is saying, Lord, we're waiting on you until you give us what we don't deserve and not give us what we do deserve. It's a concept that is echoed three times in two verses; they beg for mercy because of the ridicule and contempt they have endured. They leave it in God's hands how that mercy will look.

Sometimes ridicule and contempt are important in shaping us. I love a quote from Francis Frangipane:

To inoculate me from the praise of man,
He baptized me in the criticism of man,
until I died to control of man.

If God knows that I need to be inoculated from the control of man, removing all ridicule and contempt would not be merciful. Yet in His mercy, God can strengthen me to focus on Him and enable me to learn the lessons I need to learn. Other times, God's mercy might step in and apply a balm to the relationship to end the contempt. Still other times, His mercy might remove me from the situation.

God has a character of mercy. He is ALWAYS merciful. Yet each of us have our own walk with God and our own lessons to learn. As a result, the application of His mercy will look different for everyone. When you cry out to God for mercy, He knows how to respond.

Psalm 122

I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord."
Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together.
That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord, according to the statute given to Israel.
There the thrones for judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels."
For the sake of my brothers and friends I will say, "Peace be with you".
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your prosperity.

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Just as Psalm 120 seemed to flow seamlessly into Psalm 121 - a distress call becoming a turning to the Lord - Psalm 122 continues the thought of Psalm 121. Knowing these were sang as a unit on a journey to Jerusalem, I can really see the connections that our artificial chapter divisions hide.

Psalm 121:7-8 contains a promise that God will watch over our lives, and over our coming and going. Psalm 122 opens with a rejoicing in going to the house of the Lord. This speaks to me of what He wants us to do with the freedom we have in the Lord. He gives us security. As believers we know that He is FOR us (Romans 8:31). We know that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:4). So - what to do with all that security and freedom? Psalm 121:7-122:1 gives us a portrait of the Psalmists answer to that question: WORSHIP. Free in the knowledge that God would watch over all his comings and goings, he chooses to go to the temple and rejoices at the journey.

Wow. What an amazing thought - that our joy, our freedom, could be so wrapped up in Him! That is upside-down thinking, but completely Biblical. Our joy and worshipping Him are not at odds. In fact, only in Him will we find true joy. John Piper puts it this way: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." He is about creating willing worshippers - people whose heart wants to worship Him - not reluctant religious robots.

Worship is far more than the service we have on Sunday mornings - though we should gather as believers and experience the unity of corporate worship. Worship, according to the whole counsel of the word of God, is a life focused on loving God and loving others, on glorifying Him through our thoughts, words, and deeds. Worship is what we do at church and at home and at work and at the Wendy's drive-through. Worship occurs when we gather and sing and hear the Word; it also occurs when we turn off a movie that dishonors God and blasphemes His name; when we embrace the outcasts of our society; when our passion for God exceeds our passion for food or money or drugs or sex or work. All these things aren't bad. Some are quite good, under the control of the Spirit. But they are to be experienced secondarily to a passion for Him.

How can we have that kind of passion for Him? I think verse 2 contains a hint: "Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem." How easy it was to worship when standing in front of the temple ... when the Holy of Holies was only feet away ... when the Shekinah glory fell. In my life, the times of strongest passion for God have occurred when I recognized the reality of His presence ... when I knew that through Christ I could get closer to the Holy of Holies than these travellers ever dreamed of - I can go right into His presence (Hebrews 10:19-22). I can confidently enter His sanctuary - and He has made ME His temple! That is almost unfathomable. No, it is more than that. It IS unfathomable, because my past is anything but glorious. I'm not just talking about my pre-Jesus past. I'm talking about last week - yesterday - this morning! Yet because His Spirit indwells me, because His blood covers me, I am His temple. And so are you. Are you feeling the passion with me yet?

When things get routine or ritualistic, when I struggle to have that passion, inevitably I realize that I have stepped into my own flesh and quit believing Him for the dailyness of His presence. That doesn't mean that we don't go through what St. John of the Cross called "the dark night of the soul." We all at times don't have the feelings of passion. But we can still have it by faith, by trusting that He is with us and for us and in us and using us and hearing us, and we can rejoice at what He is doing or will do ... even if we don't "feel" it at the moment.

So the Psalmist then moves into a focus on Jerusalem. This passage is rightly used to challenge us to pray for Jerusalem, and we should. This Scripture even tells us HOW to pray. I love that we have permission to pray for Jerusalem to have peace. If there is any place in the world that needs it, that town does. And yet I seem something more in this passage. I see a missions Scripture (surprise!).

Acts 1:8 tells us that the disciples became Jesus' witnesses in "Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth." I'd like to use verses 3-9 to challenge you to prayer for YOUR Jerusalem. I want you to think about this along two tracks:
1) Your spiritual Jerusalem (your place of worship, a church or small group)
2) Your ministry Jerusalem (the town in which you live and work and do life)

The answers are going to be different for each of us, but I'd like us all to follow this pattern for both your spiritual and ministry Jerusalems based on vv. 3-9:

1. Describe how your Jerusalems are designed (not necessarily literally) (v. 3) - for example, for my hometown I can say that God has placed me in "Fayetteville, an eclectic city filled with people from all over the world." For my church I would say, "Calvary Chapel, a church devoted to sound doctrine and the teaching of the Word of God." Your approach will be unique to your situation.
2. Next, describe what happens in your Jerusalems (vv. 4-5). This can be related to your description, or unrelated if you have something else on your heart. For Fayetteville, I have said, "You have brought the nations to our door. They have a chance here to hear of Your name, to know You through our love." For my church I would say, "This is where people come to hear truth and find a place that tries to find a Biblical balance to many of the non-essential issues that divide Christians."
3. Write a prayer for your Jerusalems. (vv. 6-7)
4. Determine what you will do out of love for God and others (vv. 8-9).

I hope this exercise helps you as it has me. It's hard to know how to turn passages like this into practical application for today, but I believe that the pattern it sets is one that can help us whatever the current situation of our church and ministry "Jerusalems".

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip - He who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord watches over you - the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm - He will watch over your life;
The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
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What a beautiful pilgrimage Psalm. I can't imagine a better prayer over a traveler - especially one who would be camping outside and traveling over deserts and facing enemies of both the animal and human kind.

It's important to remember that these Psalms of Ascent were not "chapters" but were just a collection of songs that, among other uses, travelers would sing on the way to Jerusalem for the feasts. So as I have reflected and focused on memorizing this Psalm this week I can't help connecting it to Psalm 120 - which would be what they sang immediately prior to this one. In Psalm 120 the Psalmist honestly cries out to God about the problems of living among those who hate peace. He is among deception and violence on an ongoing basis. In that context, Psalm 121 sounds like a declaration of faith: Yes, here is what is bad - but guess what ... my help comes from God.

That is exactly what we need to hear right now. When you memorized or reflected on Psalm 120, what realities did you cry out to God? He wants us to do that - but equally He wants us to follow that cry with a declaration of faith. Our help comes from God - the creator of heaven and earth. I think that is very intentional terminology used by the Psalmist ... He links the Lord, Yahweh, to creation. The God is Israel isn't just a territorial God, He is the God who created the earth. When we need help, we need someone who can handle a big job. I would say creating from nothing is a big job!

Verses 3-8 move into the arena of protection. We often spiritualize these verses, and they have a definite spiritual application. But as I picture a traveler singing this on a pilgrimage, I can't help but think how literal these travelers would have taken these verses. If I'm on a journey, I want to know God has my back! Asking God for safe travels is Biblical - but in a context.

Remember Ezra leading the travelers back to Jerusalem? In Ezra 8:21-23 prior to leading the Israelites back to Jerusalem from captivity (another time when the Psalms of Ascent were sung), Ezra declared a fast and prayed for a safe journey. His reason is significant: "I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, 'The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to Him, but His great anger is against all who forsake Him.'"

God's glory was at stake in the protection of His people on a journey! That is pretty amazing. The reality is that Ezra's journey as well as the journey up to the feasts are God-honoring, God-glorifying journeys, kingdom-centered journeys. When we are on a kingdom-centered journey, God is with us. And when we are on that kind of journey, I think we do have permission to pray this Psalm literally as well as spiritually.

In the other window on my computer is an amazing message by Christine Caine from Hillsong Australia. She's talking about purpose, about mission - she said that we are called to take risks for God. We're not called to be tame but to make a difference. She compared our choice to animals living in their natural environment (risky) versus living in a zoo (safe). If we live life in the wild, then we need God's protection. We need His help to keep from slipping and protection from the sun and watching over our every step. She recounted 3 times when she barely missed terrorist attacks. Risky? Sure. But God was with her.

That doesn't mean we'll never have tragedies or trials. But that will happen for God's glory too. He'll still watch over us in the midst of it. However, the important thing for our part is to remain on mission with God. If we do that, we can pray that as we are about God's business taking light into the darkness instead of storing up more light for ourselves, we will find Him with us in a special way.

Psalm 120

I am currently working on memorizing the Psalms of Ascent (Psalm 120-134) with a group of women. I thought I'd cross-post my devotionals on each Psalm here.
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I call on the Lord in my distress, and He answers me.
Save me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
What will He do to you, and what more besides, o deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom tree.
Woe to me, that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar.
Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

Psalm 120 is a beautiful reminder that not all our prayers find immediate resolution. Sometimes, the point of prayer is just to be heard by God.

To grasp the depth of the psalmist's cry, let's look at the full context of this Psalm. The Psalmist was embroiled in some sort of situation where he longed for peace but others wanted war. In the midst of a conflict we never wanted, Paul's command to live peaceably "as much as it depends on you" can feel insufficient. When we desperately want peace, our hearts wish that Paul had given us a promise instead of a command. Like a child, we just want God to fix it.

The first of our Psalms brings to mind occurrences in all of our lives when we found ourselves desperately wanting peace, but embroiled instead in conflict. Maybe it was a relationship, or a work situation, or even a church setting where we discovered that everyone else wasn't as eager for peace as we were. I've been there, and so have you. I've cried out to God to just make the conflict go away, to make things right again. As I worked on this Psalm, I could identify with the depth of the psalmist's cry in verse 1.

The word used for "distress" in verse 1 is very interesting. It means "anxiety, trouble" as you might imagine, but it is the exact word used in 1 Samuel 1:6 to identify Hannah's husband's second wife, translated in some cases as "rival wife". Imagine the pain of a rival wife. Imagine the distress Hannah felt as this other women kept provoking her over her childlessness. Hannah wanted a peaceful life, but someone in her life kept stirring up conflict ... someone close enough to make it hurt very badly. That's the type of distress the psalmist experienced. And it drove him to God.

Verse 1 recounts that the psalmist called on the Lord and God answered him. We don't see an immediate resolution in the psalm, but we do see an assurance of judgment. The psalmist cried out for God to save him and God's answer wasn't necessarily immediate. Instead, he received the assurance he needed to write that God would definitely punish the deceiver. In our own trials and pain, delayed justice can be hard to swallow. Yet it was just this type of delayed justice that Paul wrote about to the church at Thessalonica:

"God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you, and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels." (2 Thess. 1:6-7)

God will fix it alright - when Jesus comes. Don't get me wrong - this doesn't excuse us from the responsibility to do all we can to seek justice now, to bring glimpses of His kingdom to earth, for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We can and should fight injustice and work for righteousness to prevail ... as much as it depends on us. The psalmist testified in verse 7 that he spoke up. He tried. But at the end of the day, when we've done our best and "they" are still for war - when the conflicts in our family and church remain, when the wrong law is upheld in court, when the nice guy finishes last ... we have an assurance of a perfect justice yet to come.

We won't always live in Meshech and dwell in Kedar. As long as we do, we have a lot of work ahead of us. But we can throw our hearts into that work knowing how things turn out in the end!