Making 'Psense' of Psalms--Psalm 95: Gratitude and Grumblers

Part of an ongoing series on selected psalms.
If you’re like me, you have people in your life who are grumblers. You don’t enjoy being around them because the conversation soon turns downward. In trying to coax them to count their blessings instead of rehearsing old negatives, you realize you’re not completely clean of negativism yourself. Psalm 95 holds up a mirror to this very problem. We know that praise and worship please God. But the sin nature pulls us down into complaining, even though God has done so much for us. With its two-part message, this psalm lifts us, then chides us.

COME AND WORSHIP (vv. 1-7)

The psalm opens with a bold call to worship. We’re to sing for joy to the LORD, rendered in small capitals in English Bibles for the Jews’ holiest name for the most high God, “YHWH.” We’re to “shout aloud,” the word indicating loud and enthusiastic responses, like people hailing a beloved monarch. The object of our praise is the “Rock of our salvation,” a term we encountered in David’s Psalm 18. Hundreds of years earlier, Moses used the metaphor “Rock” to refer to God’s stalwart, protective essence (Deuteronomy 32:4, 31). The “come” of verse 2 is a different Hebrew word than that of verse 1. It comes from a root that suggests projecting oneself, deepening the meaning of worship as having an Audience. The behavior before this Audience is, first, “thanksgiving,” from a word for extending the hand, as in praise. Second, we are to “extol” Him with music and song, from a Hebrew word that includes the meaning of “loud shouting.” You get the picture of all-out, hand-waving praise!

The basic reasons for this praise are in verses 3-7. First, God is the “great God, the great King above all [false] gods” (v.3). He is the Creator-God (vv.4-5) of the all the earth and sea. He also made us (v. 6b). Thus He is worthy of another worship posture: bowing down. Finally, He is our redemptive God. “We are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” (v. 7). His plan from all time was to take care of us, and that care now has the image of His Son’s nail-pierced Hand.
 

IF ONLY! (vv. 7b-9)

The end of verse 7 brings an abrupt change in tone. From all-out praise, it turns to a stern warning based on the failures of the Hebrews during the Exodus wanderings. Linger on the tone of the opening sentence: “Today, if only you would hear his voice.”  In my interaction with grumblers, I think, “If only they would realize how much they’ve been blessed.”  Of course, the finger points back at me for my failures, too. The warning is blunt and harsh: “Do not harden your hearts as you did….” Two examples are given.

*“At Meribah.” Exodus 17:7 records this failure, shortly after the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea and drowning of Pharaoh’s soldiers (Exodus 14), and provision of miracle manna and quail to eat (Exodus 16). When they set up camp at Rephidim, their water skins were empty, and they were so angry at Moses for leading them there that they considered stoning him. When Moses cried out to God, He told him to strike a rock, and water would come, which it did. But Exodus 17:7 records this negative of the situation: “And he called the place Massah [testing] and Meribah [quarreling] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, ‘Is the LORD among us or not?’” They doubted God’s Person and power!

*“At Massah in the wilderness.”  Numbers 20 tells this story. Continuing their wilderness wanderings, they arrived at Kadesh and once again experienced a water crisis. They quarreled with Moses, blaming him for their predicament. Moses and his brother Aaron went before God, who told Moses to “speak” to a certain rock. God would then cause it to pour out water. Instead, Moses took his now-famous staff and growled, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then he struck the rock twice and water poured out. Moses’ anger, his sin of putting himself on par with God (“must we bring you water”), and disobedience in striking the rock, would have consequences. God told Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” The passage ends, “These were the waters of Meribah [quarreling], where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he showed himself holy among them.”

The alternative names of “Massah” and “Meribah” can get confusing, but these were separate incidents over water. That had this in common: unbelief and grumbling. The people didn’t believe that God had a plan and would provide for them.

THEY KNEW BETTER (vv. 9b-11)

“They tried me,” continues verse 9, “though they had seen what I did.” Over and over, God is faithful to us. Even in the greatest problems or sorrows, He never abandons us. We can’t begin to measure His patience, and His care of the emancipated Israelites is a prime illustration. For forty years, in some of the most inhospitable terrain imaginable, He provided food and water. Yet, verse 10 continues, “For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways’” (v. 10).

 IT’S US, TOO

The consequence of failing to trust God was such important theology that the author of Hebrews dipped deeply into Psalm 95 to teach about unbelief. Hebrews 3:7-4:13 quotes the psalm and warns against letting our hearts be hardened:
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. (Hebrews 3:12-14)
The writer of Hebrews sharpened the analogy: because of their grumbling and disbelief, a whole generation of Israelites wouldn’t enter the “rest” (the gift of settling in one place) in Canaan. For us, that “rest” is the salvation rest in Christ and our future eternal “Sabbath rest” in glory. If we harden our hearts, grumbling that God can’t be trusted to take care of us, He is grieved. He gives and gives. But we ignore, and even malign, the Giver when we live in the murkiness of doubts, stubbornness and grumbling.

A thankful spirit rests on the foundation of seeing life as a gift from God. Gratitude is evidenced by:

*Humility, giving up “rights” to God.

*Noticing each day’s little blessings and kindnesses. For some, a “gratitude journal” is helpful.

*Thankfulness, expressed in prayer and as a testimony to others.

*Service to others in the name of Christ.

Grumbling mars our testimony. The apostle Paul sat in a prison as he wrote a letter to the church at Philippi. In that wretched environment, he probably heard his share of grumbling. Yet he kept His eyes on Jesus. Just after a section in which He extolled Christ’s obedience to the cross (Phil. 2:5-11), he admonished, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation” (vv. 14-15).

 

Next time: Psalm 100

Making 'Psense' of Psalms--Psalm 91: Protector

Part of a continuing series on selected psalms.
“There’s been a shooting at SPU,” my husband said, standing in front of the television the afternoon of June 5. A camera in a news helicopter kept panning the campus where he, his sisters, and our daughter-in-law had graduated.  It seemed unthinkable that a random crime had shattered a quiet Thursday at Seattle Pacific University, a college founded by devout Free Methodists over a hundred years ago. Finally news came of one death, another severely wounded, others less so. It would have been worse—far worse—if one student hadn’t risked his life to tackle the shooter, who had chosen to follow a bizarre notion to kill.

A few days earlier, I had finished writing a draft of this blog post on Psalm 91, which speaks so clearly as God our protector. When violence like this strikes, people ask, “Where was God?” I remember that question being debated over and over when thousands died as a result of the 9-11 terrorist strikes. And the answer was this: He was there, in ways we do not yet know or understand. And while evil took a terrible toll, the end of the story has not yet been told. The same can be said of this recent  shooting, and other acts of violence that will inevitably come.

My awareness of the message and ministry of Psalm 91 started deepening about 35 years ago when, fresh out of Bible school, I was asked to teach a senior ladies Bible studies. That stretched me, for sure! One of its members, Alice, had gone through a harrowing experience in Rhodesia, where she was visiting relatives who were missionaries.  They’d gone to a nice resort restaurant as a special treat, and just as she walked into the dining hall, the woman ahead of her was gunned down as a terrorist attack began. As Alice huddled under a table, bullets spewing overhead, she realized she, too, might be killed. Alice began praying, affirming the Lord's love even in this. Soon, phrases from Psalm 91 became her prayer: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."  She rebuked the enemy in the name of Jesus.  She later learned a window frame deflected a grenade that might have harmed her.  Finally, the attackers retreated.

 

I will never forget Alice's real-life connection with Psalm 91. I’d already done some thinking about Psalm 91, especially after reading Shadow of the Almighty, the biography of missionary Jim Elliot. He and four others were killed by isolated Ecuadorian tribes people in 1956. I wondered: if Alice was spared, why weren’t Elliot and the others, who had given everything to reach the lost for Chirst?

Psalm 91 remains one of those “deeper than deep” psalms for me, but I have come to this conclusion of its message: Psalm 91 reminds us that God, our Protector, will carry us in times of danger and fear.

THREE KEY PRONOUNS

If you color-code the pronouns in Psalm 91, you’ll see a pattern that helps outline the psalm.
I/my/He (verses 1-2): A testimony of who God is to me.
You/your/his (verses 3-13): A picture of God’s protection.
He-him/I-me-God (verses 14-16): God’s promises to the believer.

A TESTIMONY (verses 1-2)

The psalm’s author is unnamed, but the writer apparently had some experience with threats and hardship, perhaps even warfare. Like the book of Job, Psalm 91 wrestles with the problem of why bad things to happen to good people. Yet God is able to save His followers from the full blast of evil. A key word in verse 1 is “dwells”:
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
It’s repeated in verse 9: “If you make the Most High your dwelling.” The Hebrew word for “dwell,” yashab, is found some 1,088 times in the Old Testament. It is rendered into English by more than a dozen different words, suggesting that the original word does not translate well across cultures and languages. The word’s primitive root means to sit down, such as in judgment, ambush, or in quiet. More recent versions suggest “live in.” Understanding “dwell” (or “live in”) requires living out verse 2:
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
The “I-my” pronouns indicate that “dwelling” requires a personal faith in God. A lot of people are like Jesus’ disciple Thomas, who had the dubious nickname of “Doubting Thomas” because he couldn’t quite come to the point of saying Jesus was the Son of God. When he saw the risen Christ, who invited Thomas to inspect the wounds from crucifixion that had killed Him, Thomas finally and truly acknowledged Him as the Son of God. Falling to his feet, Thomas declared, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Psalm 91 is for those who can declare wholeheartedly, “You are my Lord and my God!”



These "pocket caves" dot a cliff about a half-hour drove from
 my home. They remind me of God' s protective power when
troubles attack from life's flatlands of unbelief.

GOD’S NAME

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower,” says Proverbs 18:10, “the righteous run to it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10). Psalm 91 includes many “strong names” of God:
“The most High” (‘elyôn)—the absolute highest, even higher than any threat.
“The Almighty” (El Shaddai)—the God of greatest power.
“The LORD”—the holiest One, from the Hebrew “abbreviation” for God’s holiest, unspeakable name.
“My refuge” (maḥseh) and “my fortress” (m^eṣûdâ—notice the similarity to the “Masada,” the Holy Land hilltop fortress)—both strong words of protective places, enhanced by the personal pronoun “my.”
God is not a fickle deity who says He will advocate for us when He feels like it. He is high and lifted up, a strong refuge for those who trust in Him in the midst of trouble.

FEAR

By using metaphors for problems (vv. 2-6), the author helped Psalm 91 speak to all times and situations:
“Fowler’s snare”—Like a trap grabbing the feet of birds, Satan is subtle. He knows one misstep can bring physical, emotional or spiritual harm. His traps can include abuse, gambling, alcoholism, pornography, or infidelity as well as more subtle sins of discontentment, gossip, complaint, and apathy. But as we stay in God’s presence through scripture, prayer, and fellowship with other believers, He will help us from being ensnared.
“Deadly pestilence” and “destruction”—We’re also vulnerable to things beyond our control, like disease, crime, unemployment, or a natural disaster. When these come, God says He will be our protector, like a hen who gathers her chicks beneath her warm, sheltering body. Jesus likened Himself to that hen when He lamented Jerusalem’s state of unbelief (Matt. 23:37). But under His shelter, we’ll be secure within, as God sends strengthening Scriptures, affirming friends, or timely help to remind us of His power.
Fear—It stalks us, night and day. In Bible times, the pilgrimage to Jerusalem by foot or animal meant trekking through hot scrublands and hills on a route infested with bandits. Today, we have terrorism, snipers, reckless drivers, and “pestilence” beyond the healing of modern medicine. Yet God still tells us to trust, not fear: “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3).

POWER

“His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart,” the psalmist declared (v. 4). The first was a large, body-covering piece of equipment. As for “rampart” (“buckler” in KJV), this is the word’s only use in the Bible, but it’s believed to be a smaller, more mobile protection, perhaps even armor. The New Testament, describing a Christian's spiritual protection, says the shield is faith, with which we can “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16). God’s faithfulness is related to our faith in Him.

Verses 7-8 sadden me, as they describe “ten thousand” who perish as the wicked are punished. I believe this pictures the end-times judgment of all those who rejected Christ. That includes friends and people in my family trees. Could I really just “observe” or will I ache for their eternal destiny? What could I do, now, before it’s too late?

 PROTECTION

As the psalm winds to a close, it revisits the word “dwell” (v. 9). These promises are for those who “dwell” in the Lord, not for those who casually “check in” with God when things get rough.  God wants whole hearts, not half-hearted spirituality.

Then the psalmist reminds us that angels protect us, probably more than we realize. In 1997, my family was involved in a wreck caused by a drinking driver. Law enforcement personnel who examined the accident scene and our totaled car said it was a miracle that we survived. I’ve often thought how that “miracle” was angels who intervened such that we were spared a fatal, head-on collision.

The other thing to note is how Satan used this section in tempting Christ in the wilderness.  Satan misquoted or “underquoted” the passages to make it seem Christ should acquiesce to him. But Jesus, despite being weak from His fast, countered the falsehoods of Satan, who is elsewhere called the “lion” and “cobra” (1 Peter 5:8, Rev. 12:9, 20:2).

 PROMISES

The final section overflows with hope, as we’re told that God will rescue us, protect us, answer us, be with us in trouble, deliver us, and honor us. As for verse 16, “long life” is literally “length of days.” God doesn’t necessarily promise we will live to old age, but that in the portion of our days on earth, if lived fully to Him, He will satisfy us. He is enough for those who dwell in Him!  Finally, the closing phrase: “I will…show him my salvation.” And what is the end result of salvation, but Heaven and seeing the Lord Jesus, who purchased that salvation?  That will be truly where we “dwell” in the shelter of the Most High, which will be glorious beyond words.  It’s where we’ll rest in His shadow, and worship and enjoy Him forever!

Next: Psalm 95.

Making 'Psense' of Psalms--Psalm 90: Lifespan

 Part of an ongoing series on selected psalms.

I pondered a blip of punctuation, the hyphen, as I wandered among graves at a small cemetery where many of my husband’s relatives are buried. Perched between birth and death dates, that hyphen represents the brevity of life. As expressed in a couplet found on many plaques, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”  The quote’s author was C.T. Studd (1860-1931), who left stardom in England’s cricket-playing circles for sacrificial years of missionary work in China, India and Africa.

A similar message comes from Moses, whom most believe wrote Psalm 90. Scripture records two other songs by him. One was a victory song after the Red Sea swallowed up Pharaoh’s army (Exodus 15:1-18). The other was his “farewell sermon” before ascending Mount Nebo to die (Deuteronomy 32:1-43). Scholars suggest he wrote this reflective psalm about the time of incidents recorded in Numbers 20. His sister and brother died, and God barred Moses from entering the Promised Land for dishonoring God in a water-from-the-rock episode. Those circumstances left Moses keenly aware of mortality and of the short lifespan allotted to do God’s work.

Psalm 90 opens with the grand expanses of time known to God:

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Eternity is “forever backward” and “forever forward.” Our lives are but tiny dots on this infinite timeline, but God is its entire, unfathomable existence. God had no beginning and has no ending. He is our “dwelling place” or security. As Moses also said in Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”

 TO DUST.... (vv. 3-6)

“You turn men back to dust,” says Psalm 90:3. One morning my vacuum cleaner gave up in a burst of toxic fumes. I suspected it was beyond repair, so I was an easy target for a call offering me a “free rug cleaning” for learning about “a comprehensive vacuum system.” The cleaning consisted of a misting of spray, then vacuuming by the demonstration machine—after more than two hours of sales pressure. That included shaming me as a housekeeper by vacuuming the top of my mattress, which yielded  a thick haze of dust mite debris on his pristine demonstration filter. The truth is that all mattresses get these tiny, dead-skin-munching visitors over time. (Note I said “mites,” not “bed bugs,” a different and vicious problem.) I didn’t buy his super-deluxe and overpriced vacuum, but I’ll never forget that “dead-bug dust.” On the bigger scale, these bodies that we pamper at such great expense, at the end, also return to “dust.” The mighty end up like mites. Our earthly existence is temporary. We’re like fresh morning grass in the thin Palestinian soil, burnt quickly the same day by the merciless sun.

THE BAD NEWS (vv. 7-12)

Sin offends a holy God. The first sin brought the ongoing penalty of death. God knows all our sins, public and private (“our secret sins,” v. 8). Though Moses lived to 120, the typical life span was 70 to 80 years, and still is. Because of sin, we suffer the death of dreams, relationships, plans and finally health.

In 1975, Natalie Babbitt published a children’s novel titled Tuck Everlasting. The main characters were a family who had discovered the “fountain of youth” and would never die. But because others around them did die, immortality wasn’t all that great. They realized they’d experience the world’s brokenness forever, unable to get away from it. Here’s where the New Testament answers the sorrow of the Old.  When Jesus came, He said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25-26). Believing in Him and His promise of eternal life will make immortality in Heaven a real and wonderful thing. In the meantime, we have work to do: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (v. 12).

THE HOPEFUL NEWS (vv. 13-17)

In the mid-1980s, an older friend gave me calligraphy he had done of Psalm 90:12, 14 from the 1966 Jerusalem Bible translation. It hangs above my kitchen sink, reminding me daily of its truths:
Our lives are over in a breath.  Teach us to count how few days we have and so gain wisdom of heart.  Let us wake in the morning filled with your love and sing and be happy all our days.
Psalm 90’s closing section is an appeal for God’s mercy in the short time we do have on earth. Every day is a gift. Even though the days, months, and years may bring their share of sorrows, God intends that we grow through them and beyond them. Moses was bold enough to ask God to allow the bad times to be balanced by the good: “Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble” (v. 15).

When I am around people whose conversation dwells on the past or on their difficulties, I feel dragged out. We can’t undo the past, but we can go forward with God into a fresh future. Our trust in God can encourage others to do likewise, and is a testimony to the generation behind us: “May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children” (v. 16). Notice the phrase, “sing and be happy”? Indeed! Singing happy and worshipful songs lifts the spirits.  One suggestion: the classic 1719 hymn by Issac Watts that paraphrases Psalm 90, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.”

JOB EVALUATION (v. 17)

Employment typically involves a regular “evaluation,” in which a superior tells the employee what’s been done well and what needs improvement. The “evaluation” of our whole lives is still ahead, and will take place in Heaven before God. The psalm ends with a reminder that life is so short that we dare not throw away our skills and opportunities, particularly those which draw others to the Lord Jesus. Moses concludes:
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.
The word “favor” in Hebrew is noam, which also translates “beauty” or “delight.” Derek Kidner, known for the Hebrew scholarship in his commentaries, preferred “delight.”

God, who crafted us--weak humans that we are--does delight in seeing us do what He originally intended, and that’s to bring Him glory through the skills He gave us. Doing so will lead, at the end of this short life, to the “well done” from the Master (Matthew 25:21, 23). As often said, we’re saved not just to “get to heaven,” but to serve well until we get there. Or, as Ray Waddle remarked in

A Turbulent Peace (Upper Room, 2003, p. 110): “Knowing the inevitability of death brings zest to life.” Time’s short: live it for God. One life: live it right.

Next; Psalm 91

Making 'Psense' of Psalms--Psalm 84: Longings

The doors of one of the older churches in
my town--always a reminder to me
of the "Doorkeeper's Psalm."

Part of a continuing series on selected psalms.
If “going to church” has become stale for you or someone you care about, this psalm offers a glimpse into true worship of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I am thankful for the opportunity to worship with my church family, but know some there are spiritually or mentally “elsewhere.” Oh, that we all shared the attitude of Psalm 84’s authors, who opened with simplicity and deep devotion: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty!”

Psalm 84 is a bouquet arranged with the most delightful flowers in the garden. Like blooms picked at the peak of color and perfume, it emanates loveliness. Charles Spurgeon, author of the mammoth “Treasury of David” psalms commentary, called Psalm 84 one of the choicest and sweetest of the psalms. One possible reason: it expresses a believer’s longing to be as close to God as possible.

UP-CLOSE AUTHORS

The psalm was written by the “Sons of Korah,” a branch of the Levite tribe that helped maintain the temple as doorkeepers and janitors. Other Levite branches performed the sacrifices and provided music. The Korahites’ role was defined in First Chronicles 26, a chapter people may find boring for all its names and instructions. You may have even heard some wit claim that 1 Chronicles 26:18 is the “golfer’s verse.” The King James version renders it, “At Parbar, westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar.” No, it’s not about golf. “Parbar” is an uncommon Hebrew word referring to the temple’s western colonnade. The word apparently puzzled King-James-era translators, who just used the Hebrew transliteration (spelled out in English letters). More recent translations render it: “As for the court to the west, there were four at the road and two at the court itself.” This verse reminds us that God took care of all the details for security at Israel’s house of worship, even assigning men to watch the doors.

Its tone of “yearning” may make Psalm 84 sound like other pilgrim songs, like the “ascent psalms” (120-134) sung en route to Jerusalem. But verse 10 suggests it comes instead from the worshiping hearts of Korahite temple workers: “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”

BLESSING #1: THOSE WHO REST IN GOD

Three verses begin “Blessed are.” The first addresses those who rest in God, as symbolized by birds that nested in the open arches of the temple:
Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. (v. 4)
“Your house” refers, of course, to the temple and its system of sacrifices dating to the giving of the law after the Exodus. Every Jew knew that those God-inscribed tablets were stored in the temple, under great security behind heavy curtains, in a sacred box called “The Ark of the Covenant.” Today, we know that God doesn’t dwell in man-made buildings (Acts 7:47-50), but we’re to show reverence for the buildings where we gather to worship. Part of that reverence is having an open heart, knowing that God is approachable, even by the so-called “insignificant.” That’s what the section on birds teaches.

*Sparrows. In Bible times, sparrows were considered nearly worthless, sold two for a farthing (the smallest, least valuable copper coin). But Jesus said no sparrow falls to the ground without God noticing. If God pays attention to common birds, so much more is true of us: “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus said, “you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31).

*Swallows. These birds were symbols of restlessness. They flit all over the sky, all day long, until time comes to build a nest and settle down. How appropriate is the now-famous observation of Saint Augustine in his Confessions: “Our hearts are restless till they rest in thee.”

BLESSING #2: PILGRIMS

As the temple’s doorkeepers, the Korahites saw many pilgrims who had drawn on God’s strength and protection for the arduous and dangerous journey to Jerusalem by foot, donkey or wagon: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage” (v.  5). Verse 6 might baffle those who can’t locate it on Bible maps: “As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools” (84:6). “Baca” is a Hebrew word for the balsam tree, whose sap can ooze like tears.

The psalmist isn’t referring to an actual geographical location, but to any of us going through this “vale of tears” in our spiritual lives. Life “down here” is not all bliss. We live in a fallen world. Heartbreaks will come. We’ll feel slashed by the harsh storms of adversity. But our true pilgrimage is not to some earthly destination, but to Heaven, to the home of God (Hebrews 12:22). We’ll be strengthened as we continue the journey, step by step, by faith.  This is the Christian walk: living with focus, and encouraging others along the way, until we appear before God!

BLESSING #3: THOSE WHO TRUST GOD

This blessing comes at the psalm’s conclusion: “O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you” (v. 12). Earlier parts of this psalm seemed to portray someone relishing the presence of God within the temple environment. This verse reminds us that we can enjoy the presence of God anywhere, by faith. The closing verses remind us that God’s attributes are of far greater comfort and hope than anything on earth.
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. (v. 11a)
God, who created the sun, is our “sun” for daily illumination and warmth in life’s dark and cold times. As our “shield,” God is what he declared Himself to be when making a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:1: “I am your shield, your very great reward.” No matter what happened in the future, God would be there to protect Abraham.

Then, in a verse many have cherished and memorized, Psalm 84 declares God’s goodness to His children:
No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. (v. 11b)
These words are echoed in Paul’s letter to the Romans, in which he affirmed God’s love and purpose even in life’s difficult times:
And we know that in all things God works fore the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Author Ruth  Meyers, in The Satisfied Heart (Waterbrook, 1999, p. 155) remarked of this passage: “He won’t hold back a single blessing from us if we relate to Him as Lord of our life—of our thinking and choosing, of our feelings, our actions, our relationships.”

This sense of “oneness” with God was what the Korahites sought and cherished. But in Old Testament days, being “right” with God depended on constant sacrifices for sins. That ended when Jesus came and died for all our sins. God sees us as “blameless” through His Son. What the Korahites sought, we now can have. No matter how grand or how simple the building of our worshipping community, when God’s people gather with humble hearts, then it can be a place of true, holy loveliness.

 

Next: Psalm 90