DOWN BUT NOT OUT (Psalm 34:1-10)

Look closely: the bees are busy--as is God in the details of our lives.

(An ongoing series on the 48 psalms listed as “recommended reading” for times of depression, as listed in counselor/pastor David Seamands’ book Healing for Damaged Emotions.)
I’ve lost track of the times I’ve gone back to Psalm 34:18:The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

It provides perspective and hope when life doesn’t always go as we think it should. In this psalm David wrestles with the coulda-woulda-shouldas of his life. 

The psalm’s inscription describes his circumstances: “Of David.  When He feigned insanity before Abimilech, who drove him away, and he left.” First Samuel 21 tells how, after King Saul threatened to kill David (his already-anointed successor), David fled a nearby town whose worship center also housed the enormous sword of the Philistine giant Goliath, whom David had killed during his boyhood. He took that sword along to a Philistine town where he hoped to find refuge. Bad idea. His reputation preceded him, and his life was again at stake. Despite their bloodthirsty reputation, the Philistines did grant immunity to crazy people. So David pretended to be mentally off, scratching the doors of the gate and drooling all over his beard. The ruse worked and they shoved him out of the city.  From there he found his way to wilderness caves where he could hide.

David was the one who was brokenhearted and crushed. Yet He doesn’t blame God. Instead he praises Him:

I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. (vv. 1-2 NIV)

His ability to trust God in the worst of times may be why this psalm is among those suggested for study by those prone to a sad and hopeless outlook on life. When we’re down, we’re less likely to perceive two graces of God: His protection and His blessing.

UNSEEN PROTECTION 

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (v. 7)

David’s experience of divine protection wasn’t unique.  Sometime later in Bible history, the prophet Elisha was a marked man for prophecies the king of Aram didn’t like. When the prophet and his servant got up one morning, their town was surrounded by the enemy. The servant reacted as I might have: “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?”  Elisha replied with prophetic coolness: “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 5:16). Then the servant’s eyes were supernaturally opened to see the hills full of angelic defenders.

That’s not just a Bible history event. Another such story came from Dr. Clyde Taylor, founder of the National Association of Evangelicals. As a young missionary in Peru, he called on a tribal chief to explain their presence in the area. Later, at dusk, he noticed a big canoe with several men whistling what he knew were signals. Sensing something amiss, he and his friends decided to stay in the jungle that night, not in a hut.  Two years later, when the chief became a Christian, he admitted to Dr. Taylor: “We intended to kill you that night.  But you were too many. On your roof were crowds of men, all in white robes.” (1)

UNLIMITED BLESSING

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. (v. 8)

Many claim this verse like a Costco tasting station. They make the rounds of the carts where helpers in white netted caps encourage shoppers to try those tooth-picked or mini-cup food samples. We do the same in sharing Christ when we say, “Try God.” But God can’t be chopped into spiritual samples. Truly knowing Him and His goodness means taking that first step of obedience to follow Him, finding out that He is indeed good. To those who know and trust Him, He offers “good things.”  Not “entitlements” or luxuries, but “good things” that rise from a trusting relationship with the One who holds our futures in loving Hands.

 Next: Psalm 34:11-22

(1) Leslie B. Flynn, Thanks: Seeing God’s Word with a Thankful Heart (Carlsbad, CA: Magnus Press, 2005), p. 143.

FORGIVE ME (Psalm 32)

(An ongoing series on the 48 psalms listed as “recommended reading” for times of depression, as listed in counselor/pastor David Seamands’ book Healing for Damaged Emotions.)

When you’re feeling down and defeated, there’s nothing like a safe place to get away from it all—a “hiding place.”  That’s the golden nugget tucked away in Psalm 32:7: 

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. (v. 7) 

Repeated in Psalm 119:114, both use the Hebrew word sether, meaning hiding place or secret place. David had plenty of those in the wilds as he tried to keep distance between himself and King Saul.  But he couldn’t distance himself from God. In those lonely, introspective times of hiding he had lots of times to reconsider the ways of God. 

Of course, this verse takes many of us to 1975 and the release of the film “The Hiding Place,” about Corrie ten Boom and her family’s persecution for protecting Jews during World War 2.  There was literally a “hiding place” for Jews in their home, in a false wall behind Corrie’s bed, and that’s where Jews fled when officials came looking. Their illegal kindness eventually put Corrie and her family in prison and concentration camps.  Eventually, only Corrie survived to be released.  But she didn’t cower from proclaiming Jesus, traveling the world to tell her story even as old age set in.  It was my privilege to hear her in person in the late 1970s when I lived in California. 

  

This donkey lives just around the corner from us,and saunters 

over to the fence for carrots. A sign on the fence okays those

 offerings--but watch your fingers.

Whenever I return in my Bible to Psalm 32, that movie and her testimony color what I read there. But there’s more, so much more. One big focus in the psalm is confession and forgiveness.  David is searching his heart, sensing great heaviness when he thinks about his sins.  Once he levels with God about his sin, he says, “you forgave the guilt of my sin” (v. 5). The guilt. That’s the part that eats away at our spirits. In our human, fallen personalities, we like to think we have everything under control. We don’t like to see ourselves as suffering the consequences of our sins. Verse 9 says doing so is behaving like a mule which has “no understanding.”  The bridle is the only way to get them to behave. We have a tendency to justify or cover up our sin. David felt its burden until “I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity” (v. 5). 

One sin we often overlook is bitterness, of harboring a grudge against someone. Many times the original offense was negligible, but it was massaged so much that it grew into a monster, feeding our hostility toward someone. That seems to be behind David’s remark, “Blessed is the man…in whose spirit is no deceit.” Ponder that in light of how he kept running for his very life because of the insanity of King Saul.

When relationships are sticky and situations messy, we’re prone to be like sad Eeyore of Winnie the Pooh fame, whose classic reply to adversity (including the frequent unbuttoning of his tail) is “Oh, dear.” Christopher Robin, the stuffed animal’s owner, can solve the problem by sewing Eeyore’s tail button back in place. But we tend to be Eeyores, who fail to see solutions.  That’s where Psalm 32 speaks to heavy hearts that have lost hope: 

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you…the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him (vv. 8. 10).

HANDING IT OVER (Psalm 31)

This old abandoned service station in an Eastern Washington town seemed

to illustrate to me the feelings expressed in Psalm 31: down and unwanted.

An ongoing series on the 48 psalms listed as “recommended reading” for "down times" by counselor David Seamands (author of Healing for Damaged Emotions).

“Favorable outcomes…solution-based…positive results.”  Such are the catchwords of our generation. We want things that take away the pain—if not instantly, then as fast as possible.  Psalm 31 runs straight into those ideas with the truth that life isn’t always easy and sometimes it really hurts and confuses. David gets right to the point with something I’ve probably prayed in one way or the other:

In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame, deliver me in your righteousness.

The word “shame” reappears in verse 17:

Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I have cried out to you.

Our English word “shame” comes from the Hebrew bosh, meaning to become pale.  Good description, for it seems the blood and courage drain away when someone “shames us.” I felt similarly “depleted” when I ran into people who “shamed” me for innocent and upright actions and words.  They were so emotionally disheveled that their perceptions of people and life were distorted.

Bingo!  Did you read Saul into that (“emotionally disheveled,” “perceptions distorted”)? Welcome to history repeating itself in the ordinary threads of life.

A MENTAL/PHYSICAL MESS

So here, in Psalm 31, is a persecuted believer feeling it in his bones.  Verses 9-13 give a glimpse into his medical chart. Lots of tears, anguish, groaning, weakness, forgotten, like broken pottery, pressured by slander and other attacks. Depression manifests itself in such ways, like a creeping darkness. But the portion of Psalm 31 that lifts me most is verse 5:

Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

Does it sound familiar? Jesus, on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”  When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46)

Stephen, as stones flew, killing him: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”(Acts 7:59)

Making the world “right” is not my responsibility. I’m to trust and obey.  Sometimes that’s really hard because our world’s mantras are “favorable outcomes…solution-based…positive results.”

Psalm 31 records a journey, from hurt and dismay to trust.  Because David was frank enough to recall his pain, we benefit these thousands of years later in our own spiritual battles.

But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies." (vv. 14-15)

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD. (v. 24)

TURN ON THE LIGHTS! (Psalm 27)

(A continuing series on 48 psalms recommended by pastor/counselor David Seamands for getting through depression.)

I was a young teen piano student when I was first introduced to Psalm 27, via the 1897 musical version of English songwriter Mary Frances Allitsen. The piano score I tried to learn (my small hands couldn’t reach all the chords) starts out with grandiose chords, then settles down to reverential quiet before returning to a loud, assuring recap repeating the psalm’s opening verse:

The Lord is my light and my salvation,

Whom, then, shall I fear?

Years later as I read, re-read, and tried to “own” this psalm as hope in my difficulties, I realized how little of its stalwart truths I understood.

This psalm, attributed to David, is full of hope and strength as it expresses how God’s presence leads to the inner resources to overcome fear in difficult experiences. But its most poignant verses start with the simple phrase, “One thing.” The “one thing” the author wants above all else is to stay close to God. How does one do that? David describes it the best way he can, as dwelling in the safety of God’s house, meaning His presence.  

The psalm opens with a panned shot of David's enemies coming at him.  Then quickly, even as war breaks out against him, he finds safety and peace in the presence of God. And it’s not just the sword/knife/spear-wielding wild guys. Verse 12 points to verbal abuse, something I’ve experienced at different times in my life:

They accuse me of things I’ve never done and breathe out violence against me. (New Living Translation)

Unlike flesh-and-blood battles of old, where casualties decided how long a fight would go on, we don’t always see the “end” of our invisible battles. That’s why Psalm 27 leaves us with the reminder to “turn on the lights”—to reaffirm the Lord as our light and salvation:

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD, be strong and take heart, and wait for the LORD. (v.13-14).

If you want to read this psalm in a fresh and inspiring way, go back through it as an account of the life of Jesus Christ, particularly His suffering and death. Bible teacher and author William McDonald (1917-2007) in his Believer’s Bible Commentary saw many parallels. For example, Psalm 27:2 talks of enemies stumbling and falling when they tried to attack. Even more was that true of Christ’s arrest as recorded in Luke 18:6. When the rascals Judas rounded up came to the Garden where Christ had prayed, He identified Himself. Then, “When Jesus said, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.”  

Tracing the parallels to Jesus’ last hours serves as a poignant reminder that He understands and has gone before us through all the mucky and murky stuff that life can throw at us through incidents and people. That’s also the reminder of Hebrews 12:2-3:

Run with perseverance….fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  For the joy set before him, he endured the cross…consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

ENCOURAGE ME! (Psalm 25)

Yellow: symbol for cheer, joy, fidelity, solidarity

(Part of a continuing series on 48 psalms that speak to “feeling down.”)

Whenever I open up my “E-mail” on the computer, I find some regular "feeds": a writers' support group, mission reports, and on-line grocery coupons. It's always a treat when I find a personal note with positive content. The other day someone E-mailed me encouragement for something I’d written. It meant so much to read that! It was like yellow joy splashing on my day.

Yellow—what an uplifting color, suggesting fidelity and solidarity. Years ago there was a popular song about a girl with a yellow ribbon in her hair to symbolize her bonds to a soldier boyfriend. In the 1980s, tying yellow ribbons on trees caught on as a way to support and welcome soldiers of war in the Middle East.  The song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” sold three million records in three weeks at that time.

In reading over Psalm 25, I saw both traits expressed: God’s fidelity to us, and ours to Him, plus His solid presence for whatever trials we encounter. Bible teachers say 72 of the Bible’s 150 psalms speak about enemies. This is one of them. Whenever I read its opening verse, a tune comes to mind—that popularized by the Maranatha! Singers out of Calvary Chapel in Southern California in the 1970s. 

Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul (2x)

O my God, I trust in Thee,

Let me not be ashamed, 

Let not my enemies triumph over me.

I didn’t know until researching this psalm that it is an acrostic, using letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It’s not perfect, but author David spent some time finding just the right Hebrew words to start each line.  In reading that, I thought of nights when I wake with the needs of someone on my heart. Rather than toss and turn in frustration, I’ve learned to go through the English alphabet, speaking in my heart the A-B-C-etc. names and attributes of God. 

David covers a lot of ground in this psalm.  He says:

SHOW ME!   TEACH ME! (vv. 1-5). He wants a refresher course in God’s will and attributes. When life’s troubles grind in on us, it’s helpful to be reminded of who God is.

PURGE ME! (vv. 6-7).  David knows he’s not perfect.  Some sins of his “youth” must have haunted him (v.7) and he wanted those forgiven.

HUMBLE ME! (vv. 8-14).  “The humble he guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way” (NKJV). David knew that spiritual arrogance interfered with an authentic view of God. I’ve known people who throw around pet Bible verses, often out of context, to put on a “religious front.” But God knows their hearts, and usually others who are spiritually attuned can figure out they’re phony.

SAVE ME! (vv. 14-15).  David knew how vulnerable he was—except for God:

My eyes are ever toward the LORD,

For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.

I have about five blueberry bushes that I cover with a net during berry ripening season. I’m not too keen on feeding the local robins and quail with the morsels I like to sprinkle in my morning oatmeal. Sometimes I’ll discover a bird that found its way under the net to snack, but can’t find its way out. I’ve had to reach under and pry out to send them safely away.  And then I try to tuck in the entry point they found.  Like my local birds got in trouble with the “net,” we’re vulnerable to the hatred and vitriol of our enemies, whatever form that may take (v. 19).

NO SHAME!  (vv. 22). I’ve experienced being “shamed” by false accusations.  It really hurts, and it reminded me that Satan is at work in trying to make me question my relationship with God.  David seemed to feel the same way as he finished the psalm and returned to the phrase he began with: “Let me not be ashamed.” 

He ends with the yellow ribbon: “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you” (v. 21).

And here’s the antidote to feeling down: Follow after God, and wait for Him. He doesn’t always choose the timetable or method we think He should, but His ways and timing are always the best for us--from eternity’s perspective.

ENOUGH (Psalm 23)

"My cup overflows....."

The Lord is my Shepherd.  I have everything I need. –Psalm 23:1 (New Living Translation)

As much as I love the King James translation of Psalm 23:1 (“I shall not want”), I am especially drawn to this version. “Everything I need.”  In my heart, it pairs so well with the apostle Paul’s declaration of contentment: “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” He wrote this as part of his thank you to the church at Philippi for a monetary gift for his basic living expenses.  Remember, he was a missionary, living on the erratic First Century version of “support.”  At times he had to go back to work stitching tents in a local business.

Years ago I also read W. Phillip Keller’s A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, and was enlightened further about sheep when I visited a friend during her lambing season. She talked about fractured nights helping ewes in difficult deliveries and keeping the bad-tempered ram in another pen. Other things she shared from her experience with sheep reminded me of how David’s patience was tried in his early occupation as a shepherd.  And yet, his most beautiful picture of God comes from just that.

Being “down” or depressed is like putting on eyeglasses with a bad prescription.  You don’t see clearly and stumble in confusion. Psalm 23 bids us rest and just look to the shepherd, who takes care of our needs.  Not our wants, necessarily, but our needs.

 I’ve been around people who have a pretty long “entitlement” list that they think God should supply. Yet they do not walk in the “paths of righteousness” that God has shown them.  They stumble off the path into the brambles of bitterness and anger. While they’re thrashing in the thorns, the Shepherd is nearby with His crooked staff, waiting to pull them out.

Contentment eludes them because they stray from the shepherd. Pastor and author F.B. Meyer said it so well:

This is the blessed life—not anxious to see far in front, nor eager to choose the path, but quietly following behind the Shepherd, one step at a time.  The Shepherd was always out in front of the sheep.  He was down in front.  Any attack upon them had to take him into account.  Now God is down in front.  He is in the tomorrows.  It is tomorrow that fills us with dread.  God is there already.  All the tomorrows of our life has to pass before him before they can get to us.”*

*F.B. Meyer (1847-1929), a contemporary of D.L. Moody, was a pastor and author who focused on inner city work on both sides of the Atlantic. Quote accessible at AZquotes.com/author/19129/F.B.Meyer

DELIVERANCE! (Psalm 18)

There’s an old folk tale about some blind men trying to describe an elephant. One touched a stout leg and said it was like a tree. The one who touched the elephant’s side called it a strong wall. The one the elephant grabbed by its trunk was sure this mystery was a serpent. The one switched by the animal’s tail thought it was a rope.

Psalm 18 is a lot like that.  It is full of images of God as our rock-solid Protector and Sovereign as David reflects on God’s help in battles against Saul and national enemies. Much of it is also quoted in 2 Samuel 22.

When we’re going through difficult and discouraging times, it’s easy to think God has better things to do than look down and help us. Psalm 18 counters that with a multitude of metaphors of God’s power and care. Its diverse symbols are one reason I keep going back to it to be reminded that nothing is too hard for God. At one of the lowest times of my life, these verses burned into my spirit:

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights….

You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not turn. (vv. 32-33, 36)

In 1980, two years after both my parents died, I was finishing up a master’s degree at a respected college 2,000 miles from my roots. It had a reputation of placing graduates in Christian publishing, and that was my goal.  I’d saved money for years so I could attend without student loans, and I would graduate without debt. Despite lots of job inquiries, however, I was still jobless just a week before I had to vacate college housing with no place to go and little left for living expenses. I had no car--just my typewriter, books, bedding and clothes. With my parents deceased, going “home” wasn’t an option.

I felt like I was stumbling down a boulder-strewn path, spraining my ankles at every turn. Yet I wanted to claim the image of sure-footedness in this psalm:

With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall. (v. 20)

The impossible “dream job” offer came just days before I would have been homeless. Another employee provided temporary housing (a mattress on the floor of her bedroom) until I got my feet on the ground.  God-things.

Psalm 18 is for rocky times. It opens with images of strength and military might that involve strong places of protection:

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (v. 2)

 It’s also a reminder of the unfathomable love of God:

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. (v. 19)

No matter the challenge, Psalm 18 pulses with hope. It nourishes the weary and wary with the rock-solid truth that God can give us the strength to face our problems. “The Lord lives!  Praise be to my rock! Exalted be God my Savior!” (v. 46).