Prayer Archives - Page 5 of 5

Psalm 58: Before the Pot Heats Up

Joe Harby on November 7, 2010

Introduction

We should note again that God’s hymnbook, the psalter, is just full of enemies. Our modern hymnbooks very rarely encounter anything like that. A central part of the reason is that we have worked out a truce with the devil. We don’t have to deal with him attacking us, for we have agreed not to attack him. If we really were to attack him, we would have tumults to sing about soon enough.

The Text

To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David.
“Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? . . .” (Ps. 58:1-11)

Summary of the Text

The psalm can be divided into three sections. In the first, the ungodly enemy is indicted (vv. 1-5). In the second, a just judgment from God is sought (vv. 6-8). In the last, David sees the answer to his prayer by faith (vv. 9-11). David begins by challenging the majority. What the whole congregation knows is not necessarily so (v. 1). The heart of man is an underground forge, in which violence and wickedness is crafted (v. 2). Wickedness begins in the womb; evil men rejoice when they are born—so that they can start learning how to lie (v. 3). Their lies are not harmless, but rather full of venom (v. 4). External tricks and charms will not restrain them (v. 5). They will not be reasoned with, and so David asks God to bust out their teeth (v. 6). Let them be like water running into parched earth (v. 7). Shatter their weapons, O Lord (v. 7). Let them melt like a slug in the sun (v. 8). Let them come to nothing, like an abortion (v. 8). David then exults in the approaching answer to his prayer. Before the cauldron of the wicked heats up, the whirlwind of God shall take them away alive (v. 9). The righteous man does not flinch when he sees this—he rejoices to walk over the battle field after the victory (v. 10). What is the conclusion? Surely the righteous are reward (v. 11), and surely there is a God who judges in the earth (v. 11).

Black-Robed Malice

This psalm provides a strong contrast between the judgments of men (v. 1) and the judgments of God (v. 11). Does man judge uprightly? No. Does God? Yes. What do men speak from their heart of hearts? Lies. What does God speak from His heart of hearts? The truth.

So let us begin with the curse. These are not private slanders that David is dealing with. These are lies parading as righteous judgments in the congregation. These are appalling untruths uttered from behind the bench, with the acclaim of the sons of men. For just one example among far too many, the men who voted to establish Roe v. Wade were Harry Blackmun, William Brennan, Warren Burger, William Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, Lewis Powell and Potter Stewart. All of these men have gone out of this life to settle their accounts with God. They don’t have a black robe anymore and, even if they did, a robe will protect no man if it is soaked with the blood any innocents other than Jesus (Rev. 7:14. What would any of those men give now to revisit that damnable vote?

Now, when the Lord judges, what will He judge? He will judge the pretence of righteousness (v. 1). He will judge the hidden forge of malice (v. 2). He will judge the lies involved, including convoluted reasoning learned in order to pass the bar (v. 3). He will judge the poison (v. 4). He will judge the refusal to listen (v. 5). How will He judge? He will break out their teeth (v. 6), shatter their weapons (v. 7), cause them to melt away (vv. 7-8), and bring them to an abortive end (v. 8). God judges before their pot heats up (v. 9). Every unconverted man is an abortion—not able to grow up to the restored image of God in Christ.

No Endless Discussions

Truth is determined by what God says, not by what the general consensus is. Justice is determined by how God would judge a case, not by what we might think while groping our way. When we hear the phrase final judgment (which we do too rarely), we sometimes rush to the judgment side of it. But we really need to remember that it is final. Everything gets settled.

Early Morning Lies

Whenever you get up early in the morning for a trip, by the end of the day, you will have been able to go a long way. So when you rise early in your life to tell lies, by the time you are done, you have traveled long down that road. But here is the hard truth—this is the human dilemma. As Paul reminds us in Romans 3, no one seeks after truth. But God be praised, the truth seeks after us. That is grace.

Afraid of Victory

The liberal is one who doesn’t feel up to taking up his own side in anything. If this is at all accurate, many so-called conservatives are actually liberals. We have been far more affected by the spirit of the age than most of us know. If we hear anyone pray to the Lord, “Break out their teeth, O Lord, and don’t leave them with any,” our first reaction is to rush to the cautionary warning that they probably don’t know what spirit they are of (Luke 9:55). Okay, so maybe they don’t. But do we know what spirit we are of ? Like so many castrated roosters, we greet the morning sun like Knox, and Luther, and Huss, but we are just a cluster of capons for all that. Never confound personal desire to retaliate, which is prohibited to us, with in God’s vengeance (v. 10).

Two Things to Keep in Mind

We are told in Scripture that the man who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of the one who diligently seeks Him (Heb. 11:6). We find the same kind of thing here in this psalm. A man should be able to say two things about God. First, that there is a God who judges in the earth, and second, that He brings with Him a reward for the righteous.

Romans 28: Coming Glory (8:15-18)

Christ Church on July 26, 2009

Introduction
We should always desire to act biblically, and not to react to the mistakes or abuses of others. Many of us came into the Reformed faith because we were trying to get away from all the relational goo. Well and good. But take care not to react mindlessly. There is no relational goo in a cemetery either, but there should be more to what we want than that. We have something that contemporary evangelicals do not have—but remember that there is often something they have that we do not have.

The Text
“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father . . .” (Rom. 8: 15-18)

Summary of the Text
Sin leads to death, as Paul has been pointing out, and so sin also leads to fear of death (v. 15; cf. Heb. 2:15). All liberation begins with liberation from sin, and all ungodly slavery begins with slavery to sin. The Spirit of adoption works two things in us. The first we have already covered—putting to death the deeds of the body (vv. 13-14)— and the second is here. He does in the context of creating a sense of relationship and belonging. We cry out Abba, Father (v. 15). The Spirit works in our works, testifying to others, and He works in our hearts, testifying to us (v. 16). He shows the world in our lives that we belong to Him, and shows us in the spirit that we do. But certain things follow from this. If we are children, true children, then we not only receive guidance, instruction and discipline now, but we also will receive an inheritance later (v. 17). If we are heirs, it is because we are inheriting alongside Christ. We are joint heirs together with Him (v. 17). If His suffering is ours, then His glorification is ours also (v. 17). And how does that shared suffering compare with that shared glory? The comparison, Paul says, is not worth making (v. 18).

Our Father
Our prayers are not to exhibit the professionalism of a well-run business meeting. We are children (v. 16), and we are children who cry (v. 15), and we are children who cry Abba, Father (v. 15). This is the Spirit we have been given, and this is the work He does. He is at work in our hearts testifying, and because the Spirit is not a false witness, His testimony in our hearts lines up with His testimony in His Word, and His testimony in the character of our lives. And His testimony in these three places lines up and is consistent.
Abba is an Aramaic word, and the rendering Father is from the Greek. Why both? Paul echoes what Mark records for us in the example of the Lord (Mark 14: 36). Now notice how the Spirit leads away from Himself, and brings us to the Father. Jesus teaches us to pray, “Our Father” (Matt. 6: 9). No man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). For to Him (the Father), we both (Jew and Gentile) have access through Jesus by the Spirit (Eph. 2:18). The Father is the destination, the Son is the road, and the Spirit is the car. The direction of all biblical piety is toward the Father. That is what everything in the kingdom is straining toward (1 Cor. 15:24). And that is why it is so important for you men to be real fathers. You are testifying to something large.

Our Elder Brother
Never consider Christ as just another individual. He is an Adam (Rom. 5:14). What happened to Him in judgment is reckoned and imputed as having happened to you (Rom. 6: 3-5). We are united to Jesus, and this means that everything that happened to Him is ours—His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His glorification. Further, the gulf across which imputation leaps is something we apprehend by faith now. But there is a grand convergence coming, when our union with Christ will be entirely visible.
Christ is our elder brother. When He comes into His final and complete inheritance, so shall we. We are joint heirs together with Him (v. 17).

Not Worth Comparing
The apostle Paul knew what suffering was. He was no armchair theologian ( 2 Cor. 11: 23-28). He was flogged at least five times, and was in prison multiple times. He was beaten with rods at least three times. He was stoned once. He was shipwrecked once. There is much more than that, but you get the picture. He was no delicate flower. He knew suffering. He also knew the ultimate context of that suffering, which was the coming tsunami of glory. This is the scarred man who said that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed from within us.

What does he mean? Take all the sufferings of all God’s elect throughout all history and place that fine dust on one side of the scale. Then take one gold brick of five minutes in Heaven, and place it on the other side. That is what he means. “Not worth comparing” means that God is going to put everything into perspective, so we might as well start getting it into perspective now. God will dry every tear (Rev. 21:4), and they will not hurt or destroy in all His holy mountain. The former things will have passed away.

But Paul is getting the Romans on the edge of their seats with this. We are not yet talking about what is revealed in the latter half of this chapter, but we need to start craning our necks now. What is Paul about to tell us? Let us consider just one element of this now, as a sort of trailer. He says here that this coming glory is going to be “revealed in us.” That is the direction the glory tsunami is coming from. The creation is longing for what? The creation is looking out to sea, gazing earnestly for that tsunami. What is that sea? What is that ocean? Is it not you (8:19)?

Psalm 46: A Mighty Fortress

Christ Church on September 14, 2008

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

This next psalm was one of Martin Luther’s favorites, and was the inspiration for his hymn “A Mighty Fortress.” There were plenty of times during the Reformation when everything looked pretty black, and Luther would cheerfully say to Melancthon, “Come, Philip, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm.” We have considered the importance of dogged tenacity in times of trouble, but there are also times of trouble when we are privileged to exult in the power of our God. With salvation’s walls surrounded, thou mayst smile at all thy foes.

The Text
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble . . .” (Psalm 46:1-11).

Structure and Summary of the Text

The psalm divides readily into three sections, each section concluding with a call for meditation—Selah. The first section says that God is our refuge, even if the entire world around collapses (vv. 1-3). The second section says that the heathen rage without, but God is present within (vv. 4-7). The last section shows that God will establish peace on the earth—peace through superior firepower (vv. 8-11).

God is a present help, a refuge, a fortress (v. 1). Consequently, we who trust in Him shall not fear—though mountains be thrown into the sea, and the earth be moved. It is worth remembering that Jesus spoke of the judgment of Jerusalem under the figure of a mountain being cast into the sea, and that the choir singing this were sons of Korah—whose famous ancestor had perished when “the earth moved.” Though the water roar and the mountains shake, we will not be troubled (v. 3). Think and pray about it.

The streams of a certain river gladden the city of God (v. 4). God is in the midst of her, meaning that God is the river (v. 5). God shall provide help, and He will do it early. The heathen raged, and empires were set in motion. God spoke and the earth melted (v. 6). The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuse (v. 7). Think and pray about it.

Come and look at the desolations of the Lord (v. 8). He makes wars to cease throughout the earth. He breaks the bow, and cuts the spear, and burns up chariots in the fire (v. 9). He does more, with escalating means of destruction, to tanks, aircraft battle groups, satellite reconnaissance, torpedoes, lasers and guns. Be still and know that God is the Lord (v. 10). He will be exalted among the heathen, and this exaltation will happen on the earth (v. 10). The Lord of hosts takes sides. He is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge (v. 11). Think and pray about it.

The Voice of Triumph

We have seen in some of the previous psalms that God doesn’t want His saints pretending in their prayers in order to keep us some pretense of piety. If you want to know where God has gotten to, then ask Him. Do not do it as a querulous whiner, but rather imitate David, or better yet, the Lord Jesus Himself. Remember the cruciform prayer. But there are other times when you are in need of a refuge, and the events outside look dismaying beyond belief, and yet you are untroubled. The earth may be removed, but we will not be. The mountain ranges may be pitched into the depths of the sea, but we will remain right here. This is a psalm to match that attitude of triumph.

Present and Early

God is our refuge, and note that He is a present help in trouble (v. 1). God will rise up to help and He will do it early (v. 5). We have seen other times that God loves to deliver at the last moment. Abraham’s arm is upraised, and he is going to slay his son, and then God intervenes. On the mount of the Lord it will be provided. The people of

Israel have the waters of the Red Sea lapping at their feet, and Pharaoh’s army is right behind them. The Lord does love a good cliffhanger. But He is not so predictable as to do that every time. There are times when we look to Him, and He is there immediately. He delivers us early.

The River of God

The city of God, which is the Church, has a river flowing right through her center. God the Father is our river (Jer. 2:13). God the Son is our river (Zech. 13:1). God the Holy Spirit is our river (John 7:38). The Temple at the center of the City of God is the source of this river (Ez. 47:1-12), and as this river flows through the New Jerusalem, which is the Church, we see that trees grow on both sides of the river, and the leaves of those trees are for the healing of the nations (Rev. 22:2).

God of Desolations

As one historian once observed, the God of the Bible is no buttercup. In this passage, He makes wars to cease on the earth by force. We know from the rest of the Bible that this is not the entire story—He is the suffering servant as well. He conquered sin and death by means of the humiliation of the cross, certainly. He rose again from the dead three days later, establishing our justification. He also—forty years after His death, burial, and resurrection— destroyed Jerusalem with a rod of iron. It is a grave mistake to relegate desolations to the Old Testament.

In the twenty-first century, we still are dealing with the scourge of war, and this means that we must still submit to the God who will at the last deal with our arsenals the way a victorious general does after he has put down the insurrection.

Peace That Passes Understanding

This psalm is a good representation in the Old Testament of that attitude that St. Paul commended to us in Philippians. “Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). Note that God calls all of us as Christians to this grace. And when this grace is given, it is grounded on thanksgiving. And in this triumph of faith, note also that the peace of God protects your hearts and minds; it is not the other way around. Your hearts and minds do not protect the peace of God. The peace of God is in between you and the melting earth, the roaring seas, and the mountains being hurled into the oceans. And from your place on that wall, you may smile at all your foes.