Sunday, July 17, 2016

Sunday Psalms: Chapters 12-14

Sunday Psalms Chap 12-14

Psalm 12:6 “And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.”

David bemoans the words of men in this passage, saying they reveal evil and flaunt disrespect for God. The Lord’s words, in contrast, are perfect and pure. We are called to be holy, as He is holy – set apart, different. We shouldn’t be cursing, as the world does; our words should lift others up, not malign them; our words shouldn’t be me-focused. I need God to guide my tongue.

Psalm 13:5-6 “But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me.”

These verses are such an abrupt shift from the rest of the passage that I was rather surprised. David can seem more than a little melodramatic sometimes, going from the highest highs to the deepest depths. Yet he has such an anchor in the Lord, too. This passage reminds me a lot of many of my journal entries: spewing all the junk, depression, frustration, etc. and then affirming some truth about God. That’s when I know I’ve processed things.

Here, I love David’s choice of words. He’s choosing to trust, rejoice, and sing. In the middle of trials is the best time to praise God, turning my gaze off my problems and to the One it should never have left.

Psalm 14:1a, 5 “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’… There they [evildoers] are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous.”

Two interesting thoughts in this passage: 1) Only a fool would say there is no God, and 2) The community of God’s people is important. To the former, we actually have to work hard to delude ourselves into thinking that God doesn’t exist. We can be angry at Him, sure, but to actually ignore His existence is difficult. It’s the height of foolishness, really, to ignore all the things that point to His Presence. The second point is interesting to me. David’s been despairing about evildoers, and now he shifts gears, talking instead about the despair those evildoers feel when encountering the righteous. Evil cannot stand against God, and I can trust in that.

Right now, it feels like the world is going crazy. Maybe it is – being driven crazy by the grip of evil. But I know that the devil’s time will end. God will stand in judgement, and righteousness will prevail. I don’t know what’s going to happen here on Earth, but I know that it will end and that my story is being written by God Himself.


What do you think of these verses? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

2 comments:

  1. I like the middle one, Psalms 13: 5-6. I'm always inspired and uplifted when I see good reminders like this.

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    1. I really like that one, too. It's really good to look for those reminders, I think. To be purposeful about it. Thanks for commenting!

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