But As For Me Psalm 59:16-17

But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress.O my strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness.PSALMS 59:16-17 NASB

As is often the case in the Psalms this song starts out with vitriol against those who "wait in ambush for his life". and then here in verse 16 (as so many of them do) it changes gears and says "but as for me" and it gives all the opposite emotions of ardor, trust and even joy.

Never once does the Psalmist blame God for the hard thing in their life. They don't throw out to God that he could have stopped the evil thing if he'd only loved him enough.

How vastly different we respond to terror than so many of the psalmists.  Isn't our first reaction to bad things to blame someone else, especially God, who is supposed to be in control of everything?

Reading the psalms over and over I see the pattern that we are supposed to follow while in distress.  God is very interested in what our troubles are, and invites us to spill them to Him.  What the Holy Spirit inspired scripture presents to us is a way to cope through the struggle by trusting Him even when we are under persecution.

Lord, help me to cast my disquiet and fear at your feet without blaming you for my lot. Teach me joy when things look bleak. Teach me to take refuge with you instead of fighting my own battles.

You Who Forget God

“Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you: Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”PSALM 50:22-23 NIV

 So many of us humans have mistaken his mercy and patience as involvement.

We have bought into the lie that God has no power or that He really is is the made up version that we created.  We've remade him into a personalized genie to focus on our happiness.... to get us out of trouble or help us with our addictions.

But there will be a reckoning. And every breath we draw - yes, our very life is borrowed from Him.

I urge you to read the word and find out who he really is, and what he came to do.  Let him speak for himself, and then deal with him!  Don't forget him or remake him into something that is less offensive or controversial.

Justice For Man Proverbs 29:26

Many seek the ruler's favor, But justice for man comes from the Lord.PROVERBS 29:26 NASB

 One of the side effects of thinking of God as an Un interested force or an impersonal one, is that the unbeliever doesn't really trust God for justice.

Flattery

In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their own sin.
Psalm 36:2

 It's so easy to read verses like this and think that it applies to someone else.  But I will tell you this, every time I make excuses or justify my own sin, I have my focus on something else that I thought I was doing well or was blameless of.

Sometimes I am aware I am doing it and it feels hollow.

 But I am shocked at how often this seemingly contrived response to sin happens without my conscious choosing of it. It is a defense mechanism that roots itself itself in my flesh to avoid having to look at it square.

Without the word of truth to light up the lie I would be so much more self deluded than I am. So *raises coffee cup in a cheer* here is to looking intently into the Word and asking the Holy Spirit to continually convict and give us the courage to look at ourselves square on. *clink*