As I wait for my Psalm 20-inspired healing, Psalm 22 reminds me that things don’t always go as well as we’d like. Jesus quoted Psalm 22 from the cross!

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. (Psalm 22.1 – 3, NKJV)

It’s a tough read, so I admit that I’m taking a little more comfort in Psalm 23:

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever. (Psalm 23, NKJV)

I’m not quite in the shadow of death, but “I will fear no evil” reminds me of a section from one of my favorite psalms:

Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
    they will be remembered forever.
They will have no fear of bad news;
    their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
    in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. (Psalm 112.6 – 8, NIV, emphasis mine)

As I write this, and as I read Psalm 20, I’m in the middle of a bout with a severely enlarged prostate. Three trips to the ER to get some help, and I finally got into the urologist’s office last Wednesday, January 22, where they put in a catheter that works and scheduled me for a cystoscopy on February 10 (way farther out than I would like). We can’t take any action to fix the prostate until after that. So I’m laid up, operating at less than half speed…

Psalm 20 feels like the prayer I need:

May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you; May He send you help from the sanctuary, And strengthen you out of Zion; May He remember all your offerings, And accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah (Psalm 20.1 – 3, NKJV)

Yes, Lord. Please remember me in this day of trouble. May your name defend me. Please send me help from the sanctuary and strengthen me out of Zion. Please remember my offerings.

The psalm ends with a promise:

Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven With the saving strength of His right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God. They have bowed down and fallen; But we have risen and stand upright. (Psalm 20.6 – 8, NKJV)

I appreciate the help I’ve gotten from the medical establishment, some more helpful than others. But I can’t trust “in chariots and horses.” I have to trust “the name of the LORD our God.” I’m praying for healing, however God chooses to send it. I’ll keep you posted.

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. (Mark 11.22 – 24, NKJV)

…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Peter 2.24, NKJV)

Monday, January 20, Ohio State defeated Notre Dame for the College Football Championship. I’m a Clemson guy so I have a right not to be an Ohio State fan. Look it up. That said, I had read before the game and again after the game that there were committed Christians on both sides.

John Stonestreet of BreakPoint wrote an article about the Christians on both teams. Click anywhere on the picture to see the whole article.

Here are some snippets:

Outspoken faith has also been part of the story line in college football this season. This is especially the case with Notre Dame and Ohio State, two teams who put together incredible runs of victories to advance to Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship game…

Though it’s not unusual for athletes and coaches to thank God after big games, faith in Christ was consistently and specifically credited for the culture of both programs. So much so in fact, that, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and Rece Davis made it a point of emphasis in their post-game analysis. As Davis said,  

We hear a lot of times people talk about their faith and people sort of dismiss it. These guys were sharing their faith and reaching out and baptizing guys on campus … not just football teammates. And it became something powerful, not because they thought it was going to be handed to them to win a game, but it changed their relationships. It changed selfishness and made it go away. … It didn’t guarantee they were going to win. And Notre Dame had a lot of that going on as well. We heard [Notre Dame coach] Marcus [Freeman] talk about that a lot this year … that it made guys selfless, and I think that’s the power in it. It’s not some magical thing … it helps you relate to your teammates differently.

The quarterbacks from both sides confirmed this analysis. Ohio State’s Will Howard, accepting the Offensive Player of the Game, said, “First and foremost, I gotta give the glory and the praise to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” He then went on to talk all about his teammates and coaches, emphasizing the strong relationships that made this year so special. 

The losing quarterback, Riley Leonard from Notre Dame said:

Us and Ohio State were the two teams who praised Jesus Christ the most, and I think we strengthened each other in our faith. … I’m happy to see Godly men come out on top no matter what the circumstance is. I’m happy to praise Jesus in the lowest of lows. 

And that’s something we don’t see every day. It’s a false narrative that if we follow Jesus, we always come out on top. It wouldn’t even be possible in this case because both quarterbacks followed Jesus!

It is good that God has people everywhere, even Ohio State! In fact, I already wrote about one football player reaching another at Ohio State – see Priests in ALL Places.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2.9, ESV)

And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out… (1 Thessalonians 1.6 – 8, NKJV)

Today, January 28, is the 39th anniversary of the the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, which exploded 73 seconds into its flight killing all seven astronauts aboard including teacher Christa McAuliffe. I was an Air Force major working in Space Command Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the time.

Ronald Reagan’s speech, written by Peggy Noonan, is considered a classic, and it ends:

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”

The quoted portion comes from “High Flight” a 1941 poem by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., a pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was killed three months later in a training accident.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds,—and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air ….
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

The last line of the poem and the speech was the inspiration for the January 29, 1986, editorial cartoon by Chuck Asay of the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Illustration by Chuck Asay © Pikes Peak Library District, 448-35.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11.13, NKJV)

Psalm 19 is special: only 14 verses, but it’s widely quoted and rightly so, from “The heavens declare the glory of God” to “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Yesterday, we reminded ourselves of God’s general revelation in creation. Today we look at David’s homage to God’s Word: God’s special revelation.

First, we see different NAMES for the Word, followed by an Attribute, closing with an action or result of meditating on the Word.

7 The LAW of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The TESTIMONY of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
8 The STATUTES of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The COMMANDMENT of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9 The FEAR of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The JUDGMENTS of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. (Psalm 19.7 – 9, NKJV, emphases mine)

You want wisdom? Joy? Enlightenment? Permanence? It’s all there. You want to give your life to something perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true? It’s all there. Therefore,

More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb…and in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19.10, 11, NKJV)

Wow. What kind of wealth are we chasing when real wealth is in the Word?

Finally, the Word protects us from sin:

Moreover by them Your servant is warned…Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression. (Psalm 19.11 – 13, NKJV)

Psalm 119 is a 176-verse, 22-stanza meditation on the Word. Psalm 19 is a short version! Just memorizing verses 7 – 9 might inspire you to spend more time with God through the Word. Try it, along with the closing prayer:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19.14, NKJV)

We come to Psalm 19, a favorite for many, and it’s too rich to write just one blog on! So let’s do the first half today:

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
6 Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat. (Psalm 19.1 – 6, NKJV)

The heavens declare the glory of God. I don’t know what David had in mind, but perhaps it was spectacular sunsets and sunrises. The original draft of this post contained some sunrise and sunset pictures I had posted before, but it’s hard to beat this one I just saw on FaceBook after the unusual deep south snow. The post includes appropriate appreciate to God for his handiwork.

There’s no requirement humans react to natural phenomena with awe and delight, but we do. My dog, for example, doesn’t seem to appreciate a sunset or a sunrise, but I do. Enough to stop what I’m doing to take pictures.

And do they communicate? One rendition of verses 2 – 4 expounds on “declare” this way:

Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19.2 – 4, NIV)

They pour forth speech…but they have no speech, they use no words…yet their voice goes out into all the earth. A strange mix of descriptors.

The fact is, creation and “the heavens” in particular do proclaim God’s glory, but not in language specific enough for people to understand God. Hence we need the second half of Psalm 19. Stay tuned. In the meantime, click the picture:

Stand up and bless the LORD your God Forever and ever! Blessed be Your glorious name, Which is exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the LORD; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You. (Nehemiah 9.5, 6, NKJV)

As we come to Psalm 18, recall that I mentioned when blogging Psalm 3 that some of the psalms come with introductions that are actually part of the text. I call them “verse 0.” In the scriptures our Hebrew friends carry, they’re “verse 1.” In seminary, apparently, they are called “Superscriptions,” and here’s a reminder not to miss them: When Reading the Psalms, Don’t Forget the Superscriptions by Andrew Wilson. Early on, he explains:

I am talking about…the way that many (if not most) Christians treat some of God’s inspired words as if they do not exist. I am referring, in particular, to the superscriptions in the Psalms. I have noticed it frequently in my church: If, for example, someone is given Psalm 51 to read, the reading typically begins with the first verse—in this case, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love.” Which means it omits what the passage says immediately beforehand: “For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.” Most people hardly realize they have missed anything. If you mention it afterward, they might be puzzled, as though someone had suggested reading the contents page or the index.

Psalm 18 has such a superscription:

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David The Servant of the LORD, Who Spoke to the LORD The Words of This Song on the Day that the LORD Delivered Him from the Hand of All His Enemies and from the Hand of Saul. And He Said: (Psalm 18.0, NKJV)

We looked at this last year when we went through 2 Samuel: Psalm 18 is identical to 2 Samuel 22 except for the verse numbering. The superscription is called “verse 1” in 2 Samuel.

Here are some verses that spoke to me, beginning at the beginning (after the superscription!):

I will love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. (verses 1 – 3, NKJV)

David had problems:

The pangs of death surrounded me, And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. (verses 4, 5)

So he prayed:

In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears. (verse 6)

And here’s the cool part: God acted…violently!

Then the earth shook and trembled; The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, Because He was angry. Smoke went up from His nostrils, And devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters And thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him, His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire. The LORD thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them. (verses 7 – 14)

It goes on…50 verses! Take the time to read it all, see what jumps out at you. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite sections – promises and something about the Word (in bold):

For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. For who is God, except the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. (verses 28 – 34)

David closes:

The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God who avenges me, And subdues the peoples under me; He delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise against me; You have delivered me from the violent man. Therefore I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the Gentiles, And sing praises to Your name. Great deliverance He gives to His king, And shows mercy to His anointed, To David and his descendants forevermore. (verses 46 – 50)

PS As this comes out, June is recovering nicely from her fall, but I am a week into a bout with a severely enlarged prostate. It will be several more weeks before I have a permanent fix. I will be singing Psalm 18 when God defeats all these enemies!

Psalm 17 is a prayer as its introduction states. David is upset, as we tend to get sometimes, when the wicked seem to do better than the righteous.

A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O LORD, Attend to my cry; Give ear to my prayer which is not from deceitful lips. Let my vindication come from Your presence; Let Your eyes look on the things that are upright. (Psalm 17.0 – 2, NKJV)

He wants deliverance from the wicked:

Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You From those who rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings, From the wicked who oppress me, From my deadly enemies who surround me. They have closed up their fat hearts; With their mouths they speak proudly. (Psalm 17.7 – 10, NKJV)

Then he realizes an important truth: these are

…men who have their portion in this life… (verse 14)

So David closes with this word, which was a huge encouragement for me. It’s not about this life:

As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness. (Psalm 17.15, NKJV)

I think I’ll memorize this one and meditate on it along with the Apostle John’s word:

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3.1 – 3, NKJV, emphasis mine)

Back to the psalms… Please recall that I’m not going to comment on all of them. That said, there are a few I won’t miss starting with today’s: Psalm 16.

I can’t read verse six without thinking of Sam and Shirley Hershey:

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. (Psalm 16.6, NIV

“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places”? Sam and Shirley lost one son very early; another was killed on a California freeway and was a fine young man. The third was profoundly disabled. He died September 2023 at age 41, and my blog Not an Interruption tells their story. Sam ended a presentation on life lessons with Psalm 16.6.

And I can’t read verse 11 without thinking of my wife, June. It’s one of her favorite verses:

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16.11, NKJV)

What do we “get” for following Jesus?

Pleasant places (even when life is hard)…pleasures forevermore

I was privileged to sit down a few days ago with the discipleship pastor of a large church. His aspirations were noble: “We’re good at getting people involved in worship, but I’m concerned about helping them grow. How can we help the flock do the kinds of things that will make them better disciples?”

A good question, and the answer, with respect to “the flock,” is, “You don’t. You don’t help ‘the flock,’ you help individuals in the flock.”

This is what I wrote about last week in What Makes a Difference? Our friend’s church was trying to disciple “the flock.” I preached, her pastor preached, we made the Time with God Tool available, but it was intentional personal attention that made the difference.

To use a metaphor, I listened to a few minutes of the Lions’ radio broadcast of the Lions/Commanders game where the 12 – 5 Commanders beat the 15 – 2 Lions by two touchdowns. Early in the game those announcers observed that the Lions’ defensive linemen were not beating the Commanders’ offensive linemen. I hardly ever pay attention to those matchups, but these announcers were watching. Their guys were getting beat one-on-one. Individually. The team doesn’t pressure the opposing quarterback, individual linemen do. And when they don’t…

To use another metaphor, the discipleship pastor had heard me play the piano and complimented me on that. I reminded him that I didn’t learn to play the piano by going to concerts! I was taught one-on-one.

We don’t disciple the flock. We find disciple-makers to disciple individuals in the flock. And when enough individuals are discipled, the character of the flock changes.

We exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you… – The Apostle Paul, 1 Thessalonians 2.11, NKJV

Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. (Colossians 1.28, NKJV, emphasis mine)