Posts Tagged "Psalms"

“What does he know that I don’t?” David, the writer of Psalm 119, says, “How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.” (Psalm 119:103) Granted, there are some nice things in the Bible, but really, “sweeter than honey?” Here’s what David understands that we often miss when we read the Scriptures.  ALL of the Bible is good news. Good news that God made the world a beautiful place and will return to make it new again. Good news that God made a way for Adam and Eve and has made a way for us. Good news that God is always faithful to His people no matter how long they wander in the desert or how far they go. Good news that His commands lead to life, and life abundantly. Good news that Jesus is the...

Why do we cry when we face the reality of eternity? Whether the passing of a loved one or an entry into new life in Christ, the heart responds with such surges of emotion that they simply cannot be contained. My grandfather has passed into eternity, and I am not sad, but happy.  I will certainly miss him, but probably not too much.  I am simply not that type of person, and yet, though I rejoice at his homecoming, when I think about it I am moved to great sobs.  Why? The Bible tells us in Romans 8:26 of times when the person of the Holy Spirit intercedes in pray for us with “with groanings too deep for words”, and I wonder if perhaps the reason for my tears is found here… Maybe the answer is that words are simply not sturdy enough to carry the...

“Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him.” -Psalm 41:1 All throughout Scripture we see things like this; promises made that those who do X will receive Y. What do do, then, with the fact that there are many who DO “X” but DON’T receive “Y”? The more I learn and experience of God’s ways in the world, the more I start to think sometimes we have it backwards. Perhaps in this passage, it’s not a promise that helping the poor will mean you always get out of trouble because you somehow earned it. Maybe it’s not so much about a guarantee, as much as it is an evidence of a God-filled, Christ-centered life, and that lives like that have His power manifested in them...

“Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.” – Psalm 2:11 “Rejoice with trembling”? Doesn’t that seem like sort of an oxymoron?  I mean think about it, how can you rejoice (def. “To feel joyful; be delighted”) with trembling (def. “To feel fear or anxiety”)?  Actually, it’s pretty simple. Ever ridden a roller coaster?  There you are, strapped into an itty bitty seat somewhere in the middle of a couple of tons of metal, being hurled around from one unnatural angle to another at speeds that God surely never intended man to experience.  You are literally mere inches away from disaster at any given moment, from a restraint giving way and launching you into empty space, from a wheel or track getting dislodged and slamming the whole...

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.” -Psalm 130:5-6 (ESV) I walked in to the sanctuary of the large Korean Assemblies of God church and I could feel it in an instant. Thick in the air among the gathered people was a feeling of anticipation, of excitement, of knowing that GOD would show up that morning. This was not my first time to visit Promise Church in Flushing, NY, and because I had been there before, I had not just a hope, not just a desire, but an expectation that something special would happen that morning. I started to think though, “I’ve been here before but many of these others haven’t. They’ve not heard the choir sing...