Monthly Archives: July 2014

Singing with the King (8) – Be Still 1.2

Cease striving and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10)

Abide

Other definitions for cease striving or be still are to sink down, relax, and let down, like sinking down into one of those old-fashioned over-stuffed chairs. Place yourself into the bosom of the Father, and wrap yourself up in His cloak. There you will find comfort; there you will know the intimacy, and the love of our Heavenly Father.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’…He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge. (Psalm 90:1-2)

Are you bringing something to do with your hands or all they full of stuff? Be still also means to let go, to go limp, and lay down the stuff, so you can hold on to your Heavenly Father.

“So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. (Isaiah 1:15-16)

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. you. (James 4:8-10)

Be still also means enfeebled and frail. You are incapable of lifting your hands for rescue—or for worship. When we are too weak to do anything, He shows Himself to be strong.

My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

May you be still before Him today.

Singing With the King (7) – God is Good

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. (Psalm 73:1)

standing tallDo you have a foundational belief on which you stand? Something you can cling to regardless of what is going on around or within you? The Psalmist did—he made a declaration—and made his stand: Surely God is good to Israel.

The Hebrew word for surely has two uses: one is emphatic, the other is restrictive. So you can put an exclamation point behind the emphatic version: Surely God is good! Or because we understand Who God is and how He works, we use the restrictive version: Only God is good.

Christ Himself, the Son of God spoke to this: “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.” (Luke 18:19)

The Hebrew word for good has numerous translations; the most frequent are: better, best, pleasing, and favorable. It describes excellence of quality, excellence of character, and that which is of a higher nature (a vague way of saying God…).

This verse has the only occurrence of God is good in the OT. However, the Lord is good occurs seven times:

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. (Psalm 34:8)

For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100:5)

Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. (Psalm 135:3)

The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works. (Psalm 145:9)

Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever. (Jeremiah 33:11)

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. (Lamentations 3:25)

The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him. (Nahum 1:7)

So, how can you experience God’s goodness? In His refuge. In His love. In His faithfulness. In His mercy. In His care. And when you do, you will sing His praises—forever.

 

Singing with the King (6) – Day & Night Delight

But his delight is in the law of the LORD and in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2)

Lion at SunsetIS your delight in the Law of the LORD? The Hebrew word for it is also translated as: pleasure, desire, please, purpose, and care. Two well known verses show how this word is used in other parts of Scripture:

She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. (Proverbs 3:15)

But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, he will see His offspring, he will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. (Isaiah 53:10)

So what is it we are delighting, desiring, and pleased about? The torah—which is Hebrew for law.

Not only must we delight in the law, but we meditate on it. Meditate is a colorful word; it means to moan, growl, utter, muse, mutter, devise, plot, speak, to roar, groan, and imagine.

One ancient saint translated it as chatter, much like the birds. Is the Law of the Lord something we talk and chatter about; but unlike the birds we do it day and night. Do we roar the word at night, much like the lions? Do we mutter, growl and moan when we wrestle with it until we find a blessing? Do we devise and plot ways to extract its meanings and applications?

The young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God. (Psalm 104:21)

The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. (Psalm 145:15)

Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

All these actions we should carry out day and night. We meditate on the Word during the day, so that men might see our good works. We meditate on it throughout the night so we do no deeds that are dark or are done in darkness.

Let your de-light shine!

Singing with the King (5) – Songs of Deliverence

You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. (Psalm 32:7)

Refuge3

In this Psalm, it is not God specifically who surrounds us—rather we are surrounded by His songs of deliverance. Now I suppose one could make the case that these songs are a result of the deliverance, but that seems to be a disservice to the songs of the Lord. There seems to be something more tangible and protective to these songs than just a post-deliverance celebration.

And why do I say that we do the Lord a disservice? What a marvelous and wondrous thing to have the Lord of Hosts sing to you! It brings to mind that passage from Psalm 46:10—Cease striving and know that I am God. Could it be that if we were quiet, we might hear the Lord singing to us? If the Lord created music, why wouldn’t He sing to us?

One thing about the Lord singing songs of deliverance; I believe we might consider them like we do prophecy. If the Lord has said it will come to pass, then it will happen. And if the LORD sings songs of deliverance to us, then we are delivered.

It should be noted that this is the only appearance of this particular Hebrew word for songs in the OT. So if creation was an unique event, what about your deliverance?

Now you may be saying that being surrounded by songs of deliverance is a rather flimsy shield, and songs are not much of a means of deliverance. But consider: if He Who created all things with just a few words, how much more could He accomplish with a song!

We end with a pause—Selah—perhaps you might hear Him sing.