Psalm 40:1-4 NASB

I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.  He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.  And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear, and will trust in the LORD.  How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

The most difficult thing in the world, for most of us, is to wait patiently for the LORD.  But God is more eastern in his way of thinking and working than He is western.  Relationships, not time, are the main factor.  Whereas, westerners are into production and product, God, like most of the eastern world, is into people. And, with people, life is formed in the process.  Therefore, what seems like the slowness of God to move on our behalf, is actually the goodness of God to mold us along the way.  Until we come to this kind of faith, we will forever chaffe against the ways of God with us. The Christian life cannot be appreciated by looking ahead; all that creates is fretting, worry and anxiety.  It is only when we wait patiently for the LORD, that we will, over time, look back and see His hand in our lives.  Certainly, He has a great future planned for His children, but the future is secured in the present and seen in the past.  It is as we have patiently waited on the LORD that we can then look back over our lives and see how He has orchestrated our lives.  It is then that we know He was not indifferent to our needs.  We can see where He protected us from disaster and established our ways.  This is the testimony of those who "wait patiently for the LORD".  This is what forms our songs and quickens our witness.  Frankly, much of the "Christian" music of our day is drowning in shallowness.  Many are singing songs rooted in self rather than the knowledge of the Holy; songs that aren't born in "waiting patiently for the LORD", where one has truly made the LORD his trust, but, rather, songs that are born out the emptiness of pride and falsehood.  We must do better than this, if we are to again affect this world with eternal truth. 

2 Samuel 18:13 NASB

And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chanber over the gate and wept.  And this is what he said as he walked, "O my son Absalom, my son Absalom!  Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!

There is nothing as heart wrenching as grieving over something that has to do with your own child. Though David fell short of many things Absalom needed from a father, he didn't deserve the way Absalom treated him.  But, like any father, no matter what the child has done, that child means everything to a father.  In the same way, God feels this toward everyone of us.  The difference being that God has not failed us in anything. But His heart feels the pain of a child's waywardness.  If there is anything we know about God, one thing is certain--He is not willing that any should perish.  His heart yearns for us with a deep love.  Where David could only wish that he had died instead of his son, God, in Christ, did die for us.  "Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, my God, dids't die for me?" 

Psalm 55:16, 17-18, 22 NASB

As for me, I will call upon God, and the LORD will save me.  Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, and He will hear my voice.  He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me... Cast your burden upon the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

As I write this, I find myself in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, working with a church team to build a home for someone who suffered great loss during the destructive earthquake that shook this city just a few years ago, killing thousands.  We drive by poverty and debris each day as we go to and back from our work site. We wonder what hope there is for these people.  Then we had one of those sureal moments.  As we waited for our ride back to the guest house, amidst our busy chatter, my wife Sarah said, "Everyone quiet!  Listen!"  As we quieted down, we could hear someone singing.  She was easy to see and hear because of her position on the hillside just across from us.  As she handwashed clotes, and with less than decent condtions all around her, she was singing, "What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see..."  We sat there mesmerized by this scene and this sound.  In the midest of the poverty and devestation around her, and without her knowledge, this woman was proving and pronouncing something some Americans needed to hear, and that is that life has nothing to do with what you have, but it has everything to do with Who you have.  If we know this God, when our world is shaken, the Psalmist says, "He will never allow the righteous to be shaken."  Do you know Him this way?  Is there a song in your heart, and on your lips, that speaks of a peace and stability found only in the Eternal?  I pray so!

Psalm 28:6-8 NASB

Blessed be the LORD, because He has heard the voice of my supplication.  The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I will thank Him.  The LORD is their strength, and He is a saving defense to His anointed. 

An old movie, Ghostbusters, had the famous line, "Who you gonna call?"; the answer, of course, being "Ghostbusters!"  The idea was, when you are up against something bigger than you are, something you can't handle, call in the ones who knew how.  Whatever we think of the movie, it's a great question.  Who are you going to call?  When you're up against circumstances that are bigger than you, who are you going to call?  When you are facing problems that will bury you, who are you going to call?  When the forces of evil press against your soul, who are you going to call?  This was a no-brainer to David.  As natural as breathing and eating, he knew where His help was, and He found Him a ready responder, because He knew who his God was.  This was not a 911 number he dialed on dire occasions.  God wasn't somewhere else.  God was right there with him, so it was natural, in the course of life's journey, to speak his heart earnestly and eagerly.  That's just the way it is with those in close fellowship.  You can feel the realness of this relationship in the richness of his supplication throughout Psalm 28:  "To You, O LORD, I call; my rock, do not be deaf to me... Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary (presence)... Blessed be the LORD, because He has heard the voice of my supplication.  The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song will thank Him.  The LORD is their strength, and He is a saving defense to His anointed."  So, who are you going to call?  Do you know Him this way?  If not, you can.  He's right here!

Psalm 13:5-6 NASB

...I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation.  I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.

I was listening to my youngest brother over the phone, as he wept over the condition of his suffering and invalid wife (who after 6 years of battling with a horrific disease, passed away last August, 2010).  He agonized over "the silence of God" in all of this; where it seemed, even after much prayer, God did nothing.  But, then, after pouring his heart out, and between sobs, he said, "But I want you to know Hubert that I still believe!"  His faith was dangling over the precipice of life, but it was not decimated.  He knew that, alongside all of the pain and suffering in this world, there was the God who was right there.  He believed that the clouds that obscured the light didn't destroy the sun.  This is where the Psalmist lands in Psalm 13.  He speaks from the agony of his soul, with words that will tear your heart out, saying, "How long, O LORD?  Will You forget me forever?  How long will You hide your face from me?  How long will I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day?  How long will my enemy be exalted over me?"  David, the Psalmist, then pleads with God:  "Consider and answer me, O LORD, my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death..."  And then he lands his soul on this foundational truth:  But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation.  I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.  Amazing!  That is a different kind of faith than what we see among so many who so easily quit and give up on God.  I like this faith of my brother Jimmy, and my friend David.  Powerful!  I want to link arms with this kind of people.  They know in whom they have believed, and they help my faith.  We have reason to keep believing, for He is still God!

Psalm 12:1, 5-6 NASB

Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases to be, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men... "Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, now I will arise," says the LORD; "I will set him in the safety for which he longs."  The words of the LORD are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

I was watching a program the other night, showing a map of the thousands of pieces of debris in space, left there from broken up satellites, some weighing up to 300 pounds, and some of which they know will soon crash somewhere on our earth. I felt very unsafe knowing all of that was over my head.  But you don't have to go out into space to know that we live in a dangerous world, with many evil forces seeking to gain dominance, bringing destruction and despair on so many innocent people.  If you were to show a map of all the out-of-control, social fires in the world, we would all panic. Actually, just listening to programs like CNN or Fox news, could send you into the depths of depression.  The one thing we feel is, this is not a friendly world.  This is nothing new.  This is the way it has been since the fall of man, and Satan has taken advantage to ply his oppression on all he can, trying to create a sense of hopelessness.  That's the feeling the Psalmist felt long ago.  In his despair, he quickly realizes there is another, stronger Force in this world; One who sees and acts on behalf of the needy. We have come to know Him as the One who didn't forsake this world, but intervenes and intercedes for us, steadily and certainly winning hearts back from their fallenness, to again establish holiness and righteousness in souls and society.  This is the promise of God!---"Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, now I will arise," says the LORD; "I will set him in the safety for which he longs."  And we can join the Psalmist in affirming this great truth:  "The words of the LORD are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times."  Amen!  And Amen!

Psalm 3:4-6; 4:3, 8 NASB

I was crying to the LORD with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain.  Selah.  I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustains me.  I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about... But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself; The LORD hears when I call to Him... In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O LORD make me to dwell in safety.

Insomnia!  There are many causes for this dreaded condition, but the worst is when it's due to anxiety.  The mind can be like a car engine that won't shut off even after you've turned the key off and shut the doors.  It uses up fuel and saps energy. I have had sleepless nights because of something that lands on my mind and, like a pesky flie, no matter how much you swat at it, it just keeps buzzing around.  Sometimes the problems are huge, landing on us like boulders crashing down on us from high mountains.  There may be times for prescribed medication and counsel, which should be sought when needed.  But let's never forget the greatest source of help for things that come into our lives.  I believe there are some things that need more time in prayer.  I'm a great believer in the long walks alone with God, or finding a place where I can pour my soul out to Him in earnest prayer.  The one thing that God has promised to "the godly man" is His ear.  What an amazing thing!  Basically, God is saying, "take advantage of it!" This is the witness of the Psalmist, who said, "I was crying to the LORD with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain.  Selah.  I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustains me.  I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about... But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself; The LORD hears when I call to Him... In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O LORD make me to dwell in safety."  That sounds like the help we need for a good nights rest, by finding our rest in Him.  Sleep on it!

Psalm 86:7, 15 NASB

In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, for You will answer me... You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

Would you pray something you didn't believe?  Or, putting it another way, do we really believe our line of prayer?  The Psalms are full of prayers.  Were they just nice words spoken with no hope of actualization or were they powerful words spoken with expectation?  I think we would say they are the latter, but, if we really believe that,  why don't we believe the same about our prayers?  The most tragic thing that has happened with prayer is that it has become a form rather than our faith.  We treat it as a nice thing to do, but not something that amounts to anything other than making us religious. But have you ever thought about what your prayers claim?  What if prayer actually set things in motion in our lives?  What if prayer actually changed things in our lives?  What if prayer actually made a difference in our lives?  What if we really started believing what we were claiming?  From Psalm 86 alone, you will find some very strong ideas about what the Psalmist believed possible, or he wouldn't have prayed them.  Would we believe these to be possible in our lives?  If not, why would we pray them? That's certainly why he prayed them. Listen to what he says: Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me... Do preserve my soul... Save Your servant... Be gracious to me, O LORD... Make glad the soul of Your servant... Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer... And give heed to the voice of my supplications! Teach me Your way, O LORD... Unite my heart to fear Your name... Turn to me and be gracious to me... Oh grant Your strength to Your servant... Show me a sign for good... Our prayers ought to be a dead give-away.  They ought to tell what our interests are.  They ought to tell what our problems are.  They ought to tell what our hopes are. They ought tell what our beliefs are.  What do your prayers say about you?  

Psalm 51:16-17 NASB

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.  the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will no despise.

Psalm 51 captures the depth of David's anguish as he bears his soul over his sin with Bathsheba.  It's a prayer that pleads for a restart, knowing that he has nothing in himself that can fix the blackness of his heart.  As he stands before the One who "desires truth in the innermost being" (v6), he cries, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me," (v10).  With nothing but an exposed and guilty heart, David takes hold of the one thing he knows about our God; the one and only truth that will save any soul, and that is that "a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will no despise".  If we have sinned, there's no sense trying anything else. It's just plain foolishness to think we can make our case before the One who knows our case.  Self-justification won't cut it.  Excuses won't cut it.  Self-righteousness won't cut it. Victimization won't cut it.  Down-playing it won't cut it.  Explanations won't cut it.  Blame won't cut it. Sin has to be owned or it will never be dethroned.  We must, like the Psalmist, with broken heart, call it what it is:"my transgressions" (v1), "my iniquity" (v2a), "my sin" (v2b), hanging our head in abject humility and honesty, saying "Against You, You only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight..." (v4).  That's the "down-side" of repentance.  But there's an "up-side", if you will, that we need to see.  No sin is so hopeless that we're helpless.  As dark and as deep as David's sin was, he didn't stay in its hole.  He doesn't diminish his sin, but He knows who He's praying to and appeals to Him on the basis of His who He is and what He can do.  This is a prayer that lifts the sinner from his sin and right into the possibilities of grace.  Listen to his language:

• Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions (v1).
• Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin (v2).
• Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow (v7).
• Make me hear joy and gladness, let the bones which You have broken rejoice (v8).
• Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities (v9).
• Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me (v10)
• Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me (v11).
• Restore to me the joy of Your salvation (v12).
• Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, God of my salvation (v14).

If you were to ask me, I'd say David believed in the God who could recreate, restore and renew.  I'd say that pretty well covers our heart's need.  I like this gospel!  I like this God!

Psalm 32:6-11 NASB

Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not reach him.  You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.  I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check... Many are the sorrows of the wicked; but he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.  Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

There are three very popular paths that many people take that always lead to folly, not paths that take different courses,  but paths that mingle together, coming in on each other, like one river into another, widening into a road called "foolishness".  The first is self-centeredness, which mingles into the second, called stubbornness, which in turn joins with the third, called senselessness. And it's amazing how senseless smart people can get!  These, of course, are filled with the traffic of things like pride, arrogance, cockiness, and self-importance, all desperately wanting to impress the world around them. They careen down the road of life, like a mess on wheels. The wreckage around us only goes to prove the folly of this way. Hang around long enough and you'll come to the same conclusion the Psalmist came to when he said, "Many are the sorrows of the wicked".  The LORD steps into this mess, giving us an off ramp.  And we need to take it!  As the Psalmist says, "don't be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check..."  There is a better way. It's the way of sensibility and salvation. It's a deliberate and complete surrender of our life to the One who can keep us from the disasters of our own way.  This is His invitation to us, with the promise that "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you."  To anyone who has taken this way, there is the testimony of safety.  This heart exclaims with joy, "Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not reach him.  You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. 

2 Samuel 12:7-9, 13 NASB

Nathan then said to David, "You are the man!  Thus says the LORD, God of Israel, 'It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul.  I also gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these!  Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight?" ...Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."  And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.  However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child that is born to you shall surely die."

Have you ever felt like you've really messed up?  Or, more than that, you know you've really messed things up? This story of David is the giant of mess-ups.  The potential of determined sin is scary.  It can take us down roads we never dreamed possible, killing integrity, breaking up families, destroying friendships, dividing communities, and all because we gave wrong the reigns.  Sometimes the consequences, socially, may not be as big, but it has caused internal conflict that leaves us less than what we should be.  What to do?  There comes a point, in any determined sin, when we face a fork in the road; we either cover it up or confess it.  If we cover the sin, it will forever dominate our lives, making us, as Scott Peck so aptly put it in the title of his book, People of the Lie.  He writes, "they are "the people of the lie, deceiving others as they also build layer upon layer of self-deception," (p66).  If we confess, I mean really confess, with deep contrition, amazingly, but true, God liberates us from the conviction of sin, which is eternal death, though not always the immediate consequences, which is its effect on us and on people around us. The consequences of sin is that it is never self-contained.  It seeps out into the soil around us, always affecting others, some more so than others, but a seeping nevertheless. But let's get back to that fork in the road.  God usually sends someone to awaken us to our sin.  They are faithful servants who care more about our soul than they do about our favor.  The "Nathan's" of the world are few and far between, but they are worth their weight in gold. Thank God for them.  They bring us God's truth in different ways, but they keep us honest with the truth about our souls. Nathan was David's salvation, but only as David faced his sin and said "I have sinned against the LORD".  If you've never faced your sin this way, take this path.  It leads to liberty and life, restoring integrity, and it carries within it the potential of restoring families, friendships, and communities. In Psalm 32, David exclaims this great truth, saying, "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!  How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!"  Glorious freedom!  That's why it's called "the Gospel".  That's why I keep preaching this good news.

Psalm 69:33 and 70:5 NASB

For the LORD hears the needy, and does not despise His who are prisoners... But I am afflicted and needy; Hasten to me, O God!  You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.

Scott Peck begins the first chapter of his book, The Road Less Traveled (p15), with the statement, "Life is difficult".  And everyone said... Amen!  This is the weight of Psalm 69 and 70.  David, the Psalmist, bears his soul to God, asking for His deliverance.  You feel the depths of his despair throughout, but listen to Psalm 69:1-3:  "Save me, O God for the waters have threatened my life.  I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me.  I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched; my eyes fail while I wait for my God."   He feels the pressure both from within and without and he "begs" for divine intervention.  In the midst of his expressed affliction and pain, He speaks of the probabilities and possibilities of God, found in the word "may", and it is here he plants his flag, saying, "May Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high.  I will praise the name of God with song, and shall magnify Him with thanksgiving," (69:30-31).  For some, because of the darkness that envelopes you, and the prison that holds you, that would be a herculean task you can't even imagine.  But the hope isn't in our efforts.  The hope is in the One who reaches down into our darkness.  This is the hope the Psalmist pulls us toward, saying, "The humble have seen it and are glad; you who seek God, let your heart revive.  And here, the Psalmist waves the flag of God's grace, bringing hope even to the most needy soul, giving us a prayer to pray when we don't know how to pray.  Pray this with all your heart!  He will come!  Here it is:  "For the LORD hears the needy, and does not despise His who are prisoners... But I am afflicted and needy; hasten to me, O God!  You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay."  Just a few days ago, my mother was singing a song she remembered her parents singing as a duet, called "The Upper Window", and, as I listened to the simple, but powerful words, I asked for a copy for my own heart's file.  Here they are for you dear soul.

When God spoke unto Noah, and told him to build the ark,

The Lord knew well the vessel would cheerless be and dark,

Do God said, build a window, with outlook toward the sky,

That when it's dark and lonesome, you'll see Me standing by.

It may be that affliction will rack and rend your frame,

Until your mortal body is seared with fevered flame,

But do not be discouraged, just lift your tear-dimmed eye,

And through the upper window, you'll see Me standing by.

Perhaps you'll suffer losses, like houses, lands, and gold,

And you will feel you're homeless, and penniless, and old;

But sweetest peace and comfort will lift your painful sigh,

When through the upper window, you'll see Me standing by.

It may be that bereavement will take a loved one dear,

A soul that brought you gladness, real happiness and cheer;

But it will cheer your sad heart, when loved ones from you fly,

When through the upper window, you'll see Me standing by.

Refrain: 

The storms will come, but fear not, oh, children, I am night,

And through the upper window, you'll see Me standing by.

Psalm 67:1-2 NASB

God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us--that Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.

There's nothing that stands out like a sunburn on the face.  It's the mark of a newbie on the beach.  They've had their face full in the sun and they glow!  In the same way, there is nothing that stands out like the person who has been full face toward God. It's in this sense that the Psalmist prays, "God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us--that Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations."  The greatest evidence of God is found in you and me. God's mark on our lives should be undeniable.  How can it be anything else?  Not with a "shine" like He can give!  This is what the world needs to note again--that we know God's graciousness, that we carry God's blessing, and that we have been in God's presence.  It will give them a clear path to God.  Walk with your face full toward Him and take in the light of His glory.