A Timely Prayer from Psalm 45

Just last night, my husband and I were discussing with friends the current situation regarding all the caucuses and the political machinery that is marching towards the final choices for President that we will be offered this coming November. 

This morning, I opened up Bible Gateway to Psalm 45, where I “just happened” to be for today in my slow tour through the Psalms. Psalm 45 paints a picture of a godly king who leads with truth, humility, and justice. My Bible Gateway app also opened this psalm in The Voice translation, the version I “just happened” to using last night for something else. The Voice offered the following timely notes in the middle of Psalm 45:

“Whether we realize it or not, the overall wellbeing of a nation is tied directly to its leaders. When the leaders are just and make good decisions, then the welfare of a nation is secure. But when leaders are unjust and make poor decisions, and they pursue personal agendas rather than the public good, then nations suffer. This is why Scripture instructs those of faith to pray for all people everywhere, especially that those in authority would lead the world to dignity and peace (1 Tim 2:1-3).

Psalm 45 celebrates that rare breed, a godly king who pursues truth and justice…May the world witness a new breed of leader, fashioned in the image of this psalm.” 

In a season when many are concerned about who our next president will be and where our country is headed … at a time when many are wondering if they should even vote because of the choices that we are offered … it seems that Scripture calls us to pray for our leaders ---something that we should not neglect or underestimate. We need to pray fervently for whomever our next president will be.

Lord, I pray that you will fill Trump, Hillary, Sanders (or whomever else rises to the top of the list of candidates) with incredible wisdom…wisdom beyond their years, beyond their education, and beyond their experiences (James 1:5).

I pray you will give them the discernment necessary to know what is best for the people of this country (Prov 28:2).

I pray you will give them the strength and courage to do what needs to be done (Josh 1:7).

I pray you will give them the humility necessary to listen to you and to listen to those that you place around them who are able to guide them in a wise, discerning fashion (Ps 25:9).

As for this election, the future of this country and this world, I pray “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).

I pray that each of these candidates and our future President will ultimately turn to you and serve you, the King of Kings, with their very lives and that they will speak your words and serve in your strength in order to bring you glory (1 Pet 4:11).

Finally, I pray that we will all “bring honor to your name in every generation. Therefore, the nations will praise you forever and ever” (Ps 45:17 NLT)

Amen.

Let Us Exalt His Name

This verse from Psalms sounds like it could be a formal call to worship, an invitation from the worship leader for the congregation to join him in singing songs of praise to God during the Sunday morning worship service. As a worship leader, this is my first thought. And of course, singing songs of praise together is a “fitting” thing for us to do (Ps 33:1). But when I read this verse this week, I began to contemplate what else that “let us exalt his name together” might mean for us.

“Exalt” is not a word that I generally use in daily conversation. According to Merriam-Webster, it means to “raise (someone or something) to a higher level; to praise (someone or something) highly; to present (something) in a way that is very favorable.”[1] According to this definition, exalting the Lord would certainly include singing songs of praise together, but what about that last part, about presenting something in a favorable way?

In thinking about what exalting the name of Lord means, I began to think about the flip side --- what does it look or sound like when we don’t exalt or lift up His name? We have phrases in the English language relating to the opposite of lifting or exalting someone’s name. If someone does something we don’t like, we may say that their name “is mud.” We may speak of dragging someone’s name through the dirt or the mud, which is when we “tell people about something bad that someone has done so that people will have a bad opinion of them.”[2] Do we ever drag God's name through the mud?

My first thought about this was the use of God's name as a curse word. In our culture, we often hear people calling for  God to condemn whatever displeases them. However, I don’t really think that people who use this word fully expect God to bring down curses on the car in front of them in traffic, or their frustrating circumstances, or whatever they are angry about, nor do I think it makes those who hear it think less of God.

While I do not like to hear the Lord's name used as a curse word, I think a more damaging way that we drag God’s name through the dirt instead of lifting it up is by saying things that are contrary to the truth about His nature ---when we say things like, “God is not really good, because if He was, He wouldn’t have let this happen” … or “God loves other people, but He doesn’t really love me or I wouldn’t be in this situation” … or maybe we say “God hates gays” (or women, or people with green hair, or whatever group). None of these things are true, and they certainly don’t invite others to think more highly of God.

While it is fitting for Psalm 34:3 to be used as an invitation to sing songs of praise together, I believe it is also an invitation to speak highly of God --regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our frustration level, and regardless of our personal opinions of others. This may not always be easy to do. As the writer of Hebrews put it, “let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise –the fruit of lips that openly profess his name” (Heb 13:15 NIV).

Whether sung or spoken, whether in sadness or in joy, may our words about the Lord be filled with praise, and may we be intent on lifting up His name in the sight of others, rather than dragging it down to our own level. May we constantly speak about how good, how loving, how faithful, how patient, how merciful, how creative, how holy, and how amazing our God is, especially in front of those who don’t know Him, and so I say…

“Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together” (Ps 34:3 NIV).

---

[1] Merriam-webster.com, “exalt”

[2] idioms.thefreedictionary.com

The Secret in Psalm 23:1

I have been slowly working my way through the Psalms, and I recently made it up to Psalm 23. This is such a familiar passage that it would have been very easy to just roll right through it without stopping to contemplate its great meaning and depth. After all, I've had it memorized since childhood. I decided to go through it very slowly, but I didn't think I'd be this slow. I was stopped at the very first verse ----

I lack nothing. Nothing? Do I really believe that there is nothing I lack, or do I constantly have a long list of things that I think I need?

“The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need” (NLT).

Is everything that is on my list actually a need, or is it mostly wants?

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (ESV).

I shall not? Is being able to say “I lack nothing” just a matter of will? Can I just decide that I will be satisfied with what I have and not beg God for a long list of more and more?

Psalm 23:1 reminds me of the apostle Paul's very well-known statement that he “can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13 NIV). Paul is not saying that he can accomplish every goal that he sets for himself, but in order to see what it is that he can do and how this verse reflects Psalm 23:1, we need to back up to verse 12.

It had never occurred to me before, but it appears that Paul’s statement in Philippians 4:12-13 can be seen as a restatement of Psalm 23:1. Paul says, 

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:12-13 NIV). 

In other words, I think Paul is saying, The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing –I have all that I need –I shall not want.

Paul says that he has learned the secret of being content in any circumstance. How do we learn his secret ---this ability to be content, the ability to honestly say "I lack nothing," the ability to be satisfied with what we do have –especially in a culture where we are daily bombarded with all the stuff that we “need”?

Whatever our current situation – whether we have very little or very much –we can succumb to an attitude of discontentment and of always wanting more. If I’m not content when I have more than enough, might God take it away until I have learned to be content in Him, trusting Him as my shepherd and provider? In the same way, if I’m not content when I have little to nothing, might God leave me in that situation until I have learned to be content with what I have and not constantly be searching for and desiring more and more?

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing –I have all that I need –I shall not want…I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…”

The secret to being able to say "I lack nothing" seems to lie with trusting the Lord as my shepherd --my guide, my provider, my master, my strength. While I can’t say, like Paul, that “I have learned the secret…” maybe I can say “I am learning the secret of being content and of being able to say "I lack nothing." 

Have the Mind of Christ in Your Marriage

A quick Amazon search of "marriage books" reveals over 260,000 results. A search of "Christian marriage books" reveals almost 28,000 options. Within these thousands of book options, many of them tell us how to change our actions. They offer helpful to-do lists of tasks to do for your spouse. One of these nearly 28,000 Christian marriage books, 9 Thoughts That Can Change Your Marriage, by Sheila Wray Gregoire, comes at it from a little different angle. While Gregoire does offer a number of practical application tasks and ideas, what sets her book apart is her focus on our mind ---how we think about our spouse, more than merely what we do for our spouse --which will in turn affect our actions.

Some of her advice on our thoughts include remembering that our spouse is our neighbor, and Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves, which should greatly affect how we treat them. She advises her readers to focus their thoughts and attention on their marriages so it doesn't drift out with the tide due to neglect or taking it for granted. She reminds us that we cannot expect our spouse to fulfill a role for us that only God can fill, and a reminder that we cannot change our spouse and mold them into what we want or expect. We must remember that the partners in a marriage are on the same team ---not in competition with each other. We also need to allow our spouse to be our spouse, and only allow God to be God.

I especially found her approach to submission very compelling (Chapter 5). She acknowledges that the usual definition of submission is that in the case of a disagreement, the husband wins --the wife is to blindly obey and defer to her husband's position, regardless of the outcome. I love that Gregoire quotes The Princess Bride, saying of the word submission, "I don't think it means what you think it means."

To illustrate her understanding, she walks through two Scriptural narratives: the story of Nabal and Abigail, in which she (correctly) did not blindly obey her husband (1 Samuel 25) and the story of Ananias and Sapphira, in which she (incorrectly) did blindly obey her husband, much to her own detriment (Acts 5:1-11). Gregoire advises to focus on unity of the marriage and asking the question 'What does God want me to do in this situation', not blind, dutiful "submission."

My capsule version of Gregoire's advice in this book is to "have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16 NIV), especially in regards to our spouse.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

When the Lord Says "Watch This!"

Remaining strong and hopeful while waiting on the Lord can be so difficult –especially as your season of waiting grows long or as the situation grows hopeless.

I wonder if a friend of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus may have offered this verse to them as a word of encouragement while they waited for Jesus to show up and heal Lazarus. Someone may have said to them, ‘I know you are concerned because Lazarus is sick and even though you sent word to Jesus, he hasn’t come yet. Remember what the psalmist said –wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.’

As Lazarus grew sicker and sicker, were Mary and Martha able to wait patiently for Jesus? Were they able to remain strong? Did they continue to have hope in their hearts? What happened to their hope when Lazarus died and Jesus still had not come?

I’m reminded of the end of the wedding scene in The Princess Bride when Buttercup is completely shocked and devastated because Westley did not come in time to rescue her from Prince Humperdink. It was with a deep sense of disappointment and hopelessness that she uttered, ‘he didn’t come.’

Like Princess Buttercup, Mary and Martha must have wondered why Jesus didn’t come and why He didn’t make it to Bethany “on time” to heal Lazarus and save the day. They must have wondered why Jesus was so slow. Didn’t he know what was going on and what they were going through in His absence? Didn’t He love them and their brother Lazarus? 

I find it interesting that John notes for us that “although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days” (John 11:5-6 NLT). His delay was not because He didn’t love them or want what was best for them or everyone else around them.

As the stone was sealed over the tomb, Mary and Martha must have seen their situation as finished and hopeless. As everyone knows, death is final and there was nothing else that could be done. It was over. Even Jesus couldn’t do anything for them at this point. Lazarus was dead, as was their hope. And this was all because Jesus was too slow in getting to them --at least in their understanding.

The apostle Peter was there and witnessed this entire event. I wonder if he had this in mind at all when he wrote, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness…” (2 Pet 3:9 NIV). How do we understand slowness? God not acting on our personal timeline? Or not acting according to our own finite understanding?

The Lord says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Is 55:4 NIV). His thoughts and ways are not just a little bit higher than ours. We can’t just reach a little higher or think a little deeper or concentrate a little harder and be able to wrap our minds around the Lord’s ways and thoughts, just as we can’t stretch high enough to reach into outer space or even to touch the clouds in the sky.

Mary and Martha’s plan was for Jesus to come before Lazarus died and for Jesus to restore Lazarus to health. While this would have been a good, miraculous event, it was nothing compared to what Jesus did for them. He didn’t just restore health to a living person. He brought a dead, rotting, stinking corpse back to life. While healing Lazarus from his illness would have been nice, raising him from the dead after four days was a glorious, spectacular, incomprehensible miracle that no one expected --a miracle that could only be performed by the One who “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Eph 3:20 NIV).

Raising Lazarus from the dead was far beyond what Mary and Martha could have asked or imagined, and they would have missed it if Jesus had succumbed to their plans, their requests, and their timeline. Jesus waited until the situation seemed completely and utterly hopeless before He stepped in and said “Watch this!”

So again, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Ps 27:14 NIV) and wait for God to step into your hopeless situation and say “watch this!”