Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. – Psalm 53:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 31, 2019): Psalm 53

I am old enough to remember the Presidency of Richard Nixon. As a young teen, I was actually a fan of the American President, and one of the deniers that he could have done anything wrong. The logic seemed unassailable. Why would an intensely popular President need to do anything illegal to maintain his hold on power? Nixon won the 1972 Presidential election with one of the largest electoral landslides in history, winning over 60% of the popular vote.

But then again, as we are often reminded but sometimes forget, the evidence against Nixon in the Watergate Scandal was not that he took part in the break-ins, but rather that he covered them up to support some of his friends. The wrongdoing of Richard Nixon was that he found out about the Watergate break-in a few days after they happened, but elected to hide that fact from the authorities. Had Nixon been honest at the time, it is quite possible that history would have been written much differently. But because of Nixon’s cover-up of the Watergate Scandal, Richard Nixon is not remembered as one of the most popular American Presidents, but rather as one of the most corrupt American Presidents. I still remember Richard Nixon’s line “I am not a crook.” And to be honest, I am pretty sure that Richard believed that.

I have had several discussions with people over James comment that “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10). The intention would seem to be that it doesn’t matter how much of the law you might break, break any aspect of it and you are guilty of breaking all of it. If you speed, then you are guilty of murder. In Richard Nixon’s case, he was guilty of the Watergate break-ins even though it is possible that he did not take part in them. The coverup of the break-in was all that it took to make him guilty of the break-in.

But none of this is really James’s point. His argument is not that we should worry over all the small ways that we might be lawbreakers. It is that we all stand in need of grace and forgiveness. When it comes to our need for forgiveness, there is very little difference between us and someone like Adolf Hitler. We all need the grace of God.

David seems to be making the same point here. We are all corrupt lawbreakers. David begins his argument by saying that the atheist, or anyone who does not believe in God, is corrupt. They are all fools. But here he continues by saying that we are all corrupt. It is not just the atheist who has turned away from God. All of us have turned away from God.

Therefore, we all need the grace and forgiveness of God. All of us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 58

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—but my ears you have opened—burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. – Psalm 40:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 30, 2019): Psalm 40

In the ancient world, people would become slaves for many reasons, and one of those reasons was purely economic. Slavery has not always been an abuse of a people group like it was with black slaves in North America. In many areas of the world, slavery was also an option to pay off a debt. If a debt was incurred, the debtor, if he could not repay the debt, could enter into a contract to live as a slave for his creditor for a limited period, instead of a monetary repayment. It needs to be understood that, often, the slave in the ancient world also become part of the family. Where a hired worker could be let go during an economic downturn, a slave was guaranteed his employment and would continue to repay the debt that he owed. His food and lodging were guaranteed to him as if he was a son. This is the reason that the youngest son in the “Parable of the Lost or Prodigal Son” argues, at the bottom of his experience, that maybe his dad would accept him as a hired hand. The hired hand, and not the slave, was the lowest worker on the farm priority list.

But there were times when the slave would work off the debt, and not want to leave the family. Life as a slave, living with the family of his creditor, was better than living on his own. In the family environment, the slave experienced love and respect in a way that they had never known on his own. And if the slave owner were well respected, that respect would extend to the family and slaves. In these cases, the law provided for the slave's ear to be pierced, forever marking him as the slave of his former creditor. The term used for this piercing was “opening the ear.”

David uses this slave language in Psalm 40. He says that “my ears you have opened.” David knows that God does not want his sacrifices and offerings. His predecessor Saul had excelled at the practice of sacrifices and offerings, and yet God had rejected him. David was going a step further, committing his life, all of it, to his God. David would give God his obedience over and above his sacrifices and offerings. But more than that, by having his ear opened and entering into a slave relationship with God, he was entering into a commitment to walk with God for the rest of his life, just one step below family.

In the Christian Testament, Paul offers the same concept, but in an even more intimate way, when he says argues that “in love [God] predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves (Ephesians 1:4b-6). By adopting us, God has “opened our ears” and indicated that we are his, forever.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 53

But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. – Psalm 39:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 29, 2019): Psalm 39

American poet Langston Hughes writes, “Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird, That cannot fly.” We all have moments of darkness when the walls seem to be closing in on our lives. And it is only hope that can help us to find the passage out. If it were not for our dreams, we would sit in the darkness and believe that this is the way life has to be. We probably know several people for whom this is the reality of their lives. There is no hope, only darkness. Their dreams have disappeared, and passage out of the night is well hidden. The situation is hopeless, and they are convinced that they will never return to life.

As David writes this Psalm, this is precisely the place that he finds himself. David was a celebrated and much remembered Poet-King. He was a great military strategist. He found himself at the center of a nation that was shaping the world around him, and yet he often seems to find himself in places where he experiences a lack of hope. The darkness often seems to surround him, and the dreams that should show him the way out of his dark night have all disappeared. For David, life often seems to be “a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”

And it is in those moments that he turns his focus toward God. For as strong and as militarily proficient that David was, even he was not strong enough to meet all of the trials of life. He needed God. And if David needed God, then so do we.

Charles Spurgeon remarks that “Here the psalmist steps off the sand, and puts his foot on the rock. Happy is the man who can say to the Lord, ‘My hope is in [you].'” God is the creator of our dreams and the author of our way out of the dark times of life. And even when everything seems lost, he is the commander of the cavalry that is hiding just on the other side of the hill. He is not merely the author of our hope; he is our hope. And without him, life really is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 40

I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak; I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. – Psalm 38:13-14

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 28, 2019): Psalm 38

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there.

The words belong to the thirteenth-century Islamic theologian and poet Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, more popularly known as just Rumi. And the thought is intriguing. We often get too tied up in the ideas of right and wrong, and sometimes are even misled by them. I am convinced that much of what we believe to be moral might not have come from God, but rather from our own ideas and political convictions. It might surprise us how God might react to some of the moral issues that we are so sure about if we could only hear his voice. We can become very entrenched in our own conception of what is ethical. And as a result, we can easily ignore the other views.

This is especially true when it comes to our “big ticket” issues like abortion and homosexuality. I fail to understand how our “Christianity” disappears when we begin the conversation with people on the other side of these issues. Why is it okay to lie and cheat, as long as we get what we want on abortion legislature? Is God okay with that? Our behavior seems to say yes, but I am not convinced that that is the truth. Maybe more for Christians than any other group of religious believers, how we get there is essential. We may want to achieve specific goals, but achieving those goals without loving our neighbor, whoever that person might be, or by lying and cheating, is not worth the journey. We sell out the most basic elements of our Christianity to achieve our perceived moral goals, and the result is that we become damaged and compromised

Often what we need is to find Rumi’s field, somewhere out beyond the concepts of right and wrong.  Maybe a place where we can lay down our weapons and arguments, and just hear the voice of God. Our voices often drown out God’s instruction. As we shout from our strongholds of what is right, but no one hears us because they are shouting too. And we do not listen to their cries because our voices drown out the voices of our critics.

David seems to have found himself in precisely this spot. David’s misery is overwhelming. His critics are complaining about him, and he has been responding. But now he has reached a point where he understands that no one really hears his voice, and he does not hear theirs. It is as if he has become deaf and mute. And at this moment, what David needs more than anything is hear from God. He knows that he is unable to defend himself, and needs God more than ever.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 39

Personal Note: Happy Birthday to my Wife, Nelda.

I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes. – Psalm 36:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 27, 2019): Psalm 36

Emily Dickinson wrote, “The Heart wants what it wants - or else it does not care.” It is often used as a fatalistic quote about love. Who we fall in love with is seldom rational. History is littered with failed romances that made sense to the mind but never appealed to the wants of the heart. Enter Prince Charles and Lady Diana. A lot of ink has been spilled over the highly visible and volatile relationship between the royal couple. Charles needed a wife and Diana made sense; at least, she did to the mind. Diana seemed to fit well with the advice that Charles had received from his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten.

In a case like yours, the man should sow his wild oats and have as many affairs as he can before settling down, but for a wife he should choose a suitable, attractive, and sweet-charactered girl before she has met anyone else she might fall for ... It is disturbing for women to have experiences if they have to remain on a pedestal after marriage – Lord Mountbatten.

Ultimately, Diana was not what Charles' heart wanted. Charles' heart wanted someone else.

But Dickenson’s words do not just apply to our romantic relationships. She is also talking about life. The truth is that we often live our lives by the dictates of what it is that the heart wants. Nothing else seems to shape the way that we live. Unfortunately, living life by what the heart wants is also evidence of an undisciplined heart. And it is the reason why our lives so often become mired in things that will never move us forward.

David says that he has a message from God “in his heart” concerning the sin of the wicked: They refuse to fear God. David understood his own heart. The Poet-King had long battled with his heart. Part of David’s journey had been to discipline his heart so that it could hear from God. When David followed his heart, for example in the incident with Bathsheba, he ignored God, and it led him into trouble. Allowing his heart to hear the message of God was not something that came automatically for David.

But the second part of David’s statement highlights the war that we have with our own hearts. There is no fear of God in their eyes. The truth might be slightly different. There is no fear, or maybe we could say respect, of God in their hearts. Their eyes lead them where it is that their undisciplined hearts want them to go, regardless of the consequences. The desires of the heart outweigh the gentle leading of God.

The heart might want what the heart wants, but an undisciplined heart will always lead us into destruction because its desires will always lead us away from God. In the end, we fear our hearts more than we fear God. And that will not change until we allow God to change our hearts.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 38

Since they hid their net for me without cause and without cause dug a pit for me … - Psalm 35:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 26, 2019): Psalm 35

The words of Jesus just before his crucifixion highlighted the coming persecution. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:32-33). There is no ambiguity in Jesus’s words. You will have trouble. Don’t expect it to be different. Christians will be persecuted, and we shouldn’t expect it to be any different because our leader was also persecuted.

And yet, I feel a contemporary tension in Jesus words. I think, sometimes, we misunderstand them. Too often, we encounter trouble and respond with these words of Jesus. Didn’t Jesus say, “In this world you will have trouble.” We seem to think that our faith is confirmed because of the oppression that we feel from those outside of our faith. But the truth is that we can be a homophobic, xenophobic, rude, and unloving group of people who are justly condemned for our actions, and yet we somehow still feel that this oppression confirms our faith. But that isn’t really true. Often the persecution and trouble that we receive is deserved, and has nothing to with faith. Jesus is not talking about experiencing trouble that we deserve. He is speaking about the church as a loving and affirming group of people who are oppressed in spite of all of the good that we do in the world.

And it is this kind of oppression that is bothering David as he writes this Psalm. His complaint is not that people oppose him with good reason, but rather that his enemies have set traps for him “without cause.” In spite of all the good that David feels he has done, there were those who still oppose him and want him to fail. And so David turned to God for his defense.

God will forgive us of our sins when we turn to him and admit that we have done wrong. But we can also turn to him for the strength to do right, even when doing right might bring us trouble. Christians are designed to stand up for what is right, not because of the political gains that might result, but simply because it is the right thing to do. We deserve trouble when we do what is wrong or immoral, or even when we support dishonest people. What our communities need is for us to stand up for what is right, no matter what trouble might come as a result.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 36

No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. – Psalm 33:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 25, 2019): Psalm 33

Nicholas, Count of Salm, was seventy years of age when the Siege of Vienna began on September 27, 1529. Outside of the city walls, Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire had brought with him somewhere between 120,000 to as many as 300,00 soldiers in his attempt to take Vienna. Inside the walls of the city, 20,000 local farmers, peasants, and civilians, sprinkled with a few mercenaries, most of whom were German, prepared to defend the city against its Ottoman attackers. And, of course, Nicholas.

Actually, the seventy-year-old German Count of Salm was a mercenary, but he was about to become the hero of Vienna. The Ottoman forces had brought with them 500 pieces of artillery and started to batter the city. According to at least some accounts, this attempt to bombard the city with an artillery barrage was just a cover for their real intention; the Ottomans intended to dig under the walls of the Vienna so that they could come up in the middle of the city, behind Vienna’s defensive line. But Nicholas had an idea. Apparently, the German Mercenary instructed that the space around the walls be filled with water and dried peas. The dried peas would float to the top of the water and, when disturbed by the digging below, the peas would create ripples in the water. The ripples signaled to the city’s defenders exactly where the Ottomans were digging, allowing the defenders to dig down and intercept the tunnels below.

In the end, the ingenuity of the city’s defenders, along with inclement weather that surrounded Vienna during the siege, meant that the city would not be taken by Suleiman the Magnificent and his Ottoman army. More than 120,000 trained soldiers were defeated by 20,000 farmers and peasants, and of course some dried peas.

David makes it clear that his military success is not about him and his abilities as a General. David believed that any success that he might be able to achieve was the direct result of the will of God. The victor was the one for whom God places his thumb on the scale. That was David’s story. He knew what it was like to be the underdog. He knew what it was like to be the little guy going up against a giant. This was his story.

But David also understood that miracles were the domain of God. It was this belief in his “God of Miracles” that allowed David to have the confidence to go up against Goliath, the Giant. “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Samuel 17:37). He would not win because of the size of Israel’s army, or because of his physical strength. He would only succeed if God was on his side; and if God was his courage and his strength.

As for Nicholas, Count of Salm, the Siege of Vienna would be his last battle. Nicholas was injured by falling rock at the height of the artillery attack. He survived the battle, but he would die of his injuries a few months after the siege, on May 4, 1530. But this veteran of many campaigns is remembered more because of the peas he used to defend a city at the age of seventy than he is for any of brave ways he acted in the many battles that came before Vienna.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 35

Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. – Psalm 32:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 24, 2019): Psalm 32

As St. Augustine (Augustine of Hippo) was suffering the illness that would result in his death on August 28, 430, he requested that David’s twelve penitential Psalms be hung around his room so that he could meditate on them in his illness. The first of the penitential Psalms, Psalm 32, he requested be hung on the wall next to his bed, so that he could meditate on it better as he lay there in his sickness. As the great Bishop lay dying, he knew the truth of the words that David had written almost fifteen hundred years earlier. “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” The man who had admitted his sins in his biographical “Confessions” three decades earlier, knew the release from the things that he had done wrong. As Augustine lay dying, he knew the truth of David’s words. It was not just some grand idea of sins forgiven. His transgressions were forgiven; his sins were covered.

The image that David seems to give to us is that of someone who, when God looks at us, he does not see the sin. Maybe it is still there, but if it is covered and out of sight. As Christians, a better image might be that our sin is buried. When we are crucified with Christ, our sins die and are separated from us and hid someplace where they will never be found. We think that God knows everything, but I am not convinced that that is true. The one thing he doesn’t seem to know or to dwell over is our sin. Once the sin is confessed and dealt with, it is gone, and God remembers it no more. The truth is that St. Augustine knew his sin better than God did because God had dealt with it and buried it – and forgotten it. And that same truth applies to our sin as well. It is gone. We may remember it, but God doesn’t

So David writes “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven.” Charles Spurgeon points out “The word blessed is in the plural, oh, the blessednesses! the double joys, the bundles of happiness, the mountains of delight!” All of this available to us because our sins are forgiven, covered, separate, buried and forgotten by God.

Now, if only we could forget them too.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 33

In you, LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. – Psalm 31:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 23, 2019): Psalm 31

Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman have garnered most of the press over the 2019 College Admissions Scandal, but they are not the ones who have paid the most to have their kids admitted into a prestigious University. A few select parents paid over a million dollars and at least one parent paid over six million dollars for the privilege. Lori and Felicity are just the names that most of us recognize. But what seems to set Lori Loughlin apart from the others is her plea of innocence and the reason why she feels she has done nothing wrong. Of course, her reasoning may also backfire on her. Lori feels she is innocent because this kind of behavior has been going on in the college admissions realm for a very long time. Every time someone donated money to buy a building on campus with a wink and nod understanding that their generosity was going to allow for their child to attend the school, they were doing the same thing. And yet, these people had never been charged with a crime.

Unfortunately, the defense is likely to fall on deaf ears. What Lori doesn’t seem to realize is that the times are changing. Her words seem to reinforce the idea that those with money play by different rules than those of us who do not possess that kind of wealth. In a society that is supposed to be built around the idea that everyone is equal and set apart, not by our heritage, wealth or skin color, but rather by our own innate abilities and talents, this kind of defense flies in the face of who we think that we are. The rise of the political left throughout North America is likely to see Loughlin’s defense as words that will lead us into a battle between the haves and the have nots. Those in possession of great wealth are becoming increasingly concerned about the wealth gap that exists in industrialized countries because there is a tipping point when the wealth gap just becomes the reason for revolution.

David begins Psalm 31 by telling God that he intends to take refuge in him and his righteousness. He hopes that by doing that, he will never be put to shame. David’s commitment is that he wishes to do things that are right, not by the standard of humanity and what others might do, but that it would reflect what God would want of him, and that he would commit himself to the actions that God had demanded. David understands that this is not the way that he has always acted. In the past, he has sought his own righteousness or the righteousness of others, but that has always let him down and led him into shame. Now David seeks God’s righteousness and God’s way. Because he trusts that following what God believes to be right will always lead him away from shame.

We are living in a time when it seems that the rules that have traditionally governed life are changing. We are rearranging our society according to a cultural equality that is above racial, gender, and wealth differences. And in a changing time, things are considered to be wrong that were never regarded as wrong before. But if we hold to God righteousness, the change will not affect us. We will continue in a way that will always be considered to be right. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 32

“What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? – Psalm 30:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 22, 2019): Psalm 30

What happens after you die?  As far as specifics, I really don’t know. But I share Job’s statement of faith.

            I know that my redeemer lives,
                        and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
                And after my skin has been destroyed,
                         yet in my flesh I will see God;
                I myself will see him
                         with my own eyes—I, and not another.
             How my heart yearns within me (Job 19:25-27)!

I have read books that have issued visions of what heaven, and hell, are like. But to be honest, I haven’t been overly impressed. And I am not sure that it is important that I know what heaven or hell might be like. Some things have to be a matter of faith.

Maybe part of what I don’t like about our contemporary world is that we seem adept at removing the mystery of life. We can explain everything, and that might not be a good thing. I am not sure that I need to know everything. Some things have to be left as a matter of faith.

David is unclear about what happens after death. It is a mystery to him. And so he has questions. And as he writes the psalm, it is his questions that come out. If I die, will I still be able to praise you. Will the dust praise you if I can’t? All of this is a mystery to David, and he vocalizes these questions as he writes.

For David, the revelation was only partial. In Jesus, we know more, and yet not all. There is still a mystery about life and death that has yet to be revealed. But Jesus, himself, did directly answer David’s question. David asked if the dust would praise God? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Jesus answer is yes. “I tell you,” he replied, “if they [my disciples] keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40).

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 31

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. – Psalm 28:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 21, 2019): Psalm 28 & 29

It was Samson’s error – and ours. You know, Samson, the strong guy with the long hair from the Bible stories that you heard as a kid. Samson believed that he was strong. We have no idea what Samson might have looked like, or how much time he might have spent in the gym, but I suspect that he was not a gym rat and that he did not look particularly strong, and yet he was strong. Samson could do amazing feats of strength. And it seemed that everyone was afraid of him.

But Samson wasn’t strong. In actuality, he was probably no stronger than you or I. Maybe not even that strong. Part of the clue is that his enemies spent so much time trying to figure out why he was strong. What exactly was his secret? I know some strong men, but I don’t wonder why they are strong. They spend hours upon hours in the gym trying to maintain their strength. Training is their secret, and the secret isn’t all that secret. It is rather apparent.

The second clue that Samson was not strong is that the cutting of his long hair was the secret to his strength. Again, I know from experience as someone who used to sport fairly long hair, that having long hair does not make you strong, nor does possessing short hair make you weak. What the long hair signified was a covenant that God had made with Samson which meant that God would make Samson strong. When Samson told Delilah that the secret of his strength was his long hair, I don’t think that even he believed it. If he did, he was one of the stupidest men alive, because every time Samson revealed the supposed secret of his strength to Delilah, she acted on what he told her. As a result, Samson must have known that Delilah was going to cut his hair. Samson thought that the secret of his strength was just that he was strong. But the real secret was that God was his strength.

David realized what Samson had missed. God was his strength and his shield. David’s strength had nothing to do with David and everything to do with God. Pastor and theologian Charles Spurgeon wrote “My dear friend, if you can say, ‘The Lord is my strength,’ you can bear anything and everything. You could bear a martyr’s death if the Lord should be your strength. He could make a stalk of wheat to bear up the whole world if he strengthened it.”

I stand with David. The Lord is my strength. It has nothing to do with me.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 30

One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. – Psalm 27:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 20, 2019): Psalm 26 & 27

For generations, the Notre-Dame de Paris has captured our imagination. The name means “Our Lady of Paris,” and the cathedral that bears the name has been described as one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. It had an innovative design, using rib vault ceiling with flying buttresses, it has huge, colorful rose windows, and its structure and decoration set it apart from other buildings of the era. The cathedral was majestic, and because of that majesty, the cathedral hosted many significant events, including the Coronation of Napoleon in 1804 when the Cathedral itself was in serious decline. The 2019 fire stole all of this from us, as well as a piece of French history. French politicians have promised to rebuild the Grand Lady of Paris, but in spite of their efforts, we know that it will never be quite the same.

It is easy to read the words of David about dwelling with God in the house of the Lord or inquiring of God at his temple and have images of cathedrals like Notre-Dame come to mind. But that was probably not what was in David’s mind as he wrote the words. It was not even the grand temples of other gods that existed during his time that David envisioned. The temple and the place of God’s dwelling on earth was just a tent, albeit a rather large one. David dreamed of something more significant, but that dream would not become a reality during his lifetime. So when David looked upon the dwelling place of God and went to seek him in his temple, it was a tent on which his eyes came to rest.

But that didn’t really matter. David was not impressed by the building, but rather by the inhabitant of the building. Maybe he recognized that his God could not be contained by the cloth of a tent or by the brick and mortar of a beautiful building. The building could do nothing to save him. What he needed was not the beauty of a magnificent structure, but rather the substance of the one that the building was meant to honor.

Most modern churches are not great examples of beautiful architecture. They are not a beauty to behold, and neither are they the places where we will find fine art. They are buildings, sometimes standalone but increasingly they are places that are rented to hold worship services one day a week and serve other purposes at other times. And yet, none of that matters, because it is not the building that we worship; it is the God who inhabits us that makes our worship worthwhile.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 28 & 29

Personal Note: Happy Birthday to my daughter-in-law Michelle. I hope you have a great day.

For the sake of your name, LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. – Psalm 25:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 19, 2019): Psalm 25

It is the policy for most countries in the cultural west not to pay ransom for any citizen that has been kidnapped outside of their native country. The reason is simple; to pay ransom increases the chance that another citizen might be taken to raise more money for the same or a different terrorist group. The message is clear; kidnapping our citizens will not profit you, and it may make your situation much worse. Families often feel differently, but then again, they are looking at the situation from a different perspective. They just want their loved one back, and, in the moment, don’t really care about the possibility of a “next one.” But from a societal standpoint, for the sake of the nation and its citizens, ransom is generally a non-starter. (That does not mean that it always ends up that way, and it is those “sometimes” when a ransom of some kind is paid that makes political kidnappings something that still takes place in the dangerous parts of our world.)

David comes to God and asks for forgiveness for his sin, even though David admits that his own iniquity is great. Essentially, he wants God to pay his ransom. And it would make sense for God to refuse. After all, if God forgives us for our sin just because we come to him and ask, does that not make sin more attractive. I mean, maybe God should institute a probational period so that we can prove our worth before he gives us his forgiveness. I am convinced that many people who sit in the pews of our churches would be very supportive of this kind of probation.  

But David insists that God forgive him “for the sake of his name.” David’s words imply that God wants his name to carry the meaning of forgiveness and mercy, just as the nations of the cultural west want their names to carry the meaning “we will not pay, nor will we forgive” the abduction of our citizens. God wants his name to mean to all of those who are far from him that they are welcome to come into his presence.

That is precisely the meaning that the Prophet Jonah took from God’s name. We remember Jonah more because of a whale than we do because of his theology. But it is clear from the part of the story that happens after the whale that Jonah would have been one of those who would have supported a period of probation on all sinners.

He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:2-3).

David’s prayer was that he would be forgiven for the sake of God’s name. Jonah wishes that God wasn’t so gracious and compassionate. But David knew that God’s name was intricately linked to forgiveness. It always has been and always will be. If we need forgiveness, God is waiting for us to come to him.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 26 & 27

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. – Psalm 23:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 18, 2019): Psalm 23

It is maybe the most critical question that needs to be asked of any prospective politician, and especially those who run for the highest offices in the land; what is it that you believe? What things are important to you? We shouldn’t be looking for candidates to have a scattershot approach to life, where everything is important on a wide range of topics. All of these things might have benefit somewhere down the road, but the most crucial question is just to know what it is that the politician believes, and what the candidate considers to be important because every other decision will flow from these beliefs.

How do we know what a candidate believes? Actually, that might be easier than we think in our online, social media dominated, world. The answer often lies in what it is that they said in the past. It is the caution that I continually place in front of anyone who will listen; be careful about what it is that you write down on your social media accounts because your words might reveal more about you than you really want people to know. Those offhand comments show what it is that you believe on a host of societal issues. And for those who write opposing things in different situations, then it might reveal that you hold nothing to be important, and can be swayed by anything, even something as trivial as power and money.

David pens Psalm 23, which has been one of the most beloved Psalms throughout history. And in his conclusion to the Psalm, he leaves the reader with a blessing. “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” David, like all of his contemporaries, did not have a good idea of what heaven might look like, but he knew that he wanted to spend his “forever” in the house of God. He also wanted the goodness and love of God to follow him all of his life. And why wouldn’t he?  We all want to be the recipients of God’s goodness and love.

But if it is important to us, then it needs to be a prominent part of our behavior. If we want God’s goodness and love, then we have to be the ones to give it. And one way to see if “goodness and love” are really important to us, is to check our social media posts. What is it that we write in our posts as we move through life, especially how is it that we react when we think that someone might be criticizing us. If we want “goodness and love” to follow us all of the days of our lives, then we need to be willing to allow God’s “goodness and love” to flow from us all the days of our lives, and especially on those days when we walk through our darkest valleys.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 25

“He trusts in the LORD,” they say, “let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” – Psalm 22:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 17, 2019): Psalm 22

English poet Alexander Pope argued that “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” Maybe. But the reality is that living without expectations is almost impossible. It is actually an inefficient way to live life. Expectations are short cuts, bridges to everything that we want to achieve. Pope is right; expectations invariably lead to disappointments, but they also set out the path to achievement. When I go on vacation, I don’t want to chase tourist attractions; I want to sit on a beach with a good book. So I search for two main things when I am looking for possible vacation spots. The first is that there is a beautiful beach, and maybe a quiet one, where I can go and sit with my book. The second thing I want is a place where there will be good weather allowing me to sit at the beach. Expectations help me make that choice. Yes, sometimes my expectations are not met, and I am disappointed, but if I didn’t have expectations, I would never be able to enjoy the vacation that I desire, and would likely end up going from tourist attraction to tourist attraction, which would probably wreck my holiday.

There are so many elements in Psalm 22 that are reminders of the Good Friday story. And this passage reflects one of them. Matthew records the Good Friday events this way.

Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him (Matthew 27:39-41).

Mark adds this comment in his gospel. “Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said” (Mark 15:36).

Jesus, if you are who you are, then surely God will come and rescue you. It is a statement of expectation. God would not want his son on the cross.

But the expectation is misplaced. God was at work, doing something that we had not been able to do for ourselves, and it meant that God was going to do the unthinkable. The reality of this passage goes back to the story of Job. Sometimes the reality of our outside situation does not reflect the inner condition of our souls. Jesus was not “less than” because God did not come to his aid, no matter what the expectations of those around the cross might have been. There was a purpose in the cross that Jesus’s contemporaries did not understanding. David was also not “less than” because of his struggles. And neither are we. God is at work in us in a way that sometimes does not match our expectations. But that fact does not say anything about God or us and our relationship with him. It just means that God is at work in us in a way that we may not yet understand.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 23

May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. - Psalm 20:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 16, 2019): Psalm 20 & 21

Comedian Lily Tomlin argued that “When I was growing up I always wanted to be someone. Now I realize I should have been more specific.” We all know the feeling. I am not sure that any of us thought this life would turn out the way that it has, both for the better and the worse. I am also not convinced that any of us go to bed at night without anything that we wish we could change.

One of my favorite spoken blessings and a blessing that I include with every wedding that I perform says “May your dreams come true, and when they don’t, may new dreams arise.” Because we all know that not all of our dreams will come true, but the hope is that we will always be people with a dream.

Psalm 20 begins with a series of blessings; a series of statements that are essentially wishes for the future of the reader. David admits that even a king met with unfilled dreams, and maybe would have also understood Lily Tomlin’s comment. I am sure there were times that David wished he was back in the field with the sheep, dealing with simple problems like ferocious bear or lion. But his wish for himself, and everyone who would read his words, was that in those times when you wished that you were someone else, that God would respond; in the worst moments of life, that he would be their protection.

We need to be a people of blessings. We need to be a people who offer blessings and want something more for all of us. 2019 Democratic Presidential hopeful Cory Booker said something in April 2019 that has stuck with me. After the Mueller Report was released, someone at one of his campaign stops asked him if he had a message for President Trump. Cory’s response; “I want him to know that I love him, I just don’t want him as my President.” The second half was an honest response; the first half might have been a little surprising. And yet, it is the response that all of should have. We love each other, and we want the best for each other. Our blessings go with you. And our hope for ourselves and those around us, both our friends and our enemies, is that in the moment of our distress, God will answer. And that we will be secure in the knowledge that God will protect us, even when we wish we were someone else.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 22

The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. – Psalm 19:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 15, 2019): Psalm 19

Emmanuel Kant wrote that “two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe… the starry heavens above and the moral law within.’ Both describe a law that we should not transgress. The stars are writing a story of the laws of God in their movement and their history that we are just now beginning to understand. The stars themselves go through a life-cycle that takes them from birth to death. They complete a journey in the heavens all governed by the laws that have guided them throughout the length of their lives. Galaxies are guided in their paths, sometimes colliding with each other in their dance, but always according to the rules that they unfailingly follow. The sun still rises in the east and sets in the west. The moon follows the same path. Maybe, if they could, they would disregard the laws that govern them and move somewhere else. But if that were to happen, then all beauty would disappear, and life on this planet would end.

In the same way, David remarks that God’s moral law is perfect. If we dare to follow his law, they are life-giving. The challenge is that, unlike the sun and the moon, we have a choice as to whether or not we follow the law that is set out in front of us. Sometimes, we try to convince ourselves that life exists away from God’s law; that all that God wants to do is rain on our parade. But the truth is that if we are willing to follow the laws of God, the results are beauty and life.

David understands that. God law, like the laws of nature, have been created to safeguard our lives. But these laws are not automatic. Unlike the laws of the heavens, which cause the stars to move through the steps of their beautiful dance without the ability to choose differently, we have to make the conscious choice to follow God’s perfect law. Our natural inclination is to follow the way that leads to death instead of that which leads to life. But often, we also have to struggle with God to know what it is that his law demands from us. God does not want us to follow the easy, but rather to choose what is hard because it is also good. The struggle is worth it, because David is right, and the law of God is perfect, and it always leads us into beauty and life.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 20 & 21

As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. – Psalm 18:30

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 14, 2019): Psalm 18

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth follows the adventure of a brave Scottish General after he receives the prophecy from three witches that one day he will be King over Scotland. And the prophecy of the witches changes the behavior of the General. Macbeth begins to follow a path that will make him king, which includes Macbeth’s murder of the reigning king, Duncan I. Once Macbeth becomes King, he has to continue his killing ways to stay king. In the end, his tyrannical ways cause Macbeth great guilt and becomes the basis for a civil war, and Macbeth and his wife swiftly descend into darkness, madness, and eventually into death.

Shakespeare’s play is based partially on the historical Duncan I, who reigned over Scotland from 1034 to 1040, and a duke named Macbeth, who reigned over Scotland after Duncan was killed in battle against the army of Macbeth. But in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth’s rise to the throne of Scotland is due to his own ambition and the prophecy of the three witches. Armed with the prophecy, Macbeth did everything that he could to make sure that the prediction came true.

David writes in this Psalm that God’s way is perfect and his word is flawless. David is saying that God’s word is proven; it has survived the tests of the experience. What God has said has come true in life. David’s experience was the reverse of Shakespeare’s General Macbeth. He too had received a prophecy that one day he would become king. But unlike Macbeth, David did not chase after that prophecy. While Shakespeare has Macbeth murdering Duncan to achieve the throne, David on more than one occasion saved Saul, refusing to kill the King in order to rise to his throne. As far as David was concerned, if he were going to become king, it would happen because God had moved, not because he had moved.

Maybe there is a reason that we don’t know the future. We might be tempted to be too much like Macbeth and chase after the future that has been presented to us of our lives. The discipline of David is hard to achieve. And yet David’s confidence in the word of God meant that he did not have to act to make God’s word come true. He could sit back and let God’s word be tested in the fire, knowing that what God said would come to pass. David’s future was safe in the hands of God. And so is ours. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 19

As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. – Psalm 17:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 13, 2019): Psalm 17

I remember the first semester of my second year at college. My first year I spent at a University relatively close to home. But for my second year, I spent it at an institution that was 1500 kilometers (almost 1000 miles) away from home. As a result, there was more of a feeling of isolation at my new place of study, than there had been the year before. It was impossible to get frustrated, pack up, and go home for a weekend. The Christmas break at the end of that semester was to be spent at the home of my grandparents, another 1500 kilometers away in the opposite direction from my home. But where didn’t really matter. I got on the bus after my last exam excited to see the faces of my relatives who I hadn’t seen for a while; some for months and other for years. So as I got off of the bus, I searched the crowd for faces I knew and needed to see. And when I found them, I was excited; I felt that I was home.

David makes the same argument. With all of the things that he is going through, he is strengthened as he faces his struggles by the thought that one day he will awake and see the likeness of God. Being able to see God will be enough to make all of the struggles fade into the background.

There is a little disagreement over the translation and interpretation of the last clause. On its face, this interpretation seems to simply restate the first clause, which is entirely appropriate in Hebrew poetry. David says “I will be vindicated and [therefore] I will see your face,” or I know that in the end I will be found worthy of seeing God. And in the second statement, he says that seeing God will be enough – “I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.” But not everyone agrees that that is the meaning of the second statement. Some argue that David, while not having a clear idea of what heaven might be like, seems to understand that when he awakes in the presence of God, that he will be remade into the likeness of God. If that is true, then maybe a better translation of the second clause would be “when I awake, I will be satisfied, being transformed into your likeness.” Such an understanding of the second phrase would echo the understanding of the apostle Paul; “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29).

But the reality is that this might also be a case of reading meaning into the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible that comes from the New Testament and belongs just there. Hebrew poetry restates concepts, so it is probably best to accept the NIV translation at face value. God, I know that I will see your face, I will awake in your presence and be greeted by your likeness. And that will be more than enough for me.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 18