Salvation comes from God

62 1b my salvation comes from Him. 
Here the Psalmist is making a distinction that man cannot save , only God can.  Ps 146 3" Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save." The Psalmist believes that all problems must be overcome by being delivered by God. No problem is too small or too big. This is how the Psalmist distinguishes between disrespect and honor. Only God can make us honorable because only God can provide what we need by doing an act that silences our foes. 143 12 "In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant". This plea is in the context of using the Psalms to exalt God and oppose his the opposition. The Psalmist is a spiritual warrior and is a professional in using the law, decrees, curses and promises in prayer to obtain mystery. Just like when Jesus was flogged by professional soldiers in the Roman army who knew how to torture the prisoner through practice. So the Psalmist obtains this mysterious rest by pouring out his heart to God and opposing through the curses.  62 8" Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. "Selah"And on the other hand as a warrior who opposes 69 24 Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them. God is our Rock18  31 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?" This salvation that comes from God is to deliver us physically and spiritually from all opposition. 46 The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!47 He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me,48 who saves me from my enemies." The salvation that we receive from God is very simple. We just appeal to His unfailing love. Which is not just being saved in the event but its hearing the salvation. 13 5" But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.In this grammar construction unfailing love and salvation are interchangeable. 31 16 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love." The Sovereign Lord is the Lord of glory who appears in the most trying part of the battle to lift us out and save us. He shines His glory and the enemy is destroyed. Let your servant see this glory and be saved. 35

 We do not just  receive salvation one time but it is also ongoing. Salvation is spoken to us as we are begin delivered.  35 3 "Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Say to my soul, "I am your salvation." We long to be delivered and God answers our prayers.  But in answering our prayers He gives us Himself. Our spirit cries out Abba Father and He testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God. This is in the context of us having already received all that Christ has obtained. In this Psalm we experience a conversion or a revival. When the event is united with Gods purposes our desires are heightened. When God comes in this way we feel like co- heirs with Christ. 9 5 "You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.6 Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished.7The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment 8 He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice." This is the Kings Psalm expressing his thankfulness that God has made him king over the earth.

I will continue on this Psalm...there will be no pragmatism. 

We trust in God alone.

 Ps 62 1 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.What does the Psalmist mean when He rest in God? First he reasons that he has been saved into a Family in which God fights the Psalmist battles. Ps 21 1 O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength. How great is his joy in the victories you give!2 You have granted him the desire of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips. "Selah"3 You welcomed him with rich blessings and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.4 He asked you for life, and you gave it to him-- length of days, for ever and ever. 5 Through the victories you gave, his glory is great; you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty. The Psalmist first of all wants to be respected. The only way that he can be respected is to be protected. Here the Psalmist is saying that its Gods battle and victory. Ps 20 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. The Psalmist has been saved into Gods kingdom. This kingdom is represented by Gods name. The Psalmist is saying that he is only successful because God is upholding His own name. The Psalmist can be confident that Gods kingdom has already been established. 
The second reason is that when we are saved our old will is destroyed. In place of our old will we have a new set of desires. Speaking of himself the Psalmist declares Ps 21 2 You have granted him the desire of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips. "Selah"What is this desire? To condense this teaching it is that we would be successful and overcome all opposition. In the same chapt 21 he goes on to express his desire 5 Through the victories you gave, his glory is great; you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty.God has given us a desire that reflects Gods desire...
27 8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek. In this context he is saying when we face opposition our new desires overcome all opposition 140  8 do not grant the wicked their desires, O LORD; do not let their plans succeed, or they will become proud. "Selah" So the Psalmist is saying that Gods kingdom has been established in our hearts and we express it in our desires in prayer. This kingdom has already been established so that we rest in the protection of Gods law and we are seen as being obedient. We rest by desiring to overcome all opposition because of the simple fact that we are protected by Gods upholding His own name. I will continue on this Ps 62

God crowned man with glory

The God of all glory created us as a being.
He exists in eternity as the Sovereign Trinity.

His eternal breath made man an eternal soul.
He made man in His image to make him transcendently whole.

God made mans soul with mind, will, and emotions,
He enjoyed a peaceful unity, void of any commotion.

But the soul’s peaceful existence was interrupted,
When the body of sin entered, all its faculties were corrupted.

The mind, will, and emotions, were thrown into sins prison,
To appear before The Sovereign Judge for His final decision.

The heavenly soul’s existence was cast away,
Now hells eternal fury put the soul in dismay.

A created being became en-caged.
His mind now darkened, his will in bondage, his emotions took center stage.

On the surface of his being, his emotions were unbridled,
But the mind took control; its darkened depths were unrivaled.

His emotions only clouded the depth of salvations plea.
The darkened mind perceived the raw data and not the Trinity.

With the soul in jeopardy it made a willing plea,
For the souls will is the most attractive of the three.

The soul wills to be set free, but only by works you see.
For self will blinds the soul of making Christ his only plea,

Its self dominance that leaves the soul in an unhappy state,
For it is faith in Gods grace, the mind must embrace.

For my mind has always been in the Potters hand.
Every thought is molded according to His sovereign plan.

A willing to do right is a freedom in my soul.
For I have freedom to depend on the Holy Spirits control.

And, O the sweet emotions that are now my minds pleasure!
They inflame my soul with life, for His good pleasure.

O Holy Spirit, who hovers over creation,
Illuminate my soul’s desires for your work in my salvation.

The kingdom of obedience through unifying grace

When we are regenerated we are given the eternal life of God. God speaks life into us. This is what the bible calls a new creation. But Gods eternal spoken word is all one. In this sense God has ordained whatsoever comes to pass in His eternal counsel by His spoken word. God sees the beginning from the end in one view. So Gods eternal life that is implanted in our souls is unified as a new kingdom that dwells in us. This is why we believe the bible is like a chain that connects each word ....held together so that it cannot be separated. In this way one word is the spirit of all the words. If we are regenerated we receive the total of eternal life. I mean as God has simplified salvation so that we are not consumed.

But in order for regeneration to be given as a gift someone had to meet the requirements of the law. Because the consequences of sin is death. Someone had to live the standards of the law and die in place of those who are regenerated. If God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass then everything in our lives has been created by His word from eternity past. This means that Christ had to act in our place in obeying the law and doing the works of God as Someone who has already visited the steps we take before we take them. What people do not think about is how important it is to be free to act rather than just acting for acting sake.

This is what regeneration did for us.  Before we were regenerated we were obligated to sin and rebel because we were our own god. We were bound to the curse like someone who is locked up in chains. But when we are regenerated we become free to act. The reason is that Christ has met the requirements of the law as if ever action that we do is added up to meet the requirements of the law, because without Gods acceptance of Christ working for us we would be under the power of condemnation rather than acceptance. This is what it means to obey. Given freedom to choose and not having to be scrutinized to the point where we are always being accused. The apostle said that it was not I who do it but the grace of God in me. He is saying that he no longer is under the power of the curse so that the freedom that he experiences is what unifies his natural desires with Gods desires. The grace or freedom unifies His experience.

In Gods presence we rest

I believe that we should experience the life of God as being without tension. I am not a Buddhist. I do not believe that we can eliminate all thoughts and get into a state of nothingness. Which is their definition of being without tension. But I believe that Gods presence is mysterious. Our experience of Gods mysterious presence is not being able to define it. The question is Does God respond to our simple asking or does He draw near because we become like Him as He created us by the work of His word in our hearts? Does His word realign our souls and unite our desires with Gods desire?

If we believe that the word is a creative tool in drawing near to God then it acts as a cleansing agent to remove the dirt of corruption and expose our soul. This is what the Psalmist meant by God searching our hearts. In the manner that we view the world and react to our circumstances in processing our desires is compared to a deep well whose depths cannot be reached, we find that Gods likeness to us goes beyond the depth of our desires. He has given us His mysterious desires in His word that are beyond our like desires as a mirror to wash our souls. When we pray as thinking thoughts after God His desires consume our desires. His anger , love, pity, pleasure etc consume our anger, love, pity, pleasure etc so that we experience mystery. We cannot describe this experience.  So that the more that we expose ourselves to Gods emanations the deeper we experience something that we cannot explain. This is what the bible describes as Gods rest. Its an experience without tension.  

God's covenant protection

There are two sins that I am overly zealous to avoid. These two sins almost always end up in long term suffering. These two sins are at the heart of destroying the confidence the Psalmist has in presenting his argument and knowing that God will give him what he wants. These two sins divide a persons life and create divided desires. Its hard for God to meet a persons desire if it is divided because God is obligated to protect the helpless. He must protect the helpless from the violence.

God has made institutions to prosper under one desire. One of the sins that divide a person is breaking covenant. The reason that breaking covenant is so difficult is because being divided as a person is really experiencing inward violence. When we are faithful to our covenant we are viewed by God as one nature. God creates unity through upholding His law in blessing the unity of one nature. Its not difficult to be united in marriage because God has established His kingdom by upholding His law in which He creates the boundaries that keep the family safe.

Its almost like salvation. We do not do anything to keep our salvation. So its easy for us to take our salvation for granted. Salvation is both very simple and very complicated. The one thing that makes salvation so successful is that we are motivated by the very simple things to experience freedom. And this is like marriage. We are already united and protected by God upholding His law. But the danger is looking in other places to enforce covenant unfaithfulness. You know you take God for granted and your coasting along and you become suspicious that its so easy to get Gods favor. And you begin to get your desires met by other things that the world offers. This is what is so difficult about living the christian life. People do not appreciate its simplicity. They do not see that salvation giftedness is to create a protection against the violence that is in the world. Most people have never learned to hide from the violence by living within the simplicity of a covenant keeping God. So they are always experiencing boredom and thats when they get tempted to embrace the curse or violence. Breaking covenant is receiving violence into our private lives.

The other big sin is what we allow our children to hear and see. I believe in christian freedom and that means we are not allowed to control other people. But I do not believe this relationship is the same with children. A child can be in one situation that can affect his life for 30 years. Its the only relationship where I see the teenagers behavior and I blame the parents for the rebellion. There is no other kind of relationship that we are allowed to blame someone for another persons problems. And there is no reasonable excuse for a teens rebellious behavior. Family is the only institution where being with the person in the family on a daily bases is more important than what we do in the relationship. God has made it so simple that the adults views are caught by the children simply by being infected with the parents philosophical virus. But the children cant catch the parents virus if the parent is not around. I dont understand why people want to go outside to find rest when its naturally designed by God as covenant protection. Why let the sorrows of the world divide us and then we cannot get our desires because God is obligated to protect the helpless?

Scripture alone is the only authority

Hes talking about the third use of the law here. This teaching here in my opinion has been the source of a lot of misunderstanding and abuse. Its one thing to say that the Bible stands over us as the rule for conduct and quite another thing to say that the one who speaks the Bible has the same authority as long as he is speaking the bible correctly. But this is not the teaching of the bible.

There are other ways the law is used in the bible then just the condemning voice in bringing someone to salvation and a guide to live by. It is not taught in the bible that the law speaks obedience. So to put obedience as in the comparison to the curses is just bad hermeneutics. The law only speaks death. When we are talking about the law producing change as is an instrument that disarms the flesh because it kills any desire to meet its requirements. Rom 7 9 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.What this is saying here is when we are saved we died to the condemning power of the law. We no longer are under the voice of the curse. The law no longer condemns us to death. Because we stand in grace we died to the law.

And by this we are no longer related to each other as a school master. We are only in the position of counselor who is only as successful as the closeness of the relationship. The law guides us because it deals with us on how we are related to God and man. Not really on whether we burned the dinner.

  James 1 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.2 5Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?

The scripture is both simple ...speaking the gospel and rather complicated...learning and applying doctrine. There really should not be a problem in understanding the gospel. And really it doesnt take very long to learn the basics of the whole counsel. All of the problems that arise are from what we focus on as important and how we apply it. One of the purposes of the Psalms was to use it in the worship service. You will find a specific order of teaching and how the words from the teaching are used to describe the two groups of men. When you read the historical accounts they are written as an example of what is taught in the Psalms. The historical accounts are not really a time line of events but they are for Theological teaching. When you come to the nt the Psalms are the most quoted book because they are a little bible within the whole bible. 

The Psalmist uses the law in other ways than a guide or a source of conviction. He uses the law as a weapon of war. And you find this paralleled in the NT when it says that the word of God is a sword.  So there are ways to use the law in meditation and prayer that teach us about the laws power that we would not know if we did not apply ourselves to using the Psalms in prayer. It could be said that if we are not skilled in understanding the voice of the curse that we would be childlike in our understanding of our using the law correctly. After many years in the Psalms I find that the law is not an instrument to be taken lightly. 

This is why the curse of the law is really directed at anyone who uses it in a violent way. A person who does not understand his own authority.  This is why I make the distinction about the law being our guide as having full authority and not the teacher. Because the bible is self authenticating. It really is a book in which we focus on the gospel and that provides us with the only successful way to obey. It frees us and we obey. There is no man who has this kind of authority.

0 Lord of Light

0 Lord of Light, we look to you.
Your love comes forth so strong and true.
Come, Holy Spirit, like heavenly dew,
And fill our hearts, with Your love anew.

O how long, O Heavenly Redeemer?
How long, O Spirit Divine?
Revive us once again! Revive us once again!
So that your people may rejoice in Him.

The light around me is so dim.
My sin, my heart seems dark within.
O Lord of Light, I look to You.
My sinful heart You will renew.

Come Holy Spirit! Come Heavenly Dove!
And fill our hearts anew.
Revive us once again! Revive us once again!
So that Your people may rejoice in Him.

Your forgiveness is for those who wait.
Your life You gave for sin You hate.
O Lord of Light, we look to You.
May Your Spirit search our hearts anew!

God does more than we could ask or think.

For about 30 years Ive been meditating on the Psalms. After chewing on them for about 15 years I developed a habit to take every problem that I have and examine the kind of power it had over me, how I was going to address it, and use it to increase my faith. The Psalms taught me how to use adversity to motivate me to a greater trust in God. I began to look beyond my present adversity by using the evil in the adversity to consume my anger through cursing and then to press God through His covenants, promises, decrees, and law to overcome all adversity. The Psalms kept me from the temptation to live with counting my sorrows , sins and physical ailments as if they were important in the present and to gain a vision of the global and eternal purposes of God.

I cannot say that these experiences came from my discipline in trying to avoid mulling these issues according to my own understanding, but it was the accumulation of the emanations of God through illumination that began to awaking me in a spiritual conversion. It wasnt necessarily an intellectual vision that gave me a perspective beyond my current problems but it was God Himself infusing me with power in which I began to unite myself to His promise that He would do more than I could ask or think. My goal was not to create a life for myself in which I settled into a discipline of success but it was to bring all of my circumstances and the people to be united toward one goal. The power of secularism in this day and age is almost impossible to overcome. I found that the goal of my faith was to find mystery and each circumstance drove me to find that line between Gods blessing and His cursing. Gods eternal love and His anger that is compared to great catastrophes in His creation...such as volcanoes, hurricanes, tsunamis..or the great power displayed in the waves of the sea, and earth quakes. The hold that our circumstances have on us is sometimes so heavily weighted that we are always under some kind of obligation to seek to redeem ourselves through them. But Gods vision is much greater. Its having a sense of His great defensive power through the awful effects of the curse and being shaken by the authority that He pronounces through His covenants and decrees.

This line between blessing and cursing is a gift to us to rest from the tension of this world. Ive faced some opposition that was so strong that I was led to such a desperation that I had no rest unless I was calling out to God through the Psalms. The Psalms are the meditations that expose the spirit of the area that we live, bring us to argue against "the scheme" , and plead for a release of that power. As Ive said before unless people think that I have some odd view of personal power.. ive found that the opposition is more fierce in quick and direct competition with its spirit... the Psalms are contained within themselves ...that being a creation that is beyond our power...but they also realign our souls in finding rest. All contained.

Adams Federal headship

Adam who brought sin into the human race is our federal head. Not only did Adam bring sin and corruption into the world but he also brought the cursed system of man. Adam as the federal head represents all the nations who have ever existed on this earth. This means that the sin of Adam is not  just a moral problem but its an act of defiance against Gods creation and recreation. Adam represents all the violent communication...a federal description of the system of man who scheme to redefine Gods word. Not only is the language an act of violence to Gods kingdom but its taking on federal authority that is not sanctioned by Gods word.  The biblical view of representation is always weighted from the top down. We must understand that God describes biblical representation as He views the earth from the heavens.

Everything that has ever been said by man under the federal headship of Adam has been examined by God. Because God created man like Himself he has created man with as a government. This is why man was given a will, mind , conscience and feeling. God has designed all communication to bring unity as man is able to describe government as God has designed His kingdom. We must understand that every word that God sees as violent is a scheme of man governing other men. The Bible says that Satan is the Prince of the air..or involved in the high places. Because He is able to hold a nation under His power through political authority.   Adams fall is a federal rebellion. Adams does not just represent the whole human race falling into sin and corruption but it is also the communication from the top down threatening Gods kingdom.

 The bible teaches that there is only one kingdom. Just like there is only one real Man.  We are not just related to Adam because of sin and corruption. But we are related to Adam as being part of a kingdom that is seeking to remove God. All those people who are in Adam belong to the kingdom of Satan. The kingdom of Satan is a illusion. Salvation is not just being saved from sin but its entering into Gods kingdom that turns Satans kingdom upside down.  Satan is seeking to destroy the earth and Gods kingdom. He does this through redefining Gods word. Satan who is the head of human governments is seeking to destroy the human race through rouge authority. This is why all the harsh curses of the law are directed toward oppressive authority.

God smiles on us when He brings destruction on a nation

Heb 12 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?

8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.

9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.

11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.

13 "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

The author to the Hebrews teaching on discipline is taught in a Jewish context. It is taught in the context of the Nation of Israel. The problem that is addressed is much worse than dealing with someone who is caught in a sin. These Jewish believers had forsaken the old covenant and the ceremonial law. But some of them who had embraced the new covenant were being tempted to go back under the old covenant. If you look at the context of the verse from Proverbs its talking about a young child in age. "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."He is drawing a parallel of a child who is naive. In this sense anyone who sees the light cannot un see it -Steve Brown...so in miss applying this we are really insulting the intelligence of an adult. In order for the child to be known as an adult in the faith he must gain knowledge in order to have enough wisdom to be considered an older man in the faith. The context of the warning is that these Jews knew a lot about the old covenant but were babies in their understanding of the new covenant. But the warning of the harsh discipline was directed toward those who apostatize after they have embrace salvation in the new covenant context.  You will see this kind of national discipline applied in the Psalms.

Ps 44 9" But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies.

10 You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us.

11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations.

12 You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale."
  
The nation of Israel were made up of all the circumcised but within all those who were circumcised were the remnant of the elect. Here in this Psalm we see a christian prayer on behalf of a nation who has gone into exile. This pray is distinguishing between the sheep   ...15" My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame"....the christian context between using the curse of the law and the unbelieving Jew who curses God and shames Gods people.

17" All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant.

18 Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path."

Here the Psalmist is drawing the line between the elect who act in prayer as a high priest on behalf of the whole nation and the reprobate. Again this thinking is part of the whole fabric of the Psalms. A person who has been saved or delivered by God is enjoying a relationship with a Father who has made a covenant of redemption that promises not to remember his sin.  You will find this throughout the Psalms that this saint appeals to God upon the faithfulness of His covenant in which the saint no longer represents himself but Gods name. You represent Gods name your in Gods army which is carrying out Gods justice upon the nations. This is why you will always see that the saint appeals to God on behalf of the nation as part of this army who has been perfectly faithful to Gods covenant. The saint is no longer the recipient of the curses of the law but uses the law to pronounce death on the wicked. The just war is carrying out Gods curses against His enemies. There is no pragmatism in our relationship with God under His covenant because God has already performed our part of the covenant in perfection.  

If you are familiar with the Baptist or Westminster confession they are written in this christian context in how we relate to saints who are in trouble by applying grace correctly. 

Gods fire that protects us

 Ps. 12

1 Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.

2 Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception.

3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue

4 that says, "We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips--who is our master?"

5 "Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will protect them from those who malign them."

6 And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times. 

The Psalms teach that Gods word is like a fire. The reason it is compared to a fire is because His word is a spoken word that creates and recreates all things. The word gives life. His word is in spoken covenants ,laws, decrees , curses ,statutes and promises. This Psalm is describing a war that has gone on since man fell into sin. It is a war of ideas , words and actions. Gods word has created His eternal government over all other governments. The word of God is designed so that it creates respect by it being spoken though a kings language. God has created man and given him authority over the earth. He as crowned man with glory and honor.

But because of sin man has gone astray. Because man goes astray he threatens the peace of Gods kingdom by scheming to overthrow Gods word. His mouth is full of curses, lies and threats,...trouble and evil are under his tongue. So here you have Gods spoken word which is only creative and you have mans schemes which are destructive. The evil man is said to plot his evil on his bed , use threats to enforce his evil so that he becomes powerful. He becomes a leader over many people. So the bible describes this process over the history of the earth as a trap that is set for Gods people. Traps are simply evil schemes that threaten Gods people. 

But Gods word is never overturned by these intricate schemes. Even tho man has woven these schemes over 200 years in this nation Gods word is as powerful and lasting as gold that is purified seven times. Gods word can unravel years of man scheming against his elect. This is the context in this Psalm. Now listen the fire is the creation through Gods word that turns the destructive scheme that was intended to bring fear in Gods peaceful kingdom and bring the schemers own words on himself in the form destruction and judgement. The fire is Gods words of justice carried out through the curse of the law. 

Ps 12 9 At the time of your appearing you will make them like a fiery furnace. In his wrath the LORD will swallow them up, and his fire will consume them. 68  2 As smoke is blown away by the wind, may you blow them away; as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God.The fire of God that consume is the fire that led Israel out of Egypt and into the promise land. This fire was like a torch that burned a path way for Israel to the promise land. The prophets commanded the fire that was spoken in the curses of the law to overcome the elects opposition so that Gods redemption would be seen in Israel when they entered the promise land  and became a nation.  You will see the Psalmist curse the wicked through the fire of God. This was a legal prosecution of war that was spoken by the prophets as a seal that God would gain the victory over the enemies . Through this success God would rule the nations through the peace that would be created by His spoken word.   

The two-ness of pragmatism

The Bible teaches that God is not responsible for destruction. God created man as a free moral agent. In the garden man was established in righteousness which is the ultimate ability to choose what is good for the sake of unifying all things for the glory of God. The question is if man had no propensity to choose evil then how did he give into the temptation in the garden? No one ever makes a choice without first having the inward desire in which they are attracted to the object/ This is why we believe that man chose to do evil by a decree of God. This really cannot be explained because God never tempts anyone to do evil nor is He a party in creating the destruction that prevents man from doing good. This is why the theologians call the decree a passive decree. But that in my opinion creates a lot of questions. Because God isnt a passive observer. At anytime we make God inactive we could accuse Him of being lax in His substitution of us. We could argue that God has two wills...one to prevent us from sinning and one to allow us to sin. The first sin is a mystery but it provides the foundation for eliminating a reason for God to act toward us for any other purpose that to deliver us.

Anytime we teach two truths side by side we teach there are two wills in every ones view. And this really comes down to my personal perspective as opposed to your perspective. The Apostle teaches that we naturally excuse ourselves and at the same time accuse others. So entertaining two opposite truths really is having my own moral standard and being able to judge the other person against a harsher standard. This is why the first sin enforces this one principle of unity. That salvation is limited to being in God because we are safe by God substituting Himself on our behalf so that His work is complete in our being delivered or being placed in Him. The only other reality is being in complete darkness. A person who is not in God doesnt know he is in darkness. This is the non pragmatic view of this mysterious fall.

This is why our salvation starts and ends with grace. Grace doesnt really provide us with the ability not to sin but it puts us in a relationship with a Person who provides us success by measuring up to the standards of God through doing the work Himself. He unifies our lives by making us successful in making us free. Grace isnt a powerful liquid that we take like medicine when we sin but it argues against the opposition to our free access to God. Now listen to me...God establishes His salvation for us as He is successful to prove Himself good in order to free us so that we have a motive to act from acceptance. We really are not holy because we are less of a sinner but we are holy because we are prevented from going back to the slavery of the law that empowered our flesh. Christ as our complete substitute has brought us into a kingdom of the future where sin has been eradicated to make it impossible for us to sin and that future kingdom is already part of our experience even tho we are corrupted.This complete focus on Him as the reason we are accepted is what the bible means when it says we are dead to sin.

The kingdom that dwells in us and Gods kingdom are united in prayer.

God has created us like Himself. When we received salvation we received the implanted word of God. This implanted word is His word of creation. Everything that has ever come into existence...both physical and meta physical has been spoken by God from eternity past. God has not only created everything but He holds all things together by upholding His law. Everything that does not measure up to His law is cursed. At all times God is absolute in His judgements.

When we lower God we want to excuse corruption. When we excuse corruption we become pragmatic. We begin to accept contradictions. Contradictions create tension in our souls. The only way to relieve this tension or anger is to feel, think and act according to Gods word. God has given us His covenants in order to prove Himself, faithful, kind, long suffering, gentle,and loving. When we draw near to God we feel our hearts warmed by His promises.

We should never think there are two equal truths. If we try to hold onto two truths that are opposite that have the same relationship at the same time, we hold onto a contradiction. When we are saved we receive a totally new identity. Old things are passed away behold all things are new. Or the old way of thinking has been disarmed and the new creative way of thinking has unified our souls and our world. The fallen nature with sin and corruption is no longer our enemy. We are no longer divided but we have the remnants of the old man. To hold to two equal truths is to think in our former relationship to the law. It is to hold onto a tension that will keep us looking from ourselves in comparing ourselves to Christ. We will also talk ourselves into a lower view of ourselves by always being concerned about the corruption that has already been cursed and killed.

As well as appealing to God according to His covenants we should also hear the laws voice of death. We are all created as an individual government. We have the kingdom of God dwelling in us. In a way we need nothing to complete us. We do not even need a prayer to receive things that we ask for. When we view this world as God views it we become free. Because there is nothing that has come into the world that has not been designed by God. His will cannot be thwarted. One of the ways we view evil , corruption, sin and violence is through speaking the voice of the law. When we hear the curses of the law we become free of our pragmatism...the tendency to suffer from a narrow view of the world. We like the world to be small so we can control it. But when we hear the voice of the curse we are freed from our wanting to control our world. We begin to have an eternal perspective when we talk about power, presence and understanding. Prayer is not really our chance to get an answer but it is a gift of God to free us from our small view. When we pray according to His word we are freed from ourselves.

God will give us as much as we are free in having power over ourselves . When our interior government is unified with Gods eternal government then we are able to rule in a greater way. God will only give us what we can handle. Prayer is our aligning ourselves with Gods view of the world so that we are able to rule with more wisdom and understanding.

God was silent for 400 years when Israel was in Egypt. Do you know why He delivered Isreal? Because He heard their cries. One generation of the elect would cry out to God ..but still no answer. Then another generation would come along and cry out to God and still no answer. This went on for 5 generations! Think about this. We talk about God being silent because He doesnt answer our prayers after a few weeks..lol 400 hundred years the Israelites cried out to God..400 years

In Your light we see light.

This little phrase In Your light we see light is talking about Davids relationship with the Lord Most High or the Lord of Glory. You will see any time the Psalmist appeals to the Lord Most High it is in the context of war. In other words he is going before the highest power or authority in Gods government. You will find that this Lord Most High listens to Davids proclamations. David is acting as a kind of lawyer in appealing to this Lord in using the covenants, promises, curses and decrees. These arguments are pronouncing the covenant in the context of a complaint that the people are suffering, speaking the curses of the law so that the King is confident that the Lord of Glory will be with him in war to shine His glory so that Israel would be victorious, and pleading the promises so that the king will not rule treachery. The king muses after appealing to God by these successful arguments and he begins to feel that there is honor in fighting for a much bigger purpose than the earthly conflict. The decrees are what God has promised as a result of His covenant words. So the kings pronounces Gods decrees in order to experience the power of God.
This glory is usually in the context of the Lord coming down on His chariot and shining His light to blind the enemy so that Israel could overcome them. It is always in the most critical part of the battle. So when the King says In your light we see light...it is all of the above ..using the word, experiencing the goodness of God, and seeing the victory. All of this exalts David to ruling the world. I have just described the application and purpose of salvation or deliverance.

This is why I always say that the means of grace are not works. When we talk about our actions or how much time we spend in using these means we are saying that these means are not our personal creations. Its not in our light we see His light. Its in His light we see light. So when we talk about reading scripture, confessing sin, attendance to church, taking the cup these things cannot be so personal to us that we try to control them. These are not works but gifts to us. If all of these things are a gift and they come by grace then we cannot think of them as the adding up of our performance has anything to do with their success. These means are successful in themselves. We do not give value to their success. We may really work hard to read and meditate on the word. But because the actions are not works in the biblical sense we can only see the success of reading and mediating. We cannot begin to measure it and conclude that it has value because of our time spent. The whole purpose of its success is that it is always profitable in itself. We cannot say that our brothers are to blame because they do not work as hard. Thats not grace. But we must always say that they have not discovered the benefits of is power and success. Once we begin to make it a work then we add value to it. Then it no longer is appealing or free. And we can put any these other means... confession of sin...etc.in this argument.
This grace and freedom keeps us from making the gospel a message of prejudice. When we begin to think that it adds up then we begin to practice exclusion. We begin to say that it can only be used in this context and with these particular people. But the gospel is a message in which we lay down our own fight in it and take up Gods fight. So some of the greatest successes of its power is in places we would never go to if we were taking it personal.

God’s Rainbow of Love

The mind  is like a rainbow of colors.
The thoughts of it go from one to another.

It perceives thoughts one by one,
But is blinded to the place from which they come.

Sin is like a storm that rises in the day,
To cover its colors and send  its thoughts in array.

The soul is in awe of all the minds colors,
But sin rumbles in and sends them to another.

Its thoughts held captive to that earth sent angel.
The colors all muted its thoughts entangled.

A storm day and night to hide its rays.
Is a ploy of Satan to destroy it one day.

The winds of the Spirit blow in from above,
To open the rainbow and shine forth Gods love.

A mind with new life is a glorious light.
The Spirit of which has ended sins might.

With colors renewed, it’s the minds glorious sight.
A sign that the Lord has become its delight.

The throne of God, like the brightest rainbow of colors,
Shines down pure thoughts allied to no other.

It’s the mind of Christ, loves purest light.
Shines red then white, His heavenly abode, our future flight.

To soar up above past the rainbow of lights,
And bow before His throne will be its highest delight.

O Light of the Glorious God, O light of the Eternal one
My minds Ruby of Love, Christ Jesus His Son.

Gods voice

Ps 29

1 Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.

4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.

5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the LORD strikes with flashes of lightning.

8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert; the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"

10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever.

11 The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

Living in Florida and memorizing this Psalm gave me a pleasure when we experienced a hurricane. And really I never thought much about an event as far as it connecting me to the power of God like  a hurricane. In the 80s I would meditate on this Psalm and wonder what Gods voice was like in this storm. Well 92 came along and I got a front row seat on how powerful Gods voice was in Andrew. This storm was so devastating that it made Miami look like a war zone. Andrew uprooted every tree as it passed by. I was in a house this two story house when the winds started to pick up. Most of the people were told that the storm would drift northward as it passed over Florida. But the storm stayed south on a straight line. I was so happy looking back that God had given us a place to stay north of the storm so we did not get the second half of the storm as bad as those who were south of us. 

But I remember how noisy Andrew was. I was listening to the radio to the weather man in our town who was hunkered down in a basement under neath the studio. His words as the storm approached was that this storm was gonna be devastating. They interviewed a few people who began to confess that their lives were in the hands of God. I remember the sound that was so loud it rang in my ears . I considered this a time to try to understand this Psalm so I meditated on it all nite long as the storm passed over our heads. As I meditated I heard the sound of the storm and it sounded like breathing. Can you imagine something being produced with such power that it sounded like a person breathing? It would start with a quite blowing sound and then it would get louder and louder with more and more force. Every time it would blow to the max I would pray and hope that the highest pressure would not be so strong that it would blow the roof off the house. 

This is what this Psalm is talking about . God blows the winds and the power of the pressure is too much to stand up against. All of creation is uprooted. Believe it or not my interest in remembering this was how helpless I felt and what I needed to do to trust that God who was in control would preserve me and my families lives.It was the first time in my life that I had heard the voice of God exercise His power over creation. That storm increased my faith as I meditated on it for all of these years. I also got lesser examples going through 4 more hurricanes with lesser power. 

After the storm had passed I wanted to see what this Psalm was talking about when it says that after He blows His powerful winds the whole creation becomes still. I remember laying on my bed after the storm and being amazed at how still and quite everything around me had become. All of the noises that we produce like the noise of power-lines...tvs...city lights had been silenced. There was a distinct sound of peace I will never forget. God blows through the city and brings a quite rest that cannot be duplicated in this world. This is the same kind of rest after I have cursed and blessed for a day. Its as if the presence of God causes us to have a sensitive ear where we muse ...like being swallowed up in a kind of vortex of quieting all the voices of the opposition. Its the foundation of the sweetness of the voice of God that comes upon us . A distinct quietness over our souls.

Mortification

If you study these Penitent Psalms and speak them you will find this kind of approach. The Psalmist is not complaining about sin being in between him and God. He is  complaining about his physical limitations and the work of sin as a result. And this is described as being trapped in some way. You know there this righteous road which is the total communication of Gods word by which He protects us and rules the earth. The opposition to this is what the bible describes as a scheme. To make this short its all the schemes of men from the beginning of the world who have been cursed. The world is going in a direction that is opposed to God and we face being trapped in a scheme. You will see this approach in the Penitent complaint.
Mortification or killing the communication of evil is how we survive in this war so to speak. You see the Psalmist complain about a physical limitation and then he feels how sinful he is. So its facing opposition and being prevented in some way from proceeding on this road. Or having this new language overcome the opposition.
You will find this in your own life. You get going and your succeeding in the purpose that God made for you and then you face a trial. Some circumstance or some physical ailment and you are prevented from being as successful...your life slows down ..sometimes you are forced to be in bed.
The reason that we cannot fail in these circumstances is that we do not fight against the kingdom of darkness through physical attrition. We fight through prayer and meditation So we can be prevented and seem to be useless to man but because we have more time to curse, petition. etc we actually are using our time to promote Gods purposes as He is pleased. Some old lady who is bed ridden is moving the events of the world. lol This is basically the approach of these Penitent Psalms.

Careless Love

As I gaze into her eyes i am drawn into her world
A youthful desire of sweet contemplation

All of my cares get lost in her gaze
Quietly i long to remain under her spell

Drawn out of time, lost in her eyes
I breathe unending sweet longings

Most men seek salvation through all the wrong things

My conscience cried out, “You’re guilty you know!”
I thought to find relief if to others I would go.
I worked with fervor both day and night
To rid this guilty soul of it’s powerless flight.

The law with its threatening burned deep in my soul,
But the works I pursued only brought me more woe.

I thought this work was not so bad.
If I persevered, I would someday be glad.
Christ and the law were my constant plea,
But His grace and mercy I could not see.

My accuser grew bolder, my conscience you see.
Not realizing the devil was working in me.

It was not the law that was my principle fight,
But sin deep within that was causing this plight.
The law with its threat powerfully worked with my sin.
My body grew weak and my will would not bend.

I lay in my bed unable to speak;
I thought I’d try to fall fast asleep.

If I could stop thinking I might find a way,
But thinking and eating are my only stay.
I thought sin and law were my greatest foe,
But work for salvation was a greater woe.

I went so far down, I had nothing to plea.
Only Christ is the answer to set my soul free.

He died in my place to free me from sin.
Grace and the law are now my best friends.
The law with its threatening is gracious you see.
I see my precious Savior punished for me.

Most men seek salvation through all the wrong things,
But Christ is the Savior on which you can cling.

O Sovereign God, O Gracious Father!
Your salvation is free, you are the potter!
O precious blood, O love divine
Come Holy Spirit and show me He’s mine!

Our desires are united with Gods desires

God has revealed Himself through divine revelation. When God created man , God gave him a vocabulary. When God created man and all things He spoke them into existence. Not only did God design the colors and shapes of all things but He made things work together perfectly though the same creative word. So God has a perfect description of everything that exist and how it functions. Gods description of all things is both revealed and mysterious. God has planned all of time in His eternal counsel and He has viewed the earth through out all generations. So God has a vocabulary that is beyond our understanding.
God has not described all the reasons for how things were created and work together but He has given us a limited language in His spoken word that is like an outline of the main points and a brief description of how everything works together. He has given us this language so that we might learn His purposes and be able to reason with Him. He has given this language in covenants , laws, decrees, curses and statutes. When we become experienced in using this language in our prayers we become united with God and all His purposes .This revealed language moves God to act with His mysterious creative hand on our behalf to unite us to His purposes. When we experience this mystery we are receiving eternal life as if God breathed new life in us. We are converted.
God wants us to be bold so He has given us this language in the form of arguments, complaints and pleadings. This revealed language is describing who God is and what He desires. God has created us like Himself. This language is a gift to us because it is communicated in such a way that it addresses all of our needs. When we use this language as it is designed we are communicating our natural longings to Him. This is what the Psalmist means when he proclaims that God gives us the desires of our hearts.
As we become experienced in pouring our hearts out to God, all of our natural longings begin to grow. We all are taught the same approach to God in this revealed language, but He answers each persons prayers according to their individual needs. Gods mysterious language addresses every created thing in its original identity according to their individual needs so that all things are united to work according to His purposes. When we become experienced in praying according to Gods revealed language we experience mystery and the pleasure of God uniting all things according to His purposes.

How God has drawn me to people.

Many years ago I learned how to avoid situations and people who were not interested in promoting christian freedom. I learned this freedom by meditating on the Psalms for many years. My awareness of this freedom began to grow as I repeated back to God in my meditations how He wanted me to think and speak about His grace. The major hurdle that needed to be crossed was how I responded to Him about sin and forgiveness. From this daily practice He took me to places that I can now understand His purpose in it.
Ive come to believe that our problem with understanding how free than gospel is ...is that we take the lesser things and make them the main things. One of these teachings that few fail to apply correctly is the doctrine of forgiveness. It is easy for us in miss applying forgiveness to embace the curse all over again. I learned that there are certian views about forgiveness in which I naturally distaste because Ive learned to push the curse away by Gods confession that He no longer keeps a record of my sin.I cannot go back to trusting in my confession of sin as my self confidence. If my confession could count as a righteous act to gain forgiveness then I would be saying that theres was something in me that was worthy of recieving forgiveness. In this attitude I would be reversing the teaching of the bible.
I became convinced that God led me to hang out with people who were addicted to sin because He was protecting me from religious wolves. The thing that safe about hanging out with real sinners was they believed because of their sin that there was no hope. So my always confessing that God forgets my sin was the same attitude they had about the impossibilty it is to obtain forgiveness through.themselves. I can assure you that we had some great times celebrating this freedom together. Ive learned the secret to being happy. Being draw in community is Gods work and He will never lead us to be with people who have a false self confidence..Ive had so many good times with sinners because of this.

 Knowing ourselves by growing in expressing ourselves
The human expression of Jesus was extreme. The Psalms teach how radical grace really is by teaching us the height of our expressions cannot even come close to this description of Christ expression. When Christ expressed His joy, anger, and cries , He understood the importance of His expression on the level of eternity. When we express His strong cries we are consumed.

Our human expressions are how we understand reality. Christ human expressions are the total real reality of the only real man. Our human expressions are almost insignificant compared to Christ. The Psalms describe the life of the inward desire in how much reality we have in our human expressions. These expressions are not just outward responses on the level that we experience in our connection to creation but they are the inward reality that makes up our disposition. We can say that the closer we are to Christ expression determines the kind of inward experience as an inward expression. It is described in the words" bowels of compassion." The inward compassion affects the physical organs. This is what the scripture calls receiving eternal life. Eternal life is the quality of life that we experience.

Our reception of eternal life is not just from our performance in the christian life. In fact we are performing on the standard of the quality of eternal life that we are receiving. The quality of eternal life that Christ experienced on this earth was in total oneness with all of creation in the human expression on an eternal level. When we pray and meditate on these expressions our souls are enlarged. This enlargement is both from the positive breathing in of the human expression and the breathing out of the negative human expression. We receive the nature of Christ..love , joy, peace. etc in mirroring His human expression. When we express the human expression in the Psalms we are experiencing the weight of Christ expression.The bible calls this the weight of glory. This is why these expressions enlarge our souls. We are being loved beyond our definition of the reality of love. Not as a description of eternal love but as eternal love meets the human expression of love.

God smiles in our troubles 
I am not one of the Calvinist who believes a christian is under the universal law that we get what we deserve. I part ways with this kind of thing. One of the reasons is that Ive looked at this  chastisement that is talked about in the Psalms ...which is a very few times..and its always in the context of the whole nation of Israel. So I believe its a miss interpretation to say that chastisement is referring to the elect within the nation.

I also believe that once we are delivered we no longer are in a relationship with God as a judge. But now our judge is our Father. I do not believe this relationship is abusive. In thinking through the whole teaching of the believers relationship with a Father I have come to believe that it is no longer our being confronted with the law but our Father now focuses only on our renewal. In other words He no longer deals with us according to our sin. But anytime He uses the law it actually is a way of cursing that person.

Ive study the Jewish interpretations of this and I find myself agreeing with them. I believe that God as our Father is uniting our experience with His sovereign goodness. Anytime the Psalmist talks about God in this Father relationship it starts with the covenant of grace. And so the Psalmist will appeal to His Father on the basis of these covenant promises. Faithfulness, kindness, eternal love, patience, long suffering and gentle. It is wrong to start from the law of returns. This is why I believe that we go from being someones advocate to his accuser.  I mean no one would accuse a person who believed that to curse Gods people is the same thing as to not rejoice in their success. This in my opinion is how God describes this covenant of grace. The hate line is drawn by wishing a curse on those who oppose the support our success. I have spoken this way for 30 years so I am not guilty of being my brothers accuser- who are in Christ. This is accurate with how the Psalmist reasons about Gods people. And it is the reason that the Jews treated the sojourner{poor and fatherless }with such respect, and why they always stick together. The new relationship is our Father creating unity in us and in our lives.

So as the Psalms teach the reason that Israel went into exile was to discipline the whole nation with Gods elect being caught in the middle.You will see this very strict reasoning that does not allow for any disunity in Gods purposes. It is that God sent His nation into exile because society had become destructive... that being oppressing the poor... and His purpose for His elect was to doubly repay them in gifts by taking from the nation and giving it to them. In fact this is how a Father in the ot describes giving them their inheritance. lol Its taught by some theologians as God smiling on us in our disaster. Unity in all things and gentiles wouldn't throw each other under the bus. We should learn from the Jews.Ive meditated on the Book for 30 years ...with all the defensive postures of Gods people and the special Fatherly language in this advocacy it is just not consistent to believe in this kind of abuse. Shoot when I see a believer suffer I want the world to cave in. Being this passionate through the Psalms language is normal for me..I would feel heartless to look at it any other way.. lol

 We get what we want

 Ps 31

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

2 Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.

3 Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

4 Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.

5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols; I trust in the LORD.

7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.

8 You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.

9 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.

10 My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.

11 Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends-- those who see me on the street flee from me.

12 I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.

13 For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life.

14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."

15 My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.

16 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.

17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I have cried out to you; but let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in the grave.

18 Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

19 How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.

20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues.

21 Praise be to the LORD, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.

22 In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.

23 Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.

24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD. 

When we are saved we go from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. We are declared righteous and definitively sanctified. When we are given new life our old will is destroyed and in place we have Gods will. Now God reverses how we are opposed. We were opposed from the enemies that were within but now they are from outside. This Psalm is describing how the saint obtain what he desires. Because we enter this new kingdom we can now unite our new desires by the experience of Gods kingdom. 

The Psalmist describe the great enemy that opposes the Psalmist desires. This enemy is shame. It is a person who belongs to a new kingdom that is facing opposition who have taken Gods word and used it to bring a believer to shame. The question is what does God want for us who are faced with this opposition? He wants what we want. We want to be defended and protected. Our first desire as we face this opposition is to be delivered. Salvation is going from one deliverance to another so that each time we are delivered we bring everyone who is facing this opposition with us. 

The expression of total dependence upon God is that our lives are in His hands. This means that we believe there is nothing that we can do to deliver ourselves but to oppose the wicked through rolling all of the trouble in this world over to God. God communicates with us by being a friend of a friend of God. God blesses us by delivering us from every evil scheme. When we are delivered we hear the voice of salvation. This voice of salvation is a new conversion.  The conversion is this unhindered experience where our gifts are united with Gods work in creation...both of the created things and those people around us who share in being like minded. In other words the highest experience of deliverance is uniting our gifts with Gods order of all things. 

This Psalm is interesting in that it kind teaches us that we enter into the bosom of God so to speak. When we pray this Psalm our past deliverance come together with our new deliverance so that as we get a tighter hold on the bosom of God we create a society ...both unsaved and saved that are united. This is the bestowing of the gifts in the presence of others. We avoid the language of the wicked..slandering Gods people by focusing through this Psalm. As we distance ourselves from their violent language and we pray this Psalm we make the curse clear.  Anyone who does not rejoice in our success would be cursed. Eventually we are surrounded by people who rejoice in the success of others. We have become free so that others might be free. 
I am not a novice..I have witnesses that this is indeed true. 

True Rest
The Psalms describe our resting in Christ as being united by experience with His unhindered power in ruling the earth by word and Spirit. I do not believe it is a physical place on the earth. Although I believe in the creation ordinance the culture determines the kind of opposition to this rest both religious and political. Because I do not see Gods rest as an authoritative structure but only evidence in the unifying of all things.

This rest is compared to the pre fall government of God in the garden. This rest was unhindered fellowship with God. This means there was no opposition to mans relationship to God, other men or His creation. But after the fall man fell from this rest by becoming his own god. Each mans view of creation and his fellow man is tainted. In this sense every man in his natural state wants to dethrone God though seeing everything through his taunted view.

This is why I do not believe that unity can be achieved in the philosophy that the parts make a whole. I believe the christian unity is that Christ who is a whole body are parts of His body in the elect. The greatest are the least, the least are the greatest..Gods government of serving in the correct fashion. I do not believe that we have a certain amount of gifts and the ones we do not have are made up by others. I believe that a person can increase in gifts throughout his life.  You see the comparison in a man who meditates knows more than his teachers. So in this sense the man who knows more is able to apply the supreme government of God by experience through the laws, decrees, promises, curses, and statutes ..which gives the man the most free exercise of his gifts that is represented as the example of rest. This is exactly the kind of unity that was experienced in the pre fall garden . But I also believe there is a God- Human relationship that is beyond that pre fall experience. The rest day is our opportunity in a special way to obtain dominion on the earth by worship and prayer.

Gods good prophecy of us 

 Balak summons Balaam to come so that he could instruct Balaam to curse Jacob who was Gods prophet. God instructs Balaam to go to Balak. But as Balaam was traveling on the road to recieve his instruction from Balak it says that an Angel of the Lord appeared on the road to stop Balaam. Balaam tries to avoid the Angel but is forced to stop. This is interesting because the Angel prophecies through the mouth of the donkey.
 
You remember that Jacob was the Prophet who wrestled with the angel of the Lord and prevailed. God did His work through Jacob so that he could be the one who enforce Gods covenant faithfulness in the minds of His elect. Because of Jacobs display of strength he was always kind of like a hero among the whole nation both the reprobate and the elect.

This is what is interesting because you have this Angel of the Lord who is summoned as a spiritual body guard so to speak to protect David.  Psalm 35 5 This shows me that these prophets knew that Jacob wrestled with this Angel and trusted that God would protect them by this Angel. So even tho this Angel stops balaam i do not believe He is opposing Balaam but providing this prophet with the message not to curse the Lords anointed. This cursing from a wicked man is part of Gods warning against using sorcery...ie like the story of Saul. Now this is not like the cursing of the law that the Prophets used in protecting Gods people. And there is a distinction for us. In this story we know who represents God because the scripture makes it plain. But in our circumstances we do not have this declaration that every person who uses the word Christ is actually a true believer.

This story is clearly a teaching about Gods government which is described by words being opposed by evil men who are trying to miss represent God by distorting Gods word. You have this false prophet who is using the true Prophets authority to actually slander Gods people. Now this is very important. Every story that is passed on must be true to all of Gods word. I will discuss this in the next writing in a Psalm.

The humble pronounce the Abrahamic covenant.

Ps 18

1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.

2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

3 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

5 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

7 The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.

8 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.

9 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.

10 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky.

12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

13 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

14 He shot his arrows and scattered [the enemies], great bolts of lightning and routed them.

15 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.

19 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

20 The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God.

22 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.

23 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.

24 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

26 to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

27 You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.

28 You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

29 With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

31 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.

34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35 You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

36 You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.

37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

38 I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.

39 You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.

40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.

41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them-- to the LORD, but he did not answer.

42 I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind; I poured them out like mud in the streets.

43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations; people I did not know are subject to me.

44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cringe before me.

45 They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.

46 The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!

47 He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me,

48 who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me.

49 Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name.

50 He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

This Psalm describe the relationship of justification and sanctification. This is the Psalm that Ive quoted all my life when Im talked down into believing that God is smaller than He is described in this book. The idea that justification gives us the ability to proceed in our sanctification as an evidence of grace is never how the Psalmist reasons. When the Psalmist is brought before the law he confesses that he cannot keep the law. The reason is that if anyone comes through the law then he is under the curse. If someone claims that he is getting better by the law then the reaction from the Psalmist would be .."May the whole law be placed upon you".In other words ..let this man be cursed. 

But we see in the Psalm and other Psalms that the Psalmist kind of beats his chest and proclaims that he is innocent when he is confronted with the law. He even alludes to the fact that he receives exactly what he deserves. But if you look there is a verse that puts this into perspective. It is you save the "humble but bring low those who eyes are haughty" . Most people who have not pronounced the covenant phrases in the Psalms will not even recognize that the Psalmist is really saying that he is perfect because God has provided a fail safe covenant to those who are humble. Its really even better than the two liners describe.. their God only acts when their behavior meets their confession that proves they have grace. But in the biblical sense of promises and commands we are viewed as being a part of a created kingdom in which we represent the King. The King pronounces us innocent and we pound our chest that being in Christ means that we receive all the things that Christ has.   

You will see this over and over again. The gospel is not just a consoling message to people who are sinners. Its not just a message that we can endure our trials. The gospel is a winning message that produces confidence if it is preached correctly. And here the Psalmist in declaring that he has not turned away from Gods decrees is saying it so that he can pronounce Gods covenant with the confidence of one who is represented by Christ. This is why after he reasons this way he then proceeds to a confidence that I cannot even describe. Ive been under teaching in which I walked out with a very low view of God and after pronouncing this Psalm i was ready to move mountains. 

Look at what he says here. This language is spoken by the saints described in the Revelation to the seven churches who are over comers.Look what he says here...  

37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

38 I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.

39 You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.

40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.

41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them-- to the LORD, but he did not answer.

42 I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind; I poured them out like mud in the streets.

43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations; people I did not know are subject to me.

44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cringe before me.

45 They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.

46 The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!

47 He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, 

This seems really harsh but we must understand how the bible describes real change. The Psalms teach that before enjoying the effects of redemption we must win the battle. How can a nation hold to the first principles of freedom where there are a whole population that does not believe in those principles? This is why the Prophets believed that in order to see real change they needed to pronounce Gods covenants, decrees. laws, and curses on behalf of the people. This is what the Psalmist is doing here.He is pronouncing the Abrahamic covenant. 

The problems in this world is that there is so many opinions and voices that teach a lot of half truths. But the Psalmist orders his words so that he acts as a king in an invisible kingdom. The perfect kingdom. To say something that is incorrect about how God has described His work to take control of all things, in the Psalmist mind is to be a traitor to Gods causes. And so you see here that the Psalmist means business. He knows that in order for there to be true peace Christ must renew all things and the Psalmist is living with the view that he must overcome all opposition.