Our desires are like a deep well

Ps 25 14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.15 My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare. 

A lot of people miss interpret the teaching of self denial. Most of the time self denial is taught in the context of God going against our desires in order to teach us humility.  We must understand that in our former life we were  in bondage to sin. Our old will was a godless will. We naturally did not seek God nor did we think about God. Our choices were made out of being alienated from God. You could say that we made choices from being irritated  from our faulty view of God. The problems that we had with our godless will was beyond our ability to fix. This is why in the Psalms we are taught that the old life was much worse than we could have ever imagine. You must understand when we are thinking about changing our fundamental identity we must learn to view it from this great mystery and not acting from our own ability. 

The gospel is not just a message of salvation. The gospel gives us answers that address who we are and how we are to view the world that go against our natural way of thinking and acting. How can a person change by forgetting self? How can a sinner who wants to change do it by giving up his will in order to change? How does a person who is a sinner live in the reality that He is no longer stands guilty before God deserving of eternal death?  How can a holy God overlook and forget a persons sin? You see we have a very bad problem. If we feel a responsibility and frustration in which we anxiously try to answer these questions we are like a soldier who is standing watch at night who must remain completely still and quiet so that he will not alert the enemy that he is ready to attack. If he makes a false move then he will alert his enemies. We have these enemies that dwell inside of us. God has made it so that if we do not dwell in mystery we wake up the old enemies that dwell inside of us and increase the tension that the gospel has quieted. 

This is what our renewed desires are like. They are like a solder who is walking down this path at night who has enemies on each side of the path so that the only successful way to get to his destination is to quietly walk without looking to the right or the left. In other words the renewed desires are successful in the peaceful disposition ...falling back on Gods kingdom success in which  our desires are united with Gods desires for our success.  37 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.103 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.145 19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them" We must see that because our old will was much worse than we could ever imagine and our new will is much greater than we can imagine , that we can only understand the reality of this great gulf by understanding them on the level of Gods curses and blessings. How can we even get a glimpse of this understanding? We are free in that God pronounces them over us as we walk on our way as the reality of the fulfillment of our desires that are too deep for us to understand. 

 

Creative growth

Ps 25 1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.

3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.

4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;

5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.

8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.

11 For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

12 Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.

13 He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

15 My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

17 The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish.

18 Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.

19 See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me!

20 Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.

22 Redeem Israel, O God, from all their troubles! 

The Psalmist opens the Psalm with petitions that use creative words.. Do not let, show me, teach me guide me, remember , and remember not. He is speaking the petitions in the most dependent expressions. This way of speaking is equal to walking in obedience. He uses the same kind of logic when he says Ps 66  17 I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;19 but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer." Here he is saying that a covenant child s first response to trouble or blessing is to speak to God. He is remembering his former communication as not cherishing sin. The wicked man does not seek God nor does he communicate with God. Here the Psalmist is distinguishing himself from the wicked man who through his silence shows that he harbors ill will toward God. So the Psalmist uses creative words in order to direct his thoughts toward learning Gods word as the basis of His mediation in order to be careful to walk in His ways. 

You need to understand that being obedient to Gods word is having the proper dependence upon the Spirit. Our problem with understanding is not necessarily how much knowledge we have but its knowing how to walk in this narrow path in complete freedom. Our natural desire is to use Gods word as a guide ...understanding principles and applying them. But Gods word is more than a document that we must rise up to a certain understanding in order to experience the application. All of the words of God are contained in the Spirit of one word. Gods word is the only healthy and holistic application that addresses the whole man. I am saying that Gods word is the image of the Perfect man. It is an active agent that reorders all of the attributes in man. So we can use Gods word in an art form.

 Gods word is a self attesting word. It speaks so that all other definitions of truth are subject to its scrutiny. In this sense we are what we think we are and our circumstances are defined by who we think we are. The Psalms define the reality of the Man who knows who He is at all times in an eternal sense. We could say that the Psalms are the expression of the Real man as if he were present for our observation. The Psalms describe the world through the eyes of the Perfect man. In this way they are a kind of biographical description to be used as if we stepped into the Mind of the Perfect man. You see the extreme reactions in living in the mind of the Perfect Man.This is why we must be contained in the reality of the pure transparency that we experience that some people would label as a neurosis. God shows us the mirror of our own corruption by our being like Him and yet experiencing all of these reactions beyond our humanity. We are secure in Gods experience that consumes are corrupted experience. This is what the Psalmist means by" refuge".  We are developing our image in this Psalm like strengthening a muscle.     

The power of Gods covenant

Ps 25 3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.

The Psalmist is saying that if we live with shame then we are not hoping in God. When we are saved we are delivered from shame. This verse is distinguishing between two states ...the first state was our old life. We lived in the kingdom of Satan. He was our father. The kingdom was a description of words that limited us to be in complete darkness. Every thought we had was imaginary. This kingdom is described in this verse as a kingdom of treachery. We belonged to the kingdom that treated Gods covenant with disdain. We lived our lives in our own power and confidence. We did not feel a hopelessness that was in need of Gods covenant actions. We lived as enemies of God and His covenant people. 

But when we are saved our hope is based upon Gods covenant promises. This verse is describing two opposite views of life. This hope is not really our hope but its God gift to us. Its God coming to us and delivering us. Its God putting Himself on display and challenging us to boldly hold Him to His covenant promises. We are only faithful to our covenants because we treat Gods covenant as a legal declaration of our innocence. There is no value of a heavenly covenant that does not deliver in the curses and blessings. We live in hope because God is actively working on our behalf as a big God!All of these gifts that He has lavished on us are more important to Him than to us. We believe that Gods hope is the cause of our covenant faithfulness.  

Now listen to me Gods covenant is more important than our struggle with sin and sorrow. Gods covenant is a sure foundation. It does not change. When we experience the effects of the curse we can rise up in uniting ourselves with Gods covenant vengeance as the purifying effect of our anger.  You see there is no time where the effects of the curse are powerful enough to overturn Gods covenant faithfulness. Because God has established His covenant He has provided us with a perfect kingdom in which we can view our struggle as following a Commander of an army who goes out and slays all of His enemies. The end of corruption and destruction is the full effect of the curses. God has spoken the curses in showing the power over the destructive effects of corruption and violence. There is no temporary place where God has a lesser judgement. The end of the blessings is the full praise of God. There is no lower pleasure of God that does not overcome all false happiness. Speak both of these covenant powers to your hearts desire!

Counseling by Gods word

Ps 25 1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.11 For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.12 Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.13 He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.15 My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.17 The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish.18 Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.19 See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me!20 Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you 22 Redeem Israel, O God, from all their troubles! 

This is a Psalm God our Father is counseling us as we become more like Christ. The Psalmist is expressing his frustration from his view of struggling with sin, overcoming the problems from his past, and experiencing the loneliness as a result of not understanding his purpose and not being able to see his desires accomplished. This is an honest petition of the Psalmist to God to have assurance by understanding who he is in the most secure way by guarding the Psalmist from the destructive power of the curse and being in a society of people who are familiar with his reputation as he grows to become like Christ.  

This Psalm teaches us how to counsel ourselves by giving us principles that draw a line for us that cannot be crossed. When we describe our experience to others this is the Psalm that we use as an outline so that we will not describe a vision of who we are that is an imagination. Its a Psalm in which we grab onto the handles so that we hold onto a secure way of self understanding. This Psalm teaches us about who we are so that we will view all of the circumstances in our lives in the way God views the world. 

Let me just go through these verses." To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse."The Psalmist is rising through petition in uniting his desires with Gods. The Psalmist draws a line in the sand of being complete in Christ when he declares that he is free from shame. In other words the shame is coming from the outside. Its like being held hostage by an enemy and being abused because we will not admit that we live with shame. 

The Lord has spoken His word as the absolute authority. His word cannot return void. In the Psalms to act alone as your own god is to speak violence to His perfect word. You cannot separate the words of God in relating to God with the horizontal relationships.  To speak in ones own authority is the same thing as assaulting another person. This is why I take a hard line on the blessing and cursing. The Psalmist cannot reconcile how any person who is corrupted can be innocent of assault. The only avenue by which we avoid being cursed is having a Substitute stand in on our behalf. This is why the Psalmist does not draw a line between innocence and culpability but in this idea of the new creation. The Psalmist believes that he has a full identity in Christ as a high priest in a social order. This is why he petitions through these creative words as "let". This is why ive been saying that we learn the proper usage of the word in speaking the correct words from the blessing and the cursing as the foundation of all our application of the word. The fundamental problem is not with sin since the Psalmist acknowledges that he is a great sinner.  11" For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great."I will further explain this holistic view in this Psalm. 

Gods eternal holiness

Ps 93 1 The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.2 Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity.3 The seas have lifted up, O LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.4 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea-- the LORD on high is mighty.5 Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days, O LORD. 

The Psalmist is extolling the commander of Israels army. This action to subdue all the nations is done though a succession of the Lord "rising up" as the metaphor for making war and gaining victory.  This rising up of the Lord is a picture of His creative power over all things. The voice of the commander is heard in the metaphor of the sound of the seas when the waves move and crash against the shore. What is the result of the Lords action in subduing all enemies? He brings His people back as He walks into through the gates of Jerusalem with His people following the train of His garment. The garment of majesty. 

Here the Psalmist is viewing the ocean and is rejoicing as he watches the order of creation reflect the actions of God in making Israel a secure nation. This relationship to the creator who works among the nations to overrule all destructive actions comes into focus as the Psalmist uses the curses to overcome the human struggle and to unify the earth with heaven. God is holy in the sense that He is separated from all other beings. He sits on the throne behind the door of heaven. His separate purposes are accomplished by His work alone. The Psalmist is looking at the time line of events that prove that God cannot be overcome. But the Psalmist is saying that Gods attributes and actions are not confined to the time sequence but they are from eternity past. This is his whole argument that is God is holy because He has order all things from eternity past to establish His majestic rule over the earth. His power and majesty are from eternity past. That makes all of His attributes eternal. 

When we rise up in our petitions to pray these Psalms we experience the power behind the physical creation. Our longings are transformed so that we want the eternal power, justice and majesty of God to rule from one end of the earth to another. We begin to persevere in this mysterious power. In this way we are exalting Gods eternal holiness.

The gospel is free

Ps 50 9 I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,

10 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.

12 If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

14 Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, 

This Psalm is teaching that God is always making judgements about the religious and political systems. God who goes out from Israel as a fire and a tempest to fight Israels battles is the same God who blesses His people and curses the wicked. This phrase "19 You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit. 20 You speak continually against your brother and slander your own mother's son." This is a phrase that is used as a description of the wicked who belong to the nations who are Israels enemies. But in this case the wicked are part of Gods people within the nation of Israel. 

These wicked people are using the sacrifices of God in order to appease God. The Psalms teach there is nothing that we can bring to God that will make us acceptable. We believe that God has made a covenant with us as the basis of our salvation. The covenant of grace is one sided. 14 Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." I believe the Psalmist is being sarcastic when He says to "sacrifice your thank offering to God." The Psalmist is saying that God doesnt need anything from us but a thankful heart. He is using the word "sacrifice" in the sense that these people are centered on the insignificant things in being acceptable to God. He really is saying so your always focused on the physical things in the sacrifice ,but your not focusing on the thankful heart and this is more important than the sacrifice. You want to practice the sacrifice then practice being thankful!

God is declaring here that He alone has done the work in order for Israel to be free both political and religious. You will find that this struggle between the solas and placing something or someone in the place of God has gone on since the beginning of time. This Psalm enforces the idea that salvation is in God alone by showing what this God is like....The One who judges His people. He comes as Israels army and fights their battles, He doesnt need the religious things to be pleased with His people, these things do not give life. God doesnt need to be appeased to feed His people. God  wants a thankful heart as a return for His works. Spending our energy in thankfulness to God is not a work.

This Phrase "call upon me in the day of trouble" is always used by the Psalmist as he teaches that God has saved His people through putting Himself on display. So when the Psalmist teaches the character of the thankful heart , he is saying that this petition is the evidence that Gods people understand that this covenant is one-sided. The wicked turn grace upside down and use people and righteous acts to be acceptable to God as a display that they are trying to add to grace. This phrase "call upon me" is presupposing that we can bring nothing and we need everything from God. 

Why is this phrase so important? Because when we give religious things and people the power to be a god we destroy the freedom that is in the gospel. We bring the gospel down so that man can control God. This is why God teaches that He alone has the power over life and death. He alone enacts His judgement over the nations. He alone acts to secure Israel and to provide all that they need in order to prosper.  The gospel is either so free that it strikes against our sense of what is owed or it is a curse that weighs us down and destroys us. We cannot think of grace as pragmatic. This is what this Psalm is teaching.  

 

Learning righteous indignation through human anger.

Ps 17 4" As for the deeds of men-- by the word of your lips I have kept myself from the ways of the violent. "

This verse is the general description of how the Psalmist distinguish Gods peaceful words and all other violent words. God has created all things both physical and metaphysical. The evidence of the success of Gods word is shown by the actions or deeds of men. God has created a perfect description of all personalities. The perfect description of a personality is Gods explanation of peace. All other words that describe a personality are violent words.  7 9" O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure."The creative word "bring an end" is the elects desire united with Gods desire through speaking the covenants, laws, decrees , statutes , promises etc. We could say that the Psalmist is speaking about the line between blessing and cursing when he speaks about blessing as he has the negative phrase "bring an end "in the creative words "make... secure"

This is why Ive been saying that the personality of fear, sorrow, shame and faithlessness is a description that is opposed to Gods peaceful word. All of the cursed personalities are caused by anger or violence. In this way our experience with these cursed disposition is not mystical but explainable. 55 9 Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.   58  2 No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth. 27 12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence." You can see here that there is a way of speaking that is marked by violence. But this violence personality is not learned but natural and comes from the heart of a wicked man. "in your heart you devise injustice".

When we are born into this world, we are born to rebel against Gods word. The Psalms teach that even tho all men have a moral ability to reason in a peaceful way yet it is described as violent because the motive is to oppose God and His word. You must not look at the world through mans view but through Gods view. At all times in Gods view there is either blessing or cursing.  11 5" The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates." Here the Lord "examines" is a common expression in the Psalms like watches over, searches etc is in the context of God ordering all things by speaking all things into existence. The Psalmist is saying that Gods communication in blessing the righteous and opposing the wicked is unified to the point where Gods justice can be explained in His reaction to all spoken words in the fullest way in His love and anger as blessing and cursing. "Those who love violence" is a parenthesis of all the descriptions that come from the mouth of the natural man.

When we speak the Psalms we are speaking in Gods way in which we are describing the view of God as He examines all the metaphysical personalities and reacting toward His description as we rise up to experience His love and anger. So the Psalms are teaching that the way to deal with anger is to voice Gods reaction of anger in order to experience Gods creative expression of righteous indignation. In this sense we can take our human reactions and transform them into motives to learn Gods way of reacting.

 

How to deal with our sin #2

In Psalm 5 the Psalmist teaches that we are sinners who deserve to be destroyed. We deserve to be cursed. The reason is that God curses those that do evil. The word hate is speaking of Gods anger toward the wicked.The Psalmist compares the disasters that are part of the created order and the helplessness and fear that we experience when we are confronted with a tornado, earth quake, or a hurricane etc, we experience the inward effects of the curse. But the wicked experience the curse in which they are alienated from the creator. In this sense they experience the curse in their destructive reaction as they are all alone when these events are produced by God.

But even tho God has turned His face away from the wicked they still are bound to their moral obligations to the law. Because God has put His law in mans heart. But apart from God the law is a school master. The law is a destructive instrument  in the sense that it preaches death to law breakers. God has put up a very precise line between blessing and cursing. Its not just that the wicked lack certain spiritual qualities that prevent them from experiencing life, but they are forced to react to the moral obligations with fear, doubt, shame with extreme limitations on their abilities to express their gifts. In the curse there is always a destructive force that is applied that we call the weight of the law that they are always trying to push away. 5   6 You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.7 But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple. 8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies-- make straight your way before me. 

This is a very important Psalm because it describes how a sinner is able to approach God and stand acceptable where the curse has been lifted and redirected. If you examine how the Psalmist describes the difference between himself and the wicked is saying that he not only is able to approach God in his meditation and prayer by Gods mercy but that he must value Gods mercy by pushing the curse away. In other words the enemy is not really sin but its reacting in the same way as the wicked do toward God and His law. Entertaining guilt and shame is so obnoxious to God that He has required us to mortify the activity of the curse by speaking the curse. 5 9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak decei10 Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you.

The Psalmist is teaching that we must be able to see how helpless we are to attempt to use the things of God in order to be acceptable to God. God has done a work that not only is able to replace our new life over the old life but He has also separated us from our old life. This means that He not only gives us teachings that help us grow to be strong enough to overcome our old way of reacting by embracing the curse but He has taken us from the powers and circumstances of the world that would define who we are and has put that old view of ourselves beyond our ability to view it. This is the reason that the Psalmist describes himself as going from the accusation of the law to the pronounce r of the law, covenants, and promises. In other words God has spoken in the language of the perfect man so that the total personality that is contained in these words is only believed when we express it in this absolute love and hate language. 

Dying to self

Psa. 40 12 For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.

13 Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me.

14 May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.

15 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!" be appalled at their own shame. 

A believer is a person who is a sinner. The principle of proving salvation is that sin is always magnified. This struggle with our sin is not fundamentally rooted in guilt but should move us toward greater dependence on God. This is what the Psalmist is expressing here. You will find that saints struggle with sin more than the wicked. Most people practice some sins over and over again. Here the Psalmist starts out this Psalm speaking of God bringing him from a physical wound that could have resulted in death to being healed. The Psalmist is describing the reality of the christian experience as being very low and experiencing extreme highs. Some people describe this as having charisma without a doctrinal foundation. In other words they describe these highs as confessing sin after a great struggle with guilt. Kind of like losing our assurance and regaining it upon confession. But they fail to put this together with the purpose of the Psalmist writing the Psalm. 

You will find when the Psalmist complains about his sin it is always described with this physical suffering. This suffering is caused by his occupation. He was a warrior. If we fail to see that God used these military conditions of the threat of physical death as the root words for the nt spiritual death then we will be guilty of teaching a form of spiritual mysticism. The whole point of the human expression of suffering in this military way is to teach that God carrying out the curse of the law through Israels military success. God destroyed the nations through carrying out His curses. The purpose of the Psalmist writing these complaints was to argue for the success of Gods kingdom advancement by destroying all of their enemies. In the Psalmist complaints is that God must unite the people before the Psalmist personal desires for destroying the opposition could be successful. This is what he is complaining about in Psalm3   1 O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! We could say that the power of the curse that is within..that being our familiarity with corruption is enforced and made real by the amount of opposition that we face in our lives. 

The Psalmist has this in view as he presents his complaint to God. He is always arguing from the position of need and not really guilt. His complaint about the number of his sins is really to enforce his desire to create peace throughout the nation. This is the difference between a very young christian and a mature saint. The young believer is overcome by guilt and is motivated to protect himself. But a mature believer has used his weakness to argue for greater success. A mature christian who is struggling with sin is always concerned for these greater purposes. The relationships are more important than the principles. A mature believer acts as a representative of someone else struggle with worry , guilt or fear to find solutions in a substitutionary way as the main function of his teaching. The only way that we can grow to this kind of leaderhip is to speak these Psalms as instruments of Gods substitutionary work. Because these Psalms are Gods laws, decrees...etc that provide the wisdom to act as a substitute in the face of the most violent opposition. The Psalms teach that the attitude of pride is thinking that we can obtain some kind of success in our own compliance with the law. But in being drawn into substitution we must die in the curse. We must be motivated to oppose the curse of death by dying to self protection in cursing the curse.  

Every word that we say is necessary

Rom 6 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Rom 7  4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

The apostle is saying that when we were saved the voice of the law which is the curse was pronounced upon us as law breakers. But because Christ took the curse on Himself ...He had to be punished for lawbreakers so that He could unite His  work of His incarnation with His death, resurrection and ascension to be worthy to be the absolute judge. It was not just that Christ took our sin upon Himself but that He gave us the ability to enjoy the fellowship as He does within the Trinity and gift us with all the riches that He obtained. In Christ we are brought back to our full strength and ability. The whole point of being united with Christ is  that we would be fundamentally necessary in our purpose in fulfilling Christ purpose in uniting all things for His glory. We go from being condemned by the law to standing with Him in judgement.     1 Cor 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! He is saying that we are able to provide solutions so that we prosper as leaders in our cities. The culture is to unify success with a persons natural abilities by always being a person who is part of the solution. Just like the Jews stick together so the nt believers are always promoting the interest of their people. The only other option is to be under the curse. This is what it means to be judges of the world. To put them on a leash.

Now listen to me. We are not teaching that we are so evil that our lives are worthless so that Christ life replaces our lives.  We are saying that all reality is caused by God speaking it into existence. Everything that we say about God has been created and described by God. You cannot separate His word from His image. You cannot separate His Spirit from His word. All the vocabulary that has ever been understood by mankind has originated from God. Gods vocabulary is so far beyond our own that our language is like baby talk. God is the only one who has a perfect perspective of the personality and image from the language that we use in our descriptions. Every word that is spoken by man and by God has value based upon Gods freedom to pronounce blessing and cursing at all times. God describes all things in the absolute truth in dwelling as the eternal judge in which the future judgement has already been pronounced so that all things are absolute at all times as if the future has already been transposed on the present. When the apostle says that we will judge the world he is saying that as we rise up in this mysterious presence of God through pronouncing  the curses and the blessings we are fulfilling our image of the future judgement in which we will stand with Christ. Every thing that we say now is necessary!  

Nothing can thwart Gods power

Ps 44 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.

19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?

This Psalm is the prayer of Gods elect for national repentance. When the nation of Israel were unfaithful to Gods covenant they were exiled and made slaves to other nations. A lot of people teach that when God is calling for repentance He is directing it toward His covenant people. But in the Psalms a covenant child is one who stands in a mediatoral before God as a representative of redemption for the nation.  There is never a time where God applies His law in an accusatory fashion toward His own children. In this Psalm we see this clear distinction as we understand the only acceptable words to petition our Father in returning faithfulness to His full substitutionary success in keeping us from judgement. If we were to stray from this disposition then we would be in danger of being cursed ...or being judged by the whole weight of the law. Ive prayed this Psalm for 30 years so that I have not shrunken from living in the full identity of this perfect substitution. 

Again to show you that I am teaching the consistent distinction here as God addresses His people in a national way and speaks of His covenant children as distinct from "his people"60 3 You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger .4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow. "Selah"You have given your people...speaking of those who are circumcised as citizens of Israel and "those who fear you" speaking off  Gods elect within the nation.

And what does Gods elect proclaim? That they"have not strayed from His path." Does this statement mean that Gods people were perfect in all of their behavior? Absolutely not.  In the Psalms there is always a proclamation of moral excellence that is that is put in the context of two kinds of kingdom. In other words in this verse to "lift your hands to an idol" would be to communicate in a way where you show more importance to the thing than to God. This is not talking about being moral as the evidence of faithfulness. Let me show you some other scriptures. In this Psalm that connects perseverance in salvation to Israel destroying all of their enemies is this same distinction.Ps 18 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.....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." This is the typical way that the Psalmist proclaims his innocence and his purity. Why does the Psalmist proclaim that he is perfect? There is a consistency that is like a single thread that runs through the whole book.  The Psalms teach that God orders all things by His perfect word. In this way to confess that God has been perfect in the communication that has worked out to the benefit of the elect is to speak of Gods perfect work as evidenced in the elect in His creating and recreating. "The word of the Lord is flawless" 

This is the way that the Psalmist reasons as a representative of Gods creative word. You will see this in Ps 19 where he proclaims that salvation is God being free to speak in creation and in recreation without any opposition that is able to thwart His word. And then the Psalmist acting as Gods creative representative proclaims... 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." What is the Psalmist saying here? He is proclaiming that all reality in his life is created by God so that according His word the Psalmist is successful. The name of God as Rock is always talking about Gods unhindered power to overthrow all the enemies of Israel in war. As God is the Rock so we go from one deliverance to another according to Gods free acts in overcoming all of our opposition. The identity of Redeemer is that God does not respond to us according to our obedience but only according to His unfailing love. The cause of our overcoming is simply appealing to Gods unfailing love. So the Psalmist is saying that he is always speaking the laws, covenants, decrees, promises and statutes for the purpose of being fully delivered when facing one opposition to another. This is the same petition as Ps 143 12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant."Our walk is a communication. 

Overcoming our past

Ps 9 4 For you have upheld my right and my cause; you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.

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.

7 The 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.

9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done.

12 For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

13 O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,

14 that I may declare your praises in the gates of the Daughter of Zion and there rejoice in your salvation.

15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. 

This Psalm teaches that when our desires are united with Gods desires we experience an eternal kingdom that has no limits of time. Believe it or not when our kingdom desires are frustrated, we are expressing our inability to exercise our own power to have success in having our desires fulfilled. This is seldom taught in the pragmatic age we live in. The Psalms describe the holistic activity of God in working all things for His purpose as the evidence of His holiness.  Gods sees all time in one view. His desire according to His law and covenants is completely successful. The king is saying that when he is frustrated in his desires there is a sense in which past desires are always being redefined in the present in order to experience the holistic purposes of God as He defines His holiness. His desires of anger or joy in the past events are never forgotten. 

There is a teaching that God forgets our sins like He erases them from history. We have this obsession with forgiveness as if our not remembering is what heals us. But this is just a foolish idea. Because everyone remembers their past. And to say that we are able to forget what has happened is to be disingenuous in describing the human condition as if we are able to do things that are not human. If people were honest who proclaim that they are forgiven because they ask for forgiveness then in reality they should be silenced for the rest of their days since the law requires death upon confession. Why is it that we take these biblical concepts and bring them down to a level that we can control. The truth is that as our desires are experienced based upon our history that we are functioning under an obligation that God has given us to fulfill His perfect government that can only satisfy our desires. In this Psalm it teaches the legitimate use of past desires that come up in the present. This is what Ive been teaching for a long time. Its not whether we can forget and deny but its how we can use our desires both from being wronged or from receiving rewards as motives for greater success. 

And you see this in the teaching of the Revelation where God collects our prayers in heaven and they are presented before the altar and they are cast as balls of fire of judgement upon the earth, Here the Psalmist is presenting his past anger in a legitimate way according to Gods government as a motive to to experience freedom and success in the present. You will find this kind of timeless perspective in how he complains about his present suffering. He adds from his past memory of anger or happiness in the sense of increasing the passion in the desire as God sees the events from His eternal perspective. They are always before God in this timeless view. Our rewards come from using the good and bad desires to increase our passion to overcome all opposition and to see the salvation of God.  

The two curses

Ps 62 1 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

3 How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down-- this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

4 They fully intend to topple him from his lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. "Selah"

All troubles in this world are caused by the wicked who rise in power , who redefine Gods word. When the Psalmist describes how he is opposed by these schemes (lies) he uses the word "assault" as a metaphor of being assaulted physically. The redefining of Gods word as spoken by the wicked as God counts each word in experiencing this assault is described in the word "curse". The Psalmist teaches two kinds of cursing. The wicked cursing the righteous and God cursing the wicked.Ps 109 "4 In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.5 They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship. 6 Appoint an evil man to oppose him; let an accuser stand at his right hand." Here the Psalmist is distinguishing between a wicked man who uses accusations in order to destroy people and move up the ladder of success and a righteous man of prayer. What does the Psalmist pray? He prays that God will place the whole weight of the law and condemnation upon this man.The Psalmist is simply repeating the words of God that pronounce judgement upon this violent opposition. Now listen! there is no neutral communication in Gods kingdom! Any word that is spoken to redefine Gods perfect kingdom is to speak violence. 

This is why I am so dogmatic in describing salvation as justification by faith being equal to being acceptable to God because of Christ when we are judged by the whole law. If I were to say that there is further work to be done after we are justified then God would need to scrutinize each word that we say and condemn us because of the corruption that is part of our describing. Now listen this is really important. Our confidence in Gods promises is dependent upon understanding that our personal rejection in facing our opposition is the same as embracing the curse. We must embrace this whole package deal in being accepted and supported by the word of God with a kind of impersonal reaction to our opposition. Once we try to explain this judgement in our own anger and experience we fall from grace. God has given us an outlet in the ligament use of the "righteous curse." 

When we divide our experience and seek to address each issue we are pragmatist. When we use pragmatism to define our experience its like throwing water on the good witch . Our defense is using Gods word to unite our experience with His desires. Our whole problem with insecurity is in experiencing disconnection with all that God has created both physical and meta physical. We can only gain more confidence when we unite Gods purposes in the "righteous curse" as we stand free from the condemnation of the law while the wicked suffer under the full weight of the law. We experience the ultimate unity when we worship God as absolute judge or substitute in the back drop of this awful pronouncement that sheds the greatest light upon the goodness of God in all of its colors.

Having regard for the weak

Ps 41 1 Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.

2 The LORD will protect him and preserve his life; he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.

3 The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.

4 I said, "O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you."

5 My enemies say of me in malice, "When will he die and his name perish?"

6 Whenever one comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it abroad.

7 All my enemies whisper together against me; they imagine the worst for me, saying,

8 "A vile disease has beset him; he will never get up from the place where he lies."

9 Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

10 But you, O LORD, have mercy on me; raise me up, that I may repay them.

11 I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.

12 In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.

13 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

Ive spent a lot of my life working for non profits.  When I was younger and needed some logical instruction that would create a holistic experience in my family this Psalm was absolutely essential in drawing me into a proper disposition that I needed to enjoy the utmost free exercise of my gifts and the joy of seeing others benefit from the value of using them. This Psalm teaches that God values us by creating the circumstances and our desires to be united in enjoying the experience of the highest pleasure that is available on this earth. "he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes."

The Psalms teach that the principle of Gods government is to defend the weak and helpless. When we are describing the moral equation for serving it is in the context of seeking those things that are most valuable on this earth and avoiding the other things. God has gifted us with all good things both spiritual and physical. This Psalm teaches us the logical way to think about receiving gifts and giving gifts. I do not believe that we can entertain two separate truths that run parallel that are addressing two approaches to how God deals with us and not embrace contradictions. The point is that God values our giving by judging some men as the price for His redemptive success in our lives. At all times Gods judgements are sure and steadfast. There is no time where God has a place in which judgement is suspended. If God were to say that two men who opposed each other in the same place and at the same time in the same purpose in which He was defending both at the same time He would not be dependable. The point of salvation is that God delivers some people out of the judgement that is determined for others.   

The logical philosophy the Psalms teach us about salvation is that there is no other option than to separate men into two states so that God proves that He is a covenant keeping God in defending His promises and His representatives. God commanded Israel to subdue all the nations around them when they entered the promise land. The reason that God judged Israel was because they failed to subdue all the nations. The principle of persevering in salvation is that we are identified as over comers. This NT description of the saints is drawn out of this metaphor for salvation in the OT  command for Israel to subdue the nations. The point is that evil is spread by evil men. The more evil men  flourish in society the more danger..(.the ot compares this to leaven) there is for Gods people. So God shows the value of His defense as the evidence of His love that is the principle cause of our service. When we are defended in this absolute sense then we are free to serve as God subdues our foes. I will talk about how we are to hold some things in private so that we can be most free in public.

Gods government

Ps 30 5For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

6 When I felt secure, I said, "I will never be shaken."

7 O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.

8 To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:

9 "What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?

10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help."

11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

5a" For his anger lasts only a moment"..Whenever the Psalmist speaks of Gods anger, he is describing his experience with physical wounds or ailments that cause him to be spiritual weak. He is saying that when he suffers in this way that his way of opposing this opposition through the pronouncements and curses is Gods medicine , which is Gods anger replacing his own anger and Gods ability to use spiritual Novocaine so that the bad experience is erased from his memory.  This opposition that we experience can be fierce and violent. If we tried to do something to oppose it in our own way then we would cause a lot more pain and we would be trapped by the devil. Some people go down side roads for many years. They never grow in their spiritual exercises. 

5b "but his favor lasts a lifetime" The only way to create deliverance is through the language Spirit and word. This is the philosophy that we advance through Gods word and we proclaim that its not in our own swords or horses. How can we act correctly if we are not participating in the advancement on the organization level? Well we are called to act in a way that is consistent with Gods work. But we never trust in this community of men. Rather we advance by pronouncements, laws , decrees, curses that are on our lips in which we rise to experience mystery. In other words we rise up above the level of mans interaction.  Now listen every person has the ability to be secure and happy in themselves. We do not need each other to be complete in ourselves. But we need each other on a much deeper level. We need the exercise of spiritual gifts. This kind of community interaction is seldom experienced in this day. We can divide the history of the church into high times and low times. When there is very little spiritual conversion there is all kinds of fleshly connections to one another.  He is saying that our normal experience of the christian life is through the eyes of a king who rules over a kingdom. This is like going beyond the description of the present culture and through word reordering the whole christian context. Gods strength is like fighting in a battle and coming out victorious and self confident by not having any opposition. He explains how he feels unopposed in that God through the pronouncements of the laws, curses etc...has subdued his opposition. His favor is a life time!

 8" To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy" In this context the Psalmist is using the argument that he experienced freedom so that he was able to change the culture. He is saying " Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?" that this is his only focus. He is freed through experiencing mystery. The mystery that he has obtained through praises and curses. This is described in the word "mercy." Mercy is Gods description of this world and His ability to overcome all opposition. Mercy is our receiving a gift according to Gods standard of justice and equity on the basis of Christ work. It is never just a glob of trials mixed with blessings. This is why the Psalmist communicates about Gods governing ability according to Gods standard of acceptance. So we find that the Psalmist is freed from his own limitations by Gods description of making him a king through the work of the perfect king. The Psalmist speaks these words that transcend his own time and culture. These rise to the level of Gods eternal perspective.  

Spiritual transformation

Ive memorized most of the NT, Psalms and Proverbs.  I started to memorize about 36 years ago. I memorized two to three verses a day. It has been a slow transformation from a purely physical and practical view of life to a meta physical creation of the image of Christ through the pronouncement of covenants, laws, decrees , statutes and promises. Every day I experience the blessed unity of the fruit of the Spirit in the sense that the individual descriptions of the fruit are all united in the experience of the perfect image. In this sense there is a blessed interaction on a personal level with a Person who is present in this Spirit. This has been a slow transformation from the word to the reality.

We understand ourselves and the world according to our own view. God has gifted us with His word that has been the cause of all things that exist. This communication of God has been outlined for us so that we can have fellowship with God and with one another according to learned knowledge that has been practiced so that we can gain a greater understanding of ourselves and our world. This outline is the communication that explains the order of creation and relationships. We find this creation of the perfect image in the form of petitions, pronouncements, curses , laws and cries in the Psalms. The bible is a book that is inspired by God so that every word is God breathed. The bible is not a book in which the individual doctrines and principles are disconnected from the other words that explain another principle. But the bible is a book where one word contains the spirit of all the words. We do not seek to divide the bible into morals or principles but we speak the outline so that we create an epistemology in which we change through deliverance. We are actually relearning a completely different vocabulary.
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Unless we learn this vocabulary we will never speak correctly. The bible says that those who do not apply themselves to the words are like babies who are still on milk. In the Psalms the baby is one who is too weak to carry the weight of this perfect image. God has created all things by the word of His mouth. Not only has He created these things but He has ordered all things by His spoken word. If the word was not essential to the success of the christian life then we could be transformed by the any idea that we have of Christ. But the epistemology of change comes from God gifting us with His covenants , laws, decrees..etc. as the agent for our experiencing His creation and recreation. So when we meditate on the Psalms day and night we are actively redefining ourselves and the world that we live in. If all the christian world participate in pronouncing and petitioning God through this perfect outline then we would see Christ kingdom flourish throughout the world. Not just in the christian context but in the governmental.

Our natural level of thinking is weak and ineffective. Our fall back position is to be overcome by all kinds of evil dispositions. To think with the vocabulary that we get from education, parental instruction and occupational learning is to be disingenuous in some way. The only personal communication that erases the corruption that comes through corrupted agents is the word of God. Each one of us are only genuine when we are miss understood in this corrupted system. This is why the Bible only gives one solution to personal salvation. Every person who opposes Gods salvation must be judged and cursed. The avenue of change is through experiencing one deliverance to another. When we pray the Psalms we pray as if there is not other person on the earth. The philosophy of deliverance is that we must be freed in order to be of help to others. I mean freed in the sense that we speak the blessings that rise to the level of real glory and the curses which descend to the level of real spiritual death. Most men are entertaining a fantasy. Any other way to experience freedom is really taking a sugar pill. But to take the real medicine we must know what the experience of mystery is.