A nation gone astray.

Ps 44

1 We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.

2 With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish.

3 It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.

4 You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob.

5 Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes.

6 I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory;

7 but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame.

8 In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever. "Selah"

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.

13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us.

14 You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us.

15 My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame

16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.

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?

22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

23 Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself ! Do not reject us forever.

24 Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?

25 We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.

26 Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love

This Psalm teaches that God has established His government over the world from before the world began.  It was communicated to His elect from one generation to another that God has always acted to oppose evil and gain victory before we enjoy blessing and peace.  This is what the Psalmist describes as Gods wonders that are performed in our salvation. A salvation that is in God so that it cannot change. 

We see that from the beginning the saints have been caught in this great struggle between God and Satan. So these national battles are much bigger than mens planning and their use of weapons. Men like to describe history on a man centered level. But Gods prophets see the spiritual reasons..they are looking on a much bigger purpose. Just as Gods law demands death to law breakers so real peace demands the death of anyone who opposes God. There is no institution that is autonomous. David teaches that our spiritual sacrifices that are a sweet smelling aroma to God are given as a confession that we will not enjoy peace unto the curse has worked to eliminate all destruction. These curses are the back bone of the "decrees of victory"

This is a national prayer that is prayed in a high priestly role. When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah He removed His people from the city..this is showing that God acts to oppose the societies with the most flagrant violations of His law by destroying their society of destruction. But His saints represent His name and they enjoy being in the army in which their presence in the battle is a metaphor for having the character of never turning away from God to worship other gods. This is a prayer from a saint who is in exile asking God to bring the nation back to temple worship for the sake of all the suffering saints, forgetting the sins of the wicked that brought them into exile. 

This word "Rise up" is also used in the Revelation. It is a metaphor for the burnt offering sacrifice in which the smoke rose up to heaven and was presented before the throne by the angels as a sweet smelling aroma.This sacrifice is compared to the new testament prayers that ascend to heaven. These ot sacrifices and prayers are also expressed in a collection of tears as a result of the suffering of saints. The response to these prayers and sacrifices are Gods judgements that He brings upon the nations  who oppose Him. You see this circular process in the Revelation. A nation becomes degenerate and the saints begin to cry out then God responds from heaven with judgement.  

In my use of this Psalm for 25 yrs Ive learned to speak it loudly and with passion. I cannot describe the effect it has upon me. It is beyond description. 

The noisy communication that we must oppose.

Ps 64

1 Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy.

2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from that noisy crowd of evildoers.

3 They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows.

4 They shoot from ambush at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without fear.

5 They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, "Who will see them ?"

6 They plot injustice and say, "We have devised a perfect plan!" Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning.

7 But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down.

8 He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.

9 All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done.

10 Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him!

The Psalms describe the kind of rest that we should enjoy in this life. You see this taught clearly in the commonly spoken Psalm 23. The Lord is our shepherd. This is not like an earthly Shepherd but this Shepherd is controlling the religious and political institutions. This Shepherd is the eternal Shepherd who sits in between the cherubim. His glory shines out into all the earth. This glory is  His ability to speak creation into existence and order all things according to His pleasure. People like to present a kind of passive and unassuming character to Psalm 23 but the tools the Shepherd carries to protect the sheep are actually analogies for Davids character and Gods control in providing Israel with their victories in war. This is a Psalm that paints the picture of a gentle shepherd because from our view as His sheep He applies His love to us by turning His wrath away from us. It is a master piece of painting the picture of being safe in Christ but is communicated like a parable.

But in this Psalm above we have opposition to resting in Christ. The Psalms paint a picture of two kinds of men who speak totally opposite languages. We are born into a world that describes who we are by how much they know God. Every thing that God has created is a communication of His beauty and glory. Our physical ,emotional and spiritual attributes are all created and working on a communication level. Everything is interrelated by Gods spoken word.

When we are born we are our own god. We enjoy the world that is noisy. This word "noisy "is not necessarily loud but its all the language that comes from corruption that opposes God. God has created a world and rules it in order to establish peace. But from birth men have conspired to overthrow Gods order and to rule as a god by brute force. We like to describe this as tyrants who control people through guilt, fear, and pain. You see this Shepherd involves us in opposing every thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of God on this communication level.

One of the ways these people try to control others is by always talking about the importance of action. You will find that most people who are the movers and shakers are man who lead a lot of people by stressing action, action action. But the Psalms teach us that we must order our lives by the spoken word of God. You see the action starts in the thought life. In this way we are like a robot. I mean we have freedom to think and choose but we never move our body parts opposing our thoughts. lol This Psalm is God explaining to us how those who oppose Him on a much bigger level. I mean on the level of Gods control over the world. It teaches us their methods to control through brute force. When we oppose them and pronounce the law and curses in our meditation we are asking God to create unity so that everyone can experience freedom.

  The Prayer for social unity.

Ps 10

1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far off ? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.

3 He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.

4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

5 His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and your laws are far from him; he sneers at all his enemies.

6 He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me; I'll always be happy and never have trouble."

7 His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.

8 He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victims.

9 He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

10 His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength.

11 He says to himself, "God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees."

12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.

13 Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, "He won't call me to account"?

14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out.

16 The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.

17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. 

This Psalm is addressing the breakdown down in society. God has ordered and established all societies by a definite communication. God rules through His spoken word by opposing evil and bringing all those who scheme against His government to judgement. When God created the earth He established a fellowship with man and gave man rule over the earth. Everything that man communicated was in perfect harmony with all that God had created. But when man fell into sin he became his own god and began to scheme against Gods order by scheming against God and his neighbor. 

God created the all things by the word of His mouth. He not only spoke creation into existence but He also explained how all things work in perfect harmony with His purposes. When man fell into sin God provided redemption. Now listen all men are born in sin and go astray. And because all men go astray they become guilty of scheming against the way that God creates harmony. But God has determined to save some men. When a man is saved even tho he is still a sinner and is guilty of leading other men astray by his sin, he is no longer on his own. Now the child of God is represented by God. This means that God views His children not as rebels scheming against His authority but He pities His children. When a person is saved he goes from the road of being cursed to the path of blessing in which God reorders all of the times when the saint strays, sins, and suffers wrongs. 

Gods perfect communication is His complete description of everything working in perfect harmony. Because of sin all men are guilty of attempting to change Gods word and explain a world that in which they are god. God views anything that does not measure up to His standard as a communication of destruction. Man seeks to destroy God and his neighbor. This is what the Psalms describe as" scheming. "This is why all men are hopeless without receiving Gods implanted word...a desire to think thoughts after God. 

God has established His word by opposing sin and the destruction as a result of sin. Every man born in sin is destined to be judged. This is the path of cursing. Every man who is saved is destined for eternal life. This is the path of blessing. God scrutinizes every thought of man. All men ..saved and unsaved cannot go back and create the unity that they destroyed by their false communication/ But God has established unity by doing the work necessary to redeem that unity that His people are guilty of opposing by their communication. God has done all the work to reestablish His kingdom on the earth through His people who enjoy His kingdom in them.  

But the wicked from the beginning of time have created a culture through their thoughts and words that hold men under their power. This psalm is a prayer for God to undue all of the schemes that have caused harm to His people bring them to account and reestablish order in His kingdom. We are responsible to speak Gods thoughts after Him through , mediation, prayer and public worship. This prayer by the Psalmist is that the kingdom that dwells in Gods people will be united with the reordering of this world. If all the saints spoke this Psalm in prayer we would see a return to the old days. This is the prayer to reorder the society and bring life back in place of what has been destroyed.

The powerlessness of the physical acts of worship 

A lot of teaching will describe the worship under the law as burdensome.But at the same time they will say that salvation has not changed. In describing the OT in this way you got to stand back and look at those people who under this system and put yourself in their shoes. In some ways we got to get out of the classroom , step back and see if we are not creating an illusion that the ot was filled with super heroes. lol

Its interesting that with all of these details of the law that the Psalms not only avoid them but David speaks as if they are a burden. If you really sit down and think it really is outside the church that the law becomes and instrument to oppose grace. In this way David stands at the door of the temple and unravels that terrible burden in men focusing on the ceremonial part of Israels history. I do not really believe that this problem with the legal parts of religion was confined to Israel. But it is a problem with the human heart in any part of the history of the world. We can compare our freedom with their ceremonial law and think we are not as primitive as those people or that they were not as human in reacting to the burdens that we placed upon them. But we are all trusting in the law to make us righteous in some ways. The ot saint was just as opposed to the burdens as we are . There wasnt enough time in the day nor were they superhuman. They needed to be released from the condemnation and the focus of the law as we do.

This is why Ive been saying for many years that the teaching in the Psalms concerning the physical aspects of the worship had no relation to the acceptability of God. Now I want you to listen to me. Our problem is not how much we know of doctrine. I mean what you dont know can harm you if not for Gods mercy. But the problem is our application in how we describe the works of God. Putting together all of these things in our world view is an art form. Its easy for us to know the boundaries of the doctrines of grace. Its another thing to be able to apply them correctly.

Ive been run off and opposed by people who do not like to hear that the sacrifices in the ot had no power. The physical parts of worship are not the primary or normal communication in applying the gospel. But the gospel addresses every man in every culture in all circumstances. The effects of the gospel are eternal not limited by time and space. I will show you through how David describes these physical parts of worship and the powerlessness they have. And in fact the Israelites went to the temple for the purpose of being successful in subduing the nations and not really for physical blessings. The cup is a grace that we take in order to oppose Satan and subdue the earth.

Gods defense of His children

Psalm 121

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

The Psalmist is declaring in this Psalm that God creates reality according to His goodness and is proved by His sure defense of us. Here he uses the sun and the moon as metaphors for the size of the opposition and the time it takes God to defend us against all potential troubles. 

He uses this word "lift" as a metaphor for Gods representative on the earth who pronounces Gods law, covenants , decrees and promises in being the object of Gods sure defense. You see this term repeated throughout the Psalms like lift up my soul, hands, head, cup, and horns etc. All of these phrases are metaphors , showing that we have the ability to create this kingdom defense by using His spoken word in the context of His anthropomorphism to establish His power. 

He is lifting up His eyes in the sense that He is as secure as God is sovereign.  The Psalmist is also declaring that God protects Israel from all troubles. This term "slip" is describing the inevitable end that comes upon the wicked  whos life is like being on a slippery object and sliding down into hell .

When He pronounces God as maker of Heaven and earth its in the context of God speaking everything into reality from eternity past. The Psalmist uses Gods covenant , laws etc as the creative defense that are on his lips in waring against the nations. So the Psalmist is not saying that he gets these benefits in using the means of faith. Im talking about in our culture...going to church , observing days, etc. He is talking about using Gods spoken word in a wise way. And in this sense he not only is a warrior but a prophet and a king.

Since I moved to the mountains I have a better understanding of what the Psalmist is talking about here. You have this comparison to the sun and the moon and the incredible size of the mountains to block out this light that shines beyond the earth. We see that our trials are defined by God according to His understanding of eternity, His presence in which He has viewed all events on the earth from His eternal position. He has the wisdom of Someone who has been present from the beginning of time.

When we go into the mountains there are places where the sun has been blocked out to the point where it is dark. So you have the huge presence of the light that shines from the sun and it is blocked out by a single cliff. In this sense it is smaller than a pebble from Gods view. lol So the Psalmist never really describes grace unless it has this context where God lowers Himself so that we cannot slip. In fact the Psalmist describes Gods incarnation as going under our deepest trial and upholding us with His hand.

Why we cannot completely understand what troubles us.

Ok you got to put on your thinking caps here. God has spoken all things both physical and meta physical into existence. God has ordained from eternity past whatsoever comes to past in this world. Gods view is not limited to the sequence of time. God sees the beginning from the end in one snapshot. God does not follow people around to see what they are doing. God looks upon all mens hearts at one time. When God looks its not like our seeing with our eyes. God looks in a creative way. He is able to explain every thing that happens in reality. God makes His actions absolutely free by comparing His ability to create through big catastrophes of history. God exercises His power in volcano's, hurricanes, and any thing that we consider uncontrollable by man. But in Gods view the power of the volcano is exercised in one small cell. In Gods view the blessing and the cursing are absolute at all times. The worse that could happen never fails and the most unbelievable miracle that we can see always is successful at all times in all events.

This is what it means for God to be holy at all times. God acts according to His eternal power, in presence and knowledge. So God understands our problems in a relational way. He explains our problems perfectly for the purpose of working all things for our good and His glory. But what we need to see is that in order for us to understand ourselves in light of our problems we must get closer and closer to Gods view or His explanation in which we go beyond our explanation by speaking the simple language that He has given us that is in line with Gods detailed language. The language of the bible is not words but spirit.

God is relational in dealing with our problems. He has created us with the same expression that He has towards us when we face these problems. God has created all things and given us authority over the earth to also create. God does not explain His faithfulness by describing it in Himself but He explains it as it is interrelated to us. The problem is that we cannot completely justify Gods acts toward us in His faithfulness because we are not available to communicate with Him. In other words and in some ways we are too weak to hear the reasons that God does what He does and remain faithful in His promises. I do not believe this frustration is because of our sin.

Self understanding does not come from personal atonement but rather learning how to communicate to God according to His word so that we express love, anger, fear, joy, and sorrow in the way that He is successful in creating and recreating. In other words the bible tells us the best way to mirror Gods way of doing things. This is why Gods recreations are not just intellectual commands but they are also spiritual powers and in some ways emotional...in the sense that He lowers Himself to our level so that He can identify with us and bring us back to His mysterious perfect description of all things.

This is why the Psalmist expressed His understanding of himself in his meditations, praises and curses. We must understand that God in helping us understand ourselves has create our world as firm and fixed. God has made it so that we are secure and strong as we experience the kingdom pushing in on us. The more firm the world is around us the more we experience His covenant promises. He promises to always be kind, long suffering ,gentle, faithful, and loving. How do we go from the promise to the mysterious spiritual conversion?

We experience this by using the expressions that God has revealed...like ...praise, anger, hearing Him speak in the art of musing , questioning and pronouncing. When we become proficient in approaching God in this way we are in fellowship with a God who will listen to us. I mean not in the sense that He is pleased with our efforts but that the more we know the more we will know what He is saying and the more we will understand our problems. We are not all gifted with the same abilities so God has given us His word in which one word is the spirit of all the words. Once we understand one word it is enough to understand and experience deliverance as if we understood all the words.

Problems in teaching obedience in the wrong context.

The great secret war that is going on in this world is describing righteousness outside of the context of the bible as opposed to teaching it according to how it is applied in the bible. Out of all the problems that I find in peoples teaching this is the number one problem. The wrong way to apply righteousness has been the cause of all the problems in this world. The great war with Satan is successful by our being able to put everything in the context of grace. When we live in grace we live in a city in which God has erected walls that cannot be penetrated. All the battles on this earth between nations have been waged in how we describe grace. Because the doctrine of grace is the cause of spiritual and political freedom.

The Psalmist is interchanging Gods unfailing love with His righteousness in His description of Gods kingdom. Gods unfailing love cannot be communicated unless it is upheld by His righteousness. The Psalms describe our relationship to the Trinity in the ot description of the presence of God. Gods presence was in the Tabernacle , in the light and fire that led Israel out of Egypt and into the promise land.You will find that this relationship is expressed in the metaphors of how God deals with us according to righteousness. This is why I can identify false teaching because Ive meditated on the details of these relationships its the fail safe way from being put back under the law. It has been so engrained in my experience that I consider the teaching of obedience and righteousness as the first point of argument in being an over-comer.

You will find that the Psalmist appeals to Gods righteousness as his protection the same way that he uses Gods law as his weapons to gain victory over Gods enemies. And in fact the fear of God is His success in the teaching of this relationship that He had with Israel as a fire by day and a light by night. He goes before us and consumes our foes on every side. You will also find that the Psalmist addresses the Holy Spirit not in the context of conviction but the agent who provides the level ground that Israel would take to get to the promise land. All of this miss understanding of the responsibilities of the Holy Spirit are introduced by legalist. The Holy Spirit is actually the person who goes out and establishes Gods righteousness by upholding Gods name in which we are successful by the Spirit being our go- between.

There is no one righteous...NO NOT ONE! But this Psalm is in the context of Gods position as the light and fire. And the purpose of the Psalm is not to describe us in a two line way. I mean as believers saved by grace we are separated unto God but as people who are being sanctified we are put in the universal teaching of NO NOT ONE. Actually the Psalm is written for the purpose of protecting Gods elect who are suffering the ravages of evil men. Men who eat my people like men eat bread. It is put not put in a private description of the christian life and the man who struggles with sin but its Gods description as a King who advances His people in His protection.

Let me give you the angle by which the Psalmist uses righteousness like the fire and light.

Ps 85 13 Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.This is an analogy of Christ who is the light and fire going out in front of Gods elect people and establishing righteousness not for Israel per say but for His own glory and for the enjoyment of His elect. I will come back to this.