Thinking thoughts after God

Ps 10 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.

The natural state of mans mind under sin is to think on his own. This is one of the hardest behaviors to change when we are saved. The Psalms describe the process of the natural man actions going from his corrupted mind to his lips and then in his behavior. The bible describes the character of two different men as being completely dependent upon the condition of the heart. The condition of the heart is the reality by which a man views the circumstances and the people in his world. There are natural constraints that we experience when we are saved. In our old life we controlled our world by being under the constraint of men. The natural desire in man is to verify the validity of his relationships through accountability. And you see this procession in this description of the wicked man. From his godless heart he destroys other people as a way of thinking by ambush. Here this is describing the character of a criminal who hides in the dark and catches his victims in order to steal or murder. But if you examine this Psalm its in the over all context of a man advancing to obtain power and prestige over others in light of mans law. A metaphor for a criminal. This character is not just limited to the description of a criminal but in the Psalms it is describing the natural desires of men using the miss fortunes of others to advance in their occupation. There is a very big difference when the Psalms describe the life of the new man. 

 Ps. 139 1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?"Here in we see a totally different focus in ones view of the world. This is describing the believers single focus. We believe that God has ordered all things by the word of His mouth. There is nothing that is outside of our control that is in need of our control. You see this description throughout the Psalms as the only way that we grow in this christian experience. Our language is transformed in thinking thoughts after God. Because in our old life we viewed everything by imagining that our finite view could control our success. But when we were saved we were implanted with the seed of the word of God. We now see everything as a creative act of God through word and Spirit. 

You see this in application as the Psalmist petitions God. 25 19 See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me!36  12 See how the evildoers lie fallen-- thrown down, not able to rise! This language comes from being under the influence of Gods creative power. The Psalmist petitions God to search him and know him. And so this more than just someone looking from afar and acting according to another will but its Gods ability to order all things for the purpose of creating good from evil. The two liners are always describing this searching as a necessary conviction to cause us to repent. But this searching that the Psalmist describes is not a mystical inward action by God but rather it is ordering everything to bring total unity of body, mind and heart with His creative order. We believe that God has established His law in the creative order so that it has already established the basis for change. This is why the Palmist uses these pregnant statements "see how my enemies" etc and "see how they have fallen" to be statements of creation that unites our desires with Gods in order to see the success. The success is based upon Gods law that has been established in creation that works for our good. So we do not need to be busybodies trying to order our lives by the actions of others or to be overly concerned that we will be over come by other peoples view of us. We are to think biblically in about everything so that we will experience real freedom. 

The power of the righteous

Ps 10 7" His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue."
37  22 those the LORD blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be cut off.
59 12 For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. For the curses and lies they utter,

There are two kinds of curses. The first kind is the wicked cursing the righteous. In this verse the curses are lies and threats , that create trouble and evil. God has spoken in His word. All of His word are true. The natural man does not seek God because he does not know God.  10 4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God." The natural mans thoughts are cursed by God. 94 11" The LORD knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile". Because the natural mans thoughts are cursed he schemes against his neighbor. 10 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".The state of a mans mind under the control of the curse is defined in the bible as an arrogant mind. Its a mind that desires to rebel against Gods kingdom by threats and violence and to become 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." 

As you can see that the power of the curse is described as self talk. Its like being programed to oppose whatever God says. In this way man is completely blind and helpless to think according to Gods word. This is what the Psalms describe as cursing God and his people. 12" For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. For the curses and lies they utter," You see here that the idea of" catching" is in the context of setting a trap for the righteous by redefining Gods word. And so the Psalmist says let them be caught in the trap they set for the righteous.9 Let the heads of those who surround me be covered with the trouble their lips have caused." As you can see that culture is formed by people which begins in the heart and is spoken on the tongue and then is put into action. So when we are describing the effects of the curse it is in the context of a culture of words that creates a culture of death or the curse. In this way we are not fighting against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces, words that destroy...or an evil scheme that is designed and made fertile over the history of the world ,whose purpose is to bring us under the power of men ...or the curse.  88  17 All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me."

 The Psalms are written to oppose the intricate schemes. What is interesting is they are not written in an epistemology that one truth is the opposition to another truth. But they give us spiritual power to cast down the schemes through the righteous power of the curse. You could describe it as one evil word defining all the evil words ...like Satan in the garden...redefining "good" In this sense its a spiritual force that uses all the words that redefine Gods word in one word. So you have a very powerful evil curse that is described as a threat. The holistic evil threat is too much for us to oppose through the avenue of truth. We must war against the evil curse through speaking the righteous curse.10" Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you." There are legitimate statements that are used to oppose the threatening schemes of the evil one. The "let not" is a creative word that we pray as we represent the true curse in the all the words of God. In the Lords prayer it says " Let me not enter into temptation." There is the general statement that gives authority to all of these more detailed statements in the Psalms. Its the same reasoning as the when the Apostle makes a curse on all those who preach another gospel. He is expanding the effectiveness of these Psalm curse from the small middle eastern world to the entire glob.  I have describe a very consistent approach that is woven throughout the Psalms in the way we oppose evil. 

God's kingdom is our full communication

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"

This is teaching that everyone establishes their own power by using Gods law according to their own described view in light of the kingdom of their own desires. There is only one hope for success and it is the death of those desires that oppose God. This is why the Psalms speak of the consequences of sin is that the desires of men are under the power of the curse. You could describe it like this. You could add up all the desires of men that are in conflict with Gods desires and describe them as the imaginations of mens hearts and minds. This is what it means when it says that the desires of the wicked will come to nothing. 

If in fact all mens desires are imaginations then Gods desires cannot be thwarted. This is what we mean by God already establishing His kingdom through His laws , decrees...etc. But how can this be a prayer of a man against the desires of other sinners if the saint is corrupted?  How can we claim a value of our corrupted desires in order to justify the need for God to give us what we desire in opposition to the desires of other sinners? Because when we are saved we have the kingdom of God dwelling in us. The eternal Gods desires are the expression of our own desires. 

Gods kingdom is established through His will. His desires are established through His laws, decrees, curses etc. God has reacted to this world in the Perfect man. This reaction is the expression of His will that dwells in us. Its His kingdom that has been established through our new identity. Our imperfect reaction is contained in His perfect reaction. We must understand that the expression of His reaction according to His attributes meets us face to face in the law, decrees, statutes, curses, promises decrees. When we have these on our lips we experience the Perfect man( the holistic balance in our souls.)

We have the kingdom dwelling in us. We have Gods reaction of anger, love, peace, justice etc. These reactions to the events of our lives are beyond our understanding. But at the same time they are given to us through communication..ie laws etc. When we speak these words we experience mysterious reactions from our corrupted desires. The gospel is not our disengagement of our souls so that Christ can be manifested but its our total being united to Christ... our desires united to Gods desires. We believe the gospel is real reality not mystical. God does everything and we do everything. Our prayers according to His word go beyond our desires and yet come from our desires. 

God recreates all reality by His perfect word. This total recreation dwells in us. He has given us a very simple way of speaking that is the perfect way to recreate His kingdom. We speak in the language of a child but He speaks in an eternal recreation. This simple way translates into our being like Christ as standing beside Him fully engaged in the battle. Our reaction is dreadful in itself. But when it rises to Gods mysterious reaction through His word, it becomes unified and holistic to us. We are looking at spiritual things through a dark window. But we will overcome all opposition because we have Gods universal recreation dwelling in us.  

God gives us what we desire

Ps5 2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.

3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

This Psalm is establishing how we can encounter the most personal fellowship with God. The Psalmist speaks about approaching God and crying out to Him. Because this Psalm is in the beginning of this book it is teaching us the proper way to have access with God. This fast rule is never crossed throughout the book. The Psalm teaches that the most simple thing to do swallows up the most complicated and difficult things in our lives. Our natural response in this life is to believe that its the kind of sorrow that we display that gets Gods attention. But the Psalms provide us with Gods decrees, promises, laws, and statutes that we have on our lips and we begin to develop habits that transform us and secure our spiritual success. We are always trying to figure out if God is responding to that one sin that we do over and over again, or the excessive burdens that we are prone to carry instead of focusing on these boundaries that God has established so that we drawn to believe that He will do more than we could ask or think. 

This is the point here where the Psalmist has developed the habit of telling God his desires and waiting in expectation. The better translation is "Morning by morning You hear my request." The Psalmist focuses on his desires because God has made us like Himself. So the Psalmist believes that he must know himself in order to know God. This is terribly important and has been redefined in this pragmatic age. The Psalms teach that when we are saved we receive new desires. Our old will is destroyed and God puts His new will in us.Now listen we may have desires that are in conflict with Gods new desires but they are never described as a direct rebellion but a cause for us to slip and be in danger. The truth is that since we have the fulness of God dwelling in us we have the ability to use these corrupted desires for our benefit and be freed from the power of the curse...that being to free ourselves from the unjust use of our desires. We free ourselves by pouring out our desires to God and experiencing the consuming of the experience of being stung by the curse. Our new desires should never be seen as being so burdensome that they lead to dread. 

So when we express our desires to God even tho they may be obnoxious, angry, neurotic, fearful, or excessively sorrowful, we have been given the freedom to be wrong and still be accepted by God. If there is nothing that we fear in expressing it to God then we begin to know ourselves as God knows us. Or as God begins to operate on us in order to heal us. He does this by being so good that we begin to be changed by His grace alone. In order for us to know ourselves fully we must know our desires and be so convinced of our purpose that we would spend years expressing them to God in order to receive what we desire. The person who is convinced that his desires are right will pray to God until he experiences the fullness of receiving what he desired. I call this experiencing the highest unity of our circumstances with our gifts. 

This is what the Psalmist does. You will see that he talks about praising, crying, petitioning,longing, and cursing as he approaches God night and day. So he is saying that he talks to God all the time. This is the way that we should experience God. We should be used to expending our energy by speaking to God with all of our hearts as He has described His work and our souls in His word. We speak to Him in His language of the laws, promise. etc. As we experience the highs and lows of His power in expending our strength in our petitions we know we are drawing near to these different times in our lives when He is approaching us through different situations. We will begin to march at His pace. When God moves it is for our good and not so that we can explain it according to our view. You will find that if you experience the highs of praise when God gives you so much that you need His power to accomplish it or the lows when God seems to be silent and you are spinning your wheels , that you will not be caught off guard or surprised.   This is the secret to being content and understanding that you are seeking God for God and not for yourselves. When you experience the highs you always want to experience them in light of the unity of God , not being satisfied by the circumstances but wanting to reach the highest power in the circumstance. And when you experience the lows, you want to be motivated to expend more energy in the petition to get back to the highs. All of this is experienced as we are convinced of our desires.

The price of Gods refuge

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.

 The two Kingdom teaching is a pragmatic view of the world. The words in the Psalms like salvation, refuge, Gods eternal throne, etc are all inter connected to Davids experiences as he rules Israel.If you take the words used to describe eternal salvation out of the context of earthly governments you make salvation a mystical teaching. Your saying that all of the sorrows and pains of this life are because God is acting apart from the circumstances in a mystical way to communicate something that is limited to an inward action that that has no basis in fact. You saying that all of the things that we hope for have no relation to the actual success we experience on this earth. Your saying that the sorrows of this life are redeem in the hope of sharing in the bliss and pleasure of Christ. It just like the higher life teaching that has no connection to the actual events of this earth. I mean to say that Gods refuge is simply a spiritual experience in which we give him our pain is the biggest denial that there will be a new earth where we will carry on some of the same occupations , in a perfect government that actually will exist that is tied to our experience with earthly governments in this life. Unless you have a stake in this fight you will never have a personal experience of the effects of salvation. Salvation will be reduced to a promise of a mystical relationship with Christ in which your inner suffering is simply a motivation for you to look to the mystical effects of Christ. The two kingdom people refer to this as Gods refuge... Its just dumb theology. 

But we know that God has created reality by creating everything and every relationship in this world as we describe Him as a holy God! You cant reduce God by dividing the world up into different occupations and authorities as one line of communication is God centered and the other line of communication is man centered. All communication is scrutinized by God and is only true in how it lines up with His holiness!

"In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness." The Psalmist is saying that Gods refuge is tied to his military victories.Gods righteousness ...that being His foreign righteousness is His judicial action taken against nations in war to punish and destroy them. David is saying that our salvation is when Christ eternal kingdom is successful in overcoming all opposition on this earth. David is not saying here that there is this perfect mystical righteousness that he holds onto as the basis for being in Gods refuge. Its the same thing as saying there is no price that shows value of what you are trusting in. It simply a promise that has no relationship to the causes and communication that you face on a daily basis. Its basically an empty promise. 

  

Gods covenant faithfulness

Ps 36 4 Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.

5 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies."

These two verses are contrasting freedom that God establishes and the ultimate problem of preventing freedom that comes from the heart of man. This is really the basis of the teaching about inability. Man is finite and is unable to promote freedom at the highest level. "Not rejecting what is wrong" is not being able to put oneself on Gods level of substitution for someone else. The Psalms focus on this as the central problem of the presents of corruption in this world. It is not that man does things that are morally wrong but that man is unable to promote the highest good of his neighbor because of his corruption. 

The Psalmist doesnt even introduce this contrast of " Your love O Lord" with a idea that ties these contrast together but he breaks into the contrast with praise as if he is saying that Gods kingdom is real reality as opposed to this world system which is an illusion. He is saying that if God were not sovereign there would be no freedom because there would be no presence of eternal faithfulness.  

What is the ultimate solution for man being reduced to the level of the philosophy of the survival of the fittest? The Psalms speak of this world that is full of corruption as man being reduced to surviving like the beast of the field. Because man is unable to establish freedom on this earth in an eternal sense then God must act according to His covenant to recreate it by blessing and cursing. God establishes the highest order in life and He reaches down to through the curse to uphold His elect when they are at their lowest. "6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast."

Gods sovereign judgement

Ps 35 1" Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.2 Take up shield and buckler; arise and come to my aid.3 Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Say to my soul, "I am your salvation."4 May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay.5 May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away;6 may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.7 Since they hid their net for me without cause and without cause dug a pit for me,8 may ruin overtake them by surprise-- may the net they hid entangle them, may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.9 Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation.10 My whole being will exclaim, "Who is like you, O LORD? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them."11 Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about.12 They repay me evil for good and leave my soul forlorn.13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered,14 I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother.15 But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; attackers gathered against me when I was unaware. They slandered me without ceasing.16 Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked; they gnashed their teeth at me.17 O Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my life from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you.19 Let not those gloat over me who are my enemies without cause; let not those who hate me without reason maliciously wink the eye.20 They do not speak peaceably, but devise false accusations against those who live quietly in the land.21 They gape at me and say, "Aha! Aha! With our own eyes we have seen it."22 O LORD, you have seen this; be not silent. Do not be far from me, O Lord.23 Awake, and rise to my defense! Contend for me, my God and Lord.24 Vindicate me in your righteousness, O LORD my God; do not let them gloat over me.25 Do not let them think, "Aha, just what we wanted!" or say, "We have swallowed him up."26 May all who gloat over my distress be put to shame and confusion; may all who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame and disgrace.27 May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, "The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant. 28 My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long."

In order for us to have a proper trust in Gods sovereignty we must confess that the value of His work gets weighted as we unify our image with the image of Christ. We pay the price of that value as we acknowledge that God alone is right in being the absolute judge of every man. We open our hands and give to God as we rise up to confess on our lips that God divides mankind in into two groups in order that He might bless some and judge the others. We show a lack of respect for God when we give value to mans work as an acceptable gift to God. When we blur the lines between blessing and cursing we devalue God. 

 This Psalm is teaching that our struggle with the Devil and his children are compared to a hand to hand fight with the enemy in war. 1 "Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me." God has saved us into a kingdom with perfect order. He has promised to uphold, work and complete His perfect kingdom work by covenanting with us. But man seeks to devalue God by reinterpreting His word. When man reinterprets Gods word he opposes Gods kingdom rule by speaking violence. The natural man seeks to redefine the world according to his own standard so that he can rule as god. 

Does God oppose the natural man by the work of second causes? Do we lower the standard of Gods word by giving man the authority of judgement in ruling this world? Does God require us to pay the price of value of His judgement as a prerequisite to acknowledging his sovereignty? If God is sovereign then He must be the only one who can be acceptable to judge man. If we believe that God's sovereignty is valuable then we pay the price when we speak to Him according to His standard of anger and judgement. Gods standard of judgement is the laws response to law breakers in the curse. Any time we we put our trust in threats that are lower than the absolute curse of God we deny that He is sovereign. We are saying that there is some other power that is able to prevent the birth and growth of evil. We lower God.