Breaking the covenant

Ps 55 20 My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.21 His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

This Psalm describes how the elect are related to one another. We all confess our salvation in the terms of Gods covenant. We can say that salvation is a covenant that God makes with us in which the terms of the covenant are always met from Gods side but are never met perfectly from our side. The great truth about our being faithful to the covenant is the teaching that God has killed the curse in the death of Christ. We are no longer obligated to suffer from guilt, shame, sorrow and fear. But in this Psalm he is describing how we can violate our covenant agreement. 

The christian is under the power of the covenant confession like a soldier who protects his partner in war. The reason this is a war covenant is that we all share in the death of our old self. Our confession of dying to our old self is more important than matching our behavior with the covenant requirements.I mean if we have died then we share in new life but if we are dead spiritually then we are subject to death.  15" Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the grave, for evil finds lodging among them.16 But I call to God, and the LORD saves me." You cant have your feet on both sides.... And this is the nature by which we are opposed by evil. We are always opposed through threats and violence. 

This is why people get confused. Because we are taught to love those who oppose us. But if there is a miss understanding then in our appearance of being weak we show that we cannot be depended upon. This is why there is so much time spent in the Psalms where the Psalmist petitions God for the purpose of protecting Gods covenant people. He even petitions God to bring their destruction to an end for those who attack the sheep. You will find a leader who acts to protect the sheep will create a peace for the people who are in his care. I have spoken this Psalm for 30 years and I would never counsel anyone unless I understood these obligations that I had as a leader. The initial response is  that im a mean guy but in order for my family to be secure they need to know that I mean business. Im watching over them through these prayers. This is the cause for christians sharing in true freedom.  

Self denial

Rom 5 10" For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!"

This is not commonly used to describe self denial. But the apostle has been dealing with the reasons that we enjoy a new self when we are saved.  5" And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Because God has poured out His Holy Spirit in us the apostle is saying that our old relationship with God was much worse when we were enemies , than this new relationship that is focused on being saved through substitution. In fact if you compare the old self with the new self ("how much more") its as if you cant remember what it was like to be the old self.  This is what the theologians describe our new self that we are enjoying all that we need already but not yet receiving it in its fullness. But the apostle is comparing this spiritual "death" to having no relationship to the old self in the way that we are secure in a salvation that had a beginning and will have an end. There is no relationship to our old self at the time of our salvation. We died. 

There is a clear effort by the apostle to distance us from our old self. Not just to talk about having something that was added in our salvation. You will find this imbalance in the amount of time that God describes the terrible circumstances in His relationship to the wicked as compared to the much more beauty that we experience when we are given new life. Why would God talk so much about how He deals with His enemies if it is impossible for His enemies to understand and learn from the instruction? I think its because He is trying to show the greater work of Christ on our behalf by describing the depth of the destruction that He saved us from. And in this sense He is saying that He has all the wicked on a leash so that we enjoy complete freedom as the consequence to giving God the absolute control to contain evil and corruption until we receive our full salvation. In this sense there is not law that can contain this new freedom because our subjection to the law died when we were saved. The beauty of self denial is that in not being able to save ourselves we are saved by trusting in grace alone. Because Christ reconciled us by a complete substitution we fall back on grace as the only way that we can be saved. We can now push death away because Christ has given us much greater power to overcome.

Conversion

Ps 57 1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.2 I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills [his purpose] for me.3 He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me; "Selah" God sends his love and his faithfulness.4 I am in the midst of lions; I lie among ravenous beasts-- men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.6 They spread a net for my feet-- I was bowed down in distress. They dug a pit in my path-- but they have fallen into it themselves. "Selah"7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.8 Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.9 I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth."

This Psalm expresses our deep need. It confronts our frustration as we seek to be successful in this world.  1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. Here the Psalmist repeats himself with a plea for mercy. The Psalmist believes that God has established His kingdom through the perfect application of His law, covenants, etc. In the Psalmist mind, he has been established to fall back on Gods security which actively works for his protection. You will find that he describes those who oppose him as men who speak words that are opposed to the words of God. The Psalmist always puts this in a universal application and not actually describing the men who are opposing him when he writes the Psalm 9" I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples".The Psalmist is saying that he is caught in this universal struggle between God and Satan or evil. The Psalmist is expressing the natural desire of his heart. 2" I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills [his purpose] for me". The christian is one who has been saved into a kingdom in which his heart or desires are united with Gods word. The Psalmist is expressing his frustration according to his opposition ...in his inward experience of feeling threaten and helpless that can be consoled and made successful by the amount of physical exertion he puts into exalting God.

He is confronting his frustration with his vision of God overcoming all opposition by establishing His throne over the nations through winning the battles. The kingdom of God is spoken through words that are healing, peaceful, kind, and gentle. The greater the opposition represents the success of the culture of threatening words. He is using the description of the enemies that he confronts in the battles as metaphors for the kingdom of words that oppose Gods kingdom that are part of the culture that he must confront as he hears them and is threaten in interrupting his way of thinking. This is an expression of a righteous person who is growing through this self talk as he more and more recognizes the opposition to the kingdom of God that dwells in him. The expression "let your glory be over all the earth" is uniting the reality of this kingdom in his heart with the wish that God would rule in an absolute sense. In confessing this Psalm ,he is experiencing a conversion. It would follow that if God were exalted in reality then the Psalmist would follow Him in ruling the nations. It is absolutely necessary in being converted that we enforce this vision as we grow closer and closer to ruling with Him.



 

God has created the beginning from end

Ps 19 1" The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

God has created all things for the purpose of communicating His will.  The perfect view of creation is the complete communication of all that we need. God has created all things as He is. All of the characteristics of His creation are perfectly ordered according to His will. If we had the ability to receive this absolute perfect communication in Gods as this perfect vehicle we would be swallowed up. The Psalms are always teaching that God is infinite and we are finite. This means that God creates all things with limits on their function. In this since what we cannot comprehend and our limitations in our own view is for our good. Since God is the only one who can completely view all things in their perfect communication then He has lowered Himself in the fullest sense as the answer to all that we do not understand. 

We are in a world in which all reality is an active communication. The communication of thoughts, the character of the creation of the reality in things, people and the creation of personalities in our interaction. We are always viewing the world through a limited understanding of all that is necessary for us to experience unity and wholeness. This is what the Theologians meant when they described the difference between us and God is that we are complicated but God is very simple. The more limited the view is the more frustrations and questions are necessary. This is what the Psalmist is answering by proclaiming that God has gifted us with the words that answer our lack of understanding. In this sense , unity, balance, and wholeness are realities that come through a vehicle and not in the created thing itself.     

The vehicle is through word and Spirit. 7 "The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous".The Psalmist is describing the perfect activity of God in this perfect communication of reality as we view His work in the created things. God speaks life, His will is never opposite to His covenant, His eternal view is the creation of our reality, His commands order all things for our good and His power to oppose is sure and steadfast. 

He is saying that all of our frustrations are a result of not being able to receive the communication in which we experience perfect symmetry and connection. 12" Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults."We are always attempting to be secure in our minds through a very limited vocabulary. In this book, we are looking at reality through the Perfect man. He has communicated the perfect language of human frustration in spiritual conversions that are mysterious that are limited so that we are not destroyed with the communication that only God can handle.  With this understanding we are fully secure in God, needing nothing else for our security.   

Our identity

Ps 9 1" I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.2 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.3 My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you.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.16 The LORD is known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. "Higgaion." "Selah"17 The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God.18 But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.19 Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence20 Strike them with terror, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. "Selah" 

The Psalms teach that we are most secure when we experience a complete connection to our environment because God created us to be secure when everything is unified. All of our insecurities come from feeling inferior. We are taught that if we know God then we will know ourselves. But our identity is not rooted in God as if we do not exist. Rather since we are identified with Christ we share in the unity that He shares in the Trinity. This is how the Psalmist is reasoning in this Psalm.   4" For you have upheld my right and my cause; you have sat on your throne, judging righteously." together with 7" The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment." He is saying that when we are saved our identity depends upon our desires being united with Christ when we received these desires by grace. 

A person who is inferior is always trying to prove that he is something that he doesnt really feel that he is. But the christian must think thoughts after God who has pronounced who we are, so that we are able to experience completeness without feeling inferior. This struggle to draw all of our security from our acceptance in Christ is the basis of our feeling secure because He knows the beginning from the end.  The beginning in us is that He has united us with Himself and the end is that we will rule with Him having overcome all opposition. 3" My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you."We can always be filled with hope because we are successful as Christ is successful.  "your wonders, rejoice in you, sat on your throne,,You have rebuked,and he has established his throne".The Psalmist simply pronounces Christ success in doing according to His law and covenants as the foundation of the Psalmist identity. 

The Psalmist draws his confidence by pronouncing Christ success. This is a king standing before his people and as he pronounces that Christ will fight their battles, attend to the poor and the helpless, answer all the needs of His people and over throw all opposition that he will continually speak this way to God in order to avoid the threatening words that are spoken from the identity of disconnection. 

At the same time we are required to pronounce the curse  19 Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence.20 Strike them with terror, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. "Selah". The Psalms teach that God prevents wicked men from destroying the world. But because of sin, men still practice destruction. When we are saved we are delivered from all threats. We have been delivered from the destructive activity of the law. God no longer encourages guilt , fear, shame and sorrow. We go from experiencing the destructive weight of the law which is the ruling power of the curse, to avoiding any kind of threatening words or actions by using the law as a tool to destroy those who are under the law through enforcing spiritual death in the legitimate use of the righteous curse. The wicked my make inferior threats but we have weapon that is directed at the destruction of the person.23" But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you".(not a person who sheds blood but practices using threats) Our success is never through personal anger or threats but only through the impersonal judgement of Christ. In order for us to avoid the sting of the curse we must curse the destruction for the sake of wiping the threats from the kingdom so that we can establish peace.120 7 I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war".

God smiles in our troubles

Ps 94 12 Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD, the man you teach from your law;13 you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked.14 For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.

The Psalmist is complaining about suffering because of national apostasy.1" O LORD, the God who avenges, O God who avenges, shine forth. 2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve." The Psalms teach that God created us as social beings. He created us with as a free moral agent. This means that we are gifted with our own interior government. Each one of us has an ability to rule our own world by fulfilling our desires.

God created all things according to His laws, covenants, decrees and statutes. Not only did God create all things but He upholds and orders all things. In Gods kingdom there is nothing that is out of order. We were placed in this creation as a ruler that was able to fulfill our part in His creation without any opposition. We were able to be at our highest ability and able to rule His creation having no opposition to our desires. The Psalms teach that if we examine the whole history of the world and list all of the activities of the Gods creation, that we would see that God spoke them into existence and order them by the word of His mouth. From Gods view there is nothing that is out of order. But from our finite view we are unable to see the reasons for the events as they transpire. This is why the Psalmist expresses his frustration in questions, curses, petitions and cries. Our problem that we do not know how to experience mystery. We seem to get stuck in believing that because God is sovereign and we are not able to understand, that we must accept what has transpired. We are always left in our frustration and thinking that this is what develops patience in us.

But the Psalmist knows that because God is absolutely sovereign then He is the only being in the universe that can create stability and happiness by speaking one word. God can completely change the world in a mili second. The Psalmist believes that our frustration is resolved by seeing the simplicity that is in God. 6" The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me." "Simplehearted" is believing that God can rework everything by a miracle. You see this reasoning here in this Psalm. 13" you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked. 14 For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance." This covenant promise that" the Lord will not reject His people" is paraphrased by the Psalmist and is synonymous with " you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked." The Psalmist is saying that Gods eternal love is evidenced in His covenant promise that He will never forsake us by preparing destruction for the wicked when we suffer as a result of the apostasy. In other words our personal suffering that is caused by the evils of the wicked that is described in the Psalms as a trap that causes us to fall into a pit ...is really set for them. The Psalmist is not only saying that God will reward us doubly but He will respond to our suffering through the curse, 

We have a hard time with suffering because we do not put a value on it. We have been taught that pain is something that works in us to make us holy. We have reduced everything we face that is bad to some kind of mystical force that works in us for good. lol But in this Psalm we are taught that God values us by valuing our suffering by causing the proud to fall under the weight of Gods judgement. The word the Psalmist uses to speak of this weight is the curse. 1" O LORD, the God who avenges, O God who avenges, shine forth. 2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve." The Psalm opens up with a curse and then the Psalmist begins to reason how the power of God can destroy the opposition because of Gods covenant promise and then he applies this teaching to his soul. 16" Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers? 17 Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.18 When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O LORD, supported me.19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."

The Psalmist is teaching that when we suffer we need to get a proper perspective. We need to step back and see the world from Gods view. He is saying that our problems are a part of a much bigger problem. When we attempt to reason from Gods view , we are taught that there are lines that cannot be crossed. God has spoken about Himself in absolute terms and has revealed this to us. Our help in suffering is rooted in God as the original creator. Because God has ordered all things by the word of His mouth , He gets pleasure in forming all things by speaking into existence and describing them as He is good. But He has not left us just to examine His beauty as the agent for receiving His pleasure but He has given us a very small way of reasoning that is the outline of the total reality of the kingdom that dwells in us. The natural flow of our lives is rooted in this language that unites us to God in enjoying His fellowship. This language is the natural cry of our hearts that is expressed in laws, decrees, curses, statutes, covenants and promises. When we communicate to God in His language we reflect the value of His work and experience the honor that He deserves as the basis of our receiving support and consolation. 18" When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O LORD, supported me.19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."

Narcissism

Narcissism is having a view of man as being so important that you react to them in fear, sorrow, guilt, or under the constraints of a process. The narcissistic person speaks to God in man centered words. I do not believe that any man is able to completely experience freedom from the society of man until he has memorized and prayed the Psalms. The Psalms are the only prayers that are focused on God as God is. Narcissism is lowering God through the expression of petition, praise, guilt, fear, and sorrow in false words that use Him as if He were a man. The ultimate measure of true desire that is absent of narcissism is that if someone over heard your private prayers they would react with anger and frustration. Because a person who is united to Christ has no desires for mans acceptance. He prays as if he is the only one on the earth than needs the kind of grace that is transferred by being completely free as the only way that other men can catch it. A person who is narcissistic prays as if he is a necessary vessel that God needs in order to spread the grace.  

A person who is narcissistic is one who does not challenge his own thoughts by word and Spirit. He allows himself to wander in his mind. In this sense it he seldom gets to the place of mystery. He seldom experiences the eternal verities of the faith. The mind is like a cup. The amount of liquid represents the presence of word and Spirit. A narcissistic person is one whos cup is half full. The air represents how much he values man and his own life. But a person whos identity is centered in Christ has exhausted the use of the word as He orders his prayers until his cup is filled up. He is so used to finding mystery after meditating and praying Gods word that it becomes the line by which he determines the disposition of a person who is holding onto idols. A person who holds idols seldom experiences conversion. A narcissistic person is used to a secular view of the world so that the things of the world and the value of those things are the motives that move him. I will write more descriptions.