the great assembly

Posted on June 23, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Psalm 40:9-10

Psalm 40:9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; see, I do not keep my mouth closed – as you know, Yahveh.

Psalm 40:10 I did not hide your righteousness in my heart; I spoke about your faithfulness and salvation; I did not conceal your covenant faithfulness and truth from the great assembly.

the great assembly

David’s patient faith in God for rescue paid off. He was rescued from the dilemma he faced, and now he can not keep from worshipping. What God did for him was great, and it deserves worship. There is room for a personal devotional life in every Christian. But there is also a need for us to come together in the great assembly. We should be constantly seeking ways to innovate and show our appreciation of God in corporate worship.

Lord, you have acted in love. We cannot keep silent about it.

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what God really wants

Posted on June 22, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Psalm 40:6-8

Psalm 40:6 You do not want sacrifice and tribute offering; you open my ears to listen. You do not ask for a whole burnt offering or a mistake offering.

Psalm 40:7 Then I said, “See, I have come; in the scroll it is written about me.

Psalm 40:8 I want to do your will, my God, and your instruction is deep within me.”

what God really wants

This passage reveals two secrets of personal sanctification. David shows that what God really wants is not to apply the bandage of sacrifice, but to change the heart. For David, this came when he saw God’s rescue. After that, he wanted what God wanted – as revealed in his instruction (תּוֹרָה).

The second secret is not as obvious, but the author of Hebrews understood this text as a prophecy of the coming of Christ, whose sacrifice of himself on the cross took away the first covenant to establish the second.1 The second covenant involves putting God’s laws on our hearts and writing them on our minds.2 What Jesus did for us fulfilled the requirements of the first covenant, and also made it possible for us to be like him – with God’s will as our heart’s desire.

Lord, thank you for your ultimate rescue – the cross.

1Hebrews 10:9.

2Hebrews 10:16; Jeremiah 31:33.

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stuck

Posted on June 21, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Psalm 40:1-5

Psalm 40:11 I waited patiently for Yahveh , and he stretched down to me and heard my cry for help.

Psalm 40:2 He brought me up from a desolate hole, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure.

Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and they will trust in Yahveh.

Psalm 40:4 How fortunate is anyone who has put his trust in Yahveh and has not turned to the proud or to those who run after lies!

Psalm 40:5 Yahveh my God, you have done many things– your wondrous works and your plans for us; none can compare with you. If I were to report and speak of them, they are more than can be told.

stuck

David describes his deliverance by a word picture. He was stuck in a desolate hole. The solution to his problem was not in activity, or changing his mind, or even repentance. He was totally out of DIY answers.

Of course, he could have made the wrong choice – to turn to the proud or run after lies. Instead, since he was stuck, he decided to wait patiently. It was God’s move. God stretched down (נָטָה) and pulled him out.

Lord, we are stuck. We will wait patiently for you to deliver us, because only you can.

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1superscription: A psalm of David.

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challenging modern mantras

Posted on June 20, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Psalm 39:12-13

Psalm 39:12 “Hear my prayer, Yahveh, and listen to my cry for help; do not be silent at my tears. You see, I am here with you as an alien, a temporary resident like all my ancestors.

Psalm 39:13 Turn your angry gaze from me so that I may be cheered up before I die and am gone.”1

challenging modern mantras

There is something about psalms like this that stretch the boundaries of popular religious attitudes about God and humanity. It does not deny the modern mantra that “God is good all the time,” but it challenges the notion that God’s goodness reflects itself in kindness toward his people all the time. David was one of God’s people, and yet he felt the pressure of God’s angry gaze. He was bold enough to speak to God, but also felt the fearful abandonment of God’s silence toward him.

David also did not hold on to some pagan notion that his life would continue forever no matter what. He felt that if God did not turn his angry gaze he would die in disgrace and be gone. These are not the words of someone who believed he had an immortal soul.

What are the mantras you live by? Are they challenged by what the Bible actually says? Keep reading, and don’t be afraid to correct yourself and believe what is actually written.

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1subscription: For the choir director.

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we are disappearing

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Psalm 39:7-11

Psalm 39:7 “Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.

Psalm 39:8 Rescue me from all my crimes; do not make me the taunt of fools.

Psalm 39:9 I am speechless; I do not open my mouth because of what you have done.

Psalm 39:10 Remove your torment from me. Because of the force of your hand I am disappearing.

Psalm 39:11 You discipline a person with punishment for violation, consuming like a moth what is precious to him; yes, every person is temporary. (Selah).

These are the words of someone who has known greatness, and is now experiencing great loss. He is experiencing shame, speechlessness, torment, and that feeling of gradually disappearing like a cloth being eaten by a moth. He repeats his insight that every person is temporary. David’s son, Solomon – would pick up this theme and elaborate it in Ecclesiastes.1

we are disappearing

There are some who would deny that God has anything to do with punishing human sin in this life, but not David. He acknowledges God as the sender of the torment. But he also puts his hope in God as the one who can rescue him from his own crimes. Human greatness will not last. But Divine greatness and goodness does.

Lord, rescue us from our crimes. Restore us before we are utterly consumed by our own sins.

1see my book – Words from the Collector.

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shadow people

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Psalm 39:6

Psalm 39:6 Yes, a person goes about like a mere shadow. Indeed, they make noise temporarily, gathering possessions without knowing who will get them.

shadow people

All around us are the shadow people. It sounds like a “b” movie, but it is true. We spend our lives making a few squeaking noises as we try to accumulate some stuff. All too soon our lives are over, and all that is left is the stuff, most of it no one wants. And we don’t even have control over who gets the stuff we spent so much time gathering.

A few of us dare to grasp something more substantial than the stuff. We have heard that there is a being who is more than shadow. He is permanent. So, we dare to seek him, and put our faith in him. He promises a resurrection unto permanent life. The shadows will laugh at us, but we seek something more.

Lord, we are reaching out our shadow hands and want to grasp you, our substantial God, and our only hope of permanence.

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finger sized days

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Psalm 39:1-5

Psalm 39:11 I said, “I will guard my roads so that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are in my presence.”

Psalm 39:2 I was speechless and quiet; I kept silent, even from speaking good, and my pain intensified.

Psalm 39:3 My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, a fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:

Psalm 39:4 “Yahveh , make me aware of my end and the number of my days so that I will know how short-lived I am.

Psalm 39:5 Notice, you have made my days like the size of my fingers, and my life span is as nothing to you. Yes, every person takes a temporary stand. (Selah).

finger sized days

We would all be able to exercise more self-control if we kept in mind how temporary we are. The illusion of permanence – and therefore self-importance can cause us to speak out when we should just shut up. God does not need us to right every wrong – particularly the wrongs we have felt at the hands of others. The person who brings justice about is God. Sometimes we experience injustice not so that we can attack it, but so that we can learn to trust him to sort it out.

Lord, teach our tongues to be silent, and let you be God, because all we have are finger sized days.

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1superscription: A psalm of David.

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hurry to help

Posted on June 16, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Psalm 38:21-22

Psalm 38:21 Yahveh, do not abandon me; my God, do not be far from me.

Psalm 38:22 Hurry to help me, my Lord, my salvation.1

It is a terrible thing to get the point in life where you think even God could abandon you. The psalmist was a spiritual man – a theologian. He knew that God could not. But he felt that God could.

hurry to help

This is the end of the psalm. No happy ending. We are left to assume that this frantic prayer of a desperate person was answered. Logic tells us that it was, or else the song would not have been written. But the aim of this psalm is not to simply tell a story. If that were the aim, we would expect a conclusion. No, the aim of this psalm seems to be didactic. It teaches us how to pray when we desperately need God to come to our rescue.

Do you feel the distance today? Does it seem that God is far from you, and you desperately need him nearer. Pray. He is there, and he is listening.

Lord, do not abandon us; our God, do not be far from us.

Hurry to help us, our Lord, our salvation

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1subscription: For the choir director, for Jeduthun.

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do not go quietly

Posted on June 15, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Psalm 38:13-20

Psalm 38:13 I am like a deaf person; I do not hear. I am like a speechless person who does not open his mouth.

Psalm 38:14 I am like a man who does not hear and has no arguments in his mouth

Psalm 38:15 because I put my hope in you, Yahveh; you will answer me, my Lord, my God.

Psalm 38:16 You see, I said, “Don’t let them be happy over me – those who are arrogant toward me when I stumble”

Psalm 38:17 because I am about to fall, and my time of anguish is constantly with me.

Psalm 38:18 So I confess my violation; I am anxious because of my sin.

Psalm 38:19 But my enemies are vigorous and powerful; many hate me for no reason.

Psalm 38:20 Those who repay evil for good attack me for chasing after good.

do not go quietly

The psalmist has sinned and does not feel worthy of deliverance. In fact, he is ready to remain mute before God and take his punishment, even if his fall is to the death. But something changes his mind. He thinks about those enemies of his who are also enemies of his God. The thought is that his downfall and ultimate disgrace will give those enemies more ammunition in their war against God.

So, he who was content to fade away without words decides to open his mouth and confess his violation. God gets more glory when the sinner repents and the door is opened for restoration.

If you think you have offended God and you are on your way out, don’t go quietly. Come back to him with a confession. God does not want to destroy you. He wants to restore you.

Lord, we choose to come back, not to go quietly.

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full disclosure

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Jefferson Vann
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Psalm 38:9-12

Psalm 38:9 Master, my every desire is in front of you; my sighing is not hidden from you.

Psalm 38:10 My heart races, my strength leaves me, and even the light of my eyes has faded.

Psalm 38:11 My loved ones and friends stand back due to my affliction, and my relatives stand at a distance.

Psalm 38:12 Those who intend to kill my soul set traps, and those who want to harm me spoke out to destroy me; they plot treachery all day long.

full disclosure

The misery the psalmist had expressed in yesterday’s section (3-8) is now repeated as another prayer to God. Why do this? It is not that God does not know what is going on. Verse nine makes that clear. But notice that God is being addressed as master. The servant turns to the master for help, because only the master is empowered to help.

In the same way, we have to get over our awareness of God’s omniscience, and learn to regularly come to him in prayer. Recounting what is going on in our lives is more than just therapy. It is an expression of faith. God can read the hidden sighs, but he wants us to come with him with full disclosure anyway. When we confess not only our failures but also our needs, we are inviting him to be our rescuer.

Master, Our sighing is not hidden from you. Come and rescue us!

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