Devotions

sweet holiness

Posted on March 20, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Psalm 19:7-11

Psalm 19:7 Yahveh’s instruction is complete, renewing one’s soul; Yahveh’s testimony is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise.

Psalm 19:8 The precepts of Yahveh are right, making the heart happy; the command of Yahveh is radiant, making the eyes light up.

Psalm 19:9 The fear of Yahveh is pure, enduring continually; the ordinances of Yahveh are reliable and altogether righteous.

Psalm 19:10 They are more desirable than gold– than a pile of pure gold; and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb.

Psalm 19:11 In addition, your servant is cautioned by them, and in keeping them there is a hefty reward.

sweet holiness

The God who magnificently reveals himself in nature has not left it to that. He has also revealed himself in his his word: the Bible. It is described as pure, sweet, reliable, and more desirable than a pile of pure gold. The revelation in nature reveals God’s greatness. The revelation in scripture reveals his holiness.

Lord, show us your sweet, holy self in your word.

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magnificent

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Psalm 19:1-6

Psalm 19:1¹ The skies record the magnificence of God, and the expanse displays the work of his hands.

Psalm 19:2 Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.

Psalm 19:3 There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard.

Psalm 19:4 Their message has gone out to the whole land, and their words to the ends of the world. In the sky he has pitched a tent for the sun.

Psalm 19:5 It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it celebrates like an athlete running a course.

Psalm 19:6 It rises from one end of the sky and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.

magnificent

God is magnificent, and the sky itself tells us that. He created this enormous expanse and set it above and all around us. The story is told every day and every night. The story does not need to be translated into my language, because everyone from the youngest baby to the most elderly can immediately understand it. Just look at that blazing sun, elegantly marching across the horizon. The sun tells the story too. It says, “He who made me is magnificent.”

Lord, thank you for showing off. Your sky is awesome, and so are you.

1superscription: A Psalm of David.

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great rescue and a greater seed

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Psalm 18:47-50

Psalm 18:47 The God who is the giver of vengeance to me and speaks against peoples under me —

Psalm 18:48 He frees me from my enemies. You exalt me above my adversaries; you rescue me from violent men.

Psalm 18:49 Therefore I will give thanks to you among the nations, Yahveh; I will sing praises about your name.

Psalm 18:50 He gives great rescue to his king; he shows loyalty to his anointed, to David and his descendants permanently.

great rescue and a greater seed

This song of Israel celebrated the great rescue God gave David, by freeing him from his enemies and showing covenant loyalty to him. And this loyalty is claimed for David’s descendants as well. Consider the most famous of David’s descendants. Jesus of Nazareth was apparently defeated by his enemies when he died on a Roman cross. But God exalted him above his adversaries, rescuing him from violent men. God raised him from the dead, and he is now enthroned in heaven.

There are at least two clues in this passage which indicate that it is messianic. First, the word Messiah (Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ) is used by David of himself in verse 50. Also, David refers to his descendants using the singular noun seed (זֶרַע). Notice this prophecy about David’s coming seed:

“When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your descendants (זֶרַע) after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. “He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. “I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. “But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.”‘” (1 Chronicles 17:11-14 NASB).

Of course, this referred to Solomon, as David’s son who inherited the kingdom. But the New Testament authors recognized that it ultimately pointed to David’s greater seed: Jesus (Luke 1:31; Romans 1:3; Galatians 3:16).

Lord, thank you for your rescue/resurrection and coming reign of David’s greater seed.

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rescued from normality

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Psalm 18:43-46

Psalm 18:43 You have freed me from the disputes¹ among the people; you have appointed me the head of nations; a people I had not known serve me.

Psalm 18:44 Foreigners submit to me cringing; as soon as they hear they obey me.

Psalm 18:45 Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their fortifications.

Psalm 18:46 Yahveh is alive– blessed be my boulder! The God of my deliverance is exalted.

rescued from normality

Under David’s rule, the Israelite nation became a dominating superpower. Here David attributes that national success to God. The deliverance he celebrated was more than just peace. It was peace through strength. It was more than just respect and admiration. It was submission. David saw himself as not part of the petty disputes of the nations, but above them.

God can save your soul from future destruction. He wants to do that. And he also wants to rescue you from the pettiness and normality that can make life today unpleasant.

Lord, we reach out to you and ask for your help. You are the God of our deliverance.

1רִיב

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Can we have enemies?

Posted on March 16, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Psalm 18:39-42

Psalm 18:39 You have decked me out with strength for battle; you forced my adversaries to their knees beneath me.

Psalm 18:40 You have made my enemies retreat before me; I annihilate those who hate me.

Psalm 18:41 They cry for help, but there is no one to save them– they cry to Yahveh, but he does not answer them.

Psalm 18:42 I pulverize them like dust before the wind; I empty them out like street mud.

Can we have enemies?

David has already proclaimed his need for God and his confidence in God, so these words can be understood in that context. He is not boasting in his own wisdom or strength, but praising God for his faithfulness.

Have we evolved beyond this kind of talk? Some of the comments I read on the psalms suggest something like that. They imply that the New Testament says we should love our enemies, so this kind of talk is no longer applicable.

I think they are wrong. It is not unscriptural to admit that certain people are against you, and to ask God to help you defend against their attacks.

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a spacious place beneath me

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Psalm 18:35-38

Psalm 18:35 You have given me the shield of your deliverance; your right hand reinforces me, and your humility exalts me.

Psalm 18:36 You make a spacious place beneath me for my steps, and my ankles do not give way.

Psalm 18:37 I pursue my enemies and overtake them; I do not turn back until they are finished.¹

Psalm 18:38 I crush them, and they cannot get up; they fall beneath my feet.

a spacious place beneath me

As a long distance hiker, I so much appreciate that phrase “You make a spacious place beneath me” in verse 36. When the path is narrow and ragged with sharp rocks, every step takes more time, and one false step and your ankles are toast. Even the most experienced hikers are liable to fall or otherwise injure themselves on such a path. Apparently David knew about long distance walks. He also knew the luxury of spacious paths. When he was looking for a way to describe how God took care of him, he used this metaphor about God putting him in places that protected his feet. Because his feet remained strong, he was able to overtake his enemies, and they fell beneath his feet.

Lord, thank you for the protection which makes us strong.

1 כִּלָּה (pi)

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secret behind success

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Psalm 18:32-34

Psalm 18:32 God– he decks me out with strength and makes my road perfect.

Psalm 18:33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer and sets me securely on the heights.

Psalm 18:34 He trains my hands for war; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

secret behind success

Strength, stability, mobility and strategic intelligence: these are characteristics of a powerful military unit. These are David ‘s secret— only he does not keep it secret. All these attributes are his because of his relationship with God.

David’s victories come from the Lord. This victory psalm celebrates the secret behind his success.

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with my God

Posted on March 13, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Psalm 18:29-31

Psalm 18:29 With you I can attack a barricade, and with my God I can leap over a wall.

Psalm 18:30 God– his road is perfect; the word of Yahveh is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 18:31 For who is God besides Yahveh? And who is a rock? Only our God.

with my God

This psalm is a song celebrating victory. Notice the “I cans” in verse 29. Now, notice that each of these declarations of personal strength is preceded by a “with” phrase. The hero of the psalm is Yahveh. He is the rock, the shield, the battering ram, the ladder.

The purpose of the psalm is not to brag about overcoming obstacles, but to draw attention to the power who made victory possible.

Lord, may all our victories be opportunities to proclaim who you are.

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He illuminates my darkness

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Psalm 18:25-28

Psalm 18:25 With the faithful you prove yourself faithful, with the blameless you prove yourself blameless,

Psalm 18:26 with the pure you prove yourself pure; but with the crooked you prove yourself shrewd.

Psalm 18:27 For you rescue an oppressed people, but you humble those with haughty eyes.

Psalm 18:28 Yahveh, you light my lamp; my God illuminates my darkness.

He illuminates my darkness

It is easy to get the wrong idea from a psalm like this. David is speaking from victory over a time of intense oppression and darkness. He is not guaranteeing that believers will never experience times like that. He is saying that times like that are when our faith and our relationship with God are the most valuable.

Because David invested himself in God in the time of light, God was there for him in the time of darkness.

Lord, give us the wisdom to invest ourselves in you and not in ourselves.

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confidence of repayment

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Psalm 18:20-24

Psalm 18:20 Yahveh rewarded me according to my righteousness; he repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

Psalm 18:21 Because I have kept to the roads of Yahveh and have not turned from my God to wickedness.

Psalm 18:22 Because I let all his ordinances guide me and have not disregarded his statutes.

Psalm 18:23 I was blameless toward him and kept myself from my iniquity.

Psalm 18:24 So Yahveh repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

confidence of repayment

At the beginning and the end of these five verses, David declares that God has repaid him. Is this a statement against salvation by grace? No. The deliverance David is talking about is not his salvation, but his rescue from his enemies. David committed himself to do what God wanted, and he found God faithful to rescue him when he needed it.

When we use the doctrine of grace to keep us from being faithful to God, we open the door to defeat and condemnation. David knew that he had iniquity in his heart (v.23). He disciplined himself to stay on God’s road and obey his law not because he was sinless, but because God is the only means of deliverance.

Lord, we admit our iniquity. Build in us a habit of obedience, so that we can come to you confidently when we need you desperately.

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