A day to reflect on the beautiful book of Psalms

Month of September

September 10th 

High and Far!

Bless the Lord, O my soul!    So David begins today's Psalm, not because the Lord has blessed him with health, wealth and significance.  No, it's because the Lord forgives, heals, and redeems him and us.  The Lord crowns us with His steadfast love and mercy!

Notice how personal David makes God's promises in verse 8-10.  Read these words & phrases slowly, pausing and praying over each one.  The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  This is your life as a beloved child of God!  The Lord will not always chide [scold or rebuke], nor will He keep His anger forever.  God took out His anger for your sins on Jesus, punishing Jesus in your place!  And, thank God, that He does not deal with us like we deserve!

If you're like me, you hold onto things, often foolishly.  A walk through my garage or basement would prove this.  Unfortunately, we often hold onto our sins and the guilt they produce.  Who could love me, if they really knew my sins?  Verses 11 & 12 proclaim really good news to you and me!  God's love for you is so great and steadfast, it is FAR greater than ANY of your sins or failures!   Remember Romans 5:8?  "...but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  When Jesus died on Calvary's cross, He took your punishment and removed your sins from you, as far as the east is from the west!  That is the BEST NEWS you will ever hear!

Don't hold onto your sins; God certainly does not!!!

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Mark

Psalm 103:1-12

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,

      and all that is within me, bless His holy name!

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,

      and forget not all His benefits,

3 who forgives all your iniquity,

      who heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit,

      who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

5 who satisfies you with good

      so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works righteousness

      and justice for all who are oppressed.

7 He made known His ways to Moses,

      His acts to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,

      slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9 He will not always chide,

      nor will He keep His anger forever.

10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,

      nor repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

      so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,

      so far does He remove our transgressions from us. 

September 3rd

You're Covered!

Today we'll look at the first seven verses of Psalm 32, one of several Penitential psalms in the psalter.  As we look first at verses 3-5, all of us will say "Oh yeah, that describes me every day."  Soak in these verses today; I'm sure you'll find them very relevant & personal.

Keeping silent, keeping sins unconfessed and hidden is never a good idea.  Doing so harms us and those against whom we've sinned.  We feel God's heavy hand upon us a when our guilty conscience steals our peace.  Unconfessed sins entirely disrupt our relationships with others and especially with God.  David paints vivid pictures of this:  wasting bones, constant groaning, our strength gone.  These are terrible places to be, yet how often do we keep going there!

In verse five, God gives you the solution to these results of sin:  acknowledge, confess, stop covering up.  Our sinful natures hate doing these things, but we know we must.  Then, God does the really hard part:  He forgives your sins, all of them!   This takes us back to the first verse.  Blessed are YOU whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!  

There's another beautiful discovery here for us; consider the word covered in verses one and five.  In verse five, our covering does nothing except prolong our guilty shame and suffering.  Our covering only extends our separation from God, and reinforces the divisions in our relationships.  But in verse one, God the Father covers your sins with the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son!  Jesus covers your sins, having redeemed you, paid your debt and taken your punishment on Calvary's horrid cross!  God covers your sins with the white robe of righteousness which will be given to you and is described in Revelation 7:14.

O, how blessed we are, that God covers our sins!  Give thanks, you're covered!

Psalm 32:1-7

1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

     whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

     through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;

     my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

5 I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity; 

     I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to You at a time when You may be found; 

     surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach Him.

7 You are a hiding place for me; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with shouts of deliverance.