God Brings Justice to Our World
“You say, ‘I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge with equity. When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.’” (Ps. 75:2-5 NIV) No matter what time period we live on this earth, since the time sin entered into the human life, we see ongoing injustices occurring. Some of these injustices we see in our country and other countries in this world. It is when we personally experience an injustice we experience its full ugliness. Perhaps you have experienced an injustice. How is one to handle it? God has spoken clearly in Psalm 75, it is He who is judge. It is Him who will bring justice. He performs His justice with complete equity or righteousness. He will do it in His time. It may seem the world is coming apart. COVID-19 was and is a vivid reminder how fragile the world is. Yet God says it is I that hold the world together. It is God who deals with the arrogant and the wicked. In a sense, they can “blow their own horn” but “it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.” (Ps. 75:8) Knowing that God will bring justice, as what has been mentioned above, how can we not bring praise to Him. The Psalmist says, “We praise you, God, we praise you, for your Name is near; people tell of your wonderful deeds.” God the judge is near us when injustice occurs. His presence surrounds us and brings to us hope, healing, and freedom from the ugliness of injustice. Let us tell others of His greatness! Gary 3 Month Reading Plan - Psalm 70-71
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Sunday Morning Worship Service. Join us for worship and the sermon. Please read the Psalm in preparation.
Pastor Paris 3 Month Reading Plan [ ] October 10, 2021 Psalm 69 Journal: Psalm 71: 5, 14 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord. But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.
The author of Psalm 71 is recounting how God has worked in his life over the years. Although he recognizes that there have been enemies, troubles, and barren times, the faithfulness of God has been evident. This world needs hope. This church needs hope. I need hope. But is this wishful thinking? A fingers- crossed whisper of please, please, please? There has got to be more than just optimism thrown in for good measure. Ron Hutchcraft in his book Hope when Your Heart is Breaking defines hope as “a buoyant confidence, acknowledging the hurt, but anchored in an unseen but certain reality.” I am buoyant with my life jacket on when I go kayaking. If I fall in the water, I will get wet and may even swallow some water, but I don’t stay under. I come back up. Whatever life has thrown at you—divorce, separation, illness, betrayal, loss—can make us go under, but with hope in the Lord, we don’t stay down. An anchor is a metal apparatus that is used to secure a boat, so it won’t drift away from the shore because of the wind. Our hope is anchored in the truth of Scriptures and in the person of Jesus Christ so that we don’t drift away from God. God does not want us to dismiss our losses and difficulties as if they never happened because it did and it changes us, but it doesn’t have to define us. He wants us to anchor our troubles and barren times in light of His reality so that we can hope and praise Him. I can have a buoyant confidence that acknowledges my hurt while praising Him who is my certain reality. Heather 3 Month Reading Plan - Psalm 68 1 Make haste, 0 God, to deliver me! 0 LORD, make haste to help me! 2 Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned back and brought to dishonour who delight in my hurt! 3 Let them turn back because of their shame who say, "Aha, Aha!" 4 May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, "God is great!" 5 But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, 0 God! You are my help and my deliverer; 0 LORD, do not delay! (ESV)
"Make haste, for I'm in deep distress, my case is urgent; help me now." Urgent prayer. With some variations, this psalm is very similar to Psalm 40. The chief difference between them is the sense of urgency in today's psalm. David gets right to the point with a repeated plea for God's help (vv. 1, 5). His example is a good reminder for us. "It is not forbidden us, in hours of dire distress, to ask for speed on God's part in his coming to rescue us ... It is most [appropriate] that we should day by day cry to God for deliverance and help:' Also, verse 2 is more succinct than Psalm 40:14, a further reminder of the urgency of his prayer. Spurgeon points out that "a man in haste uses no more words than are actually necessary:' The pressing need to come to God is based on the fact that we are poor and needy (v. 5). Paradoxically, "our poverty is our wealth, even as our weakness is our strength." Even though our prayers are urgent we have confidence in God, who is able to deliver us (v. 5). He is the LORD, who is faithful to his covenant with us. Pastor Paris 3 Month Reading Plan - Psalms 66-67 In the two translations I have before me, Psalm 63 is titled “Joy in the fellowship of God” and “Desire for God”
Our mighty God, He who holds the whole world, He desires to be with us and when we desire to be with Him, it creates an intimate relationship that is filled with love and joy. He who holds the whole world is our mighty God. He desires to be with us, and when we desire to be with Him, it creates an intimate relationship that is filled with love and joy. Even in our brokenness, our human relationships reflect a glimpse of the rich relationship to be experienced between us and God. Our God is a father to us, and we are His children. If you were blessed with loving parents as a child, do you remember how much joy you felt when they came to pick you up and how much joy you felt when playing together? This joy came forth out of an intimate relationship based on unbreakable love. In a similar way we, His Church, are called the bride, and Jesus is our bridegroom. If you got married, do you remember the longing you had for your spouse as you were getting married? Do you remember the joy you experienced when you were able to spend time together and nothing else mattered? The thought of being together when separated and being together paired with joyful thoughts. Even if you haven’t experienced these relationships with other people, seek to understand how you can experience a greater and fuller relationship with God. It’s so important to realize how much God desires to have a personal intimate relationship with us, and understand that He doesn’t hold back. God loved us so much, He came down to earth in the person of Jesus Christ to die for us, being beaten and shamed and experiencing a horrible death. He did that out of love for you and me! That’s how much He loves us! Now Psalm 63 is a wonderful example of how we need to respond to His love within this relationship. It shows us how we need to long for God, how we need to be so in awe of His perfect goodness, His perfect greatness, His perfect lovingkindness towards us. This psalm was written as David was in the wilderness of Judah. So no matter where you are in life, whether on the mountain top or in a time of wilderness and chaos and despair, you can always find joy in your relationship with our God. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise (Psalm 100:4) and spend time with God, for as in Psalm 16 it is written, “In Your presence is the fulness of joy”. Steven 3 Month Reading Plan - Psalms 64-65 Can a walk through the shadow of death be merciful? A place where it is just you and God, your faith on trial. Picture Moses and the Israelites standing on the shore of the Red Sea, water in front and an angry army behind. Yet Moses’ command to the people is merely to “not be afraid, stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Lord will fight for you, you need only be silent” (Exodus 14:14). What is God’s part? To fight. What is the people’s part? To be silent. This is what David calls to himself, to wait on God in silence.
David contemplates God in verse 2, describing him as his rock, salvation and fortress reaching this conclusion, “I shall not be greatly shaken”. Yet attackers await. Attackers who bless with their mouths but have cruel internal motivations. Attackers who only long to tear down others with no plan to build up. Just David, clinging to God, surrounded by a mob. What is God doing? Well David is sure to remind himself of it. God is being David’s rock, his salvation, and his fortress. A repeat of verse two with one interesting twist. When viewing his attackers and then refocusing on God, David’s words change. He will no longer be “greatly shaken” (v2), rather he will no longer be “shaken” (v6) at all! Why? Because of who his God is. Do you want to see evil, and specifically evil men as “but a breath”? (v9) Remember who God is as David does with these words, “power belongs to God and that to you O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work” (v11-12). Amen. Lord help us, by the power of your Spirit, to first focus on you. Pastor Josh Dekker 3 Month Reading Plan - Psalm 61-63 Ps 57:1
“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.” I wonder what it was like for David as he sat in the cave fearing for his very life. Imagine this man, who years earlier was anointed to be the next king and know he finds himself hiding from the person who stands in his way to be crowned the king. In verse 2 as he is crying out to God wondering if the promise of being a king will ever happen, yet as we continue to read in verse 3 he holds onto the promise that God’s love is greater than the enemies that are looking for his very life. David, I believe, was a man full of passion and a heart that had its highs and lows. The description of a dark gloom over his spirit is evident as he describes his mindset of weariness as you read through verse 4 & 5 This doom and gloom doesn’t hold onto his heart as he began to put your trust in the one who holds the world together. David cries out, “ Ps 57: 7-8 “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! 8 Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!” Today if this is a day of downcast for you, be rest assured that there will be a day when we look to the steadfast love of God and it is a new Day to welcome the dawn to serve our God another day. Pastor Paris 3 Month Reading Plan - Psalms 59-60 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?
David’s escapades in the hills of Israel while fleeing Saul’s men in 1 Samuel feels like watching an old episode of Kiefer Sutherland’s show “24”. We get a clue when we read Psalm 56 when he says “men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride.” Unless you are leading a life I know nothing about, not many of us can say that “men hotly pursue me”. But what about the other things that seem to be constantly behind us as if in hot pursuit? Betrayal Worries Disappointments Grief All these leave us fearful, hidden and alone. David offers a remedy which he found to be tried and true. Verse 3 starts off with when. It’s a condition and when that condition occurs something else will happen. This type of conditional sentence is used when you express general truths of the real world. It is not hypothetical such as the idea of what would you do if you won 5 million dollars? The winning of a 5 million dollars is unlikely. However, there are general truths that happen when one condition occurs and is followed by a result. For example, “When it rains, the grass gets wet.” Or “When you bring a snowman inside, it will melt.” When I am afraid—that is the condition. And who of us hasn’t been afraid? Or fearful? Or worried? When those feelings come up, what is the response? David simply says, “I will trust in you.” Like the snowman who is brought inside by a hopeful child is sure to melt, David says the likelihood of being afraid and following through with trust is also a reality. It was almost as if it was automatic response. What do you do when you are afraid? Or lonely? Or desperate? “In God I trust: I will not be afraid.” Heather 3 Month Reading Plan - Psalms 56-58 Sermon - Please read Psalm in preparation
Pastor Paris 3 Month Reading Plan - Psalms 54-55 When you read through this Psalm there is once again the comparison of the followers of God and those opposed to God. J.A. Motyer writes,
“Though parallel to Psalm 14, Psalm 53 focuses the same truth on a different subject. The key variation comes in v 5. Psalm 14:5 remarks on the dread which seized the foes of the Lord’s people when the realization dawned that the Lord was in the company of the righteous; 53:5 rebukes needless fear felt by God’s people when faced by their foes (4), since God scattered their opponents. Together, therefore, the psalms exhibit contrasting facets of the same situation: when danger threatens, their enemies have everything to fear, and God’s people have nothing to fear.1” This Psalm is a reminder that we need to continually look to God for our strength and portion. The fears of this world are driven by the lack of confidence in an All-Powerful God. A God who calls us his friend when we put our faith and trust in Him. 1(Motyer, J. A. (1994). The Psalms. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 520). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.) 3 Month Reading Plan - Psalms 51-53 |
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