Psalms of Faith

A Life-Related Study From Selected Psalms

Folksongs of Faith

A Life-Related Study from Selected Psalms

By Ray C. Stedman

GL Regal Books

A Division of GL Publications

Ventura, California, U.S.A.

Published by Regal Books A Division of Gospel Light Ventura, California, U.S.A. Printed in U.S.A.

Regal Books is a ministry of Gospel Light, an evangelical Christian publisher dedicated to serving the local church, We believe God's vision for Gospel Light is to provide church leaders with biblical, user-friendly materials that will help them evangelize, disciple and minister to children, youth and families.

It is our prayer that this Regal Book will help you discover biblical truth for your own life and help you meet the needs of others. May God richly bless you.

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The publisher has sought to locate and secure permission for the inclusion of all copyrighted material in this book. If any such acknowledgments have been inadvertently omitted, the publisher would appreciate receiving the information so that proper credit may be given in future printings.

Scripture quotations in this publication are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted 1946 and 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the NCCC, U.S.A., and used by permission. Also quoted is the King James Version.

Psalms of Faith is a revision of an earlier course titled Folk Psalms of Faith.

© Copyright 1973, 1988 by Ray C. Stedman

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data.

Stedman, Ray C.

Psalms of Faith: a life-related study from selected Psalms / Ray C. Stedman. p. cm.--(Bible commentary for laymen)

ISBN 0-8307-1324-7 1. Bible. O.T. Psalms--Commentaries, I. Bible.

1989. II. Title. III. Series.

BS1430.3.s74 1989

223".207'7--dcl9

Rights for publishing this book in other languages are contracted by Gospel Literature International (GLINT). GLINT also provides technical help for the adaptation, translation, and publishing of Bible study resources and books in scores of languages worldwide. For further information, contact GLINT, Post Office Box 4060, Ontario, California, 91761-1003, U.S.A., or the publisher.

Dedicated to

my wife Elaine

and my four daughters

Sheila

Susan

Linda

Laurie

who have taught me much and loved me more

Preface

Introduction

1. A Song of Foundations (Psalm 1)

How can we be sure to establish a God-centered life rather than an ungodly life?

2. Man and God (Psalm 8) 24

How can the recognition of the majesty of God lead us to an understanding of the significance of man?

3. Opening the Books (Psalm 19)

Will a study of the Book of Nature and the Book of God's Word reveal an attempt to remove God from His own creation?

4. Best Wishes for the Future (Psalm 20)

Is it possible to face the future with a sense of excitement, regardless of what perils or joys await us?

5. The Suffering Savior (Psalm 22)

Can the mystery of why the Son of God was abandoned by His Father be explained?

6. The Shepherd Psalm (Psalm 23)

As the Great Shepherd, what is God's plan for nourishing and guiding His sheep?

7. Facing Fear (Psalm 34)

How can we achieve that "perfect love" that "casts out fear"? (l John 4:8)

8. Lo, I Come (Psalm 40)

How can we resist the false allure of the world as we wait patiently for the Lord's return?

9. A Song of Confidence (Psalm 42 43)

How can we find the peace and confidence of resting in the ultimate refuge--the Word of God?

10. The King in His Beauty (Psalm 45)

In what ways can Christ's beauty affect our lives?

11. Here Comes the Judge (Psalm 50)

Why would a God of love come as a devouring fire?

12. How to Handle a Bad Conscience (Psalm 51)

Is it possible to stand sinless before a righteous God?

13. A Song of Confession (Psalm 73)

Are we ever justified in comparing our lot with the ungodly?

14. The Living God (Psalm 84)

Is God's plan for us limited to our future in heaven, or does it apply to us today?

15. A Song of Realities (Psalm 90)

What can the course of history tell us about the nature of God?

16. How to Worship (Psalm 95)

Is it possible to become a continually worshiping people?

17. A Song of Restoration (Psalm 107)

How can we lay hold of the power that frees and restores?

18. When You Are Falsely Accused (Psalm 109)

When God's people are being persecuted, whose responsibility is it to defend God's name?

19. Who Am I, Lord? (Psalm 139)

How can we, through the marvelous revelation of the thoughts of God, understand ourselves?

A leader's guide for individual or group study with this book is available from your church supplier.

Preface

For centuries the Psalms have been read and loved by people from many backgrounds and viewpoints, largely because, being poetry, they speak to the heart directly. They laugh, they sing, they weep, they rail, they cry out in pain, fright, derision, joy, and the sheer delight of life. Consequently, many read them solely to find an answering spirit to their own mood.

But the Psalms are much more than poetry. Many of them bear the title Maskil or teaching psalm. They are thus intended to instruct the mind as well as to encourage the heart. They are designed not only to reflect a mood, but to show us also how to handle that mood; how to escape from depression, or how to balance exaltation with wisdom. This quality is the mark of their divine character. They are not merely human folksongs, reflecting the common experience of men, but they relate also the wisdom  and release that ensues when a hurt or a joy is laid at the feet of God.

It was a great personal joy to me to share these studies with the responsive congregation of the Peninsula Bible Church. I am delighted also that two of the studies--those on Psalms 23 and 34--are written by my gifted former colleague, David H. Roper, and reflect his careful and insightful exposition.

It is my prayer that God will use these studies to open many eyes to the beauty and help of the Psalms.

Ray C. Stedman

Introduction

The Psalms are particularly appropriate for our day because they relate the experiences of believers of the past, reflecting the emotional upsets, problems, and disturbances that saints of old have gone through. They are wonderful for helping us in our own emotional pressures.

There is no book like the Psalms to meet the need of the heart when it is discouraged and defeated, or when it is elated and encouraged. This book is absolutely without peer in expressing these emotional feelings. The Psalms are helpful simply because they teach us how to find our way through many types of problems. These marvelous folksongs are much like the ballad style of music that was so popular in the late '60s and early '70s, simply recounting what various men and women of the past have experienced.

Most of the Psalms were written by David. Others were written by his choir leaders in Jerusalem, and the names of Asaph, Jeduthun, Ethan, and others appearing in the Psalms are royal choirmasters. One or two were written by Moses, and one or two by King Solomon. There are several Psalms whose authors it is impossible to identify. The whole book is a collection that has been put together by the ancient Hebrews in order that we might understand what the people of God have gone through and how they found their way out of their troubles.

The Psalms divide into five books, which are similar in theme to the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The first book of Psalms ends with Psalm 41 and echoes the theme of Genesis, an introduction to human life arid a revelation of the needs of the human heart. It is the book of foundations. The second book of Psalms begins with Psalm 42 and runs through Psalm 72. This corresponds to the book of Exodus. That is the book of redemption, the story of God's moving in human history to change and redeem people and save them from themselves.

The third book begins with Psalm 73 and goes through Psalm 89. It is like the book of Leviticus, the book in which Israel learned how to draw near to God, how to worship Him through the provision God made for His people, the tabernacle. Then Psalm 90 to Psalm 106 constitutes the fourth book, which goes along with the book of Numbers, the book of wilderness wandering, of testing and failure. Finally, the fifth book covers Psalm 107 to Psalm 150 and is like the book of Deuteronomy, the second law, i.e., the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which sets us free from the law of sin and death (see Romans 8:2). It describes the way by which God finally accomplishes the redemption and sanctification of His people, the changing of human beings into the kind of men and women He originally designed.

CHAPTER 1. A SONG OF FOUNDATIONS

PSALM 1

Psalm 1 to 4-1 make up the first book of Psalms that parallels the first book of the Pentateuch, Genesis. This first book of Psalms records the beginnings of life and the basic needs of the human heart. Psalm 1 is a description of the wicked and the righteous. It describes both the God-centered life and the self-centered life.

When the psalms talks about the wicked it is not referring to murderers, rapists, or drug dealers, the kind of people we usually think of as wicked. We often think of some notorious person, such as a gangster or hoodlum, as being wicked. But the psalmist does not mean that.

The term really means the ungodly, the one who has little or no time for God in his life; someone who has ruled God out of his affairs and his thinking. God is the greatest Being in the universe, the One who makes sense out of life, the One around whom all of life revolves. To eliminate such a Being from one's thinking is to be wicked, or to be ungodly. But in contrast, the God-centered life is set before us, and the results that come from godliness. That is the simplest division of the psalm two balanced parts.

The God-Centered Life

Look at what is said about the God-centered life. David cries out:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night (vv. 1,2).

That is a description of a life centered in God. Quite appropriately it begins with the word happy. In many versions the word is blessed, but blessed is one of those code words that only Christians use-it really means happy. Here, then, we have the secret of happiness.

You may recognize that word as the way the Lord Jesus began the greatest sermon ever uttered before men, the Sermon on the Mount. It begins with what we call the Beatitudes (another code word, which means "the Blessings"). These Beatitudes are the secret of blessing or happiness. So here in Psalm 1 the psalmist is giving us the clue to happiness. "Oh the blessedness," he says, "oh the happiness of the man who lives like this."

Walking, Standing, Sitting

Then he gives us a description of this man's life, both negatively and positively. First is the negative: "who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers," He gathers up in three key words the varied aspects of life: who walks...who standsÉwho sits.

Notice also the progress of evil. He speaks of the wicked, of sinners, and of the scoffers. The psalmist is pointing out to us that the ungodly are characterized by a totally different way of life, which progresses from bad to worse.

To walk is a reference to the decisions that must be made all day long. We all know how it is. We take steps throughout each day, making decisions about all kinds of matters. Walking is taking a series of steps.

To stand is a picture of the commitments we make to various causes. We give ourselves to certain things, we take our stand upon certain important matters.

To sit is a picture of the settled attitude of the heart, the continuous disposition of a person's life.

Now, says the psalmist, the man who has found the secret of happiness can be recognized by the fact that he does not walk in the way of the wicked, i.e., he does not make decisions as do the ungodly. He has rejected the philosophy of the ungodly. What is that philosophy? Perhaps it can be put into three simple propositions: "Me first"; "Get it now"; "Nothing bad will happen." That is the counsel of the ungodly, the wicked. The man who has learned the secret of happiness rejects that. He does not make his decisions on that basis.

Second, he does not stand in the way of sinners. This word sinners is most interesting in the Hebrew. It is a word that means "to make a loud noise" or "to cause a tumult." It is the idea of provoking a riot, of creating a disturbance, making trouble. The psalmist says you can recognize the godly man in that he does not make trouble. He does not provoke riots, he is not at work causing disturbances; he is obedient to the laws of life and of the land.

He does not "stand in the way of' (does not identify with) those who live to cause trouble. He has rejected all that.

Third, he does not sit in the seat of the scornful, of those who blame everyone but themselves for what is wrong. We all know how easily that kind of attitude comes to our heart. If anything goes wrong, somebody else is always at fault right? Parents blame the children, the children blame the parents, and they both blame the schools. The schools blame the parents and the government. One nation blames another nation. Everyone is blaming everyone else. That is the philosophy of the world, is it not? These are the scornful, the scoffers, the cynics, who cast a baleful eye at life in general and blame others for their problems.

A Positive Description

The godly man has rejected that attitude. On the contrary, his life is characterized by positive things. He is selfless in his motivations, obedient in his actions, obedient to law, and he does not adopt the role of the critic, but is cheerful and acceptant of whatever comes as coming from the hand of God. I love that description of a Christian, "A Christian is one who is completely fearless, continually cheerful, and constantly in trouble." This is exactly what the psalmist describes. It is an unusual life. I think most of us, hearing this, say to ourselves, "Do I meet that description?"

But that is the negative side. Now look at the positive side. "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night" (v. 2). Here is the reason why this man is able to reject the world's philosophy. He has learned to delight in the law of the Lord. Now "the law of the Lord" is, in the Psalms, another name for the Scriptures. It means more than the Law of Moses; it includes the whole revelation of God. This godly person has learned that in the book of God he is given a completely different view of life than what he gets from the world.

In the book he is told the truth about life. He has learned to delight in this book, which tells him the truth and shows him a whole new way of life.

Discovering Truth and Appropriating Power

If this were the only description of the godly man, one might infer that this man thinks too much of himself; that he does not act like others because he thinks he is better than they are. But this second verse makes clear that this is not the reason why he lives the way he does. It is because he has discovered the truth about himself out of the law of God.

One Sunday morning a minister read the following verses from 1 Corinthians 6 to his congregation. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

Then he said to the congregation, "Now that is a description of the Christians in Corinth and the life they once had led. I would like to ask if there are any here who have had this kind of a background. How many in this congregation have done some of the things listed here?" He read the list again, "Immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, greedy, revilers, and robbers." One by one, all over the congregation people began to stand to their feet until more than half the congregation was standing.

A young man was visiting the church for the first time that morning. He had recently become a Christian and had attended several churches looking for a fellowship where he could feel at home. He took one look at this great crowd and said, "These are my kind of people."

Yes, "Such were some of you. But you are washed, you are sanctified (made clean), you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God." That is what the man of the first Psalm discovers when he reads the law of God. He learns not only that God demands a certain perfection, but also how that perfection is made possible through the Redeemer whom God will send, whose life he learns to share. By faith, he learns to appropriate the strength of that coming Lord.

He meditates on the law day and night. That does not mean he goes around thinking about Scriptures and repeating them over and over all day long. That is a mechanical understanding of this verse. Rather, this man has learned a wonderful new life made possible by God and available for any situation. He keeps appropriating it all day and all night, whenever he needs it.

He does not attempt to mobilize his human resources or to find some kind of encouragement from outsiders and thus to depend upon external circumstances for peace and rest; he learns to draw only upon the strength of God. This is the secret of the godly life. This is the only way any of us can learn to be selfless, obedient, and cheerful under every circumstance.

A "Deep-Rooted" Life

Now the psalmist goes on to give us the evaluation of this kind of life,

He is like a free planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers (v. 3)

Many years ago when I was first beginning my ministry, we held a youth conference in the Sierra Nevada. There a young man came to me and took me aside. We stood together underneath a great Douglas fir and he said, "Pastor, I don't know what is the matter with me. I want to be a good Christian, and I try hard, but somehow I just never seem to make it. I'm always doing the wrong thing. I just can't live like a Christian."

I said to him, "Well, there may be several reasons for that, but let me ask you this: What about your private life with the Lord? How well do you know the Lord? How much do you delight in reading His Word and then spending time talking to Him? Because, after all, it's not the time spent in reading the Word that's important, but it's the time spent in enjoying the presence of God that strengthens you."

He hung his head and said, "Well, I admit I don't do very much of that."

Just then this very phrase from the Psalms flashed into my mind, "He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water." I stepped back and said to him, "Look at this tree we're under. What does it remind you of? What are the qualities this tree suggests to you?"

He looked at the great Douglas fir, towering into the heavens above, and said, "Well, the first thing is, it's strong.

I said, "Yes. Anything else?"

"Well," he said, "it's beautiful.'

Finding Beauty and Strength

I said, "Exactly! Beauty and strength. Those are the two things you admire about this tree. And those are exactly the two things you want in your own life, aren't they? Beauty and strength?" He said, "Right."

"Well," I said, "tell me this: What makes this tree beautiful and strong? Where does it get its beauty and its strength?"

He stopped for a moment and looked at the tree, then he said, 'Well, from the roots, I guess."

I asked him, "Can you see the roots?"

"No," he said, "you can't." Then he said, "I get it! That is the hidden part of life, but it is the secret of this tree's beauty and strength, isn't it?

That is what this psalmist is saying The man who is godly has learned, in the hidden inner parts of his life, to draw upon the grace and glory and strength of God. His roots run deep into rich and moist soil, and this is what makes him beautiful and strong He is like a tree planted by rivers of water.

Bringing Forth Fruit

And he is fruitful. "He brings forth fruit in its season." That is probably a reference to the fruit of the Spirit, which is described in the New Testament. It is the character of God which is always the same in either the Old or the New Testament: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control.

"Its leaf does not wither." That means he is always vital, always an exciting kind of person. He is never dull, never dreary, never boring; he is an exciting, vital person because he is in touch with a vital God. Finally, all that he does prospers; he is effective. What he puts his hand to he accomplishes because he is not doing it in his own strength but in the strength of another, a hidden Other, from whose resources he is continuously drawing.

That, you see, is the godly life. The man who learns to live that way is a happy person. It does not make any difference what his outward circumstances may be, because happiness does not consist in the abundance of things that you possess, as Jesus tells us. This man is happy because he has learned the true secret of happiness. "In all that he does, he will prosper." That is God's promise.

The Ungodly Life

Now, more briefly, in contrast to this he describes the man who has no time for God.

The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff

which the wind drives away (v. 4).

It takes two verses to describe the secret of the godly life; it only takes two words to describe the life of the ungodly: "not so." Everything that is said about the godly is "not so" for the ungodly. They believe in the philosophy of the world, the counsel of the ungodly. (Me first; Get it now; Nothing bad will happen.) They are involved in small or large acts of rebellion. They violate the fundamental laws of life, yet they blame everyone else for their troubles. "The ungodly are not so," not like the godly, "but," and here is the evaluation of their life, "are like the chaff which the wind drives away" (v. 4).

A Worthless Existence

I do not think city folks understand chaff. In Montana every fall we had harvesters who came around with a thrashing rig. The bundles of wheat would be thrown into this machine. The straw would be blown out onto the stack and the wheat would come dribbling out to be poured into trucks or wagons and taken away to the granary. But floating around in the air everywhere was chaff. It was the "awfullest stuff' you ever saw. It stuck to the skin wherever you were sweating--on the back of your neck and down your shirt. It created frightful itching. It was universally regarded as totally worthless.

Clear back in David's day, 1000 years before Christ, the only thing they could think of to do with chaff was to let the wind blow it away. And still, 2,000 years after Christ, the only thing we can do with chaff is to blow it away. The thrashing rig tries to blow it up onto the straw stack and get it out of the way, for it has no value at all.

And that is God's evaluation of the life that has no room for Him. It is like chaff. Oh, it may be very impressive in the eyes of the world. Such a man may have a beautiful home, drive several big cars, have many luxuries, and be regarded as a big wheel. But in God's evaluation, his life is worthless and he's only going around in circles. He has never fulfilled a single purpose for which God put him in this world. His life is so much wasted time as far as God is concerned. It is worthless, like the chaff that the wind drives away.

No Standing Before God

As a result, there are two things said of Him "He shall not stand in the judgment." That means the daily judgment of God, the evaluation that God constantly makes of our lives. This man has no standing in that at all. Everything he does is so much wasted labor. Nor will he be "in the congregation of the righteous" (v. 5). That is a reference to the final judgment. When all the redeemed are gathered together, this man will be absent. He may even have been religious. I rather think he was. But, you remember, Jesus said that, "Many shall say in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And did we not do many mighty works and cast out demons in your name?" And he shall say, "Depart from me I never knew you" (see Matthew 7:22, 23). I never knew you. This man shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous because he has never put God at the center of his life.

A Contrast of Good and Evil

Then the psalm concludes with a tremendous word of explanation. Why does all this happen in this way? Why is it that, though outwardly a man's life may be very impressive, inwardly it may be nothing but a hollow shell, empty and worthless? The answer is, "The Lord knows the way of the righteous" (Psalm 1:6). The Lord knows that path, He is watching over that man, guiding him, guarding him, and keeping him (or her). "But the way of the wicked (the ungodly) will perish" (v. 6). That means it will dribble out into nothing. "His lamp will be put out in utter darkness," says the proverb, a tremendous phrase (Proverbs 20:20).

This has never been demonstrated more strikingly than in the days of the New Testament. There came a time when the apostle Paul stood as a prisoner before Nero Caesar. Nero was at that time a most dissolute, vain, cruel, inhuman, implacable monster. He is regarded now by historians as one of the most vile and contemptible rulers ever to sit upon a throne. He even commanded that the body of his own mother be ripped apart that he might see the womb that had borne him. He once saw a handsome young man in his court and he ordered him castrated and used him as a woman the rest of his life. Yet Nero's name was known all over the empire. He was Caesar. The whole of the Roman world bowed to his will. The life of that mighty empire revolved around this man, Nero Caesar.

Then there stood before him this obscure little Jew, Paul the apostle, from a despised Roman province. No one knew him. He had scarcely been heard of except in a few isolated places where he had caused certain troubles. He was a prisoner in chains, standing before this mighty emperor. Yet, as it has been often pointed out, today we name our sons Paul, and our dogs, Nero. "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

Prayer: Father, we cannot read these words without asking ourselves the question: Have we discovered the secret of happiness? Are we allowing this marvelous provision for producing godlikeness to be at work in us? Or does a great deal of our life still consist of ungodliness so that we are like the chaff the wind drives away? Are great areas of our life worthless and wasted because we are living on the principles and precepts of the world around us? Lord, thank you for having come to teach us the way of godliness, and to show us how your life can be manifest in us. We pray that you will help us to lay hold more fully of this life, that our lives, in the Day of Judgment, will find value; that we shall stand in the congregation of the righteous; that we may live the remaining years of our life, under your eye, in your living care. This we ask in your name, Amen.

CHAPTER 2. MAN AND GOD

PSALM 8

The inscription of Psalm 8 states "To the choirmaster: according to the Gittith." The word gittith means a winepress but also designates a stringed instrument, which was shaped like a winepress. The Greeks took the word and the instrument that it represented and called it a kithara; from that comes the Spanish guitarra and from that the English guitar. We are therefore in the prophetic succession when we hear a guitar accompaniment to these psalms. They were designed to be sung to the music of a guitar.

The Majesty of God

The theme of Psalm 8 is given to us in the first and last verses,

O Lord, Our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth) (v. 1).

It is a psalm of David and most scholars feel that it probably comes from the early part of David's ministry, reflecting his experience as a shepherd boy alone at night with his sheep on the hillsides of Judea, under the starlit heavens. There he had ample opportunity to observe the glories of God in nature. It is evident that the psalmist is greatly impressed with the being of God. This psalm sets forth what he has discovered about God that awes and inspires him. He can only express it in these beautiful words, "How majestic is thy name in all the earth!"

Many years ago, a young man came up to me at the close of a service held at a beautiful conference grounds high in the Cascade Mountains of northern Washington. We had been discussing the greatness of God, the glory of His person, the warmth of His compassion, and His redemptive love for mankind. At the close of the service this young man came up and, in contemporary words but with utmost reverence, he said, "Man, God really swings, doesn't He?" Surely that is something of what the psalmist is saying here. What a tremendous God! How majestic! How excellent is His name in all the earth!

The Simplicity of God

Verses 2 through S tell us why the psalmist came to this conclusion, what it is about God that is so impressive. The first thing is rather startling. It is God's simplicity. He puts it this way:

Thou whose glory above the heavens is chanted by the mouths of babes and infants, thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes, to still [or silence] the enemy and the avenger (v. 2).

What had impressed this man was that the transcendent glory of God, His greatness, which was far above all the heavens, could still be grasped and expressed by a child. Evidently he had often struggled to put into words the thoughts and ideas of his heart, but he found that his rationality, his intelligence, was challenged by such an attempt Yet here is a God who can reveal himself in such marvelous ways that children, babes, infants even, can grasp what He means. They often understand more rapidly and more thoroughly than do the intelligentsia.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

The psalmist's observation is confirmed by an incident from the New Testament. In the twenty-first chapter of Matthew, the Lord Jesus quotes the words of this psalm on a certain occasion. Matthew tells us:

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant; and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise?" (vv. 14-16).

These chief priests and scribes thought that Jesus should be offended by the fact that these street urchins, ragged and dirty, were crying out, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" This was not a children's choir trained by the temple leaders. It was merely a band of ordinary children who happened to be there at the time Jesus healed the blind and the lame. But when they saw these wonderful things, the children began to cry out, "Praise be to the Son of David! Hosanna to the Son of David!" The scribes and chief priests were indignant and thought Jesus ought to silence these ragamuffins.

Instead, He said, "They are the ones who have caught the truth, they are the ones who see. They understand that here is being manifested the healing power of God. It is all right in line with the prediction of David in the eighth Psalm that God's marvelous simplicity can be conveyed to a child much more easily than it can to an adult."

Remember that the apostle Paul says much the same thing in his opening words in 1 Corinthians. He declares that God has deliberately designed life in this way. God has chosen the weak things and the things that are not to set at naught, to show up, to expose the things that are--to convey His messages through weak, foolish and obscure things. Every now and then God seems to delight in taking some poor uneducated person and using him in great power to change a nation or the world. He has the ability to convey himself to the childlike mind. The reason for this of course is because children (and those who are childlike) are filled with humility. Pride blots out truth.

Any time you approach the Scriptures, regarding them as insignificant or thinking yourself superior to their wisdom so that you must correct them or sit in judgment over them, you will find that their pages are shut to you. You will never understand them at all. But if you look at them as a child looks at life, impressed by everything and listening to everything, not thinking that he knows all the answers but simply trying to observe, then you will find the truth begins to speak volumes to you and you will understand it.

Jesus prayed on one occasion, recorded in Matthew 11, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes" (v. 25).

Confounding the "Wise"

Now, says the psalmist, this is not only the mark of the greatness of God, but it is also that which baffles the enemy. By means of His ability to convey truth to infants, God has founded a bulwark--erected a wall--"because of your foes, in order to silence the enemy and the avenger." That expresses the idea that when God speaks through children (and childlike persons) He often baffles the rational, the intelligent. Those who pride themselves upon their wisdom are frequently routed by the insight of someone they consider quite insignificant.

It is reported that on one occasion an infidel was lecturing against God. Again and again in his lecture he stated, "There is no God!" In the back of the room listening to the lecture was a rather simple individual who was a believer in God, a Christian. He raised his hand and when the lecturer recognized him, the Christian stood up and. said, "Sir, the next time you say, 'There is no God' would you mind adding, 'as far as I know.'" With keen insight he had put his finger upon the logical fallacy of that lecturer. He was trying to defend a negative absolute. It is impossible to defend such. No one can ever prove that there is no God. This uneducated person saw the error and put his finger right on it. ''You are limited by your own knowledge," he is saying. ''You don't know enough yet. You can't know that there is no God, so don't speak out of your ignorance."

A liberal Sunday School teacher had a class of boys. He was teaching the story of the feeding of the five thousand and said something like this: ''You know, this isn't really a miracle. Jesus did no miracles. What really took place here was that when this crowd was hungry a little boy present there decided to share his lunch with Jesus. He brought his lunch to Jesus and Jesus commended him for this. When the crowd saw that, it suggested to them that if they would share the lunches they had brought, everybody would have enough. So they all began to share and there was plenty for everyone. If there was a miracle at all it was a miracle of sharing." He leaned back rather satisfied with himself on having explained away the miracle.

Then one little boy in his class said to him, "Sir, may I ask a question?"

The teacher said, ''Yes.''

And he said, "What did they fill the twelve baskets with afterwards?"

Thus God, in order to demonstrate His greatness, often uses children to teach truths adults will not face. Man is forever thinking that it takes vast education and profound knowledge to reach God. But God is forever trying to tell us that, although He is certainly in favor of knowledge, for He is a God of truth and knowledge, nevertheless knowledge is not the way man finds God. He finds Him by listening with the humility of a child. That is why Jesus said, "Except you become as little children you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven" (see Matthew 18:3).

An End to Uncleanness

One of the greatest saints of all time and one of the most profound theologians of the church was St. Augustine. He was a wild and profligate young man in his early days in Rome, studying philosophy. He lived an immoral and lecherous life, carousing and reveling till all hours of the night. At last he became sick of his guilt, of his immorality, and in the Confessions tells of his conversion. He says:

"I flung myself under a fig tree and gave free course to my tears. I sent up these sorrowful cries, 'How long, how long? Tomorrow, and tomorrow? Why not now? Why is there not this hour an end to my uncleanness?'

"I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo, I heard the voice of a boy or a girl, I know not which, coming from a neighboring house, chanting, and oft repeating, 'Take up and read; take up and read.' Immediately I ceased weeping, and I began to consider whether it was usual for children in any kind of game to sing such words; for I could not remember ever having heard the like. I got to my feet, since I could not but think that this was a Divine command to open the Bible and to read the first passage I should light upon.

"I quickly returned to the bench where Alypius was sitting; for there I had put down the Apostle's book [the book of Romans] when I had left. I snatched it up, opened it, and in silence read the passage on which my eyes first fell--'Let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.' I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to; for instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty, and all the gloom of doubt vanished away."

What an impressive God, who is able to convey truth in such a simple way, through the lips of a child!

The Wisdom of God

The psalmist now turns to the second thing that has impressed him about God: His wisdom.

When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,

       the moon and the stars which thou hast established;

what is man that thou art mindful of him,

       and the son of man that thou dost care for him? (Psalm 8:3, 4).

Imagine the scene. Here is young David out under the stars at night watching his sheep. Of course, the air at that time and place was not darkened with smog or polluted with the irritants that fill the air today. The stars were brilliant, and the moon, in its full phase, was crossing the heavens. He felt, as we have all felt as we stood under the stars at night, something of mingled mystery and awe as he looked up into the star-spangled heavens. He considered the beauty of nature and its silent witness to the wisdom of God. He sees the ordered procession of the stars and, watching them through the night, sees how they wheel in silent courses through the heavens. He notices the varying glory of different stars, and the evident vast distances that are visible in the heavens. All the breathtaking beauty of this scene breaks upon his eyes as the sun sets. He is astonished at the greatness of a God who could create such things.

The interesting thing is that 30 centuries after David wrote these words we feel the same impression when we consider the starry heavens. Though we are now able to go to the moon, which David could only see, yet all the knowledge that has been gained about the universe in which we live only serves to deepen our impression of the tremendous wisdom and power of God. How vast is the universe in which we live! Incredible in its extent and outreach, these vast distances are spanned only by the measurement of the speed of light and even that is hardly adequate. These billions of galaxies whirl in their silent courses through the deepness of space. How tremendous is the power that sustains it all and keeps it operating as one harmonious unit! That is what impressed this psalmist.

The Significance of Man

Then he faces the inevitable question that comes to man whenever he contemplates God's greatness. "What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?" You will recognize that this is the question that cries for an answer in our day. What is man? Where did he come from? What is his purpose here? Why does he exist on this small planet in this vast universe? Is there meaning, is there significance, is there reason for his living?

Now there are basically only two answers that are being given. A mechanistic science looks out into the universe using instruments of exploration such as the telescope and tells us that man is nothing but another creature like the animals; that he is the highest of the animals; having grown from animal stock, and that he is alone in the universe as an intelligent, rational being. There is nothing beyond the whirling stars; man is part of a great cosmic machine, which grinds on relentlessly; man is but an insignificant cog, hardly able, with the exercise of his utmost powers, to do anything at all about the universe in which he lives. The late Bertrand Russell, whom many regarded as the high priest of humanism, eloquently expressed it this way:

"The life of man is a long march through the night surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, toward a goal that few can hope to reach and where none may tarry long. One by one as they march our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death.

"Brief and powerless is man's life. On him and all his race the slow sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way. For man, condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day."

That philosophy is producing widespread despair in our world today. Everywhere, young men and women, boys and girls, are succumbing to an existentialist despair that says there is nothing permanent, life is futile, and we all live out our days in a hopeless tangle of meaninglessness. As Shakespeare put it, "Life is but a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." We see about us on every side violent attempts to grasp for the moment what life there is. An awful sense of frustration and meaninglessness, skyrocketing suicide rates, and dark despair and spreading a blanket of gloom across the peoples of earth as they face the growing, inexorable problems of our day.

God's Purpose for Man

But contrast that with the biblical view of man, for the psalmist goes on to answer his own question by the revelation of the program and purpose of God for man.

Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea (Psalm 8:5-8).

The psalmist says that God's greatness is revealed in His purpose for man, which is two-fold. First, man has a unique relationship to God. He was made to be a little less than God himself. Some perhaps are startled by that translation, for the King James Version says, "a little lower than the angels." But it was the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament that used the phrase, "the angels." The Hebrew actually says "little less than Elohim" (God).

The Expression of God

That remarkable expression is a revelation of God's purpose for man. According to the Bible, God made man to be the expression of His life, the means by which the invisible God would be made visible to His creatures. Man is to be the instrument by which God can do His work in the world. He is the creature nearest to God. Man is such a unique being, such a remarkable creature, that God Himself intends to live in him to be the glory of man's life. Man is the bearer of God.

What a great gulf there is between this and Bertrand Russell's view of man! What an infinite difference! This is why God loves man--even lost man. He sees in every man and woman His own image, that which was designed for Himself, that which He made to be the bearer of His glory. Thus every person is inexpressibly important to God. God longs to reach every man, woman, boy, girl because each is made and designed for Himself.

The Dominion of Man

But further, says the psalmist, because of that unique relationship, man is designed to be in dominion over all other things. He is to rule the animal creation and all the natural forces in the world in which he lives, and to exercise that dominion in an effective way. We read "Thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field," and we say, "Yes, that's true because man can assert his will over the animals of the world."

But that is not what this psalmist means. He is not talking about man's ability to force the animal creation to obey him. What he is describing is the relationship God intended in which the animals would willingly serve man.

In Hebrews 2 the writer quotes this passage and says two very significant things. First, "We do not yet see all creation in subjection to man" (see v. 8). That is dearly true. Here we are facing the fact that man has been so twisted and perverted by the Fall that instead of running the creation, he is ruining it. He is polluting the air and consuming natural resources at a prodigious rate. He is befouling the waters and the soil and making it almost impossible for human life to continue. We must face this. There is no way out of it. It stares us in the face every time we turn around. Each time we take a breath we experience the terrible evidence for the truth of what the writer says in Hebrews, "We do not yet see all things in subjection to man. " We find no way out.

The Fulfillment of Creation

But he also says something else. "But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death" (Hebrews 2:9). Because of the suffering of death God has crowned Him with the glory and honor that He had intended for man at the beginning. In seeing Jesus, we see that God yet intends to fulfill His original creation.

Watch the Lord Jesus in the Gospel record. The first thing He does is to change water into wine at a wedding feast. He short-circuited the process that is taking place in every vineyard in California right at this moment and thus changed water into wine. But He did not do that as God, He did it as man, man as God intended man to be. When He quieted the winds and the waves with the words, ''Peace, be still," and the wind whimpered and stopped its blowing and the waves quieted down, the disciples looked at one another and said, "What manner of man is this?" (see Matthew 8:26,27). They did not realize that what He had done was not done out of His inherent deity but as a man indwelt by God. As Jesus Himself said, "It is not I who do the works; it is the Father who dwells in me, He does the works" (see John 14: 10). When He broke the loaves and fishes and fed the 5,000, He did not do that as God; He did that as man--man ruling over creation, man fulfilling the intention of God for man. All the other natural miracles that He performed He did not as God but as man. Thus the writer of Hebrews says, "We see Jesus"--the beginning of a new humanity God is building.

God's New Humanity

The ultimate question we are facing here is: What is the purpose of life? What are you here for? Why do you go on making money to buy food and other things year after year? What is the reason for it all? The answer is, if you have discovered Jesus Christ, you are a part of God's new humanity. God is fulfilling His original intention for man right now. He is beginning a new humanity and He is teaching us lessons through the struggles and difficulties of life that we could never learn in any other way.

Paul says in chapter 8 of Romans that the whole creation is eagerly looking forward to the day of the manifestation of the sons of God (see vv. 22,23). God is not going to be defeated by the wickedness and foolishness of man. Even though man is destroying the world in which he lives, making it a mess in which he can no longer exist, yet God will not be defeated. Amidst the increasing ravaging of nature, God is doing something.

The exciting news of today is not what is recorded in our newspaper headlines. The events that are reported in the headlines will all be entombed in some dusty old history book or buried in a trash can in another 10 years. They will be of little significance to any living being at that time. But the exciting thing today is what is happening in the new humanity that God is creating through the trials and difficulties we are experiencing. These troubles are transforming you and me who know Jesus Christ into sons of God who are awaiting the day when the curtain is drawn back and all the world shall see what God has been working on behind the scenes. In Romans 8 the apostle says, "I know that the sufferings of this present time are not worth being compared with the glory that is to be revealed" (see v. 18). In 2 Corinthians he says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (see 4:17).

A Purpose to Life

There is purpose to life--if you know Jesus Christ! There is no purpose outside of Christ. There is no real reason to live if you do not know Jesus Christ. But if you know Him you are part of a new creation that God is fashioning behind the scenes within the framework of history and one of these days it will be revealed. When the curtain is drawn back, all the world--and all the universe--will sing together the words of the last verse of this psalm.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all earth! (Psalm 8:9).

What a magnificent God who can work through babes and infants and who is deeply concerned about man. The one who created the heavens is concerned and compassionate toward men and ultimately will fulfill all the dreams of humanity. "O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is thy name in all the earth!"

We bow before thee, our Father, and almost tremble because we are privileged to call you Father--such a great God, such a revelation of wisdom, greatness, power and strength and yet, our Father, our Lord, our God.

"That thou shouldst so delight in me

and be the God thou art;

Is darkness to my intellect

but sunshine to my heart. "

          (Author unknown, public domain.)

CHAPTER 3. OPENING THE BOOKS

Psalm 19

In 1968 the California State Board of education proposed a modification of its guidelines for textbook selection so that school faculties could have references from which to teach the theory of creation, along with the theory of evolution, (Darwinism) as an approach to understanding the origin and development of life on earth. This proposal evoked considerable reaction, both pro and con. The nineteenth psalm speaks right to the point of that controversy.

The basic issue behind all the arguments is whether or not it is right to acknowledge that God is involved in the universe. Does the study of nature and of science have a spiritual aspect? Are we confronted with God in these realms, we may be in the study of the social sciences like psychology and sociology, and in the humanities? These are really fundamental questions and this psalm deals directly with them.

The Book of Nature

The knowledge of God has been written for us in two volumes, and it takes both volumes to know God. There is a revelation in nature, and there is a revelation given in a Book, in the written Word. Both are essential, to the knowledge and understanding of God declares this psalm. In the first part of this psalm the psalmist, David, sets forth the book of nature:

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world (Psalm 19:l-4)

That is a declaration of the greatness of God as seen in the world of nature. Every night since time began the stars have come out, and they spell out to man the message of the power and wisdom of God. This is becoming especially vivid today. We are starting to read some of the fine print in this book of nature. We have now been able to step outside the envelope of atmosphere that surrounds the earth and see the stars in new glory. We have seen more of the orderliness of the universe, of the procession of the heavenly bodies, and of the marvelous mystery of gravitation, which holds the stars and planets in suspended balance with one another. All this is designed to speak of God and of His intelligence, wisdom and power.

The Story of the Heavens

In the first verse the clarity, the plainness of this revelation is underscored. Literally, "The heavens are 'narrating' the glory of God." They are telling forth a story which, when read, will reveal the glory of God. That is what they are for. And the firmament, the "stretched-out-ness" of space, the infinity of space, proclaims or "shouts about" His handiwork.

Speech and Knowledge

In verse 2 the abundance of this revelation is emphasized: "Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge."

The day pours out information about God and the night also spreads knowledge of God before us. In other words, truth about God is pouring in to us from all dimensions, if we only have eyes to see it. I never read this psalm without thinking of these words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning: "Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush aflame with God; but only those who see take off their shoes, the rest sit round it and pluck blackberries."

Having a "Seeing Eye"

It takes a seeing eye to perceive what God has said in nature, but that which can be seen is pouring in upon us. We have all felt it. It is why a hush falls upon a group of people who step out under the stars in a night sky, when the moon is riding high or the stars glow with glory. We feel the mystery of the infinite, reaching, calling out to our spirits, and a silence descends upon us. It is why men fall silent before the ebb and flow of the sea as they sense the restless, surging power of the sweeping tides. They understand something of the power of God in nature through that. It is why we feel a sense of loneliness and an intimation of infinity when we hear the wind howl, or we watch a storm rage, the thunder and lightning crashing around us. There is something of the voice of God that gets through to us on these occasions.

The Islamic prophet Mohammed wrote in the Koran about the God whom he saw in nature out in the sands of Arabia, back in the sixth century:

"The marvels of the starry heavens, the day that follows the night, the rain that gives life to the dead earth, the ship that sunders the sea, the bird that flies, the horse that gallops, the motionless rose and the still stone, the winds, the clouds, the fire, water, the glance of a woman, the smile of a child, the palm tree that bends, the date that ripens; here, O believers, are the proofs of the power of God. The trees sing of his power, flowers waft their perfume towards him. He is the Lord of the pink morning, the white noon, and the blue evening."

This is the way it ought to be. No men live anywhere who have not been exposed to this witness of God in nature. God has designed that nature should teach man of His being, of His power and of His wisdom.

The Universality of Nature's Revelation

Verses 3 and 4 declare the universality of this revelation: "There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard [the message is not conveyed through actual words which can be heard]; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. "

In the fourteenth chapter of Acts is the account of the apostle Paul and his traveling companion, Barnabas, coming into a pagan city and being received as gods because they performed a miracle. The people thought they were Jupiter and Mercury and began to worship them. Paul and Barnabas stopped the crowd and said, "Don't do that; we're nothing but men, just like you! But we have come to declare the true God unto you, the One who made heaven and earth. He does not need to dwell in temples of stone, and He rejects these idols. But He has not left Himself without a witness among you. He has given you rain and food, has done good to you" (see vv. 15-17). They were referring, of course, to the witness of nature, to its remarkable testimony that behind the universe is a Designer, a Planner, a great and wise Being of infinite power and might.

Clouds Block the Sun

Now, why is it that men do not get this message? Why is it obscured or distorted? In the next two verses the psalmist uses the sun to give us a specific illustration of this testimony of nature:

In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes forth like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and there is nothing hid from its heat (Psalm 19:4-6).

To the observer on earth the sun appears to move across the sky. And as all men see it they are exposed to its testimony. But somehow that testimony has been clouded. Men do not see it clearly. They have missed the message. Instead of worshiping the God who made the sun, they worship the sun. Men have failed to see that just as the sun is needed to give light and strength to all living things on earth, so God is needed to give moral light and spiritual strength to men.

Worshiping Creation Rather than the Creator

I have a print in my study of a famous painting by the great cowboy artist, Charles M. Russell. It shows three Blackfoot Indians facing the sun in the early morning and worshiping it. Why do men, especially children of nature like these Indians, worship the sun? Because the message that comes to us in nature is clouded. Men do not understand it clearly. And, as a result, that which has been designed to teach the deity and the power of God is being missed, overlooked.

That is the great issue at stake in this controversy over creation and evolution. I have no quarrel with scientists who want to come up with hypotheses as to the processes by which the universe was formed and life was developed. This is perfectly proper and is their sphere. The theory of evolution is an attempt at this, based upon certain types of evidence, which have been construed to support it.

Removing God from His Creation

But what is desperately wrong is that Darwinism, as it is largely taught in our schools and our popular communications media today, is often a means of removing God from His creation. It is a way of teaching that this whole process just happened, apart from any exercise of creative intelligence. Thus, the testimony of nature is rendered silent, and the message, which God designed to speak to man, is not heard. Man does not know that there is a God in the universe. Thus man thinks God is dead, if indeed He ever existed at all. Darwinism is one of the major reasons why that idea has taken root in the late '60s and early '70s.

As a result something is happening to us as a people. In the first chapter of Romans the apostle Paul says that men are exposed to the truth about God evident in creation, but they deliberately reject it. Because they do, God lets certain things take place. Paul lists them for us. One is that because men do not like to retain God in their knowledge, He gives them over to a reprobate mind (see v. 28). Their thinking becomes distorted. That is what is producing the twisted applications of some of the discoveries of science, resulting in the tremendously complex, insoluble problems we are facing today.

Men do not want to retain God in their knowledge. There is a conspiracy of silence to eliminate God from His creation. Scientists are unwilling to acknowledge that God is in the laboratory as well as in the church building or in the home. Therefore, God gives men over to a demented science, which produces not only helpful technological achievements but also those which blast and ruin us. Science and technology, once regarded as our benefactors, are now appearing to us more and more as our destroyers, having polluted the atmosphere, ravaged the forests, and destroyed many forms of life. Now we are confronted with the possibility of the total pollution and destruction of our environment. That is the judgment of God upon a world that twists and distorts the revelation of nature.

Nature is designed to tell us not only how things happened but who is behind them. It is perfectly proper for a scientist to investigate the realm of nature. Man has made some wonderful discoveries about how God put things together. These discoveries are fascinating, exciting, opening up whole new vistas of life, and properly so. What is wrong is the attempt to exclude God from that realm and not to allow nature to bring us to the understanding that, behind this universe, behind ourselves and the mystery of our own being, is the great intelligence and wisdom and power of a living God. That is why we feel so lost and lonely, alienated and forsaken in a mechanistic universe.

The Book of His Word

But the book of nature is only volume I. There is also another book, volume II, designed to answer the other pressing questions we humans ask: "Why? What is behind all this? What is the meaning of it all? Where are we headed, and why are we involved in this whole process?" Nature can never answer those questions. Those who work exclusively in the realm of nature can never state a satisfactory purpose for life. Nature simply does not embody that knowledge. If this great, throbbing question ''Why?'' is ever to be answered, the answer must come from the lips of God Himself. So He has given us a Book, and now the psalmist presses on to that. In the next few verses he outlines for us the effect of the Word, the written revelation of God, and what it can do in human life:

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the ordinances of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward (Psalm 19:7-11).

Nature feeds, strengthens, and supports our outer life. But here is the resource of God that touches the inner life and makes for the conquest of that inner space, which is so all-important to human life. The psalmist takes its characteristics one by one and shows us what it can do.

The Law of the Lord

First, "the law of the Lord." That is the widest term for the written revelation God has given us. "The law of the Lord is perfect." It is complete, there is nothing left out. It is comprehensive, it does everything that we need it to do. There is no part of your life, no problem that you will ever face in your life, no question with which you will ever be troubled, that the Word of God does not speak to and illuminate and meet. So it is perfect, "reviving the soul." Remember that Jesus spoke of "rivers of living water," which would be available to buoy up the human spirit and to meet its need. That is exactly what the Word of God is designed to do for us.

The Testimony of the Lord

Second, "the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Sure means "dependable, reliable." You can count upon this word to be true. Therefore, you do not need to know a lot about everything else. Now, the Word of God is not against knowledge; it is only against knowledge that does not begin at the right place. But even if you do not have a lot of knowledge, even if you are "simple" in terms of education, you can still be made wise by trusting Scripture because it is sure, it is reliable. So we are exhorted, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight" (Proverbs 3:5), and, 'There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death" (Proverbs 14:12).

You can be deluded and deceived by some of these alluring, gossamer philosophies that float around today, suggesting, for example, that pleasure is the reason for which you exist, that to enjoy yourself is the supreme object in life, that anything you do in the pursuit of pleasure is right. But the Word of God says, "No, that is not right!" God is the One who ultimately will give pleasure. It will be beyond anything you ever dreamed. But to follow pleasure for pleasure's sake is the way of death, and it will lead you on to that. The testimony, the Word, is sure.

The Precepts of the Lord

Then, "the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart" Do you not rejoice in your heart to know that you are right about something? When you get into a controversy with somebody and he argues with you but you have the solid assurance that you are right--what a feeling! Well, that is the way it is with the Word of God. The glorious thing about His Book is that when the story is all told, when everything is said and done it will all end up just as it is written here. This Book is right, it is the way things really are.

The Commandment of the Lord

"The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." The charge is sometimes made that the Bible is a dirty book because it speaks of incest and adultery and fornication and perversions like homosexuality and other ugly things. It also speaks of malice and bitterness and is filled with slaughter and bloodshed. It is often described as an immoral book, and there have been attempts to classify it with some of the immoral and obscene literature that is so widely available today.

However, there is one great difference. The Bible contains these things because it is a realistic book, which deals with life as it is. The one difference is that it never shows evil as though it were good. It never makes adultery look attractive. The Bible always shows adultery as it really is--sordid and shameful. The Bible never makes homosexuality appear to be inconsequential, but reveals it to be a terrible distortion of human nature. Those engaged in homosexuality are pathetic beings who need to be prayed for and helped and delivered from the awful hold over them, which is destroying their manhood or their womanhood. The Bible is honest about life, frank and forthright. It is pure, enlightening the eyes, showing you the truth. That is what David has found.

The Fear of the Lord

"The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever." The word fear is sometimes read as though it meant cowering in terror before some awful being who is about to strike you dead. But that is not what this means at all. It means respect, honest respect for God. That, says the psalmist, is clean, and it will keep you clean, too. It is "enduring for ever." Once you enter into the fear of the Lord in its rightful sense you find that this produces a quality of life that keeps you from defiling yourself.

The Ordinances of the Lord

Then he sums them all up: "The ordinances of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether." They are also wealth-producing, enriching, "more to be desired than gold," he goes on to say. And they are wonderfully pleasant, marvelously pleasure-producing, "sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward."

Channels to Find the Lord

''Well,'' you might say, "I don't see these things in the Bible. I read my Bible and it's supposed to do that for you, but when I read it I don't find these things." Do you know why? The psalmist will help us with this, too. We need to notice as we go through this list that when David talks about various aspects of revelation he always uses the phrase, "of the Lord. The law "of the Lord," the testimony "of the Lord," the precepts "of the Lord," the commandment "of the Lord"--all the way through.

This, of course, means that these aspects in themselves are not what we need; they are channels by which we find the Lord. It is God who does all these wonderful things for us. He forgives and revives and cleanses and enlightens and makes us to rejoice. It is as we find Him in the pages of Scripture that these wonderful things happen to us.

Discerning Our Errors

The only things that can interfere are given in the next few verses. David asks, "But who can discern his errors?" (v. 12). That is the problem. If you cannot read the book of nature, or you cannot read the book of the Word, it is not because there is anything wrong with either book. The reader is the problem. "Who can discern his error?" What a question that is! It indicates that we are all victims of hidden evil in our lives. If we examine ourselves we usually look fine in our own eyes. The very last verse in the book of Judges says that at one period of Israel's history, "Every man did what was right in his own eyes." That permitted just about anything and the chaos was terrible.

Everybody thinks that what he or she does is right. We cannot see our own errors. Yet these errors, these twists, these distortions of attitude and thought, are constantly affecting us so that we cannot see the truth the way it is. We do not understand it in nature and we do not understand it in the Word. We desperately need to be delivered from hidden errors. In the New Testament the apostle Peter says, "So put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander. [Then you will be] Like newborn babes [who] long for the pure spiritual milk [of the Word], that by it you may grow up to salvation" (1 Peter 2:1, 2).

Cleansing from Our Faults

What hinders our desire for the Word? These hidden errors. The psalmist faces the fact that something is wrong with the reader. So he concludes this psalm with a wonderful prayer:

Clear [or cleanse] thou me from hidden faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression" (Psalm 19:12,13).

"Cleanse thou me from hidden faults." Is that your prayer? Do you know what will happen when you pray that way? You might think that God will take a sponge and wipe around inside you so you will not even know what those hidden faults were. But God does not do that. His way of dealing with hidden faults is either to send somebody to point them out to you or to bring them out through some circumstance in which you are suddenly confronted with what you have done or said. You find it is ugly, and you do not like it. That is the way God cleanses us from hidden faults. He opens up the secret places.

Usually He does it through other people because, as God well knows, we cannot see ourselves, but other people can see us. These faults are hidden to us but not to others. They see them very plainly. And we can see their hidden faults better than they can. You know that you can see the faults of somebody you are thinking about right now better than he can. You say, "I don't see how he can be so blind." Well, someone is thinking that very same way about you. We do not see ourselves. That is why it is necessary to pray, "Lord, cleanse thou me from hidden faults. Help me to see myself through the eyes of a friend who loves me enough to tell me the truth."

And then, "Keep me back from presumptuous sins." Presumptuous sins are those in which you are confident that you have what it takes to do what God wants. Self-confidence is presumption. God never asks us to do anything on that basis. If we depend upon ourselves we are acting presumptuously, and any activity that stems from self-confidence is a presumptuous sin. "Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). For me to act as though there is anything that I can contribute that does not originate with God is to be guilty of this kind of sin. The cure for this is dependence upon the activity of God in you as a believer. So David is praying, "Lord, keep me back from presumptuous activity. Let me realize that without you I can do nothing. Help me to depend upon you to work through me. Then I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression."

Acceptable in His Sight

Then he closes with these often-quoted words, which are wonderfully, marvelously penetrating:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer" (Psalm 19:14).

"Let the words of my mouth--what I say, and the meditation of my heart--what I think, be the kind of words and thoughts that have sat under the judgment of your Word, Father, reflecting the instruction, the light, and the love of your heart, so that what I am, both inside and outside, will be acceptable before you. " That is a wonderful prayer, is it not? That is what opens the books. When you pray that kind of prayer before you read either the book of the Word or the book of nature, you will find that God will speak to you in a marvelous way.

George Washington Carver, that brilliant black scientist, was a warmhearted, humble Christian. He came to God and said, "Lord, there are so many secrets in the universe. Please show me your secrets." God said, "George, the universe is too big for you. I want you to take a peanut and start with that." So George Washington Carver prayerfully began to investigate the mysteries of the peanut. He discovered over 150 new uses for it and thereby revolutionized the technology of the South. He became a tremendous benefactor to mankind and was especially a blessing to the black people because he began with this prayer: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."

Prayer: Thank you, Father, for this word of instruction to our own hearts and lives. We pray that we may follow through on this truth and live in the humble understanding that you have revealed yourself to us, Lord. Let us be ready to listen and see, ready to search and find out and discover. We ask in your name, Amen.

CHAPTER 4. BEST WISHES FOR THE FUTURE

Psalm 20

I never think of the future without a sense of adventure, and also an awareness of peril, of danger. I do not know how you feel, but l feel a little fear, as well as the thrill of excitement, as I look forward to the years ahead. Standing at the gateway of each new day or month or year makes us all feel very much like explorers entering an unknown land where we do not know what lies ahead--what perils may beset us, or what joys await us.

It seems that every problem the world could possibly face is fast coming to a head. Population explosion, world food shortages, lack of natural resources, air pollution scientists tells us that these problems will have to be solved soon, or they will be unsolvable. It is an ominous picture.

The twentieth Psalm is wonderfully suitable for us at this point in history because it is a song that the people of Israel sang when the king went forth to battle. Before he went out to face the peril and uncertainty of war, they sang this psalm as a prayer for his safety and victory. It was not just a nice custom on their part. It was a genuine prayer, an expression of their faith, a song of trust in the power of the living God who would keep the king and his armies in the midst of desperate battle.

The psalm falls into three natural divisions. The first five verses are the people's prayer for the king. In verses 6 through 8 we have the king's response. Verse 9 is a shout of benediction by the people.

A Day of Trouble

You remember that the New Testament tells us that God has made every believer in Jesus Christ to be both a king and a priest (see 1 Peter 2:9). So when we read Old Testament stories about kings and priests of old, we are perfectly justified in applying them to ourselves. They are designed to teach us how a king ought to act and how a priest ought to behave, to lead us through experiences that kings and priests have, and to show us the way out.

It opens with a very realistic recognition of the situation:

The Lord answer you in the day of trouble!

       The name of the God of Jacob protect you! (Psalm 20:1).

Right from the start there is recognition that the king is heading into a day of trouble. It is not easy to fight battles, but this king had no choice but to do so.

We do not know what lies ahead, but we do know that we have never faced such a time of peril and danger to the human race as we are facing today. What awaits us is no joke. It is going to be tough, really tough. A teenager I once knew put it this way in the opening paragraphs of an editorial published in his high school newspaper.

"Things are happening, and they're happening fast: at this very moment, millions are starving in Africa, India, and Asia. . . . overpopulation is threatening every country in the world, including ours. . . . Violence is increasing by leaps and bounds. . . . Scientists predict that within the next few years, the world's food shortage will start affecting the United States seriously. . . . Man is now capable of completely wiping himself out hundreds of times over with the pushing of some buttons. . . . Pollution is very real--the history of the automobile in America can be read by the layers of lead from car exhaust in the remote snows of Greenland. . . . DDT has been found in seals from the far north. . . . Every year the risks of life become greater. We never know when the next international crisis could threaten the troubled tranquility of the world; tension over race relations, and economic hardship are always just below the surface. . . . Crime, and I'm talking about murders and rapes and stealing, is rapidly increasing."

Well, that is nothing new, is it? We know the problems that have been on the periphery of our nation and of our lives have now moved overhead. The dark clouds can no longer be avoided. And they are going to come home to us much more personally in the future than they ever have before.

The God of Jacob

How are you going to find your way through? Well, the psalmist, David the king, gives us the answer. His day, too, was one of trouble: 'The Lord answer you in the day of trouble! The name of the God of Jacob protect you!" There is where our refuge lies--in the name of the God of Jacob. Only God is adequate for the situation. Only He can tell what dangers lie ahead. Only He has the wisdom and foresight to steer a course through all the various perils. If you are not resting upon the God of Jacob, you will never make it. That is what this psalmist is saying, and he drew upon a wealth of personal experience.

Why does he say "the God of Jacob?" I am glad he chose that title. There are two men in the Bible who have always encouraged me greatly. In the New Testament it is Peter, with his handicap of congenital "foot-in-mouth" disease, because I suffer from the same malady. In the Old Testament it is Jacob--Jacob, the maneuverer, the manipulator, the wheeler-dealer, the big-time operator. He thought he had to maneuver everybody, to manipulate them, in order to bring a situation around to the way he wanted it. He depended upon his wits, his wisdom, his cunning to accomplish what he wanted. The result, for people like him, is that they are constantly short-changing themselves. The very thing they think they are protecting, they end up destroying. They find themselves coming out on the short end of the bargain because no man is adequate for that kind of living.

But God found a way to set Jacob free from that way of living. Jacob had a God who finally taught him, lesson after painful lesson through the years, to abandon the old way of life, his old way of thinking, and to come at last to trust and to worship. Hebrews 11 tells us that Jacob was one of the great heroes of faith because he finally learned to lean on the top of his staff and to worship (see v. 21). By then he did not feel he had to maneuver everything; he could wait on God and worship, while God acted. That is why God is called here "the God of Jacob."

What do you and I do when we face a day of trouble? We tend to panic, don't we? We cast about for some kind of maneuver to accomplish what we want. We tend immediately to start manipulating, bringing pressure, trying to finagle the situation--like Jacob, exactly. But the God of Jacob is our refuge. May the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

Help from the Sanctuary

In the second verse we have the procedure by which the help of the God of Jacob will come to us:

May he send you help from the sanctuary,

       and give you support from Zion! (Psalm 20:2).

That is wonderful--"help from the sanctuary." The sanctuary always pictures the place where we meet with God. In Israel it was the temple, the place where the Israelite came to get his thoughts straightened out. There he met with God, there he heard the word of God, the mind and the thoughts of God.

For us the sanctuary, obviously, is the Scriptures. There is where we get help. It is there that our minds are illuminated, that we begin to see the world the way it is, not the way it appears to be. There is not one of us who has not already learned that life is not the way it seems to be, that what looks to be the answer and what we are convinced at first is the way things are, often turns out to be exactly the opposite. Life is filled with illusion and deceit. Doesn't your heart cry for somebody to tell you the truth, to tell you the way things really are, to open your eyes to what is going on? That is what the Bible is for. Unless you are in the Scriptures there is no help. This is the provision God has made for the help of the God of Jacob to come to you. "May you find help in the sanctuary, in the Scriptures," is the psalmist's prayer, "that your eyes might be enlightened and you might understand."

Unclaimed Promises

It always amazes me how many Christians fail to employ the Scriptures when they are in difficulty. If your television set breaks down, what do you do? You call for the repair man. You get him to come over promptly so you won't miss your favorite program. If your water pipes begin to leak, what do you do? You send for the plumber. If you are slapped with a lawsuit, you call up a lawyer. If your tooth begins to ache, you phone Dr. Painless or, if it is bad enough, Dr. Extract--he'll pull it. We seem to know instinctively what to do when some of these physical things go wrong.

But people can have their hearts broken, they can be depressed of spirit, or sick with shame or guilt, or driven half mad with fear or worry, and their Bible lies unopened, its promises unclaimed, even unread. They desperately cast about for some kind of help, when the help already provided is ignored. Is that not amazing? Why do we live that way? Why do we act so stupidly in that area of our lives?

I am indebted to a friend for sending me a wonderful quotation from President Woodrow Wilson:

"I am sorry for men who do not read the Bible every day. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the strength and of the pleasure? It is one of the most singular books in the world, for every time you open it some old text that you have read a score of times suddenly beams with new meaning. There is no other book that I know of, of which this is true. There is no other book that yields its meaning so personally, that seems to fit itself so intimately to the very spirit that is seeking its guidance. "

That is a wonderful word from the twenty-sixth president of the United States.

Support from Zion

Help from the sanctuary, and "support from Zion." Zion is another name for Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom, the headquarters. In the Scriptures it stands as a symbol for the invisible kingdom of God that surrounds us. It is made up of angels sent forth to minister to those who are to be the heirs of salvation. All the invisible help that God can give you in the day of trouble, in the hour of pressure, is made available from Zion.