Psalm 83: A Prayer for When We Know We Deserve Judgment

Today’s reading is Psalm 83.

As our psalmist considers the coalition coming against Israel, his prayer is God will deal with this host the same way He did with Midian, with Sisera and Jabin, with Oreb and Zeeb, and with Zebah and Zalmunna.

Jabin was the Canaanite king who oppressed Israel in Judges 4. Sisera was his commander. You may recall Sisera was killed by Jael the wife of Heber who drove a tent peg through his skull while he lay sleeping. Jabin was routed by Deborah and Barak and the army of Israel. When Gideon’s army of 300 defeated Midian in Judges 7, Oreb and Zeeb were two of the princes killed in the victory. Then in Judges 8, in the ongoing battle Zebah and Zalmunna were executed.

Perhaps the reason for mentioning these victories is simply to call to mind the overwhelming odds against which Israel took up arms against these enemies. God gave them victory when it looked like they couldn’t possibly win. But I think there might be a more poignant principle here.

As we have read the Asaphite psalms, we have seen a story arc. Israel and Judah enduring judgment. We cannot help but think of Israel and Judah in captivity when we have read the psalms about the destruction of the temple. They have asked “Why?” They have asked “How Long?” In Psalm 81, we read God’s response. Israel didn’t listen to Him. They went their own way instead of following their Shepherd. They did not love the Lord their God with all their heart. In Psalm 82, we read God’s response. Though Israel was God’s chosen, they acted like all the nations and did not love their neighbor as themselves. They perpetrated injustice. Therefore they were judged. They deserved the judgment they received.

What do you pray when you realize you know you actually deserve the judgment that is coming on you or has come upon you? You pray Psalm 83. You remember how God’s covenant people deserved judgment and God sent Jabin king of Hazor against them. You remember how God’s covenant people deserved judgment and God sent Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna against them. Then you recall that when God’s covenant people repented and cried out to Him, He judged the nations and delivered His people. Not because they deserved it, but because God is a covenant keeping God.

We struggle because we know what sinners we have been. Part of us doubts prayer because we know we deserve any judgment God would bring against us. We wonder what right we have to ask God for deliverance from the enemy. Why would God listen to our prayer? If we are in Christ, we have the right offered us by His death, burial, and resurrection. We have the right given us as children of God by the blood of Jesus. We do not have the right of merit, earning, or deserving. We have the right of God’s covenant people. Repent. Turn to God. Cry out to Him. He will not turn a deaf ear. He will not be silent. Do so with the same kind of confidence you see in this psalm. Not because we deserve it but because this is the kind of God we serve. He will keep His covenant with us. God will hear our prayer not because we deserve to be heard, but because He has promised us He will listen. Don’t you believe Him?

Praise the Lord!

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 83 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Why Look to Jesus?

Today’s reading is Hebrews 12.

Our author tells us to look to Jesus. Why? I don’t mean that in the general sense. Obviously, we look to Jesus because He’s our king, our savior, our Lord. He is the example. I mean that in the contextual sense. Why does he tell us to look to Jesus right now? He has told us about the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. He’s told us about great things accomplished by these ancient examples. Why isn’t it look to them? And why are they called a great cloud of witness? Why not a great cloud of examples?

Special thanks goes to my friend, brother, and fellow-worker in the kingdom Jason Longstreth for pushing me in this direction. This great cloud of witnesses is not a group of people witnessing us run the race. This is a great cloud of people whose lives testify or witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son, the Chosen of God. In one chapter, our author has shown how Jesus the Christ fulfills not merely the words but the very lives of all these ancients.

Abel who died at the hands of a jealous brother, who offered a better sacrifice, and who being dead still speaks. Who does that sound like to you? Doesn’t that sound like Jesus? Wasn’t Jesus crucified over jealousy? Wasn’t His sacrifice better? Didn’t this entire letter begin with the statement that God is now speaking to us through Jesus, the Son? Enoch walked with God and was not because God took him. Where is Jesus again? Is He in the tomb? Is He in the temple? No, He was taken from the tomb. He was taken from the earth. Noah who condemned the world by his faithful obedience and became an heir of righteousness. Doesn’t Jesus’s entire life condemn sin in the flesh? Isn’t Jesus the greatest heir of righteousness? Abraham who left his homeland and tabernacled with Isaac and Jacob. Did anyone do this more than Jesus who left heaven and tabernacled among men on earth?

We could go through the entire list and see Jesus is the epitome of the example set by the men and women of faith. As Melchizedek foreshadowed the Christ, the Son, Jesus our High Priest, each of these folks in Israel’s history did the same.

However, there is one significant difference. Each of the people in the list of Hebrews 11 failed. They sinned. They did some great things. However, none of them did great enough things to be the sacrifice, Savior, and Lord we need. Jesus, however, did. He is the author, the perfecter of faith. He lived it out completely, faithfully, perfectly. Therefore, He endured the cross, and is now seated at God’s right hand.

Let us look to Him. The others are bush league compared to Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don’t let go of Him. He is the only one who can save, deliver, and lead.

Tomorrow’s reading is Hebrews 12.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
2. What are some other connections you see between the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 and Jesus?
3. How does looking to Jesus help us maintain our own faithful pursuit of life?
4. What advice would you give to others to help us keep our eyes on Jesus?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?

What Was God Thinking?

Today’s reading is Luke 2.

If God wanted to make a splash, He sure went about it an odd way. It’s almost like He was doing everything He could to turn people off from Jesus. Jesus comes from a poor family living in a backwoods town of a backwoods nation. Not only that, but everyone who knew anything about the family would think Jesus was an illegitimate child. I know that term is out of favor in our day and age, but that is exactly how those around Jesus would have viewed it. The birth is first announced to shepherds. Really? Of all people, not the Jewish Council, not magistrates, not officials, but shepherds? Why would God start this way? Perhaps for the same reason He whittled Gideon’s army down to 300 (Judges 7). When this story is done and it is successful, it leaves everyone knowing one thing. God must be behind this. And that really is where we are, isn’t it? We live in a world whose largest religion follows the Man described above. He not only came to popularity, but He claimed to be divine and was then killed. Did that end His popularity and His following? Nope. It only increased it. Everyone else, throughout all history, who claimed to be divine lost their following when they died. But not Jesus. That is amazing. How could this happen? Only if God is real and really behind it. Hang on to Jesus today. I promise you’ll be glad you did.

Next week’s reading is Luke 3.