Psalm 149: The Meek Shall Be Given Salvation

Today’s reading is Psalm 149.

Blessed are the Meek

The LORD takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation.
Psalm 149:4 (ESV)

The “humble” of Psalm 149:4 are the “meek” of Psalm 37:11.

But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.
Psalm 37:11 (ESV)

Of course, these are the folks Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:5:

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Who are these humble, meek folks who inherit the earth and are adorned with salvation? Look back through Psalm 37 and remember. These are the people who don’t get in a tizzy about all the wrongdoers and their seeming successes. Instead, they trust the Lord to accomplish good for them. They delight in the Lord. They commit their way to the Lord. They wait patiently for the Lord. They turn away from evil and do good. They do not take matters into their own hands. They do not pursue their own vengeance or try to accomplish justice for themselves. Instead, they trust the Lord to bring about justice for them. Their salvation is from the Lord and He is the stronghold in whom they put their trust in times of trouble.

Because they trust God, He adorns them with salvation. Because they don’t try to usurp God’s job of judgment, God provides them with justice. Because they don’t try to step into God’s place of vengeance, God exacts vengeance when it is necessary.

The meek and humble are those who trust God to accomplish justice at the right time, in the right way, for the right people. All the meek have to do is the next right thing. It is true, the meek will often be afflicted by the wrongdoers. The meek will often have to wait patiently as they endure hardship and suffering. Even Jesus had to do that through the cross. But the meek will inherit the earth. The meek will be adorned with salvation.

Let’s be the meek who praise the Lord and wait for Him. Let’s allow God to adorn us with salvation.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 149

PODCAST!!!

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

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 148 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Psalm 138: The Lord Regards the Lowly

Today’s reading is Psalm 138.

The Surprising Reason Kings Thank God

Yesterday, we discussed how the kings in Psalm 137 are seen responding to the promises and warnings of Psalm 2. This psalm homes in on those who heed the warning, take refuge in the anointed of the Lord, kiss the Son, and are thankful. The poignant part, however, is why they are thankful.

For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly,
but the haughty he knows from afar.
–Psalm 138:6 (ESV)

They give thanks because though the Lord is high above, He regards the lowly. In Psalm 136:23, Israel knew the Lord’s steadfast love endured forever precisely because He remembered Israel “in our low estate.” In Psalm 113:5-9, though the Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens, though He is seated on high, He looks far down to lift up the poor and needy from the dust and ash heap.

YHWH exalts the humble and lowly. Kings recognize how great that is. But that is a little surprising, right? Kings aren’t lowly, are they? Kings are the high and mighty. They are the top dogs in the land. That is true, when comparing kings to other citizens in their kingdom. However, compared to God, the King above all kings, kings of the earth are as nothing. The difference between kings of the earth and citizens of their kingdoms is miniscule compared to the gargantuan gap between earthly kings and the Heavenly King.

If earthly kings come into God’s presence trying to assert their grandeur and glory, it won’t take long before the God of heaven will demonstrate their insignificance and unimportance. If they cannot cast off their golden crowns at the feet of the true King, they will discover them knocked off. But when kings can humble themselves before the Lord, they discover how gracious He is. Therefore, they give thanks.

As I read this, I think of the beatitudes introducing Jesus’s sermon on the mount. The poor in spirit are blessed because theirs is the kingdom. The mourners are blessed because they are comforted. The meek are blessed because they are given the land. Those hungering and thirsting for righteousness are blessed because they will receive it. These are the lowly whom the Lord regards.

May we be these lowly who find our exaltation from God.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 138.

PODCAST!!!

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

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 138 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Psalm 138: All the Kings of the Earth Shall Give Thanks

Today’s reading is Psalm 138.

The Kings Respond

The first psalm calling David the king to mind is Psalm 2. In that psalm, the Lord calls Israel’s king His son. He declares the son/king is established on Zion. He tells the king if he simply asks, the Lord will give him the nations as a heritage and he will rule over them. Then the kings are warned to be wise and take refuge in God’s son. The psalm had begun with the kings taking counsel against the Lord and His anointed king. They wanted to cast off the cords and bonds of the Lord and His anointed son. They are told if they take refuge in the son, they will be blessed. Otherwise, they will perish in the way. How will they respond?

Obviously, in any given scenario, kings did different things. In David’s life, some kings allied with him and were blessed, others fought against him and were beaten. Our psalm this week pictures those kings who heeded the warning. They don’t do so grudgingly, but cheerfully. They don’t submit to the son and to the Lord because they have no other choice and decide to make the best out of an impossible situation. Rather, when all is said and done, they give thanks. They heard the words from the Lord’s mouth and recognized the glory of the Lord. They willingly submitted and discovered they were thankful they did.

The psalm uses poetic hyperbole to claim all kings will give thanks. However, at the same time, it still demonstrates enemies. Not everyone submits to the Lord. However, the Lord knows the difference. Though He is high, He gives regard to the lowly, but knows who arrogantly opposes. We can’t pull the wool over God’s eyes. The poetic hyperbole seems to be pointing out that even the kings who suffer punishment for their haughtiness will in that judgment recognize God is just and always does what is right.

The great point, however, is God made a promise in Psalm 2. We’ve often seen the king wonder throughout the psalms when the promise will be fulfilled. This psalm was written in the wake of a victory which demonstrated God keeps His promises.

We aren’t kings (except of our own lives). Yet, we too must learn to take refuge in the Son. Then we will be blessed. It will take humility. We must crush our pride. But when we do, we will discover submission to God is a glorious thing. We will discover how thankful we can and should be for the great grace, favor, and blessing God provides to those who seek refuge in Him. Today’s zeitgeist says true blessing comes from surrendering to no one but self. Truth says true blessing comes from submitting to God. Until we do, we will not understand how thankful we will be. But allow me to assure you, God’s way is best. When you surrender to Him, you will be thankful.

Can we help you surrender to Him? Let us know in the comments below.

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 138.

PODCAST!!!

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

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 138 admonish you?

Psalm 119:129-144: Still Small and Despised

Today’s reading is Psalm 119 (vss. 129-144).

Surprising Adherents of God’s Word

The psalmist has already declared God’s Word makes him incredibly wise. According to vss. 97-100, because of God’s Word he is wiser than his enemies, his teachers, and even the aged. We’d expect that kind of wisdom to pay off in some tangible ways, right? If he is that wise, folks should look up to him by now. If he is that wise, he should probably have grown healthy and wealthy. If he is that wise, he should probably be the big man on campus at this point. Don’t you think?

And yet, he says, “I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts” (vs. 141, ESV).

I can’t help but think of David in 1 Samuel 16. When Samuel showed up at Jesse’s to anoint one of Jesse’s sons king, they left David out with the sheep. He was small and despised. Yet, in a few years, he was king. Our psalmist, despite being the kind of person who loves and follows God’s Word so much he has written this psalm, he is still small and despised.

This demonstrates the upside down nature of God’s kingdom. God simply doesn’t choose people the way people do. Consider what Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. God does not choose those who are wise according to worldly standards. He doesn’t choose the powerful or the noble. He chooses what is foolish to confound the wise. He chooses what is weak to shame the strong. He chooses what is low and despised to bring to nothing those things which are high and mighty. God works in this way to draw us to Him. God works in this way to get us to realize the only boast we can possibly have is, “I’m in the Lord.”

Our psalmist is okay with that. He started small and despised. Even as he has obeyed the Lord more and more, he is okay that he has remained that way. He doesn’t keep God’s precepts in order to gain health, wealth, standing, social equity. He keeps God’s precepts because he thinks God’s precepts are worth keeping.

May I learn to see God’s precepts in the same way. God’s way is blessed not because of where it leads, but because of what keeping His way makes me. It makes me God’s servant. If I’m still small and everyone else still despises me, no big deal. I’m the Lord’s. He is mine. What else matters?

Praise the Lord!

Today’s reading is Psalm 119 (vss. 129-144).

PODCAST!!!

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

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 119:129-144 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Has Not God Chosen the Poor?

Today’s reading is James 2.

Before we consider the ultimate and specific answer to this question, we need to wrestle with the general point James supports. The brethren to whom James wrote were courting the rich above the poor to be in their congregations. They were looking for the social clout having the wealthy among them would bring, the respect their congregation would gain. Perhaps they were thinking about the financial help they might receive if the wealthy became part of the congregation. Maybe they were simply thinking, “If we can get these rich people to join us, they’ll stop dragging us into courts.” However, James reminds us of the general point Jesus Himself made. It is super hard for rich people to enter the kingdom (see Matthew 19:24). Not to mention, in the Sermon on the Plain (a sermon similar to the one on the Mount) Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God…But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:20, 24, ESV). Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, that God hasn’t chosen the wise, the powerful, the noble, the strong. He has chosen what the world considers foolish, shameful, weak, and low.

Despite our modern concept that having a good relationship with God means being affluent, the poor are much more likely to be in the kingdom than the rich. And let us be perfectly honest: the great majority of American Christians are rich compared to the poor and even the wealthy of the New Testament. With our houses, cars, closets full of clothes, air conditioners, dish washers, laundry machines, computers, phones, microwaves, fast food, vacations, and on and on and on, we might like to call ourselves poor, but the folks receiving James’s letter would not say so. We should not move too quickly past what James and numerous other passages teach us. Wealth is an obstacle. It is dangerous. Desiring it can and likely will lead us into temptation and plunge us into ruin and destruction (1 Timothy 6:9). Pursuing wealth will lead us astray and cause our demise (James 1:11). If money is our master, we will despise Jesus and be lost thereby (Matthew 6:24).

All that being said, James is not teaching poverty as the qualification for salvation. That is, not everyone who is poor will be saved. Additionally, having wealth is not the disqualifier for salvation. That is, not everyone who is wealthy will be lost. If those who are rich can exult in their humiliation as God disciplines them with trials (James 1:9-10), they too will be saved. James does give us the actual qualification. The kingdom, like the crown of life in the previous chapter, is promised to those who love God (James 2:5).

But, please, please, please do not wipe the sweat from your brow, sighing your relief, saying, “Oh, good. I’ve got nothing to be concerned about with my riches.” If you have riches, do not set your hope on them. If you have riches, use them to bless those who do not, especially those in the household of faith (1 Timothy 6:17-18; Galatians 6:10). If you have riches, renounce them and their hold on you (Luke 14:23). If God has blessed you with riches, be thankful. Use them to His glory and in service of others. Being blessed with riches is very much like being blessed with a ferocious guard dog. It is a great gift, but if you do not treat it properly, it will turn on you and rip you to shreds.

God has chosen those who love Him to receive the crown of life and the kingdom. Let us be those people. If we have to give up our riches to be those people, let us do it.

Tomorrow’s reading is James 2.

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. Why is wealth dangerous for us?
3. Why is it important to realize the qualification for the kingdom and the crown of life is loving God and not being either wealthy or poor?
4. What or who is the means to salvation for the wealthy and poor alike?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?

Seventy-seven Times

Today’s reading is Matthew 18.

Okay, Lord. I get it. I need to humble myself. I need to be one of the least, the last, and the lowly. Not only that, I need to look after the least, the last, and the lowly. But really, how much? How far am I supposed to take that? I mean some of these folks are pretty bad. Why, I caught one of these folks sinning seven times. How many times am I supposed to reach out and seek out one of these fallen least, last, lowly, and lost?

That is essentially the question Peter is asking in Matthew 18:21. “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” I have no doubt Peter thought he was erring on the side of forgiving too much. Jesus however said, “Not seven times, seventy-seven times.”

I don’t think Jesus was trying to give us a cardinal limit. “Okay, I’ve forgiven that guy 76 times. One more and we’re through.” We certainly aren’t supposed to take a Pharisaical approach, “I’ll go ahead and forgive him 78 times just in case I miscounted. But then we’re done.” Rather, I think Jesus is picking a number that seems impossibly large. It is so large we wouldn’t even be able to keep count for that long. Additionally, I think He may be calling to mind an event in the Old Testament. In Genesis 4:23-24, Lamech arrogantly believes he has the right to revenge. God had said if someone took advantage of Cain, He would bring vengeance on them sevenfold. That is God’s declaration. Lamech arrogantly believes he can make his own declaration and take his own vengeance seventy-sevenfold. In contrast, when Peter declared a sevenfold forgiveness, Jesus called for a seventy-sevenfold forgiveness.

Then Jesus tells a story that demonstrates we aren’t really the ones that ever forgive seventy-sevenfold. The debt others owe us because of their sins is nothing to sneeze at, for sure. However, it is also nothing compared to the debt we owe God for our sins against Him. But He forgives.

Let me ask you, aren’t you glad God forgives seventy-sevenfold? And aren’t you glad He didn’t take that number literally? How about we humbly show it by passing that forgiveness on to others, even the least, the last, and the lowly. It’s how we want them to treat us, isn’t it?

Next week’s reading is Matthew 19.

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. Why is forgiveness hard?
3. Why is forgiving seventy-seven times even harder?
4. How can we rely on God’s forgiveness of us to grow in forgiving others?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?

Seeking the One

Today’s reading is Matthew 18.

Okay, okay, we are supposed to become the least, the last, and the lowly. Further, we are supposed to value the least, the last, and the lowly. But what about when the least, the last, and the lowly become the lost? What about when they become exactly the kind of person we always knew they would. We knew they wouldn’t last. We knew they would abandon the fold. We knew they would decide to go into sin. We tried to warn you about that one, that’s just the kind of person that one is.

You know what Jesus does in that case? Jesus humbly leaves the ninety-nine that are sticking with the flock in the mountains and goes out looking for the lost one. Jesus values that least, last, lowly, and lost one greatly. So should we.

In fact, that is what the entire paragraph from Matthew 18:15-20 is all about. Sadly, we too often view that paragraph as the steps we take to withdraw from someone. No doubt, if someone refuses all our efforts to draw them back into the fold and flock of God, we will have to take extreme measures of discipline. But this paragraph is actually about all the effort we take to bring them back. Regrettably, we’ve gotten ourselves in a day and age where whole churches are so afraid of upsetting someone or hurting their feelings, we just let them wander off on the mountain side where they are completely vulnerable to attack from wolves and from the great dragon. This paragraph is actually about how much we care and desire to bring them back. We go after them. If they won’t respond to us, we take a couple others with us. If they won’t respond to a handful of us, we mobilize the whole flock. If they won’t respond to the whole flock, we must discipline, but even then we don’t give up. We mourn. We pray. We do not treat them as enemies, but as fallen siblings.

The arrogant and prideful kick these least, last, lowly, and lost to the curb with a “Good riddance. We are better off without them.” The humble seek them out and strive to win them back.

Are there any you need to seek out today?

Tomorrow’s reading is Matthew 18.

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. Why is it so easy to quickly give up on those who stumble, falter, and fall away?
3. How do you want people to treat you if you stumble, falter, and fall away?
4. What advice would you give to help us reach out to the fallen and encourage them to come back?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?