A Proper Trust

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 27:10, ESV).

Psalm 20 is a Psalm about trust. As the King faces trouble—likely an upcoming war with another nation—the question that confronts him (and us) is, “where should I place my hope, confidence, and trust?” Of course, David recognizes that there are various options—he could place his hope in chariots and horses (i.e. his own abilities, possessions, etc.) or he could place his hope in the LORD. Of course, David’s confidence and trust is with the LORD, but this isn’t true for everyone. When faced with the choice between trusting God or trusting something else, we often turn away from God and turn to other things.

Many of the armies of the surrounding nations placed their hope of victory in the fact that they were armed and skilled in war. In Judges 4 we are told that when Sisera came against Israel he was armed with 900 chariots of iron. In 2 Kings 19, Sennacherib king of Assyria, boasted of his previous victories saying:

Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done in all the lands, devoting them to destruction….Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?

These kings placed their hope in themselves—their chariots, their victories, their abilities. Do you ever find yourself living like these kings by placing your hope and trust in yourself or in some source besides the LORD?

When it comes to your financial stability, where do you place your trust? Is your boast in the fact that you are a highly skilled worker? Is your confidence in the fact that you have a large savings account? Some trust in skills, and some in savings. When it comes to your standing before the LORD, where do you place your trust? Is your boast in the fact that you do a lot of good deeds? Is your confidence in the fact that you don’t look like “all those sinners”? Some trust in works, and some in appearances.

I’m sure that we could think of many other examples of times when we are tempted to place our trust in sources other than the LORD. Yet, as David reminds us, a proper trust in found only in the LORD:

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

There are a few things that we should notice about this verse. First, to trust in the name of the LORD our God means that we must not place confidence in any other source. There is no neutrality here. Either we will be fully devoted to trusting God or we will be devoted to placing our confidence elsewhere. Second, notice that this trust is founded on a relationship. David says that “we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” In reality, without a relationship with God, we will continue to trust in chariots and horses. But if we know God—His character, His words, His deeds—then we will desire to trust Him.

Let’s return back to two stories that we reference earlier in order to see some examples of those who placed their trust in the LORD. In Judges 4, although Sisera had placed his trust in his 900 chariots of iron, Deborah and Barak’s confidence was in the LORD:

Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the LORD go out before you?

Likewise, 2 Kings 19, although Sennacharib’s trust was in his past victories, Hezekiah demonstrated that his trust was in the LORD:

Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O LORD our God, please save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.

Like others who have walked in faith and trust, God desires for you and I to wholeheartedly trust in Him. But, what does it look like when we place our hope in the LORD? How should this play out in our daily lives? Let’s return to the examples we mentioned earlier.

When it comes to financial stability, some trust in skills, and others in savings but we should trust in the God who promises to provide. Consider Philippians 4:19:

My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

When it comes to our standing before God, some trust in works, and some in appearances, but we should trust in the God who accomplished our salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Consider Ephesians 2:4-5:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

The issue of who we will trust is a question that you and I will face on a regular basis. Sometimes this question will arise in the midst of huge events/crisis, but it will also be present during the mundane moments of life. And when we are faced with the choice of trusting in God or something else, let us chose to place our trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Getting Personal

In theological terms we often speak of God being omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent...and all of these affirmations are true. God is the all-knowing, all-present and all-powerful God. Yet, how do these attributes of God intersect with our lives? How does knowing these truths about God actually change the way that you and I think, act and feel? I believe Psalm 139 helps us to see how these deep theological truths about our great God come crashing into our day to day living.

Take a moment to read the first six verses of this Psalm. As you read, take note of what the Psalmist says about God:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it. (ESV, emphasis mine)

Now, take time to read the verses again, this time focusing on the personal pronouns:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it. (ESV, emphasis mine)

This is personal theology at its best. God doesn't simply know all things...he knows all things about me. To some people the thought of such a personal theology is a little unnerving. They were probably okay with God knowing all things about that guy or that girl. But all this "me talk" seems to get a little too close for comfort because we realize that God knows about all the things that we try to hide--all the things that we try to keep out of the sight of others. In other words, we are laid bare before this All-Knowing God.

On this point James Boice writes:

For an unsaved person this powerful, pervasive knowledge seems intrusive and frightening, and with good reason. God is the end-time judge with whom we must reckon. Strikingly, the response of the psalmist is not fear. He is not trembling when he thinks of God's omniscience. On the contrary, he shelters himself in God's knowledge and marvels at it. For the psalmist, God's knowledge is not a threat; it is a refuge (Psalms, Volume 3, 1204).

Psalm 119 and Memorization

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. In my Bible, it spans over five pages. This Psalm praises God for His Word (i.e. His law, testimonies, ways, precepts, statutes, commandments, rules, paths, etc.). In this Psalm, one of the ways in which God calls us to respond to His word is by memorizing and meditating on it. For example:

I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you (v.11)

I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways (v.15)

Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works (v.27)

Some Christians of the past (William Wilberforce, David Livingstone, etc.) chose to respond to verses like these by memorizing large portions of Scripture like Psalm 119...all 176 verses of it! Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "There's no way that I could memorize that many verses. I've hardly memorized any verses." And that's where the crux of the matter is for you and I. We must begin with simple obedience. The reason 176 verses seems so daunting is because we have hardly committed any verses to memory.

But if we are to be obedient to God and His Word, we must be people who "hide" the Word in our hearts. So, how should we go forward in this task? I'll give three suggestions:

First, begin by asking God to give you the desire and ability to memorize His Word. This is certainly one prayer that is line with His desires for us.

Second, start small and work your way up. No one begins by attempting to memorize 176 verses at the same time. They begin by putting one new verse to memory, and they build from there. So, start with one verse and work your way forward. Psalm 119:11 would be a great one to begin with, wouldn't it?.

Third, speak God's Word to others. One of the greatest ways to learn something is to teach it to others. The Psalmist recognized this also: "With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth" (v.13).

May God bless you in your endeavor.

Who Needs Wisdom?

So, who needs wisdom? According to Proverbs 1:4-5, wisdom is needed by everyone--not only those who are simple/young but also those who have already obtained some amount of wisdom:

to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance (ESV)

Lest we fool ourselves into believing that we are already wise enough, the Scriptures warn us against trusting in our own "wisdom", which isn't truly wisdom at all:

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight! (Isaiah 5:21, ESV)

This means that we must forsake our pride and self-sufficiency. We must not seek to be wise by our own standards or the standards of the world; instead, we must look to God's wisdom. We are only wise to the extent that we have aligned ourselves to God and His wisdom:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever! (Psalm 111:10, ESV)

Noisy Inside: Anti-Psalm 131

Sometimes, it's helpful to think in opposites. In Psalm 131, we encounter someone who has found true peace: a quieted soul who hopes in the LORD. In the chapter "Peace, Be Still" in his book, Seeing With New Eyes, David Powlison shows what the opposite of this Psalm looks like:

Self,
my heart is proud (I'm absorbed in myself),
and my eyes are haughty (I look down on other people),
and I chase after things too great and too difficult for me.
So of course I'm noisy and restless inside; it comes naturally,
like a hungry infant fussing on his mother's lap,
like a hungry infant, I'm restless with my demands and worries.
I scatter my hopes onto anything and everybody all the time.

If we're honest, we can find ourselves living out"anti-psalm 131" instead of Psalm 131. We become focused on ourselves instead of our God. Brothers and Sisters, let us instead find peace and rest in our God. Let us hope in the LORD, both now and forever.

O Lord,
my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. -Psalm 131 (ESV)

Sovereignty and Hope

"Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him" (Psalm 115:3, NIV)

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:28-31, NIV)

In the near future a number of changes will be taking place in my life: Amy's going to the hospital on Friday to be induced with our third daughter, unless of course the baby comes sooner; I'll have a full-time work load at seminary beginning in Septemeber; and as always, I'll have plenty of ministry work at Redeemer. (And these are just the things that I think may happen. God often has other purposes and plans for us.) Maybe today is like the calm before the storm. Yet, no matter what the Lord brings into my life I can rest in knowing that He is in control. In my life, the knowledge of God's sovereignty has been the greatest comfort for me. This is to say, an affirmation of God's sovereign and providential workings is much more than an abstract theological committment: it is also a constant source of hope. Isn't it wonderful to know that our Triune God works all things for our good according to his purpose, to praise of His name?

Preparing Rain

"Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre! He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills. He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry. His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love" -Psalm 147:7-11

As Amy and I were driving back from Erskine today, we noticed a corn field that stretched out as far as our eyes could see. Yet, instead of seeing the bright-green-glow of healthy corn, all we saw were brown and brittle leaves. The corn was dry and dead.

It has been weeks since the ground has felt the refreshment of rain. Everything is dry and dying around us. And this should remind us of our utter dependance on God. All creation is dependant on its Creator. If He did not prepare the rain, it would never come. If He did not cause the grass to grow, the hills would be empty. If He did not feed the beasts or the ravens, they would perish. If the Lord did not send us His Spirit, we would never arise from death.

But...

The Lord does prepare rain, cause the grass to grow, and feed the beasts and ravens. And He does breathe life into dry bones. "Thus says the Lord God to these bones: "Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord'” (Ezekiel 37:5,6).

From Infancy Onward

"Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust at my mother's breasts. On you I was cast from my birth, and from my mother's womby you have been my God."-Psalm 22:9,10

"For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you." -Psalm 71:5,6

In his book, Paedofaith, Rich Lusk writes:

The Psalter treats infant trust not as a sporadic, occasional, or unpredictable reality, but as the norm in covenant children. God gives us believing children to work with and nurture. In this way, covenant children are a blessing and reward from the Lord. As we help them grow to mature faith, we fulfill the purpose of the cross-generational covenant promises. The psalmist has many remarkably deep, vivid, datable, and narratable experiences of God's grace, but he still maintains he was a believer from infancy; he trusted in God and knew Him from the very beginning of life. In this way, the Psalter norms Christian experience for the child growing up in a Christian environment. The experience of the psalmist should be the experience of our offspring. Our children belong to Christian homes and, like David, should learn to regard themselves as believers from infancy onward, not necessarily on the basis of experience, but as a corollary of the covenant promises.

Waiting

"Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long...May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you." -Psalm 25:5,21



Waiting...





can...







be...







painstaking.



I like immediate results, quick answers and speedy resolutions. I want to pray, then see God answer without delay. I wanted God to work according to my timetable. So, when I come to a text like the one quoted above, my impatience is tested and my need for repentence is made clear. I am not the sovereign God of the universe!

In his book When I Don't Desire God, John Piper writes,

We are like farmers. They plow the field and plant the seed and cut away weeds and scare away crows, but they do not make the crop grow. God does. He sends rain and sunshine and brings to maturity the hidden life of the seed. We have our part. But it is not coercive or controlling. And there will be times when the crops fail. Even then God has his ways of feeding the farmer and bringing him through a lean season.

We must learn to wait for the Lord. King David gave us an example of this in Psalm 40...Here is a man after God's own heart (1 Sam.13:14), who spent time in the 'pit of destruction and in the 'miry bog'--where there was no song in his mouth. How long was he there? We are not told. What matters is what he did there. He waited for the Lord. He could not make the Lord come. He could wait and hope and trust that he would come. And he did come. He put David's feet on a rock and put a new song in his mouth.

David waited on the Lord because he knew that "all the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies" (v.10). David waited. And I will wait, hope and trust too.

Alora's Prayer

Every night before Alora goes to bed Amy and I kneel down and pray with her. Although our prayers differ slightly each night, we always incorporate the greatest commandment (Mark 12:30) into our prayer time. Usually, I say a few words and Alora repeats after me. In the same way, we pray together before each of our meals.

Well, the other night at dinner time we all joined hands and I asked Alora if she wanted to pray with us. Yet, instead of waiting on me to begin the prayer, Alora began praying on her own: "Jesus, I love you with all of my heart, all my soul, all my mind, all my strength. Amen." Amy and I sat at the table in silence while our eyes filled with tears of joy.

Praise God for His grace! Praise God for our children! With the Psalmist we say, "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward" (Psalm 127:3).

Crane vs. David

In his poem, "A Man Said to the Universe" Stephen Crane writes:

A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."

Yet, this worldview (naturalist) stands in stark contrast to the Christian worldview. For instance, read God's inspired Word as it comes to use from his servant David in Psalm 8:

"O Lord, our Lord,how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants,you have established strength because of your foes,to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him,and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,whatever passes along the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord,how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Vain Plots and the LORD's Laughter: Reflections on Psalm 2

"Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.Then he will speak to them in his wrath,and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill” (Psalm 2:1-6).

Nations, you speak as though you are mighty
And you plan as though you are wise:
"No one can restrain us! No one can stay our hands."

But can you not see your destiny?
Do you not know that doom is at your door?
For the Sovereign God of Heaven and Earth,
The Creator and Sustainer of all life, He laughs.

You say you are mighty, but He know your weakness.
You say you are wise, but He know your foolishness.
He has spoken and your doom will come,
Unless you turn to Him: broken and needy.

He has sent forth His Word. The Promise has arrived:
King Jesus stands before you victorious!
No other kingdom will stand before the Son of Almighty God.
From North to South and East to West,
Nothing can escape the dominion of King Jesus and His Bride.
The Nations are His heritage
And the ends of the earth are His possession.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.
All Hail King Jesus!
Men, women, boys, and girls must bow before Him,
And every tongue must confess, "Jesus is Lord!"

Unrepentant nations, do you dare stand in the way of the King and His People?
You shall be destroyed with a rod of iron--broken like pottery.

But to the wise, be blessed:
Fear the King.
Submit to His rule.
Kiss His feet.
Take refuge in Him--
Before it is too late.
For His reign is forever
And His wrath is quickly kindled.

Oh, nations, why do you plot in vain?