Category: Psalms

Posted in Job, Psalms

The Song in the Night 

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“At night His song is with me… I say to God my Rock, ‘Why have You forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?’” Psalm 42:8-9

It is one thing to love and praise God when everything is going good; it is another thing to love and praise Him when it feels like darkness is crushing you.

In this dark night of the soul, we can’t see God’s purpose or understand His goodness, yet it is most important that we learn to sing at this time – I’m calling it the song in the night. Why is this song so important?

  1.  It forces us to focus on who God is instead of what He does for us. Satan’s accusation against Job was that he was using God and didn’t really love him. (See Job 1:9-11) Do we really love God or are we only using Him because we love ourselves? The song in the night purifies our worship.
  2.  It forces us to either go deeper in our faith. “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls, all Your waves and breakers have swept over me.” (Psalm 42:7) Trees planted by water have shallow roots. Trees in a hostile environment either have roots that go very deep, or the tree dies before maturity. Listen to how deep the roots of the Psalmist have gone in this time of difficulty: “As the deer pants for the streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Psalm 42:1-2) Instead of turning away from God, His pain brought him to a new place of thirst for God Himself.
  3. We are no longer dependent on the faith of others. Darkness isolates us and raises questions about God’s goodness. Do I really believe or have I only been part of a social group who wants to believe in a personal God so they can be protected from life’s hard realities? God allows this time so that we can experience Him ourselves instead of on the coattails of others.

Does it feel like darkness is suffocating you? This could be your faith’s greatest hour. It’s time for you to take up the song in the night.

Posted in 1Peter, 2Corinthians, Exodus, Psalms

Diamonds in the Rough

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“As for the saints of the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.” Psalm 16:3

David didn’t just forgive God’s people, and he didn’t just tolerate the saints; he delighted in them. How can we do the same? I think the key is seeing them the way God sees them: Diamonds in the rough.

In Exodus 28:17 God commanded Moses to make an ephod with four rows of three precious stones each. The stones represented the twelve tribes of Israel and the priest was to remember that this was how God felt about His people by wearing this ephod over his heart whenever he came into God’s presence. Four rows – three in each row – ruby, topaz, emerald; turquoise, sapphire, diamond; jacinth, agate, amethyst; beryl, onyx, jasper – the saints are God’s jewels.

A frequent accusation against believers and an argument against the truth of Christianity is hypocrisy. When an unbeliever sees a so-called Christian fall short of their expectation, they say out loud or think to themselves, “I thought you were supposed to be a Christian! Hypocrite!”

But the authentic Christian doesn’t claim to be a perfect diamond, but a diamond in the rough. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels,” says the apostle Paul, “so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.” (2Corinthians 4:7) We have a sin nature; we have a struggle going on inside of us, but we also have a new nature and are part of a new creation.

Our responsibility toward one another is to look past the rough and start seeing and speaking to the diamond. Christians often focus on the wrong thing and get paralyzed by sin and shame, their own, and that of their brothers and sisters. Can we look past the rough? Peter exhorts us, “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins.” (1Peter 4:8) Don’t you want others to love you like that? We can’t excuse sin but after confession, we dare not dwell on it, or we will miss what God is seeing.  

His delight is in the saints; let’s learn to delight in them too.

Posted in Matthew, Philippians, Psalms

Gentle Warriors

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great.” Psalm 18:34-35

To become great in heaven’s eyes requires us to receive God’s gentleness before anything else. His mercy toward us in forgiveness, and His gentle dealings to draw us to Himself win our hearts so that we will do anything for Him. We live in a harsh world and frequently treat ourselves with great harshness. The devil’s work  is often easy as he only has to put the hammer in our hands, and we will beat ourselves up with shame and regret. On top of this our form of religion can also be harsh, demanding, and judgmental, but none of this is from Jesus.

“Come to Me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)  Jesus invites us to come and find how tender His love is and how great His ability is to remove our heavy burdens. Have you experienced His gentleness? Paul says that our gentleness toward others should be a result of us living in God’s presence. He writes in Philippians: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:5)

God wants us to develop a gentle spirit toward people, but a warrior’s spirit toward the spiritual darkness around us. Jesus was tender toward the weak and broken, and tough toward the Pharisees and demons. David was a worshiper who danced before God but also a warrior who cut off Goliath’s head. The same God who gently deals with David also trains his hands for war; He wants to do the same in us.

The church is called to be a healthy family and an obedient army. Knowing the love of God makes us healthy, and knowing the fear of God produces in us a spirit of instant obedience. Those whom God uses in the days to come will be growing in both revelations and will be known by both the church and the world as His gentle warriors.

Posted in Psalms

Stilling Your Soul

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“My heart is not proud, oh Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. Oh Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.” Psalm 131

David learned how to talk to himself. When his soul was apathetic he would command his soul: “Bless the Lord oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” (Psalm 103:1) When he was slipping into depression he would tell himself to remember God and God’s future for him: “Why are you downcast, oh my soul; why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 43:5) In today’s reading he is being tempted to slip into confusion and anxiety over questions that are outside of his control. His response? “I have stilled and quieted my soul…”

Notice that he didn’t ask God to still and quiet his soul, he said, “I have stilled and quieted my soul”. Christianity becomes very difficult when we try to control God’s part, or when we expect Him to do our part. You and I have control over our souls. We can let them run free, wherever they take us, or we can exercise our wills, like David did, and tell our souls what to do. Sometimes we simply need to preach the gospel to ourselves.

How do you do that? Your heart is full of worry and anxiety over all of life’s troubles and circumstances, so you decide to have a talk with your soul. “Stop worrying, Soul, and start trusting God. Jesus loves you and died for you. He’s not going to let you down if you turn to Him. He has come through in the past, and He is going to get you through this time, so stop your whining and start praising God.” It is amazing how our emotions will follow when we decide to trust God instead of giving in to all of our doubts and fears.

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted…” (Psalm 46:10) Do you need to take a moment right now to be still, to cease striving, to stop manipulating, and just remember that He is God?

Posted in Matthew, Psalms

Resting in Christ

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures…” Psalm 23:1-2

Before our good Shepherd leads us in paths of righteousness, or feeds us in the presence of our enemies, or anoints our heads to do great things for Him, He makes us rest our identity in Him.

Phillip Keller, in his book A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23 writes: “In every animal society there is established an order of dominance or status within the group. In a pen full of chickens it is referred to as the ‘pecking order;’ with cattle it is called the ‘horning order;’ and among sheep we speak of the ‘butting order.’

“Generally an arrogant, cunning and domineering old ewe will be boss of any bunch of sheep. She maintains her position of prestige by butting and driving other ewes or lambs away from the best grazing or favorite bed grounds. Succeeding her in precise order the other sheep all establish and maintain their exact position in the flock by using the same tactics of butting and thrusting at those below and around them…. Because of this rivalry, tension, competition for status, and self-assertion, there is friction in a flock. The sheep cannot lie down and rest in contentment.  They must always stand up and defend their rights and contest the challenge of the intruder.”

The only time they can rest, Keller goes on to tell us, is when they are in the presence of the shepherd. When he is nearby there is no butting order. Each sheep is special, not because of a place it holds in relation to other sheep, but because the shepherd knows its name. Each sheep has the place the shepherd gives her, not the one she has earned for herself.

Have you noticed that human beings, left to themselves, create a butting order? No one can rest or they might lose their place. Someone said that we “spend money we don’t have, on things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like.” It’s all part of the butting order.

The Lord wants you and I to come out of the butting order and learn to live in His Presence. Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Posted in Isaiah, Psalms

A New Beginning

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your Word.” Psalm 119:67

We had a house cat when we lived in Minnesota named Sugar, and one day Sugar wanted to go outside. The problem was that it was freezing cold and we were in the middle of a snow storm. She put up her paws against the glass patio door in our dining room and meowed at the top of her lungs. I explained to her that she didn’t really want to go outside; she wouldn’t like it. But she wasn’t listening and was driving me crazy with her persistent meowing.

There were so many things she could enjoy if she would just get away from that door. She could watch TV with the kids who were home from school. She could sit on Beth’s lap and allow Beth to gently pet her for hours. She could go down in the basement and eat some more or go up to the bedroom and sleep on Beth’s bed. She had options, but she wasn’t interested in any of them. She wanted to go outside.

Finally I said, “Alright, you asked for this.” I opened the door and she shot out. I then closed the door and after about five seconds she wanted back in. Now she was pawing the other side of the glass door  and meowing at the top of her lungs to get back in.

I want to assure you that it was always my plan to let her back in – she was a house cat after all and belonged in the house with us. But she wasn’t coming back in that easily. Before a new beginning was offered, I wanted her to get a taste of life out in the winter storm. If she wasn’t fully convinced, I reasoned, once I let her back in she would quickly forget about how cold and windy it was and think she wanted to go out there again.

When she finally came back in she had obviously learned her lesson because there were no more episodes of her wanting to go where she wasn’t allowed.

Sugar’s story is often our story with God. We get bored doing the right thing all the time and think we want to investigate the “dark side,”  or what the Bible calls sin. Instead of enjoying all of God’s legitimate blessings we crave something that is off limits and become convinced that we will be happier if we have it. God then becomes “mean” in our eyes because He won’t let us have what we want. We pout. We whine. And then finally He allows an opportunity for us to have what we want.

If we won’t listen to His word, He hopes we’ll listen to our lives. Life doesn’t work when we disobey God. Even when we disobey and stray far from Him, He waits for our return, “longing to show us mercy.” (Isaiah 30:18)

Posted in Jeremiah, Psalms

The Greatest Reward

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things…” Jeremiah 9:23-24

The greatest benefit of being a Christian is not something God does for us, but God Himself. The greatest reward for praying, serving, or sacrificing therefore is not an answered prayer or a changed circumstance, but an increased revelation of who He is. Think about it: our future is only as good as God is. It wouldn’t matter where we went if the One who was there was not filled with beauty, love, and righteousness. If God wasn’t perfect in every way then our future would be unstable and unpredictable. It’s not His promises, but His character behind His promises that is our ultimate guarantee.

It is a shallow Christianity that is just trying to get what God offers in salvation without seeking the God behind the offer. Who is this that has promised all of heaven to those who come to Him in faith? Who is this who has died for us and calls us to be His bride? Who is this who has made us to be the very children of God, sons and daughters, who no longer are to live in shame, fear, and guilt but in the security of the beloved?

Do you enjoy God? I hope so. If not, you’re missing something very important. Instead of trying to make your life work just so, or trying to make your dreams come true, seek to make God Himself your delight. Everything else will fall into place if you aim for the greatest reward. As David wrote, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

Posted in 1Peter, Isaiah, Psalms

Quieting Your Soul

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me.” Psalm 131:1-2

David learned how to quiet his soul. Infants immediately seek for milk when near their mother’s breast and have to be weaned away from the habit.  After a child has been weaned, they will rest quietly on their mother’s lap without frantically searching for food. Similarly, we naturally worry about that which we cannot control and have to be weaned from this tendency, so that we can find our rest in God. How do we quiet our noisy souls within us?

  1. Accept with humility the limits to human understanding. Although we can learn things about God, there are heights and depths to who He is and the way He does things that are beyond our capacity to figure out. David had surrendered those areas and recognized that it was only his pride that kept him from trusting God just because he didn’t know the answer to all the “whys” of this life. 
  2. Recognize that God is the center, not you. “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted in all the earth…” (Psalm 46:10) Astronomers have recently  discovered that there are billions more stars than they originally thought. The earth is a small place in a small galaxy that is a small part of the universe. The greatness of the heavens should help us to grasp both the enormity of God and the smallness of us. When we become large in our own eyes, anxiety easily creeps in. Our strength doesn’t come from our activity, but in our quietness and confidence in God. (Isaiah 30:15)
  3. Trust God’s love for you and in His willingness to save you.  Weaned children rest content because they have now eaten solid food. It is not enough to stifle our need for control, we must actively feed on God’s love and salvation. You are safe in His care. Although you can’t control anything, He can, and He will exercise loving and wise oversight to our lives if we will only trust Him. Peter says it this way, “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” (1Peter 5:7)
Posted in Psalms, Revelation

An Audience with the King 

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thoughts from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways…. How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.” Psalm 139:1-3; 17-18

In 2010, then President, Barack Obama, came to Madison and while he was here made a surprise visit to La Follette High School. When the football coach called the team together, the president addressed running back Jaylen Plummer by name and said he knew that he had scored three touchdowns in a game played the Friday before. Plummer’s response when interviewed by the Wisconsin State Journal about the meeting: “amazing, … the president knows my name.”

What an experience!  A regular high school student having such a personal meeting with the most powerful man in the world. Our president is the CEO of the world’s largest economy and the commander-in-chief of the world’s largest military.  There’s no one who comes close to wielding that much power. For him to take the time to stop at a regular football practice and then to show knowledge of such a specific event – truly amazing.

Now consider with me for a moment what it means that God wants to have a personal relationship with you. There have been many presidents and there will be more in the future if Jesus doesn’t come back, but there is only one God. There is no one like Him; He is the beginning and the end. He isn’t just the president of one country, He’s the King of all kings. He’s not just the CEO of the world’s economy, He owns everything and provides for His children out of His boundless riches. If it doesn’t exist, He can create it. He needs no military because the word out of His mouth can slay all the armies of this world in a moment. (Revelation 19:15)

No doubt President Obama was briefed on La Follette’s football game on the way to the surprise visit. He had just learned about the three touchdowns and would probably forget about them an hour after the meeting. God doesn’t need a briefing on you. He knows your name and everything about you. The only thing He forgets is your sins when you bring them to the cross. I hope we never lose the amazement that the King of the whole universe wants to be our friend.

Posted in 2Corinthians, Ephesians, Isaiah, John, Matthew, Proverbs, Psalms

The Secret of the Lord

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant.” Psalm 25:14

The margin of my Bible has “intimacy” as an alternate translation of “secret.” I believe that  a certain measure of the fear of the Lord is necessary for anyone to come to Christ. Proverbs says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 9:10) A revelation of God’s love for us in our weakness and immaturity is necessary to grow us up in our faith. (Ephesians 3:17-19) But I think to walk close to God’s Presence another level of the fear of the Lord is required. 

It says in Isaiah 11:3 that Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord. He experienced the secret promised by Psalm 25:14, enjoying the continual intimate friendship of His Father. He didn’t fear man, He didn’t fear death, He didn’t fear storms, He didn’t fear lack of supplies – He only feared God and cared only about obeying what the Father was saying. (John 5:19)

Maybe the idea of the fear of the Lord seems heavy to you. I think it was just the opposite for Jesus which was why He was able to say, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30) He only had to please the Father to be a complete success. Paul said something similar to this: “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent (from the body), to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord…” (2Corinthians 5:9-11a)  

Only one ambition! What a simple life, what an easy yoke, what a light burden. May God pour out the Spirit of the fear of the Lord on each of us and make it our delight for His glory.