1. The beginning and ending of this psalm are some of the most quoted and familiar words in history. That’s appropriate because, in a sense, they are book-ends of our entire experience with God and Christ. In the beginning is God and his creation and in the end is our being found blameless and innocent through the sacrifice of Christ. That is the point of this whole meditation, isn’t it? The first six verses remind us of the passage in Romans 1 where Paul argues that the evidence for God is overwhelming. It is not just the heavens and the firmament but the entire creation – from infinitesimal to infinite…

1.  Last week we looked at the first section of the psalm – verses 1-3. If you were here you had the privilege of hearing Sasha Vukelja’s testimony of God’s love and faithfulness and his answering when she called. You’ll agree that God did make her bold and stouthearted! 2.  This week we are going to look at the rest of the psalm and we’ll start with David’s desire to see all the kings of the earth not only praise God but to sing of the ways of the Lord. The phrase “kings of the earth” can be understood in a couple of ways, I think. First, it can mean…

We can break the psalm into three distinct parts and this morning we are going to look at the first part of the psalm. Part 1 is verses 1-3 Part 2 is verses 4-6 Part 4 is verses 7-8 We’ll look at verses 1-3 today and then next week we will do the other two. First, let’s read the whole psalm as it is short. 1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise. 2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your unfailing love and your faithfulness, for you have so exalted your…

1.  The instructions David gives are negative – not like the Beatitudes in the New Testament. They are warnings and, sometimes, warnings are exactly what we need even if we do not listen. I’ve thought often that David was speaking to younger men here and, in a sense, asking them questions with his statements. Statement: Don’t walk in step with the wicked. Question: Who are you walking with? What direction are they taking you? I loved Ray Stedman’s teaching on the Old Testament character Enoch. Twice in that verse it is recorded of Enoch the supremely important thing about this man: he walked with God. But it’s also recorded that…

I love trees – especially oak trees. I suppose that is why I chose an oak tree for the logo for both The Gathering and the Fourth Partner Foundation years ago. Everything I wanted to say about them was summed up in a tree – and especially a tree by a stream as we find it here. Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree…

1.  I don’t take the book of Ruth to be a love story or a romance. It’s not the Song of Solomon. Some say it is Job with some sunshine. I think it has been made into that. I don’t think it is an allegory or a fictional story with an embedded Biblical truth. Because it is the third in a series of stories about people who migrate from Bethlehem – the ambitious Levite, the unfortunate concubine and now the impoverished Naomi – it might just as well be called the final chapter of the Bethlehem Chronicles and be a final account of what happens when you leave home. I…

I had no compelling desire to go to Israel but it was a good opportunity to travel with friends and family. It was not with great expectations or, frankly, looking to have the Bible come alive or walk in the footsteps of Jesus. In fact, I’m not sure what my expectations were. I knew there were a couple of places I wanted to see but not for their inspiration or life changing impact. Like most pilgrims and tourists to the Holy Land there was the thought in the back of my mind that going there would have an effect but mostly I was simply intrigued. I read a couple of…

I believe it was Winston Churchill after the decisive victory in North Africa against Rommel who said, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” In the same way this passage points to the end of the beginning – the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Law, surviving the wilderness and coming into Canaan. It is a hinge point in the story of Israel because while it is the end of the beginning it is also the beginning of the end – the eventual annihilation of the Northern tribes and the exile of…

1.  The leadership of Moses and Joshua. This is followed by the relative independence of the twelve tribes. They are expected to govern themselves without a single leader – but they drift away from the law and become incapable of resisting the internal and external enemies. The Lord sends them judges to fight for them and during the life of each judge there is peace. When the judge dies, the people revert to their old ways. As chapter six opens, the people have been unfaithful after forty years of peace. Typically, the peace lasts for a generation or two and then begins to unravel toward the end. The idols come…

“So then, the Lord left some nations in the land to test the Israelites who had not been through the wars in Canaan. He did this only in order to teach each generation of Israelites about war, especially those who had never been in battle before. Those left in the land were the five Philistine cities, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanon Mountains from Mount Baal Hermon as far as Hamath Pass. They were to be a test for Israel, to find out whether or not the Israelites would obey the commands that the Lord had given their ancestors through Moses. And so…