Psalms 51, 52, 53, & Romans 2

Psalm 51

Is there anyone in the Bible who messes up more than King David? Sometimes I feel like this. Like I’m always messing up in the eyes of God. I know by society’s standards I’m a good, moral person. But that’s not enough, I know that I fall short of God’s standards.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

This verse reminds me that no matter how short I fall, and fall I will, if I am truly repentant, God will always take me back.

Psalm 52

This Psalm talks of one who “loves” evil. I remember reading recently in "Mere Christianity," by C.S. Lewis, that very few, if any, people commit evil solely for the sake of committing evil. That they usually commit acts of evil because they don’t see them as evil, or they do, but they gain some selfish benefit from the act. And I would agree with that statement. In RPG circles, we call this kind of evil for it’s own sake “stupid evil.”

But at first glance, this Psalm seems to be describing someone exactly that way.

1 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man?
Why do you boast all day long,
you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
2 Your tongue plots destruction;
it is like a sharpened razor,
you who practice deceit.
3 You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than speaking the truth.

And it makes me wonder if those people realyl do exist. But I remember a sermon one Sunday where the pastor made mention of the fact that the Jewish people had many words for what in English gets translated as “love.” Keeping that in mind, once I get to verse 7:

7 "Here now is the man
who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
and grew strong by destroying others!"

I can see that the passage is really talking about someone who betters himself at the expense of others. One who loves his deeds and accomplishments as his own instead of giving glory and honor to God. One who “loves evil” not necessarily for evil’s sake, but because of the power it gives him over his fellow man. He loves being evil because of the self-gratification it can provide.

The last verse:

9 I will praise you forever for what you have done;
in your name I will hope, for your name is good.
I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

Reminds me that I need to give credit for all of my accomplishments to who it truly belongs. Him.

Psalm 53

A short one, and not quite sure what else to take from it that I don’t already know. Although, again from “Mere Christianity,” C.S. Lewis talks about how good teachers know they need to repeat certain points over and over again in order to drive them home. Perhaps that’s what this is.

To me, it sounds like the Psalm is lamenting that everyone has turned their backs on God and reminding us just how powerful an ally God can be when we let Him. And I do think there are times in my life where I struggle needlessly, where if I just had the presence of mind to call on Him, I would be much better off. And I think that presence of mind comes from a strong faith.

Romans 2

The first four verses talk about a staple that we as Christians need to make particularly sure we’re consistent on: not judging others. This is one of those points that really gets hammered home, and it’s obvious why. There are a lot of Christians who like to point out the flaws in non-Christians, or even other Christians, and practically consign them to hell.

I’ve not always been perfect, but I do believe that one of my strengths is not being judgemental. I may not always approve of certain actions, but I’ve never told anyone, or even said it to myself, that someone is going to hell for what they’re doing.

But yet, the first verse still got to me, because I must admit to a certain amount of judging of people who judge others! I certainly don’t condemn them to hell, but I still think to myself that they’re being bad Christians, and that thought in and of itself feels very judgemental to me. As Christians, we certainly have a duty to our brothers and sisters in Christ to help them discover their own stumbling blocks if they can’t see them for themselves, but there is a very fine line between that and judging, and I think that quietly disapproving their actions to myself is no better than judging them. It certainly isn’t helping them, or me. And even if it’s not too hurtful, if I’m not careful, it can snowball in to full-fledged judging, so I feel it’s best to eliminate the thought altogether.

The rest of the chapter feels to me like it’s really trying to drive home the fact that it’s not enough to just know the word and the will of God. One has to love it, breathe it, desire it, want it, live it. We can have all the answers, but if we never use them, they’re useless.

As a whole, it seems to me like this chapter is basically telling me that knowing the answers and telling others how they’re getting it wrong is not the right path. Being a living, breathing, daily example of what is right is the correct path.

Psalm 49 & 50; Romans 1

Psalm 49

So this Psalm seems to be driving home a point that’s already been driven home plenty of times, at least in the sermons and Sunday School lessons I’ve been in. Simply put: he who dies with the most toys, still dies. Trying to get more out of it, it looks like the Psalm is also saying that I shouldn’t be jealous of people who are wealthy. Check.

Well, on second thought . . . so, I’ve never been jealous of what we think of as “wealthy” people. I’m fortunate in that the love of money has never really been a huge driving force for me. I recognize it’s usefulness, but I’ve never organized my life around trying to accumulate it.

That being said, I know that from time to time, I am definitely envious of my friends who make more money than me. Not in a “man, I wish I had that much money” sort of way, but rather I feel disappointed when I can’t afford to take a trip to see my friend in the military, when I can’t go on similar diving trips that a couple of my friends take from time to time. I feel like I don’t measure up as a person sometimes because I don’t have the same cash-flow to enjoy doing the same things they do. Little things like going to the movies every weekend, keeping up on the newest dvds and cds. But it goes deeper than that.

It’s no stretch to say that an individual’s paycheck can be interpreted as a measure of one’s contributions to society. While this may not hold true once you start looking at extremely high salaries, it’s easy to see that at my level of income. I make more than fast food cashier or a grocery store sacker, and teachers, police officers, computer programers, and doctors all make more than I do. So when I look at their level of income, it’s easy to think that my worth to society is lacking.

I’m not saying that my friends are boastful of their income. I’m not saying that they’re good or bad people, Christian or non-Christian. All I’m saying is that I think I need to take away from this chapter, at least this time through, is that God does not measure my worth to society by my paycheck. He knows what’s in store for me, He knows what I’m capable of doing for His children, and if I live my life by His will, my contribution to society will be great indeed.

Psalm 50

I like the way this one opens.

1 The Mighty One, God, the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and will not be silent;
a fire devours before him,
and around him a tempest rages.

Beautiful imagery. I’m not really sure what to take from this one, besides the obvious stuff about God not really needing our burnt offerings, because they’re all his to begin with, and the bit about the wicked is pretty “standard” fare.

I feel like the Psalm hinges around to key verses:

14 Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High,

and:

23 He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me,
and he prepares the way
so that I may show him the salvation of God.

But the wording confuses me. I’m not entirely sure what it’s meant by a “thank offering” or how one would sacrifice a “thank offering.”

Verse 15 seems pretty clear, call on the Lord when I’m in trouble, and He’ll help me, which will glorify His power. I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to do with 14 and 23.

Romans 1

Wow, this is a hard one to start off with. Verses 18 - 32 are a pretty clear condemnation of certain sinful acts. I’m well aware that it’s not my place to judge, to assign anybody to God’s wrath. That’s not my job. And I’m familiar with the phrase, and believe that the Bible does support that one should “love the sinner, hate the sin.”

But it’s verse 32 that gets to me.

32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Particularly the phrase “but also approve of those who practice them.” At first, I thought this was telling me that by not speaking out against all sin in the world, that I’m in fact condoning it, and thus sinning myself.

But I think, in context, what it’s speaking about are the people who claim to know God’s will, know what’s wrong, and sin anyways with excuses as to why their behavior isn’t really sinful. I tend to interpret the Bible these days as a message to me, how I should be living, not how I should be critiquing others. And I think this is telling me that, since I am open in my declarations of faith, I need to be careful not to try and justify anything I know in my heart to be sinful.

I can think of at time or two recently that I may have justified something sinful when I could have instead leaned on the Holy Spirit to keep me strong.

And It Begins

So, here it is. Blog number one. I’ve decided to keep a blog. I must be special.

Seriously though, last night, reading the Bible before bed for the first time in too long, it occurred to me that my busy life was making it difficult to grow in the word the way I wanted to. I had viewed a profile on eHarmony earlier in the evening, written by a lady who’s knowledge and passion for living a God-filled life was evident with every single word in her profile. And as I read a chapter in Psalms to help calm my mind and get me to sleep, I realized just how frustrated I was that I didn’t have that level of conviction in my life.

I’m up at 6 in the morning, and I don’t get home until 10:15. I could tell myself that once the summer semester ends, I’ll have more time, and I’ll get back in to the Bible then. But I think that’s the very definition of procrastination (a definition I’m not terribly unfamiliar with). The back of my current Bible, a lovely and timely Christmas gift from my sister that has literally kept me on the right path, has a daily reader plan to help one read the entire Bible in one year. But there’s a lot to read everyday, more than I could possibly read between the time I get home and go to bed.

And then it occurred to me: the interwebs! Surely this same plan, or something like it could be found on-line, and sure enough, Bible Gateway to the rescue. I can (and have) subscribe(d) to receive a portion of the Bible every day on my handy Google Reader and read it during “down time” at work. Done and done!

But work is not exactly the most conducive environment for contemplating God’s word. They kind of frown on extended blocks of time spent on non-work related material, and even if one can get away with it, being a Christian calls for, in my opinion, a strong work ethic (room for improvement note: my current job is a big struggle in my life, but that’s a long story, I’m sure I’ll address it here sooner or later), and with all the “alt tabbing” to hide one’s off-taskedness, it’s hard to maintain a solid train of thought.

At any rate, this first (and soon to be legendary, I’m sure) post is starting to get rather long, so I’ll bring it to a close. I basically realized that writing down snippets of my thoughts as I read snippets at a time of my daily reading was a good way to get my Bible reading in, and still actually think about it while at least trying to maintain a good work ethic. Combine that with my passion for writing and a desire to grow through fellowship and accountability, and a blog was born.

And then I figured I didn’t have to limit it to just my daily readings, but could include my thoughts and musings on Christ as I attempt to grow and pray, every day, without ceasing.