Ring Out The Warning Bell - Psalm 37

3Trust in the Lord and do good;…4Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; 
trust in him and he will do this:

7Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when people succeed in their ways,…
8Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.

16Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked;

It really surprises me what this devotional ends up being by the time Saturday rolls around. I start my week with a daily reading starting in the chapter and the following chapter or so [depending how long they are]. I read the same thing every single day through the week and then shift to the next psalm on the following Monday. I start trying to think about it on Monday, you know, like what it will turn out to be. More often than not, things in my week kind of culminate to a place where I need this. This week is no exception. With work, house and relationship stuff looming, it has been really hard to see other people succeed. This morning I literally typed to a friend of mine “I just really need a win….like sometimes.” And really what I meant by it is that I don’t feel like anything really has landed and been a success in a while. It’s really hard for me to admit that I am just not being content because it almost feels like a surrender to those that I feel like are abusive of my relationship or work, or really that I need to be satisfied with the material things that I have. I need to know in my heart that because I feel like I am being taken advantage of, doesn’t mean that I am not. I likely, in the past and present, have/am and those people, systems, and thing really ought to change, because they aren’t right. The thing though is that I, likewise, ought to not be discontented. Though that may read like license and complacency to those people and things to continue to do that to me, I need to grow in my contentment. 

Verse 8 really hits home because I have been responding in anger. Anger, pretty exclusively, is the product of discontentment. It is a tell. My anger rats me out and should be screaming to me that my heart is missing something. Peace of mind and a contented heart is like a table. Everyone’s mind is like this. We all have a table….with 4 legs….that aren’t all the same length. When you put it down in the wrong place, the place it has not been designed to be, it will rock back and forth diagonally. It isn’t settled. I think we have all had the experience of eating at a table where one leg is too short. Someone else leans of the opposite corner and it startles you while you are trying to eat. By the end of a meal you are trying to stiff arm your corner down but are on pins and needles. It is not fun. We were designed to be some place…one would say on a firm foundation. Our solution is usually in our own power. 

“everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”

We try and level out our table by placing it on sand. Sure it will level easy. It will look good just sitting there but should you attempt to use it for its purpose you will find it sinking. Someone across form you leans on it and down it goes…so you push your side down and it is level again. The problem is before the meal would be done you are lying down on your stomach. It has ceased to be a useful table; it has ceased to do what it was intended to do. Likewise if we place it on the Rock half way or in a place it was not designed to be, it will not be even still. The right orientation to Him, where He has made you to be, will make your table level. Even when I am in the right spot but I have faced away from Him, my table is not level and is uneven again. Do not attempt to level your table in your own power. Seek Jesus, and draw near Him. Be content though those around you abuse, distrust and take you for granted. Let the Lord take care of them.

16Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked;

In Christ,

paul



music for the week (as usual: no claim of being not "offensive" but it is really good):

A Better Son/Daughter - Psalm 36

1 I have a message from God in my heart

concerning the sinfulness of the wicked

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

2 In their own eyes they flatter themselves

too much to detect or hate their sin.

3 The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;

they fail to act wisely or do good.

4 Even on their beds they plot evil;

they commit themselves to a sinful course

and do not reject what is wrong.

Well ok….it’s nice of David to write about me. This hits a little close to home but usually the psalm discussions of the wicked do that. Ok so all kidding aside, it really is small passages like this that do give me hope. He says that they can’t “detect…their sin.” Though I can honestly say I struggle with hating my sin in the fullest sense of the word but I can say I fuuuuullly doubt most any Christian that says they do. But he says they can’t detect their sin…I can say that the Spirit has done a fantastic job pointing that out in my life. I really hope that what I know of is all of it….who knows…maybe it isn’t but it is, as David says elsewhere in the psalms, “my sin is ever before my eyes.” I’m not going to say verse 3 and 4 are not me, because they totally are, but I do hope that they are reducing and lessening. I do fight it with what meager heart I have but I can say there is just no hope for me in that….so there is this.

5 Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

This is the only hope I have. I think that, since I see my sin and I fail (and we really all will by ourselves), that I will cling to the love of the Lord. Not to the justice, not to the glory of God but His love. I can say that His love is priceless because He has shown me how broken I am but then has poured out His grace and love to me. I can’t hold onto anything else but the truth of His unfailing love. My favorite Spurgeon quote is

“The justice [and wrath] of God is sheathed in the jewel encrusted scabbard of His love.”

Though my reformed brothers and sisters love and exalt many other aspects of God’s nature, all I can say is that those things, in my experience, push us to fall on our knees before Him for His love. There is nothing that so endears me to Him like His love. There is nothing but His love that makes me sing so loud, and transforms my life. There is nothing more precious, glorious, or amazing than His love. I really think His love is the comfort that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7. I find no hope for change or a future outside that. I can ever grow to be better or like Him outside of His love. It is my main motivation. Yet I still pray with David

10 Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the[m].

Lord please continue your love and uphold me in Your righteousness because I do not have in me. Make me better and more like You because I can't do it...I do not have it in me. Make my evil and sin good as only You can, because I do not have it in me. All I have in me is rotten. Please make me clean. Make me a better son in Your household, because the only thing good in me....is You....Amen.

In Christ,

paul

music for the week (as usual: no claim of being not "offensive" but it is really good):

Old College Try - Psalm 33

I know that this might be more shop talk or inside baseball than I've been doing here, but I think that it might help you see where what the Psalms say about how you, I and more specifically what church music leaders have to think about worship. For a long time now...say since the reformation, there has been a war between two camps of worshipers. You might recognize these. One side (started from Martin Luther's heart for worship) emphasizes the idea that anyone can lead worship. No training required, just belt out what's in your heart and you'll do good. This by itself has spawned many a Neil Diamond G/C/D worship singers....and this terrible strum you can hear here. There it sits. It never goes past that. It's a perpetual childhood. The sad part is, from their position, adherents are actually proud of it. Like being a "child of God" or "those who become like a child" in their context means never growing or getting better. They look down on the other side because of their "pure heart." Proponents view their simplicity is far "superior" to the other side because the heart of worship is the most important. They think anything that isn't super simple or doesn't sounds folksy/country is a "production." Aside from the misinterpretation of those texts, the problem is in this Psalm says

3 Sing to him a new song; [trained enough to write]

play skillfully, and shout for joy. [never stop pushing to be better and training on your instrument]

There isn't no real way around it...growth is a fruit and motive of the Spirit. Musicianship and artistic motivations shouldn't be any different.

The other side (started by John Calvin's heart for worship) emphasizes the Lord deserves the purest, most perfect worship. He hired a man to translate the Psalms (and only the Psalms) into a metered french translation. No harmony...all monophonic, but because of the push for purity, specialized musicianship became primary. The demand becomes for more and higher trained musicians, singers, etc. What once began as an attempt for the purest truth, and purest worship, now becomes this garbage, and this apocalypse. I'm sure the idea is that the bigger the production the bigger the Lord looks. That isn't uncommon theme in church history but when it becomes only that, it really dead ends at nothing about the Lord. Adherents to this camp look down at the simplistic and say things like "if you don't have a full stage and don't practice four times a week, you don't really care about the Lord or His people." They act like all that work will manufacture hearts for God and bring more people to the Lord and proves their salvation. Lest we think this Psalm is quiet on the subject, David says later, (I'll filter it for a more modern context)

16 No [Church/leader] is saved by the size of his [production];

no [musician] escapes by his great strength.

17 A [giant screen, dance routine, or band] is a vain hope for deliverance;

despite all its great strength it cannot save.

18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,

on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

19 to deliver them from death

and keep them alive in famine.

Those production aspects become, in church leadership meetings, a matter of manufacturing and maintaining salvation of both the church and it's attendees, but that isn't the reality. The Spirit is the only thing that saves, and nothing or nobody can change or add to that.

You see, one is hiding in a cave or the belly of the ship (ala Jonah), and the other is the Israelites marching forward without the Lord and getting slaughtered (Joshua 7, 1 Samuel 4). The scriptures, and the Spirit both call us out of the safe cave of the easy and known, out into the unknown world where faith and work is required to move forward, but we must stay with Him. We must stay constrained by the word and focused solely on Him and Him being glorified, or we will be lost. We must leave port, but we must be steered by and toward Him.

So I hope this helps think about those things and realize that if those two parts of this chapter are heeded, everything else is preference. What can you and I do sitting with the congregation? We can learn to worship no matter the sound, because the commendation to sing new songs and play skillfully also applies to us in the seats. Don't come with the desire to be entertained and avoid thinking about singing to Him except when it's time to do it together. At my church, I send out the sets the night before in the form of youtube playlists in the hope that at least some will take advantage of it before the service. But you can also buy music your church sings and listen to it during the week. Believe me, worship pastors aren't trying to hid that info from you and I am positive they would be blessed to see you ask about it, and would do their best to facilitate you getting a hold of those bands and songs. You shouldn't be passive, the same as the leaders shouldn't. Put some effort into it outside of Sunday for Him and I'm sure you will see a change in your heart, and hopefully the service. Ok, that's it for now. Till next time...

In Christ,
paul



music for the week (as usual: no claim of being not "offensive" but it is really good):

Deeper Well - Psalm 29

Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;

The Lord is enthroned as King forever.

The Lord gives strength to his people;

The Lord blesses his people with peace.

This psalm begins with a call to worship and then ends in actual worship. You would think it would be opposite. Paul talks on and on about theological topics, showing the length and breadth of the gospel. He then on occasion breaks into song. Here is the other side of the peak of praise. One side is stating the truth, the other side is singing the truth. We dig into truth, realize that we should praise Him, and then praise Him for/by the truth we have dug into. When I feel it is hard to sing, when I feel the motivation isn't there, I think my instinct like all of us, is to just try harder; that is if you even desire to try if the feeling isn't there. We dig into ourselves and attempt to muster more strength to sing. That is, much like our sanctification, the wrong way to do it. We must dig into the Lord and what He is and what He has done in order to grow in our fuel for praise. When we dig into ourselves for strength, direction, and motivation, we dig into a dead well. There is nothing there. It is the fallacy of Pat Robertson/fundy crowd. It is faulty logic that if I just hid from the world, and do things like "pray the bad spirits out of goodwill sweaters," I will have enough strength to remove all the sin in my life. It will somehow remove all temptation from my life and I can just stop sinning all together. This. Is. Wrong. Thinking. No amount of isolation, and strength of my own will make me sinless. It is again, digging into a poisoned well. We must dig into a deeper well. The well that has no end. 

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

John 4

Dig into Him and sing.

In Christ,
paul




music for the week (as usual: no claim of being not "offensive" but it is really good):

Vindicated - Psalm 26

Vin·di·cate
verb
[past tense: vindicated; past participle: vindicated]
    clear (someone) of blame or suspicion.
    "hospital staff were vindicated by the inquest verdict"
    synonyms:    acquit, clear, absolve, exonerate;

This is probably one of my favorite double meaning words from the psalms that is then filtered by the gospel. David screams to the Lord to vindicate him, because he thinks he has not done anything wrong, and that could be right, often in David when it is concerned with outward actions to Saul. David was upright in his relationship with Saul and his pleas are to the only one who can show him right but we know something else from the new testament authors: no one is right before the Lord. When David says in Psalm 26 "Vindicate me Lord" and we look at the following sentences, they aren't true before the Lord. Like Psalm 130 says "if You Lord kept a record of sins, who could stand?" The answer is no one. So when we look at David's petition "vindicate me Lord" it becomes a plea to be made right. The definition pivots its weight, and to "clear someone of blame" means something totally different. But isn't that what Jesus is? The great vindicator? God remains the only one who can vindicate us but to do so becomes, not totally different, but totally deeper! Jesus is the one who makes us right before the Father. He IS the one who clears us of blame before the holy and just judge: himself. He makes this true in the eyes of the Father.

"1 Vindicate me, Lord [He has by His obedience and sacrifice],
[therefore] I have led a blameless life;
I have trusted in the Lord
and have not faltered.
2 Test me, Lord, and try me,
examine my heart and my mind;
3 for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love
and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness."

Isn't that such wonderful news! Think of that as you sing. God has vindicated you, and not in a temporary way that depends on you but depends on Him. Praise Him!

in Christ,

paul



music for the week (as usual: no claim of being not "offensive" but it is really good):

Children Of The Promise

hey howdy hey,

I made a chord sheet for my new song. If you wanted it or were curious about playing it, I posted it below as well as a link to hear a demo.

Worshiping the Lord is a great honor and thankfulness is at its core. We are returning to Him with gratitude for what He has done and promised us! He has done so much for us but looking forward to the full completion of His promise is our hope. He has promised us a way to full reconciliation with Himself which He Himself accomplished. He has given us the guarantee, that is the Holy Spirit, of our eternal communion with Him. 2 Corinthians 5:5-8 says

"5Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

6So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
7For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

Think about it though we are confident and have faith in a guarantee of His promise? Let me submit something to you....a guarantee is only as good as the one guaranteeing, and isn't He the only one who can truly guarantee?!? Emphatically YES!

-Paul

you can hear it here:
https://soundcloud.com/thedivisiontree/children-of-the-promise-demo

CHILDREN OF THE PROMISE

                 

C                  A*F/C

He formed the land

                       C                           A F/C

The seas and founts pour from His hands

            C                A F/C

But we hardened our hearts

                   C       A F/C

With wicked re-be-llion

      C               A F/C

He suffered and died

                       C                         A F/C

Our hope and rock pierced at His side

       C                     A F/C

The rift that Adam begun

              C                 A F/C

The holy savior has undone

            GMaj             F/C

But He saw what we are

                      GMaj    F/C

Lost sheep of His pasture

                  Am         C       F/C

We are the children of the promise

               Am         C               F/C

We were destined children of wrath

               Am                C              F/C

We were saved by the grace of a Holy God

                      Am  C           F/C                      C

To spend for-e   -  ver with Him, ever with Him

C          A F/C

Oh let us sing

          C             A F/C

Let us shout joyfully

              C             A F/C

Come before His presence

               C                    A F/C

The Holy King that is our God

C               A F/C

Oh come let us

           C                   A F/C

Bow before Him in worship

          C                     A F/C

Let us kneel before the Lord

                       C     A F/C

Our God our      ma - ker

      GMaj             F/C

He saw what we are

                      GMaj    F/C

Lost sheep of His pasture

                  Am         C       F/C

We are the children of the promise

               Am         C               F/C

We were destined children of wrath

               Am                C              F/C

We were saved by the grace of a Holy God

                      Am  C           F/C                      C

To spend for-e   -  ver with Him, ever with Him

       GMaj

The Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord

        Am

Who was born of David

     GMaj

Declared by the Spirit of Holiness

        Am

The promise of resurrection

               F/C

Through Him we receive grace

       GMaj

As apostles to the nations

      Am

For His name we all are called

      BMaj

For His name we all are called

                  Am         C       F/C

We are the children of the promise

               Am         C               F/C

We were destined children of wrath

               Am                C              F/C

We were saved by the grace of a Holy God

                      Am  C           F/C                      C

To spend for-e   -  ver with Him, ever with Him

 (2x)

*The “A” is a quick drop of the root of the “C” chord to open A. It is not required. All “A”s are truly “Am”s

The “F/C” can be played as a F power chord or C power chord with lower F root or bass note. Whatever is preferred?

or....

CHILDREN OF THE PROMISE

(psalm 95, romans 1)

C                (A) Fmaj9

He formed the land

                   C                (A) Fmaj9

The seas & founts pour from His hands

            C                (A) Fmaj9

But we hardened our hearts

                    C     (A) Fmaj9

With wicked re – bell – i  - on

     C            (A) Fmaj9

He suffered &  died

                   C              (A) Fmaj9

Our hope & rock pierced at His side

       C                    (A) Fmaj9

The rift that Adam be-gun

              C                 (A) Fmaj9

The holy savior has un-done

             G                   Fmaj9

But He saw what we are

                       G           Fmaj9

Lost sheep of His pasture

                  Am         C       Fmaj9

We are the children of the promise

                Am        C               Fmaj9

We were destined children of wrath

                Am               C              Fmaj9

We were saved by the grace of a Holy God

                        Am C     Fmaj9              C         

To spend for - ever with Him, ever with Him

C (A) Fmaj9 C (A) Fmaj9

C        (A) Fmaj9

Oh let us sing

           C               (A)  Fmaj9

Let us shout joy – ful - ly

               C            (A) Fmaj9

Come before His presence

                C                 (A)  Fmaj9

The Holy King that is our God

C             (A) Fmaj9

Oh come let us

            C                (A)  Fmaj9

Bow before Him in worship

          C                     (A) Fmaj9

Let us kneel before the Lord

                    C    (A) Fmaj9

Our God our    ma - ker

             G                   Fmaj9

But He saw what we are

                       G           Fmaj9

Lost sheep of His pasture

                  Am         C       Fmaj9

We are the children of the promise

                Am        C               Fmaj9

We were destined children of wrath

                Am               C              Fmaj9

We were saved by the grace of a Holy God

                        Am C     Fmaj9              C         

To spend for - ever with Him, ever with Him

        G(sus4 6^th)

The Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord

        Am

Who was born of David

     G(sus4 6^th)

Declared by the Spirit of Holiness

       Am

The promise of resurrection

               Fmaj9

Through Him we have received grace

     G(sus4 6^th)

As apostles to the nations

      Am

For His name we all are called

      Bbsus2(add9 flat5)

For His name we all are called

                  Am         C       Fmaj9

We are the children of the promise

                Am        C               Fmaj9

We were destined children of wrath

                Am               C              Fmaj9

We were saved by the grace of a Holy God

                        Am C     Fmaj9              C         

To spend for - ever with Him, ever with Him (2x)

 

Original tuning was DADGCE but can be tuned to standard and capo’d or modulated to anything.

 
Words by Paul H. from Psalm 95 and Romans 1
Music by Paul H.