When They Really Get To Know You They'll Run: A Psalms Devotional Introduction

I'm fairly certain this will all be me rambling but I honestly think it will be a good way to process the Psalms as I go though them. I guess I ought to introduce myself. I am Paul. I currently lead worship, all be it intermittently, but I love it. I never thought that I would be in this place since I've been jaded for a long time about church music and the church's view of art but I picked up a used book for $0.99 on a whim about a half dozen years ago. This book by Erik Routely (Church Music and Theology, 1959) changed a lot of what I thought about church music and art. That coupled with some new music coming out of Seattle and Florida put out by label runners that I knew and trusted as well as musicians that were beyond excellent, softened this old band dude. I read as much as I can on the subject now. Once "our band could be your life" sat alone and tattered in my bag; now it rests next to roughed-up copy of "rhythms of grace." I still play with some guys on the weekend in an emo band but I have grown into a love of applying my theological training with my musical training into something the blesses the body of Christ.

Now, I have a pretty simple morning reading schedule. I read a Psalm and the few following it every morning during the week, and the next week I just shift it one Psalm down. Usually I just share my thoughts on it with the body I worship with but I thought it might be a good idea to share them out as a way to digest and apply what I'm reading....if someone else gets something out of it, GREAT! I'm a pretty eclectic guy so if suggestions of  music that I'm listening to are too out there or I soapbox a bit, wait a week and I'm sure something will change and I'll calm down.

Anyway, I will filter all of these Psalms though a Romans lens, and specifically chapters 6, 7, and 8. Trying to balance the emotional appeals of psalmists should always be tempered by good new testament theology lest we get the wrong idea. I've dropped a couple of examples before this. They will look a lot like those but I'm sure things will grow. Please feel free to comment (graciously please), and ask questions. I will do my best to respond.






Music of the week (as usual: I make no claim of this music not being "offensive"):

Psalm 21 (originally posted 8/20/17)

 There is so much pressure around, and so much uncertainty it feels like even the ground beneath our feet is swaying. I mean it seems like that to me. Through the news and social media we see the destructive hate, fulled by pride, firing one side to the other and back again. It seems our country is almost at war with itself. It saddens me. Last Saturday I spoke with a spoken word artist that I respect (a lovely brother in the Lord Micah Bournes) about just what I've seen both in my lifetime in my family and across the country....and I actually began to weep. So many people being hurt by such hate just almost takes me out at the knees. Even dear brothers and sisters in Christ being hurt in their heart from being hated for the color of their skin. In my own life, the only grandfather I knew on my dad's side of the family was my grandpa Milton. He was a 6' 5" African American fisherman. Christina and I just celebrated our 19th anniversary but it reminded me that he didn't come. Not because he didn't love us, and not because we didn't love him. He didn't feel welcomed by extended family. He didn't feel safe from slander, derision or shame to come to our wedding. I don't feel like there is much difference in our country seeing the actions of groups as of late. It is no wonder the ground seems to shift around my heart. Where is there to hope? Where is there to rest?

"through the unfailing love of the Most High
we will not be shaken."
Psalm 21:7

We need His love. The only steady place is His love for us. That love is not deserved, it is not earned, and it is not a commodity to be paid for by good deeds or even righteous indignation. Our sin earns us death and wrath....but God saved us. Humility and grace for those around us and across the country comes in seeing our state before Christ and then our state IN Christ. We can stay standing in the love of the Lord and testify of the good news of His great work. Lets us do this Sunday. Let us prepare our hearts to do it together and then to do it apart at our work and in our homes.

"On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand..."

in Christ,
paul

Psalm 22

I just want to share, since my weekly psalm reading landed on 22 that we read last week, a little of a message I heard at the Canvas conference 2 weeks ago from Cole Brown. David wrote this psalm about how he felt so see this first how he wrote it...

Suffering feels like:

1) Abandonment: vs 1, 2

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from my cries of anguish?

My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, but I find no rest.

2) Condemnation: vs 7, 8

All who see me mock me;

they hurl insults, shaking their heads.

“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,

“let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him,

since he delights in him.”

3) Worthlessness: vs 6

But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by everyone, despised by the people.

4) Loneliness: vs 11

Do not be far from me,

for trouble is near

and there is no one to help.

5) Prison: vs 12,13

Many bulls surround me;

strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

Roaring lions that tear their prey

open their mouths wide against me.

6) Death: vs 14, 15

I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart has turned to wax;

it has melted within me.

My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;

you lay me in the dust of death.

These are all the things suffering feels like. It reminds me of Isaiah where he names Jesus as "a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Think about it, if David says all of this is what suffering feels like, when we apply it like we see the story of Jesus unfolds in Matthew...suffering feels like all the things Jesus suffered for us. It feels like abandonment, but He was totally abandoned: it feels like death and He actually died, etc. He knows what suffering feels like in total. How we feel falls somewhere in the middle on a scale of 1-10, but He has gone all the way to 10 in every category....and He did that for US!!! Finally, suffering ends praise: vs 22-26

I will declare your name to my people;

in the assembly I will praise you.

You who fear the Lord, praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

For he has not despised or scorned

the suffering of the afflicted one;

he has not hidden his face from him

but has listened to his cry for help.

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;

before those who fear you, I will fulfill my vows.

The poor will eat and be satisfied;

those who seek the Lord will praise him—

may your hearts live forever!

in Christ,

paul

Your Problem With Sunday Worship Is A Problem With Your Heart

 

It's so ridiculous that we are still having to have these discussions. We do not have to sacrifice lyrical content to have good music, NOR do we have to dumb down the music to validate the words. It's maddening to me that anything outside the normal musically is dismissed as being a "rock show" or what is above the normal lyrical baby food is responded to like "Um...I don't get it...there are too many words." This isn't to say that few words are bad or a simple song is either, but the idea that either side is promoting, i.e. a wholesale dumbing down of either music or lyrics, is completely preposterous. There is no grounds for the "holiness" of simple music or simple words. You can prefer either of those but please, let us stop putting on airs that our preferred area of simplicity is more holy. God created us in His image. Part of that is that we imitate Him in His creativity. By saying we have too many instruments or volume, words or ideas is so ignorantly void of the context of God's creation that glorifies Him, I am usually left to wonder if people even look around them once in a while. Even in the simplicity of the seeds, there are complex levels of dna, potential energy and systems designed to get a plant started. I think we have the wrong idea that God only speaks in the "still small voice" of 1 Kings 19. But do you think when the Psalmist declares in 148 "Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths," that they do it in a whisper? Do you really think a subtle and simple noise is spoke of in Psalm 98 "Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." Of course not. We can not assume simple words or music 100% of the time is even acceptable by scriptural standards. There are no grounds for that. We can not be stagnant. We must continue to respond to the greatness of what God is, what God has done, and what God has promised He will do in like manner. Let us consider these two passages and ask ourselves these questions: does my worship sound like this, and does it even attempt to match the grandeur He has made to surround Himself to bring Himself glory?

Psalm 150

1Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

2Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

3Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,

4praise him with timbrel and dancing,

praise him with the strings and pipe,

5praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.

6Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Revelation 4

1After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“ ‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’

who was, and is, and is to come.”

9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

11“You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they were created

and have their being.”

God is Beautiful

The EXPERIENCE of beauty is subjective. 

The essence of something can be beautiful objectively. 

Now....I'm going to say something that may be off putting... 
  

GOD. 

IS. 

BEAUTIFUL. 

GOD. 

IS. 

BEAUTY. 

He is the definition of beauty.

God's objective aesthetic nature is the grounding of all aesthetic value. If there is an objective standard of beauty, that means you can do better in your art. You can BE excellent in your art. This is the essence of excellence.

The beauty of art derives its objective beauty to the degree that it points to the objective standard of beauty; namely God. 

The beauty of art derives its objective beauty to the degree that it resembles or takes on the characteristics of that which is the objective standard of beauty; namely God. 

This, I believe, applies to people as well as art.

Beauty is not a suit, beauty is not makeup...it is the character of God. It is what He finds "precious" in us, as 1 Peter says. 

This concept is the most important to understand when creating art as a christian, and having art in a church (both visual and auditory).

Art and motivation

"There is no blacker mark of decadence than the kind of idolatry which is expressed in the phrase 'art for art's sake'. It is the decadence of art when it is separated from the life, just as it was the decadence of religion when it was separated from life. So long as religion meant, as it did in its vigorous days, that the whole nature of man must have an outcome & sublime climax it was strong. Religion rotted away into musty theology and mad ethics precisely when people began to say 'piety for piety's sake'. And just as decidedly exactly as the old ascetic pitted religion against life, so decidedly does the new decadent pit art against life. Aestheticism seeks to stand alone, and it will fall as Puritanism fell."
GK Chesterton

Regardless of any auxiliary connotations, he points out that art (and for my emphasis: church music) divorced from a higher motivation actually becomes divorced from any value or life. If people are to be engaged and connect with it in any meaningful and lasting way, it must be connected with that motivation first. People can find meaning in meaningless things by finding experiences and situations in their life and correlating those to that particular art, but that is contingent on the art "consumer"(the one taking in and experiencing the art). I have always operated under the truth that once art is created, the meaning is no longer owned by the author. People attach meaning to art that never existed before. That is the nature of art. That is why I, as a Christian, can attach a positive and profound meaning to the art of an ardent atheist that is contrary to the artist's intention. But as authors (both in composition of the song or in the momentary translation) we can narrow that variance. As church music leaders and artists, we can buffet that openness by communicating. When we share a song on mp3 or live, we have the express opportunity to connect that, either with the original motivation of the song, or another greater truth/idea. Like the variation in angle of a pool cue can change the angle the cue ball will go, it still has the same pivot point (the song). For our purposes though, you really can't deviate and ANY direction because the words create some boundary to that. There isn't a ball in every direction for the cue ball to strike. Some deviation can be utilized to cohere with an over arching theme in a service. Even leaving that aside, many parishioners are more likely to be lost in a sea of noises and words, unable to see the thread through it without explanation, unless they are very artistic or avid art consumers. That is really where the communication comes in. Whether in liner notes, or during a worship service, communicating to the body "the thread" before going through a song/service, can really attach the higher meaning, and therefore life, to the song(s).

Most particularly I have been immersing myself in the Psalms every week. I read the same 3 everyday for the whole week, in order to absorb them and then look for gospel themes. When I sit down to make a set list for Sunday, I apply that gospel application to a section of one of the Psalms I've been reading all week by orienting the whole set to express that idea. To tell the "drama" arc (as Erik Routley would say) of that aspect of the gospel or characteristic of God that you see in that Psalm or section of Psalm is a great way to both: orient the service and give you a foundation to relate the theme. I like to read a section of the Psalm before starting (the service and after the message), explain the connection to what we will be singing and the gospel, and pray through that section applying it to our hearts/lives. After that, THEN sing. The people who will be worshiping our savior with us, sitting in the seats, will be on the same page and will be well on their way to applying the gospel to their hearts; singing like they mean it out of thanksgiving. There are many ways to communicate that larger meaning that begs our hearts to sing like Psalmist's emplor.

The upright see and rejoice,

but all the wicked shut their mouths.

Let the one who is wise heed these things

and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord. 

Psalm 107:42, 43 

They sit and ponder the Lord. The more efficiently you get to that, the more time in song they will take ownership and take on the heart that is being sung. Sing and mean it, explain it and they will join you. All of this applies art of any type. Painting, photography, novelists, and sculptors, you must attach a clear meaning to what you are expressing in a way that connects to your heart and what the Lord is doing and has done in you. Glorify the Lord, be real and people will see it.

"People wonder why the novel [as art] is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of  metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are. Life may sometimes legitimately appear as a book of science. Life may sometimes appear, and with a much greater legitimacy, as a book of  metaphysics. But life is always a novel."

GK Chesterton

Here is a beautiful example. Please imagine if you will: seeing the Lord from a distance, in fear being drawn closer seeing your own sin clearer and clearer, feeling the righteousness of the Father and knowing its demand for your death being just, right and necessary. As you draw closer and closer the fear, dread painfully sucking the air from your lungs so you could not bring yourself to even speak. Right at the moment you thought you would surely be destroyed, He breathes one word....mercy. He has paid your penalty and washed you clean. Like Isaiah, He has cleansed you with lasting heat of the sacrifice from the alter, that is Christ. What would come from your lips? "All hail Your wonderful majesty, Jesus who died, the king above all kings!"

Now listen to this song with that in mind....

Jesus Hastening To Suffer

Jesus Hastening To Suffer

It is an odd thing to think about Jesus, propelled by Love for the Father and man, not hesitating in His sacrifice. His heart to honor/obey the Father (one of the two parts of worship) propelled Him to endure the cross…

    “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
    -Hebrews 12:2b

He, with eyes on the resulting reconciling of man to God and the glory it would bring the Godhead, set Himself to push through. Seeking the Father produced obedience and glory to Him. This isn’t a trite precious moments postcard. This is something graphic. The flower that bloomed was of a kind never seen; rare, and beautiful, but that middle part was gruesome, vile and terrible. He hastened to suffer for what was on the other end, not for the minutiae of the process. Chesterton talks about a very similar process in his book Heretics

    "Even if the ideal of such men were simply the ideal [for example] of kicking a man downstairs, they thought of the end like men, not of the process like paralytics. They did not say, 'Efficiently elevating my right leg, using, you will notice, the muscles of the thigh and calf, which are in excellent order, I--' Their feeling was quite different. They were so filled with the beautiful vision of the man lying flat at the foot of the staircase that in that ecstasy the rest followed in a flash."

It is the same idea. “For the joy set before him.." It was the beautiful vision. He saw the redemption of man and the glory of the father. The joy was before Him. And He was the first. First to lay down, first to rise, first to triumph. He did that for us on our behalf. It is something we could not and can not do for ourselves. He gives that to us. Out of gratitude, and love we respond. He sets this example for our worship. Here is the context of our passage.

    "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
    -Hebrews 12:1-3

All that to say, He not only examples it for us, but by the Spirit, gives us the desire and the power to do it. C.S. Lewis says

    “God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.”

Like Him, we bare a cross, but lighter than His. We bare ours in light of His; with our eyes on His. And in that we can rejoice, that though we lose sight of Him and regress to self-love, the loving-kindness of our savior is always there. I love these words of William Cowper. They are a perfect reminder of the readiness of our Lord to rescue us at great personal cost. The last two stanzas of his poem succinctly lay the finger on the pulse of our response and prayer.

    "Lord! we return thee what we can,
    Our hearts shall sound abroad
    Salvation to the dying man,
    And to the rising God!

    And while thy bleeding glories here
    Engage our wondering eyes;
    We learn our lighter cross to bear,
    And hasten to the skies."

So there sits the Christian life: sinning in or going through a trial, forgetting or losing faith in our Savior's work, then remembering His work/cost/effectiveness, and turning to Him in thanksgiving. There we go until He comes for us. It is a good thing to remember our Savior being bound for us, our Healer being broken for us, and our Hope diving into the hopelessness of death for us.

If you have problems with the chords, message me and I'll help the best I can.

JESUS HASTENING TO SUFFER

words by William Cowper, Nate Fanno, Paul Hedrick; 
music and melody by Paul Hedrick
D, Dadd9, GMaj9

      D         Dadd9 GMaj9

the Savior, what a noble flame
        D          Dadd9 GMaj9

Was kindled in his  breast,
          D       Dadd9        GMaj9

When hastening to Jerusalem,
      D                Dadd9     GMaj9

He marched before the rest!

GMaj9                Asus4 6th

Lord! we return thee what we can,
       GMaj9                      Asus4 6th

Our hearts shall sound abroad
GMaj9                 Asus4 6th

Salvation to the dying man,
       GMaj9           Asus4 6th

And to the rising God!

D              Dadd9         GMaj9

Good-will to men and zeal for God
      D        Dadd9       GMaj9

His every thought engrossed;
      D           Dadd9        GMaj9

He longs to cleanse us with blood;
      D           Dadd9      GMaj9

He pants to reach his cross.

GMaj9                Asus4 6th

Lord! we return thee what we can,
       GMaj9                      Asus4 6th

Our hearts shall sound abroad
GMaj9                 Asus4 6th

Salvation to the dying man,
       GMaj9           Asus4 6th

And to the rising God!

        D        Dadd9        GMaj9

With all his sufferings full in view,
       D           Dadd9 GMaj9

And woes to us   unknown,
D           Dadd9          GMaj9

Forth to the task his spirit flew;     

          D            Dadd9        GMaj9

'Twas love that urged him on.

GMaj9                Asus4 6th

Lord! we return thee what we can,
       GMaj9                      Asus4 6th

Our hearts shall sound abroad
GMaj9                 Asus4 6th

Salvation to the dying man,
       GMaj9           Asus4 6th

And to the rising God!

  D,  GMaj7

Em add9          Bm aug5

And while thy bleeding glories here
    D             GMaj7

Engage our wondering eyes;
Em add9          Bm aug5

We learn our lighter cross to bear,
       D          GMaj7

And hasten to the skies.

GMaj9                Asus4 6th

Lord! we return thee what we can,
       GMaj9                      Asus4 6th

Our hearts shall sound abroad
GMaj9                 Asus4 6th

Salvation to the dying man,
       GMaj9           Asus4 6th

And to the rising God!

 

So for the tunings I use that make it easy see below. I can message the tabeture if needed. The chords above are the real chords. You can try doing it without the {aug5 and 6th} to get you where you need to be.

if tuned to CGCFA#D than Capo 4

if tuned to DADGCE than Capo2