Non-Fading Crown

DEVOTION

PSALMS

NON-FADING CROWN

Ps 132

132:1 A song of ascents.

O LORD, remember David and all the hardships he endured.

2 He swore an oath to the LORD and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob: 3 "I will not enter my house or go to my bed — 4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, 5 till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."

6 We heard it in Ephrathah, we came upon it in the fields of Jaar:   7 "Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool —  8 arise, O LORD, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. 9 May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your saints sing for joy."

10 For the sake of David your servant, do not reject your anointed one.

11 The LORD swore an oath to David, a sure oath that he will not revoke:" One of your own descendants I will place on your throne — 12 if your sons keep my covenant and the statutes I teach them, then their sons will sit on your throne for ever and ever."

13 For the LORD has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling: 14 "This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it —  15 I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food. 16 I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will ever sing for joy.

17 "Here I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for my anointed one. 18 I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown on his head will be resplendent."

NIV

The thirteenth song of ascent for the thirteenth of fifteen steps up to the temple.

This is all about Jesus, the son sitting on the throne of David forever and ever. Of course there is a lot of language that is specific to David and his quest for a place for the Ark of the Covenant, to build the temple in Jerusalem for God. But we know because of his failure, his sin with Bathsheba he would not get to build it, but only assemble much of the material and Solomon, his son, would build the temple. Yet it seems the main point is speaking about Jesus who is the seed of Abraham, the son of the promise. Abraham was a man of faith and his faith was credited to him as righteousness and he was promised by God he would be the father of many nations. Although through his son Isaac whose son Jacob had the twelve sons, who became the twelve tribes of Israel, they are not many nations, but only one nation of Israel. However, through the seed of Abraham, Jesus many nations are blessed. It is because of Jesus who sits upon the throne forever and ever the light of the world shines forever. His is the lamp. He clothes his priest with salvation. We are a people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

1 Peter 2:9

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

NIV

Jesus has clothed us with salvation. We have been clothed with righteousness. We are the promised people. God will provide for us, he will feed us, for we are poor, perhaps not in the material sense, however many may have far more then we, we are the poor in spirit, humble before the Lord and he feeds us both from his word, and from his hand. There is no one else who sits on a throne who cares and loves his people as much as Jesus does. We sit at his feet, we bow our knee and worship him as our Lord and our Savior. Although the song speaks about the temple in Jerusalem being the resting place for God, it no longer stands, and it was destroyed in AD 70 and has not been rebuilt. So then, where is the temple of the Lord which is his resting place forever? We are the temple of the Lord and he rests in us forever and ever. He will never leave nor forsake us, he will be within our heart forever. He sits upon the throne in our heart. Once we sat on that throne, we thought we were the master of our life. But alas, that is not true, we were indeed slaves to sin. However, as we placed Jesus on the throne of our life he set us free from sin and brought eternal life to our heart. The moment Jesus sat upon the throne in our heart, we began our eternal life. We will be with Jesus forever and ever. The crown upon his head shall flourish in our hearts. He brings us the crown of life, the crown glory, the crown of righteousness. And his crown will never fade away.

A Still Heart

DEVOTION

PSLAMS

A STILL HEART

Ps 131

131:1 A song of ascents. Of David.

My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. 2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.

NIV

The twelfth song of ascent for the twelfth of fifteen steps up to the temple. What does it mean to have a proud heart, or haughty eyes? In the Hebrew both mean to exalt oneself. This is thinking we are special, we as humans have the ability to do whatever we want. There are all sorts of voices telling us that very thing, “Be all that you can be” “You can achieve whatever you set your mind to”.  Commercials, slogans and the educational system of this world all telling us that it is our making as to how great we will become. We have no limit to our achievements, our success, and our life. All those voices are based on making the heart proud, and the eyes haughty. A proud heart is also a harden heart, shutting out everything except self. This proud heart lifts itself up, exalts itself, thinking more of itself than it should. No, we are not to be concerned with those great matters of things which are too wonderful for us. We are to live with a still and quieted soul. Does that mean we do nothing? Not at all, but the whole of our life should be about the Lord and not about how great we can become, or how successful we can be, our how much we can achieve or how much wealth we have amassed for our benefit in the now and our later years. God has set a path before us, he is the master of our life, the rudder to our ship, it sets the course for us and we only need to follow him. Instead of living in the turmoil of storm of life, we live in the stilled and quieted soul owned and operated by the Lord. We are told over and over again throughout the scriptures to not be worried or anxious or afraid or to be concerned what we will eat, or about the clothes we will wear. Jesus tells us to put the Lord first and all those things the pagans chase after will be given to us. We would need to include most of Matthew chapter six to get the whole of Jesus’s teaching, but we know it, and we should live by it, for it is the truth of a really successful life, a life of true wealth and of being exalted. We do not exalt ourselves, but humble ourselves before the Lord and he lifts us up. He makes us into what he desires for our life. Some may have more intelligence than others, some may have more wealth or material goods than others, and some may have better positions in society, at least in accordance with the standards of this world. But there is no envy, jealously, or coveting in the kingdom living we are to be in. We are precisely where God intends us to be and doing exactly what his plan is for our life. We are the clay, he is the potter. He has made us the exact vessel he desires us to be for his glory, for his purpose. This is why we can have a quiet heart, a still soul, content in who we are and where we are and what we have. We have put our trust in him, not in ourselves, for if we trust self we will fail short of everything the Lord has for us. But because we trust in him we will be all that he intends us to be. Our hope is in him. All our hope is in him. We just keep walking the path he has set before us wherever he leads, we will follow that path. So we have a still heart.

Who Else

DEVOTION

PSALMS

WHO ELSE

Ps 130

130:1 A song of ascents.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; 2 O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

NIV

The eleventh song of ascent on the eleventh of fifteen steps up to the temple. Who else would our soul cry out for, other than the Lord? Who else could redeem us from the depths, other than the Lord? Who else would show us the mercy the Lord does? Although we are told that love keeps no record of wrong in 1 Corinthians 13, which of us can say we have been able to accomplish that? There always seems to be that lingering hint of memory about something someone did or said which we deemed as offensive to us. We say we forgive you, but can we say we have totally forgotten? The idea of not keeping a record of wrongs may not be about actually not remembering, but more like never bringing it up ever again for the rest of our lives. It means never reminding a person of something they did that was deemed wrong or we could say as deemed as sin. That is how God is. He would not be God if he could actually forget something, but once he has forgiving us of our sin, he has forgiven us and we are no longer held accountable for that sin. If he did hold us accountable for every sin in our life, we could not ever stand before him. In fact, we could not bear to stand period. The weight of our guilt and shame would crush us. This is why people who refuse to accept Jesus Christ stand with arrogance. They have denied who God is, suppressed the truth of God deep within themselves so their evil deeds do not crush them, they feel no shame or guilt, so they can live. They prefer the darkness so the light of the truth of God will not shine into their hearts. They do no fear God. But we know God and we have cried out to him and he has forgiven our sin and so we fear, we reverence him. Our soul waits for him, we yearn for the Lord. We put our trust in his word. Just as the watchmen waits for the morning, we watch for the morning of the Lord, the Day of the Lord when everything will change forever. Sometimes we can get too distracted just in our daily living, doing the daily chores of life that we do not pay much attention to the coming Day of the Lord. Sometimes we make too many of our own plans of what we want out of life, our wants, our goals, our desires, and our ambitions, what we want for our future days to look like, and how much we want to accomplish. What about waiting for the Lord? What about seeking him more? He is the only one who loves us enough to have done everything so that we can be redeemed. He reconciled himself to us so that we can have eternal life. All too often we hear of people saying they simply do not love someone anymore. Isn’t that what divorce is about, falling out of love? Maybe it is more about selfishness, rather than selflessness. That is how the love of God is, selflessness. He came in to earth in the form of man to humble himself unto a death on a cross for us. That is love divine. That is unfailing love. The love of people may fail, but Gods love never fails, it continues forever. He has redeemed us and holds us up, sustains us in his love. Who else could we turn to? Who else would love us as much as God does? Who else?

Bless You in My Name

DEVOTION

PSALMS

BLESS YOU IN MY NAME

Ps 129

129:1 A song of ascents.

They have greatly oppressed me from my youth — let Israel say —  2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me. 3 Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. 4 But the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked. 5 May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame. 6 May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow; 7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands, nor the one who gathers fill his arms. 8 May those who pass by not say, "The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the name of the LORD."

NIV

The tenth psalm of ascent for the tenth of fifteen steps up to the temple. This psalm would appear to be speaking about the history of Israel, such as when they were in captivity in Egypt and were treated harshly, their backs being scourged. The verbiage about the plowmen and their backs being plowed may make a reference to them being yoked as oxen to pull heavy stones for the construction of the pyramids. However, this song also speaks of the deliverance of God, their being cut free from the cords of the wicked. Again we see a comparison between the righteous and the wicked. The righteous are cut free from the wicked and the wicked are likened as grass on a roof. This grass on the roof has no soil to grow in and the roof is hot and dry so it withers. This gives us the picture of a life without the blessings of the Lord, a life of the wicked, those who do not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. This idea mirrors the teaching of Jesus about the seed and the four types of ground it falls upon. Of course in his teaching the seed is the word of God and different types of ground represent people. Yet this roof is like that which falls upon rocks where it sprang up quickly, when the sun came up it was it was scorched and withered because it had no root. This should give us the picture of our having our roots planted by the stream of living water, as the 1^st psalm makes that point and how the tree produces much fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. So these wicked who wither will not be in the harvest of the Lord. He is the reaper and he will not be able to fill his hands nor his arms with any of the wicked for their have withered away, burnt up by the heat. Sounds like hell, doesn’t it? What this shows us is how blessed we are to be in the hands of Jesus, to find rest in his everlasting arms. No one who is not in the arms of Jesus will not be able to say, “Blessing of the Lord be upon you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.” They will have been cast out of heaven and we will not be able to hear them anymore. While we are here in this life, we hear the voices of the wicked, even those who pretend to be believers and use those kind of blessing words. It is not about our words, although as important as words are, it is about the condition of the heart. It is possible to be fooled by pretenders, there façade looks all new and shiny, appearing to be this new creation, this born again being. But Jesus spoke to that issue about those who would say, Lord, Lord.

Matt 7:21-23

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

NIV

There are pretenders, who will not be in the everlasting arms of Jesus. It is about the condition of the heart. Those who have their heart circumcised, exposing it to the Lord, will see the kingdom of God. The heart hears and obeys the Lord, who puts his words into practice, who is the good tree who bears fruit. Actions are good, or good deeds seem to be right, but here all their good deeds were for nothing. Their prophesying, their driving our demons, their doing many miracles meant nothing because the condition of their heart was evil. Good deeds are not the answer to the life of being a believer, a circumcised heart is. Will that produce some good works? Sure, but works is not the way into the everlasting arms of Jesus. We are saved by faith and faith alone and we live because he lives. Our life is in his hands. Let us allow the seed, the word of God to grow in our hearts, and flourish. It is not about men saying the blessing of the Lord be upon you. It is about God saying his blessings be upon us. It is about God saying, “I bless you in my name.”

Walking in His Ways

DEVOTION

PSALMS

WALKING IN HIS WAYS

Ps 128

128:1 A song of ascents.

Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. 2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. 3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. 4 Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD. 5 May the LORD bless you from Zion all the days of your life; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem, 6 and may you live to see your children's children.

Peace be upon Israel.

NIV

The ninth psalm of ascent on the ninth of fifteen steps up to the temple. Blessed, happy, content, satisfied, complete, fulfilled is the person who reveres the Lord, who walks in truth, justice, mercy, compassion, grace and peace, to name a few character traits, or simply his way. We can walk in our way, but then we would not be blessed. Being able to enjoy the fruit of our labor is a blessing. Now that could be applied to the material things of life, or it could be applied to the eternal aspects of life. Many non-blessed people, those who do not walk in his ways, seem to enjoy the fruit of their labor. But if they are walking in their own way, then maybe they are truly not really enjoying the fruit of their labor because it seems many are dissatisfied with how much fruit they have. Learning to be content is a blessing from the Lord. The Hebrew word translated as prosperity means, it will go well with you. Because we live in the way of the Lord, that is we revere him, we trust him, all our hope is in him, we abide in the vine, Jesus, and we will bear much fruit and be content and all will go well with us. Could it be the reason it is not going well with some, or they are not content, but have greed or lust for more fruit, or simply are more concerned about themselves, more trusting in their own choices, they are not really walking in the way of the Lord? That would apply to the non-believer, but it might also apply to us believers. We need to be careful about actually living in the way of the Lord. This psalm assumes we are all married and that it is the man who is blessed because of the number of children his wife has for him. That sounds just a little sexist, that it is all about the man and the woman is just a fruitful vine in his house, there to have many children for him. That most likely was the way it was in those days, but today our culture is quite different. Nevertheless, the reason God made woman was to be a helpmate to man. He designed us with the physical differences for the purpose of having children, multiplying and filling the earth. Again our modern culture has deviated far from that path in so many ways. However, it is still true that children, no matter the number, are a blessing to parents. God has entrusted parents with the task of rearing children. We get to aid them and watch them in their first step. We have the opportunity to teach them the way of the Lord. We get to hear the joy of their laughter, their screams of joy, and hung them when they are hurt. Parenthood is indeed a blessing and then we can enjoy their children, and for some of us we also have the joy of not just grandchildren, but great grandchildren. Some enjoy seeing five generations before they step into eternity. How great is the blessing of the Lord. How wonderful it is to be blessed by the Lord. Why would someone what to not be blessed? Why would someone walk in their own way? There can be no real joy, happiness, contentment and peace outside of his way. So we determine to walk on the path he has set before us and enjoy every moment of each day, as we walk in his way.

Life Made by God

DEVOTION

PSALMS

LIFE MADE BY GOD

Ps 127

127:1 A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. 2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat — for he grants sleep to those he loves. 3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. 5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

NIV

The eighth song of ascent on the eighth of fifteen steps up to the temple. Unless our life is built by the Lord, we build our life in vain. That is the meaning here. What good is life unless it is built by the Lord, unless our life is in Christ? In all reality life is meaningless unless it is built on the Lord. All the struggles of life to gain the whole world are for nothing if we lose our self.

Luke 9:25

5 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

NIV

So often we people put so much of our effort into gaining material things, or securing our future, storing up, and still never feeling like we have enough. What value is all of that when we stand before the Lord and give an account of what we have done? All people will stand, or rather bend their knee before the Lord and answer the one question which shall be asked. Did you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, did you build your life in him? Those whose answer is yes, will be invited into his rest. Those whose answer is no, we built our own house, they will be cast into utter darkness. All their efforts were  in vain. These are the people who toil every moment they can, always thinking of ways to gain more. They cannot even get a good night’s sleep, worried about the next day and how much can they get done to advance their position in life. But we do not live like that, we lay our head on the pillow, thanking the Lord for all his blessings in our day, for the life he has built for us. For the house he has built, as we are the house of the Lord, the temple of the Spirit. We not even have to keep watch over our house, our life, for God is our watchmen. The non-believer watches their houses in vain, guarding their possession, trying to guard their life. But all in vain, they will lose it all. The rest of this song deals with our children, it mentions sons, as they are the ones who carry on the family name. Yet all children are a blessing from the Lord. Although our society is much different than that of the psalmist. As the father who had many sons ages, he leaves all his inheritance to his first born and that son in turn cares for his father all of his days. Other sons would also be involved in the family business insuring the father was well cared for. Today we might leave our children whatever possession we have, but it is far and few that take in the parent and care for them for the rest of their days. It happens, but it would seem for the most part the retirement home business is booming because there is no room for parents within the family care by the children. They too are busy with trying to gain the whole world. Yet the Lord says the parent with many children in their quiver is blessed. The children will contend with the enemies at the gate. That is they will care for the parents well-being, protecting them, watching over them. This may have been true once, but in our more modern culture we may have lost this truth. Did we do enough for our parents? Can we expect more or less from our children? All we can hope for is to keep our life in the Lord and he will see to our life. Whatever life brings, it has to be built by the Lord or it is meaningless. In days past one car company used to boast their body was made by Fisher. What we can boast in, is our body, our engine, our very life is made by God.

Sowing the Seed

DEVOTION

PSALMS

SOWING THE SEED

PS 126

126 1 A song of ascents.

When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed.  2 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." 3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. 4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev. 5 Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

NIV

Sixth psalm of ascent for the sixth of fifteen steps up to the temple. Certainly this is descriptive of the time after their captivity by some foreign king was over and they were able to return to Israel and Jerusalem. There was joy in their hearts and thankfulness to the Lord for his deliverance. But they wanted more than just being delivered, they wanted their fortunes restored. We cannot be sure that was right for them to request such a thing, but that is what it was. They were wanting to be able to once again have a great harvest. What can we glean for our lives from this psalm? Surely we have been delivered from the captivity of the evil one and we have returned to the Lord our creator. There were many years we had been carried off from what we were created for and where we were supposed to live. But now since we have been delivered and have enjoyed our life back where we should have been from our birth in the house of the Lord. But there are still other captives that belong back where we are. Yet here we are rejoicing because we are home. It is good to be home and our heart is filled with gratitude and joy and we do reap with songs of joy. We reap the benefit of eternal life. We reap the benefit of the fruit and gifts of the Spirit. But we must carry the seed out to sow, which may well make reference to Jesus, for he has been referred to as the seed of Abraham and David. He is the seed which we sow in the world and he will return with songs of joy carrying the sheaves with him. This is personal evangelism at its finest. Sowing the word of God among those who are captive to sin. The word never returns void, but it does its work. We cannot save people, but the word of God can. But we must sow it in order for it to produce a great crop. Let us sow the seed.