Create in me a clean heart, O God.

Renew a loyal spirit within me.

Do not banish me from your presence and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you.

Psalms 51:10-12

Lord,

Turn your face back to the U.S. and give us favor.

Give Christian the strength and encouragement to stand up and turn the tide of the insanity that envelops us.

Let us stand for truth, do what is right, and to be the change and a positive force in our communities.

Let us come together where we are and be spots of light among the darkness.

Let those spots join together to become a pool, the pools a sea, and the sea an unstoppable wave.

Reclaim our nation.

Change our hearts.

Renew our minds.

Be bold.

Away with your noisy hymns of praise.

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

Instead I want to see a might flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.

Amos 5:23-34

I think David looked up a lot.

One of the core blessings for God’s people, the nation of Israel and Christians through the blood of Jesus, is the Aaronic blessing.
It was given in Numbers 6:24-26:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord smile upon you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord show His favor to you and give you His peace.

God gave it as a direct instruction to Moses to give to Aaron to bless the people of Israel for it was a special blessing and he promised:

Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in My name, I myself will bless them.

~ Numbers 6:27

That is an awesome promise.

I love the words, and the promise.

One of the pastors at my church gives the benediction.  It is always powerful, but I especially like when he gives the Aaronic blessing in closing.  I walk away knowing that I’ve been blessed and ready for my week.

I also love how it pops up here and there in secular culture.   It was part of the marriage ceremony of Kate and William this past year.  But I think one of the coolest stories of its integration into the fabric of our culture is Star Trek and Leonard Nimoy.

Mr. Nimoy is Jewish, and he related the memory of going to temple with his father and peeking out from under the prayer shawl and looking up to see the priest raising his hands over the congregation giving the Aaronic blessing.

As he was preparing for his new role of Spock, the Vulcan, in the Star Trek series, he took half of the blessing and posture and turned it into the iconic Vulcan greeting.  One hand up in the position of the Priestly Blessing along with the words, “Live Long and prosper.”

Live long – May the Lord bless you and keep you.

And prosper – May the Lord smile upon you and be gracious to you.

It’s a cool thing, and it came from the impression made on him when he was looking up.

And I think David looked up a lot too.

We think of David as the great king of Israel, the Lion of Judah.  The one who was given the blessing and promise that the Messiah, Jesus, would come from his house.

The English translations of the Bible describe Dave as “a man after God’s own heart.” (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22)

But this has always troubled me a little.Yes, he was a great man, but he also had some great big mistakes.

His actions were the cause of a devastating plague that swept across Israel.

He was an adulterer for which, according to Jewish law, he should have been stoned.

To add insult to injury, he ordered the death of the injured husband, Uriah the Hittite, so he wouldn’t be found out.

If that wasn’t bad enough, this man, Uriah the Hittite, was one of David’s Thirty, one of his “Mighty Men.”

These were the men that were with him when he was in exile and fleeing Saul’s army.

They were his core group, the most loyal, the most committed.

And this man that he betrayed was so committed that he wouldn’t even visit his own home when sent to court with a message from the front lines because his fellow men, his brothers, were still in battle.

This was the man that David betrayed and had killed.

How vile is that?

How could he possibly be someone who God said was “after his own heart?”

It was troubling.

I went to a conference where Leif Hetland spoke on seeing through heaven’s eyes and the heart of God.  He talked about the apostle John and his confidence in Jesus’s love.

If you’ve read the gospel of John and compared it to the other three, you know what I’m talking about. Over and 0ver, John unabashedly asserts that he is the one Jesus loves.  Over and over he says,

Jesus loves me!

He was one of 12, the twelve disciples.

He was one of three, the three that were in the Garden of Gethesemane where Jesus went to pray the night before he was crucified.

And he was the one that Jesus asked to look after his own mother.

He always wanted to be with Jesus, to be near him, to be close to his heart and feel his love.  He knew that Jesus loved him and he wanted to bask and dwell in it.

I think this is the reason he was the first one to believe in a risen Christ.

There were a lot of people who followed Jesus.  There were the twelve disciples, the two Mary’s, as well as others.  They all followed him.  They heard the words.  He told them what to expect.  But for most of them, it was just words.  They had no idea the reality of what was to come.

When they went on that Sunday morning, that third day, and they couldn’t find the body it was chaos.  They were freaking out and thought his body had been stolen.

Except for John.

John 20:3-10 says that he and Simon Peter ran to the tomb.  John got there first and saw the empty linen wrappings.  It says,

. . . he saw and believed for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead.

He was the first Christian.  The first person to realize that Jesus had risen from the dead and believed.

I think he was able to believe before he actually saw the risen Christ because he had spent the last three years experiencing Jesus’s love.

He wasn’t for glory or position like some of the other disciples were before the resurrection.  He was after the heart of Christ, he wanted the love of Jesus.

That is what God said about David.  David sought God’s heart, the love of the Father.  That is why God chose him to be the forefather of Jesus and why the Holy Spirit never left him.

And I think he spent a lot of time looking up.

He looked up into the heavens when he was watching his flocks by night.  I can imagine him looking up at the stars and playing his harp, singing to God and his sheep.

He was secure in the knowledge that God was with him and wouldn’t leave him.  He knew God loved him.  He knew God’s heart.

Before David was anointed to be the next king of Israel, he was just the youngest of eight sons and assigned to the job of shepherd.  This job went to the low man on the totem pole.  Since David was the youngest, a change in his circumstances wasn’t in the foreseeable future.

In the description of his brothers in 1 Samuel, it sounds like they were an impressive looking bunch.  Samuel certainly thought so.

I wonder if David ever had feelings of futility, insecurity, and restlessness.  I’m sure that he did.

He must have had a lot of conversations with God while looking up at the stars and worked it all out.

Because by the time he met up with Goliath and the Philistines, he was already secure in the belief that God would deliver him and that no one could prevail against the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

While he was out in the fields alone with his flocks, God had protected him against a lion and a bear, so what was this human, regardless of size or power, to compare?

By the time he was called to Saul’s court as a harpist and armor bearer, he had already learned how to actively wait in God’s will and for him to deliver his promise.

This was a boy who had been pulled out of the fields one day, anointed as the next King of Israel by God’s prophet, and then sent back out to tend sheep.

When he was called to Saul’s court, instead of taking matters into his own hands and striving to bring about that promise on his own like others have done, he actively waited.

He served Saul to the best of his ability.  He did all he could do for him.  Not only did he serve Saul, but he loved him and his family like his own.  Saul’s son Jonathan was closer to him than his own brothers.

He served God, and in turn Saul, with all his heart.  When Saul parted ways with God, David still served God.

When in exile and on the run, he looked up and cried out for deliverance.   He knew from where his salvation came.

After his victories, David looked up and praised God in abundant exuberance.

After David became king and after his mistakes, his often huge mistakes, he looked up and cried out to God for forgiveness and thanked God for his mercy.  He said,

Create in me a clean heart, O God.  Renew a loyal spirit within me.  Do not banish me from your presence and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you.

~ Psalms 51:10-12

He made mistakes.  He did some of the worst things a person can do.

But God doesn’t require perfection from us.

He wants a desire after his heart.

He wants us to draw closer to him and to look up so that we can experience his love.

Because this little shepherd boy had his heart open to God and understood that his safety and his prosperity came from God and the true meaning of the Aaronic blessing, 1,000 years later some other little shepherd boys who were watching and waiting were the first to hear the news about the birth of the Messiah.

They looked up, saw the angels and the glory of the Lord and heard the words:

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
~ Luke 2:10-11

To us, it seems that we are in a time of unprecedented uncertainty and chaos.  With seemingly no end to the economic financial instability in sight.  Acrimony and  division characterize our government.  People protesting with no purpose other than to foster dissension.

This is a dark time for the U.S.   It is a new experience for us, but it is not something that the world has not seen before.  This is a repeat of what has come before.

What will the outcome be?  As a wise man once said, “Those who refuse to learn from history are destined to repeat it. 

Is there any difference between what we are seeing in the U.S. today and the culture of Germany in the 1930′s before Hitler took complete power?  Is there a difference between  America’s current social revolution and the overwhelming desire to take what others have and make them pay than the upheaval with Lenin in Russia in the 1920′s following the philosophies of Marx? 

Is there a difference?  I say no.

And how did that work out for those countries?

If we don’t learn from history, we will repeat it.

But this phenomenon predates the last century.  This is the story of human history. 

The story of the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, can be seen as the human condition encapsulated.   Their story has been repeated throughout the nations and through all the centuries.

They had golden years with men and kings who stood for what was right.  However, they had many more where the abandon the covenant God made with them and followed the practices of the heathen nations around them.

When justice and right is abandoned, eventually a nation will fall.  Their story is our story.

The Jewish people were given the Law, not only the spiritual and religious law, but civil and community laws as well.

But they abandoned it.  Not only did they abandon God, but they abandoned their civil justice.    The courts were corrupt.  The youth were out of control.  The two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, had lost their moral compass.

Into this, Isaiah, a prophet born into an aristocratic family, stepped up and stood against the tide.  He spoke out against the prevailing culture of the day and decried the wrongs he saw. 

What  sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them
  with ropes made of lies,
  who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!
They even mock God and say,
  Hurry up and do something!
  We want to see what you can do.
Let the Holy One of israel carry out his plan,
  for we want to know what it is.

What sorrow for those who say
  that evil is good and good is evil,
that dark is light and light is dark,
  that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.
What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes
  and think themselves so clever.
What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine
  and boast about all the alchohol they can hold.
They take bribes to let the wicked go free,
  and they punish the innocent.
Isaiah 5:18-23

They thought they could do what they wanted without repercussions.  They said, “Who is to say what is wrong?  If it makes me happy (in the moment,) why shouldn’t I do it? ”

They said, “My truth is what I decide it to be.”

Doesn’t this sound familiar?

But Isaiah warned against the coming day when God’s patience would wear out and judgement would be released.

Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble
  and dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will rot
  and their flowers wither.
For they have rejected the law of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies;
  they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
That is why the Lord’s anger burns against his people,
  and why he has raised his fist to crush them.
Isaiah 5:24-25

But they ignored his warnings

The outcome for Israel was one of complete destruction.  They were invaded by Assyria, and the ten northern tribes were lost and dispersed to this day.

What will the outcome be for us?  We will stop the insanity or will we take the easy path and go along will the tide.

Will we listen?

Will you listen?

Will you be the change where you are? 

Will you stand for what is right and speak out against wrong:  both wrong actions and wrong words.

Will we listen?

The verses in this post are from the New Living Translation. If you are new to studying the Bible, the NLT version uses modern language and is easy to understand while still being faithful to the accuracy of the translation from the original text.

There are a number of study Bibles available in the NLT translation, including Life Application study Bibles. These will help you gain a fuller and deeper understanding of the verses, as well as explain the context of the culture and times in which they were written. The NLT study bibles are also available in a digital format for Kindle on Amazon.

When God calls, we should listen.

We can’t complain about Him not working in our life
or claim He isn’t speaking to us if we don’t
Listen, Obey and Take Action when He does.

He wants to lead us onto a path
of abundance and prosperity.

He is our Father who loves us,
who wants us to have every good thing.

He will lead us to fulfillment,
bring us to the place we were meant to be
and the person He designed us to be
if we follow His promptings.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

My health may fail

and my spirit may grow weak . . .

But God remains the strength of my heart.

He is mine forever.

Psalms 73:26 NLT

The writer of Psalms 73 cries out to God and asks “why do the wicked seem to prosper.”  That is a question that many struggle with in their path to God.  Today, people frequently ask, ‘If God is good, why does he allow evil.”

Even the greatest mind of our time, Albert Einstein, struggled with that same question and even though he believed in a Creator and appreciated perhaps more than anyone else the magnificence and magnitude of the creation, he still could not accept God and his plan for salvation because of that obstacle.  At least as far as we know.  We can hope that he came to accept God before his death.

While God made a perfect creation, he also created man with a choice.  A choice to follow and be with God or to reject God and choose self.

When we see the evil in the world and ask, “Why?”  We have to remember that every single choice we make has a consequence.  Sometimes the consequence is good, and sometimes it is bad.

Also, the consequences always affect more than just ourselves.  I am sure there have been many times that you have suffered the consequences of someone else’s wrong decision.  Just as I am sure that many of your decisions have negatively affected others as well.

No one lives in a vacuum.

So what is the answer?  Why does it seem like those who do bad or wrong things get away with it?

The truth is that they don’t.

Regardless of your belief system, this is one universal truth.  No one gets away with anything.  We will all experience the rewards of our actions.

We yearn for justice and we want it right away.  If someone does us wrong, we want God to strike them with a lightening bolt (or at least convict the with remorse) right then and there.

But God’s timeline isn’t our timeline.  He has shown every one of us mercy and given us time to come back to Him when we have been rebellion.

Psalms 73 describes this so well:

But as for me, I almost lost my footing.

My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone

For I envied the proud

when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.

They seem to live such painless lives;

their bodies are so healthy and strong.

They don’t have troubles like other people;

they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.

v 2-5

This is just an illusion.

They wear pride like a jeweled necklace

and clothe themselves with cruelty.

These fat cats have everything

their hearts could ever wish for!

They scoff and speak only evil;

in their pride they seek to crush others.

They boast against the very heavens,

and their words strut throughout the earth.

And so the people are dismayed and confused,

drinking in all their words.

“What does God know?” they ask.

“Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”

Look at these wicked people –

enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.

Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?

Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?

I get nothing but trouble all day long;

every morning brings me pain.

v 6-14

The writer of the Psalm, Asaph, tried to do right and felt like it didn’t matter because he was suffering while the wicked prospered.

So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper.

But what a difficult task it is!

Then I went into your sanctuary, O God,

and I finally understood the destiny of  the wicked.

Truly, you put them on a slippery  path

and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.

In an instant they are destroyed,

completely swept away by terrors.

When you arise, O Lord,

you will laugh at their silly ideas

as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.

v 16-20

Asaph realized that the wicked do get their just rewards.  God gives them, and us, chance after chance to turn around . . . to make a change and right decisions for their life.

But there comes a time when the last chance is passed and that person gets the full measure of justice they have coming.  For some people, that will be a truly terrifying and horrible experience.

“. . . in an instant, they are destroyed.”

Even though we have our times of doubt and spiritual struggles, God is still with us.

Then I realized that my heart was bitter,

and I was all torn up inside.

I was so foolish and ignorant–

I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.

Yet I still belong to you;

you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

leading me to a glorious destiny.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

I desire you more than anything on earth.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,

but God remains the strength of my heart,

He is mine forever.

Those who desert him will perish,

for you destroy those who abandon you.

But as for me, how good it is to be near God!

I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,

and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

vs 21 – 28

The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis

For a more indepth analysis of the question, “Why Does God Allow Evil,” read “The Problem of Pain” by C.S. Lewis, available in paperback, hardcover, audio, and Kindle format from Amazon.

The verses in this post are from the New Living Translation. If you are new to studying the Bible, the NLT version uses modern language and is easy to understand while still being faithful to the accuracy of the translation from the original text.

There are a number of study Bibles available in the NLT translation, including Life Application study Bibles. These will help you gain a fuller and deeper understanding of the verses, as well as explain the context of the culture and times in which they were written. The NLT study bibles are also available in a digital format for Kindle on Amazon.

One of the questions that everyone asks is “What should I do with my life?”

God gives us instruction on how to find His will for our life throughout the Bible.  In order to learn that will, we have to first place our trust in Him, read his Word, and learn to listen to His voice.

Psalms 25 is a prayer by David for defense, guidance and pardon from God.

First he reaffirms he will place his life in God’s hands.

¹ O Lord, I give my life to you.
² I trust in you, my God!
Do not let me be disgraced,
or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat.
³ No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced,
but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.

Next he asks for guidance and forgiveness:

⁴ Show me the right path, O Lord;
point out the road for me to follow.
⁵ Lead me by your truth and teach me,
for you are the God who saves me.
All day long I put my hope in you.
⁶ Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love,
which you have shown from long ages past.
⁷ Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth.
Remember me in the light of your unfailing love,
for you are merciful, O Lord.

Then he acknowledges that the only way to a prosperous and purposeful life is through God.

The Lord is good and does what is right;
he shows the proper path to those who go astray.
⁹ He leads the humble in doing right,
teaching them his way.
¹⁰ The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness
all who keep his covenant and obey his demands.

¹¹ For the honor of your name, O Lord,
forgive my many, many sins.
¹² Who are those who fear the Lord?
He will show them the path they should choose.
¹³ They will live in prosperity,
and their children will inherit the land.
¹⁴ The Lord is a friend to those who fear him.
He teaches them his covenant.
¹⁵ My eyes are always on the Lord,
for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies.

Finally, he asks God to be his deliverer from his current problems.

Turn to me and have mercy,
for I am alone and in deep distress.
¹⁷ My problems go from bad to worse.
Oh, save me from them all!
¹⁸ Feel my pain and see my trouble.
Forgive all my sins.
¹⁹ See how many enemies I have
and how viciously they hate me!
²⁰ Protect me! Rescue my life from them!
Do not let me be disgraced, for in you I take refuge.
²¹ May integrity and honesty protect me,
for I put my hope in you.

²² O God, ransom Israel
from all its troubles.

Psalms 25, New Living Translation

1. I love the Lord because He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy.
2. Because he turned His ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

Psalms 116:1-2

So that’s how delighting and meditating on your word, brings life and health. No wonder there is so much madness and sadness in the world. We’ve been thinking about what men say and not what you our creator says about us and to us.

THIS IS TRUE

55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 RSV

Lord teach me your ways and show me your thoughts to think that I may live the good life you want for me.

4:20 My son, give attention to my words; let your ear be turned to my sayings.
Proverbs 4:20 BBE

You’re saying then, I should be careful what I hear and listen to and what I look at with my eyes because they form thoughts that can get into my heart and affect my life?

4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance; for from it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:23 RSV

If I think positive thoughts enough I’ll believe them and do positive things.

Why just today I learned that a flea and an elephant can be conditioned to believe they have no power; the flea, to jump out of a jar, and the huge elephant, to free himself from a small chain all because man repeated a negative condition untill the flea and the elephant believed they could not, then, they did not when the condition was removed.

They both believed a lie. Is that what we as humans do as well, take on positive or negative thoughts and become controlled by them

23:7 For as the thoughts of his heart are, so is he: Take food and drink, he says to you; but his heart is not with you.
Proverbs 23:7 BBE

12:34 You brood of vipers! how can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 12:35 The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
Matthew 12:34-35 RSV