Read Psalms 84:1 - 3

Today’s Psalm is found in chapter 84 and is a song of anticipation and celebration.  There is no question among Bible teachers that this Psalm was originally one that celebrated the pilgrimage of the Jew as he traveled to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple.  It was intended to be one that would encourage people to prepare for the delight, joy and privilege of being a special guest in the House of God.  It it a Psalm of anticipation.  As the traveler journeyed to his destination he would think about the awesomeness of worshiping in the temple and the joy of dwelling in the presence of God.
 
Vs 1:  The dwelling place of the Lord refers to the Temple in Jerusalem.  The Psalmist declares that it is lovely; not because of the architecture or its massiveness, but because it was the place that represented God's dwelling place.  The presence of God was present in the Temple and the Psalmist longs to be in this place, to worship in the presence of Almighty God Himself.
           
Vs 2:  “My soul longs, yes faints for the courts of the Lord…”  These are words spoken by a man who has no other desire but to be with the Lord most High.  Every part of his being cries out for God’s presence in his life.  The true object of the Psalmist devotion is not the actual Temple, but it is the God of the Temple.
 
Vs. 3:  One can almost hear the envy in the Psalmists words as he looks to the sparrow as she can freely enter the presence of God and make her home at the altar of the Lord.  In his desire we see his deepest longing is to be in the presence of God all the time.  

Psalm 46:8 -11

Verses 8 – 11:
God is a God of peace.  This song invites the people to see that God is the God of peace.  He brings peace by destroying the tools of destruction… “”he breaks the bow and shatters the spear…”  The Jews sought peace in all areas of their lives.  They knew with all the death, destruction and war around them that peace was only able to come if God was the initiator of it. 

The Psalmist then writes… “Be still and know that I am God.”  I know many of us take this to mean, “calm down, relax and trust God”; which it does in the English rendition.  However, the original language suggests this is synonymous to “Cease and desist!” or “STOP what you are doing”, it is the referee whistle to put to end the turmoil around and pay attention.  Only when they do this is when they can realize that God is God and He will be exalted or lifted up among the nations and in all the earth.  True peace cannot happen until we stop, listen and acknowledge God as God. 
  
Summary of 8 - 11   
We are really no different today than the ancient Israelites; we still want peace and we still want to see wars ended.  This cannot happen without God being the initiator.  On a personal level we basically want peace in our own lives.  None of us desire to be in constant turmoil and conflict.  We often get caught up in trying to right wrongs, seek justice or accusing people of hurting us and we try to mend things in our own power.  We can learn a great deal from looking at the context of Psalm 46:10 and stop trying to do things in our own strength.  This verse doesn’t necessarily mean to be quiet or calm as much as it means “stop meddling and relax.  Allow God to do his work.” 

When we are faced with, turmoil, anxiety, despair, worry and etc let us take comfort in these words… “Be still and know I am God.”  Jesus tells us in the gospels that worry and anxiety do nothing to help us so “relax (this is really what the words “be still” literally mean), stop doing what you are doing and trust me to take care of this.”  

Read Psalm 46: 4 - 7

Verse 4 – 7
​Israel’s confidence and lack of fear came in the presence of the Temple “the holy habitation” which was in Jerusalem.  The Temple was a symbol of God’s presence among His people.  Since Jerusalem was God’s special city He was expected to protect her.  The Israelites looked to the Temple and felt security because the Temple reminded them that God was with them in their midst.  There was a wall around the city that was built for protection, but the people of Jerusalem didn’t put their complete trust and faith in the wall, they instead put their absolute faith and trust in God. 

Unfortunately, over time the people started to have a false sense of security in the Temple.  They began to view the Temple (physical structure) as their source of power and favor and thus placed the building above the presence of God.  They worshiped the created thing and not the Creator.  The Bible tells us God will not take the back seat to anything or anyone and this includes the Temple.  Ironically the people began to worship the Temple and not the God of the Temple.  The edifice became the God and soon it went from being understood as the Holy dwelling place of God to a structure of abhorrent evil and idolatry.  Ezekiel chapters 8 and 10 show us more specifically how God viewed the Temple at this time… The evil practices and idolatry that was going on resulted in God’s presence “leaving the building” which led to the Israelite captivity. 
 
Summary of verses 4 – 7
We do well to understand that God is the protector of His people.  However, His favored nation is not one specific location.  His favor lies in His people... believers.  As Western Christians we sometimes place our future and current security in having a mighty army, a strong nation, and at times a decent and fairly stable economy; thus we can have a false sense of security in these things.  We must realize that our protection and security comes from God and God alone.  He is here among us, we do not have a physical Temple where God dwells here on this earth.  Jesus tells us that the physical dwelling place for God has passed; we are now His temple.  Corinthians says that our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  He is present in us, we are protected from any powers, principalities and eternal death.  We should take great strength and comfort in this. 

Read Psalm 46:2, 3

Verse 2 – 3:  Since God is our refuge and he is our strength, his presence remains with us in the tough times.  We have no need to be afraid.  Our confidence should be in God and God alone.  If our confidence is in Him, then when we are faced with attacks from our enemies, accusers, or natural disasters we shall find our refuge and strength in God's presence.
 
Summary of Verses 2 – 3
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in his inaugural speech, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  Yet as Christians we can respond by saying we have no one and nothing to fear period.  I John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, perfect love casts out all fear.”  Jesus Christ is our perfect love and in him there is no fear.  Through his death, resurrection and ascension he has set us free from fear.  We are no longer to have a paralyzing fear of anything that man; beast, nature or spiritual being can do to us.

Psalms 46 is a song of celebration for Jerusalem as the special city of God; or as some call it a “hymn of Zion” or a “Zion Song”.  This is very familiar Psalm as it was the inspiration behind Martin Luther’s timeless hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” which was written in 1529.  It became known as the “Battle Hymn” of the Reformation as it was the song that helped gathered support for the cause of the Reformation. 

This Psalm is also one that many believers have held fast to throughout history.  I was surprised as to how many people told me this was one of their favorite Psalms.  It should be no surprise that it is held in such high regard because after reading through these 11 inspiring verses the reader understands how great, mighty and trustworthy our God is. 

Psalm 46 resembles in content and structure Psalms 48; 76; 87; and 122 as they are also called “Zion Songs”.  The songs are broken down into three sections as follows...

1. God is our security and might
2. God protects with His presence
3. Peace comes from God

This hymn is written by the choirmaster for the chief musicians (Sons of Korah) of the Temple.  “According to Alamoth” is probably a musical term and was intended for a female or soprano voice.  We are not exactly sure what the occasion for the writing of this Psalm, but some believe it was written after Jerusalem was spared from imminent destruction by the Assyrians under the guidance of Sennacherib.  You can read about this account in 1 Chronicles 32, but the short story is God sends an angel to destroy all the warriors, commanders and officers of the Assyrian army thus saving the city of  Jerusalem.
 
Verse 1a – “God is our refuge and strength” = God (YHWH) is Israel’s source of power, and security.  Over the centuries they had witnessed God’s hand and his favor for them in battle, so they had absolute faith in God.  They were secure in the understanding that He would keep Israel safe and he would be their source of victory in battle.
 
Verse 1b – “Present help in trouble” – When times got rough, tense and dangerous, God is ever present and He makes his presence known.  He is a help that can be found when He is sought after.
 
Summary of Verse 1
God is our refuge and strength but he is also our source of security and power.  In this world we need safety and a source of strength to live our lives, and God is this source.  We need to trust and have faith in God to be our strength, our provider, and our deliverer etc. 

Do you trust God? 
Is He your source of strength? 
Is He your place of solace?

I pray He is...
We'll continue more next time.

I preached the third part to a sermon series that I am co-preaching with our Associate Pastor of Family Ministries this Sunday (8/6/17) at First Presbyterian.  Below are the notes from my outline.  If you were unable to be present then here is what was preached.  Enjoy.

Jonah 2
8/6/17
 
INTRODUCTION
We are in our third week of our four-week series in the book of Jonah entitled “The Chronicles of Nineveh”.  We are taking a modern day practical look at Jonah and how his story can help us be obedient to God.  In the first week, I talked about the bubbles we create in our lives.  These bubbles represent safety, comfort and disconnect from the outside world.  Bubbles are nice places to live because they are safe and comfortable but sometimes/often God calls us from them to do something radical, like he did with Jonah.  Our response to this call can be either obedience or disobedience.  Jonah, unfortunately chose the latter. 

Last week Pastor Mary Beth took a closer look at Jonah’s disobedience.  He ran from God.  In her message, she talked about how God called Jonah and us people from apathy (not caring). Anxiety (caring too much/not trusting God) and calling us to surrender to God.
 
Today we move from a potential shipwreck to the belly of the fish.  We will look more specifically at the prayer of this surrendered man. 

The scene: 
Once Jonah was thrown from the ship into the deep, God sent a large fish to swallow Jonah.  God is determined to get Jonah to the place where he called him to deliver the message.  It is here, inside the belly of the fish we see Jonah as man who has hit rock bottom.  As he is jostled around in the stomach of this fish and has nothing but time on his hands, he starts to reflect and think about what he has done. 
Jonah’s response to the way God in handling this situation is a bit surprising as we read his prayer in chapter two.  Now, I certainly wouldn’t blame Jonah if he chooses his prayer to be designated as his list of complaints to God.  Personally, I expect to read, “God I didn’t want to do what you called me to do in the first place.  I think you got the wrong man to do the job, so I ran as far away from you as possible.  Yes, my rebellion almost killed me and the crew on the ship. Once they found out this turmoil was my fault, all I wanted to do was die.  Why wouldn’t you let me die?  I told the crew to throw me over board so I could perish, but you couldn’t leave well enough alone.  You sent this great creature and now I sit here in the belly of this stinky, smelly fish with bile and seaweed wrapped around my head.  Couldn’t you have just left me alone safe and secure in my comfortable life?” 

Strangely, this is not what we read at all.  This whole chapter is devoted to a prayer of thanksgiving from Jonah for being saved and delivered.  Really, it only took a potential shipwreck, being thrown into the sea, left for dead and a large fish swallowing him to get to this point?  Is Jonah finally getting the big picture here?  What does it take for God to get your attention?  Well, let’s not think Jonah has learned his lesson completely because there is still a bit of defiance in this man’s heart even after this time of praise to a God who has taken him captive.

We find Jonah in an analogous situation that many people find themselves in when they hit rock bottom.  For some it can take some extreme events and possibly even the fear of death to acknowledge God in their lives. 

It is at this point that some either respond in anger, bitterness, and blame or some respond as Jonah did in thankfulness, gratefulness and praise.  However, before you get too far ahead, there is one important ingredient missing in this prayer and that is true repentance.  This is where Jonah’s slight defiance comes into play.  Sure, Jonah is thankful God spared his life but the problem is, the same Jonah is still in the belly of the fish who ran away from God.  He doesn’t have a change in heart.  He’s just a man who has reached rock bottom and has nowhere else to go.  The beauty in all of Jonah’s slight defiance, is that God hears and accepts his prayer for what it is… Thank you for not letting me die and keeping me safe, I’ll do what you want me to do even though I don’t like it.  He is a surrendered man. 

An interesting note about this prayer is that Jonah refers to himself over 20 times in 8 verses.  This is a very typical prayer that many pray when they get to the point of despair in their lives.  Their prayer becomes a matter of condition.  “God if you get me out of this mess, then I promise will do this in return.”  Or they have the tendency to wallow in self-pity and guilt and remain stagnant, never moving forward.  They become enslaved to their guilt.  Their prayer can sound like this, “God I have sinned, I am the vilest of sinners, I can’t do anything right to please you.  I don’t think I can continue to live my life like this, the guilt is killing me, you can never forgive me.”  I find it strange in both situations they acknowledge God, but they still don’t deal with the root of the problem… The heart.  So many people make the conditions, God bails them out and once they are happy they go back to life as usually and eventually find themselves in the same situation shortly thereafter.

Rosemary Nixon writes in her commentary of Jonah, “Many of us, when caught in very difficult circumstances, may find we have little thought to give to God; instead, our overriding concern is to find help and a way out of all that is causing our distress.”  In other words, we are expecting God to get us out of the mess we created and not deal with the root of our problems.  Rarely do people who have hit rock bottom give little thought to the cause of their despair… the heart.  If we are unwilling to deal with the heart then we will see little, if any change in our circumstances and lives and we may even eventually find ourselves back where we started and even in a worse way. 
 
THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Many of us have been in Jonah’s shoes before.  We get to a point where our sin catches up to us and God finally gets our full attention.  I call these “aha moments.”  This is the moment where we, like Jonah, realize we have hit the bottom and there is nowhere else we can go.  It is at this moment that we come to terms with why we are where we are.  Some of us may respond like Jonah and thank God for the situation, for saving us and trusting he will get us out of the mess we created, but miss the one huge factor… repentance. 

There is no indication that Jonah is repentant in this prayer.  There is no sign of complete brokenness before God.  There really doesn’t seem to be much of a heart change either.  These three things go hand in hand… repentance, brokenness and change of heart/transformation.  The three are interdependent and I believe one cannot happen without the other. 
No heart change, I believe, is a big problem in Christianity today.  Sure, there are many who claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  They seemingly walk the walk and talk a great talk, yet they still have never really had a true renewal of the heart.  Without a changed heart, the outer being is just a façade.  We may fool others, but we will never fool God.  I learned and continue to learn the truth in the importance of having a heart that is truly aligned with God’s heart.  As you know, the heart is the most important organ in our bodies.  Without a healthy heart, we cannot live a healthy life.  The same goes for our spiritual hearts.  Healthy spiritual hearts are necessary for healthy spiritual living.  Jesus spent a great deal of his teaching on the importance of having a healthy spiritual heart.  He said that the conditions of our hearts are more important than keeping the rules of the law.  He says that sin is not only something we commit on the outside, but the root of sin is committed in our hearts.  Jesus is concerned about our hearts.  He says, you can’t say you love God with your mouth and hate your brother in your heart.  It just isn’t possible.  You cannot have a proper relationship with God if your heart isn’t right.  The heart is the command center of our spiritual lives.  Jesus says out of the abundance of our hearts the mouth speaks.  Right hearts produce right speech, actions and relationships.  When our hearts are right with God then and only then can we really know what it means to be broken before Him and truly repentant of our rebellion.
​
We don’t see any evidence in Jonah’s prayer of a changed heart and that is why the book concludes on a very sour note (Mary Beth with talk about this next week).  Sure, as you will see he ushered in a great revival in Nineveh and hundreds of thousands of lives were spared because of his eventual obedience, but in the end Jonah doesn’t rejoice as God does. 
 
So, What?
In conclusion, the question we should always is, “So, what is my response to all of this?” I believe it is first in determining how I get my heart right with God.  How do you and I do this?  Unfortunately, that is a question I cannot fully answer for you.  I can tell you for sure that it is only God who can truly change your heart.  I could give you a list of do’s and don’ts, prayers to pray and scripture verses to meditate on, but that is not for me to do.  God needs to deal with YOUR heart specifically.  He can and will help you in the changing process but you need to be willing to submit your heart to him and be willing to go through some major, if not painstaking heart work.  Fortunately for us God is in the heart repair business, we just need to be willing to surrender our hearts to the great Physician.
 
CONCLUSION
How is your heart?  Take some time today and through the week and let God search you and allow him to transform and renovate your heart to a one that can be aligned with His.  

Read Psalm 51

Before we jump into this Psalm, I think it is important to give a little background on how this Psalm came to be and what David, the author, was writing about.  This is a Psalm written by a broken, guilt ridden and repentant man. His transgressions were great and he tried with all his might to cover up his sin, but he was eventually found out and called to the carpet for his wickedness.  
Background
King David was hanging out on the rooftop relaxing while all the other men of Israel were out fighting the war.  As he was chilling on the rooftop he caught a glimpse of a beautiful woman bathing, her name was Bathsheba.  His gazing became lust and it overtook him.  The end result was an adulterous affair with Bathsheba.

After his romp in the hay, so to speak, he finds that she has become pregnant with David’s child.  This was a problem because she was a married woman.  David tries to cover his sin by coming up with a scheme…

• First he gives an opportunity for her husband to come home from battle and hopefully lie with her.  He figured then at least the husband would think it was his.
• When this failed,  David made the unwise choice of putting her husband  in the front line of battle, and he was killed
• After his death David takes Bathsheba to be his wife.

Nathan was a prophet and he knows about  David’s sin and confronts him with the truth.  The end result of this confrontation is Psalm 51

Four Pleas of a Broken and Guilty Man

1. Plea for mercy (Vs 1):  Once David’s sin (adultery and murder) is exposed he begs for pity from God.  He pleads for God to be gracious and show him favor.  David knew he was guilty but he also knew God was a loving and forgiving God.  He was not asking for forgiveness because he wanted an escape route, or because he deserved it; he was genuinely pleading for God in His loving kindness to grant him mercy.
2. Plea of confession and forgiveness (Vs 2, 3):  Upon acknowledging his sin, David begs God for forgiveness.  His remorse has become so great that the only thing that can make his guilt subside is to plead for a washing away of his trespass.  He publicly confesses his sin to God in repentance.  David knows he has done wrong in the site of God and he owns up to his sin.
   
3. Plea for cleansing (Vs 7 – 9):  He is asking God to blot out or obliterate from His memory the transgression before him.  The process spoken of in verse 7a (purge me with hyssop) is a cleansing ritual of a leper.  In 7b the "washing" may refer to the ritual washing that was involved after contact with a dead person.  David knows he is unclean and he acknowledges his unworthiness and seeks to be purged and cleansed by God so that he may be spiritually cleansed.
   
4. Plea for spiritual restoration/ New life (Vs 10 - 12):  David knows his sin is great.  He knows the consequences of sin also means separation from God.  He asks God to create (make new) his heart and reboot, if you will, his spirit because they have become dirty and foul.  He also begs that God would not cast him from his presence but instead give him back the joy he once had in the salvation God had promised.

Pleasing Sacrifices to God
In verse 17 David comes to the realization that his cleansing and new life does not come through ritualistic means.  Most people in his time knew that if they sinned they would just have to go through the rituals of cleansing and then they would feel alright with God.  This is the ritual of religion… trying to do something for God (following the rule book) and yet not really doing anything to change or guard themselves from happening again.  David acknowledges what God truly desires of him.

• A Humble spirit – To know and understand the magnitude of sin and change his sinful ways.
• A Remorseful heart – True repentance.  Repentance is not just being sorry for what you did.  A Bible college professor explained to me that repentance as “being sorry enough to change.”  It simply means to change one’s mind and actions.

David longed for what  you and I have today.  He was awaiting a Savior, one who would take away the sins of the world and establish a new covenant with his people.  He longed for the intercessor (Jesus) to come and stand in His place so  his relationship would be made right with God. 

Jesus, Repentance & Forgiveness
Because of Jesus we are…

• Granted mercy – 1 Peter 1:3:  As David pleaded for mercy to be made new, we can know that mercy is available to us through Christ.  Because God is merciful and we can experience the opportunity to receive the gift of being born again (salvation, the new birth).
• Forgiven – 1 John 1:9:  In Christ we know that we are truly forgiven if we confess our sins to God and seek his forgiveness.  If we ask for forgiveness we will receive forgiveness.
• Cleansed – 1 Cor. 6:11:  In Jesus Christ we are cleansed… Every one of us has a past.  Some of our pasts are more colorful than others, but we need to take comfort in the words of Paul … “and such were some of you.”  We are all sinners and unworthy of the Kingdom of God, yet when God called you to be his son or daughter you were cleansed, you were sanctified (made holy), and justified (made right with God) through Jesus Christ.
• Spiritually restored/ New Creation – 2 Cor. 5:17:  If you have confessed your sins and sought forgiveness from God, you are clean.  Not only are you clean but you are now a NEW creation.  You are not a better you… you are a new you and the old sinful nature has passed away and now all things are new.  If you are a believer in Jesus then you have been made right and your relationship has been restored with God.

Conclusion
In Jesus Christ it is no longer necessary to offer the blood sacrifices of animals for our sins, because the ultimate sacrifice has been made through him.  So let us rejoice in the new life… May we know full well that those who are in Christ have received mercy, forgiveness, cleansing and a new life here on this earth and a new life for all eternity in the presence of our Almighty and loving God.