A Reminder from the Psalms S30e151 Psalm review #1

Remember with me today how NOT to be a "sheep-emergency". 

We'll let the wisdom and comfort and challenge of Psalm 23 wash over us. The Lord is my Shepherd.  He has not come unarmed to His job. That is why we can be comforted.

Then we'll turn to Psalm 73 and hear about a guy who ALMOST gets it wrong. His feet had ALMOST stumbled by admiring the wrong kind of people. He almost trades the precious for the passing. Whom have I in heaven but YOU?

https://youtu.be/KqfBnVEF1bA

Transcript

A Reminder from the Psalms S30e151 Psalm review #1

429 We started about 6 months ago with the most famous psalm of them all: Ps23.

It was familiar. Comforting. Realistic. Ps 23 has everything. It Has: Suspense and peril comfort, presence.6 verses written by the chief knucklehead of the OT: David

Mean no disrespect, as it is one of his features.  Luster, murderer, 

Passionate, feeler, repenter, re-follower singer, poet, dancer, leader, killer, hunter, HUMAN HUMAN.

Let this be a go to psalm when you walk through the valley of death.

Rememver that YOU ARE WITH ME, one of the essential messages of the Bibl

If heaven is you are with me. Hell is you are without me.

I recall that you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

This blew my mind.: the presence of of God is noted not when the enemies were FAR but when they are CLOSE…

One should not expect the absence of enemies when one is seeking the closeness of God. Not only is He’s leading in a direction of righteousness

He’s carrying a big stick. Staff and a rod. Tools at the ready. Weapons at the ready: for prodding and direction, but also for whooping on attackers

Is the Lords rod and staff big enough for smiting ALL my enemies, yes.  

         Every need, every poverty, every sickness, every relationship

Then why not? He is building a kingdom of the willing, not of the conquered.

The Lord is allowing enemies, for now, witnessing what is happening from without as they watch what is happening within           5           You prepare a table before me 

in the presence of my enemies;  

Why are the enemies here? Perhaps to benefit them, win them.

         Christianity is about WINNING enemies

Somehow He is sovereignly using you for exerting influence on your enemies.

Somehow He is sovereignly using the enemies for exerting influence on YOU

I am supposed to be in a flock: We’d best see wheat kind of heart is in David: Acts 13:22 

22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 

Identifying who the Lord is for Him, cooperating, being restored, recognizing enemies, death and difficulty. Setting His min, replacing or reprioritizing at least the bad with the good: YOU ARE WITH ME

He does not take His faithful sheep out of the world.  It almost sounds like He is putting us in the world, possibly even putting us at risk?  But youre not alone

A solo sheep is a sheep in trouble. A solo sheep is a sheep emergency Don’t make yourself a sheep emergency is no theological or practical understanding of a solo individual Christian today in the eyes of God, outside the Church********

Our Lord has not come unarmed to this Psalm.  This is a psalm of velvetcomfort, but inside the fuzzy is the iron fist of the Lord.  

Do not be surprised when these carried weapons become active and utilized.

The Lord must bust out the sword so He can be with you forever

It is a call for us to make the shepherd of David, MY shepherd. That the Lord is David’s good shepherd does you no ultimate good.  Do I want the shepherd? Do I want the comfort? Do I want the Rod? The alternative is the crisis of the lost sheep.

73 A Psalm of Asaph.          

The guy who almost gets it all wrong s30e10

The Psalms of My friends. Psalm 73 is about a guy who ALMOST GETS IT WRONG 

Have you ever almost toppled over, and realized if you did, you’d be in big trouble-like I would have fallen a great distance and hurt myself terribly?

That is what happens.  This guy Asaph has a “come to Jesus moment”. Oh my goodness, I ALMOST GETS IT WRONG. I almost lost it all. I almost made a fatalmistake.  I was ½ way there.

There is a great word in Ps 73: BUT…He catches Himself. He unstumbles.  He gets it right.  He goes from almost getting it wrong to getting it right.

There is so much to learn in the story of a guy who almost gets it wrong

1    Truly God is good to Israel, 

to those who are pure in heart. ---HERE THE SPALM STARTS WITH THE GOAL THAT IS ALMOST FAILED: A PURE, UNDIVIDED, IN TACT, WHOLE HEART THAT IS DESIRING THE WRONG THING. 

2    But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, 

my steps had nearly slipped. –HERE IS THE FIRST BUTT. 

3    For I was envious of the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. I WANTED WHAT THEY HAD. I WANTED WRONG THING.THEN HE WILL DESCRIBE THE WICKED, UNTROUBLED, RICH, HEALTY, PRIDEFUL

SETTING THEMSELVES AGAINST HEAVEN

I almost set the ladder of my heart against the wrong building

I nearly took pride in those who have a horrible thing: Pride against God.

I almost stood before God, elevating a type of person who thinks they do not stand before God.

I almost modelled a rebellious, prosperous, anti-God person who in the end will be destroyed in a moment. In the blink of an eye. Swept away like in a Tsunami

Oh, I almost got it wrong.

Here is the conclusion of Ps 73:  25 Whom have I in heaven without you?

         You are my only hope.  You are my only trust.

         I almost bet on the wrong horse. I almost put my trust in the sleek, rebellious sleek prideful guy rather than you

Wait a second: you are what I really desire. There is nothing on earth I desire besides you.

What is there to learn in the guy who almost gets it totally wrong. 

I almost slipped.  I almost desired, and then did the activities of that desire, towards the wrong thing.  I almost was unfaithful to my 1st love.

Asaph gets distracted by the bright shiny things, the deer, for a while and he almosttrades the precious for the passing, the priceless for purchased, and the Person of God for the possessions of the world.*******

WHO DO I HAVE BESIDES YOU? NOBODY

 Here’s the thing: there is nothing in the psalms that isn’t applicable to today

We enter into the battle for the attractions of your heart in contrast with the affections of your heart today. Welcome to psalm 23, and 73.

We should study, devote and sit in the psalms because I could get this wrong.  I can make all the same mistakes that were on offer when these were written.

Conclusions

Be careful, don’t get this wrong. Don’t slip. us and others. Let’s walk through today with our pride sensing glasses on.

What are you setting yourself towards to day? WHO are you setting yourself upon?—The Lord, the people of the Lord, the book of the Lord

Have a biblical world view by reading the Bible

Have a heart that is ready to be struck if the Lord so chooses. 

         Let us not be too many steps away from conviction.

Whom have I in heaven but you? Nobody. Where else can I go? Nowhere. What people do I belong in but Yours?