Psalms: My Reaction

I've been journeying through Psalms recently, reading one a day as a devotional. Here are some of my reactions.

1) When I'm in the most need, God provides a Psalm for me!

True, it might just be a coincidence, but it's pretty awesome how God uses chance to take care of me. Psalm 25 came at absolutely the right time...more on that later.

2) Some Psalms are hard for me to relate to.

David seems to be perpetually chased by evil people that want to kill him, and obviously cries out to God for help. Unfortunately (or actually, very fortunately), I don't have this same problem. Psalm 35 illustrates my point:

¹ Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.

⁴ May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
be turned back in dismay.

⁷ Since they hid their net for me without cause
and without cause dug a pit for me,

⁸ may ruin overtake them by surprise—
may the net they hid entangle them,
may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.

Poor David. But how am I supposed to relate to that? I don't dream of waking up to "CONTEND O LORD WITH THOSE WHO CONTEND AGAINST ME" along with my morning coffee and pizza (yeah! thats what I had for breakfast today!).

Also, I have a difficult time relating to the passages in which David calls himself righteous and blameless, and goes on talking about stuff from there. I am too far from perfect even now to be calling myself righteous. I recognize that we have been made righteous through Christ, but my life of sin convicts my conscience otherwise. Take Psalm 26:1 :

¹ Vindicate me, O LORD,
for I have led a blameless life;
I have trusted in the LORD
without wavering.

If I said that out loud, I would be lying! However, these passages do motivate me to become more and more like Christ, to live a blameless life. Christ came and died for me to have the opportunity to live blamelessly, and to not try is to spit on his grave (well it doesn't really matter because he's alive anyway...that was a poor metaphor <- that rhymes. its unfortunate that it really wasn't a metaphor but more like an idiom, but "poor idiom" doesn't sound as cool as "poor metaphor").

3) I LOVE Psalm 25

This Psalm came at the right time, when I was struggling to trust God with my future (as I always am). I just read and reread the first, second and third verses.

¹ To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

² in you I trust, O my God.

³ No one whose hope is in you
will ever be put to shame,

Also, this is one of the few passages in which David knows that God is on his side but recognizes his own sinfulness as well. He asks God to be merciful and "remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways" and "according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord." David seems to be in the posture of repentance and hope for God's grace. Sometimes other Psalms seem to indicate that David asks of God based on his righteousness, but this Psalm proclaims that he himself is sinful but he is faithful in God's love for him. And that is why I love this Psalm.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for your servant David who was faithful to you and provides a good example for me. Thank you for your Word, from which I can feed everyday. Thank you for being loving and caring, that you hear all my prayers lifted to you. Thank you for providing for me. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God.