THE LORD SPOKE (August 11)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Psalms 38-42

Sometimes there’s no other way out. Sometimes all we can do is “cast our care upon the Lord” (I Peter 5:7) and hope for the best. The psalmist tells us he should have remembered to do that from the start. In such a case, our hope is well-founded for it is based upon the eternal, unchanging promises of God. Even when we are most downcast, He is there waiting for us to return.

These two psalms are actually one song with three stanzas, each followed by the “chorus”. It begins Book II in the five-fold division in the collection we know as the Book of Psalms. This song comes from the descendants of Kohath ben-Levi, who were in charge of the levitical choir since the time of David (I Chron. 6:31-38).

Stanza One (Ps. 42:1-4) - The Drought of My Soul (“my soul thirsts for God”)
Refrain (Ps. 42:5)
Stanza Two (Ps. 42:6-10) - The Drowning of My Soul (deep to deep, waterfalls, waves, breakers)
Refrain (Ps. 42:11)
Stanza Three (Ps. 43:1-4) - The Distress of My Soul (rejected, mourning, oppressed)
Refrain (Ps. 43:5)

Other things to notice:

• emphasis on “my soul” (Heb. nephesh)
• “my soul pants for you, O God” (Ps. 42:1)
• “my soul thirsts for God” (Ps. 42:2)
• “I pour out my soul” (Ps. 42:4)
• “my soul is downcast” (Ps. 43:5,6,11; Ps. 43:5)
• metaphors from nature (deer, streams of water, land, heights, deep to deep, waterfalls, waves, breakers, mountain)
• day and night cycle (Ps. 42:3,8)
• remember and forget (Ps. 42:4,6,9)

Take special note of Ps. 42:8 which stands as a pivotal point in the whole song. It comes exactly midway in the middle stanza. Henry March expressed it well:

Deep to deep incessant calling,
Tossed by furious tempests' roll,
Endless waves and billows falling,
Overwhelm my fainting soul.
Yet I see a Power presiding
Mid the tumult of the storm,
Ever ruling, ever guiding,
Love's intentions to perform.
Yes, mid sorrows most distressing,
Faith contemplates thy design,
Humbly bowing, and confessing
All the waves and billows Thine.


New Testament: I Peter 1

Most of us are addicted to happiness instead of committed to holiness. - Don Wyrtzen

If happiness is all you have, you won’t be able to stand up under the trials of life. Peter was strengthening his readers to face the growing persecution around them and his emphasis was on personal holiness. After a series of quick jabs, he delivers the final punch:

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy. (I Pet. 1:13-16)

Here’s what it takes:

1. prepare your minds - later he will say “be ready always to give an answer” (I Pet. 3:15)
2. be self-controlled - Peter, who often struggled with self-control, is the one telling us this!
3. set your hope on grace - he must really mean it, for he mentions this 9x in these two short epistles
4. do not conform to evil - Paul tells us, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold” (Rom. 12:2, Phillips)
5. BE HOLY - just as God is wholly set apart from sin and impurity

This is really just the beginning. Peter’s series of imperatives goes all the way through I Peter 5:11 but this is a note-worthy start.

Purify my heart,
Let me be as gold and precious silver.
Purify my heart,
Let me be as gold, pure gold.

Refiner's fire,
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy;
Set apart for You, Lord.
I choose to be holy;
Set apart for You, my Master,
Ready to do Your will.

Purify my heart,
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy.
Purify my heart,
Cleanse me from my sin, deep within.