Psalm 84 and Me

Howdy! My name is Abigail Parnell. To start I thought I would tell you a little bit of my history with the Psalms.

My History with the Psalms

 I am a daughter of a pastor in the Reformed Presbyterian Church which means I have grown up singing the Psalms. This has been a great blessing but it has definitely had its challenges. It has made me very comfortable with the Psalms; I am very familiar with them, and I have learned many Psalms by heart because of my upbringing. In fact, I never really thought about how different and strange this was to other people. I definitely was too comfortable. I was singing Psalms because that was what my Church did. I had never really thought about it personally; I didn’t appreciate them or hear God’s voice in them.

I was rudely awakened when I attended an amazing/awesome theological program for youth. While I was there I met many Christians with many different levels of understanding and maturity. Many young believers who were there hadn't sung the Psalms all their lives and weren’t comfortable with them. They were questioning the basis for something that I had accepted all my life as normal. This came as a bit of a shock to me. I almost felt like I had missed something.

Now I am not saying I regret growing up with the Psalms! However, I definitely needed to understand why I sang the Psalms. It needed to become my own conviction to sing the Psalms. While I know that I can't simply accept something because it's comfortable, I also am reminded of the verse in second Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:14-15

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.”

My life is summed up in Psalm 84

In a similar way, I have been going to church for all my life. I can become comfortable so easily. church was another one of those things I just did. It was more of a social gathering for my own pleasure. I was blind to the rich blessing set before me EVERY week. But God was good. He showed me my ignorance. He didn’t take away the gift, but He showed me its beauty. He took me out of my comfort zone.

As I said, church was a social thing. In fact, church was my social group. I didn’t really know anybody outside of my Church community. So God gave me something to compare his gift to. He placed me in a three year program at a Vo-tech school where I was surrounded by people who acted and spoke in way that showed that they didn’t care about God. 

Enter Psalm 84….

Verse 1-2: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

  

Being surrounded by that selfish attitude I came to recognize my own selfishness. At the same time God caused to grow in me a longing for Him, His house, and His people. Being in the world drove me to my God.

Verses 3-5: Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

The world without God is a dry and dessert place. In contrast God offers a sweet dwelling place in Him! God strengthened me even in that place of spiritual barrenness where He had placed me. This was because HE was with me. God was my shield, my Sun. He is becoming more and more my joy.

Verses 6-9: As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!

It is nothing short of a miracle when you stop and think about it. God changed my heart, using the world! He changed my heart and made it my soul’s delight to be in His presence!

Verses 10-11: For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.  For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

And now the last verse perfectly states the song of my soul!

Verse 12:  O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Just a Few Thoughts.....

 

    

                                                         Just a Few Thoughts.....

     It ceases to amaze me how you can read the same passage in scripture over and over again throughout your life and come away with a new understanding or deeper appreciation each time. It really just goes to show how the Word of God really is like a boundless treasure trove, and that we can never reach the bottom of the wisdom and truth found there.

Psalm 62 is one of those treasure troves to me. I was going through one of my old devotional journals a few days ago. Amid the prayer request lists, memory verse lists, and many other lists that happen to spring up during my devotional hour, I came across something that I had written about Psalm 62. It was labeled under the heading Ways I Can Fix my Heart on the Lord in times of Trouble. I would like to share some of the ways that I have applied to my life through the reading of this particular psalm.

   1. Pray. Seek solace and direction before God. (Vs. 1. “God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation.” Also, vs. 8. “Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”)

    2. Remember the works of the Lord and His promises to His people. Recount them in my prayers. Turning my thoughts towards the promises of God will give me  strength and courage, as He not only is a God of truth, He is also unchanging. ( Again, vs. 8 “Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out our heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”)

    3. Encourage other brothers and sisters in the faith and help them fix their eyes on Christ by speaking and acting according to how the Lord commands us to follow Him. Focusing on building others up takes my eyes off of myself and helps to strive after the Lord in holiness, instead of wallowing in selfishness and self-pity.  ( Vs. 3 + 6: “How long will you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? He [God] only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.”)

  4. Turn away from the world and surround myself with godly people who will encourage and pour out their wisdom and experience upon me, especially older, wiser brothers and sisters in the faith. ( Vs. 11+12: “Once God has spoken; twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For You will render to a man according to his work.”)

   I thank the Lord for the work He has done in my life. He never gives up on me and is continually teaching me new things from His word, even if I’ve read it multiple times before.

                        What has has the Lord reminded you of or taught you lately?

Psalm 86:1-7 "Learning How to Pray through Psalm 86"

Through the Psalms, God has recently been teaching me how to pray according to His will and not my own. When praying according to my own will, I always focus on my own concerns and pursuits through my own perspective of the world, namely that of a weak human being. However, the Bible, as the revealed will of God, provides both the concerns and pursuits we are to have as His servants, and also the manner in which we are to petition God.

Psalm 86 is a personal prayer of David, the type of prayer that he probably prayed all the time. Yet even David’s personal prayer exhibits an utter lack of worldly or trivial requests, and in the first seven verses of Psalm 86, David prays for mercy on his soul with a spirit of humility and dependence on God. What strikes me most about David’s prayer is that he prays humbly yet boldly, dependently yet with confidence that God will answer.

1 Bow down Your ear, O Lord, hear me;
For I am poor and needy.

David does not appear to be thinking of any particular persecution while writing these first few verses. Instead, David is crying out for God to be merciful on his poor and needy soul, and we must always come before God humbly recognizing the sad condition of our souls without the Lord’s grace. The imagery evoked is that of God stooping down to us, and other Psalms such as Psalm 104 and 139 expound the greatness of God through His creative works and omniscience. The thought of coming before such a great God sometimes fills me with misgiving, but the next verse demonstrates that we do not pray in vain.

2 Preserve my life, for I am holy;
You are my God;
Save Your servant who trusts in You!

Psalm 86 is a prayer with hope, for David immediately turns to God for salvation after admitting his helplessness. We receive Christ’s righteousness through believing, trusting, and embracing Christ as our God, and through Christ we pursue and receive preservation unto eternal life. This verse reminds me that all of my prayers are based on my salvation in Christ, and thus all of my prayers are to be poor and needy and with hope. “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” Ephesians 1:18

3 Be merciful to me, O Lord,
For I cry to You all day long.

We should pray with perseverance. How often do you cry out to God for mercy? Once a week? Never? David felt the need to plead mercy “all day long”. Our prayers for mercy concerning our souls should be so persistent, that we can say to God, “Lord, I am grieved by my sin and lack of spiritual growth. I think on and pray about my soul constantly. You are the only one able to answer my prayer, so I will call upon you all day long.”

4 Rejoice the soul of Your servant,
For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.

David asks for mercy, and then praises God for being abundantly merciful to His people. He asks for forgiveness, and then extols God’s goodness and readiness to forgive. We do not pray to a harsh and unforgiving God but to an abundantly merciful and good God. Our prayers can thus be made in faith, and I have experienced, as David certainly had, that God is truly good to His prayerful servants.

6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
And attend to the voice of my supplications.

7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon You,
For You will answer me.

Praying confidently means that we can know that God will answer our prayers. If this prayer was anywhere else but in the Bible, we would say the prayer to be presumptuous. Yet Jesus commands us to pray in the same way.

12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

John 14:12-14

We can learn from the first seven verses of Psalm 86 that God will not ignore our humble cries for forgiveness and mercy on our souls since He cannot deny Himself. Psalm 86 clearly shows that the state of our souls, and thus our ability to glorify God on earth, is a request made in Christ’s name. David understood that he was praying God’s will which allowed him to pray in a humble yet confident manner, a manner of prayer we all should strive to achieve. 

Resource: Ryle, J.C. Practical Religion 

A Beautiful Inheritance

Recently I had the wonderful experience of attending the Reformed Presbyterian International Conference. I suspect that many of the people reading this will have attended as well, but if you don’t know what I am talking about, take a look here. Several times during the conference we had the opportunity to worship God in a corporate setting, and it was during one of those worship services that I realized what we were doing was really beautiful. At a point in one of the worship services I was overcome by a sense of tremendous joy, that at first I could not explain. Why was this so wonderful? And then we sang Psalm 16.

Psalm 16 explores the blessings of being part of the people of God by explaining the two-part inheritance God gives to his saints. In the first part of the psalm, David (the author)  focuses on the many benefits of living on earth as a child of God, before ending by explaining his hope for eternity.

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

I say to the LORD, ‘’You are my Lord;

I have no good apart from you.” (Ps. 16:1-2)

The beginning of David’s Mikhtam (Psalm 16's title) is a cry to God for refuge. However, it is not a cry of despair, but rather of great hope, as seen in the rest of the psalm. Acknowledging he has no good apart from the Lord, David begins to outline what he calls his “beautiful inheritance” (v. 6). He opens with a discussion of two kinds of people.

As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,

in whom is all my delight.

The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;

their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out

or take their names on my lips. (vv. 3-4)

There are two camps here. There are those who worship other gods, and those who worship the true God. David makes a clear distinction between the two, saying that excellence is only to be found in those who have been set apart to serve the Lord. On the other hand, he refuses to even speak of idolaters.

Do we think this way? Do we make our closest friends those whom Christ has redeemed? In whom do we find delight? One of the most magnificent parts of the inheritance that we have as believers is being put into a Church. If redeemed by Christ, we are made members of his body, and in that context we have a group of unique individuals, all with different gifts to contribute, all working toward the same end goal.

I think again of the RP International Conference. Here was a group of 2000+ people from all different backgrounds. One might assume that when stuck in the same place for a week these people might have trouble getting along. But I was actually amazed at how well everyone meshed. It was evident that Christ was the uniting factor.

So fellowship with the saints is part of the our earthly inheritance, but David doesn’t stop there.

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;

you hold my lot.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;

in the night also my heart instructs me.

I have set the LORD always before me;

because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

my flesh also dwells secure. (vv. 5-9)

Among the blessings mentioned here are security, counsel, instruction, beauty, leadership, foundation, and joy. If no good is to be found outside of God then all good is the Lord’s to give! While the world promises things that will be pleasurable for a short while, real gladness, wisdom, and pleasure come from God alone. God makes this point in Jeremiah by using a metaphor: “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jer. 2:13) All good comes from God. Apart from him are only cheap imitations that can “hold no water”.

Again I ask, do we think this way? Have we set the Lord ever before us? Do we view wisdom, pleasure, and safety as gifts from God? If we do it should fill us with gladness. David says, “Therefore… my whole being rejoices.”

After singing verse 9 I was beginning to realize why worship with all those believers was so amazing. We are a blessed people! But then we sang the rest…

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

or let your holy one see corruption.

You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalms 16:10-11)

At the end of the psalm, David gives the second part of our beautiful inheritance. Not only does God give us good things while we live on earth, but he extends our inheritance into eternity! You see, for the believer, death is not the end of the story. If we are God’s children we have great hope, and that hope is outlined in verse 10. Not only is the psalm speaking of our eternal life, it is speaking of Christ’s resurrection! Romans 6:5 gives us that wonderful truth, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Because Jesus was not abandoned to Sheol (the grave, or Hell), neither will we be!

The reason I found worship with a large group of believers so wonderful was that we were corporately praising the God who has given and is giving us good things on this earth and who has promised to provide for us forever! There we were as his saints, thanking him for what he has done across the globe. And to think; we get to spend eternity doing just that!

Psalm 16 tells us that if God is our refuge we have a beautiful inheritance that we receive both in this life and eternally. It is a wonderful psalm to sing when thankful, or to express our dependence on God. It is all the more joyful when sung with a group of close friends who have all been redeemed by Christ. What a beautiful inheritance God has given us!