Reading 5 Psalms/day is good for my heart.  Sometimes I listen while I’m doing something else.  Sometimes I listen and read while exercising.  I like reading Psalms in bed.  I like reading them in the morning.  When I read in the afternoon, as I just did, I worry that I’m not learning enough from them.  Should I memorize them?  What is the difference to my “whole being” as David says here, if I take notes, read it 4 times, listen to a sermon about it, and read 2 commentaries regarding it?  If you look at my blog much you know that I think a lot about mentoring.  I do this because it is an essential component of who I am; my mentors, good and bad, have shaped me.  Zack uses this word a lot, and I have appreciated growing to understand the role and to think about its implications.  Especially concerning the with-God life and my goal of submission to God as Father and Mentor.

I am reading the Psalms so that they will mentor my soul (and my flesh, and my heart as David says towards the end of this Psalm).

Learning is good.  Singing Psalms is good, in church and alone.  The language is freeing as the various authors cry out to God, offer their understanding of His Glory in light of their life and the ways they experience the world.

There are a lot of references to God’s promises in Psalm 16.  The tone is ‘oriented’ on God and his good Glory, David’s joy in God is clear and thorough.  I am having a fine day myself.  It isn’t spectacular, but not tragic either (like most of our days right?).  I’m thankful for David’s words here, reminding me of the side of authenticity that comes out in praise and acknowledgement of the Glory of God in one’s soul.  In his soul.  In my soul.

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.”
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.
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.
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.

Psalm 16

Years ago my friend Phil was preaching and he said that the Gospel is true existentially and evidentially.  A simple definition on ‘existential’ is: what it means to be human.  God’s Commands, as the JSB says, “Explain how life works best.”  Probably a better definition than my own.  The GRace of Jesus frees us from so much: fear, guilt shame, the weight of our sin.  It also frees us into real life, real humanity, and relationships of real love.

I could go on and on, except that my purpose is to spend a few extra minutes in the Psalms.  Psalm 15 reminds us of theCommands of God – sometimes they are easy to see/do/believe and sometimes not.  I always need the reminder.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.
Psalm 15

Psalm 14 is Quoted by Paul and it sounds like a theological statement.  It is.  But, if we are learning to Answer God through the Psalms, then this is an observation turned prayer.  The world is a mess, Lord, would you put it back to rites?  Lord, everyone else seems crazy, but I cling to your promises.

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.
The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the LORD?
There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the LORD is his refuge.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

(Psalm 14 ESV)

This morning I listened to the 5 Psalms/day thing while making pancakes for my girls.

It is a funny thing to listen to a 3000 year old community hymn that is so honest, theologically astute, and short.  Disruptive in a good way.  Why don’t I answer God this way more often?  In community and in my own prayer life – authentically, with frequent references to what I know to be true about God, how I experience this world and my own life, and with promises to try to praise Him regardless.

1.  How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I take counsel in my soul

and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;

light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”

lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;

my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the Lord,

because he has dealt bountifully with me.

I never weigh in on sports with my blog, but I love this story.

I just heard Mike and Mike discussing him, the school he took Kobe to on Friday Night, the fact that the Knicks are winning with him (Carmelo and Amare out of the lineup), and that he has been sleeping on his brother’s couch (his brother is in dental school).

The thing I have yet to hear anyone talk about it is why his story is not shocking.  It is because the NBA is different.  The court is spaced out more than college, the season is 3-4 times longer, the players actually vary more athletically, the games are longer.

Jeremy Lin’s highlights are mostly good plays, not him dunking through people or over people.  His shot looks high to me (like Gallinari and some other shooters).  He turns the ball over a decent amount.

I’m not knocking him, I’m pointing out that he is a really good basketball player who did not fit the college system as well as he fits the NBA system.  Look at Steve Nash’s college stats.  They are great right?  But, in the NBA he is an MVP caliber player.  At 38 too.  Wow.  He was a very good player at a small college; like Lin.

Jeremy Lin, as far as I can tell early on, is a good man and a good basketball player.  The story is amazing.  But, the fact that his basketball skills translate well to the NBA is not.

I cannot relate to the writer of Psalm 12 and how he experiences the world.  I do not experience the world in this way.  I can relate to the love of the promises of God, and the desire to take hold of this one in a solid way.

And I love the brutal honesty.

Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the LORD;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
The words of the LORD are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
You, O LORD, will keep them;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
(Psalm 12 ESV)

I highlighted the “authentic” part in red, and the “Imagine God’s Glory” part in blue.  Faithful prayer is an honest rendering of both before the LORD – in community and in our ‘prayer closets’.  It takes energy to pray in this way.  But we can and should let the Psalms speak for us.  We take them on as our Answer to God.  They are full of His promises, requests for healing and for His glory to show up in ways we can understand.  The Psalms are unnervingly authentic.

Sometimes the order is switched (glory first – I think of authenticity as coming first; I wonder if there is a sub-attern there).  Sometimes both are full of promises and lengthy.  Sometimes it is short, wonderful, to the point, talking about groaning and the LORD offering us sleep.  The pattern remains: authenticity + God’s Glory imagined into our lives (past, present, and future).

Psalm 8 is full of exalted language.  If prayer is authenticity with an imagination towards God’s Glory, then this prayer (prayed within community) is wonderful encouragement that this is where the writer was (authenticity), and that when God graciously gives us understanding and a clear picture of His Majesty this is one of the joyous ways we can respond.

Psalm 8 is mostly about God’s glory.  Maybe as we grow, our authenticity is renewed within His Glory and the two are less separate.

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

(Psalm 8 ESV)

I’m trying to read 5 Psalms a day.  Today I read 10.  Not because I am spiritual, but because yesterday I read none 🙂  I want the language to form me.  To meet with the deep places that the Bible says are already redeemed, and to bridge those deep places with the anxieties, regular joys, fears, and prayers of my days.

When I look at the Bible I see a pattern.  Not all the time.  It is this: authenticity + Imagination of God’s Glory.  When we look at the past we want interpretation, in the present we ask for His Glory to show up in ways we can understand, sense, and have tangible faith in.  Prayer about the future is the same.  In my religious moments I forget to be authentic – tell God exactly how I am, how I experience and see the world.  In my irreligious moments I do not imagine his Glory – I just vent, gush, and practically forget His promises of Real Life, the Ever-Presence of His Spirit, the fact that all of my circumstances grow me.

This morning, while exercising, I listened to and read Psalm 7.

Every verse is beautifully mixed with authenticity and a plea for God’s Glory to be known by all.  Many have written about the Psalms.  There is a lot to learn from them!  But, we can also simply read them and ask the LORD to encourage us to pray how we are and towards His Glory.  This is the fully human way to pray.  Authenticity + Imagination of His Glory

O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.
O LORD my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
if I have repaid my friend with evil
or plundered my enemy without cause,
let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
and let him trample my life to the ground
and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
Arise, O LORD, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
over it return on high.
The LORD judges the peoples;
judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God!
My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day.
If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and readied his bow;
he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
and is pregnant with mischief
and gives birth to lies.
He makes a pit, digging it out,
and falls into the hole that he has made.
His mischief returns upon his own head,
and on his own skull his violence descends.
I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness,
and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.
(Psalm 7 ESV)

You can!

But, then you cannot.  I would script a terrible one I think – I would succeed more, but probably not be more patient.

I got a call today.  From a good friend.  He needs some help.  I almost forgot to help him because of all of the information I had to give him.  My story dictates that he call me, it gives me remarkable ground to stand on, he trusts me.  I don’t trust me.  I don’t resent him.  I loved talking, and think I was able to encourage him.  But, I resent this part of my story that means I will get a call like this every year of my life.  I don’t want to resent it.

I’m glad I am not the author.  But, I am not always glad for the chapters.  Why can’t I just learn (and then help/teach) from books?

Tell me kid: did you ever dance with the devil by the pale moon light?  I always ask that of all my prey…