Psalm 9 (NIV) - The hope of the afflicted will never parish

From Psalms

Psalm 9 (New International Version, ©2011)
(For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David.)

¹I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart;
      I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
²I will be glad and rejoice in you;
      I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

³My enemies turn back;
      they stumble and perish before you.
⁴For you have upheld my right and my cause,
      sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
⁵You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
      you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
⁶Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
      you have uprooted their cities;
      even the memory of them has perished.

⁷The LORD reigns forever;
      he has established his throne for judgment.
⁸He rules the world in righteousness
      and judges the peoples with equity.
⁹The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
      a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰Those who know your name trust in you,
      for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
      proclaim among the nations what he has done.
¹²For he who avenges blood remembers;
      he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

¹³LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
      Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
¹⁴that I may declare your praises
      in the gates of Daughter Zion,
      and there rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
      their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
¹⁶The LORD is known by his acts of justice;
      the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
¹⁷The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
      all the nations that forget God.
¹⁸But God will never forget the needy;
      the hope of the afflicted will never perish.

¹⁹Arise, O LORD, do not let mortals triumph;
      let the nations be judged in your presence.
²⁰Strike them with terror, LORD;
      let the nations know they are only mortal.               Selah

Today I am making some changes.  First, today I realized that the version of the New International Version which wrote out in long hand - the images you see in my blog - were from an old version of the NIV.  However, Biblegateway has the new version, as of this year.  So, I will start typing from that, and you'll be able to see how the NIV has evolved over the past 20 years or so.

Now for Psalm 9 and my aching addict heart.  Give thanks to the LORD (verse 1), I rejoice (verse 2) the enemy of the whole army of evil desires has been abated (verse 3), even their memory perished (verse 6).  Before we get ahead of ourselves we are reminded that this is a one day at a time struggle that we can never take for granted.  Nevertheless, now that we have made it past another day, we can take a deep breath that we are no longer in our hole of addiction. 

Finally, I'd like to close with: "he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted," (verse 12) and "God will not forget the needy, the hope of the afflicted will never perish."  Keep this in your mind today and know that God is us even when temptation seems closer than He is.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 8 (NIV) - How majestic is your name in all the earth!

From Psalms

Psalm 8 
(For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David.)

¹ LORD, our Lord,
     how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
     above the heavens.
²From the lips of children and infants
     you have ordained praise (or strength)
because of your enemies,
     to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
     the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
     which you have set in place,
⁴what is man that you are mindful of him,
     the son of man that you care for him?
⁵You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings (or angels)
     and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
     you put everything under his feet:
⁷all flocks and herds,
     and the beasts of the field,
⁸the birds of the air,
     and the fish in the sea,
     all that swim the paths of the seas.
⁹LORD, our Lord,
     how majestic is your name in all the earth!

There was a time I believed that God did not care enough about me, that he would have bigger and more important things going on, to help me with my simple, insignificant addiction.  However, as I re-read and type Psalm 8 for this blog I realize what God has done for all people, not just us as a group but for each and every one of us.  I am reminded of how foolish my thinking was.  God certainly does care.  I am pretty sure we go through addiction, and recovery from addiction, for a specific purpose or specific lessons to be learned.

For everyone that purpose and lesson is different.  Here's are some of the things that I have learned, and what I believe God has taught me during my recovery:

• God works in our lives through the people around us
• So it's absolutely critical to go to meetings, even if you don't plan to share initially
• or talk to people about our addictions
• You need to be able to ask for help before you can expect to get it
• Only God can read your mind and even he needs you to pray
• Back to point one...ask those around you for help - you'll be surprised at the support and love you get
• You need to give a hug in order to get a hug; you need to give love to receive love
•  From the Step 11 Prayer:
  Lord grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted  
  to understand, than to be understood
  to love, than to be loved
• Be faithful and patient...real change comes slowly

God creates miracles - as illustrated in this Psalm.  Miracles come in all types and sizes - And miracles include the recovery of addicts who have hit rock bottom.  This is one addict who will attest to the fact that God can change a life in unbelievable ways.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 7 (NIV) - Whoever digs a hole falls into the pit he has made

From Psalms

Psalm 7
(A shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning Cush, a Benjamite.)

¹ LORD my God, I take refuge in you;
     save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
² or they will tear me apart like a lion
     and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
³ LORD my God, if I have done this
     and there is guilt on my hands—
⁴if I have done evil to him who is at peace with me
     or without cause have robbed my foe—
⁵ then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;
     let him trample my life to the ground
     and make me sleep in the dust.                                   Selah
⁶Arise, LORD, in your anger;
     rise up against the rage of my enemies.
     Awake, my God; decree justice.
⁷Let the assembled peoples gather around you.
     Rule over them on high;
⁸     let the LORD judge the peoples.
Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness,
     according to my integrity, O Most High.
⁹O righteous God,
     who seaches minds and hearts,
bring to an end the violence of the wicked
     and make the righteous secure.
¹⁰My shield is God Most High,
     who saves the upright in heart.
¹¹God is a righteous judge,
     a God who expresses his wrath every day.
¹² If he does not relent,
     he will sharpen his sword;
     he will bend and string his bow.
¹³He has prepared his deadly weapons;
     he makes ready his flaming arrows.
¹⁴Whoever is pregnant with evil
     and conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
¹⁵Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
     falls into the pit he has made.
¹⁶The trouble he causes recoils on himself;
     his violence comes down on his own head.
¹⁷I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness;
     and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

Jesus spoke in parables because they make the message easy to understand.  Although there is a lot of good things in this Psalm I would like to focus on the parable, if you will, of the hole described in verse 15 in this Psalm.  The hole of our addiction is incredibly fitting for a lot of reasons.  Addiction is progressive, as time goes on we drink more frequently, we drink more volume - we get deeper into the hole.  As we get deeper into the hole we become more isolated.  As we get deeper into the hole life becomes more dark.  As we dig deeper we become more trapped and it becomes harder to get out.  When we do get out this hole, which has become so big it often "sucks" us back in.  Not until we start filling the hole back in do we actually start to become successful - and that's where the 12 steps begins to come into this parable.

Let me try...so here we are mired in our hole of addiction.  We've tried a few times to get out.  In step 1 we step out of the hole - admit its there, confess to the size and nature of the hole.  In step 2 we realize that we find our way back in without the help of our Higher Power.  Step 3 we begin to fill it back in with the help of our Higher Power.  In Steps 4, 5, 9, 10 we do some pretty heavy (and dirty) lifting to fill the hole back in.  Thankfully we have steps 3, 6, 7, 11 where we are able to lean on and ask God for strength.  Then having filled our hole, knowing that this broken ground is easily dug into again, in Step 12 we search for other addicts who need help filling their addictive holes.

Since we know all to well that this broken ground is easily made into a hole, again, we repeat these 12 steps.  Each time we go through it learning something new.  That, to me, is how the hole is like our addiction and what I learned from Psalm 7.
Thank you for letting me share.

Psalm 6 (NIV) - the LORD has heard my cry for mercy

From Psalms

Psalm 6 
(For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith. A psalm of David.)
¹LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
     or discipline me in your wrath.
²Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;
     heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.
³ My soul is in deep anguish.
     How long, O LORD, how long?
⁴Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
     save me because of your unfailing love.
⁵No one remembers you when he is dead.
     Who praises you from the grave (sheol)?
⁶ I am worn out from my groaning;
     all night long I flood my bed with weeping
     and drench my couch with tears.
⁷My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
     they fail because of all my foes.
⁸Away from me, all you who do evil,
     for the LORD has heard my weeping.
⁹The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
     the LORD accepts my prayer.
¹⁰All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
     they will turn back in sudden disgrace.

"God save me," "God deliver me." 

After focusing and meditating on Psalms over the past 6 months I have learned that God works through the people around us.  So it is that God saves us (and delivers us) through the people around us.  So it should be no surprise that one of the most effective tools we have in overcoming addiction is in sharing our struggle with a friend or support group.  If you're struggling with an addiction search for (or pray for) a friend to talk to about it, or for a 12 step/recovery meeting to go to.  Once we can start being open and honest with someone else we can start being honest with ourselves and start the long process of recovery.  Don't conceal your addiction - reveal your addiction.

Ironically, we hide our addictions because we want others to think that we are managing everything fine.  When those closest to us know, just as we do, that everything is not fine - it's completely unmanageable.  More than that, if it was manageable it wouldn't be controlling our lives, our decisions, our time and forcing us to lie, forcing us to spend money.  Addiction is too big to handle by ourselves in isolation.  You need a group or friend to support you and encourage you.  When you find those people you will start seeing the work of God in your recovery...sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly.  In any case, eventually, as we journey down the 12 steps our prayers begin to answered.  Hopefully, too, we start to help do God's work in lives of other addicts...that is a great even in the process of recovery.  One that I look forward to.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 5 (NIV) - In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice

From Psalms

Psalm 5  (For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David.)

¹ Listen to my words, O LORD,
     consider my lament.
² Hear my cry for help,
     my King and my God,
     for to you I pray.
³ In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
     in the morning I lay my requests before you
     and wait in expectation.
⁴ For you are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
     with you, the wicked cannot dwell.
⁵The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
     You hate all who do wrong;
⁶You destroy those who tell lies.
     bloodthirsty and deceitful men
     the LORD abhors.
⁷But I, by your great mercy,
     will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
     toward your holy temple.
⁸Lead me, LORD, in your righteousness
     because of my enemies —
     make straight your way before me.
⁹Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
     their heart is filled with destruction.
Their throat is an open grave;
     with their tongue they speak deceit.
¹⁰Declare them guilty, O God!
     Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
     for they have rebelled against you.
¹¹But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
     let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
     that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
¹²For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;
     you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

As part of my recovery I have set-up a time everyday in which to focus and meditate on His word.  This has been critical to the success over my addictions.  I would like to say I do it every morning at 5:00 AM at exactly - but, because I am only human, it's more like every morning before 6:00 AM.  And so it is very meaningful to read verse 3, "In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectation."

As an addict my daily request, which I lay before him, is that He be with me and guide me.  When I am faced with temptation that I choose in a way that would help me grow and not a way that I would be destroyed.  That I have wisdom to make the right choices and the courage to act on those choices.  For he knows "There are is a whole army of evil desires within you," (James 4:1 Living Bible) and it through the prayers of Psalms that I get my strength to conquer those armies.

Thanks for letting me share.