Psalm 80 (KJV): Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved

From Psalms

Psalm 80
(For the director of music.  To the tune of "The Lilies of the Covenant."  Of Asaph.  A psalm.)

¹Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
      thou that leadest Joseph like a flock;
thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
²Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh
      stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

³Turn us again, O God,
      and cause thy face to shine;
      and we shall be saved.

⁴O LORD God of hosts,
      how long wilt thou be angry
      against the prayer of thy people?
⁵Thou feedest them with the bread of tears;
      and givest them tears to drink in great measure.
⁶Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours:
      and our enemies laugh among themselves.

⁷Turn us again, O God of hosts,
      and cause thy face to shine;
      and we shall be saved.

⁸Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt:
      thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
⁹Thou preparedst room before it,
      and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
¹⁰The hills were covered with the shadow of it,
      and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
¹¹She sent out her boughs unto the sea,
      and her branches unto the river.

¹²Why hast thou then broken down her hedges,
      so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
¹³The boar out of the wood doth waste it,
      and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
¹⁴Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts:
      look down from heaven, and behold,
and visit this vine;
¹⁵And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted,
      and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.

¹⁶It is burned with fire, it is cut down:
      they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
¹⁷Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,
      upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.
¹⁸So will not we go back from thee:
      quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

¹⁹Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts,
      cause thy face to shine;
      and we shall be saved.

O Lord, please give me another day of sobriety.  Deliver me not into the temptation of my addictions sex, alcohol, or drugs.  Help me focus on your way and focus on your will and let me not be distracted by the empty idols that we are bombarded with everyday.  Cause thy face to shine on me that I may saved, and can be an example for those around me of thy power.  Help me seek to understand rather than to be understood.  That where there is wrong, that I may bring the spirit forgiveness.  That where there is error, I may bring truth. That where there is doubt, I may bring faith.

Let your word be a light for me as I journey down step 8 of the twelve steps.  That I will truly see those who I have hurt with my addictions, and how that's effected them.  Help me be open, honest and completely truthful in this search.  That you can show me how best to make amends to those people and prepare for step 9.

Indeed cause thy face to shine, so that all of us addicts can be saved.  Amen.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 79 (KJV): O remember not against us former iniquities

From Psalms

Psalm 79
(A Psalm of Asaph.)

¹O god, the heathen are come into thine inheritance;
      thy holy temple have they defiled;
      they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
²The dead bodies of thy servants have they given
      to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven,
      the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

³Their blood have they shed like water
      round about Jerusalem;
      and there was none to bury them.
⁴We are become a reproach to our neighbours,
      a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

⁵How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever?
      shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
⁶Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen
      that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms
      that have not called upon thy name.
⁷For they have devoured Jacob,
      and laid waste his dwelling place.
⁸O remember not against us former iniquities:
      let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us:
      for we are brought very low.

⁹Help us, O God of our salvation,
      for the glory of thy name:
and deliver us, and purge away our sins,
      for thy name's sake.
¹⁰Wherefore should the heathen say,
      Where is their God?
let him be known among the heathen in our sight
      by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.
¹¹Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee;
      according to the greatness of thy power
      preserve thou those that are appointed to die;

¹²And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom
      their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
¹³So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture
      will give thee thanks for ever:
we will shew forth thy praise
      to all generations.

The psalmist here starts with a horrible picture of Israel in rubble.  Dead people strewn across the ground.  The holy temple defiled.  It was likely written about how the Babylonians invaded and occupying Israel and Jerusalem.  Seems like a certain kind of hell to me.

In much the same way as addicts we create our own kind of hell.  We isolate from our family and friends.  We push away their love.  We retreat into our hole of addiction to temporarily mask our pain.  Only to make problems with career and money worse.  We make illogical decisions that risk our lives (or the lives of our loved ones) in terms of potentially contracting life threatening diseases, driving drunk, or even over-dosing.  At this point, our life becomes a proverbial hell.  There seems to be no way out.

It's at that point we turn to God and we say, "Help me God, of our salvation"..."for I am brought very low"...purge me of my sins"..."according to your greatness"...and "remember not against me my former iniquities."  And this I would say was when we got through step 2 of the 12 steps.  When we came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.  This step goes on everyday.  Even in sobriety we wake every morning and pray that He deliver us according to his greatness, and foregive us of our former iniquities.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 78:50-72: He smote his enemies in their hinder parts

From Psalms

⁵⁰He made a way to his anger;
      he spared not their soul from death,
      but gave their life over to the pestilence;
⁵¹And smote all the firstborn in Egypt;
      the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:
⁵²But made his own people to go forth like sheep,
      and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
⁵³And he led them on safely, so that they feared not:
      but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary,
      even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.
⁵⁵He cast out the heathen also before them,
      and divided them an inheritance by line,
      and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

⁵⁶Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God,
      and kept not his testimonies:
⁵⁷But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers:
      they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
⁵⁸For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
      and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
⁵⁹When God heard this, he was wroth,
      and greatly abhorred Israel:
⁶⁰So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
      the tent which he placed among men;
⁶¹And delivered his strength into captivity,
      and his glory into the enemy's hand.
⁶²He gave his people over also unto the sword;
      and was wroth with his inheritance.
⁶³The fire consumed their young men;
      and their maidens were not given to marriage.
⁶⁴Their priests fell by the sword;
      and their widows made no lamentation.

⁶⁵Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep,
      and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
⁶⁶And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts:
      he put them to a perpetual reproach.
⁶⁷Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph,
      and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah,
      the mount Zion which he loved.
⁶⁹And he built his sanctuary like high palaces,
      like the earth which he hath established for ever.
⁷⁰He chose David also his servant,
      and took him from the sheepfolds:
⁷¹From following the ewes great with young he brought him
      to feed Jacob his people,
      and Israel his inheritance.
⁷²So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart;
      and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

The third of three installments in Psalm 78 - based on verse 66, is about kicking ass.  As I've said before, in other psalms, there's a lot of things going on in this psalm that's not just about this - but that's what I'm choosing to focus on.

You see, if you look at various translations of verse 66, it basically says that God defeated the enemy, in a big way.  He "beat them back."  He put the enemy to shame.  In this translation, He continued to give the enemy a beating, even as they ran away - hence kicked their "hinder parts."

We are blessed to read about how Jesus showed love, and grace, and forgiveness.  These are things that we need to learn, especially addicts, as we learn about tolerance, forgiveness, and healing.  However, in all of that, sometimes we forget that God loves justice.  He loves it when we defeat our enemies that have been taking advantage of us.  He loves it when we remove evil from our lives.  He loves it when we go to all lengths necessary to triumph over our addictions.  That, is beautiful...that kicks ass.

I had a dream last night that I was in the middle of race...an Ironman triathlon.  I'm not quite sure where that came from, but anyway, there I was in the middle of the bike portion.  I started facing a rather steep hill, and the race started getting hard.  Rather than keep pushing, or at least walk my bike up the hill, I quit.  I just dropped out of the race.  This morning I can't believe how disappointed I am.  Even though it was just a dream, I was so close to such a great goal and I just quit.

I think I'm disappointed because what happened in my dream was the opposite of kicking ass.  Like the old that says, "Winners never quit, and quitters never win."  To extend that, a bit...and with God we don't just win, we kick ass.

This to your, and our, victories over addictions - remember it's always a long, hard battle, but as long as we keep God on your side we'll come out victorious - we'll probably kick a little "hinder parts."

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 78:26-49: They were not estranged from their lust

From Psalms

²⁶He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven:
      and by his power he brought in the south wind.
²⁷He rained flesh also upon them as dust,
      and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
²⁸And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,
      round about their habitations.
²⁹So they did eat, and were well filled:
      for he gave them their own desire;
³⁰They were not estranged from their lust.
      But while their meat was yet in their mouths,
³¹The wrath of God came upon them,
      and slew the fattest of them,
      and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

³²For all this they sinned still,
      and believed not for his wondrous works.
³³Therefore their days did he consume in vanity,
      and their years in trouble.
³⁴When he slew them, then they sought him:
      and they returned and enquired early after God.
³⁵And they remembered that God was their rock,
      and the high God their redeemer.
³⁶Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth,
      and they lied unto him with their tongues.
³⁷For their heart was not right with him,
      neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
³⁸But he, being full of compassion,
      forgave their iniquity,
      and destroyed them not:
yea, many a time turned he his anger away,
      and did not stir up all his wrath.
³⁹For he remembered that they were but flesh;
      a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

⁴⁰How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness,
      and grieve him in the desert!
⁴¹Yea, they turned back and tempted God,
      and limited the Holy One of Israel.
⁴²They remembered not his hand,
      nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
⁴³How he had wrought his signs in Egypt,
      and his wonders in the field of Zoan.
⁴⁴And had turned their rivers into blood;
      and their floods, that they could not drink.
⁴⁵He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them;
      and frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller,
      and their labour unto the locust.
⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail,
      and their sycomore trees with frost.
⁴⁸He gave up their cattle also to the hail,
      and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

⁴⁹He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,
      wrath, and indignation, and trouble,
      by sending evil angels among them.

Today I would like to focus on one verse of this very big psalm.  Verse 30, "But while their meat was yet in their mouths..." they still saught more...and they coveted.  "They were not estranged from their lust."

Sounds familiar to me.  As all good addicts in search of the next perfect buzz, always trying to take it up a notch from the last one.  We obsess about.  We scour the internet for it.  We spend money we don't have for it.  Never satisfied with what we have we are willing to throw away everything we have just to get the next buzz.  We never seem to be estranged from our lust.  This seems to be what makes us alcoholics and addicts.

That is until we hit bottom.  Our last buzz is usually the one that came at too high a price.  Often when I talk to other addicts and alcoholics the last time was too expensive and it wasn't even very good.  Expensive because we lose, or nearly lose our marriage; have alienated friends or family; lost our job or career.  It's not until then that we seek help.  But with the grace of our Higher Power...God, we find help.  And we find sobriety.

However, this lust doesn't go away in sobriety.  We just now have tools, resources, and new ways to manage the lust.  Having seen the lust we also know how to see the warning signs to avoid the temptations.  The presence of the lust is why we continue to go to meetings and share.  That's why we continue to work the steps.  That's why, in a few cases, we continue to pray the psalms everyday.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 78:1-25 (KJV): Marvellous things did He...

From Psalms

Psalm 78
(A maskil of Asaph.)

¹Give ear, O my people, to my law:
      incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
²I will open my mouth in a parable:
      I will utter dark sayings of old:
³Which we have heard and known,
      and our fathers have told us.
⁴We will not hide them from their children,
      shewing to the generation to come
the praises of the LORD, and his strength,
      and his wonderful works that he hath done.
⁵For he established a testimony in Jacob,
      and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers,
      that they should make them known to their children:
⁶That the generation to come might know them,
      even the children which should be born;
      who should arise and declare them to their children:
⁷That they might set their hope in God,
      and not forget the works of God,
      but keep his commandments:
⁸And might not be as their fathers,
      a stubborn and rebellious generation;
a generation that set not their heart aright,
      and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

⁹The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows,
      turned back in the day of battle.
¹⁰They kept not the covenant of God,
      and refused to walk in his law;
¹¹And forgat his works,
      and his wonders that he had shewed them.
¹²Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers,
      in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
¹³He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through;
      and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
¹⁴In the daytime also he led them with a cloud,
      and all the night with a light of fire.
¹⁵He clave the rocks in the wilderness,
      and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
¹⁶He brought streams also out of the rock,
      and caused waters to run down like rivers.

¹⁷And they sinned yet more against him
      by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
¹⁸And they tempted God in their heart
      by asking meat for their lust.
¹⁹Yea, they spake against God;
      they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
²⁰Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out,
      and the streams overflowed;
can he give bread also?
      can he provide flesh for his people?
²¹Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth:
      so a fire was kindled against Jacob,
      and anger also came up against Israel;
²²Because they believed not in God,
      and trusted not in his salvation:
²³Though he had commanded the clouds from above,
      and opened the doors of heaven,
²⁴And had rained down manna upon them to eat,
      and had given them of the corn of heaven.
²⁵Man did eat angels' food:
      he sent them meat to the full.

God does marvellous things.  He provides miracles everyday.  He sobers alcoholics.  He restores friendships and marriages.  Things that we as mere humans believe are impossible.  It's even bigger than this though...as Psalm 78 points out in verses 1-16.  He saved the Isrealites from the Egyptions by parting the Red Sea.

But alas, we are selfish.  We take these gifts, and all of Gods gifts for granted.  We go to church on Sundays in hopes that He bless us.  In hopes that he cures us.  We do it for our own personal gain.  This is our history, as verses 17-25 demonstrate.  He gives us miracles, and more miracles, and still we ask for more.  Not only that we speak against Him and His word.

Instead we need to bless God and praise God.  We need to ask God how can we serve Him.  Ask him to take away our will and ask for His will be done.  On earth as it is in heaven.

Why is this important?  Because healing and recovery from addiction comes from losing ourselves.  We are forced to hit bottom to learn that He is the path to sobriety.  Then on the path of recovery, to sobriety, we learn that life is not about us.  Life is much bigger than us.  Life is about loving people, loving God, and reflecting the love of God.  We give up what we have believed previously.  We no longer rely on money for security like we used to.  We know now that "highs" of this world, of drugs, sex, alcohol, and consumerism are empty and lead only to loss and disappointment.  Instead now we replace these things with a faith in God and showing His love.  We do our best to appreciate God's gifts and praise him daily for all His gifts, big and small.

Thanks for letting me share.