Psalm 89:1-29 (KJV): My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him

From Psalms

Psalm 89:1-31 (KJV)
(A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.)

¹I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever:
      with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
²For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever:
      thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.

³I have made a covenant with my chosen,
      I have sworn unto David my servant,
⁴Thy seed will I establish for ever,
      and build up thy throne to all generations.
                                     Selah.

⁵And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD:
      thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
⁶For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD?
      who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
⁷God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,
      and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
⁸O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee?
      or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

⁹Thou rulest the raging of the sea:
      when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
¹⁰Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain;
      thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
¹¹The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine:
      as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.
¹²The north and the south thou hast created them:
      Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.
¹³Thou hast a mighty arm:
      strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

¹⁴Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne:
      mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
¹⁵Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound:
      they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
¹⁶In thy name shall they rejoice all the day:
      and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
¹⁷For thou art the glory of their strength:
      and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
¹⁸For the LORD is our defence;
      and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

¹⁹Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst,
      I have laid help upon one that is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
²⁰I have found David my servant;
      with my holy oil have I anointed him:
²¹With whom my hand shall be established:
      mine arm also shall strengthen him.
²²The enemy shall not exact upon him;
      nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
²³And I will beat down his foes before his face,
      and plague them that hate him.
²⁴But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him:
      and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
²⁵I will set his hand also in the sea,
      and his right hand in the rivers.
²⁶He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father,
      my God, and the rock of my salvation.
²⁷Also I will make him my firstborn,
      higher than the kings of the earth.

²⁸My mercy will I keep for him for evermore,
      and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
²⁹His seed also will I make to endure for ever,
      and his throne as the days of heaven.

There are days when I question my strength and doubt my own abilities.  Days when I want to shrink into myself and isolate from those around me.  Days when I feel like everything going on is just too much too handle.  Its on these days I need my daily meditation and prayer with my psalms.  For in these psalms I find God and find my strength to go on with the day without the false support of my addictions.

For as it says here in verse 17 of psalm 89 "Thou at the glory of their strength."  In verse 26, "and the rock of my salvation."  Then the perspective of the psalm changes and we see that God can be faithful to his servants as well.  In this case, the psalmist shows God's faithfulness to David as an example.  He will beat down his enemies before his face (verse 23) and His faithfulness and mercy shall be with his servant.

Lord, as I start out on this day, which I know will be full of trials be with me and guide.  Show your faithfulness to me and keep your hand on me and beat down my enemies of addiction and distraction.    When things become difficult give me the strength and courage to do what is right.  Help me show those around me of the your power and let me be an example and a light of your love.  In your sons name.  Amen.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 88 (KJV):Lord, I have called daily upon thee

From Psalms

Psalm 88
(A Song.  A psalm of the Sons of Korah.  For the director of music.  According to mahalath leanoth.  A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.)

¹O lord God of my salvation,
      I have cried day and night before thee:
²Let my prayer come before thee:
      incline thine ear unto my cry;

³For my soul is full of troubles:
      and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
⁴I am counted with them that go down into the pit:
      I am as a man that hath no strength:
⁵Free among the dead,
      like the slain that lie in the grave,
whom thou rememberest no more:
      and they are cut off from thy hand.

⁶Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit,
      in darkness, in the deeps.
⁷Thy wrath lieth hard upon me,
      and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.
                                        Selah.

⁸Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me;
      thou hast made me an abomination unto them:
I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
⁹Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction:
LORD, I have called daily upon thee,
      I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
¹⁰Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead?
      shall the dead arise and praise thee?
                                        Selah.
¹¹Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave?
      or thy faithfulness in destruction?
¹²Shall thy wonders be known in the dark?
      and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³But unto thee have I cried, O LORD;
      and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
¹⁴LORD, why castest thou off my soul?
      why hidest thou thy face from me?

¹⁵I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up:
      while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
¹⁶Thy fierce wrath goeth over me;
      thy terrors have cut me off.
¹⁷They came round about me daily like water;
      they compassed me about together.
¹⁸Lover and friend hast thou put far from me,
      and mine acquaintance into darkness.

Lord, I have called upon you, and cried night and day to you.  You have answered - but sometimes you have let me sit and cry.  In those times that I have been left to sit and cry and wonder why you cast off my soul.  Why would you hide your face from me.  I realize now that you didn't answer because I wasn't truly ready to have you answer.

I know now that there is a difference between wanting, or needing, to change and being ready for change.  The difference is similar to how a farmer plows, harrows, fertilizes, and harrows his field before he plants.  All this I learned in step 6 - "Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character."  In an addict this is hard spiritual work.  God, I now realize you can't change me unless I am willing to change.  Unless I first admit my weaknesses and know how those weaknesses need to be transformed.

Lord, please help prepare my heart for the lessons you have for me today.  As I continue to work on my weaknesses of procrastination, fear, and selfishness.  As I ask for you to change those weaknesses into the strengths of focus, courage, and selflessness.  Please do that for the other addicts I share these pages with as well - turning their weaknesses into strengths.  Finally, be with the addicts that still suffer.  Through the people in their lives show them that there is another way, the path of your light, a path of love and hope.

Amen.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 87 (KJV): His foundation is in the holy mountains

From Psalms

Psalm 87
(Of the sons of Korah.  A psalm.  A song.)

¹His foundation is in the holy mountains.
²The LORD loveth the gates of Zion
      more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
³Glorious things are spoken of thee,
      O city of God.                         Selah.
⁴I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon
      to them that know me:
behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia;
      this man was born there.

⁵And of Zion it shall be said,
      This and that man was born in her:
      and the highest himself shall establish her.
⁶The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people,
      that this man was born there.            Selah.
⁷As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there:
      all my springs are in thee.

Last night I had a dream where I had a drink.  I don't have them as often as I used to when I was first sober - but I do have them once in a while.  In this case it was a beer.  It wasn't anything special - and I don't remember how much of the beer I drank in the dream.  I do remember when I ordered it I didn't entirely understand what I was getting because I was pleasantly surprised when it came and it was a half pint of a very light beer.  In my dream I could justify that it didn't impact my sobriety because it was small and light.  Kind of like the physician who initially believes that being sober means drinking without getting drunk.  In any case it these dreams show that my addictions loom in my life like a small cloud following me - thankfully though it was just a dream and my sobriety is still together.

Nevertheless, let's move on with short psalm which discusses, some say, the founding of the holy temple and Jerusalem.  The foundations of which are established on the strength of Mount Zion.  As this temple is built on a the strong foundation, a rock, so must everything be.  And so it is our sobriety and recovery needs a strong foundation.  That foundation needs to be our higher power, God.  That is why we start the 12 steps with building that relationship with God, building our faith in God, for that is the foundation of the rest of our recovery.  The personal inventory we take in step 4 and that we share in step 5 are built on this foundation.  The amends we make in step 9 are built on that foundation.

Like it is written in Luke 6:48: "He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock."  The 12 steps will create a foundation so that your sobriety and recovery cannot be shaken.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 86 (KJV):Give thy strength unto thy servant

From Psalms

Psalm 86
(A prayer of David)

¹Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me:
      for I am poor and needy.
²Preserve my soul; for I am holy:
      O thou my God, save thy servant
      that trusteth in thee.
³Be merciful unto me, O Lord:
      for I cry unto thee daily.
⁴Rejoice the soul of thy servant:
      for unto thee, O Lord,
      do I lift up my soul.

⁵For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive;
      and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
⁶Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer;
      and attend to the voice of my supplications.
⁷In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee:
      for thou wilt answer me.

⁸Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord;
      neither are there any works like unto thy works.
⁹All nations whom thou hast made
      shall come and worship before thee, O Lord;
      and shall glorify thy name.
¹⁰For thou art great, and doest wondrous things:
      thou art God alone.

¹¹Teach me thy way, O LORD;
      I will walk in thy truth:
unite my heart
      to fear thy name.
¹²I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart:
      and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
¹³For great is thy mercy toward me:
      and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

¹⁴O God, the proud are risen against me,
      and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul;
      and have not set thee before them.
¹⁵But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious,
      long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

¹⁶O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me;
      give thy strength unto thy servant,
      and save the son of thine handmaid.
¹⁷Shew me a token for good;
      that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed:
      because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

Step 2 of the 12 steps, "We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity," seems to be echoed here in Psalm 86.  In fact, it can probably be said of many psalms.  However, this seems stronger in verse 7 than most other psalms: " In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me."

This is important today since we start the season of lent tomorrow.  For this we will need to ask God for strength, control, focus, and of course sanity as we continue our journey of sobriety.  This year for Lent I journey down step 9 in making amends to those I have hurt in my addiction.  For my wife I will be doing the Love Dare. For myself I will be giving up many things, which I am expecting will making me  stronger and more focused in my sobriety.  As means of handing more control to God I am giving up caffeine, as an example.

God, as psalm 86 says, over the coming weeks of lent, teach us in your way, that we may walk in truth (verse 11).  Through the sacrifices of lent we will have days of need and possibly suffering.  In those days of need we will call on you for we know you will answer (verse 7).  O Lord, you are a God of compassion and grace (verse 15) so give strength to your servants (verse 16).  We know that you have brought us comfort (verse 17) and that you will continue to do so.  So, in this time of learning and sacrifice we will go on and glorify your name (verse 9) for all of your wonderful works (verse 10).  Amen.

Thanks for letting me share.

Psalm 85 (KJV): but let them not turn again to folly

From Psalms

Psalm 85
(For the director of music.  Of the Sons of Korah.  A psalm.)

¹Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land:
      thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
²Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people,
      thou hast covered all their sin.               Selah.
³Thou hast taken away all thy wrath:
      thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.

⁴Turn us, O God of our salvation,
      and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
⁵Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?
      wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
⁶Wilt thou not revive us again:
      that thy people may rejoice in thee?
⁷Shew us thy mercy, O LORD,
      and grant us thy salvation.

⁸I will hear what God the LORD will speak:
      for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints:
      but let them not turn again to folly.
⁹Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him;
      that glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁰Mercy and truth are met together;
      righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
¹¹Truth shall spring out of the earth;
      and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
¹²Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good;
      and our land shall yield her increase.
¹³Righteousness shall go before him;
      and shall set us in the way of his steps.

For God speaks, and if we listen, He will not let us turn again to folly.  However, sometimes the voices of earthly influences seem louder than the voice of God.  That's why it's important to pray - that's the only way for us to be close enough to God that His God will continue to guide us.

In that moment, when we are close to Him and his voice guides us, Truth shall seem to spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.  Yea, we shall receive those things abunduntly, love, joy, happiness, and peace.  Everyday we need to take time to observe that God has in fact provided these things in our lives and be grateful.

Thanks for letting me share.