Save Me

Psalm 54:1,7  Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might. . . . For he has delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.

I need to remember that help is there the moment I ask for it.

I find it interesting that at the beginning of this Psalm, David is crying out for help, and at the end he is speaking in the past tense that he has been delivered.  The heading of the psalm gives some background.  I read the story of what happened, and I don't see any immediate deliverance of David from his troubles. This leads me to think in different terms.  David was accepting the fact that God will deliver him, maybe not immediately, but ultimately.  I need to remember that fact when I am in trouble, and in whatever form that trouble may come.

Sure, I may sometimes be in trouble like David was, where my physical life is in danger, but I most of the time I am in spiritual danger.  My biggest enemy in this case is the person I see in the mirror, and I need to not only ask for deliverance, but believe that I will ultimately be delivered.

Thank you Lord for saving me from myself.

The Stupidity of Sin

Psalm 53:4 Will the evildoers never learn—those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on God?

The text for today reminds me of a simple fact, sin makes you stupid.

One of the definitions of the word stupid in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is:  

given to unintelligent decisions or acts : acting in an unintelligent or careless manner

I won't go into any details, but I can certainly think of times where sin has caused me to act in "an unintelligent or careless manner".  I think a basic reason for this is that sin, even so-called "little sins", dulls the voice of our conscience, i.e. the Holy Spirit.  Without His guidance, we are basically destined to act stupidly, and the longer we go without listening to His voice, the stupider we become.

Thank you Holy Spirit for helping us avoid the stupidity of sin.

Pointing the Other Way

Psalm 52:7 "Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!"

My reading of the Bible has truly taken a turn for the better from the practice of looking how each Bible passage applies to my life instead of applying it to other people.  This is a passage where I had to make a conscious effort to do just that.

It would be very easy to read this passage and apply it to somebody else because I can think of many other people I could apply it to.  Wall Street bankers are the first that come to mind, esp. since they were prominently featured in recent news articles, or even people that run oil companies like the one responsible for that giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The more challenging way to read this passage is to apply it to myself.

While I don't have great wealth, I can trust in the little wealth that I have instead of trusting in God.  I can also attempt to grow strong, to reach a higher level, by speaking evil (possibly destroying the reputation) of other people.

So yes, this verse could definitely apply to these other people, but that doesn't help my spiritual growth.  The only way the Bible will help me grow is if I point the finger the other way.