Pastor’s Blog
Unknown Territory: Psalm 139:9-10
What place on this planet seems the most foreign to you? Would you be most out of place in the big city or out in the solitude of the mountains, forests, or deserts of the world?
Psalm 139:9-10 says, “If I take the wings of the morning” —that means going east— “and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me” (ESV).
Conscience: Psalm 103:13-14
Thank God for the conscience! It's like the moral pain center. Without the experience of pain, which no one likes, we'd get hurt worse and worse. The saying in the gym is, "If it hurts, stop." And without the conscience, we'd go deeper and deeper into sin until consequences became irrevocable.
Honesty: Psalms 57 & 142
In order to escape King Saul's jealous, murderous rage, David, though innocent, had to run for his life. He soon found himself a wanderer, a nomad, looking for any safe place that might provide protection for a little while. During that time, he found a cave to live in, and he wrote two psalms while living there. Psalm 57 is very hopeful. Psalm 142 is discouraged, fighting for hope.
No Lack: Psalm 23:1
God claims to be a shepherd. He designed sheep in his creation to be looked after by a human being. Nobody has said, "You know, God is kinda like a shepherd," hoping their analogy is pretty accurate. Rather, God himself has said, "What you see in a good shepherd doing his job, see that in me."
And it's a metaphor of course. We don't need green pastures or still waters or a comforting rod and staff. Rather, we need things like those, the providence and protection that a shepherd provides. God metaphorically leads us to green pastures and peaceful waters, metaphorically directs us through gloomy dark valleys inhabited by jackals and wolves.