Not because it is a command or because it is next in the order of service. It is something much deeper.
Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
— Psalm 51:14–15
MUSIC UNLOCKS THE HEART
There is something about singing that allows what is deep within the heart to come out a bit more easily. Things we may not say out loud with normal speech flows supported by a tune. Maybe this is why there are so many “love songs.”
Music helps unlock the heart.
The many Psalms David wrote cover the waterfront of emotion, from lament and sorrow to thanksgiving and praise. He is not afraid to ask honest but unanswered questions in song. Sometimes, he expresses trust in the darkness. Fear, hope, peace, joy, sadness, grief, anxiety, faith, hope, and love. …
If so, what should you teach them about God?
“Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.” — Psalm 51:13
A TURNING POINT
One of the secrets to the success of Alcoholics Anonymous is how someone who have been helped is encouraged to help someone else as a sponsor. Sponsors walk fellow alcoholics through the twelve steps of recovery, enabling them to discover and enjoy a new life of sobriety, free from the enslaving grip of addiction. Hands down, recovering alcoholics will tell you the sober life is the better life by far.
In Psalm 51:13, David is taking on the role of sponsor. He’s been at rock bottom and has personally experienced the…
Understanding the biblical concept of the scapegoat will help.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. — Psalm 51:11–12
PRESENCE AND POWER
David’s petition in Psalm 51:11–12 has caused some confusion among biblical scholars. Is David saying it is possible to lose the Spirit in the sense of losing one’s salvation? Is being cast from God’s presence the fear of condemnation? The short answers are no and no.
If you have ever fallen into grievous sin that weighed upon your soul like a massive boulder threatening to crush you to death, then you understand what he is feeling. David knew that the Lord would be faithful to forgive all his sin. He has made this abundantly clear in the previous verses of…
We will welcome scars for Jesus because he welcomed them for us.
THE SUMMER OF ‘89
I spent a couple of months in the summer of ’89 taking language classes in Europe. Several other students joined me a few days early to do some sightseeing. As we walked down a crowded street, several locals began pointing at us and saying words I didn’t understand.
It was an awkward moment, to say the least. And it got worse. When we passed by, they spit on us and berated us in unfriendly tones. One of the girls in our group knew the language and was able to translate. They were cursing us for being from the U.S.
The…
And is the only way to “walk in the ways of the Lord” with a motive not driven by guilt, fear, or self-righteous pride.
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” — Psalm 51:10
In his Psalm of repentance, David teaches us a lesson about humanity that defies everything man-made religion assumes. Man-made religion is inherently moralistic. Meaning that rightness, reconciliation, and peace with God is determined by the degree to which I purify myself from human corruption.
The ancient Egyptians believed that when a person died, his heart was weighed on a scale by the god of the underworld, Osiris. On one side of the scale was a feather. If the individual’s heart was pure, it would be lighter than the feather, allowing the soul to pass on to eternal blessing in the…
How forgiveness goes wrong and what we can do to fix it.
Actions vs Words
“Burying the hatchet” is a helpful image of forgiveness.
I imagine a Sioux Indian chief and a Colonel in the U.S. Cavalry meeting upon a hill on the southern plains. The Native American wielding his tomahawk and the officer, his pistol. Both parties represent warring factions that have been inflicting wounds upon the other for years.
But the moment has come for peace.
This is why the ceremony upon the hill would be such a critical factor in the process. After all, simply shouting I forgive you across the valley would accomplish little. Words easily spoken tend to be cheap…
Doing so just might change the world… or at least your marriage and maybe even your kids. All it takes is resting in someone else’s rightness.
A Stunning Admission
In his book, The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins relates a story from when he was an undergraduate at Oxford. While I do not embrace Dawkin’s atheistic assertions, the anecdote is profoundly instructive for believers, particularly with regard to how Christians may reach the seemingly unreachable with the gospel.
Here is the story.
A visiting lecturer from the States arrived in England to give a talk on the Golgi apparatus, a microscopic organelle found in plant and animal cells. An elderly member of the Zoology Department at Oxford University, who had asserted for many years that the Golgi apparatus was a…
The short answer is yes. Here is why.
WANNA GET AWAY?
Southwest Airlines has a brilliant marketing department. In 1998, they debuted a line of television ads that focused on folks caught in an awkward blunder. The ads were so popular the spots ran for ten years. In 2016, they finally were brought back. Thank you, Southwest!
One of the early commercials featured a houseguest snooping through her host’s bathroom medicine cabinet only to have the shelves collapse with a huge crash. Another shows a touring pop musician call out to the crowd after a raucous sing-along, “Thank you, Detroit! We love you!”…
Maybe my love is lukewarm for him because I assume his love is lukewarm for me.
A QUESTION
There is a lake in the northern part of our county where I enjoy walking. Surrounded by mountains, it is a beautiful place to slow down, pray, listen, and just be. This past week on my first lap around the one-mile loop, I question entered my mind that stopped me in my tracks on the trail.
“Do I love Jesus?” Not, do I know a lot about Jesus or do I preach about Jesus? But do I love Jesus?
Silly question, right? I am a pastor. Of course, I love Jesus.
But how do I know that I love him…
I learned a huge lesson about editing as a critical element in writing.
In the publishing world, there are writers and editors. Rarely are these the same person. Authors crafts words. Editors polish those words for readability and grammatical correctness. In my case, an editor also would need an eye for theological correctness.
This week’s writing lesson centers on my need to create an editorial process before releasing words to the world. What if I had funds one day to hire an editor? What a dream!
Until then, I am my own editor. He has made a bunch of mistakes so far, and I have a mind to fire him. …
Dr. McKay Caston
I write daily posts on the gospel for folks who are tired of moralistic religion and thirst for the scandalous grace of Jesus — www.restfortheweary.net.
