Psalm 37: 14-15 Draw your Sword for the Lord

The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. 

But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.

Psalm 37:14-15

As someone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, what makes you angry enough to want to draw your sword and bend your bow? 

• Millions of unborn children whose lives are ended through abortion? Millions of children whose lives are oppressed by generational poverty and government programs that keep them there?
  
  
• The misuse of God's name through curse words? The misuse of God's name by people who claim to speak for God but don't pursue God's purposes?
  
  
• Discords, factions, and truth-bending? Even more so when it's Christians who are arguing among themselves and bending the truth to suit themselves?
  
  
• Selective indignation at certain sins, and passive acceptance of other sins?

It's important to remember we're fighting God's battle, not our own, and we're fighting with God's weapons, not the weapons of the world.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

As a soldier for the Lord, what are the weapons you're tempted to rely on instead of the Sword of the Lord, the Word of God?

• Legalistic emphasis on the laws of the Bible, unbalanced by love and grace?
  
  
• Pursuit of power through politics, privilege, or the purse-string?
  
  
• Leading with anger and condemnation instead of love? Confrontation instead of Care-frontation?

It's so easy to allow our anger be sparked by our personal obsessions, to let our zeal be directed by the ways of the world.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. II Corinthians 10:3-4

...in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left... II Corinthians 5:6-7

Psalm 37:12-13 Laugh with the Lord

I love the limited TV series, The Chosen. It's a dramatized telling of the life of Jesus and his followers. If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it.

One of the best features of the show is its portrayal of Jesus' sense of humor. I've always pictured Jesus and his disciples as being much like any close knit group of guys, including a fair amount of friendly joshing and laughing. That's exactly the way they're portrayed in the Chosen. 

Most men pick up their sense of humor, for better or worse, from their fathers. Dad jokes get passed along from generation to generation, exasperating wives and children. I was perpetually perplexed by my own dad's favorite joke ("What's the difference between a duck?"), but I faithfully passed it along to my own boys. Mercifully, I think the legacy stopped there.

It should be natural for us to imitate our heavenly Father's sense of humor. The more my heart becomes like God's heart, the more I'll laugh at the same things he laughs at.

By the same logic, the less my heart is aligned with the Father's, the less I'll be able to laugh at the sort of things - and people - he laughs at.

The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;
but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.
Psalm 37:12-13

Beginning at this point in Psalm 37, David shifts toward describing the way the wicked people of the world react to disagreements and conflicts, and contrasting that with the way righteous people ought to approach those situations.

He begins with a comparison that prompts this question:

Why do so many Christians get so worked up about the goings on of governments and political leaders and the results of elections?

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,  “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”   

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. (Psalm 2:1-4)

If God thinks so little of them, why do we get so worked up about them?

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ (Luke 4:5-8)

Notice, Jesus doesn't dispute Satan's claim to having been given all the authority of nations and the rulers of nations.

It's an interesting claim, especially considering the logical next question: If that authority has been given to Satan, who gave it to him? There's really only one logical answer to that question.

God thinks so little of the power of nations and rulers, he's delegated that insignificant part of the world to Satan.

Let Satan have the politics. God and His people have the gospel.

Looked at that way, Jesus' reply to Satan could be read as having a double meaning.

• No, Satan, I won't worship you. As the Son, I will only worship the Lord my God and serve him only."
• Anyone who worships the Lord and serves him should be careful to not elevate concerns about the nations and rulers and all their authority (i.e., politics) above concerns about glorifying God and sharing the gospel.

Go ahead, have and share political opinions. Every Christian is free to be involved in politics and government. Every Christian is free to hold opinions (although nowhere in the Bible are we told we have to have an opinion on every topic, nor are we ever commanded to share what we think about every topic).

But keep such things in perspective. God has given the kingdoms and the kingdom authorities over to Satan. Followers of Jesus should make the same choice He did: worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.

Psalm 37:10-11 Be Meek for the Lord

A little while, and the wicked will be no more;

 though you look for them, they will not be found. 

But the meek will inherit the land

 and enjoy peace and prosperity.

Psalm 37:10-11

My favorite novel is Monte Walsh, by Jack Schaefer. There are other books I've read more than once, but none of them as often as Monte Walsh. I have two copies of the book, both paperback. One is so worn from re-reading that the cover and pages feel like soft cotton. On the inside of the back cover I've noted the month and year of each time I've re-read the book. I actually read the book a few times before I started keeping track, and I've read it a couple of times since then, using a newer edition I bought.

The opening line: 

A boy and a horse.

That pretty much summarizes the plot. Monte Walsh, who begins the novel as a young boy and concludes it as an older man, becomes one of the best cowboys ever at handling horses.

There are several times in the tale where Monte tops a wild bronc and hangs on through a rough and dangerous ride, eventually calming the horse. I hesitate to say he "tames" horses, because the ideal horse, in the mind of any good cowboy, is one that has been trained to follow the rider's wishes, but retains the energy and personality of a wild horse.

In one story, Monte, as an old vagabond cowhand, is working with a rough crew, for a mean boss.  As they're gathering cattle, a neighboring farmer arrives and says he can't find his milk cow.  He wants to know if they could remove the milk cow from the herd of longhorns. 

The boss rudely refuses, saying he has no intention of stirring up the cattle by sending cowboys into their midst to search for one milk cow. Monte Walsh offers to do it, and promises he and his veteran horse won't disturb the cattle. The younger cowboys laugh at the old man and at his boasts about his old worn down horse.

Monte tells them his horse can do it even without a rider, which brings even more laughter. But once the farmer gives the horse a whiff of the milk cow's bridle, Monte sends the horse in. The old horse smoothly winds his way through the herd, locates the cow, and gently but insistently nudges the nervous cow through the longhorns and back out to the edge. The herd was barely disturbed.

That same horse, whenever Monte first climbs aboard each morning, goes into a fit of bucking and kicking and trying to unseat the cowboy. It's not quite as wild as when they were both younger, but both Monte and the horse enjoy the exercise.

The word translated as meekness in scriptures is a word used to describe a wild horse that has been tamed just enough to be subservient and loyal to its master, but still retaining a healthy dose of wild energy. 

If we put our energy into fighting what we see as evil in our country, we might have some successes. We also might give in to the worst of our wild nature, stirring up troubles and alienating the very people the Master wants us to be winnowing out from the crowd and reuniting with the Master.  

Much of 21st century church culture urges God's people toward arguing, debating, fighting, and pushing for our rights. But just imagine the victories we could win if we continually put our efforts and energy into whatever the Lord sets us to doing. 

Psalm 37:9 Hope in the Lord

The apostle Peter wrote to the church in Rome at a time of hopelessness. A realistic analysis of the likelihood for the survival of the Church in the heart of the Roman Empire would have concluded there was little or no chance.

And yet Peter talks to them about hope. 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. I Peter 1:3-5

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. I Peter 1:13

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.I Peter 1:21

For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. Peter 3:5-6

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. I Peter 3:15-16

The kind of hope that changes lives, that can be seen in the daily actions of people - that version of hope is our best tool for drawing people to faith in Christ. A daily life that turns hope into real world action is what will prepare you to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that you have.

They won't ask if they don't see hope not only in the words you speak but in the places you go, the people you help, the sacrifices you make for others, and your refusal to compromise your priorities.

Why has China been ground zero for the growth of the church in the past few decades? By all logic, the church should have died under the oppression of the totalitarian, communist, atheist government. Instead the believers who expressed their hope actively ain hundreds of house churches.

How will the church in America survive or thrive in the face of a nearly overwhelming secular cultural that trivializes and marginalizes Christianity? 

It won't because we put our hope in rallies and protests. It won't because we put our hope in the memes and shared posts or tweets that hammer home a version of righteousness in unrighteous ways.

It won't be because we put our hope in candidates or in politicians, those people who know how to manipulate us because they can see clearly that our hope is not in God, but in causes and laws. Rather than asking us the reason for the hope they see in us, they callously manipulate our misplaced hopes. And we willingly sell our inheritance of righteous to any unrighteous huckster who promises to vote the right way.

And the world observes our actions and rightly pinpoints the empty promises and soul-less politicians in whom we've placed our every hope.

We've let ourselves believe that our best hope for reclaiming America as a Christian nation is by putting our hope in a certain brand of politics. But this hope will fail us. This path will destroy us. 

For those who are evil will be destroyed, 

but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

Psalm 37:9