The Freedom In Fear

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Our Royal Psalms take us from King David to King Jesus. David went from the anointed king on the run from King Saul, to being king over Judah (2 Samuel 2:4), to being king over “all the tribes” (2 Samuel 5:1-3; 8:15). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

David’s kingdom stretched far and wide (1 Chronicles 22:14-16; 29:10-13). This absolute control King David now wields over every nation surrounding Israel puts fear into the hearts of Israel’s enemies. Fear of David brings freedom for the people of his kingdom.

As the Sons of Korah think about this fear that brings them freedom, they look beyond their earthly king to the King of Heaven and compose this Royal Psalm recorded in Psalm 47. This psalm has majestic terminology for God in almost every verse; including, Lord Most High, great King over all the earth (vv. 2, 7, 9), God reigns over the nations; and God is seated on His holy throne. 

I’m especially intrigued by the word awesome in verse 2. The KJV says “the Lord Most High is terrible” because it does take two Hebrew words to give us the full definition of awesome. First, “Most High” is best thought of with the suffix -est: greatest, highest, noblest. In other words, there is nothing above Him. Then “terrible” is to be held in awe, to be honored, to be reverenced. 

Just as the Israelites had no fear of enemies because David was on the throne, God says the same thing to us: Because the Most High is on the throne, His people have no fear of their enemies. 

When we fear God we need not fear anything else. 

When we fear God: 

…we hate our own sin (Psalm 36:1-3) 

…we love His mercy that forgives our sin (Psalm 103:2-3, 10-12) 

…we hate sin in the world (2 Timothy 2:26) 

…we love sinners (2 Timothy 2:24-26; Acts 10:38; Jude 20-23) 

…we hate the darkness that traps people (2 Corinthians 4:4) 

…we love shining the light of King Jesus (Philippians 2:15-16) 

…we hate this life (John 12:25) 

…we love eternal life (Romans 3:23-24, 8:18)

When the people of Israel reverenced David as their king, they would be able to know his blessings. When we fear our awesome God, we will also receive His blessings. Take a look at the amazing blessings Jesus Himself—the King of kings—lists for those who reverence His awesome Kingship (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 11-12, 21)! 

God is awesome and asks us to reverence Him and then enjoy life in His freedom. 

If you have missed any of the other royal psalms we have covered, you can find the full list by clicking here. 

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The “If” Of Prospering God’s Way

Then you will prosper IF you are careful to keep and fulfill the statutes and ordinances with which the Lord charged Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage. Dread not and fear not; be not dismayed. (1 Chronicles 22:13 AMPC)

True prospering can only come through carefully doing things God’s way. “I will obey God no matter what,” is easier said than lived. This is why David tells Solomon both the virtues to cultivate and the emotions to guard against:

✅ Strong character 

✅ Steadfast courage 

🚫 Fear of man 

🚫 Fear of failure

You may also be interested in my posts How Godly Leaders Prosper and True Prosperity.

Call It To Mind And Speak It Out

[King David] appointed Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord and to celebrate by calling to mind, thanking and praising the Lord, the God of Israel: … O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known His doings among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His wondrous works and devoutly praise them! … Earnestly remember the marvelous deeds which He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He uttered as in Egypt. … Be mindful of His covenant forever, the promise which He commanded and established to a thousand generations. … Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all peoples. (1 Chronicles 16:4, 8-9, 12, 15, 24 AMPC) 

Calling to mind … meditate … earnestly remember … be mindful. All these things lead to both worship and proclamation. 

Recalling to mind all that God has done for us in the past, all that He is for us now, and all that He will do in the future gives us a song of praise. This praise is to be proclaimed among all people—both fellow worshipers and those who don’t know God as their Savior yet. 

The more we meditate on Who God is, the more we praise Him; the more we praise Him, the more compelling our testimony to the nations becomes. 

I blogged about forgetfulness leading to ingratitude in my post Forgetfulness Can Be Fatal. And I also blogged about how calling God’s goodness to mind empowers us in our spiritual battles in the post Grateful Remembering Fortifies Us Against Temptation. 

A Lost Culture Of Reverence

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

There are several psalms that are regal in their focus—talking about the King’s coronation, or the King ruling on His throne, or the ultimate victory of the King that is coming in the future. Although these royal psalms are extolling God as King, many of these psalms use King David as an object lesson. The idea is seeing how a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14) became the standard by which all other kings were measured: 

  • Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done (1 Kings 15:11) 
  • Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father David had done (2 Kings 14:3) 
  • Unlike his father, Ahaz did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, as his father David had done (2 Chronicles 28:1) 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

The people followed their king in both righteousness and evil. They were fiercely loyal to their monarch. We don’t really get that loyalty today. “We’re Americans,” we cry, “We live in the land of the free and don’t ever bow our knee to a king!” 

That’s an appropriate response for those living in a democratic republic, but we would do well to learn to bow our knee to a true King. 

After the United States Constitution was adopt adopted, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?“ Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Franklin went on to say, “In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government, but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government.” 

Because of our defiance as free people in our government, we have become lacking in our loyalty, which shows itself in a lack of proper reverence or respect. Just listen to how people talk so disrespectfully or even hatefully about those in “the other political party.” Benjamin Franklin also said, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” 

Where are the days of the armor bearer who said to Prince Jonathan, “Do all you have in mind. I’m with you heart and soul,” even though Jonathan was proposing an impossible task? Or the loyalty of the men around David who heard him sigh about the water in Bethlehem, and they put their lives at risk to bring him a drink? This was even before he was on a throne, and yet they showed their loyalty to him. I fear that our lost culture of reverence for earthly leaders has eroded our reverence for the King of kings, and vice versa. 

The first royal psalm (Psalm 2) practically open the Psalter. This psalm calls us to consider the differences between earthly kings and the King of kings.  

Notice that earthly kings “conspire”—they angrily boast and rage. They plot (v. 1b) and scheme (AMPC). They take their stand together (v. 2). 

Against Whom? Against the LORD (Jehovah) and against His Anointed One (the Messiah)! 

Much like the fiercely independent people I described us as earlier, these earthly rulers want to call their own shots—they don’t want to take directions from anyone else because they think they know best (v. 3). But notice in v. 1 that the peoples have followed their leaders in their plot. 

God doesn’t rage at them, but He laughs, He scoffs, He rebukes, and the people are terrified when they realize that they cannot overcome Him. In v. 1 we see their plots are “in vain.” 

There is nothing men can do—no matter how powerful they may seem or how many of them “take their stand…together”—to thwart or even delay the plans of Jehovah. 

All of History is His Story. Notice the phrase that God speaks, “I have … I will” (in vv. 6-7; c.f. Daniel 4:25). 

In vv. 7-9 God speaks to His Son—the Messiah, the Anointed One, the King of kings. We hear this repeated in Acts 13:32-33 and in God’s own voice in Matthew 3:17. Then we see the fulfillment of this in passages like Philippians 2:9-11 and Revelation 11:17-18. 

This royal psalm ends with an important conclusion: Therefore (vv. 10-12): 

  • Be wise 
  • Be warned 
  • Serve the King with reverential fear 
  • Rejoice with trembling  
  • Kiss the Son with absolute loyalty and joyful reverence 

Check out another “therefore” in Philippians 2:12-16. This is a call for righteous, reverent living for those who have acknowledged Jesus as their King. It’s only those who live this way who will know the blessed refuge in Him that is unshakable for ever and ever! 

Follow along with our look at all of the royal psalms by clicking here. 

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My Most Popular Bible Study Resource

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Back in 2014, I was reading through the history of the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The historical accounts of these kingdoms in both the Books of Kings and Chronicles go back-and-forth from kings in the north to kings in the south. I was having trouble keeping them all straight, so I began designing a side-by-side chart to help me. 

I had no idea that this chart would be viewed and downloaded by other Bible students literally thousands and thousands of times each year. 

You can find all of the download information for this chart by clicking here. 

A few of my other popular downloads:

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Turning Pain Into Prayer

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Last week we saw how the Israelites in exile had their time of grief—being targeted for annihilation—turned to joy when God granted favor to Queen Esther. 

The books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah are all written during this time period as the exiles are returning in waves to Israel. This is another grief-into-joy moment! More than likely, all four of these books were written by Ezra. Notice the note of joyful celebration that is repeated in the last words of 2 Chronicles and the opening words in the Book of Ezra (2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4). We don’t know which psalmist wrote Psalm 126, but it sounds the same joyful note. 

(Please check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

Not all the exiles returned at once. In fact, the Book of Daniel shows us that Daniel likely stayed in his position of leadership to these governments until his death. 

The exiles were returning in waves. As the worship practices at the temple were reestablished and as people returned to lands allotted to each tribe, it was important for the leaders to make sure the right people were in the right places. So 1 Chronicles opens with genealogies. 

  • Beginning with Adam and Noah (1:1-4) 
  • The spiritual fathers (1:34) 
  • The family line of the Messiah (2:1-15; Matthew 1:1-6) through the family tree of David (3:1-24) 

Then 1 Chronicles 4 lists more clans in the tribe of Judah. Of special note is the Calebite clan (2:9, 18). 

In the Calebite clan we meet Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10. His name literally translated is sorrow. I wonder: is this a nickname or his birth name? how did he even get this name? 

His mother is quoted, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Did that mean it was physically a difficult birth? Did she die after childbirth? Was he born during the painful exile? His father isn’t mentioned, so maybe his birth reminded everyone of the father who was no longer there. The Amplified Bible says his mother named him “sorrow maker.” 

Whatever the case, Jabez has become aware that his name or his presence is causing grief to others. There is a bit of a play on words here: “his mother named (Hebrew: qara) … Jabez cried out (Hebrew: qara) to the God of Israel.” In essence, Jabez is saying, “Since my mother cried out in pain—or thinks I am a sorrow maker—I have no where else to go but to cry out to God!” 

I believe Jabez was a teenager at this time. One medical journal says, “Adolescents are physically, cognitively, and socioemotionally more advanced than children but prone to behave in ways that are inconsistent with adult values and norms. … Adolescents also frequently report greater self-consciousness, and are more concerned with and interested in others’ perceptions of self.” 

This means that as the brain matures during adolescence, teenagers begin to look at themselves through the eyes of others. They are beginning to make decisions that will earn approval from their peers and their family. 

This describes Jabez. He doesn’t want to be the sorrow maker any longer. 

Grief happens when my reality falls short of my expectations. Jabez has become self-aware that he is a painful reminder to everyone around him. He is living in a place of grief

Jabez is called “more honorable than his brothers” (v. 9) because he turns his pain into his prayer. His brothers may either have not been as self-aware, or maybe they were aware but simply didn’t care. Jabez realized, “People have been calling me sorrow maker my whole life. There’s nothing I can do about it on my own, so the only thing I can do is call on the only One who can turn my grief into joy” (v. 10). 

Look at his noble prayer:

  • bless me—God, You are the only One whose favor I desire 
  • enlarge my territory—even out of this grief, bless me so that I can be a blessing  
  • let Your hand be with me—only Your hand can restore my fortunes, can help me reap a harvest, and can allow me to sing Your songs of joy (see Psalm 126:1-6). 

Let us follow this example from Jabez’s life and begin to turn every pain into prayer. 

God doesn’t want to give us temporary relief from our pain, but He desires for us to know His never-ending joy (Isaiah 25:7-9; Revelation 21:3-4). 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in this series Grief Into Joy, you can find them all here. 

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Gratitude That Reverberates Through The Ages

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Last week we learned how our gratitude helps strengthen other saints. I mentioned that one of the saints that may be helped is yourself. Like when King David took care of Mephibosheth “for the sake of your father Jonathan” (2 Samuel 9:7). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

But this isn’t quid quo pro—we aren’t grateful people just so we can get something back for ourselves. We should be grateful people because…

(1) …God is good all the time and so we should be thankful to Him continually—1 Thessalonians 5:18

(2) …Jesus was grateful—1 Peter 2:23; Hebrews 12:2 

(3) …God blesses thankful people—1 Peter 3:9; Luke 6:33 

(4) …your thankfulness can benefit people you haven’t even met!  

Near the end of his life, David wrote a hymn of thanksgiving, which he taught to Asaph (his worship leader) who then taught it to all the citizens (1 Chronicles 16:7-35). Throughout this song, notice how many times David sang about not only giving thanks but sharing our thankfulness with those around us. 

In difficult times, people search for what delivered others in the past. A good example is Psalm 106, where the psalmist warns his readers about the dangers of forgetting to be thankful for God’s blessings. This psalm begins and ends with words taken right from David’s hymn of thanksgiving as an added reminder of what our gratitude should sound like (see vv. 1, 47-48).

One hundred years after David wrote this song, King Asa needed to look back to it. His father Abijah had been evil throughout his reign as king, so had his grandfather Rehoboam. His great-grandfather Solomon started off well, but turned away from God near the end of his life. So Asa looked all the way back to the thankful heart of his great-great grandfather David (1 Kings 15:11). 

Jehoshaphat needed this same song 100 years after Asa (200 years after David wrote it) in 2 Chronicles 20. Enemies had surrounded Judah and Jehoshaphat called the people to prayer. Jahaziel, a direct descendant of David’s worship leader Asaph, calls the people to trust God to fight the battle for them. As the army marches out the next morning, they put the worship team at the front who sang David’s 200-year-old song of thanksgiving and God used that to ambush their enemies! 

Your lifestyle of gratitude today—your songs of thanksgiving—could be a blessing to future generations that haven’t even been born yet! 

We would do well to learn the lessons of the past and make sure we are always quickly turning our grumbling into a song of thankfulness. 

As you do, you are… 

  • Emulating the lifestyle of Jesus 
  • Banking up blessings from God 
  • Ambushing the enemy 
  • Bringing a testimony to non-believers 
  • Establishing a standard for future generations 

We bless God and bless others by employing two words: BE THANKFUL! 

If you’ve missed any of the messages in our Be Thankful series, you can find them all here. 

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Blessing The Blesser

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We’ve made it to the top step after a long climb. We’ve arrived! But arrived for what? Not for taking it easy, but for serving.  

Jesus was at the top, and consider what He did with that position:

  • He laid aside His prerogatives as God to serve us—Philippians 2:6-8 
  • He demonstrated this by becoming a servant of the servants—John 13:3-5 
  • He said, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as One who serves.” (Luke 22:27) 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

We strive for the top not to be served, but to serve. This is why the final Song of Ascent addresses those at the top as “servants of the Lord” (Psalm 134:1). 

The first duty of the servants is to praise (2x in vv. 1, 2). The KJV actually renders this word “bless,” which I believe is a good way for us to think about this. The word means: 

  1. praise God with a reverential mind and 
  2. celebrate God on bended knee 

In other words, both our heart and our body need to be in a posture of a praising servant. In the Septuagint, the word used for praise / bless is eulogeo, which means to say good words. In putting the two parts of the definition together, it mean we aren’t grumbling about our service (like “I have to do this”), but we are thankfully and worshipfully serving (as in “I get to do this!”). 

These servants are called to “minister…in the house of the Lord [and] in the sanctuary” (134:1-2), just as the priests in the tabernacle (1 Chronicles 9:33; Leviticus 6:13; 24:2, 4). 

This blessing and serving is itself a blessing which unlocks even more blessing. The final words of the final Song of Ascent is a prayer request (notice the word “may” in v. 3). 

The word bless in this final is the same word translated praise in vv. 1-2, except here the form of the verb means “to be shown divine favor”! 

We don’t get blessed by God because we have blessed God, but we bless God because He has already blessed us. I don’t command His blessing, but I bless Him in recognition of the blessing that continually flows from Him to me. 

To word minister as in v. 1 means to: 

  • endure all hardships 
  • continue until the task is done 
  • cause or help others to stand too 

God loves to bless people who love to bless people! 

As long as we’re here, keep blessing and serving others as your act of worship to God. Say good words to people about God and say good words to God about people. Lift up your hands, fall on your knees, sing out loud, or worship quietly in your heart. But keep on serving like Jesus. All of this blesses God. 

Your final and eternal reward in the Heavenly Zion is coming and it is beyond compare—

It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them watching when He comes. Truly I tell you, He will dress Himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them ready, even if He comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. (Luke 12:37-38) 

In blessing others, we are blessing the God who has already blessed us and who longs to bless us for all of eternity! 

If you’ve missed any of the messages looking at the fifteen Songs of Ascent, you can find them all here. 

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Don’t Stumble In The Homestretch

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

We’re up to Psalm 131. After this step, only three more steps to go until we reach the top! We’re almost there. We started in a dark valley surrounded by enemies that wanted to keep us in the valley, but we persevered, we matured, and now the end it almost in sight! 

Notice that David wrote this Song of Ascent, and I think he may have had a particular instance from his history in mind when he did. 

(Check out all of the verses in this post by clicking here.)

At the height of David’s success, the Bible says that, “David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and that his kingdom had been highly exalted for the sake of His people Israel” (1 Chronicles 14:2). So David used his position to do something very noble: return the ark of the covenant of the Lord to Jerusalem. This was a popular decision that “seemed right to all the people” (13:3). 

But it turned out disastrously! 

One of the priests overseeing the transportation of the ark of the covenant was killed, and as a result David became angry at God and fearful of Him. 

After a cooling off time, David humbled himself. He admitted that he hadn’t “inquired of the Lord” before undertaking this task and then he looked to the Scriptures to find out how to move the ark the correct way (15:12-15). 

It’s quite possible David had this incident in mind when he wrote the Song of Ascent for people coming to worship God in the temple where the ark of the covenant of the Lord would be housed. 

The opening words sound the tone of humility—“my heart is not proud” and “my eyes are not haughty.” I think in the context of this opening verse of Psalm 131, pride can be defined as:

  1. trying to handle things on my own 
  2. concerning myself with things outside my control 

That means that humility is trusting that God is in total control. 

Verse 2 starts with an important word: But. Instead of the fretting of pride, David chooses the trusting of childlike humility. David says that he has “stilled and quieted my soul.” He has chosen childlike humility. 

This is exactly what Jesus told us: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). 

Just look at the differences between childlike and childish! 

The consistent message throughout Scripture—from Creation in Genesis 1 until the realization of our eternal reward in Heaven in Revelation 22—is childlike trust in our Heavenly Father. 

We can trust God to handle…

  • …every care—1 Peter 5:7 
  • …every step—Proverbs 3:5-6 
  • …every reward—Luke 12:32 

Don’t let pride cause you to stumble in the homestretch. The closer we get to the end of the journey, the more childlike we should become. 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages on the Songs of Ascent, you can find them all here. 

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A Leadership Biography: Heman

The psalmist Heman is the grandson of Samuel. “These are the ones who served with their sons: From the sons of the Kohathites were Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel, the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah” (1 Chronicles 6:33-34; 1 Samuel 1:1, 20). 

Samuel came from the line of Levites (specifically the Kohathites), which is the same family to which Moses, Aaron, and Miriam belonged. While the tabernacle of the Lord was mobile in the wilderness, the Kohathites were responsible for carrying the furnishings of the tabernacle (Numbers 4:4-20).

When the permanent temple was constructed in Jerusalem, the responsibility of the Kohathites changed. They now oversaw the worship in the temple, and Heman is listed as the chief worship leader, with others to his right and left. “Heman’s brother Asaph stood at his right hand, Asaph the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea. … On the left hand were their kinsmen the sons of Merari: Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch” (1 Chronicles 6:39, 44). 

And then we see Heman’s family line continuing in the roles of worship leaders after him: ”All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer to exalt him according to the words of God, for God gave fourteen sons and three daughters to Heman. All of these were under the direction of their father to sing in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the direction of the king. Their number who were trained in singing to the Lord, with their relatives, all who were skillful, was 288“ (1 Chronicles 25:5-7). 

The Book of Psalms contains just one psalm that Heman composed (Psalm 88). 

(You can read all of the biblical references I listed in this biography here.)