April 30 – May 6 Daily Meditations in the Psalms
April 30
Psalms 36:6, 12
6.
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great
deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.
12.
There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall
not be able to rise.
We must go to the Bible to
learn the two most fatal consequences for sin: a) The Lake of Fire – an
eternity of unspeakable, undying torment, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. Here is a destiny of darkness, without the faintest ray of
light or hope, into which God will cast billions of unredeemed sinners, to be
forever separated from His presence and future world. Their sin will never
again bring its filthy stench to God’s holy nostrils. b) The Cross of Christ –
the deepest judgment of all. A revelation of the cross has brought salvation to
hundreds of thousands, as the full impact of the sacrifice of the Son of God
crushes the soul. When I see Heaven’s jewel, Heaven’s sweetest joy, separated
from His beloved Father, under the smiting fury of the full wrath of God, for
and because of my sin, that will break me once and for all from my blindness to
the awfulness of my sinful state.
“I saw one
hanging on a tree, in agony and blood
Who fixed His
languid eyes on me, as near the cross I stood
Sure, never till
my latest breath, can I forget that look
It seemed to
charge me with His death, tho’ not a word He spoke
Alas! I knew not what I did-but now my tears are vain
Where shall my trembling soul be hid, for I the Lord have slain.”
So wrote the blood-washed slave trader,
who also penned, “Amazing grace, how
sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”
May 1
Psalms 36:6-7
6.
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great
deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.
7.
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of
men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
Blessed be the deep and
righteous judgments of God that rid mankind of the stinking, soul-corrupting,
demon-exalting plague called sin. Blessed be the man, in this humanistic 21st
century, who sees himself as a wretch
and a worm. Blessed be the Elijahs of
God, whose eyes are stamped with eternity, who pray down temporal judgments
that the soul may be saved in the day of the Lord’s wrath.
Blessed be God forever, whose
lovingkindness is better than life. “How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O
God.” A fuller revelation of His righteousness and judgments makes for a
greater appreciation of His lovingkindness, when light floods the soul. How the
One, Who is so uncompromisingly pure and right in all His ways, should find a
means by which to manifest His love to a fallen, rebellious creation is
expressed by Paul – “Oh, the depths of
the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His
judgments and His ways past finding out!” It began when we were a race of
helpless, godless enemies. Into our murderous hands, He delivered His Son, Who
paid the supreme price for those, who rejected and killed Him.
May 2
Psalms 36:7
7.
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of
men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
With only opposition offered from mankind,
God raised His Son from the dead and received Him on high “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.” God, in the
Holy Spirit, begins the first work of grace in individual hearts, by exposing
their mutinous, selfish state. Sin and God are forever incompatible and God
will work in lovingkindness to separate the sinner from his sin, that He might
draw near to him. God continues His work in His born-again sons and daughters,
even if it means the cost of their lives – “for
this cause...many sleep. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord,
that we should not be condemned with the world,” Paul said. You see, His
lovingkindness is greater than our earthly health or lives and extends beyond
earthly existence.
May 3
Psalms 36:9
9.
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Life and light begin with the revelation
of sin and the exposure of the sinner. The light continues to shine, boring
into every crevice and crack of the believer’s personality. The preacher of
righteousness, as David, needs the light, so that his life may correspond with
his words and give him understanding and skill in dealing with his fellow man.
The light also shines from earth heavenward, to uncover for the penitent, the
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Hypocrites have an aversion to the
discovery of their negative aspects and cannot fathom a God, who creates evil
(calamity) as well as good (Job 2:10, Isaiah 45:7). They only want to look at
the positive side of life. They do
find paradise’s pearls attractive, but they have no good use for them and will
trample them into the slime of twisted thinking. Then, they turn upon the
bearer, as Cain upon Abel and Saul on David. However, should there still be a
desire for a change of nature and a willingness to surrender to the army of
heaven, the light of God will shine to transform them into sincere saints.
May 4
Psalms 36:7-9
7.
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of
men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
8.
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and
thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
9.
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
May God give us light to see the heritage
of the conquered ones, those who have lost the battle and have been overcome by
the Captain of Salvation. They have signed a peace treaty and have agreed to be
love’s bond-slaves. They put their trust under the shadow of His wings (verse
7). From there, they are led captive to the celestial city and at this point,
earth’s terms and language become inadequate. The translation of heaven’s glory
to earth’s tongues is an impossible task and it will take an eternity for our
finite minds to grasp the splendors that are common there.
“They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness
of thy house.” The seers of scripture struggle with adjectives, adverbs, and
prepositional phrases to describe what their spirits have seen and only spirits
can comprehend. Moses had the children of Israel empty their coffers to supply
material covered with gold, silver, and brilliant colors in an attempt to
illustrate the temple in heaven, but it fell ingloriously short. Solomon built
Him a house, when gold was as silver and silver as common metal, one of the
wonders of the world, but it was no wonder at all to heaven. In the Revelation,
a door was opened to John into the heavenlies and blessed is he, who pores over
its pages in quest of light from above. It is the worthiest of quests, for
therein is the Fountain of Life.
May 5
Psalms 36:8-9
8.
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and
thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
9.
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly.” Even in the natural sense, there is nothing on earth more
coveted than life. Our abundance of doctors, hospitals, laboratories,
insurance, emergency equipment and safety precautions all attest to it. Men try
to prolong, explain and create life, but apparently even earth’s life is a
mystery to all, but its Creator. However, Jesus was speaking of something
beyond this life, which He was introducing through a new creation. He affirmed
he would give it abundantly. The King James translators found “abundantly” inadequate
and added “more”.
Paul spoke of God’s inheritance in the
saints (Ephesians 1:18), desiring that the eyes of our understanding be
enlightened to see it – and what a sight to see! Men work their fingers to the
bone, in order to travel far and wide to see His inheritance on earth. It is
worth meditating day and night to examine the riches, about which Paul wrote.
Peter said prophets and angels desire to look into them. Jesus added kings to
the number. It must then be astounding to behold! Paul tells us that the
inheritance exudes a glory – that is, a glow of indefinable quality. It
portrays to us something in God’s realm that is extremely desirable, which the
Holy Spirit wants us to discover.
May 6
Psalms 36:8
8.
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and
thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
I proceed to a similar
passage of scripture. In Ephesians 3:20, Paul tells us that God is able to go
beyond our words and thoughts in answering prayer. Our finite minds and
stumbling words are very limited in their expression. Thank God, He will take
us above our human limitations, yet to say that God is able to do above what we ask or think was not
enough for Paul. He uses the word that we find in our Psalm - abundantly. God will not only go beyond
our desires, but He will pour it down in cloudburst fashion, as the sands of
the sea and stars of the sky. Still, that is not enough. Paul adds the word, exceedingly. Thinking about what kind of
abundance exceeding abundance might
be, boggles my mind and touches the infinite. What kind of joy is “joy
unspeakable and full of glory”? What kind of love is that which passes
knowledge? All of these are attempts to portray something, which cannot be
portrayed without heavenly insight.
In our text, the Psalmist
speaks of a privileged people who are “abundantly satisfied.” We would think it
enough to be satisfied. The entire world looks for fulfillment, another word
for satisfaction, but, in a Mexican proverb, “The rich man is satisfied with a
little more.” Women are leaving homes and children, thinking that careers and
jobs will give them fulfillment. Anyone who professes Christ and is an heir to
“abundant satisfaction” should not have to leave home to find it. We need to be
sure that our source is Christ and not the world. Disciples are to look to
their Teacher.
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