Devotions with Ray

Ps 68:19 ​​​​​​​​Blessed be the Lord, ​​​​​​​who daily bears us up; ​​​​​​​God is our salvation. 

God is doing thing way beyond our imagination.

God is bearing us up daily! Think about that. We thought we have everything in control and we can therefore live the life we choose, little do we realize that we are being bear up by God. This word “bear” means borne a load.

A similar verse from Exodus reads as:

Exo 19:4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

The sense of movement is very strong, God is not just bearing us up like we would be holding a baby, but with eagle’s wings, he is transporting us to a new horizon: to His presence.

Ps 67:1-2    ​​​​​​​​May God be gracious to us and bless us ​​​​​​​
and make his face to shine upon us,  
​​​​​​​​that your way may be known on earth, ​​​​​​​
your saving power among all nations. ​​​

Christians should be the true witnesses of God, yes, through the lives of believers, every one should be able to see God’s grace and God’s presence.

How should we live then, so that when people come to contact with us, that they can know God’s way and His saving power? How do you understand the “blessings” of God?

1. Blessing is not for our own benefits nor enjoyment.
2. Blessing is not restricted to physical welfare,
3. “Make his face to shine” — enlightenment comes from God’s presence, this is spiritual blessing.

If we understand that God’s saving power is to save and redeem us from sin, should we not be a NEW person — a spiritual person? That our lives should be obviously different from those that are still living in sins?

May God be gracious to us and bless us indeed.

Ps 66:5 ​​​​​​​​    Come and see what God has done:
​​​​​​​he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. ​​​

If we have one message to everyone, this is it: “​​​​​​​Come and see what God has done…”

Our life should be a message, for others to see what God has done in us and through us. The phrase “children of man” here is a more familiar term used often in the New Testament, the sons of Adam. That is the primary ID of what we are, sons of Adam.

Ps 65:4 ​​​​​​​​        Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
​​​​​​​to dwell in your courts! ​​​​​​​
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
​​​​​​​the holiness of your temple! ​​​

God is a merciful God. He created the world and maintains the world with abundance. There is no shortage of His goodness. What He provides is more than sufficient for everyone on this earth.

Moreover, His kindness has a higher purpose, to draw us to come closer to Himself. So much so that the blessing of life is not just to have abundance of material supplies, by coming before, we are able to experience something spiritual, that is, His holiness.

Ps 64:10 ​​​​​​​​Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord ​​​​​​​and take refuge in him! ​​​​​​​
Let all the upright in heart exult! ​​​

To rejoice in the Lord is not what we think as pursuing happiness. I know, one symptom of our present age is the massive sway of pursuing after happiness, to such an extent that it is written in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…” We thought these four aspects must be the very essence of life.  Although we may be healthier, wealther, and more proud of our achievements,  yet fewer and fewer people experience true happiness.

If you read this psalm carefully, this “rejoice in the Lord” is taking place against a back-drop of oppression, that the righteous one is being bullied by the enemies.

Secondly, the righteous one has to take one action: take refuge in God.

Thirdly, God will take action: He “shoots his arrow at them” (Ps 64:7).

Have faith in God and be patient, God is real and He will defend His rightous one,

9 ​​​​​​​​Then all mankind fears;
they tell what God has brought about
and ponder what he has done.

Ps 63:3   your steadfast love is better than life, 
my lips will praise you. 

There is truth in this verse that we have to fathom: there is something better than life, ie, our own life.

Our society oftentimes screams at us that our life is the datum that we measure everything with, we are led to believe that our life is the most treasurable. for without life, we are dead. And we are finished.

We cannot probe further. Is death really the end of our existence? Are we here just to survive for our making living, trying to have the most enjoyable time out of our living?

Well then, think twice, this beautiful psalm says there is something better than life. That is to say, without experiencing the love of God, our joy of life has not reach its potential. Life is good, and there is something better.

God is offering us a choice. Moment by moment we have to make choices and decisions, try to fill in the blanks:

________ is better than _________.

Perhaps if we consciously think through the choices and options of everyday,  and be consistent in making a “better”choice in what we choose– and more importantly, what we do not choose, than we can move towards the truth of this verse and experience that God’s love is indeed BETTER.

Ps 62:1 ​​​​​​​​For God alone my soul waits in silence; ​​​​​​​from him comes my salvation. ​​​

The soul here is far from the common usage in our popular culture and language, the popular culture borrows from ancient Greek ideas to think of man in terms of “body, soul and spirit”.  Though the Bible uses word which is being translated as “soul”, the Bible conception of man is very different. Soul is being used in Bible to describe the totality of man, of life, not just a third of the being.

To put this verse in simple wordings, it can be read as:

1. My soul waits for God.
2. My soul waits for God alone.
3. My soul waits for God alone because from him comes my salvation

Ps 61:2 ​​​​​​​​from the end of the earth I call to you ​​​​​​​when my heart is faint.  ​​​​​​​Lead me to the rock ​​​​​​​that is higher than I, ​​​

What do you usually do when you are down? How do you help yourself to climb out from depression? What are you responses to your own temper tantrum? Have you ever caught yourself in a bad mood? What to do then?

Take the advice from the Psalmist: call to God, in our modern terminalogy, pray to God.

The Psalmist did not stop there, he went on to tell us the content of his prayer. It is not a “get-well wish”, but starts with the verb “lead”.

Lead me, first of all is God-active, God has to be  in the driver seat of our life so as to lead a person. We have to submit to God and follow. We have to be sensitive to God’s leading.

Lead me, is directional, probably setting a new direction. For if there is no new direction, we may just as well trod down our usual path.

Lead me has a destination: to the rock. That rock is higher than I, that rock is the sign of strength, that rock is our security. In the Bible, God is often described as the rock.

Remember well this prayer, when you feel lost and hopeless, ask God to lead you to His presence.

Ps 60:12 ​​​​​​​​With God we shall do valiantly; ​​​​​​​it is he who will tread down our foes. ​​​

This psalm has a mixed tone, for in the first verse, it reads,

Ps 60:1 ​​​​​​​​O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; ​​​​​​​you have been angry; oh, restore us. ​​​

This reflects a familiar spiritual journey of mankind. Men have sinned and cause God to anger. God’s anger has a purpose. God is not just upset and shows His temper, but His rejection is to lead us to repentance, then to restoration.

Then in verse 6, it reads,

Ps 60:6 ​​​​​​​​God has spoken in his holiness……

This is the most important turning point, that we are able to hear from God, and that God speaks in His holiness. There is a “trademark” of His message: holiness. God’s message is not just how to be successful nor to have happiness in life, but the “QC” is centered on holiness.

Finally, the outcome of our experience of God,  ​​​​​​​​”with God we shall do valiantly“. Bravery and valor come from God, both a gift from God in special circumstances as well as a quality of our walk with God, that we shall not live in fear, knowing that as we trust our lives in His hand, God will take care of the rest.

Therefore rest in Him.

Ps 59:10 ​​​​​​​​My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

First of all, this psalm is dealing with the crises of a nation and is not talking about difficulties on an individual personal level.  The enemies are not personal issues nor people you have offended as an individual.  People may dislike each other for a variety of reasons, for the ethnic, style, background etc, there are always a reason why one becomes a friend and why another becomes an enemy.  There may be things we ought to unlearn/ undo, and  there are steps one should take to make restitution.

However, conflicts between nations is a different matter, some of the above reasoning may still be there, but more importantly is the aggressive pride of the nation, that is, the national identity wants to puff up and be bigger, therefore they will fight and conquer.  We call this “National Interest” on a broad stroke. There may not be any flaw involved.

What can we do in such a circumstance? What if you are being suppressed all the time?

The description here is very vivid:

​​​​​​​​6 Each evening they come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.
7 ​​​​​​​​There they are, bellowing with their mouths
with swords in their lips-
for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”

and repeated further on,

14 ​​​​​​​​Each evening they come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.
15 ​​​​​​​​They wander about for food
and growl if they do not get their fill.

They keep coming back, that is the frustrating part, there is no end in sight. “Each evening they come back, howling like dogs…”

Perhaps  in your Christian pursue, you also face some issues that keeps coming back, like a howling dog, perhaps some acquaintances that keep on poking to test your limits, what should you react?

Jesus once taught that “a good tree will bear good fruit”. This is one simple principle that I treasure all the time. In no way would a good tree bear bad fruit. (Mind you, this is dealing with the type of fruit, not whether the fruit is over-ripe or worm rotten.) From the fruit, you can tell much about the tree.

If there are howling dogs around you, what to do? Should you reduce yourself to becoming a fighting dog? Or even a furious wolf that you can show them some colors?

The Bible is concerned to show us a way to become spiritual. True spirituality should be consistent at all times. There is only one way to react to unspiritual provoking, that is to maintain your spirituality.

What then should be the reaction to the provoking? In verses 9-10, it reads,

O my Strength, I will watch for you…
​​​​​​​​My God in his steadfast love will meet me;

In brief, we can compact the verses to two points: “I will watch for You” and “God will meet me“.  These are the blessings of tough situations, they drive us to watch out for God and meet with God.

Wish that you will remember these two points, and may you meet with God today.