²¹ Do not forsake me, O Lord!
    O my God, be not far from me!
²² Make haste to help me,
    O Lord, my salvation!

We so often want what we do not have. When we see others have it we can easily become envious. When we are trying to follow God, don’t get want we want and see others who could not care less about God and they have it all, it is easy to become bitter and blame God. It is nothing new and your social status does not make you immune. David was King of Israel, the top dog, he had more than you or I could imagine. Yet even David wrestled with the issue of seeing others who did not love God who seemed to have a much better life. If David was subject to such feeling of envy, how much more am I?

Fortunately David was also wise enough to know the solution. It is all about trust. Do I trust that God has my best interests at heart and that God will in fact see that my interests are cared for and meet? Do I trust that the Lord has the long view in mind and that even though the wicked may seem to prosper now, it is just for a season, and a short one at that? The Lord looks across the vast span of eternity and knows that those who are His children will experience the bliss and joy of eternity with Him and that the things in this life, the things we so lustfully focus on, are fleeting at best. I cannot be envious of a person who has it all according to the world’s way of measuring. Because what they have is just a shiny trinket compared to the riches of the glory of God that are ours for eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When considering the character traits of God, what we call His attributes, people most often will speak of God as love. It is a commonly agreed to characteristic of God even among those who are uncertain if God even exists, because if He does exist we are certainly want Him to be loving. Yet, like any widely held idea, the familiarity of the concept of God being loving can become so familiar and such a cliché that we risk missing the stunning power of that statement. Psalm 36 is a welcomed antidote to that problem. The description of God’s love in this Psalm is powerful and all encompassing.

The author of the Psalm speaks of the steadfast nature of God’s love. Unlike our human concept and experience of love which is fleeting, coming and going in a capricious way, God’s love remains firm and solid. To be steadfast is to be unmovable. God’s love for you is not subject to the whims of human emotion. It does not depend on His mood at the moment. God’s love remains for you because it is the very nature of God to love His own. His love is a place where you can take refuge, find shelter, be protected. That is what love does. It makes you feel secure. It becomes a rock on which to stand. God’s love is like that.

But when you read this Psalm take note of the fact that it does not start with God’s love. It starts rather with the life of the wicked. It starts with those who have no fear or reverence for God. It starts with those who practice deceit and treachery and think they are immune to justice. Then without any type of transition or explanation the author immediately bursts forth with praises to God for His steadfast love. I wonder, does the author see himself as that wicked person who one day discovered the steadfast love of the Lord? How many people, myself included, were far from God, with no fear of God, plotting trouble from our very beds before even letting our feet hit the floor in the morning? But even for one such as that, the love of the Lord can bring redemption and healing. The Lord if good and His love endures forever. If not for that love we would all be doomed to our own destruction. Praise the Name of the Lord!

We have seen it time and again in the first 35 Psalms, David crying out to God because there are people who seek to do him harm. They have ill will in their hearts towards him and in some case want him dead. Each time David has cried out to the Lord for His protection as well as some punishment or retribution to be visited upon his enemies. In some ways Psalm 35 is not different. But in a critical way it is absolutely different and gives us a much better glimpse into the heart of David.

I have a friend from Australia who recently made the comment that from a distance America looks like a country driven by fear. It was hard to argue with him. Parents live in fear of what might happen to their children when they are out of their sight so 8 and 9 year olds have cellphones so their parents can be in touch with them 24/7. Movie theaters now have metal detectors. Anti-anxiety drugs are dispensed like Tic-Tacs. Even Christians are not immune. Anytime I talk to people about doing a short-term mission trip to another country the first question asked is always, “Is it safe there?’ This Psalm reminds us that the world is not safe but we have a God who watches out for His own.

I have recently noticed a rash of statements along these lines, If you support (insert controversial cause/organization/political position here) then unfriend me now. It is the latest social media trend of polarization and follows on the heels of the name calling, truth stretching, innuendo flinging, and assuming the worst possible motives of others that is so common in our social discourse these days. I don’t need to give specific examples because they are so rampant that I am positive you have enough of them already. But I do have to tell you it breaks my heart and bewilders me all at once. It breaks my heart because it tells me that our view of friendship is so shallow and woefully lacking that I wonder if as a society we really understand what it means to be a friend. It bewilders me because when I push this kind of thinking to its logical conclusion it can only mean that the person most equipped to be my closest friend is the one who thinks exactly like me on every possible social, political and religious issue. I reach that conclusion because if I must unfriend a person because we disagree on an issue then where do I draw the line? If I cannot be your friend because we disagree on issue “A” then what about issue “B”? One issue at a time the friendship crumbles because it is based on agreement over issues and nothing more. I would end up only with friends who agree with me 100% on every issue. If there is someone who thinks exactly like me in every instance then one of us is unnecessary and we certainly are not helping one another grow.

As a follower of Christ I find that there are countless areas in which I disagree with people. That is true not only as it relates to people who do not follow Christ, but also to those who do. I have theological differences with lots of people. Some of them major, like whether or not Jesus is actually God and the only way to heaven. Some of them extremely minor, like whether tithing should be on the gross or net pay. There are people I admire and respect who have complete opposite positions from me on social issues like Same Sex Marriage, Planned Parenthood, Economic Policy, and Immigration. Being my friend is not contingent on agreeing with me on those issues. All you need to be willing to do is discuss them respectfully. Tell me you think I am wrong and then explain why. Do it with passion. Believe in what you are saying. Don’t hold back what you think the truth is. But do it with respect for our relationship and for me as a person. That is all I ask and that is what I promise in return.

Actually I promise more in return. What i said about respect is what I think is the minimum needed for discussing the issues of our day and should be hallmarks of our society. But I am not called to the minimum. As a follower of Christ I am called to an even higher standard. I have what I call a Life Verse in the Bible. It is a verse that I try to have guide all I do in relation to others. It is from 1 Peter 3:15 where Peter says, “set Christ apart in your hearts as Lord and always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within you, and do so with gentleness and respect”. I combine that verse with what Jesus called the Greatest Commandment, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself”. When asked how to determine who your neighbor was, Jesus told that story of the Good Samaritan which made the point that even your enemy is to be loved like a neighbor. That is what sets the standard for me, not the minimum of supposedly civil society.

What Jesus has called me and every other one of His followers to, is to rise above the standards set by our culture. We are so quick to assume we are rising above in moral purity. Whether or not we actually are is debatable. But Jesus is just as concerned, if not more so, that we rise above in our love for others, even those who hold positions on things that we find morally wrong and even repugnant. You see here is the point if you are a Christ Follower. Before coming to faith in Christ, He found you and what you did and believed and worshipped, to be repugnant. Yep you just read that right. Never forget that before you came to faith in Christ, no matter how good you thought you were, based on the world’s standards, you were still woefully short of God’s holiness and were in fact at war with God. But Jesus loved you enough to go to the cross for you and love you, His enemy. Contrary to how some preachers might preach, Jesus did not hurl vitriol and abuse at you. He certainly did not unfriend you. What He did was fulfill His own words when He said, “greater love has no man than when he lays down his life for his friends”.

If someone was to do a study of friends I have on Facebook they would find gay and lesbian friends, economic socialists with a few bordering on communism. They would find rabid Democrats and out of control Republicans. They would find black lives matter people, blue lives matter people, and all lives matter people. They would even find some Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens fans of all things. The point is, the variety is seemingly limitless and they are all people I am blessed to have in my life. They challenge me to make sure I am speaking the truth in love, another Biblical command so many Christians miss. We are so quick to speak truth and forget the love part or we are so quick to love that we think it means not speaking truth. They help me think more deeply and clearly about what I believe because if I only ever talk with people who agree with me I will fast become myopic and condescending and my reasoning will get sloppy and my logic flawed. They help me live more like Jesus because there was nobody on earth who agreed with everything He said and did but He loved them so much that He hung out with them in life and loved them so much that He hung on a cross for them in death.

Is it hard to be friends with people who are so radically different from me? Sure it is. I have not mastered it by any stretch. But on the other hand, looking at it from their perspective, I suspect it is not always easy for them to be my friend either. But if I am going to represent Jesus, being the Ambassador for Christ that Paul says we are, then I must not only be a friend to those who disagree with what I hold dear, I need to go further. I need to love them as I love myself. I need to lay down my life for them as Jesus calls me to. I need to be the kind of friend to them that Jesus is to me. Only then will I become more like Jesus, and I hope and trust they will too.

What joy! What delight! There is shouting and singing because of how great God is and how great are the things He has done and continues to do. There is thanksgiving to God because His Word is reliable and true. There is confidence in the future because God loves righteousness and justice and will not abandon those in need. His love endures and remains steadfast.

I get excited, shout, high-five, fist-bump and jump in the air when the Steelers win a Super Bowl, the Penguins a Stanley Cup or the Pirates a World Series. How much more should I get exuberant when I see the work or the Lord or hear the declaration of His Word? It is true what Jesus says that far too often we as a people are lukewarm to the things of God. If I really meditated on who God is and what He has done in my life, then I could rejoice always and in all situations we Paul urges us to.

Shame and guilt are extremely heavy burdens to bear. They eat away at our soul. They drive us into seclusion and lead to deeper isolation. The world tries to eliminate shame and guilt by saying we did nothing wrong. But in our heart of hearts we know otherwise. We know this because God has placed within each of us a knowledge of Himself and an awareness that there is right and wrong, good and evil, justice and injustice. Telling us we have not done anything wrong doesn’t remove the guilt or shame. Maybe that is why we have seen an unprecedented rise in the need for psychologists and counselors and medication to make us feel better about ourselves, because just saying we are good doesn’t make us feel good.

David has a different approach to his guilt and shame and it is the approach of the Gospel. He admits his failures and throws himself on the mercy of and holy AND loving, merciful God. The Bible tells us in James that we are to confess our sins to one another. Why? So we can experience first hand the love and forgiveness we so desperately need. David experiences that in this Psalm when he confesses his sin to God, as can we. God also works through those who love Christ and us so that we can experience His love through His people.

When I carry my sin around with me it causes me to waste away. When I confess is and receive God’s mercy I am given life and strength and am renewed. When I am honest and open about my sin and the Lord covers it, then I am truly blessed. The church needs to be a place where people are secure enough that such honesty is possible. Not necessarily with everyone in the church but certainly with someone. We all need to be able to be honest about who we really are with the Lord and with someone who acts on behalf of the Lord and makes His love tangible. We all need to be able to offer that mercy and forgiveness to others in His name.

We are not promised a life free from suffering and pain. As much as we might long for Utopia in this life, it will never be. One day to be sure, those who trust in the Lord will find ultimate joy and peace, but not yet. Life in a fallen world, filled with sin, is a life of struggle and grief and pain. Even coming to faith in Christ and following Him is not a guarantee of a life free from pain, no matter what some TV preachers say.

But this life is not only grief and pain. Psalm 30 makes it clear that we have a hope not only in eternity but in this life also. Pain and suffering in this life is but for a moment. The night may be dark and deep but the Psalmist is able to look to the dawn knowing that joy comes in the morning, that God makes all things new. We cling to that assurance from God that there is an end to the heartache and anguish. We also celebrate who God is and what He has done, knowing that God who has been faithful in the past will continue to be faithful in the present and in the future. We may mourn in the moment but the Lord will work in such a way as to turn that mourning into dancing.

Some will push back saying that is all pie in the sky. What good does it do me now to have some far off hope for a better future? Such a question does not understand the power of hope, of the assurance of a better future. Slaves in the American south lived miserable lives. Families were forcibly separated and sold to different owners. Beatings were far too common. Yet it is out of that misery that some of the most powerful songs of hope were written. The old Negro Spirituals were so often songs on a better future, trusting in the Lord to one day bring redemption and fulfill His promises. They were songs that turned mourning into dancing and gave people the strength to carry on.

But David begins this Psalm with a clear declaration that he need fear nothing and no one because the Lord is his light and salvation. When David faced Goliath he did so with confidence that the Lord who delivered him from the mouth of the lion and from the mouth of the bear would deliver him from Goliath as well.  Because of the history he had with God, David had no fear in the present. And because he had no fear in the present he actually looked on the future with anticipation of the beauty of God’s presence.

Can you worship God without going to a “church” building? Can you worship God without gathering with a bunch of other people? Can you worship God all by yourself in your home, or in the woods, or on a mountain, or golf course? The answer to all of these is a resounding yes! You can and you should. We are to do everything we do; thought, word, and deed, in the name of, or in honor of Jesus. But if you are not gathering with others in order to worship God then you are actually robbing God of glory He is due.

Look at what the Psalmist says in these last few verses of Psalm 26.

To be a follower of Jesus is to be a student. That is what a disciple is, a learner who follows a teacher in order to become like that teacher. A disciple of Jesus must be a student of Jesus, of His Word, and of the things of God. These few verses from Psalm 15 emphasize that very point.

⁴ Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
⁵ Lead me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all the day long.

There was a time when the average Christian was a student of theology and the Bible and took seriously the need to know the things of God. Hard questions were wrestled with and discussed among friends. Books of theology were read and debated. Scriptures was memorized and even the original Hebrew and Greek were not foreign to many students of the scriptures. Somewhere along the road that changes. It became fashionable to denigrate learning and theology. Head knowledge became a target of derision. It was heart knowledge that was important. But this is a false dichotomy. Certainly there are those who have a great knowledge of the facts of things and no heart connection to God. But the answer is not to ignore the facts of things or to ignore learning in the mind. It has been said that it is possible to have lots of head knowledge that never reaches the heart, but it never reaches the heart without first going through the head.

In this Psalm the author is calling on God to teach him. He wants to know the truth. He wants to know the information regarding who God is and what God has done. Why? Because God is the author of salvation. But that writer of this Psalm is concerned with more than just the information. The writer also has a heart that longs for God. “I wait for you all day long”. There is both a heart knowledge and a head knowledge and there is a desire for both to grow.

2 Peter 3:18 says we are to grow in the grace AND knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. There is no loving God from the heart without some head knowledge of who God is. I cannot love that which I do not know.

Teach me Lord. Teach me your ways. Teach me who you are. May I be a student who follows after Jesus and learns more deeply who you are and in the journey become more like you.