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¹ I will exalt you, Lord,
    for you lifted me out of the depths
    and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
² Lord my God, I called to you for help,
    and you healed me.
³ You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
    you spared me from going down to the pit.

⁴ Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
    praise his holy name.
⁵ For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favour lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
    but rejoicing comes in the morning.

⁶ When I felt secure, I said,
    ‘I shall never be shaken.’
⁷ Lord, when you favoured me,
    you made my royal mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
    I was dismayed.

⁸ To you, Lord, I called;
    to the Lord I cried for mercy:
⁹ ‘What is gained if I am silenced,
    if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
    Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
¹⁰ Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me;
    Lord, be my help.’

¹¹ You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
¹² that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
    Lord my God, I will praise you for ever. NIVUK

‘All prayer is prayed in a story, by someone who is in the story. There are no storyless prayers…Prayers are prayed by people who live stories. Every life is a story. We are not always aware that we are living a story; often it seems more like a laundry list. But story it is.’ Eugene Peterson

As in many other psalms, this one reflects parts of David’s story. Verses 6,7, in particular, seem to look back to a time when he was at the height of his powers. He had ‘success’. It was a time when he was riding high ‘in the polls’ because God was blessing him. It is so easy for us to get above ourselves – for things to ‘go to our heads’ – and we start to believe in our own publicity. We forget that our flourishing is a divine gift, and not our own doing. ”A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.” John 3:27

Self- confidence is perilous to the spiritual life.

There is a story told about a young preacher. It’s possibly apocryphal, but it speaks truth and makes a great point. This youthful fellow bounded up the pulpit steps to preach his first sermon, full of a sense of his own capabilities. He was going to show them! Five to ten minutes later he walked slowly down those same steps, head bowed with embarrassed shame, feeling he’d done very badly. An old elder came up to him, put his arm around him, and said, ‘Young man, if you’d gone up as you came down, you’d have come down as you went up.’

‘If, in this pride-inducing period, the Lord in grace humbled David by a sickness which dashed the cup from his hand before he had time to drink it, the terms of the psalm are most perfectly suited and David learned that as grace had brought him safe thus far, only grace can lead him home.’ Alec Motyer

PRAYER: Lord, please forgive us and deliver us from all pride, conceit and self-assurance. May our trust be in you alone, and not in ourselves.

THOUGHT: ‘The Church always fails at the point of self-confidence.’ Samuel Chadwick

I will exalt you, Lord,
    for you lifted me out of the depths
    and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
² Lord my God, I called to you for help,
    and you healed me.
³ You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
    you spared me from going down to the pit.

⁴ Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
    praise his holy name.
⁵ For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favour lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
    but rejoicing comes in the morning.

⁶ When I felt secure, I said,
    ‘I shall never be shaken.’
⁷ Lord, when you favoured me,
    you made my royal mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
    I was dismayed.

⁸ To you, Lord, I called;
    to the Lord I cried for mercy:
⁹ ‘What is gained if I am silenced,
    if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
    Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
¹⁰ Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me;
    Lord, be my help.’

¹¹ You turned my wailing into dancing;
    you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
¹² that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
    Lord my God, I will praise you for ever. NIVUK

I have just finished reading a short biography of John Newton who, prior to his conversion, was a decadent, blaspheming seaman. He eventually became the captain of a slave trading ship. He wrote many hymns after coming to Christ, but ‘Amazing grace’ is his most famous. It became his life theme. He never lost sight of ”the depths” of depravity from which he had been lifted, and it is said that this made him most tender, kind and gentle in all his dealings with people. He knew deeply that he was a debtor to mercy alone.

The epitaph he wrote for himself contains these lines:

‘John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.’

Here is a further example of his humility:

‘Whoever is truly humbled — will not be easily angry, nor harsh or critical of others. He will be compassionate and tender to the infirmities of his fellow-sinners, knowing that if there is a difference — it is grace alone which has made it! He knows that he has the seeds of every evil in his own heart. And under all trials and afflictions — he will look to the hand of the Lord, and lay his mouth in the dust, acknowledging that he suffers much less than his iniquities have deserved.’

Towards the end of his life he said:

Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Saviour.’

PRAYER: Lord, enable me to always remember, and live in the light of, the greatness of salvation. May I never lose the wonder of your ‘amazing grace’.

¹ Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
² Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name;
    worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.

³ The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is majestic.
⁵ The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
    the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
⁶ He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
    Sirion like a young wild ox.
⁷ The voice of the Lord strikes
    with flashes of lightning.
⁸ The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
    the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
⁹ The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
    and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’

¹⁰ The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
    the Lord is enthroned as King for ever.
¹¹ The Lord gives strength to his people;
    the Lord blesses his people with peace. NIVUK

‘These verses march to the tune of thunderbolts.’ C.H.Spurgeon

The Lord reigns supreme ”over” every ”‘flood”;

So, inevitably, His Word (”voice”) is also ”over” all (that mighty Word which brought all things into existence, and now ultimately upholds all things – The Word who ultimately was ”made flesh”).

God has the last, decisive word in, and over, every storm.

‘God sat as King at the Flood, and He is still King! No storm is greater than God.’ Warren Wiersbe

Where we read:

”The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
    the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon” (5),

Matthew Henry comments: ‘the strongest, the stateliest’

Spurgeon writes: ‘What a shaking and overturning power there is in the word of God’

Also, he says: ‘The gospel of Jesus has a like dominion over the most inaccessible of mortals; and when the Lord sends the word, it breaks hearts far stouter than cedars.’

Verse 7 says:

”The voice of the Lord strikes
    with flashes of lightning.”

God’s Word not only breaks hardened hearts, but also enlightens darkened minds

We note that this psalm begins by ascribing ”strength” to God, and ends by affirming that ”strength” also comes from Him.

Let’s give the final word to Alec Motyer, whose comments on the psalms in the ‘New Bible Commentary’ are tremendous:

‘It is best simply to let the wonder and awesomeness of this psalm sweep and swirl around us until we are so possessed in spirit by the majesty of the Lord that we too cry Glory (9)…To many a storm is a storm, but to those to whom the Lord has revealed himself, it is a display of one aspect of his glory. The sentimentalist says ‘One is nearer God’s heart in a garden’; more realistic, the Bible affirms we are nearer his heart in a hurricane.’

God’s voice comes to us in a storm. What is true physically is also the case spiritually.

To you, Lord, I call;
    you are my Rock,
    do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent,
    I shall be like those who go down to the pit.
² Hear my cry for mercy
    as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
    towards your Most Holy Place.

³ Do not drag me away with the wicked,
    with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbours
    but harbour malice in their hearts.
⁴ Repay them for their deeds
    and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
    and bring back on them what they deserve.

⁵ Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord
    and what his hands have done,
he will tear them down
    and never build them up again.

⁶ Praise be to the Lord,
    for he has heard my cry for mercy.
⁷ The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
    and with my song I praise him.

⁸ The Lord is the strength of his people,
    a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
⁹ Save your people and bless your inheritance;
    be their shepherd and carry them for ever. NIVUK

Do you see the movement in this psalm, from a starting point which maybe feels a little tentative (1,2), to a place of calm confidence in God (6-8)? It may be that you can relate to this? You don’t always feel at the beginning of your prayers as you do at the end, or in the middle even. At the outset David has a sense of what is in the balance: if the Lord doesn’t hear him, speak to him, and help him, he’s in deep trouble. (‘ ”If You are silent,” said David, ”I might just as well be dead! And if You don’t deliver me, You are treating me like the enemy!” Pretty powerful arguments!’ Warren Wiersbe).

But soon enough he is able to boldly declare that he has been heard.

Someone said, ‘Pray until you pray.’

It may take time to come to a place of assurance that you have the answer, (even if you don’t yet see it). You can have it in your heart before you have it in your hands.

Interestingly, in my ‘Bible in one year’, this psalm nestles adjacent to Mark 11, where Jesus says in verses 22-24: ”‘Have faith in God,’ …‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

PRAYER: ‘Give me the faith which can remove
and sink the mountain to a plain;
give me the childlike praying love,
which longs to build thy house again;
thy love, let it my heart o’er-power,
and all my simple soul devour.’ Charles Wesley

Lord, increase our faith!

⁶ God holds me head and shoulders
    above all who try to pull me down.
I’m headed for his place to offer anthems
    that will raise the roof!
Already I’m singing God-songs;
    I’m making music to God.

^7-9 Listen, God, I’m calling at the top of my lungs:
    “Be good to me! Answer me!”
When my heart whispered, “Seek God,”
    my whole being replied,
“I’m seeking him!”
    Don’t hide from me now!

^9-10 You’ve always been right there for me;
    don’t turn your back on me now.
Don’t throw me out, don’t abandon me;
    you’ve always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me,
    but God took me in.

^11-12 Point me down your highway, God;
    direct me along a well-lighted street;
    show my enemies whose side you’re on.
Don’t throw me to the dogs,
    those liars who are out to get me,
    filling the air with their threats.

^13-14 I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness
    in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God!
    Take heart. Don’t quit.
I’ll say it again:
    Stay with God. The Message

David found within himself both a heart to seek the Lord, and the will to do it May he grant to us also such a spirit of prayer. David knew a vivid relationship with God: one that lifted him up above the antagonism of enemies (1-6/11,12) and the rejection of loved ones (9,10), and brought ‘light’ to the dark streets on which he often found himself (11).

It is the reality of David’s relationship with God that shouts at me from this lovely psalm.

Here are a couple of prayers I found online, based on Psalm 27:

‘Heavenly Father, as I journey through the verses of Psalm 27, I desire to draw near to You. Let my heart seek Your presence and find its true home in Your love and grace.’

‘Dear God, grant me the patience to wait on Your perfect timing. Help me to trust that Your plans are greater than my own and that You will fulfill Your promises in due season.’

Clear my name, God;
    I’ve kept an honest shop.
I’ve thrown in my lot with you, God, and
    I’m not budging.

² Examine me, God, from head to foot,
    order your battery of tests.
Make sure I’m fit
    inside and out

³ So I never lose
    sight of your love,
But keep in step with you,
    never missing a beat.

^4-5 I don’t hang out with tricksters,
    I don’t pal around with thugs;
I hate that pack of gangsters,
    I don’t deal with double-dealers.

^6-7 I scrub my hands with purest soap,
    then join hands with the others in the great circle,
    dancing around your altar, God,
Singing God-songs at the top of my lungs,
    telling God-stories.

^8-10 God, I love living with you;
    your house glows with your glory.
When it’s time for spring cleaning,
    don’t sweep me out with the quacks and crooks,
Men with bags of dirty tricks,
    women with purses stuffed with bribe-money.

^11-12 You know I’ve been aboveboard with you;
    now be aboveboard with me.
I’m on the level with you, God;
    I bless you every chance I get. The Message

Lord, I love the house where you live,
    the place where your glory dwells (v.8 NIVUK).

Years ago, Selwyn Hughes, in ‘Every Day with Jesus’, told the story of an elderly gentleman who had moved into a retirement home. One day, a visitor asked him, ‘What’s it like to live in an old folks’ home?’ He replied, ‘I don’t live in an old folks home, I live in God!’

How’s that for perspective?

For David also, the Lord was the greatest reality of his life; and his life in God was, among other things, one of vindication. Whatever people said (falsely) about him, in God he knew protection.

God was real to David, and he so enjoyed his life in God. Can you say the same?

Once, a friend told me about a new pastor who had come to his church. Apparently, this lovely man said, ”I so enjoy my salvation.”

If David exemplified the above sentiment, others have entered into it.

May we each know what it is to enjoy being enveloped in the reality of God, who is our true home.

¹ In you, Lord my God,
    I put my trust.

² I trust in you;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    nor let my enemies triumph over me.
³ No one who hopes in you
    will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
    who are treacherous without cause.

⁴ Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.
⁵ Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Saviour,
    and my hope is in you all day long.
⁶ Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
    for they are from of old.
⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth
    and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
    for you, Lord, are good.

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
⁹ He guides the humble in what is right
    and teaches them his way.
¹⁰ All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
    toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
¹¹ For the sake of your name, Lord,
    forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

¹² Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?
    He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.
¹³ They will spend their days in prosperity,
    and their descendants will inherit the land.
¹⁴ The Lord confides in those who fear him;
    he makes his covenant known to them.
¹⁵ My eyes are ever on the Lord,
    for only he will release my feet from the snare.

¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    for I am lonely and afflicted.
¹⁷ Relieve the troubles of my heart
    and free me from my anguish.
¹⁸ Look on my affliction and my distress
    and take away all my sins.
¹⁹ See how numerous are my enemies
    and how fiercely they hate me!

²⁰ Guard my life and rescue me;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    for I take refuge in you.
²¹ May integrity and uprightness protect me,
    because my hope, Lord, is in you.

²² Deliver Israel, O God,
    from all their troubles!

A central thrust in this psalm is that God guides His own. I am drawn to this today because I feel in need of His direction. How about you?

We don’t have to be perfect for God to guide us. What a relief! Although in some psalms David pleads his integrity in the teeth of false accusations being made about him, he always knows that he is a sinner. Here he freely confesses that he is.

”Forgive my bad life;
It’s been a very bad life.” Verse 11 ‘The Message’

Yet he knows that God ”instructs sinners in his ways” (8), ‘Humble’ sinners (9) who ‘fear’ the Lord (12,14) and keep their eyes fixed on God (15) can know His guidance.

We should note also that God’s guidance will never contradict His revealed ”truth” (5).

I think verse 14 is just beautful. This is how vv.14,15 read in ‘The Message’:

”God-friendship is for God-worshipers;
They are the ones he confides in.

If I keep my eyes on God,
I won’t trip over my own feet.”

Verse 12 can read ”in the ways he chooses.” But of course, the ways we ”should choose” are ”the ways He chooses for us.”

Prayer:

‘I dare not choose my lot;
  I would not if I might:
Choose Thou for me, my God,
  So shall I walk aright.

Not mine, not mine the choice,
  In things both great and small;
Be Thou my guide, my strength,
  My wisdom and my all.’ (Two verses from the hymn, ‘Thy way, not mine, O Lord’ by Horatius Bonar)

¹ The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
² for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.

³ Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.

⁵ They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Saviour.
⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.

⁷ Lift up your heads, you gates;
    be lifted up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord strong and mighty,
    the Lord mighty in battle.
⁹ Lift up your heads, you gates;
    lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰ Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord Almighty –
    he is the King of glory.

I felt that I had to go back to psalm 24 one more time. So I tried to re-read it slowly, with an open heart, asking, ‘What is it you want to say, Lord?’ Here’s the challenge I felt: ‘How much holiness do you really want?’ By sheer grace and mercy we have this positional holiness in God’s sight, but how much practical, every day holiness do we desire? How far do we want to travel down the highway of holiness? To what extent are we prepared to be changed?

Someone said that, as a general principle, in the Christian life you tend to get what you go for. That is, so long as it is God’s clearly revealed will for us. There is no doubt that our personal holiness falls into this category. (See, e.g. 1 Thess.4:3).

Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter was a well-known and effective Bible teacher, and gifted writer. His life spanned most of the twentieth century (1903-1999). Not too long before he died at the age 96, he was visited by a younger friend who asked him, ‘How can I pray for you?’ I find his reply deeply moving, ‘Pray that I would be more holy.’

Prayer: Lord, I confess that there is still so much ‘Jacob’ (6) in me, but I long to be part of that blessed generation who seek you. Help me to lift up every gate and door, that I know the reality of ‘the King of glory’ within.