We continue to read the Psalms which up to Psalm 130 are each captioned, ‘A SONG OF ASCENTS’.  These are short songs which are believed to have been sung as people ascended up to Mount Zion to the Temple to worship. “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” [Psa,125 v.1] They would then sing, “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people …” [v.2]

The essential focus of this song are these words, “Do good O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts” [v.4]  We note it is “in their hearts” the place where only God can see as he “surrounds his people.”. But what of those who slip after being upright?  The next and last verse states, “But those who turn aside to their crooked ways the LORD will lead away with the evildoers! …” 

Those trying to be upright today are surrounded by those whose ways are “crooked” in various degrees, “Mount Zion” is not on their radar screen.  The strength we need to prevent us from turning aside is greatly helped when we find a quiet half an hour each day to read – and meditate on what we have read – in God’s word.  

Then, as the next Psalm puts it, the time will come when we can look back and say, “The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad” [126 v.3]. This leads to a thought provoking point in the final verses, “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for the sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”

Let us “sow” God’s seed, firstly in our own hearts, and then encourage others to do the same.  It is inevitable that there are times of weeping in our mortal life – and these are times of great sadness if there is no prospect of “shouts of joy” when our time comes to ascend Mount Zion in an all glorious reunion with others who have maintained upright hearts, or who have recovered from stumbling, to join in the ascent up God’s holy mountain.

 Those who read God’s word regularly are naturally inclined to watch world events, especially in the Middle East, to see if they can fit them into some prophecy. The disciples looked to Jesus in expectation of developments toward the establishment of his kingdom: two of them even asked if they could sit on either side of him in the kingdom (Mark 10 v.37).  But those in the synagogue who heard him quote a particular portion from the scroll of Isaiah (Luke 4 v.17) which he unrolled until he “found the place where it was written” were puzzled at what he chose to read; even more so when “he rolled up the scroll … to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled .. ’” [v.20-21]

We ponder the passage he read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me , because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor: he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” [v.20-21]  

Is it clear to us what the passage means?  Who bothers to preach to the poor, they had no money to put into the treasury!  There is a spiritual meaning too, deliverance to those who are captive to sin, and of those who are spiritually blind. But most people, including the disciples, were focussed on themselves and what the reality of the kingdom would mean for them when it came!

But there is work to be done first, this is still “the year of the Lord’s favour” !  In v.43 we read how Jesus kept moving on to “preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” We follow in his footsteps and today a final effort is being made to preach to people all over the world, even in the remotest parts.  But surely too, it is wherever opportunity occurs such as to our workmates and neighbours! And after that?  Just as the arrest and death of Jesus took place so suddenly, so also his return. How meaningful for us today are his words, “Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with … cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap” [Ch.21 v.34]  What are we watching?

Today we completed reading that marvellous Psalm 119. As we read God’s word day by day how wonderfully true it is that “the unfolding of your words gives light” [v.130].  The rest of that verse says, “it imparts understanding to the simple.”   Do the wise not need understanding?  Reflect on the Proverb we will read later this month! “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones”  [3 v.7,8]

The Psalmist’s prayer is similar, “Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.” [v.133]  It is tragic that the word iniquity, that is, sinful ways, describes the way of life around us more than ever. It is even more tragic when new human laws allow behaviour that God hates. We read today in Leviticus 20 of how adulterers in God’s nation were to be put to death (v.10) and “if a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death …” [v.13]

God’s attitude is summed up in v.23, You shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.”  Returning to Psalm 119 we noted its concluding words, “Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word … Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.  I long for your salvation …. Let my soul live and praise you.” [v.169, 173-175]

Finally in Luke we read John Baptist’s words of the ultimate judgements on evil that God will send Jesus to accomplish. We must be close to the fulfilment of these words. “His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” [Ch. 3 v.17] Our meditations on the Psalms will help us to be among the wheat.

“How sweet are your words to my taste. Sweeter than honey … “ [Psa. 119 v.103]  What makes them sweet?  Most children like sweets! Why? Because they enjoy the taste.  Do we enjoy the “taste” of God’s words?  Do we feel their value to us in our hearts and minds?  They present a great variety of thoughts to us.  This variety serves a whole variety of needs for the different circumstances we have and will encounter in life. 

With the stresses and strains that life presents to so many people, more and more are seeking medical help and, as a result, quite a variety of so called specialists now exist.  But efforts to wisely treat the problems and provide effective medication has met with only limited success.

What a wonderful Psalm is No. 119.  If we had no other Psalms, it would go a long way to fulfilling human needs for deep meditation.  We understand that in the days when only men like the scribes were trained to read and write and hand written scrolls were most precious, some people trained their memories to learn all the Psalms by heart!

Look at verse 97 and onwards, “Oh how I love thy law!  It is my meditation all the day.  Your commandment make me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.  I have more understanding than all my teachers….”  The Psalmist then declares, “I hold back my feet from every  evil way, in order to keep your word” [v.101] 

Now note v. 126, “It is time for the LORD to act for your law has been broken” – and we reflected on the fact that exactly 13 years ago today the world was shocked, numbed, by the awesome effects of a 9.0 earthquake and resultant tsunami that critically afflicted Japan. It has still a long way to go to overcome the effects, if it ever will! How long before it is time for the LORD to act to bring the whole world to its knees?  

Paul told the Romans, “because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgements will be revealed.” [Ch. 2 v.5]   Verse 7 gives us the contrast!  “To those who by patience and well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality he will give eternal life.”  The Psalms are a great help to us in doing that.

Today we began reading Luke’s Gospel.  The father of John the Baptist is inspired by the Holy Spirit to say, “you child will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.” [v.76].  He speaks of “a horn of salvation” that God “has raised up” [v.69] “that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us” [v.71]. Now this was not fulfilled in the First Century because the nation rejected their ‘horn of salvation.”  

These words still have to be fulfilled!    The scene in the Middle East today appears to be ‘setting the stage’ for Christ to return and fulfil these words and establish his kingdom and so fulfil the rest of the words Zechariah was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say – “that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness …” [v.74,75] 

That time may be very near as the enemies that surround God’s land and others nearby now sense they have the support of the majority of nations, and the apathy of others, in their hatred of Israel. We see the abject weakness of the United Nations and its inability to take any ‘righteous’ action. 

Those who have a sure faith in God’s word note Mary’s words in magnifying the Lord, “his mercy is for those who fear him” but “he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts” [v.50,51]  Let all who truly believe  and fear God look for his mercy and guidance as our world plunges into distress and darkness and is completely oblivious to the “light of the world” that is about to shine forth.

Psalm 119 is very special. When we were young we used to just think of it as an extra-long chapter, the longest in the Bible, 176 verses, impossible to read at one go. And nor should we try to read it like that! God’s word is food for the mind; we should savour it and “eat” it slowly. This Psalm is like tender tasty ‘meat’ causing much reflection on our ways before God. It is surprising how often the word ‘way’ or ‘ways’ occurs in it.

    David, like all of us, was on a journey through life.  We all have to decide the best WAY to take, what career path to aim to follow. We must recognise there is a spiritual career path too! Well our decisions are based on our aims, and an important part of our decisions is how far into the future we are looking.

    Now look at the words of this Psalm. “Blessed are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast …” [Psalm 119:1-5]  In some modern versions, such as the New English Bible, they use the word “Happy” instead of “Blessed”, interesting, what is the way to true happiness. What is it to be happy?

    “How can a young man (or woman) keep his way pure?” David asks!    Notice his answer! “By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” [Psalm 119:9-11] Think about that! How much of God’s word do we have in storage? We prove how much, by how much we can bring out when it is needed.

     David later writes, “Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! I have chosen the way of faithfulness … Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.” [Psalm 119:29,30, 37] In many ways this Psalm contains the essence of the prayers of David; examples on which to model our prayers.[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1vL4z4AybQ[/embedyt]

 A person with leprosy in Bible times was expected to cry out ‘Unclean, unclean” so that people would know not to touch him or her for fear of contagion and become infected. The word ‘Leprosy’ covers a multitude of skin infections, some serious, some not and we read in the last two days in Leviticus of the Priest’s responsibility to determine which were serious and the action to take to prevent infections from spreading. Today’s chapter [Leviticus 15] is about the precautions to be taken with sick people and others who had bodily discharges with the object of preventing the spread of other infections and disease.

    We also read that if those unclean with a “discharge” touch anyone “without having rinsed their hands in water” then the person touched is also regarded as unclean until the evening and needs to “wash his clothes and bathe himself” [Leviticus 15:11] They also had to cleanse the drinking and other vessels they used.

    Now it is only about 200 years since our world discovered how infections spread and the great importance of hygiene; before then countless needless deaths and plagues occurred. In the 19th Century we read that a few medical men, suddenly realizing that the Bible had such laws given by God 4,000 years ago, became convinced it really was a divine revelation from God and followed the way of life and belief found in the Bible.

    In today’s 2nd Corinthians reading in chapter 11 we see a spiritual counterpart as Paul laments that some were easily “led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” He then writes, “if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus that the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” [2 Corinthians 11:3-5] 

    Then he writes, “such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” [2 Corinthians 11:13] Sadly; it is the same today – and many accept an “unclean” gospel – but some, by God’s grace, come to realize this and go through a cleansing process.   There is, of course, a limit to the spiritual counterpart; note what Paul wrote in1 Corinthians 5:9-13.

 We come across this phrase in today’s Psalm 116:11 It is an encouraging Psalm, it starts, “I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live” 

    Yet there are times when we struggle to call on God, we seem to be overwhelmed by events. The same happened to David, who is almost certainly the writer of this Psalm. We read in Psalm 116:6 “When I was brought low, he saved me. Return O my soul to your rest, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you”

    David talks to himself, telling himself to rest upon the Lord, to remember all the times God has dealt bountifully with him. Count your blessings, we say – and sometimes sing. Then we come to verse 11, “I said in my alarm, ‘All mankind are liars'” Does that seem an odd thing to be alarmed about? We think he means that he cannot trust anyone. He could not trust his own brothers; remember what they said to him when he came to the army camp when Goliath was challenging Israel? [1 Samuel 17:28] Saul’s son Jonathan was his closest friend; do you remember how he lamented when Jonathan was killed in battle?

    Last week we read in Corinthians of the frictions between members, some were even taking each other to court “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud – even your own brothers! Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” [1 Corinthians 6:7-9] NO, they were blind to that fact! We must not be similarly blind.
     Remember how the Psalm started? “I love the LORD …” If we can say that with all our heart, then we will not be alarmed and distressed by those around us who do not do the same – and who show they are not doing it by their words, their lies. Have a look at what David says after lamenting that all men are liars – in particular meditate on what “the sacrifice of thanksgiving” means in practice. [Psalm 116:17]

 Remember how the disciples showed Jesus the grandeur of the Temple [Mark 13:1,2] and he shocked them by saying it was all going to be destroyed!  Now see how today’s reading in 2nd Corinthians makes the point of how the temple was replaced.  There is a new kind of Temple where God wants to dwell and that is the most important thing in the life of a believer.    Paul writes, “we are the temple of the living God, as God has said …” [2 Corinthians 6:16]. But remarkably, Paul then quotes the words of God that we are going to read later this month in Leviticus.  And what did God say to Moses that Paul felt he should quote in his letter?

     “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  Therefore go from out from their ( i.e. the unbelievers) midst and be separate from them … then I will welcome you and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me says the Lord Almighty.” [2 Corinthians 6:16-18]   Now notice what Paul adds after quoting these words from Leviticus 26:11,12.  “since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” [2 Corinthians 7:1]

    Paul is saying that we, our minds and heart, are God’s spiritual temple in which he seeks to live!  What occupies our minds, what are the things we meditate upon? Now it is vital that we are positive in our reaction to this fact – how utterly wonderful to have God in our very being, watching over us!   In answering this question we see how important it is that we read God’s word every day.  Take time to note how at the beginning of Chapter 6 Paul quotes from Isaiah 49:8 – “now is the day of salvation”

    Think of the hymn Islip Collyer wrote,

We know the end, we know the way, 

And some with life he will endow, 

Shall we be will him on that day? 

We make the answer now. 

The Psalms are constantly full of challenging words. There are so many positive thoughts in them. But our lives are often invaded by situations that provoke negative thoughts. We need the positive inspired words of the Psalms, Israel’s Hymn Book that David began to compile more than 3,000 years ago. They are a great stimulus to positive thinking.
    “The righteous will not be moved,”  [Psalm 112:6].  That is, he or she will not collapse, especially in times when they “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” [Psalm 23:4].  When that happens, “He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm trusting in the LORD” [Psalm 112:7] “The fear (awe) of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding” [Psalm 111:10]. 

    The foundation of a life worth living before God is to be in awe of what God must be and to realize that he seeks to have a relationship with us. The recognition of this was the springboard to David’s life!  For this reason he began the Psalm with these words; “I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart” [Psalm 111:1]. 

    This became the springboard to Paul’s life. Also that of James, who had spurned belief in his half-brother Jesus [John 7:5], but, he like Paul, came to realize that what they saw as bad news then, turned out to be the best possible life-changing good news for a fully meaningful life and an even greater life that is to come.

    James writes about those who doubt, “the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways”. [James 1:6-8] Such a person’s heart is not firm, he or she will be afraid of bad news. James continues, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he (or she) has stood the test he will receive a crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” [James 1:12]