Praying the Psalms During COVID-19 (Day 4)

Day 4 of 30

Today’s Readings:

Today’s Devotional Thought:

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalms 20:7 ESV).

For people in the modern world, trusting in chariots and horses may seem like a pleasant metaphor. But remember, these were prime examples of human power and might in the ancient world. Therefore, I wonder how David would have written this verse in 2020. “Some trust in doctors.” “Some trust in science.” “Some trust in politicians.” “Some trust in the economy.” And what are we trusting to get us through this global pandemic?

Well, in one sense, we are trusting in human power. If we’re sick, we trust in a doctor to provide care. If our business is struggling to make ends meet, we trust in a bank to provide loans. If we lose our jobs, we trust in the government for unemployment. And we’re trusting in doctors, scientists, and epidemiologists to create a vaccine for COVID-19 as soon as possible, Lord willing.

Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with this kind of trust. I’m sure that David placed a certain kind of trust in his horses and mighty men of war (read First and Second Samuel). But he knew not to place his ultimate trust in human might and wisdom. That’s why he says that those who trust in chariots and horses will “collapse and fall” (verse 8a). But those who trust in the name of the Lord will “rise and stand upright” (verse 8b). In other words, placing our ultimate trust in human beings doesn’t work. On the other hand, placing our ultimate hope in the Lord always works out in the end (even if we don’t see it in this life).

So in this current pandemic, we can place limited trust in doctors, bankers, politicians, and epidemiologists. But thankfully, our ultimate trust is in the Lord God Almighty who will never fail.

Ways to Pray:

  1. Forgive me for trusting in human wisdom and strength more than you, O LORD.

  2. Thank you for being more reliable and trustworthy than any mere human.

  3. Let me trust you more today.

Praying the Psalms During COVID-19 (Day 3)

Day 3 of 30

Today’s Readings:

Today’s Devotional Thought:

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”  (Psalms 16:1-2)

As you read these two verses, notice three aspects of David’s prayer:

  • First, the request: “Preserve me, O God”

  • Second, the rationale: “for in you I take refuge.”

  • Third, the assertion: “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

Today I want to camp out on this third and final aspect. What does it mean to “have no good” apart from God? Well, imagine a scale with two sides. On the one side, you put every good thing you can imagine in this world. On the other side, you put God alone. Which side is better? According to David, God outweighs everything, and nothing is truly good apart from him.

Now this is relevant for our national crisis today. A lot of things we thought of as good have been taken off the scales of life: access to toilet paper on demand (I’m kind of joking), freedom of movement, job security, confidence in the world economy, and our own sense of control. And for many, COVID-19 is currently threatening life itself or the life of a loved one.

But if David is right and we have nothing “good apart from God,” then suffering isn’t what we originally thought. Health, wealth, and prosperity are good but end in despair apart from God. And why? Because we have no good apart from him! Likewise, pandemic and economic downturn are terrible but can end in eternal good if we have God.

So we need to examine ourselves: can we truly say that we have nothing good apart from God? Or do we think that God is good as long as we have something else too?

Ways to Pray:

  1. Preserve me and my family from this virus.

  2. Preserve our healthcare workers and vulnerable members of our community.

  3. Let me take refuge in you alone through your Son, Jesus Christ.

  4. Adoration: You alone are my good—nothing else!

  5. Confession: Forgive me for seeking good in the world apart from you.

  6. Thanksgiving: Thank you for using this national crisis to point me to yourself as my ultimate good.

  7. Supplication: May those who are looking for good from this life discover that there is no good apart from you (see Psalm 17:14-15).

Praying the Psalms During COVID-19 (Day 2)

Day 2 of 30

Today’s Readings:

Today’s Devotional Thoughts from Pastor Stern:

As you pray through Psalm 9 today, consider these three verses:

“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds” (Psalms 9:1). 

In this time of national uncertainty, how should Christians respond? Wouldn’t it be glorious if we responded like David in this verse? First, he gives thanks to God with his whole heart (not a half heart!) Second, he recounts the wonderful deeds of God. And as New Testament believers, we have even more wonderful deeds to recount. David could recount God’s covenant faithfulness to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Ruth, and so many more. But we can recount the accomplishment of redemption through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! What deeds have you been recounting lately in your heart—God’s deeds or something else?   

Ways to pray:

  • Forgive me for not giving thanks with my whole heart in this national crisis.  

  • Forgive me for not recounting your wondrous deeds as much as I recount the latest infection rate of COVID-19; may my eyes be fixed on you alone!

  • Lord, thank you for....

  • Please give me more opportunities to recount your wonderful deeds, O Lord!

“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you” (Psalms 9:10).

How can you have confidence in “times of trouble” (cf. verse 9) like our nation is facing today? According to David, there are two conditions. First, you must know the name of God. And this doesn’t mean simply pronouncing the sounds. You need to have an experiential knowledge of the Triune God of the Bible—the holy God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who raised his Son Jesus Christ from the dead. But second, head knowledge of his name isn’t enough; you must trust in the Lord. This trust means repenting of sin and looking to Jesus Christ alone for hope, life, salvation, and everything. But amazingly, David tells us that those who trust in the name of God are never forsaken. So are you trusting God? Are you seeking him? 

Ways to pray: 

  • Heavenly Father, during this time of global pandemic, may more and more people come to know and trust your name. If possible, use me as an instrument to make your name known to my friends, family, and neighbors.

  • Forgive me for my unbelief. Let me not only know your name but trust it completely. Let me believe that I shall never be forsaken, no matter how dark things seem.

“Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men!” (Psalms 9:20).

If coronavirus should teach us anything as a nation, this is it. He is the Lord. He is holy. He is to be feared with a holy reverence. He's God, and we're not. But sometimes we think we’re smarter than God. We think we’re wiser than God. We think we can control everything through science and human innovation. But it only takes one virus from a market in China to bring the world to its knees. We would do well to remember that we “are but men.” And thankfully, we have a gracious Savior in heaven who loves us and gave himself for us (Galatians 2:20).

Ways to pray:

  • Use this crisis to humble me in my walk with you, Lord GOD.

  • Use this crisis to humble America, the Church, and the world. May we trust in you alone!

Praying the Psalms During COVID-19

Day 1 of 30

Today’s Readings:

Today’s Devotional Thought from Pastor Stern:

As you read Psalm 4, pay attention to verse 8. David says, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” He describes himself as having peace, sleep, and safety. I imagine that many of us are missing these during a season of COVID-19. But where do they come from? God alone makes us ‘“dwell in safety.” So let us pray this verse for ourselves and our community.

Ways to pray:

  • Give me peace, sleep, and safety tonight.

  • Give medical workers peace, sleep, and safety tonight.

  • Give the sick peace, sleep, and safety in Christ.

  • Forgive me for seeking safety apart from You.

  • Thank you that I can know this peace and safety through Christ!

What to Do This Sunday at Home

Like many churches in the Philadelphia area (and in the world), Hope Presbyterian Church will be unable to meet for public worship on March 15th and March 22nd because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as you stay home this Sunday, remember that it’s still the Lord’s Day. God has given us six days to do our ordinary work, but this is a day of rest, worship, and mercy. So here are a few thoughts on how to spend the day:

  1. Consider a social-media/news fast on Sunday. Media has a purpose, but in times like this, it can lead to anxiety and fear. If you’re just at home anyway, take the time that you would have spent online or watching the news and devote it to prayer, Bible reading, in addition to private and family worship. This is part of the reason Hope isn’t going to stream something on Facebook. I would rather see our people truly resting from the influx of news. Turn off your devices!

  2. Consider private worship on Sunday. Don’t we all wish we had more time to pray and read our Bibles individually? Well, here it is. Don’t view Sunday as a time to get caught up on Netflix. Wouldn’t it be amazing if Hope Church grew closer to God through prayer and private Bible reading in this time of crisis? You could read through the book of Psalms and pray as you go. You could read a letter of the Apostle Paul several times in a row. You could memorize a favorite passage. There are so many great possibilities!

  3. Consider family worship on Sunday. If you have family at home, devote time to family worship. Here's a link to the bulletin we would have used this Sunday. You may want to sing the songs, reflect on the catechism question, pray and read the Bible together. It could be a great time of family connection. (Here's the best sermon I've ever heard on family worship and how to do it.)

Hope in the Lord …. and go and sin no more

What is the worst sin you’ve ever committed? I have spent a lot of time thinking about this recently; maybe too much, but I cannot always control what thoughts enter my head. Spurgeon said, “All sins are great sins, but yet some sins are greater than others.” I am still unsure how to judge the seriousness of my sins. Should I consider which sins had the worst consequences? Is the amount of harm I caused to myself or to others most important?  How much worse are repeated sins compared to one-time sins? Is the amount of embarrassment and shame I would experience if my sin became known important? Should how much I broke someone’s trust matter? How wicked are those sins of unrepentant disobedience where I do not feel particularly guilty or repentant? Are public sins worse than private sins? My list is long, and no matter how much I hated and repented of my past sins, I could not seem to completely break free of the guilt and disgrace of what I had done. It took a while, but I finally found comfort in Jesus’ words to two sinners.

In John 5, Jesus heals a lame man and tells him to “sin no more”. In John 8, Jesus saves an adulterous woman who was about to be stoned. When the woman departed, He told her to “go and sin no more.” Jesus did not tell either sinner to “think about what you’ve done.” He did not tell them to make amends or to unburden their heart to others. Jesus did not demand that they offer sacrifices to God. He did not recommend a multi-step plan. All of these responses to sin may have their place, but none of those activities can change the past. Too often our response to our sin causes us to dwell unnecessarily on the past. But Jesus commanded these sinners to accept God’s grace and focus their hatred of their sin both on the here-and-now and on the future.

So how do I respond in a hopeful and helpful way to my guilt and regrets? One passage has been quite helpful. In 2 Corinthians 7 Paul contrasts godly guilt that leads to repentance and greater intimacy with God against worldly grief that lacks any redemptive purpose and leads to death. Also, throughout the Psalms, God’s people have prayed for God to examine their hearts and show their hidden faults (Psalms 139, 26, 19). But finding and pointing out my sins is the easy part. Praying for God to “lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6) and to “lead me in the everlasting way” (Psalm 139) is a reminder of the priority of living in the present and looking to the future without reliving the past.

In hindsight, if I had spent more time reading the Bible, listening to godly preaching, and participating in Christian fellowship and small group study, then maybe I would have been reminded of Jesus’ words of comfort sooner. Then again, perhaps my months of struggle prepared me to listen and to obey the Word of God when I was reminded of what Jesus said. All I know is that focusing the hatred of my sin on what I am currently thinking and doing (or not doing) is a much more hopeful response to Jesus’ command to “go and sin no more.”

 

What Pastor Stern is Reading This Week (Last Week of January 2020)

Finding Forgiveness for Religious Hypocrisy (Isaiah 6:1-8)

This might shock people, but I am a sinner. I know, this is difficult to comprehend, but stay with me for a minute. I can be a hypocrite that relies on ministry opportunities to prove my love for God. Too often, my justification sounds a little too close to the Pharisees: “We are descendants of Abraham, and we have never been enslaved to anyone” (John 8:33, CSB).

Of course I’m close to you, God: I’m a student in seminary; I’ve always been in church; I’m a pastoral intern at two churches! Sometimes, we can rely a little too close to our external fruit, and we forget to look at our own hearts.

 This isn’t just Jonathan Hatt’s problem. Isaiah, a man in ministry, spent many years thinking the same thing. As God’s mouth-piece, Isaiah did all the external action of calling Israel to repentance. He was a “man of God”; he was calling people to repentance; he did everything external to please God. Did you know he was also a hypocrite?

Look at Isaiah 6, chapters after Isaiah’s beginning of ministry. In this passage, Isaiah becomes face-to-face with the LORD Himself, Isaiah comes into the presence of this holy and righteous God. How does Isaiah respond? “Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Armies” (Isaiah 6:5, CSB). Isaiah was a religious hypocrite; he saw his sin of hypocrisy before anyone else. Even biblical writers could go through the motions, forgetting the absolute holiness and glory of our Lord.

And yet, it is this same glory of God that turns Isaiah from his sin, because the next verse promises Isaiah that “your iniquity [i.e. evil action] is removed and your sin is atoned for [i.e. forgiven]” (V.7). Isaiah is not left despondent in guilt and shame; he is forgiven so that he can return to God again in loving obedience (v.8)!

You yourself may have experienced an Isaiah-moment, where you see the infinite magnitude of God’s glory and holiness, and you tell yourself: “God, I’m unworthy. I’m too guilty!” Yet our conviction is only the first step; God offers us so much more than just therapy for feeling bad about ourselves. He forgives that guilt of religious hypocrisy, going through the motions of “church” instead of daily coming to God in utter dependence.

You might feel like a hypocrite today; don’t worry, it’s you and me both. Praise God who offers us something so much more in Jesus Christ. Instead of only Isaiah seeing the glory of God, Jesus “became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Christ himself came in the flesh, and so often the presence of Christ alone is enough for people to fall at their feet and seek forgiveness. Thankfully, Christ came to live the perfect life in our place, died as the perfect sacrifice, and was raised again through the power of God. And it’s based on that fact alone that we can walk in newness of life today.

If you’re suffering from complacency, if you’re suffering from “faking Christianity,” if you feel the weight of guilt and shame, you can bring all of this to Jesus’ feet. The absolute glory of Christ’s death and resurrection for us will always be enough to cure us from religious hypocrisy.

HOPE IN THE LORD … with courage and boldness

Since 1904, the Carnegie Hero Fund has recognized individuals who knowingly and voluntarily risk their life to save another person. Recent heroes have risked drowning, animal attacks, fire, and criminal assault to rescue someone in peril; often someone they do not even know. These heroes act instinctively and impulsively without concern for their safety. They overcome their fears for someone else’s benefit, and we certainly admire their bravery. While God’s Word commends this momentary courage (think of David facing Goliath), God’s children are more often called to muster another type of courage and boldness. We are commanded to display a deliberate, thoughtful, and settled courage that comes from being faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ. Our obedience to God may cause us to confront risks and dangers to our physical or emotional well-being, to our loved ones or our relationships, and to our financial security or possessions. We are commanded to, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed”. (Joshua 1) Courage is not the absence of fear and danger but doing what is right even if there is risk and peril. We admire the people of God who personify this settled, deliberate courage. Esther with King Ahasuerus. Daniel and his friends in Babylon. And Jesus facing the cross utterly alone.

 

Even the world recognizes the importance of courage and admires those who overcome their fears. Maya Angelou said, “Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” William Faulkner said, “Be scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid.” Winston Churchill declared, “Of all human qualities, courage was the most esteemed, because it guaranteed all others.” C.S. Lewis stated, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.”

 

We might think courage is only for a few exceptional people, and that courage is not something that matters to me. What does it matter to the Kingdom of God if I live faithfully with boldness and bravery? Throughout the Bible various lists of sins are strongly condemned: Proverbs 6, Galatians 5, Ephesians 5, and Colossians 3. But Revelation 21:8 has an especially chilling description of the characteristics of those who will spend eternity in hell. “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Cowards lead this list of people excluded from the Kingdom of God in heaven. It is unsettling that God groups cowards with killers, perverts, and deceivers. In God’s mind, living a faithful, courageous and bold live is no minor, insignificant matter.

 

OK, courage is important and admirable, but where do we find godly courage? I certainly cannot find the courage within myself to do what is right against all the people who oppose God and His Kingdom. And it does not matter if we are victorious in this world. Hebrews 11 recounts those who seemed to be defeated and yet received something far better from God. Thankfully, what God commands, He also graciously provides the strength and power to obey. In Deuteronomy 31 and Joshua 1, we are promised that because the Lord will be with us wherever we go, we can be courageous. In Psalm 27 and 31, we are promised that if we wait for the Lord, we will be strong and bold. In 2 Corinthians 3, since we have hope in the sufficiency of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be live boldly, faithfully and obediently to God in a world of dangers, threats, and risks.

The Great Boston Molasses Flood

One hundred years ago, Boston was a thriving center for molasses trade. Ships would come from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the West Indies to unload their sweet syrup into large storage tanks at the port. While some molasses was used for cooking, most was fermented and distilled into alcohol for either consumption or World War I munitions. In January 1919, a large storage tank (50 feet tall and 90 feet wide) filled with over two million gallons of molasses burst. A wave of warm molasses surged through the streets of Boston. It was 25 feet high traveling at 35 mph. Buildings were swept off their foundations. A streetcar was tipped off its tracks. Several blocks were flooded to a depth of up to 3 feet. Soon the molasses cooled and became viscous, trapping people and animals, hampering their rescue. Twenty-one people were killed and 150 were injured. The cleanup lasted for weeks. Boston Harbor was stained brown until the summer. The sweet smell of molasses lingered in parts of the city for years.

God blesses us every day with many wonderful gifts. The pleasure of delicious food. The security of prosperity. Time to rest. The intimacy between husband and wife. Speaking words of encouragement and kindness to one another. God also warns us that we are only to enjoy His blessings within certain boundaries and limits. When the molasses sat in the storage tank, it was a valuable commodity with much benefit to its owners and many uses for the community. But as soon as it left the boundaries of the storage tank, the molasses lost all of its value and actually became a hazard to everyone nearby.

We see God’s warnings for the importance of self-control in Scripture (Proverbs 25) and in the general revelation of the law of reaping-and-sowing. (Galatians 6) Overeating leads to gluttony and obesity. Preoccupation with money leads to greed. Too much leisure leads to poverty. Sex outside the marriage covenant ruins relationships. Angry words harm others. It is important to keep all of these good and wonderful blessings contained within their God-given limits. When we don’t, God’s wonderful gifts become worthless to us and dangerous to others. Thankfully, we do not have to rely merely on our own power. The Fruit of the Spirit includes self-control. (Galatians 5) And God graciously empowers His children to flourish under His care and direction, and to increasingly think and act more like Jesus.