As we wrote last week the Psalms are divided into five groups. This week, Book 2 which consists of Psalms 42 through 72 and is our next stop. We have chosen to use the first Psalm of each book during our journey through Psalms. Because of their shared vocabulary, themes, and refrain we have decided to do 42 and 43 together as a unit. The focus here speaks in general terms of danger, threats, anxiety, trust and hope. These two Psalms adapt to a variety of situations and underscore the fundamental biblical fact that our lives depend heavily on our relationship with God. I do not want our time here in the Pew to be one of overwhelming detail. So…keeping it simple let’s start with 42: 1-5. 

Here we see the psalmist’s need for God using the image of thirst. He thirsts for God…We know that as humans we too thirst for water…without it we cannot survive. For the person here as for you and I God is a necessity of life. Communion with God is necessary, we need to see his face, feel his presence, for he is our bread of life. In His house I find hope, here I can pour out my soul and be protected my the Mighty One. There is reference in these first five verses that in my mind refers to not being in the house of God often enough…there are tears because of this absence and there are only memories, all one can do is to remember the joy of past visits. Moving on to verses 6-11 there is the echoes that continue to emphasize the writers despair. While water has been used to convey an image in verses 1-2 we read of to much water in verse 7, which is working against and threatens to overwhelm the writer. Verse 8 seems to remember a happier time. Some wonderful thoughts lie among the words of this Psalm in these last verses. God’s steadfast love is reaffirmed. The palm has hinted at hope and help and now moves toward an expression of assurance. There is for practical thinkers the fact that despair and hope can exist simultaneously. No need to dwell here long the simple fact is we need the “bread of life” which comes only through a relationship with our God.

In Psalm 43, which is only 5 verses long we read the Psalmist moving from complaint to vindication. He seeks to find justice for himself against his enemies who are deceitful and unjust. There is again a despair there but also hope. The writer seeks the light and truth of God to led him to the temple where he will worship God with great Joy. One of the themes that comes together here in these two Psalms is that usually the light is associated with God’s face. There is a Joy and I might add unspeakable, of coming to the Temple…and the words “I shall again Praise.”

Come to the Temple! Praise God…Amen

Life is Good

jk

Welcome to the pondering headquarters on this end of the block. I come out here on the back porch to clear my mind, divest myself of the day’s concerns but that doesn’t always happen. Truth is the mind never takes a break…now thinking all the time can be a burden, that’s is why I am so fond of pondering. You who know me know I love to play with words…I like to ponder about things, which in reality is no more than taking time to access the the situation before acting and also delays having to make a decision or commitment. (I am thinking about it.) Another way of putting it would be to follow the Oxford Languages definition…think about (something) carefully, especially before making a decision or reaching a conclusion. Now after having done all this pondering you are ready for the next step. You can now announce that you have arrived at an OPINION. For those in government, positions of authority or imagined importance, this gives you another opportunity to delay somewhat any kind of commitment. By having an opinion you have expressed a feeling, an attitude, a value judgment, or a belief. It is a statement that is neither true nor false. Or it may feel true for some, but false for others. As I ponder this tonight here on the back porch I have arrived at an opinion about having an opinion! This is important…trust me. I fear the death of opinion, that’s right, the death of opinion. Now let me explain that…how would that even be possible? Having an opinion in these days is a hazardous endeavor. There will always be those of a differing opinion and that   should be expected but the difference now is the lack of civility and respect for other opinions. The daily news for which I usually require a table spoon of Malox before and after consumption proves my opinion of the state of opinion these days. Just recently a young woman’s opinion about trans-gender influence in sports was to speak at a school of higher learning. Her table display was destroyed and also turned over. There have been other cases where displays and even appearances by those of differing opinions have had to be taken  down, resulting also in the canceling of the appearance because of security concerns. Now I will not burden you with numbers, serves no purpose and that is my opinion. What was it that Rodney King said years ago? Can’t we all just get along? The answer to that Rodney is no, and that Sir is not an opinion…It is a FACT. Come back next week to the Back Porch.

jk

The Book of Psalms is one of the most diverse books of the Bible. It deals with many subjects, creation, war, worship, wisdom, sin and evil, judgment, justice, and the coming of the Messiah. These Subjects are included in 150 individual psalms. One of the unusual facts about the Psalms would be that they are attributed to multiple authors. David wrote 73 of them, two of them are attributed to Solomon, David’s son and successor. Moses is credited with Psalm 90 and another group of 12 psalms (50) and (73—83) is ascribed to the family of Asaph Levites that King David assigned as worship leaders in the tabernacle choir. There were others, the sons of Korah wrote 11 psalms and all these additional authors were priests or Levites. Still more, fifty of the psalms designate no specific person as author, although two of those are designated elsewhere in the Bible as psalms of David. The Psalms have been referred to as the “songbook” of the early church.

Psalm 100 KJV … 

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: Come before his presence with singing.

Parts of the book of Psalms were used as a a hymnal in the worship services of ancient Israel. They were sung with the accompaniment of the musical instruments of the day. God is in all of the Psalms. Our God is above all things but is close enough to call out to and to walk alongside of us in good times or in times of distress. It is wonderful that we can bring all our feelings to God…He will hear and understand…even when we cry out in pain, fear and confusion finding ourselves overwhelmed by the problems of life. He will draw near and comfort us. The Psalms are divided into five groups. These brief notes below are taken from ESV.org. 

Psalms 1–41  Psalms 1–2 provide an introduction to the Psalms as a whole.    

Psalms 42–72  Book 2 introduces the first group of psalms by the “sons of Korah” (42; 44–49; 50). There are also more psalms of David (51–65; 68–69), including most of the “historical” psalms (51–52; 54; 56–57; 59–60; 63). Once again, lament and distress dominate these prayers, which now also include a communal voice.

Psalms 73–89  The brief third book contains most of the psalms of Asaph (73–83), as well as another set of Korah psalms (84–85; 87–88).

Psalms 90–106  Psalm 90 opens the fourth book of the psalms. It may be seen as the first response to the problems raised by Book 3. Psalm 90, attributed to Moses, reminds the worshiper that God was active on Israel’s behalf long before David. There is a group of psalms (93–100) characterized by the refrain “The LORD reigns.” This truth refutes the doubts of Psalm 89.

Psalms 107–150  The structure of Book 5 reflects the closing petition of Book 4 in 106:47. It declares that God does answer prayer (107) and concludes with five Hallelujah psalms (146–150). 

Today we have a brief overview of The Book of Psalms. In further visits to The Pew we will look at different ones from the five categories and explore this important book of the Bible a little closer…get beyond the words so to speak. This week we start at the very first Psalm 1.

Psalm 1 is a psalm of instruction concerning good and evil, setting before us life and death, the blessing and the curse, that we may take the right way which leads to happiness and avoid that which will certainly end in our misery and ruin. It is stated here in few words the difference in character of those who serve God and those that don’t. If we are honest with ourselves we know where we stand in our faith and with our God. We might say as children of God we understand the struggle of good and bad, sin and grace and that this battle continues as long as we live…it is an everlasting state that will last as long as heaven and hell and shall not be determined until the judgement. This psalm shows us in verses 1-6 a godly man is happy, a wicked man will endure misery from his sinful actions. We have the free will to chose the ground on which we will stand. This is a good start for this book of psalms because it shows us that we are to be of righteous behavior before our God, for he takes delight in the prayers of the righteous. There are those who are not fit to offer the prayers of the righteous because they do not walk in the good way. So what does the walk of the good way include? Well a different approach might be to read verse four. To keep it simple it is fact that the ungodly are led by the wicked in mind, into the habits of sinners. They do not delight in the law, totally scornful and contemptuous of the law of God. They do not ever think about it, they produce no fruit. Like that which has fallen from the branch, they lie on the hard ground where they rot. The righteous are like valuable fruit trees, useful and productive, while the sinners are like chaff that the wind blows away not being of use to anyone. There will be judgment coming for such people. They will be convicted as traitors, hanging their heads in shame and lost in a world of confusion held hostage in a world of sin. I find no comfort in dwelling on the fate of those who refuse the good way. It is true that some will hide among the congregations of God’s people but the day will come when judgement will separate the sheep from the goats. It is my hope that those among us that have not seen the light …so to speak… will by our example and love come before God on bended knee and repent of their sins.

It is really very simple, this first psalm makes clear that there is a difference between good and bad. They both represent a different path, one leads to God and all His glory, good life. The other leads directly to destruction. As we read these verses pray that we may become aware of that portion God has for those who sin. WE should prepare for the good, seek to live a holy life that we might find ourselves approved in God’s sight in every thing we do in this life.  

Life is Good

jk

Welcome to the back porch… Had it built in February this year with the expectation of that crisp fall evening sitting out here enjoying a cup of coffee. So I sit out here on the back porch in 72 degree weather, short sleeve shirt and shorts, pondering what is the difference between autumn and fall? Hadn’t really thought about that before. Actually both words are correct…get this, according to the folks at Reddit it’s a regional difference and most notably in British and American English. Americans typically call the season “fall”and Brits call it “autumn”. Also Reddit makes the point that the correct spelling is indeed “autumn”. Now that works right into a perfect segue for what’s really on my mind. As I understand it here in America we elect representatives to make known the wishes of their particular constituents. Now this can get confusing to many of us. The House represents citizens based on district populations, while the Senate represents citizens on an equal state basis, this in turn constitutes our Congress. So I must ask who is this caucus? Well the folks at Merriam-Webster define such as a closed meeting of a group of persons belonging to the same political party or faction usually to select candidates or to decide on policy.  There are 435 voting members proportionally representing the population of the 50 states. That brings me to the events of the past few days. Now we know that there is another divide of opinions here which are referred to as political parties. Now within these political parties, which for some reason there exists another group of people that also caucus together, we have fertile ground for differences of major proportions. If I understand this right there are at least four or five different caucuses within the House itself. So here is the question of the night here on the porch. Take this home and ponder over it. With all these units within the governmental structure and given the position we ordinary folks hold…you know, us who sent them there to do a job…who is listening to us. Get with your Caucus before next week and come back to the porch with an answer.

jk 

A simple parable, one of the favorite teaching tools of Jesus and in this case leaves those who would try to trap and discredit him the victims of their own trap. In Matthew 21:23 the chief priests confront Jesus…questioning his authority. Jesus cleverly gets by their trap by asking them to first answer a question for him. 

Matthew 21:23-25   (NLT)

23 When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”24 “I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied. 25 “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?”

What about John the Baptist…did he have the authority to baptize others. This type of verbal sparing Jesus excelled at. Parables were addressed to and mainly concerned the chief priest, elders, and the Pharisee. It was these groups who had opposed Jesus, and whom He had just thwarted. They would not answer his question, knowing full well it would expose them as hypocrites or displeasing the crowd .Jesus then declined to answer their question (Matthew 21:27) before telling them two parables. He had given them the opportunity to speak their opinion, because of their refusal maybe they would give their opinion about a story…a parable. Jesus told them two parables, the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-30) Here we address the ‘do or don’t’. Neither of the son’s involved in these parables were perfect, both showed disrespect…a point to remember here is that the first son refused to do as his father asked but later repented and complied with his father’s will. The other son was deceitful when he agreed to do as his father asked and never went to work in the vineyard. The point is one son repented for his disrespect, and did the father’s will, the other lied and did not do his father’s will. Then Matthew adds Jesus’ response to the priests’ and elders…Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. What is notable here is that Matthew was a tax collector when the Lord called him. Many sinners and prostitutes upon hearing the good news repented of their sins. These religious leaders like the other son pretended to respect and promised obedience but did not go and do the will of God. Isaiah spoke to this… Isaiah 29:13…

And so the Lord says,
“These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.

In this parable, John’s “baptism” and Jesus’s authority “to do these things” were both from God. Do we go through this life allowing old habits and distractions to be our guide? Or do we choose to seek the will of GOD, repent and do the Father’s will?

Life is Good

jk

There is an obvious cool in the early evening air here on the back porch. The few trees we have around here have an early Fall tint in their color but here we have mostly Cedar trees, well really, lots of Cedar and rocks. Where I am at if you are in the business of developing properties for a sub division or town homes the ground prep will require a time of blasting and hauling off a substantial amount of surface rock. Hope I got that right, I am not a developer so the lingo is an attempt to look like I know about such stuff. Clearing my mind tonight concerns a series of troubling increase in attitudes and behaviors that have overtaken society at large. Have you noticed lately it seems people are mad all the time. Actually it would not be over the top to say we have reached a stage of just plain angry. There are many synonyms for  the word mad and right off one of the very first is just plain angry. Now being just plain angry ain’t a good thing. I view that as and action verb because if that is where you are, a few well placed words won’t do the job. If your mad you can avoid whatever it was that you encountered, ignore the situation or just pout…don’t laugh, even men are some of the best pouters around…ever seen a Vol fan after a significant loss. Put it this way. Someone pushes you, you push back… then their push becomes a shove. When I was in high school a shove required a punch and so on. I think it kinda goes like this. Life can and usually pushes you around every day and you can go with the flow or find another way around. Now a shove interrupts forward progress, it is upfront and personal and disrupts your direction and you stumble forward into anger. Anger has no reason or judgment and often leads to violence. 

I am asking a question I have no answer for. What has brought all segments of society to this point…why are we so angry? Have the videos, movies so desensitized us to death and violence that we have lost all sense of worth as to human life. It seems as though we are oblivious to others pain and the corruption of our moral standards. I don’t believe we are going to hell in a handbag. There is not a bag big enough for all of us.    

Come back next week…in the meantime…Be nice to someone.

jk

Another book I don’t get to often enough. In these verses from Mark 10 we encounter a human trait that requires Godly guidance. Ambition that is driven by the possibility of personal gratification and reward will find no place in the Kingdom of God or in the earthly works of God’s people. We pick up here on a difference we find in Matthew’s account that tells us something about Mark.

Matthew writes that Jame’s and John’s request to sit on the left and right of Christ on his throne was not made by them. It was requested by their mother Salome. Most likely Matthew thought that such a request was inappropriate for an apostle and to save their reputations he attributed such ambition to their mother. From this story we are shown the honesty of Mark. No need to but I will point out that it did not go over well with the rest of the disciples. We sometimes forget that these were not a company of saints, they were ordinary men that had set out to do quite an unordinary thing…change the world…and they did. But we just can’t leave this hanging…they were, John and James, both ambitious.They knew well the task ahead of them and they were confidante of victory and their intentions were to be Jesus’ chief ministers of state. We have wrote these were ordinary men, so perhaps they were reading something more into what might lie ahead because it is fact that Jesus often included them in his inner circle of three. There are a couple of other reasons for their behavior but their ambitious approach to Jesus still reminds us of earthly failings we all succumb to. Now that other stumbling block. They had by now walked and been with Jesus for a bit now and they still could not completely rid their minds of the idea of a Messiah of earthly power and glory. As we read on there is still the wonder of their faith…Confused  as they might be, they still believed in Jesus. 

We should always be aware that Jesus never left any doubt in the minds of his followers. Instead of rebuking them he ask them a question…‘Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?’ Here it is important to realize what type of baptism Jesus is speaking of. This was not what we picture baptism to be. Jesus is saying is, ‘Can you bear to go through the terrible experience which I have to go through? Can you face being submerged in hatred and pain and death, as I have to be?’ They would in the future experience just that but at that time I don’t think they knew what they were saying yes to. So…what do we take away from these verses? All Things are of God and the final disposition of such an issue was God’s prerogative. With Jesus it was always the ‘will of my Father’. Jesus spent his earthly life in total submission to God’s will and he knew in the end that will was supreme.

Life is Good

jk

Missed the porch last week, so much going on. Have a seat, and let’s ponder a bit, people and things come and go… some leave a mark on time some just fade away as the years go by. Lost my brother-in-law last weekend, fact is as we get older it seems like death is a great stimulater of change…planed or not. I will miss him not because of the things we did together at times but because he was good man and we are losing to many of those these days. With me it is a quiet type of emotion, I am not a sack cloth and ashes type of man. Instead I ascribe to the fact that he is with the God he served and that is my comfort at such a loss. But what about things? You see I believe that death is a natural outcome for those who are blessed to live out their appointed time… we start dying the very second we take our first breath, then life happens and who knows what, when or how? 

Now about those things. We all have or have had something in our lives we never took the time to be happy about until it is gone. This is a hard one for me but one reason I come out to the back porch is to clear my mind and I guess to ease my conscience. I had the privilege of working for a great company, they paid me well affording me a living that my education would never have allowed. There was so much turmoil in my personal life and I’m not using this as an excuse for by behavior at that time. I didn’t have God in my life and there was no sense of direction in my life or standards of behavior. I went to work there in 1965 and somehow by the grace of God 38 years later I retired. Two of my employers favorite words were order and arrangement. I was taught discipline, accountability, dependability and in a very sneaky way which many of us would never admit to…a pride in what we did because of the standards we were expected to adhere to. We were just ordinary guys and gals just off the street that were expected to develop a skill that would produce a… here is another phrase that was also a favorite…World Class Product! Well we did just that. 

Then about 1985 things started to change. We had gone through Jimmy Carter and record inflation and a lot of things in the overall world market also changed. Textile fibers had changed, many of the plants that were into textile products were unable to compete with the new world order of manufacturing. What we didn’t see at the time had nothing to do with world market…we had become a victim of the new social order that looked upon discipline, accountability and dependability as a discriminatory tactic to hold people back. Now I am trying to be nice here as to what happened. Individual accountability was replaced by the Team Approach… we went to the mountain and lay on our backs looking at clouds, climbing towers and swinging on ropes, we went from doing your job to ‘well somebody needs to do it…oh I know it’s a team responsibility.’ Then came the nail, as they say the last one in the coffin. Welcome to the world of self management! I knew wage roll just like me that had a meeting calendar, can you imagine? I soon got to where I actually said to an Area Supervisor at one meeting I was at and I am ashamed to admit it but I too had fell under this new things  spell.… ‘who the hell is putting product in the box’? We never saw it coming. We lost our focus, our discipline and respect for those who would lead us. In short the inmates had taken over the asylum, crude but true. Tonight here on the porch as I write this I regret that I behaved as I did toward management. I never disrespected them or did anything to compromise the quality of the product…What I did was much worse. I did not support leadership and remained quite when I should have said Yes Sir… I remember when I went to work there we had within a year 5200 people employed…when I retired 38 years later there was just 800 left. Today we are seeing the values and customs, discipline and a great nation slowly going back to that mountain looking for something to turn us around. Instead of looking up to that mountain we should be on our knees, tying our shoes, getting ready to run a Good Race.

To put this in perspective… There is no accountability, no responsibility, we live in a do it your self world, as Frank would sing “I did It My Way”… and even Hobby Lobby doesn’t have the tools to get it done. 

jk

A parable well known but little understood tool of learning. The forgiveness of a certain man’s debt of such large proportions that he had no hope of ever repaying it in full and his seeking the forgiveness and then denying that same thing to one that owed him an infinitesimal fraction of what he himself had owed which had been forgiven and freed him from such burden and responsibility.

The Parable lays before us the mercilessness and total rejection of any forgiveness for the debt owed by another to him. In Matthew 18:22 we read the reply of Jesus after Peter asked him how many times are we to forgive a person, which Peter had calculated to be seven times. …Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” One of the lessons here is that we must forgive to be forgiven. Jesus said ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy’ (Matthew 5:7). We can acknowledge that man is capable of evil and it is in the nature of man to seek revenge. In these verses Jesus presents the alternative to the evil desire for revenge. Justice and mercy can only come about through forgiveness. We must strive to learn that we are all God’s own servants; and the day is at hand in which our Master will settle accounts, inquire about our work, and pay us our wages. Romans 6:23 ‘for the wages of sin is death’….  Or you could say two wrongs don’t make it right. How did this man present himself to his master? First he fell down to exhibit his humility. He asked for more time to pay his debt, he promised to pay it all. We know his master was moved to pity him and forgave his debt in full. There is a valid comparison here as to those who come to Christ seeking forgiveness. How should we come before the judgement seat? 

1. Deep humiliation of heart – on our knees
2. Fervent prayer.
3. Confidence in the mercy of God  
4. A firm purpose to devote our soul and body to your Maker

To bring this altogether consider the following. The master’s judgement against the man for not extending mercy to another who owed him money was harsh…again we are confronted with the truth that we must forgive others as God has forgiven us, or we can hope to find no mercy. We must always strive to make our hearts a place of love, peace and mercy. Some of this blog may seem extremely repetitive but the other truth is we can’t really say it enough. To Be Forgiven …We Must Learn To Forgive.  

Life is Good

jk

In 2016 I published a blog remembering 9/11. I have decided to insert some of that blog here today. I also include some excerpts from another blog written in July of 2021. Time has not been kind to us as a nation the last few years and Pogo said it best “the enemy is us.” I would never attribute something as atrocious as 9/11 as being God’s will…a punishment so to speak to us as a nation. It is true that we can no longer truthfully say we are a nation under God. So…on to the subject of the day.

There will be many words today, few will be able to capture the impact in loss of life and the realization that our enemies now had the ability to bring the horror of war to our soil. Here are a couple of things I take away from that day.   Death is never an easy thing to cope with and I don’t hold much with the advice that “things will be better in time; every day it will get a little better.” Don’t believe that, I believe we just learn how to live with it or for lack of a better term tolerate the loss. Like everyone else I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. Been  a few years now and I still can close my eyes and see those people jumping from the towers. Now after all these years’ history is slowly being rewritten in that many films have been edited to remove those pictures. Why is that important? To me it is important because while I can’t say what was in their mind at that time, I prefer to believe in that moment of extreme despair they chose how they would die. First take away, how much easier is it for us who only have to choose how to live. After all this time we still are not doing a good job of that. We right now are in a world of hurt…as us old folks would say. But guess what? It is not the political state of things but rather the state of or souls, and the soul of our nation. Church people say ‘we are the church’…When it comes to our nation… ‘we are our nation’ and we need God.

One of the first things that happened after it was determined that this was not a terrible mishap but was indeed a deliberate attack, was a no fly order issued for the whole country. All flights except those of military origin were grounded throughout the USA. I remember standing outside at work that afternoon and the next few days and looking up at the sky above. My second take away was that those contrails left by planes were absent from the sky. How odd it seemed. Just as a room becomes quite, no one speaking, their absence marked the silence of the skies. It was as if I was waiting to see something there that would tell me everything was going to be alright. My third take away is perhaps the one that is most imprinted on my mind and heart. As the towers fell the dust and debris of this awful destruction blotted the sun from the sky and blinded all those trapped by it. Everyone was covered to the point that there was no way to distinguish skin color or ethnicity, all were caught in a world of gray horror, dependent on the help and mercies of those closest to them. Somehow the need to take or offer a hand, to cover and shield another from the debris, to offer self in defense of another was the most striking thing I saw. We came together as a people, there was no time to shout USA, USA as would be heard much over the next few days. This may not make sense and I stand to be corrected. I believe on that day we were Americans all and in that moment we all became God’s children. (Matthew 22:39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”)

There is no way I could ever put to words the sacrifice of NYFD or Police, EMS or the hundreds of medical and civilian responders, there are no words that could do honor to their sacrifice. So how or where do we go from here? As a nation and a people we need to return to the good way, we need God and there is only one way…..John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 

Life is Good…God Forgive and Bless our nation…

jk