Summer Reading, part six

Psalm 32:8 says that God will “instruct you and teach you.” This verse is a favorite of mine because if I’m going to be taught, I’d rather be taught by an expert. God is an expert on everything, so God is my favorite teacher. He’s always right.

When I read Psalm 27 through 33, I discovered that each one either had a reference to waters or a rock. They mention praising God for being saved. When I put them all together, the picture these verses drew in my mind was of someone caught in a flash flood and saved by taking refuge on a high rock. 

I think the verses I’ve studied for today’s blog post mean different things to people because we all need to see different things in scripture. We don’t all have the same issues and experiences. This group of psalms reminds us that we are safe with God. We can put our hope in him and trust him. God’s word is powerful no matter what kind of trials we’re going through.

I know I will be safe with God. Psalm 27:5 says that God “set me high upon a rock.” Psalm 28:1 says, “you are my Rock.” Psalm 31:2 says that God is “my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.” I’ve been hiking in the mountains where I could see a great distance down below. It felt like I was perched up in a protected area, away from the world, away from harm. When I think about God as the solid rock of our protection who lifts us up in his hands, I’m comforted. I feel secure.

When God lifts me up, I know no harm can come to me. “The voice of the Lord is over the waters,” according to Psalm 29:3, and verse 10 says he is “enthroned over the flood.” Psalm 30:1 praises God because the Lord “lifted me out of the depths.” And Psalm 32:6 says “surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.”  Psalm 33:7 says that God “gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses.” God is in control.

According to Psalm 33:5, “The Lord loves righteousness and justice.” So why would he save sinners like us?

We’re reminded in Psalm 33:15 that God considers the hearts of the men he created. God looks at what’s in a man’s heart, not what’s on his letterhead. In Psalm 33:16, we’re reminded that we’re not saved by the size of our own army. God doesn’t look at our Facebook friends list. God doesn’t judge us by the number of Twittter followers we have. God doesn’t check our Amazon ranking. He checks our hearts.

Both Psalm 27 and Psalm 33 tell us to wait. Psalm 27:14 tells us to “be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 33:20 reminds us that we are to “wait in hope for the Lord.”  I know we get impatient with God when we feel like he isn’t working his miracles in our lives on our schedule. If we’ll settle down and let God be God, we’ll see him lifting us up at the right time. Our job is to trust him. Psalm 33:21 says “because we trust in God, we can rejoice.”