Waist Deep 2018 - A Daily Dip in the Bible

Psalm 64: 1 Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint. (NIV) People never felt belittled by Jesus for their focus on the unimportant. They felt challenged.* The psalmist seeks protection from the threats and plots of his enemies,* which for him was a real and present danger – a far cry from the reality of our lives. But then, most of us are our own worst enemies! Even though my complaints may sound suspiciously like whining, still God listens. And cares. My gripes may be petty and seem to be beneath his regard, and the things that make me happy may be small as well, but God doesn’t roll his eyes and say, “Big deal.” He shares in my joy and in my whining. He provides the grand and awesome blessings as well as the tiny grace notes of life. It is amazing that he wants to hear from us, but he is big enough to handle our complaints. We are not going to shake him up or cause him to question himself or have a crisis of faith. We can pray our feelings honestly. As...

Psalm 62: 11, 12 One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving. (NIV) We speak often and say nothing; God speaks once and utters eternal verities. All our speaking may yet end in sound; but he speaks, and it is done; he commands, and it stands fast.* We know that God has said more than one thing and we have heard more than two, but let’s allow the psalmist to make a poetic point! When we say something like, “Well, I know this much . . .,” we don’t mean to imply that that is all that we know. “That you, O God, are strong,” may be translated, “that strength is the Lord's,” by which we may under-stand that he is “the Origin of power .”*   He isn’t just strong; he is where power comes from! But God is also the source of love. David knows that these two qualities are intrinsically combined in the nature of God. They are “the two grand truths”* revealed on every page of his Word. We ackn...

Psalm 62: 1 My soul finds rest in God alone. (NIV) We are not living in the world our souls were made for .* According to language experts, the exact meaning of this verse is not clear. One such expert claims that the literal translation from the Hebrew is, "Only unto God silence my soul." Other translations include:  · Only in God does my soul rest. (The Douay Version)  · For God alone my soul waits in silence. (RSV)  · Truly my soul waiteth upon God. (KJV)  · I wait patiently for God to save me. (The Good News Bible)  · Only in God do I encounter peace. (translated from Dios       Habla Hoy)  · Shall not my soul be subjected to God? (LXX)  Whatever words convey the exact intended meaning of the verse, the theme is consistent: longing for peace and rest - which we find only in God. Long relaxing vacations and transcendental meditation are only band-...

Psalm 61: 4 I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. (NIV) How can a man be prepared for an eternal heaven who finds the worship of God on earth irksome and tedious?* I don’t have any experience with life in the ancient Middle East, but I imagine David’s sentiment is similar to the feeling I get when I think of being at my parents’ house: clean sheets; my favorite food; being loved; feeling secure. God is the perfect host who provides protection from thieves and bad weather; fulfills every wish for our comfort; always makes us feel welcome. David’s longing wasn’t just for the physical security of his personal tent. God’s tent – the tabernacle – was considered the dwelling place of God. At the time this psalm was written, David had been banished from the tabernacle. According to Romans 8: 38 and 39, nothing can separate us from the love of God; but David’s physical exile symbolized spiritual separation from God’s “sacred ...

Psalm 61: 1 Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. (NIV) Powerful prayer speaks from the heart.* It seems that David should know that God hears and listens to him. Even though he was a sinner like every human, God called David “a man after my own heart.” Did he really doubt that God was tuned to his cries? Actually, the Old Testament abounds with examples of behaviors that caused God to ignore prayers. For one, idolatry was a big deal-breaker back in the day. In Job 35: 12, we read that the arrogance of the wicked causes God not to answer prayers. In Psalm 66: 18, we are told that God does not listen if we cherish sin in our hearts. According to Proverbs 21: 13, anyone who ignores the cry of the poor will be ignored. And in the New Testament, James 4: 3 tells us that God denies our requests when we have wrong motives. In truth, the only thing that sets us apart from the wicked whose prayers aren’t heard is the blood of Jesus Christ. Whether we got rewa...

Psalm 59: 4 I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. (NIV) Your spiritual walk has a slight limp.* I’m sure that David was being falsely accused and was in danger for his life, but doesn’t this sound a little bit like whining? Perhaps he is not saying that he has not sinned at all – just that he has not done any-thing to provoke these particular enemies. There are times, though, even as we bristle over being falsely accused, that we are guilty all the same. When I was in high school, I attended a party where people were indulging in an activity of which I disapproved. I was pretty vocal with my reproaches but at the same time my behavior was not a shining example of Christian conduct. (Forgive me for being vague.) When I overheard one of the other guests call me a hypocrite, I got in a bit of a huff over it. After all, I wasn’t doing the same thing I was criticizing others for. It didn’t take long, though, for the truth to sink in. She was right an...

Psalm 57: 1 I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. (NIV) God does not expect us to stand firm in our own inadequate strength.* I have always assumed that this verse refers to a hen gathering her chicks under her wings. While the little chickens may feel safe under there, it doesn’t seem like such a secure place to me. A mother hen can’t stop a larger animal from snatching her and leaving her babies unprotected. For me, the phrase, “shadow of your wings,” paints a picture of a great bird of prey hovering over me and scaring away the predators on the ground around me. An eagle is lot more fierce than even the angriest chicken! I am reminded of how secure I felt in our house as Hurricane Charley passed over us. The refuge in my house differs from God’s wings, though. In my house, I wasn’t 100% sure that I was safe and secure. The roof could have blown off; trees could have fallen on the house (instead of all around it!). No ...

Psalm 56: 8 Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll – are they not in your record? (NIV) Humanity is not a faceless crowd to God.* In college, we had to do a project during our study of the book of Exodus. I don’t recall if the whole class did the same thing or if we had choices, but I remember that I made a poster depicting the specifications for the tabernacle. I miscalculated on my drawing of the curtain and got the dimensions wrong. (If I had been a mathematician, I would not have gone to Bible college.) As I had put off starting the project until after curfew on the night before it was due, and I had no more posterboard, I was stuck with my mistake. I’m sure the professor was impressed with how I improved on God’s design by labeling the excess inches as “extra fabric.”  While the experience should have taught me a lesson about the evils of procrastination, what I did take away from it was an awe of God’s attention to detail. He didn’t give vague ...

Psalm 56: 4 (and 11) In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (NIV) If we don’t trust when times are tough, we don’t trust at all.* What is the worst thing that another person has ever done to you? Did he do it on purpose? Did she know she was hurting you? Human beings can do some very awful things to each other, intentionally or unintentionally. Jesus’ death is confirmation of man’s depravity. The news reports bombard us with stories of the atrocities humans can inflict on each other. It is natural to be afraid in the face of evil.   It is true that “[t]rembling and trust often co-exist in us,”* but our faith in God sets us above the fear of man. If human power is too puny for us to trust in it, then neither is it something for us to fear. We must do what is right – even if we can’t defend ourselves against those who twist and pervert our intentions. When I am facing the unknown I like to ask myself, “What is the worst that...

Psalm 55: 22 Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. (NIV) Whatever your . . . challenges, you need only to ask the One whose resources are unlimited.* First Peter 5: 7 conveys a similar message: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”  There is a slight distinction between the anxieties in Peter’s letter and the cares in David’s psalm.  Anxieties may come and go, but the word used in the psalm literally means “what is given,” or “lot” or “portion.” These cares are our daily burdens – the things that are such a part of our lives that we get used to carrying them. Maybe we don’t think of them as burdens – like raising our children or caring for our homes - they are just “what we do.” David’s words are beautiful because they tell us that God wants to be a part of our everyday lives. There are people who manage to get through life without seeking God’s help but God wants to help us. He ...