January 30, 2017
Worship:
All I Need Is You"
Left my fear by the side of the road
Hear You speak, won't let go
Fall to my knees, as I lift my hands to pray
Got every reason to be here again
Father's love that draws me in
And all my eyes wanna see is a glimpse of You
All I need is You
All I need is You, Lord, is You, Lord
All I need is You
All I need is You, Lord, is You, Lord
One more day, and it's not the same
Your Spirit calls my heart to sing
Drawn to the voice of my Savior once again
Where would my soul be without Your Son
Gave His life to save the earth
Rest in the thought that You're watching over me
All I need is You
All I need is You, Lord, is You, Lord
All I need is You
All I need is You, Lord, is You, Lord
You hold the universe
You hold everyone on earth
You hold the universe
You hold, You hold
A-Z Lyrics J JESUS CULTURE Lyrics
"We Cry Out" (2007)
Witness:
There was a movie that came out back in 1983 that garnered much attention called, “The Day After.” It was a story about nuclear war and focused on the lives of survivors from it. Today is a “day after” of sorts for me. Two years ago from yesterday, life as I knew it blew up for me. My wife of 37 years left by stealth in the middle of the night to run off with her old high school friend. The first signs of this eventual cataclysmic explosion in my life were when she began to be preoccupied with the marital and mental problems of her friend. I had just upgraded us to smart phones, and she took to finding old friends online. I did not recognize the problem until it was too late because I had no idea that my wife was unhappy in our marriage. I knew she was depressed and even spoke of feeling like killing herself, though she never attempted it. She said it was because of all the physical pain she experienced in her body. I took over the cooking and cleaning when she was in pain. I guess two depressed people met online and lived off of each other’s pain. How much of his pain and complaining siphoned over and poisoned my wife’s thinking I do not know? This online affair led to an actual affair right under my nose when we went to visit him. It all went down from there leading to that fateful day when I received a desperate text from my youngest daughter saying, “Something is wrong with mom.” I called her on the phone and told me, “She won’t answer the door and looking in I see three envelopes on the coffee table.” Rushing home, I burst into the house and picked up the envelopes. One was for me, one was for my daughter, and one was for my granddaughter. There I sat in my bedroom, closet, and dresser now half empty and my life feeling totally empty. I was in shock, and I wailed out loud and fell to the floor. The day after then is a blur now. I know there was much pain and weeping in those days which ultimately lead to leaving my home for 4 months and staying with my mom while I healed and sought Christian counseling. Fast forward two years to “this day after” and the pain and sorrow well up as I recount to you my feelings back then, but with a stark difference. I have found a strength outside of myself that is more than sufficient to conquer my pain and sorrows. I have experienced a love deeper than any love here on earth. I have risen to heights of joy no earthly relationship can bring. I had them all the time. Ever since I came to know Jesus as my Savior and Lord. But it wasn’t until I entered the valley that I truly experienced these things. As I was writing this, a song was just ending. These were the words I heard.
Let me find Your grace in the valley
Let me find Your life in my death
Let me find Your joy in my sorrow
Your wealth in my need
That You're near with every breath
In the valley
Let me find Your joy in my sorrow
Your wealth in my need
That You're near with every breath
In the valley
You're near to me
- By Sovereign Grace Music
So, on this “day after” I want to give all glory to God who loved me (a voice just came on my computer quoting John 3:16!) and called me and adopted me as His son through the death of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord. Who as my Great Shepherd, leads me through this valley. Guiding me with His Word and the Holy Spirit who comforts and strengthens me. As the song now playing is singing.
Then sings my soul
My Savior God to thee
How great Thou art
How great Thou art
It’s one more day after to rest in my Savior’s Love. It’s one more day after to rejoice in His salvation. It’s one more day to share His love with others. It’s…
One more day, and it's not the same
Your Spirit calls my heart to sing
Drawn to the voice of my Savior once again
Where would my soul be without Your Son
Gave His life to save the earth
Rest in the thought that You're watching over me
All I need is You
WORD:
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Ps 26:1-8
Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have led a blameless life;
I have trusted in the Lord
without wavering.
2 Test me, O Lord, and try me,
examine my heart and my mind;
3 for your love is ever before me,
and I walk continually in your truth.
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Ps 26:1-8
1 Declare me innocent, O Lord,
for I have acted with integrity;
I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me.
Test my motives and my heart.
3 For I am always aware of your unfailing love,
and I have lived according to your truth.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved..
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Ps 26:1-3
Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the Lord; therefore I shall not slide.
2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
3 For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.
KJV
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Ps 26:1-3
Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and my mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in your faithfulness.
ESV
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I have mused over these verses for days. Struggling to make some sense of them. I know what the commentators say about them, but the language of this prayer is so foreign to how we pray to God and the things he claims about himself few of us would venture to claim about ourselves. Perhaps the Pulpit commentary is correct in its assessment here:
Psalms 26:1It seems to Christians a bold act to call on God for judgment, but the saints of the earlier dispensation, having, perhaps, a less keen sense of human imperfection, were wont to do so. It is Job's cry from his first utterance until his "words are ended;" and here we find David taking it up and re-echoing it. Man longs to hear the sentence of acquittal from the great Judge. Like Job, David asserts his "integrity," and in the same qualified sense. He is sincere in his endeavours to do right. Yet still he needs mercy and redemption (see ver. 11).
(from The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
I am not a Hebrew scholar. In fact, I don’t know any Hebrew grammar. I never studied it. I had one year of Greek in Bible College and yearn to renew my language studies. However, if I understand the flow of this prayer, I believe I might translate it by using more than one word. It seems that praying for vindication, which is the result of a trial where the judge declares one innocent of all charges, is putting the cart before the horse. What do I mean by that, you ask? In verse 2 he asks God to “test” (NIV) or “prove him” (ESV). He follows this quickly by the phrase “try me” (both versions) and “examine” (NIV) or “test me” (ESV). This seems to be the speaking of action leading up to vindication.
Barnes says:
Psalms 26:2The meaning of this verse is, that he asked of God a strict and rigid examination of his case. To express this, the psalmist uses three words - "examine; prove; try." These words are designed to include the modes in which the reality of anything is tested, and they imply together that he wished the most "thorough" investigation to be made; he did not shrink from ANY test. He evidently felt that it was essential to his welfare that the most rigid examination should be made…(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
In the present construction of the prayer David is asking for acquittal and then goes back, and using another metaphor, he asks to be tested and examined to prove the truthfulness of his claims. That is why I think the word used in verse one is too big, too pregnant with meaning, to be translated by one word here. While he uses several words in verse two to convey a thought, perhaps he was confident that his readers would understand that he was praying to God in this way:
“Judge me and declare me innocent, O LORD”
Barnes sees in this request a hint of David’s concern that he might be wrong in his claims of integrity and unwavering trust in the LORD.
This is the first thing which he brings before God for him to examine-the consciousness that he had endeavored to live an upright life; and yet it is referred to as if he was sensible that he "might" have deceived himself, and therefore, he prays that God would determine whether his life had been really upright [i.e. integrity]... and the purpose of the psalmist was to ascertain whether his piety was really of that character [i.e. unwavering trust].(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Translating the Hebrew word shaphat with more than one word is helpful (though perhaps a minor issue) to me in understanding the flow of this prayer. David is praying in verse one and two for God to take actions that lead to his acquittal or proof of his genuine piety.
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