Friends From Bishop Stuart

From Left to Right: Florence, Me (kinda stand out don't I?), Fred (one of my key guys), Angel, Nkwasibwe (actually a judge, but a friend of Fred's through a counseling course in town).

From Left to Right: Florence, Rachel (student leader of chapel activities), Joselyn, Robin, Kizito, Michael (another key guy). This is from one of our discipleship group meetings.

The same group, but with Michael and I switching places (and no, I'm not growing a beard...it just so happens that I might not be shaving every day. Or week).

Some Thoughts From Psalms

Recently I've been studying through Psalms and thought I would share some thoughts from the ones I've been through so far.

Psalm 1
The basic idea of Psalm 1 can be summed up in this: he who is wicked will perish; he who delights in the Law will prosper. What I find interesting about this Psalm is that it isn't juxtaposing the "wicked" with the "righteous" but the "wicked" with he whose "delight is in the Law." Not that those who delight in the Law are not righteous, but rather what David is saying is that those who delight in the Law ARE righteous, and likewise those who do not delight in the Law are wicked. I find his Psalm quite convicting: do I really so delight in God's Word as to be counted as one who is like a tree planted by streams water or as chaff that is blown away? Abiding and delighting in the Word of God is not just something good to do; one who does not do so is not counted as being not quite as righteous, but is counted as wicked!

Psalm 2
"Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." ... Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him" (Ps 2:8-9, 12 ESV). This Psalm is Messianic; it is speaking about Christ. And I must say that generally when I think of Jesus I do not picture him dashing nations to pieces with a rod of iron, or of having a wrath that is quickly kindled. However, according to the Bible this is part of the fullness of His character; we cannot define Jesus as we would like Him to be, but rather we must think of Him as who He is, as difficult and challenging as that may be.

Psalm 3
"I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me" (Ps 3:5 ESV). In this part of the Psalm, David is expressing why he trusts in God as His shield and is not afraid of his enemies, though they number in the thousands. His first reason is because God has answered his prayers in the past; the second is because he went to bed and woke up, sustained by the Lord. Not protected by the Lord, as if he went to sleep afraid that one of his enemies would come and kill him in the night, but sustained. He trusted in God because he went to sleep and woke back up. Is your trust in God based just on the "major" graces that He has granted, or do you even find your faith made stronger by the common, everyday graces that we so take for granted? I can't say, in a time of crisis or difficulty, that I've ever thought "Lord I trust in you because I woke up this morning."

Psalm 4
"Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!" (Ps 4:1 ESV). This statement does not mean that David does not think God will hear his prayer...in fact, in verse 3 he tells his enemies that the Lord WILL hear his prayer. So why is David entreating God to graciously hear his prayer when he knows that God will in fact hear it? Because David understands that, though God has guaranteed that He will hear the prayers of the righteous, God's hearing is an act of great grace. God doesn't have to hear your prayers if He doesn't want to. We forget just how fortunate, just how blessed, we are that the almighty, all-knowing, perfect and holy God would hear the requests of the little, insignificant, rebellious people that we are. If we truly understood just how amazing a grace (because God's grace extends far beyond salvation alone) it is for God to even hear our prayers, much less respond to them, much less guarantee that He will hear them and respond to them, how much more would we love God and how much more would we pray?