Is That You Lord?

Devotions in Psalms Paula Day Johns




Psalm 1 1/6/2011 10:29:21 AM



Getting up at 5:00 am to pray is not an easy thing. I’m not saying it is difficult to get up, I am saying that it is difficult to get up and pray. I often find myself jumping out of bed when a thought hits me that this needs to be done or that needs to be finished. I go into the kitchen and put the dishes that have been rinsed in the sink into the dishwasher, or I go to the computer and read emails and answer them, or I simply go to the mailbox get the daily paper and read. I relish that. I suppose because when I wake up and my mind begins to focus on the things that need to be done, I know that I can’t sleep anyway and that I may as well get it done. But getting up to pray is another issue entirely.



Usually when I wake, I tune my antenna into the spiritual side and see if there is anything coming in on the channel. I will lie in the bed and reflect and discuss with my self and God silently the things that seem to need to be thought about. But, that is still not getting up and praying.



Getting up to pray immediately feels like it would be boring and not productive. My hesitancy weighs in on me and I try to think of the reasons why I should not get up to pray. I rationalize that it is not God speaking to me to pray, that it could be just an idea of my own. Then I close my eyes again and think I’m okay to lie in bed longer, but then I hear something strong in my spirit that says, “Pray now.” That is something I know I cannot ignore.



That was the situation this morning. I was obedient and one thing led to another. The prayer was productive but not profound it seems. But I prayed for all the things that seemingly are on my heart at the moment and I felt content after about 45 minutes of praying. Then, I felt I needed to study or read the bible.



Sometimes I just don’t know where to start in the bible. There are a lot of places to start and I want it to be relevant to me and to what is happening to me at the time. I asked the Lord this morning, simply, what and where do I read? Again, that faintness I hear sometimes when I feel an urge to pray in the early morning hours, but faintness with a “don’t make me come down there” feel. I hear a faint, “Read the Psalms”.



You know, sometimes we just want the Lord to say something profound to us. We want divine revelation or a great profound truth to come forth from us. When I heard “read the Psalms” that was like saying, “Jesus Christ died on the cross that I might be saved”. It seemed so basic to think about the Psalms. But there I was, with that nudge.



I opened the Psalms and began with reading one paragraph of the explanation that the editor had put together before the scriptures begin. Good stuff. It read of Hebrew poetry and how it is mainly written in parallelism or rhyming of thoughts. There are synonymous thoughts, antithetic thoughts, synthetic thoughts and causal thoughts.



The synonymous thoughts are couplets much like Psalm 35:5. The antithetic thoughts are the positive with a negative echo like Psalm 20:8. Then there are the building thoughts or the synthetic or constructive thoughts like Psalm 19:89. Then, of course, the causal thoughts just give justification for the preceding line, such as in Psalm 31:21. Some involve three or four lines, or more as in Psalm 1:1 and 33:2,3.



Well, that is a whole lot more than I need to know at 6:00 am. But good stuff. Opened my eyes to some things. How revealing just one paragraph can be. What a flow to the Hebrew poetry. Seriously.



I took a risk and went further with this study and looked at Psalms 1.



Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, not sits in the seat of the scornful.



That little bit of scripture is power packed warning us that the worldly conduct of our life, the participation in questionable activities, and a cynical mind and attitude will not produce a blessing. It is the person who does not do these things that are blessed. Clear enough, when you think of it.



Then the Psalm moves forward into:



But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.



For change to come into our life it must be practiced consistently. Some overlook this important point because we are not patient enough for change to come. We become haphazard with our practices and do it when we feel like it then get really perturbed that we see the blessings of God on others but we are struggling day to day to try to make it somewhere but we are not sure where we are trying to get.



This scripture is a simple truth. If you delight yourself in the word, and you meditate on it, change will come, permanent change. * Meditation is not simply sitting and thinking. It is actually the word hagah (hah-gah) meaning to reflect; to moan; to mutter; to ponder; to make a quiet sound such as sighing; to meditate or contemplate something repeating the words. It is not just a mental exercise. This is much like utter abandonment. A type of Jewish prayer called “davening” reciting texts, praying intensely, or getting lost in communion with God while bowing or rocking back and forth.



Meditation with God is more than sitting on a yoga mat and crossing our legs and closing our eyes. It is much more than that.



Then we see the results poured out:



He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.



It seems like that verse just about covers it all. Do verse one and two and everything we do will prosper. So there you go. How easy can it be?



Then we look at the consequences of not doing it:



The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.



He leaves no room for doubt that He knows what is going on;



For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.



The first Psalm is short, precise, and intense but strikes the core of habitually walking with God with the blessed results and the dangerous consequences of not walking with Him.



Taken from word wealth page 753 of the Spirit Filled Life Bible published by Nelson (NKJV)