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Psalm 31:9-14

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 2, 2016
Psalm 31:9 “Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;”
 
[You, Lord, are the One I should flee to immediately when anxiety and fear, worry and distress strike, for you alone have the power to do something about it.
 
You are mighty and merciful, you are gracious and good, you are wise and wonderful. Praise you for how you will help us in our situations, few of which could be more distressing than David’s, which involved every area of his life, emotional and physical, social and positional:]
 
Psalm 31:9b-12 “my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning;my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.
Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends—those who see me on the street flee from me. I am forgotten by them as though I were dead;”
 
[What a devastating picture of severe distresses, ones which you, Lord, allowed, for you were at work with them, doing significant things in David’s life. And so you are in ours as we move into and through difficult times. In these we can trust you, no matter how painful it may be, as David goes on to describe.]
 
Psalm 31:12b-13 “I have become like broken pottery.
For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side;
they conspire against me and plot to take my life.”
 
[David was weak and vulnerable, surrounded by threats, assaulted by fears and attacked by men–in real danger of death. It looks bad. However, the next word makes all the difference:]
Psalm 31:14 “BUT I trust in you, O LORD;”
 
[In spite of the circumstances, in spite of how he felt, in spite of the very real dangers, in spite of getting no answers yet, David makes the choice to trust in Jehovah, the great and holy God, to expect help from Him based on His perfect character and wide wisdom.
 
In using the word “BUT,” David chooses to reject the natural tendency to let his feelings, thoughts and circumstances rule him, saying instead,]
 
“I say, ‘You are my God.’”
 
[This is looking away from the seen to the unseen. It is a declaration that Jesus is his final authority and David is going to trust Him and obey Him, not feelings, “facts” or fear. David is submitting his intellect and perceptions to the higher authority of Scripture.]
 
And this is what you call us to do, too, Lord God. This is the response of faith, “But, I trust in you, O LORD!” What a privilege to be able to think and act in faith in the face of fears. Thereby we can bring you great honor, demonstrating to all around us the power of your grace, the wisdom of your way and the support of your Spirit.
 
Help us to be honest before you about how we feel, lifting our souls to you, Lord, while always ending with “But, I trust in you, Lord!”
 
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Psalm 31:7,8

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 31, 2016
 
Psalm 31:7 “I will be glad and rejoice in your love,”
 
[Your love is enough for rejoicing, O God, for you are love itself. You, heavenly Father showed your love in sending Jesus into this violent, deadly world; you, Lord Jesus, showed your love in suffering immeasurably to save your enemies; you, Holy Spirit, show your love in working here in this fallen, twisted world to bring the elect to faith and to mature them in Truth.
 
You all three show your love in patiently allowing us to grieve you daily as we zigzag through life, bouncing from belief to selfishness, from obedience to rebellion. Truly your love is great, powerful, wise, endless, enduring and wonderful. To know you is enough for joy, to be your child is more than enough reason to praise.”
 
“for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.”
 
[You, Lord God, are omnipresent and omniscient. You see and know the difficulties of my life, my disturbed soul, my anguished heart. And you are consistently at work bringing the healing fruit of peace and righteousness as you help me respond to your gifts of guidance and grace. May I consistently cooperate with you in belief and surrender.
 
Psalm 31:8 “You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.”
 
[Praise you, Lord Jesus, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Protector, for you brought me out of the prison of sin into a spacious place. And you did this because you delighted in me—against all reason, all odds, all facts, you delight in me, your enemy, your rebellious son, your uncooperative child.
 
I praise you that your love is not dependent on my performance, but upon your unchanging, rock solid Character of holiness, purity, love, wisdom and mercy that triumphs over justice.
 
To you be endless glory and honor, Lord Jesus, for your great work of salvation, your continued work of sanctification and your future work of recreation. May you be honored in all my responses to the little things of today as I actively trust you.
 
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Psalm 31:2-4

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 29, 2016
Psalm 31:2b “be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.”
 
[Praise you that you are consistently with us, O Lord God: you have made yourself our Refuge by redeeming, adopting and embracing us. You have made yourself our Rock of stability in a world of uncertainty, the personal Refuge of every one of your children. And you are our strong Fortress that we can run into and be saved in the way you deem best. We can trust you by fleeing to you in every trouble.]
 
Psalm 31:3 “Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.”
 
[Yes! Because you are my Rock and Fortress, I have hope! There is help! There is hindrance of my enemy and his plans! You will answer my cry and act for the sake of your holy Name.
 
It is wonderful that we can appeal to you on this basis, for we are then tapping into what you want: as you lead and guide us and we follow, our lives become a source of praise and acclaim for you. May we wholeheartedly follow your guidance, remembering that this gives you more honor; may we be trusting and obedient so that you may have more glory for your Name.]
 
Psalm 31:4 “Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.”
 
[Based on what you have declared yourself to be, Lord God (our Refuge, our Deliverer, our Fortress, our Rock), we can appeal to you to take us out of the traps of the devil, of evil men and of our own old nature.
 
And so you have done in your mighty act of redemption, opening the door of our cell in the kingdom of darkness and calling us out into the Kingdom of Light. You, Lord Jesus, are greater and more powerful than any enemy and, by in joining us in our weakness, you have defeated the enemy in every way. And you continue to set us free as we walk in the light with you, keeping on the armor you have given and thinking truth.
 
I exalt you, my Refuge, Lord Jesus; I exalt you, my Rock, O Heavenly Father; I exalt you, my Guide and Comforter, O Holy Spirit.
 
In you I can trust, in you I am safe, in you I am secure.
Praise be to you, O Triune God, for your great and wonderful faithfulness and love. May you be endlessly honored as I follow your leading today in my motives, thoughts, desires and words. Amen!
 
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Delighting in Jesus

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 27, 2016
Meditating on Psalm 37 about delighting in the Lord.
 
I want to delight in you, Lord Jesus–you who were at the same time both entirely man and God, fully finite and infinite. You were the star breather, and the table maker. You were the galaxy former and the sawdust sweeper. You were the history maker and the box builder. You were the one who set up kings and took down tools from your carpenter’s rack. You were the pivotal person in all history and you were the sharpener of chisels. You were the owner of all the universe and lived on the gifts of others.
 
You are unfathomable, amazing, wonderful and awe inspiring. To delight in you is to approach the essence of life, the meaning of existence, the light of being.
 
You are delightful in your purity, wonderful in your grace, marvelous in your goodness, dazzling in your wisdom and overwhelming in your greatness.
 
To delight in you is to enter further into reality, to let the shadows of our natural thoughts and values fade into the background as the Truth and Love of your inner beauty shine out onto our hearts. This brings transformation, joy, acceptance, forgiveness and security.
You are delightful, you are delightable, you are infinitely wonderful and I bow before you as all else falls away and only your gracious, glorious presence remains.
 
To know you is so, so inexpressibly sweet and powerful at the same time. I choose to delight in you, Lord Jesus, rejecting the tinsel of this world along with my pride and self-centered sinfulness. In you I am forgiven, in you I am cleansed, in you I am accepted. What more could I want?
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Rocked

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 23, 2016
Praise you, Lord God, that I wake up each morning to your goodness. My experience last night of losing all my luggage, computer included, turned out to be a dream–but I didn’t know that while living it! And this gave me the chance to again trust you in the midst of loss.
 
Praise you for all the times that you have protected the possessions you have given us, as well as allowing us at times to lose some. You, O Lord, are good and gracious and kind–but, even if I lose it all and have only you, that will be far more than enough!
 
I thank you, Lord, for your care, your compassion, your constant presence. You are the One to be sought continually, to be thought about consistently, to be sought in prayer in every situation. “In the day of my trouble I call to you for you deliver me” (Ps. 86:7).
 
Psa 31:2 “Turn your ear to me,”
 
[Thank you, Lord Jesus that you listen to us intently, that you have opened the way for us to cry to the Father and that our prayers are heard. Praise you that you are the One who thought up prayer, who hears prayer and answers prayer.]
 
“come quickly to my rescue;”
 
[Praise be to you, Heavenly Father, that in answering prayer, you are never late, never miss the mark, never lose an opportunity. You know the best way to answer, which sometimes means leaving us in our desperation as long as it takes to produce the growth you know we need, the surrender that will open the way for deepening, and the maturing which will enable us to give you more glory.
 
Praise you that you answer out of your wisdom, your love, your grace and your goodness, rather than out of our impatience. Help us to rest in you rather than in getting our way.]
 
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August 21, 2016

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 21, 2016
“I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.”
Psalm 111:1,2
 
Lord God, my Triune Elohim, praise be to you this morning, praise be to you forever. You are marvelous in your character, beautiful in your desires, lovely in your grace, and astounding in your wisdom. You deserve that I extol you, the LORD, with all my heart, for who and what you are. As it says in Psalm 111:2-9,
 
“Great are the works of the LORD
Glorious and majestic are his deeds,
and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wonders to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and compassionate.
He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
He has shown his people the power of his works,
The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy.
They are steadfast forever and ever,
done in faithfulness and uprightness.
He provided redemption for his people;
he ordained his covenant forever—
holy and awesome is his name.”
 
What a list of greatness! You, O Lord Jesus, tower far above all creation; you are so perfect, so pure, so powerful, so priceless—you deserve eternal praise, daily obedience, moment-by-moment trust. To live otherwise is an insult to your character, to your person, to your being. To see in Word and deed such a God as you, to know such a Lord as you, to walk with such a Savior as you—these are great, awesome, overwhelming, totally undeserved privileges.
 
Truly, “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise” (Ps. 111:10).
 
–From the devotional book EDIFIED!
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Great Goodness

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 21, 2016
Praise you, Lord, for your undeserved goodness, given to us daily, manifested in multiple minor ways, like the gifts of sight, speech, hearing, smell, taste, and touch–things we take for granted, but missed much if we lose them.
 
Then there are the major, majestic, mighty ways you pour out your goodness on us: pardon from definitely deserved death, the gift of eternal life, the indwelling of the Spirit, the wonder of your Word, an intimate relationship with you, meaning, guidance and protection in life, help in every circumstance, membership in the Body, and abundant grace at all times There is wonderfully no end to the flow of your goodness, just as there is no end to learning about your marvelous and magnificent character.
You are the Triune One: the Father who plans, the Son who brings it to pass, the Holy Spirit who finishes it up. You are the perfect Person, the perfect Personality, the perfect Planner, the perfect Partner who invites us into your work.
 
You are marvelous in your personality, majestic in your judgments, mighty in your redemption and magnificent in your mercy.
 
To you belongs all affection, all loyalty, all commitment, all awe, all reverence, all obedience, all honor–for in you there is no flaw, no imperfection, no error, no lack. You are worthy of eternal, complete, wholehearted, total love.
 
So I bow before you, Lord God: I praise you, Heavenly Father, I honor you, Lord Jesus, I surrender to you, Holy, Spirit. To you be what you deserve: exaltation, magnification, obedience and glory in my life today. Amen.
 
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Psalm 31:1

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 19, 2016
 
Psalm 31
For the director of music. A Psalm of David.
“In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;”
 
[Where else, O Lord, is there for safety? You only are my rock, my salvation, my high tower. From you only comes my rescue. You only are my Lord, my Shepherd, my King, my God.
 
You only are the One in whom I can find refuge, for you are powerful beyond belief, wise beyond comprehension, good beyond hope, loving beyond expectations, faithful beyond understanding. You are the glorious, holy, strong and trustable One, the only true stability in the universe. In you alone is there real refuge.]
 
“let me never be put to shame;”
 
[taking refuge in you will lead to your glory and my safety. You will give me the honor of your love and protection, of your care and compassion, protecting me from the shame your enemies want to heap on me. Grant me a token for good that those who hate me may see it and be shamed instead.]
 
“deliver me in your righteousness.”
 
[Praise you that you are totally right, completely good and always act out of your pure character. I praise you that you are fully righteous in all that you do, totally trustable, totally faithful. I praise you that you will deliver me fully, first from fears, then from troubles.]
 
Praise you, Lord God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit–that you are constantly, consistently at work in our lives, bringing all the help, wisdom, protection, ordering and provision that we need.
 
We are so weak, so small, so vulnerable, but you are so wonderfully powerful, majestically mighty and absolutely undefeatable. In you we can hide. In you we can rest. In you we are safe.
 
I am so thankful, Lord Jesus, for your powerful, effective, wonderful salvation, bought at great personal price, giving us value, meaning, a family and a future–a great demonstration of your rich, merciful Love, which continues to flow into our lives every day.
 
Thank you for the challenges that come, the opportunities to trust you, the chances to rest in you and to listen to you rather than the strident, confusing voices of the world, of my flesh and the devil. I praise you, Lord God for how you will care for me today. May I live worthy of you, in thought, motive, word and action. Amen.
 
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Psalm 30:9-12

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 18, 2016
Psalm 30:9 “What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?”
 
[This is David’s desperate appeal for help; it is done in logic and in a desire to honor you, Lord; he desires to live for the magnificent purpose you have granted us: giving you glory. Help us to grasp the value of each moment of life and live it to honor you.]
Psalm 30:10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help.”
 
[It is a wonderful truth that you, O Lord, do hear and are richly, powerfully merciful–you are our ready help, you will answer in the right way and at the right time. Therefore I can give you praise in and for all.
 
I praise you now for how you are going to work in the situations and relationships that are in flux around me. I praise you for your wonderful help and guidance that flows freely and continually into my life. Praise be to you for your goodness, flowing from your perfect and beautiful character.]
 
Psalm 30:11 “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,”
[You answered David, you brought him through the dark valley, you delivered him from his fears, his enemies, his dangers. And for what purpose?]
 
Psalm 30:12 “that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.”
 
[You saved him so David might have the privilege of exalting you, you who are worthy of worship, of love and obedience.]
 
“O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.”
 
[And you ARE worthy of thanks forever and ever. May we daily live in the power of thanksgiving, of praise, of worship, so that, for the joy set before us, we can endure whatever cross you deem necessary, knowing that we will be set down in heaven with you! What a hope, what a future, what a privilege to live with, for and in you Lord Jesus!]
 
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Psalm 30:6-8

Published by S.M. Wibberley on August 17, 2016
Psalm 30:6,7 “When I felt secure, I said, ‘I will never be shaken.’ O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm;”
 
[When we are in a positive situation, when we are safe and see your blessings, it is easy to feel firm and stable. Such times are important for solidification and building up in truth–if we take advantage of them, diving into your Word, exalting in personal worship and basking in your love.
 
But here is little opportunity in this secure situation to go by faith, to trust you as we can when all sense of security is gone, when all is in tumult and uncertainty.]
“but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.”
 
[When my feelings turn negative, when my situation goes down hill, when I am attacked, my health fails, my friends desert me, my financial situation goes bad, or my work does not prosper–then it is easy to be dismayed, to be discouraged, to flag in my strength.
 
But this is also the time to flee to you, to affirm my trust in you, to find shelter in your Word and in your presence. “In times of trouble you will keep me safe in your dwelling, you will hide me in the shelter of your tabernacle and set me high on a rock” (Psalm 27:5).]
 
Psalm 30:8 “To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:”
 
[This is the proper response, to seek you and your mercy, to recognize my weakness and your strength, to trust you, not myself.
 
I praise you, Lord God, for your goodness and graciousness and for how you answer us in such situations, first delivering us from all our fears, then strengthening us with strength in our souls, then saving us out of all our troubles, whether through deliverance or through giving endurance, or through death (Ps. 34:4-7).
 
You are the God who is there, you are the God who hears, you are the God who answers. “…the angel of the Lord encamps round about those who fear him and delivers them” (Ps. 34:8).]
 
Help me to utilize the times of security to deepen my walk with you, Lord Jesus; help me then to rejoice in the times of difficulty, offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, finding my rest and hope in you, exalting you by living in Truth. And I thank you now for how you will answer this prayer.
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