Psalm 22

Psalm 22:17 “I can count all my bones, they stare and gloat over me”
      One of my favorite games to play with young children is “How many ribs do you have?”. This is a game of my own invention. I “count” their ribs by gently pressing my finger along their rib cages solely for the purpose that it an extremely ticklish spot for them. I have yet to play the game with any niece, nephew, or friend’s child who did not end up giggling and laughing so hard they can barely breathe. It makes me laugh because there is hardly a better sound than a child’s laughter. It is just a fun and silly game that always leaves everyone laughing.
      However, in Psalm 22 as David writes about counting his bones, it is not quite the same joyous, silly game. David feels completely surrounded by his enemies. He is tired, hungry, and probably sore from running and hiding in caves. He can count his bones from the weariness and soreness each individual bone causes him in his current situation. Then as you hear Jesus quote Psalm 22 from the cross these words get even further away from a silly game. As Jesus quotes verse 1 of Psalm 22 from the cross, it is most commonly understood that He is referring to the entire psalm. So as you see Jesus referencing these words of David, Jesus means that he is so beaten, so dehydrated, so famished, and so exhausted that He can (most likely literally) count all His bones as they sorely press against His tender, bleeding, and bruised flesh. The nails pressing again his wrist bones, most likely cutting off circulation to his fingers and hands; his own weight causing his elbows and shoulders to feel like the tendons are going to rip off the bones; his ribs trying to keep the weight of his tired, sagging body from crushing his lungs; his spine trying to hold him as upright as possible; his neck bones struggling to hold up his own head; his skull pounding from the pressure points of the thorns and the previous blows; his legs, already too sore to carry his own cross up the hill, now using every ounce of strength he has left, pushing up off the nail through his feet to still stand up. Our suffering, dying Savior can count his bones from the excruciating pain each one is causing Him upon that cross. This is not a silly game. He is not laughing as He counts His bones.
       And yet, His pain is our gain. His counting those bones just before His death, is our joy that gives us the freedom to laugh at silly games in this life. As Scripture says:

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

      We can still play silly games, we can still thoroughly enjoy the beautiful sound of a child’s laughter, but we have these joys of life only because our Lord and Savior was willing to experience such horrible pain, such horrific torture, and such a miserable death so that He could grant you His righteousness and eternal life. He counted His bones in the pain of that cross, so that He could count Your bones as redeemed. Praise be to Christ, that we can laugh, play, and rejoice in the fact that we are forgiven, we are counted as righteous because of Him, and have eternal life in His name. Amen.

Psalm 116

    Greetings to you all in the name of Jesus Christ.  I just got back from an amazing vacation.  It was a lot of time in the car with almost 2,000 miles, but it was also kind of fun to be on a long road trip again.  It had been quite a while since I had a true road trip.  I made a big circle down through Iowa to Kansas City, over to Cheney, Kansas, up to Omaha, back over to Iowa, and then headed north to home again.  I got to see lots of people and spend some good quality time with family and friends.  The Lord blessed me with smooth sailing the whole way and even gave me some hot sunny weather to enjoy.
    Now I am back home, back to work, and starting my chicken farm.  I brought 45 baby chicks home with me from Iowa.  My goal is to get down to about 20 to 25 egg laying hens by leaving the other 20 to 25 for meat.  It has been fun and gives me some minor chores to do every day.
    I need to get back to writing more psalms devotions, but here is one I wrote a while ago.

Psalm 116:6
“The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.”

       These words may be some of the most comforting words I have ever read. Why you ask? Because I am one of the simplest people you will ever meet. I am a simple minded, country boy, from small town Iowa. My seminary buddies used to get so mad at me because I always said, “I’m just a big, dumb brute.” Perfect example, after saying that line a hundred times, I still had to Google how to properly spell brute. Now, I do not deny God has blessed me in many ways, and if He had not blessed me with the intelligence He did, I certainly would not be where I am today. And yet, when you look past the fact that school always came easy for me, I really do think I am a very simple person. It doesn’t take much to impress me. I am easy going, happy-go-lucky, and don’t really expect much out of life. Another example, I used to love “running” a stop sign for eight hours straight when I worked road construction. I could entertain myself so easily, it was almost scary. One time I distinctly remember making myself laugh out loud as I was talking to myself. Maybe that is more crazy than simple, but you get the point. I am not fancy, I am not classy, and I do not think I am too proud. If anything, maybe I am too proud of the fact that I am a simple kind of man. It means Lynyrd was singing about me (I hope you get that reference).
      Here, our psalm for today says God preserves the simple. Simple kind of people do not worry about what other people think about them, they do not get all worked up about everything going exactly right, they do not expect that they deserve more than what the world is actually going to hand them. Simple people go with the flow, are happy with almost any situation, and are just happy living life. These are the people God preserves. Why? Because they don’t let their high-class society distract them from their faith. They do not expect to be served by everyone else around them, but rather would graciously help their neighbor in need. They are more worried with what God thinks about them, than what their friends or neighbors do. They are more than willing to admit they need help and depend on God.
      This verse continues with the fact that when God brought me low, he saved me. By destroying my own self-ego, my own self-image, God allows me to see what or better yet, who is really important. By realizing that everything doesn’t revolve around my desires and demands, I can see what the world really does revolve around. And it’s not the sun, but rather the Son. This whole world is about being the creature of God you are. You are entirely dependent on Him for everything. You are dependent on Him for food, shelter, house, family, and physical blessings. Even more important though, you are dependent on Him for your forgiveness of sins, salvation and your eternal life in His Son Jesus Christ. He sent His Son to serve, not to be served. Christ came to die as a ransom for many, not to demand high-class, center of attention, perfection. We are brought low in remembering that we are sinners who deserve eternal death. However, once He brings us low in this confession, then He saves us through the free gift of grace and mercy in His Son’s death and resurrection and gives us eternal life.
      So it is OK to be simple. In fact, God wants us to be simple. He wants us to remember we are sinners and are only saved because of what He has done for us through His Son. He wants us to serve those around us, instead of demanding to be served. He wants us to find the joy of serving Him and living in His mercy each and every day. So for a simple kind of man like me, it is comforting to know, God preserves the simple. When life tries to bring me down, part of those low times is knowing I can turn to God and am reminded I am only saved by Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Be not far from me!

    Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus.  Well I am officially living in my house.  I love it.  I mean it is a lot of work and I get overwhelmed with all the things I either need to do or want to do to it, but I am still content.  I have been mostly working on the yard now that I am pretty much all settled in inside.  It truly is a blessing from the Good Lord and I most certainly feel blessed when I call it home! 

Here is my newsletter article for June: 

Psalm 35:22 “You have seen, O Lord; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!”
     In the words of this Psalm, we hear David crying out to God, “Be not far from me!” How often have you cried out those very words yourself? During times where life seems to be crumbling around you, and in your mind God has distanced Himself from you, this plea for His presence is very comforting. During those dark, scary, sad, or tragic moments, we want nothing more than our all-powerful God to wrap His loving arms around us and hold us tightly. We want Him to be right there with us, just as a scared child wants to be close to his or her mommy and daddy.
      However, I wonder how often God has wanted to say these words to us. When life is getting us down, we want God to be right there with us. So we cry out to Him to be near to us and not only does He hear us, but He does come near. He comforts us with His presence. Yet, when life is going good and everything seems to be working out just fine, how quickly do you stop wanting God to be right there with you? Are you like the toddler who once comforted by his parents’ loving embrace, jumps out of their lap and runs away to play forgetting all about mom and dad being there at all?
      As our Heavenly Father watches us jump out of His embrace and run away to go play now that life is all better again, I wonder if His plea is for us to not be far from Him. That we would know we are dependent upon Him even during the good times. That our prayer would be for Him to be near us, even when life is great. That we would cling to Him every day no matter how life is going.
     This came to my mind because now that the weather is nice and I have been spending much more time outdoors, working in the yard, cleaning the garage, etc. I have noticed my own devotional and prayer life slowing down. It is so easy to get busy with the fun things of summer, golfing, fishing, boating, camping, etc. During these fun, busy months of summer it is also very easy to be far from God ourselves. As you get busy, it is easy to put off your daily devotions, your evening prayers, or even going to church. And it happens without us even really noticing. This is when I can picture God, watching us go about our busy lives without Him, wanting to cry out to us, “Be not far from me!”
     I pray you do get to enjoy these summer months and that your life is going very well right now. However, I will also pray for all of you, that even as life goes well and is so busy, you do not let yourself be far from God. Our loving Father is there with you every day; He has answered your plea for Him to not be far from you. Our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is with you every day. He has made Himself present in your life through His living and active Word, through the forgiveness of His Son, Jesus Christ, through His Spirit keeping you in your baptismal identity, and through the gift of prayer. He is not far from you as He is with you always. How will you answer His plea for you to not be far from Him?
      God’s blessings be with you all.