Steadfast Love is Especially Given to the Special One.

To whom I am special? Friends. Have you ever wondered the same? "Who will show [me] any good?"(Ps.4:6)

I have had multiple times when I became forgetful of God's grace shown to me previously.

It was not only me being forgetful but also quoting my pastor, "This is the cursed-laden air we breathe in every day." We shall not think it is only for the reason that we are guilty of forgetfulness when we are utterly burdened. In the meanwhile, we shall remember that in God alone is our relief and answer because he is our "righteousness, sanctification, and redemption"(1Cor.1:30).

To whom I am special? It seems to be an important question for most of us. No matter what happens now, we were God's children first. His mercy goes deeper when his children are hurting. I am special to God before the foundation of the world. God's steadfast love is especially given to me before everything else, including sin, suffering, and doubts. David prays an incredible prayer comparing his enemy and God. Only God is utterly different from any men, not only men who seek vain glory and talk loud with manipulative words, but also all men in the world.

"O men, how long shall my honour be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?"(Ps. 4:2) Is there anyone who does not seek righteousness from other gods and approval of men? David is talking about his enemy, and he is referring to all the enemies of God, namely those who seek righteousness from anyone and any words other than God himself. That includes all of humankind.

When we have had no "grains and wine abound," joy looks like something very different.

From David's experience, God has "put MORE joy in my heart than they have when their grains and wine abound” (Ps.4:7). It is simply because God's children alone are receivers of his steadfast love which in other words looks like special attention and affections to his children. Joy looks like God's unchanging, steadfast love especially given to the special one. Every one of His children and His children altogether is special to Him.

This is special to us and comes from a special person who becomes the unrighteous for us so that he become our righteousness. We are special because Jesus Christ is uniquely righteous. "For no one, living is righteous before you"(Ps. 143:2b). And "Only in the LORD, it shall be SAID of me, are righteousness and strength." Jesus Christ, "for our sake he made him be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."(2Cor. 5:20)

This is the extraordinary steadfastness we possess through the righteousness of Jesus Christ and the one we shall seek for all good and joy in times of utter despair and fear of the world.

Music credit: Bluebirds by Alexis fFrench

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All the blessings. 

Welcome back!

Friends. How have you been? I trust your days are in the hand of God of salvation.

We will continue with the devotional on the remaining half of the book of Psalms.

May this devotional be a sweet fellowship with the Spirit to us as we open God's prayers written for us. Today we will read Psalm 3.

David prays with complete honesty and acknowledgment of his dire spiritual and physical situation. He is left with no one else but enemies. Enemies made out of people once of his own. But he did not linger on self-pity but prayed to his God with his own voice because salvation belongs to the Lord. He was truly afraid and ashamed. He was all alone. He has all the reasons. Yet David also was aware of his God who is his shield and his glory. His enemies not only threaten him physically but also judged him and his soul to be unworthy of God's salvation. What was once important to David are all abandoning him except his God who is the true salvation, shield, glory.

David's enemies were wrong in their violent pursuit of the life of their King. They are wrong in taking themselves as the judge of salvation. Who dare say one is worthy of God's salvation? What about them? Who dares to supersede above God's sovereignty. God hates pride but shows his mercy to the poor. "Salvation only belongs to the Lord. Your blessings are on your people."

David submits himself and his enemies to God all at once.

David is the king and king to his people. God is David's God. God is also the God of his people.

Music: When mind wants rest by Jeong selin

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Dear friends. 

I will be away for the month of July for lecture recording and for better loving a group of young friends. As I read Psalm 4, I was astonished at the psalm as a sanctifier through the work of the Spirit. Psalm 4 is diverse. The ethics sandwiched in the middle is the wonderful testimony of the sanctifying power willed by God the father in the book of Psalms. I can not wait to come back in August and do devotions together with you. Until then, may the love of God the Father, grace from Jesus Christ, and the fellowship with the Holy Spirit be with you forever and evermore.  I will continue praying for you and loving you. Stay tuned and continue reading book one. 

Music Credit Lovely by the Brilliance 

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 The birth of the baby Jesus declares that he depends on no power in this world. How can a baby boy be the savior of the world? How can he conquer the world without the schemes this world uses? 

The Son of God is the Son of God the Father from eternity. This psalm is a prophetic declaration of the coming of the Messiah king. In the Gospels, after Jesus was born, he was baptized on behalf of sinners. When he was baptized, a voice of the God the Father from heaven said, " This is my son whom I am well pleased". The life of this firstborn son is stronger than all the power in the world so that he can give us all nations as our in heritage. He gave over his power and his life when he was born as a baby in this sin-irritated world. He pours out everything he had for us so that we can find a refuge from the righteous judgment worthy of our sins. 

When this world is raging to destroy God's plan so that they can replace the faithful and loving-kind reign of God with their foolish dictation, suppression, and monarchies. How can the whole world even become bigger than the kingship of God the creator, sustainer, life-giver? Is not the world made by the finger of his hand? Can they really reach heaven with their own thirst for power? 

All the corners of the earth are in his hands of God. God has made the most inner part of human beings. God LOVED the world so that he created the world for us as our dominion. The raging nations are just like potter that is easy to be crushed and chaff that is easy to be driven away. Both potter and chaff lack real power. However, the Son of God is different from any of us. Though he was the creator he took the form of creature. He doesn't depend on this world; on the contrary, this world is made by him. 

This son does not depend on anything in this world. His baptism is to wash away the sin of the evil desire of power over God. His resurrection conquered all the evil power that tempts the son of men. Not even so, he also included the raging nations in his redemptive plan and aiming at bringing them into the kingdom of light. His birth, baptism, death, and resurrection were all blessed by God. This is my son whom I am well pleased with. God loved the world and gave his only son for us so that whoever believes in his shall not perish but have eternal life. God loved us so that he didn't spare his only son, what else will he not give us? 

This newborn son became the king of the nations. By his birth, he renounces any earthly power. He replaced the sinful as sinful, and he gave up his power to be suppressed and persecuted under the power of men unto death, and unto resurrection. He came weak for all the sinful and weak so that all who are bitter, labored, power-thirsty, and deep in sins can have life through his life, and have redemption through his resurrection. 

The Son of God became the Son of Man to be the king o the world and the refuge of all nations. This is truly marvelous! All who take refuge in him are blessed.  He who gave up his life but gain life, who gave up power but became the king, is Jesus Christ alone. Only through him, this marvelous miracle happens. It only happens once. Once is enough. 

Music Credit: Psalm 1 Word by Word by Poor Bishop Hooper 

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Season 2 Episode 1 

Dear friends. I am so happy to have you at Season 2 of the Book of Psalms devotional as we move back to Psalm 1 and onward. 

A well-memorized poem, Some People, Chinese:有的人, written by Cang Kejia, Chinese 藏克家, begins like this: 

"有的人活着 A person is alive, 他已经死了; but he’s already dead. 有的人死了 A person is dead, 他还活着。but he still lives on."  Cang is not written this for Jesus Christ, but he captured the status of the moral man in its deadly state. It is hopeless to live on without assurance of life. 

This psalm is written no so different from Jesus' other conversation. Jesus loves to use language that everyone will understand in an agricultural setting. Have you seen farmers work on the threshing floor? Can you imagine? As a kid, I used to watch my grandparents and parents, at the harvest season of the summer, threshing grain, winnowing them, throwing them against the wind so that chaff will be driven away and the grain will be left out for the food of the year and the seed for the coming years. It is a joyous memory to see all the work and efforts of the year have borne solid grains for living. Every time, children would also be rewarded with popsicles and we all celebrate together. 

It is just like our life. Now the restrictions of the pandemic will be soon lifted up. We will have the freedom to do what we always hoped to do. Have we changed? Or are we finally entitled to do whatever we wish to do? When we abuse freedom, we will lose freedom instead. That's how we learned that true freedom can only come from above. The real freedom is the freedom of being loved by Jesus. The assurance of God's love and our salvation is the root of our life so that we do not have to be like chaff. Everything we do falls in the hands of God. God promised to take care of righteousness and give them eternal life while the wicked will perish at the days of judgment. As human beings, we do not get to see all the judgments behind the scene, but we will all see the final judgment that the wicked deserves. 

Only those who are known and loved by God have the assurance of blessedness. They will be like a tree whose life is rooted and protected. There are only two kinds of people in this world. The ones who are loved and have freedom; and the ones who are rejected and abuse freedom. God did not leave the hypocrites with a third option. Our life needs to be rooted in Jesus Christ to have a blessed foundation. Only Jesus who have never done or thought of evil has become constrained for us and humbled himself in the form of man and walk among us to become the foundation of our life. Jesus is dead and he is alive according to the scriptures to become the imperishable seed of life for us and teach us the way of eternal life. True freedom is from being loved by Jesus Christ. The foundation in Jesus Christ assures eternal life by the running stream and our leaves will never wither. Therefore, we are called blessed. What about you yourself? Are you blessed?

Music: Blessed Assurance by Alan Jackson. 

Poem translated by alexcwlin; edited by Adam Lam. 

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Dear friends. This is the last episode of season 1. 

The last section verse 45-52 is a characteristic lamentation ending. "How long O Lord?" This is not only a typical lament ending but also reminds me of the Book of Job in which the doctrine of creature climax the ending of the story. Here in Psalm 89, it is similarly the doctrine of the creation of man. All the earth has an essential relationship with the creator God, God the Father of all the earth. This psalm is written when the psalmist finds the conflicts between God's eternal covenant to his people and the falling and humiliation of the Davidic kingdom among the nations. However, the psalmist ended with praising, "Blessed is the Lord forever. Amen and Amen." 

One question was raised before God what is the reason for the vanity of man. Men can not save themselves from death. As all the lamentations in the Book of Psalms tend to have unstated answers between the lines. The answer is also not explicitly stated in Psalm 89. However, the psalmist begins to meditate on the doctrine of the creation of man. Everything good is from the creator-creature relationship with God the Father who blessed us with every blessing from himself, life, meaning, home, kingdom, and almighty providence and faithful sustaining throughout their life.  Men were made to have an eternal, abundant, rich life in the garden with God to eternity. However, the eternal existence with God is threatened with the bondage of sin. 

When men decided to leave God, vanity crept into their life. All men, believers, and unbelievers are subject to vanity since Adam and Eve chose to betrayed God for the king of vanity, Satan. When we lose our relationship with the creator God, we lose everything. God has created men with his image, to reflect his wisdom, righteousness, wisdom and after the fall, all seems to be totally corrupted but the vanity of vanity. 

Since then, the kingdom of eternity and the kingdom of Satan has been in a constant battle until a real king came to crush the head of the serpent and reign the whole created world forever. 

But David isn't this king. That's why the psalmist lamented. 

And David is also the type of the king who is humiliated by the nations at the moment. That's why the psalmist lamented. 

How long O Lord? The answer is always in the coming of the King. 

Music credit Sovereign Grace Music.

All Creatures of God and the King

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Psalm 89 continues the praises God's unchanging covenant from the general to the specific and focused on the offspring of the Davidic king. Psalms' emotions and his remembrance of the sound doctrine of God's promise is also intensified. This section can be divided into three parts

Psalm 89:27-29 restates God's promise, 30-32 Restate the law. 33-37 The everlasting grace. 38-45 Crown in the dust, and king, together with the kingdom is humiliated. Shall the psalm stop here with no answer? No God already provided the answer in verse 27, the firstborn son. 

A faithful prayer is an honest one that reflects the reality, and it is also and humbles one that asks questions from God when the king is being humiliated. Perhaps God's answer is not yet him because the king he promised will be humiliated in front of the world, not just neighboring countries. He will be humiliated by his enemies and those he tried to save. The heaven and the earth will testify the resurrection of the firstborn son as well as the king of kings. He is the king for not only Israel but for the world. People experienced the benefit of having a good King David so they mourn the loss of the good king. But the grace God has promised is even stronger and greater. David was an anointed king, but he is also from Adam so he can only do what Adam did. He was a good king but also a murderer and adulterer. 

This world needs a king who will die for his people. The firstborn son will suffer the greatest on his throne by being witnessed with his humiliation in front of the world in order to save the world. All the world will testify his humiliation, his enduring of righteous anger, his underserving cross. David is a chosen king but he is not the king of the cross.  A king who suffered greater than David. A king who brings the eternal kingdom to whom calls upon his name. Those who believe in him shall never be ashamed.