Psalm 29: Do you have a right view of God?

Lessons from David- Psalm 29

'ascribe to the Lord glory and strength... the glory due to His Name, worship the Lord in the splendour of His holiness.' (1-2)

Do you have a right view of God? This is a life-changing question. And as we look at this psalm, life-changing truths emerge.

We are to give God the attributes of glory and strength. We are to recognise His transcendence, His blazing light, His mighty power that can do anything we could imagine, and much more. Our purpose in life and future glory is to give God the glory due to His Name. Life is not about raising yourself to a higher salary and better living standards, but raising awareness of God and seeing more people praise Him.

Do we have any idea what the splendour of holiness looks like? Probably not, because we are so sinful. But God's blinding purity is the most beautiful sight for sinful men. It is the sight we can be granted only in heaven when we ourselves have been purified.

In v3-9, many great verbs and adjectives are used to describe God's glory: thunders, powerful, majestic strikes, breaks, shakes, twists, strips. He is 'enthroned as King for ever' (10). But even more fantastically, He 'gives strength to His peole' and blesses them with peace (11). We are shown grace from this God of glory, and that is our greatest motivation for worship.

Psalm 51: What to do when you mess up

Lessons from David: Psalm 51
David wrote this psalm after a series of disastrous events in which he demonstrated a spectacular lack of godly leadership and went from one sin (adultery) to another (murder). He had dishonoured God. And his attitude in this psalm is one we can copy when we too dishonour our Lord:
-Ask for mercy (1)- not because you deserve it, but because God is loving and compassionate.
-Acknowledge your sins (3)- particularly that they are against God (4)- and God's right to judge you.
-Ask for cleansing (7)- only God can make you 'whiter than snow'.
-Ask for joy and gladness (8)- which stems from an assurance of salvation (12).
-Ask for God to give you a pure heart (10)- only through His enabling can you be pure, along with His Holy Spirit's help (11).
-Share God's desire for purity with others and encourage them too to receie forgiveness (13).
-Praise God (14-15).
-Understand that instead of rituals or outward gesutres ('I'll go to churh more' etc), God wants a 'broken and contrite heart' (v17).
-Praise God that through the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, we can come to Him for cleansing with confidence.

A big mess-up

Lessons from David: 2 Samuel 11-12
Things were going so well for David. He was experiencing the fulfilment of God's promises to him (he had rest on every side from his enemies), and was leading Israel to victory in every battle (through God's grace). The problem with things going well is that we become complacent and arrogant. This seems to have happened to David.

He decides not to go off with the other kings to battle, but to have a rest at home. And the story is well-known: he views Bathsheba bathing, orders for her to be brought to him, sleeps with her, then tries to deal with her subsequent pregnancy by giving her husband too much wine and trying to make him go home to sleep with her. When Uriah refuses to do so, David arranges for him to be killed in battle. He abuses his power as king to take something that is not rightfully his.

Nathan's parable illustrates the selfishness and brutality of David's actions. Faced with the ugliness of his sin, he repents- but must take the consequences (his son's death).

God's grace, though, is shown in His desire to forgive David. The incident shows us how perfect Jesus is by comparison, why He is our true King, and reminds us that we can't hide our sin from God. The best thing to do when we have big mess-ups is to go straight to Him and ask for forgiveness. The spiral of sin David found himself in is one that we are all susceptible to.