Closer Day 10

Crosspoint City Church

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Closer Day 10

January 23, 2024

Read: Psalm 37:12-20

12 The wicked plots against the righteous

and gnashes his teeth at him,

13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

for he sees that his day is coming.

14 The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows

to bring down the poor and needy,

to slay those whose way is upright;

15 their sword shall enter their own heart,

and their bows shall be broken.

16 Better is the little that the righteous has

than the abundance of many wicked.

17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

but the Lord upholds the righteous.

18 The Lord knows the days of the blameless,

and their heritage will remain forever;

19 they are not put to shame in evil times;

in the days of famine they have abundance.

20 But the wicked will perish;

the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures;

they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

Reflect:

Continuing on in Psalm 37, David writes proverb-like sayings that describe the reality of the wicked and the righteous and how the Lord responds to each of these groups of people.

We read how the wicked “plot against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him” and how they “draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright.” These are terrifying actions of the wicked against the righteous, yet the righteous, the people of God, have no reason to worry about the occasional success of the wicked. There is a day of judgment coming. The wicked can do their worst to God’s people in this life, but God is not threatened by them. He even “laughs at the wicked, for he sees his day is coming.” God knows. His plan is being carried out.

You see, fear, worry, and anxiety about the evil in this world are unwarranted. We have the promises of God in the Bible that He protects, upholds, and provides for His people. The success, fame, and prosperity of the wicked are as temporary as vapor. It never has any real substance and soon vanishes away.

As the people of God, we are in relationships, jobs, communities, and circumstances where we are in the midst of evil and sin. Even as the wicked appear to prosper, as David instructs, we should not abandon hope, as our hope is in the Lord. There’s a beauty that is found in being content in how the Lord provides. While it seems as if the wicked receive the rewards, theirs is only temporary. Believer, the reward of the righteous is eternal. This life is fleeting. With the perspective of eternity, we can be confident and content right here, right now.

Prayer:

Father, help me to maintain confidence and trust in You. Give me the right perspective when it appears that evil is winning and prospering all around me. It is temporary, and You are eternal. Help me to fix my eyes on You and to rest in Your promises.

More from Closer: 21 Days of Prayer (2024)

Closer Day 21

February 3, 2024

Read: Psalm 44 1O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: 2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; 3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob! 5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us. 6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. 7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us. 8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies. 10 You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil. 11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations. 12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them. 13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us. 14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. 15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face 16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. 18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way; 19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death. 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. 22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! 24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. 26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! Reflect: Humiliation and failure can lead us to some pretty scary places. When these things happen, it can be easy to question God and His goodness. This reality is seen through Psalm 44. The beginning of the psalm (v.1-8) reflects God’s faithfulness as He has given Israel victory over their enemies time and time again. However, past performance does not always mean future success. It seems that Israel was dealt a humiliating defeat at the hands of the nation’s enemies. This leads the psalmist to accuse God of abandonment (v. 9), of making Israel the object of disgrace and shame (v. 15) and leading them to death (v. 22). We can't know the entire context of Psalm 44, but we can hear the disappointment and frustration of the psalmist in their failure. Isn't it amazing how quick we can be to accuse God when we put expectations on Him that He doesn't meet? Although this can be a natural response, we can’t stay in this place forever. Even when it feels like everything you had planned goes down the drain, we have a God that uses and redeems our failure and even our humiliation (Rom. 8:28). God has done this all through Scripture and continues to do this in the lives of His people each and every day. Even while under the shadow of failure, the psalmist remembers that God does not fail. Although the sting of humiliation and defeat are like an open wound, he remembers the unending love of God and goes to Him in prayer in expectation of His rescue (v. 26). Life has a way of bringing us to our knees and even bringing out frustration towards God. However, in those moments, all we have to do is fix our eyes on the cross of Christ and know that God has done more for us than we could ever ask in giving us Jesus. Prayer: God, thank you for being a God that wastes nothing. Even in failure and humiliation, You are piecing together a perfect story in spite of our failure. Through Your Spirit, free us from feelings of anger, frustration, or even entitlement as things turn out differently than how we planned. Thank you for Your steadfast love.

Closer Day 20

February 2, 2024

Read: Psalm 43 1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! 2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 3 Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Reflect: The Psalms have many strong characteristics, but one of the strongest is the honesty that can be found in these texts. There is no sugar-coating or taking the edge off of any emotion that is directed at God. It’s great news to know that we can go to our King without having to fix ourselves or manage our emotions, but in full honesty, we can talk to God and know that He not only listens but also that He deeply cares. In Psalm 43, we see this honesty in vivid detail as the psalmist is dealing with hatred and oppression that is coming from his enemies. In the midst of these attacks, he cries out, “why have you rejected me? (v.2)” Although we are not facing enemies on a literal battlefield, we are at odds with the broader culture that surrounds us. As we walk through and navigate life, there might even be times where you feel alone and isolated as you seek to follow the Lord. In these times, take heart: God has never left your side. In spite of the honest cries of abandonment from the psalmist, he ultimately comes back to finding comfort in the presence of an unfailing God. The writer shares that God’s faithfulness and light leads him to a “holy mountain” (v. 3). It is this precious place where we will experience God as our joy and delight, regardless of what is going on around us. Prayer: Father, we are grateful that You allow us to come to You with our emotions and pleas with full honesty. The fact that You receive us as loved sons and daughters is a gift that we do not deserve. Thank you for not abandoning us even when we lack faith. Encourage us and strengthen us as we live out the mission You have given each of us in a world that continues to grow more challenging for those who are trying to be faithful to You and Your Kingdom.

Closer Day 19

February 1, 2024

Read: Psalm 42 1As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation 6 and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. 8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 10 As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Reflect: To have an encounter with God starts with a desire for Him. It is not something that we can conjure up or will into happening. The experience of intimacy with God comes when it is the very thing that we want the most. In our text, we see the psalmist say that they yearn for God as a deer “pants for flowing streams (v. 1).” This is someone who desperately yearns for what only God can give. As the psalm progresses, we see that one of the reasons the psalmist is so desperate for God is that they are struggling. They are in a dark moment of life that they describe as so painful that they cry out, “tears have been my food day and night (v. 3).” That sounds about as dark as it gets. Have you ever been there? Somewhere where the pain is great, and there seems to be no hope in sight. Although these places are scary, they are also places where we trust God with pain and fear. He is our everything. He is our only place of comfort and peace. In the middle of the despair of the psalmist, he comes back to the foundation of his life. In the midst of difficulty and an attack from those who hate him, he finds a ray of hope. This hope drives a renewed perspective, even in the valley of life, that causes him to plead hope over his soul. To his soul, he cries out to “hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God (v.11).” This might be the very thing that God is calling you to do today. Even if you don’t feel like praising God because of the circumstances that you find yourself in, to command your soul to remember the hope of your salvation breathes new life, a new hope, into our hearts. It is this hope that reminds us that there is nothing in this life or this world that we have to fear. This truth should provide comfort and peace to us even in the lowest points of our lives. Prayer: Thank you for being a God who saves. Thank you for being a God that uses and redeems all things in our life for Your glory and our good. Help me to trust You more. Through Your Spirit, remind me of the unshakable hope that You have given me through salvation. Fortify my soul, drive out fear and anxiety, and allow me to experience Your peace, knowing that You can be trusted with everything.