10:4 The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead.

The “wicked” are not necessarily mean and nasty. They may be some of the nicest people you ever meet.

To be wicked in this Psalm is to purposely ignore God and choose not to seek him. If you find yourself there, don’t give up too soon. He kinda’ grows on you after awhile.

If “God is dead,” does that mean he was alive at some time?

9:18 But the needy will not be ignored forever; the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed.

God is a God of justice. Everything will be fair at some point. In the meantime, we take active compassion for those in need. Why?

We love who God loves.

Read Luke 16:19-31

8:6 You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority…

People are to care for creation as God cares. Everything. We are management working for corporate headquarters. The Chief Creative Officer (CCO) and CEO are one and the same: God the Father. How is it going?

We make progress when we realize we are responsible and trustworthy. When you love God you love everything he loves.

How have you loved God’s creation lately?

PS 7:6 Arise, O Lord, in anger! Stand up against the fury of my enemies! Wake up, my God, and bring justice!

King David wrote most of the Psalms. Here we see him perturbed by, what looks to him, God’s lack of attention to the plight of his people. Of course we know that God has his way of doing things. It doesn’t stop David from getting some sarcasm, though.

‘Hey, big guy, wake up!’

What would it be like to have that close of a relationship to God that you can speak to him like a friend? You are, you know.

Learned helplessness is a psychological condition in which a human being or an animal has learned to believe that it is helpless in a particular situation. It has come to believe that it has no control over its situation and that whatever it does is futile. As a result, the human being or the animal will stay passive in the face of an unpleasant, harmful or damaging situation, even when it does actually have the power to change its circumstances.  (Wikipedia.com)

Now read this.

Interesting…

PS 6:4 Return, O Lord, and rescue me. Save me because of your unfailing love.

Here is the cry of God’s people. The story of the Bible is a story of rescue with restoration just around the corner. Restoration never comes. God’s people always turn in on themselves, away from God, after they are rescued.

Then comes Jesus. Restoration is here.

When are times in the Bible when God’s people cry out and are rescued?

PS 5:5 Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence,
 for you hate all who do evil.

It appears that God doesn’t only hate sin, he hates those who do evil. In the context of this verse, I understand. Someone who takes pride in going against the completely just and completely pure God and his ways on purpose- I don’t even want to think of what that means. I just know I need God for me and not against me. I am driven to his mercy when I look inside myself.

“Evil is just culturally conditioned. Who’s to say what is good and what is evil? There is no such thing.” When you hear someone say something like that, what do you think?

I talked about my friend Nick who graduated from The King’s Seminary last Sunday. I also have a friend, Brian Cashman, who graduated with a degree in Biblical Studies.