“Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, and He will hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:17)

I never felt the explanation was adequate that says that when we pray, God may say “yes” but God may also say “no.”  My reaction was inevitably, “well, then what is the point of my input?”  It was this kind of thinking that led me to spend less time rattling on over a list of requests and simply pray “may your will be done” and leave it at that.  But perhaps there is a value in prayer – even if it is the whiny, misguided, unproductive kind.  Ultimately, God hears my voice.  He sees through my clamor and ascertains the true, God-honoring prayer request – the thing I should be asking for but am too immature to know.  He sets forth into action what I really need.  It may still feel like a “no” but it really isn’t.  It is God hearing my childish ranting and giving me the thing that is best.

“The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.”  (Psalm 33:5)

How can a loving God allow evil?  This is so asked of believers with the naive assumption of originality as if it never occurred to the best minds of the Western Intellectual tradition in the last two thousand years that evil exists.  In fact, the reality of a fallen humanity and a fallen world gives adequate explanation of why humans are cruel to other humans.  What is rarely asked is the opposite.  How does an atheist explain good in the world?   Just as evil points to a fallen humanity, so the good about us in sunny days, stirring art, caring relationships, tasty food and satisfying accomplishments point to the pouring forth of a loving God.

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing.” (Psalm 30:11)

One time when I took my wife to a Contra dance, I saw pleasure on her face that made her look like a queen.  Another time when I saw a gospel choir, I longed to run up on the stage and swing joyfully with them.  Sometimes there are moments where the heart wants to break forth into joy.  Fear, restraint, introverted personality often prevents us and (in spite of the opt-quoted passage about David dancing before the Lord) self-exhibitionism isn’t always appropriate.  But shed the world’s pull towards cynicism and shame and let your heart be lifted up.

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised.” (Psalm 48:1)

A man has a right to be an atheist if that is what he truly and honestly believes – though such a one’s honesty is certainly questioned considering the attractive prospect of having no higher, moral law to have to bother with. Nevertheless, I always thought the title of the book “God is Not Great” crossed a line of decency. Its in-your-face brazenness always gave me chills. The author, having died yesterday, is in a place where he knows the folly of his book title. If God be indeed true, he is experiencing firsthand the greatness of God’s righteousness and splendor. Or, perhaps, due to a move of grace by God Himself, the author is being astonished at the greatness of God’s mercy and forgiveness. One may wander. One may be deceived. One may stop believing. But deep down we can never shake the self-evident truth – God is great.

“My times are in Your hand.” (Psalm 31:15)

My times are in Your hand – this is what I believe. But acceptance is the proof that I believe it. When the enemy strikes, when the tasks outweighs the time, when the road of life turns the opposite way than I expected, when the world seems hurling in the wrong direction, when I forget my lunch – an open hand to a powerful God acknowledges that He never stopped being in control of His eternal plan that began before the world began and of which I am but a cog. I believe that. So I accept whatever comes my way.

“And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.” (Psalm 39:7)

There are all kinds of higher life presumptions but they all come down to this: I do something and God is obligated to respond. Have a certain level of faith. Empty myself of sin. Travail. Fast. Claim it in prayer. Believe hard enough. Completely die to self. While these may be (or may not be) admirable disciplines, the common heresy they degenerate into is suggesting that as techniques they are a mechanism to move God to work. The truth: God is in charge. We wait expectantly.

“He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.” (Psalm 40:20)

One way to know that I am truly thankful is to ask where I would be had God not provided the thing I’m thankful for. The pilgrims knew first-hand those who did not survive the trip. They were intimately aware of starvation and disease, wild beasts and unfriendly races. They knew what it was like to live in a country where they couldn’t express what they believed. Talk to a person who once struggled with life-dominating sin and you will find a thankful person. In the not-too-distant memory they were inches away from jumping into a thankless pit destroying in the endeavor everything that was good and precious. Yet God somehow snatched them from the jaws of this destruction. Their thanksgiving flows from a thankful and aware heart.