Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. What's happening invokes? It is Wednesday of the Passion Week. We have talked about the Passion Week already, but we are in the midst of it, and so this would've been the day before Passover. In the Jewish calendar, there's not really anything. Specifically unique going on right now. The upper room is gonna be tomorrow on Thursday. That is the day of the Passover meal. We believe that's the meal Jesus was eating with his disciples that night that he was betrayed. And so Thursday, then Friday, he's gonna be crucified. We have our Good Friday service coming up at six 30 on Friday to celebrate or remember that rather. And then Saturday he's in the tomb, which that's gonna be interesting. In fact, we'll talk about that a little bit on Friday, which is this concept of how God can die in the reality that in his human nature, God experienced death. But then there's the divine nature which. Couldn't die. And so how does that work and what does that look like? Where was God, where was Jesus on Saturday? What's he doing? What does all of this mean for us? Scripture gives us some insight into that, although not a lot. There's questions that we still have there, but I. And then obviously Sunday morning, his resurrection. And that is such a day of joyful celebration. It's gonna be that for us as we gather, get together as the church and hit the empty tomb for John Chapter 20. And we see what kind of savior Jesus is as we look at his his resurrection, his patience and his calling. There. We hope that you're planning to join us and be a part of all those events. We've also got extravaganza, which pray right now. If you'll even stop right now, what, whatever you're doing, driving, whatever, wherever you happen to be pray. Keep your eyes open if you're behind the wheel, but pray that God will keep the weather at bay on Saturday. Yes, it's, potentially supposed to rain and storm and we want to do this event. There's been a lot of effort. In fact shout out to the ladies who gathered yesterday Monday, that was, so yesterday as we record this, but a couple days ago they gathered over at Prosper Town Hall and packed over 7,000 eggs full of candy. Wow. And so good job, ladies, such a, an act of servant heartedness led by somebody who doesn't like to be shouted out. So we won't mention her name at all. So yeah, we're not gonna mention. We, if we were, many might speculate that it could be somebody like,

some might suggest. Yeah. Mo no. Hold on. You see what I'm, pick up what I'm throwing down here. Might share her name, but we're not going to, we might speculate maybe soon you'll find out. Do you see what I'm trying to do here? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Throw it down, bro. I don't know. This is improv. Come on. I'm missing what you're, I'm not picking up what you're putting down. I was, I'm giving you her initials. Oh, covertly. Oh. So that no one notices. Oh, I follow what you're saying now. Maybe soon you'll find out what I'm trying to do maybe soon. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, we didn't figure it out though. That's all right. That's no, I track we'll let them in on that. I was with

you. We'll let them in on that. Yeah. Anyways, good job. You know who you are listening to this and so do all the ladies that were there and some others may have sniffed it out at this point too. Anyways I. Man, it's gonna be a great week, but pray that the weather holds off. 'cause if the weather doesn't hold off, we're gonna have to we're gonna have to trust the Lord in that situation. But we're praying that the weather stays at bay and that we can get this event done. Youth is happening tonight though. It's passion week, but we still have true North meeting tonight and covering the next section of Matthews Gospel. That's right. And what better time to

meet. We don't wanna skip church because of a of a special week. In fact, it's hey let's meet all the more. So we are meeting tonight. I'm preaching, excuse me, God willing, my voice holds up. I will be preaching one way or another. If I have to use Lewis as my puppet, I'm gonna preach it. So help me God. So please send your kids. I'm just gonna keep my words short to, to preserve that. But yeah we're going to study Matthew chapter 16 tonight. We'd love to see your kids there.

Yeah. And on that note, as you're hearing that pray for Pastor Rod's voice. Pray for it to hold out. Your prayers are working. Yep. It, I'm making progress. It is getting better, but just pray that tomorrow or tonight rather, he is not a setback, as he's gotta expend his voice to preach the word. So Matthew two 15, not 16. Matthew 15, not 16. Let's jump into our daily Bible reading text for today. We've got Psalm 56, Psalm one 20, and then Psalm one 40 through 1 42. Seems shorter 'cause it lists three entries there but Psalm one 40 through 1 42. That's three by itself. So we've got quite a bit of ground to cover here. Psalm 56 is, taking place right before David Feigns his insanity in one Samuel 21. So you'll remember back there. And in this Psalm, David admits his fear, but also reestablishes his trust in Yahweh and twice declares in the Psalm that he will trust. The Lord for what can man do to him. And so this is a great Psalm of David just expressing that confident trust in God despite circumstances. And it's an encouraging psalm for you. If you're out there, you're battling, let's say anxiety or fear, or something's going on in your life that you wish wasn't happening in your life, and you're tempted to despair over that. A psalm like Psalm 56 is such a good one to come back to, to say, okay, Lord, I can trust in you. David was trusting in you. I can put my trust in you. You are the same God. Today as you were for King David before he is king at this point, but you are the same God. You haven't changed. And so if he could trust in you, I can trust in you. I can say in God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Psalm one 20 then is one of the Psalms of a sense, Psalms of a sense. RO give us an understanding of the Psalms of a sense. They're the Psalms that when you

sing them, it smells good. Yep. Everyone smells the ascent of them and they're pleasant to the nostrils. Just kidding. These are the songs that. The Israelites would sing as the ascend up to Mount Jerusalem. And the ascension, of course, is because it's at a higher elevation. And so you always ascend whether you're going north, south, east or west or ascending up the mountain to Mount Zion. And so they would sing these pilgrim songs as they prepare to worship usually for one of the three times of the year where they're called to worship. And so they would sing these songs as a reminder of what their. Hearts were to do and how they were to think about God as they prepare themselves. So this is really cool because I think maybe there are some songs of a sense that you guys could pop in on your MP three player. As you go to church, you get your heart ready for worship. And granted, there's a way that we do that all week. I guess we're always worshiping in that sense. We don't have to go to a temple to worship. We are the Temple of God, but I like the idea of saying, let's be intentional to prepare our hearts to worship King Jesus. And this is one of the ways that they did that in the, under the Old Testament pop. In your MP

three, I'm just thinking like the Zoom Windows media player. What would you say now? Pop what? Pop on your iPhone songs that you can stream on Spotify or Apple Music or, yeah. Okay. Young people. Bunin, pop it in your MP three player. Make sure that you plug your co your ox cord into your tape

deck. Dude, I had one. I had, so I had an iPod video. Yeah. Those things, those, that was really cool, man. Those, that day and season of our technological history was a sweet one. I liked it. I liked going to my computer to get new podcasts

and dude, it was great. You're digging a hole because you know what's gonna happen. Because we can't win this battle 'cause we're not the oldest generation yet. Of course not. Of course not. So at church on Sunday, here comes Dan talking about eight tracks and LPs and

dude, I went to a music store the other day and I, you probably know this, a lot of people do vinyls are making like a serious comeback. Yeah. We've got some vinyls in our

living room right now. Do you? We are, yeah. I did not know that. Spinning a little Ben Rector on the vinyl and. Okay. Yeah. Explain that. It's the sound quality is supposed to be better. I it's also, it's supposed to be, huh? It's also a piece of furniture to have a turntable and to have a record collection. And what is an aesthetic? It's, it gives a Yes, exactly. I'm scratching, scratching,

laying down beats for Amanda. Is she? Totally,

yeah. No I don't understand all of it except that it's in our modern technology the sound files are compressed and so you're not getting the full. The fullness of, unless you

do apple music, which has the full sound file. True. And if you use a digital to analog converter, like the one I showed you you can get the full thing. Granted, it may not sound as good on your speakers, right? Because okay, once you get into that rabbit hole, speaking of, that's really hard to get outta. 'cause now you have to say if I want the best audio, I need the right subwoofer and then I need the right. Speakers, which have the greatest level of frequencies. And I need the right amplifier and I need this. And then headphones too, open ear headphones, open ear clothes, dear. And then whether you want the light stuff or you want the he. Yeah. This is a dangerous place to go, my friend.

Yes. Psalm one 20 was one of those psalms of a scent preparing for worship. And in the psalm just thematically here, he's praying that the Lord would deliver him from someone who had brought him harm with lies and deceit. So you can think of David's life and think of. Probably many instances where he was in a situation where things were stacked against him because somebody had lied about him or tried to deceive others in regards to him. And so this is we don't know if it's David specifically 'cause it's not listed there in the title, but the editors of this reading plan said, Hey, this is probably David and we think it fits here in his life.

I guess why would they, I just explained that the songs of Ascent, the songs of Ascent were one that you would sing as you wait, make your way to Israel, right? A Jerusalem rather. Why this one? Like how does this fit into the economy of Hey, come prepared to worship. Let's think about our enemies and how you were deceived or how you were delivered

from wine lips. Other than it's acknowledging, we've talked a lot about how worship speaks to the circumstances of our lives and it's acknowledging that whether or not you were, no matter where you were if you were called to go and worship the Lord in at the temple, think of Passover or feast to booze or some of the other required attendances at the temple there. You're coming out of real life and I think a song like this acknowledges that. And even as you're going to worship, praying for that deliverance and asking that God would would do justice and and bring reconciliation there and trusting that to him, almost rolling that over to him to maybe for you to be able to go up and worship the Lord as you should be able to worship him. That's a good word. Psalm one 40 then this is a psalm that we do have ascribed to David, and so in this psalm here we have, david asking the Lord to intervene and to deliver him from wicked men. And the Psalm ends with this confident expression that Yahweh would maintain the cause of the afflicted and execute justice for the needy, which is interesting because I. The question has to be asked and answered. It. Does he always do that? There, there's a confidence that, that David has here. I know the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and will execute justice for the needy. But that doesn't always happen. We're dealing with a, an awful situation right now which has yet to play out fully in the court of law. But we're dealing with this situation of this 17-year-old young man who was murdered. By a guy and murdered in cold blood at this track stadium down in Frisco, and his killer is the one that's now raised over $300,000 on a GoFundMe. And some judge lowered his bail from a million, which is what it was said, at normally to 250,000. Now he's out and he's at home with his family and his family's rejoicing that they have their son home when the man that he killed that family is now without their son sitting at the table. So you look at a situation like that, let's bring this real life, and we say, okay, is God maintaining the cause of the afflicted? And as key. Executing justice for the needy. It's the it's a cesspool. So I would encourage you not to do it, but if you go down the rabbit hole of the comments on social media under these articles that are out there it's crazy the number of people that think that this perpetrator was right in doing what he did. It's mind boggling. And so we live in a society and a culture of. Of un of injustice of the tragic. And granted, hopefully justice will be done in the court of law. We can pray for that and entrust that. The Lord will do that. But it's interesting that David is so confident here. So pr some thoughts on how David can be so confident that justice is gonna come, that God is gonna maintain the cause of the afflicted when sometimes we see the opposite.

Yeah, I think we're all gonna say that at the end of the day, even as Christians, we're gonna say, God's the one who's going to uphold this cause He's going to protect them. Ultimately, even if not temporally. And so we'll have to distinguish between that which we see here and now versus that which we know will take place in the there and then, so as the Christian worldview comes into clearer focus, we have to recognize that while we do enjoy some of the privileges of God's rule and reign here and now when the justice system does work, our hope is not. In the here and now, but in the there and then, and that's what's going to help us navigate some of these rough and difficult seasons where it seems like evil has the upper hand. We look to the there and then. Yeah. That's

good. That's good. Psalm 1 41, then in this psalm, David is gonna pray both for deliverance from sin and deliverance from evil men. And so here we get a glimpse into David's heart, knowing that he is inclined towards and prone to sin himself. And so David is not, even though he will often plead his integrity, David is not unaware of the fact that he can be inclined to evil and to wickedness and to sin. And so he's praying for deliverance, both from sin and from evil men. And that God would keep him in a state of integrity. And I think we see that in verse three. Set a guard, oh Lord, over my mouth and keep watch over the door of my lips. Don't incline or don't let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds. In other words, David's saying, I know what my default is. I know what I will do if I'm not dependent upon you, relying upon you trusting in you to do this. And so I'm asking that you would do this. Pierre let's kick around. This concept for a second there, it, how is this different from the mindset of this being a mantra? Okay. If I wake up and I pray, God set a guard over my lips so that I don't say anything stupid and help me not let my heart inclined to towards any evil. Amen. And then I can just go about my day and I'm good. I don't need to worry. It's like the mantra or the lucky rabbit's foot that if I pray this, then clearly the rest of the day I'm gonna, I'm gonna be fine.

Yeah. It's funny that you bring this up 'cause I. I copied and pasted this into my prayer mate. 'cause I'm like, this is so good. I just want to use this. And the danger is that we'll do what this, what a lot of people will do with their prayers. Say this many Hail Marys, this many our fathers. And you could take a really good portion of the scripture and use them in really bad ways. And I think that's the danger that Jesus speaks about when he says, don't think that you're gonna be hurt for your many words. I don't think that because you say the right formula, that suddenly your prayer becomes acceptable. A real prayer is dynamic and relational. And you can still communicate this to God without actually repeating the exact phraseology and saying I didn't say it just right. Therefore God doesn't hear me. God hears us based on our faith in Christ and not on the the formality of our words. So I think that's probably the linchpin for me is that we present our hearts to God by saying, man, don't let my heart inclined to any evil Lord. You know me. And I think that's why the Psalms are so great to use as really great starting places for prayer because they give words to, to real as you were saying earlier. To real life situations. When I read verse four, I'm like, man, that is so good. I just, I stopped and I thought about that. I'm like, man, this is a Godly man saying, don't let my heart incline to any evil. Which is, which becomes then a thought of my heart can be stopped by God from inclining towards something bad. And I think that part of the fact that changes part of the fact is that we're regenerated. And that changes everything for us. David wasn't, he wasn't born again by the spirit of God like we are, but he did recognize that there is still a bent to his flesh that will incline toward evil unless God does something about it. I love that. So I would say copy and paste it into your prayer system, whatever that is, but don't depend on the words, depending on the God to whom your words are directed.

Yeah, I would agree with all of that. And. Add to that too, that idea that this is, that both and element of our sanctification, right? It's not that we are gonna be automatically sanctified just because we pray a certain thing or ask God to do a certain thing. He's not, he's not the cosmic vending machine. He's not the genie in the sky who, if we pray this, then all of a sudden we can let go and let God. Make this happen in our life. I've said it before and I think it's true. Our default is gonna be towards the flesh. So even if you wake up in the morning and you go to the word and you pray these prayers, if you're praying these prayers thinking that, okay, now it's God's job to, to keep me holy for the rest of the day and I can let my guard down then you're a sitting duck, then it's not gonna go the way that you want it to go. Instead we have to do what Paul calls us to do and work out a. Work out our salvation with fear and trembling. And so we're gonna pray this and then we're also gonna be careful to set ourselves in the way of seeing this become reality. And that's part of the way that God's gonna answer, that He's gonna sanctify us by his spirit. And so we're gonna pray, God sanctify me. And then we're gonna know that God's going to sanctify as his spirit works within us and uses our wisdom, our actions, our thoughts, our desires, so forth and so on to, to drive us towards Christ. And so it's gotta be the both end there. Psalm 1 42. Then again, is from David, a Maskel of David, and he's in the cave. Which cave? Good luck narrowing that down. David spent a lot of time in caves and so we're not sure. Maybe this is the cave when Saul comes in to relieve himself there and in Getty, maybe not. But here's David, and he's praying to the Lord here in Psalm 1 42. And here I think this psalm reveals for us God's personal awareness and acknowledgement of our sorrows and our difficult circumstances as David is crying out. And he asked the Lord in verse six, attend to my cry for I am brought very low, deliver me from my persecutor, bring me outta prison, that I may give thanks to your name, that the righteous will surround me. Yeah I think this is one of those where the Lord does care about where you are and it's okay to bring these things before the Lord. We talked in one of the previous episodes about should we tell the Lord? The things that are going on in our life, doesn't he already know them? And the answer is yes, but at the same time it's good for us and it's okay for us. And David does this. God knew exactly where David was and knew what was going on in his heart right now. And yet it was good and right for David to be able to pour out his complaint before the Lord, to tell his trouble to the Lord when his spirit faints within him, trusting that the Lord knew him. This was. This was okay and good for David to do, and it's okay and good for us to do as well. As long as it doesn't turn into a spirit of bitterness and grumbling in complaining the way that Israelites did, but rather saying, Lord, here's my circumstances. Help me understand. Help me know how to go through this. Help me endure, help me persevere, deliver me outta this trial. I think this is a good example for us in Psalm 1 42.

I guess I would also, the word complaint ha has such a negative connotation to us, and I can understand that it isn't negative word by and large. But notice the way that David talks to the Lord. He's not saying, why have you made me this way? Why do you do this? Why are you, it's not accusatory? And sometimes David does get pretty close to that. I'll let confess, there are times where he is ah, he gets really close to the line from me. But I think that brutal honesty, God still honors because he's offering it with a spirit of humility. And I think that really is the difference maker between our complaints of the Lord and our typical complaining when someone cuts us off on Preston Road.

Yeah.

So here I would say the complaints you have to understand in this context of humble confession of frustration. There is not, you should not complain to God where you shake your fist at him and say, oh, you hate when you do this, or you're not talking to a toddler. Not that you should talk to a toddler that way, right? You're not talking to a dog or a stray cat or a housed cat, any kind of cat at all. You're not talking to a cat. You're talking to the God who made everything the God of the universe, the God who made galaxies and stars and nebula and volcanoes and earthquakes. This is the same God. I'd be careful about that. I would still say offer your complaint. But be sure the way that you describe complaint isn't. Arrogance, proud, boastful, complaining, but a humble confession of neediness on your part for understanding, for wisdom, for clarity, all those things.

Yes. And amen to that. Yeah. Yeah. And we seek to maintain a high view of God. That's one of our distinctives here, and we've gotta maintain that high view of God in the valleys as well as on the mountaintops. And so we've gotta be careful with that for sure. Let's pray and then we'll be done with this episode. God, give us the wisdom to know how to do that to to check ourselves. Lord, help us to be sensitive to the spirit within us to not allow circumstances, to drive us into grumbling, complaining criticism doubt. That would be sinful of you and I. Certainly any accusatory thoughts that would impugn you of wrongdoing that we don't want to cross that line. And Job is an example of somebody who eventually did cross that line, but at the very beginning he's got that faith in you that says you give, you take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord, that's where we want to be, and yet that doesn't. That's not possible for us in our flesh. We need the spirit working within us, making us more like Christ. To have that mentality, that mindset, even thinking about Jesus, his example is like a lamb that was silent before it shears. He, he went to the slaughter for us and he suffered for us, as Peter says, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps. And so help us to do that, to entrust ourselves to our creator. While doing good Lord, we want that to be true of who we are as we suffer with a great confidence and trust in you. So give us that we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Keep reading your Bibles and tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. See you. Bye.

Thanks for listening to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. This is a ministry of Compass Bible Church in north Texas. You can find out more information about ourChurch@compassntx.org. We would love for you to leave a review to rate to share this podcast on whatever platform you happen to be listening on, and we will catch you against tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

Yeah. I would agree with everything that you said