I was digging through some old files and found this, and realized I never have released these on my blog. This is close to four years old now, but it is essentially a reflection on a few verses from Psalm 36, taking it word by word, phrase by phrase. Hopefully, you find it edifying…
Psalms 36:5-7 KJV
Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness 
is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
Thy– We begin this meditation zeroing in on a pronoun which designates a person outside of me, and it is a possessive pronoun, meaning, this other individual possesses something. The posture of this text is focused on something outside of “me.â€
Mercy– Webster defines mercy as, “That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant. In this sense, there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy. That which comes nearest to it is grace. It implies benevolence, tenderness, mildness, pity or compassion, and clemency, but exercised only towards offenders. Mercy is a distinguishing attribute of the Supreme Being.†While our earthly understanding of mercy is that it is the overlooking of offense, and choosing to inflict less punishment upon a guilt party, the biblical word here designates a zealous passion and ardor to not just overlook offense, but to give, impart and bestow most tender love and goodness. Let’s simply connect these first two words, and observe that this mercy–which overlooks our utter lack of merit and deserving–is what belongs to this party outside of ourselves. Meaning, Someone other than us has a deep, and passionate lovingkindness which they possess and zealously long to give.
about a few aspects of it, and wanted to flesh some of this out. I think one of the most wonderful aspects of politics is that we get to hear what people running for office say, then we can compare that with what they have done, and then we get to see how many people were fooled after the polls close.
part” in preaching; that is, be attentive, eager, discerning listeners. It is no wonder that we get so little out of preaching, precisely because we come predisposed to dislike, critique, and even disdain the message preached.
outdoing itself in its decadence. Lust, of any variety, will never have enough, and will always be demanding “give, give†(Pro. 30:15). Thus, in order to live godly in an age where the gravitation pull of the black hole of sexual dalliance we are going to need a stiff drink of what scripture calls self-control/temperance (Gal. 5:23).
two children, my second being born about 3 weeks ago. He’s a healthy, chubby, little boy named Edwin Oliver and has already proven to be a great baseball player, and is clearly the most intelligent little boy born this century. As you can tell, I am overjoyed at the blessing of this son.
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