Paulson Post

 “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” (Psa 27:13—14). The person who penned this Hebrew poem expresses his trust in the Lord. Line by line, he describes how he will overcome every adversity that rises against him through the power of God. He narrates his story so that every believer then and even now may have their confidence in the Lord. His confidence comes from the fact that the Lord is good and always favours those who approach him for help. He is confident that his prayers will be answered during his lifetime. (“The land of the living” denotes a person's lifetime). The Lord may not act according to our timetable, but he certainly acts according to this will in his own time. This requires patience. Exhorting the worshippers to “wait for the Lord”, the psalmist encourages them not to give up but to hold on for the Lord’s time. Waiting could b...

 “He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever” (Psa 21:4). Psalm 21 thanks the Lord for answering the prayer for victory that the people prayed in Psalm 20 as the king set out for the battle. The people had confessed that it was not their military strength but the Lord’s might that made their army win the war. Now, the king and the military have come back victorious. The first part of the Psalm (verses 1—7) elaborates on what the Lord has done for the king, while the second part (verses 8—12) expresses their hope for a future free of threats from the enemies. In the last verse, they praise the Lord for his strength and mercy in preserving them. “Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power” (Psa 21:13). Ancient Israel was a tiny nation among powerful and more prominent nations. They had never been an empire except during the period of David, who had subdued some smaller countries. Still, that is enough to make an empire....

I hope 2016 has been a great year for us all. It was indeed a year of blessing in every way, particularly on the spiritual side. We look back and wonder on the way that God lead us. What can we do for God for leading us. The psalmist in Psalmist 116:13 also is in bewilderment mode. ‘I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord….’ He enumerates all that God has done for him. He begins it with his prayers and how God answered his prayers. ‘I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.’ (Psa 116:1-2, ESV). Then he goes on to list the specific answers to prayer that he received. He had been to the extremes in his life. He had come to a point his whole life was threatened. He was at the point of death. ‘For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living....

As you walk past the aisles of Duty-Free shops in airports, the sales girls plead to try the new perfume that has just arrived in the shop. Sniff and decide they suggest. At the entrance of the grocery shop is a small counter where sales persons offer you a new type of tea free though in tiny cups. Taste and see if it is better than the teas that you have tasted so far. Most of the time our choices are not based on our primary experience but hearsay and experiences of others. For example, most of the time our decisions are based on what others suggest or what the brand ambassadors promote. Our decisions should not be based on hearsay but on experience. That applies to Christian faith as well. The psalmist who sang 'Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good' (Psalms 34:8) was recommending his faith in God. However, his invitation is not to follow his faith blindly but to experience God first before committing. There is some place for the logic 'It works for others so it must...

“Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue” (Psalm 120:2). Lying is a reality in our society. Parents lie to their children and children to their parents. The reason for denying something to their children may not always lack of money though that is what the parents try to convince them. Spouses do lie. Coming home late from office is not always some urgent work that landed on the table as ‘I was about to leave the office.’ Politicians have perfected this art so much so that the expression ‘honest politician’ is obsolete and is a contradiction of terms in most of the cases. Exaggerated resume, tall claims of achievements, grades, qualifications the list goes on. How often do people lie? A study on American students a few years ago found out that on an average, they lied almost 3 times in a 10 minute conversation with strangers. Another study in Britain found out that British men lie six times a day and women three times. Saints of the Old Testament especia...

The psalmist has a strange complaint in Psalm 14:4 (also in Psalm 53:4). It is about those people who don’t pray to God.’ Why should another person’s prayer life bother her ? The psalmist’s worry doesn’t seem to be the fact that they don’t pray but the reason why they don’t pray. The ungodly people don’t pray to God because they don’t take God seriously. These are people who like to pretend that God doesn’t exist at all. That is why the Psalmist says, ‘The fool says in his heart, “There is no God."’ This is not a philosophical theory for them, but they have found it convenient to think that God does’nt exist or is not interested in human affairs. This can be called practical atheism. That means, for all practical purposes they tend to believe that God doesn’t exist. Practical atheism allows its adherents to do all that is evil and wicked. Acknowledging God’s existence and involvement in human affairs by punishing the guilty and rewarding the righteous is an inconvenient th...

In contrast to his own vulnerability and the nothingness of his enemies, stands the tall, strong, stable rock: God himself. That vision of God, the source of our strength should be what keeps us moving forward. Life can be sometimes very cruel. The psalmists who penned the 150 psalms of the Old Testament expressed their pain and anguish in metaphorical language. How does one express the vulnerability and instability of ones life in times of opposition? The psalmist who composed Psalm 62 compares it with a leaning wall and a tottering fence. His life is like a wall that is about to collapse or a fence that is about to fall (Ps 62:3). He is unable to stand the winds and currents that are against his life. To add to his misery he has enemies who are trying to take advantage of his vulnerability. These are people who are trying to usurp him. Probably, the psalmist could be a ruler who is loosing popular support among his own people. His position is too vulnerable. The people close to him ...

Maintaining a heart of gratitude Though they have to start their lives again from scratches they are happy that God has brought them back. Maintaining a heart of gratitude even in difficult times is important to please God. Psalm 126 illustrates the importance of maintaining a grateful heart even in difficult times. The psalmist(s) is excited about what God has done and hope that God will continue to be with them. Though what God has done for them actually has landed them in difficulties, they are still thankful; they believe that eventually everything will work out for their good. The God of Israel had done a great thing by bringing his people back to their land from where they were exiled. However, it took more than sixty-five years for the first exile to return. Leaders like Zerubabbel, Nehemiah, Ezra and others led people back in different waves of return. The man who was captured and sent to exile when he was thirty is now 95 years old at least. The baby who was just born is no...