^{Ps 85 13} Righteousness goes before him
and prepares the way for his steps."


This Psalm is a prayer of restoration that is on the lips of the elect. It is a prayer on behalf of a nation that has gone astray. This Psalm describes the sin as being crooked or going down the path of death. Vs 13 is a summary of the entire prayer. This is always the approach of the Psalmist as he pronounces the covenant and then speaks the blessing. This is the same approach that is an example in  Ps 66 ¹⁸ If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; ¹⁹ but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer". He pronounces the curse upon anyone who cherishes sin but he is saying that the understanding of being a sinner is in praying the law, covenants, curses etc. The pronouncement of the promise which is "God has surely listened" is in the exercise of the orthodox practice of prayer and not the bits and spurts that comes as a result of a feeling. You can only claim what was on your lips as proof that you understand how to apply the gospel in praying the Psalms as the orthodox way of speaking the curses and pronouncing the promise. In other words orthodoxy is the practice of praying in order to create. So righteousness goes before Him...that being the kingdom of words that are spoken in the law , decrees, statutes curses etc in  pronouncing the kingdom that He establishes in our way.

The rule of the covenant is the prayer that is pronounced according to Gods unfailing love. This is why the Psalmist teaches that Gods unfailing love is pronouncing His attributes in the petition for the Psalmist needs. These twins are love and faithfulness, righteousness and truth, love and truth , etc. These twins are the light and the cloud that surrounded Israel along the way to the promise land. We must understand that orthodox speech is pronouncing the entire kingdom in these petitioning according to these twin attributes of God. The Psalmist is teaching that Gods righteousness that goes before Him is the entire kingdom that is established.

You see that the kingdom is the pure advancement of the unity of all things. He is describing the strength that is established in the land by the Lord God. The Psalmist is describing the law of creation coming together with the law of the nation. The law of creation is the success of Gods word that controls all reality. How everything is related is the law of Gods governing. He describes the unity as love and faithfulness meeting together. He is saying that faithfulness springs forth from the earth...or Gods control over creation is the perfect working of His righteousness. God the righteous governor in heaven. So God unifies the law of creation with the law of government over Israel. This is the picture of restoring Israel. So we see there is no short cut to learning orthodoxy in applying the Psalms as a creative pronouncement in our practice. Ordering our prayers according to Gods governing way.  

^{Ps 38 9} All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you."

The word that is translated Lord is "Adonai". This is the Lord Jehovah who carries out His blessing on the earth. The Psalmist teaches that the desires of the righteous will be fulfilled. But the longings of the wicked will come to nothing. 112 10 So we see that David was complaining about the problem with sin and guilt. ^{38 4} My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear." ⁵ My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly". He is describing the experience of a saint who is a sinner. He is saying that his sin has effected his spirit and his body. ³ Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin. But the Psalmist is complaining about his wounds. So we can assume that he is suffering from a wound he received in a war.  So you have these two problems. You have the pain from the wounds and the guilt from sin. The Psalmist is not complaining about a sin from a wilful act but its sin in general. He is saying I am a sinner not I have acted in a way that is rebellious. We can conclude that he is physically ailing and it has affect his general disposition.

But the Psalmist describes his trial as Gods anger and wrath. And yet this verse about his longings is talking about his redeemed self. For the elect Gods wrath and anger are turned way. 30 5"For his anger lasts only a moment , but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning."Lit. His anger a moment..His favor a lifetime.. But this is also in the context of his experience. So its comparing the attitude of God with the his security.  The Psalmist is saying that his trial is a result of his corruption and it is painful. Therefore the pain that he experiences is Gods anger ..not that God is directing His anger toward the Psalmist. The proper interpretation is pain is a metaphor for wrath or anger.

Because the Psalmist uses Gods anger as a defense then we can see that he believes that for the elect Gods anger is a foundation for his argument.56 7 "On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, bring down the nations".So we see the Psalmist is using "anger" in the context of Gods attitude in the curse of the law. Because the Psalmist speaks of himself as a person who in the deepest recesses of his soul ...he has a redeemed self. "all of my longings" If you study this context he is talking about his relationship of blessing ..the Lord of blessing...Adonia. So he is standing in blessing and he is complaining about the anger that is present as a result of the wicked who are under the wrath of God. We can say that the Psalmist is appealing to God by complaining about the pain that those who are cursed are always under. He really is saying ...I am blessed why do I struggle with the problems that those who you deal with in anger struggle with?

This is consistent with the language that the Psalmist uses in the entire book. He has applied Gods covenant in the way that he describes his trials with the anger and the wrath as the attitude of God in defending Gods covenant paradigm that is given to the elect. The Psalmist complains about his pain as the anger that God displays in His curse toward the wicked. In making this charge the Psalmist is enforcing the need that he has and the unchain-able promise that God will not treat him in this impersonal way. In other words the argument is that appealing to God as a seeming contradiction. That boldness of this strong complaint is the conviction by which God holds Himself to His covenant.  

In this day we like to think of our christian experience in a very personal way. We are always tempted to focus on ourselves. A lot of people teach that when the Psalmist is petitioning God to examine , search, himself that he is asking God to show him his weakness and sin so that he can confess. The christian is very dependent upon the amount of knowledge that he has about God. The hardest application to learn is how we interpret what God is saying to us from the meditation of scripture and what it means to us in how we view ourselves. In this area of growth we must acknowledge that what we do not know about God will color our understanding of ourselves and what we think God is saying to us in this personal way. This is why ignorance is not bliss.

Ive practiced memorization and mediation for 40 years. I decided as I was building one scripture upon another, that I would not judge myself or a situation until I had been satisfied that my first reaction would be challenged and I had come to peace about the way to judge a matter. There were some decisions that took a short time to figure out but there were other judgements that took me years to get satisfaction. There are some things that we will never understand. Its very important to understand these distinctions. Because we are trying to avoid going down side roads...or what the psalms describe as stumbling in a hole.

We must understand that this matter of change in the christian life involves applications of truth that we do not understand and trusting in the truth as if we are coasting along in an airplane and without knowing when the engines came back on to keep us from crashing we were able to be saved from danger.This is the way truth is applied. You build up the knowledge of God and then you are made different without seeing the clear change. This is what the Psalmist means by God searching us.
God created all things by His spoken word. Every event in our lives has an explanation of God that rises up to the highest beauty, the perfect symmetry, and the greatest unity. This change from one moment to another is too much for us to understand. Learned truth is kind of like storing up grain. You build one truth upon another. The more you learn the closer and more profound is the understanding in coming to experience this perfect explanation of God in the moment.

This is why Ive been saying that Gods creative acts have reorder this world. He has upheld His laws, covenant, decrees and promises. When we are saved we enter into a new kingdom that has already been established. We naturally think that unless God shows us ourselves that we cannot change. But God works in us by bringing us to the reality of the circumstances of His kingdom so that as we begin to live in that kingdom we are changed. In other words the whole reality that we need to become is already present. But because of our lack of knowledge and understanding we are more guilty of interpreting things and experiencing things that are not really from God.

 
 ^{PS 20 6} Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he answers him from his holy heaven
with the saving power of his right hand."

We belong to a country in which God has established His law by a covenant with His people.  Every person who has ever been born has the law of God written on his heart. The law of God was established in order to provide mankind with boundaries so that he could be free from bondage. Even tho there are different laws for different nations, yet the law that was implanted in man is absolute because it curses lawbreakers. You see this Psalm is describing the laws authority in winning legal wars. The Psalmist is pronouncing the blessing to Gods elect as the throng of Israels musicians and armies return from winning wars. I like to describe this as the curse coming together with the blessing.

We see here that personal distresses are addressed in legal wars. The Psalmist always reasons that the events of the world are created by God. We could say that the pronouncements of blessing and cursing are the same as God pronouncing blessing after winning the legal war. We are all born with the desire for Gods law uphold our rights and provide us with freedom to succeed. The longing of the human heart is to be free. But the problem is that we are born in a world that opposes personal freedom. The standard of the law as it provides freedom is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. In order for all men to live in the fullest freedom there must be perfect compliance to the law. When a person experiences opposition it means that there is corruption in the world. We must understand that the smallest corruption is to declare war on God. What people do not understand is that the smallest corruption demands the highest judgement. This is how God provided all men with the ability to oppose the violation. Every sin must be universally opposed by the curse. But there is no man who has the authority to pronounce death upon law breakers.. Only God has power over life and death.

We see in a fallen world that there is rejoicing when the curse comes together with the blessing. The Psalmist finds consolation in pronouncing the blessing and the answer in supporting his own faith.  (May the Lord bless...Now I know that the saves.) We are that the word of God creates the reality. The elect are implanted with the word of God. Salvation is ongoing deliverance. Each deliverance starts with fighting until we are delivered. But there is never a time where God retreats from His covenant promises. The Psalmist expresses Gods faithfulness to His covenant in pronouncing blessing with the answer. When the fire of the trial is hot the pronouncements of the blessing and the answer are more passionate.

We mus understand that the word of God that creates events is eternal. So our meditation of the law, decrees ,covenants, curses and statutes are eternal. The Psalmist says that God answers from His holy heaven. Before the foundation of the world , God decreed the beginning from the end. In Gods dwelling there is never time when He is surprised or moved to change. He has ordered the smallest particle of time. This unity in the Psalms is described as Gods holiness. The history of meditation then is a series of blessing to answers in ongoing deliverance. The ultimate trust in God is pronouncing Gods answer in every situation and trial. "Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed, He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand."  

 
^{Ps 3 7} Arise, O LORD !
Deliver me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
⁸ From the LORD comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people."
Selah

The Psalms open up to describe the condition of the people who approach God, the kind of world that Gods elect are born into and the declaration that God is the King, Ruler and Governor of the earth. We naturally believe that the world is made up and divided in parts. We say that a man is described in terms of his belief, family and work. But the Psalms teach us that there these divided occupations are not the true descriptions. The Psalms begin by teaching that we are born in a world that is opposed to God and His elect. The Psalms teach us that although pragmatism exist in this world , yet our purposes are rooted not in the success of these different occupations but in our ability to convince others of our view of life. We are Gods book that He writes in order for others to read. You see we are born into a world where the more we know God the more it will be like a battle field where we confront the armies of the enemies that are beyond our ability to count. So we begin this christian life by pronouncing the ends of our road when we actually meet the entire opposition. ¹ O LORD , how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! ² Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him."¹  Selah We used to say that a bully may be able to overrun a lot of his opponents but he will always eventually meeting an opponent that will be to strong. We may think that we can control the strength and the power of our opposition but the truth is that this world would consume us except for the grace of God.


 The world then is divided into two kinds of men. The Psalms describe our main objective as seeking deliverance and not being proficient in our occupations. If we were pragmatic then all of our battles would be how we fight and overcome the opposition. But pragmatism is painful and useless. The truth is that this world is a battle between God and Satan. There is no one who has the ability to overcome or change anyone in this world. This is Gods fight alone. Even if we were able to oppose someone as if we were important in the fight we still would be driven to exhaustion by the sheer number of the opposition.

The Psalmist is teaching there is only one hope. All change in this world comes through deliverance.In a pragmatic world the effort brings reward. The effort represents small changes. But in Gods world nothing is real unless it dies and is renewed. ⁷ Arise, O LORD ! Deliver me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked."This is the context of the cry of the Psalmist . It is a cry for complete deliverance.You see in a pragmatic world our desires may be consoled by small changes but in the world of the Psalmist our desires are only satisfied by complete deliverance. So we live in a world where the opposition is too numerous and only deliverance can satisfy us.

If we were pragmatic then we would say that the world we live in must be ordered and sustained by mans plans and works.We may divide the occupations of men up and attach a certain amount of power that they possess. But in the world of the Psalms there is only one Person who can change anything or any man. There is only One person who is the judge, the defense, and meeting the needs of all men. In the Psalms God is the only one who changes all things. ⁸ From the LORD comes deliverance.

This is teaching us that we cannot be satisfied unless we express our desires in facing an opposition that is too numerous and powerful for us, to continue to approach God until we are completely delivered and to only trust in any situation that God alone must enable us to change or to prosper in this world. If we look to any other solution then we are not gonna be satisfied.    ⁵ I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. ⁶ I will not fear the tens of thousands
drawn up against me on every side.



 

^{Ps 20 3} May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
Selah
⁴ May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed."

I have written a lot about this teaching. I think there is a lot of confusion about the physical sacrifice and the power of the blessing and cursing. If you go to the Psalm where the Psalmist is teaching about the sacrifice you will see that their daily animal sacrifices became obnoxious to God.50  ¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? ¹⁴ Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High, ¹⁵ and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."I believe the Psalmist is mocking them for trusting in the action of accomplishing the task of these daily sacrifices. I am not a two liner. A two liner would say that their hearts were not right in offering the sacrifices. But this context is comparing their orthodoxy of word and Spirit with the daily sacrifices. ¹⁶ But to the wicked, God says: "What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? " So we have the final conclusion. ²³ He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him ^F96 the salvation of God." I think the Psalmist is using the "sacrifice of thank offerings" as a metaphor for the sacrifice of the heart. The Psalmist is comparing the elect are contrasted with wicked within the Sanctuary as preservation in the use of Gods word.¹⁵ and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." The wicked replace the authority of the blessing and cursing in the pronouncements with these physical markers. ²¹ These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether ^F95 like you." He is saying that these people lower God by trying to gain acceptance through the physical acts of sacrifices. They are trying to control God.

 So God says that He must be exalted or lifted up above trusting in these physical things .In other words our natural desire in the sanctuary is to be accepted  by attendance as a worshiper , the acceptance of others in the christian context,  or through our offering, or describing the holy act according to a time frame. But Gods worship is obtained by spiritual violence. We lower God by subjecting Him to time and physical markers..we exalt God by the spiritual work He has accomplished in blessing and cursing.

Worship is being separated from the curse of the wicked and being accepted by the blessing of the righteous. In other words the thankful heart is destroying sin and opposition through the pronouncement of death. The worship is like being baptized into the death of Christ ..not by re-crucifying Him but by the pronouncement of the curses and being raised in entering the world arena or overcoming all opposition in Gods kingdom. In other words the thank offering of the heart is defined in this life and death arena..not the life and death of the animal. This is why the Psalmist says that "sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite heart."

This idea of cursing and blessing as the metaphor for the sacrifices that are discussed in the Psalms not taught in our present day. But the Psalms are written in pronouncements of the law, covenants, curses etc ..like they are placing the sins of the people on the animal by pronouncement. The ashes of the sacrifice are a metaphor for the curses coming together with the blessing as being made transparent by purifying the soul through burning up the defective image. Its being purified by experiencing mystery. This is when the curse comes together with the blessing. When the Psalms open up it is always in the context of praise, or exalting God and not acceptance after the physical sacrifice. So the context is the using the pronouncements as  the condition of a thankful heart. So the Psalmist here in Ps 20 is using these pronouncements as creative word on behalf of Gods people. 

 
20 1May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you."
The Psalmist teaches that every thing that has ever come into the world has been devised and decreed by God. God is the Elohim of reality. God is the creator and Lord or Jehovah. Jehovah is the God who his purposes are fulfilled according to His covenant. In other words God did not create in order to right one law for one miss deed, but in order to establish a relationship with mankind. Instead of demanding complete obedience to the law as a prerequisite to being acceptable , God entered time and accomplished the work by carrying the whole weight of distress that resulted from a fallen world, upon Himself. So there is only one problem with mankind. It is the the problem with sin that brought an adversarial relationship with God. The cry of all mens hearts is to be accepted. When man is not accepted he is distressed.
But the problem is much deeper than designing a world where all men are unified by all other men accepting them. The problem is that when man sinned he fell from the ability to deal with the level of distress that must be carried in order to be the final help to other men. Because sin brought corruption and corruption is a violent act against God and other men. In other words God acts according to what He has accomplished. God is the only one who can promise and demand perfect obedience because He accomplished that in Christ. You see the whole purpose of Christ dwelling among men was not to destroy them by each encounter in the demands that He met and they failed ,but it was to be the Savior who walked as a substitute in a love that demanded for them to be treated like He wanted to be treated.All men deserve to be accepted because the law is that we are to treat other men like we want to be treated. So the object of our acceptance has no bearing on demands to offer acceptance. This is why where ever Christ walked He healed all men. How do we become a person like the apostle who says that he does not view men according to the flesh?
We must understand that all sin is the cause of the destruction of relationships. The problem is that because we live in a fallen world all men face an enemy that violates our desires and purposes. Because the law demands that ever person be the true image that God created them to be. But we display an image that is obnoxious to the desires of other men.This is the problem, even if we gave it our best try our relationships would still be unsatisfying. Because satisfaction is only experienced when our needs are met by someone who knows us better than we know ourselves. That Someone must not only see our need and meet it but He must know by action the perfect experience of desire unified to action. This is the problem.... there is no man who is able to display this by action or to be the perfect answer to our needs. This is why our great enemy in this fallen world is to be in bondage to living our lives through other people.
Think about this. If God just came to be the example and to heal all mankind is that enough to create His kingdom on earth? A kingdom that is completely unified and fully satisfying? No because God must deal with the corruption and the violence. You see this puts God in an impossible situation. If God were just to accept the sin and the violence for the sake of peace then He would be the author of allowing violence and murder. He would be over looking the sins of sinners which is good thing but the world would never know what true satisfaction was because the opposition would remain. And God in overlooking the sin and violence could not be the defender of the victim.
This is why sin demands death. Every small departure from the law demands death. If God were to judge on a scale then there would be no need for grace. The whole point of the value of grace was that it came from the accomplishment of Christ who died in our place. You see the value of grace is the freedom to live in a world where sin has been dealt with by death. This is why in the covenant relationship God offers no other remedy than meeting us by forgetting our sins.Because if God remembered our sins then the death of Christ would not be satisfactory and we would never be accepted. We would always be left in distress. Because all distress is the need to overcome pain by being accepted. This is why God views His elect as weak. Because our ability to keep a record and confess our sins is never acceptable. So God meets us according to His forgetfulness and not according to His demands. We act according to His grace.