{"id":73,"date":"2007-06-10T03:01:15","date_gmt":"2007-06-10T03:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html"},"modified":"2007-06-10T03:01:15","modified_gmt":"2007-06-10T03:01:15","slug":"sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt<\/strong>
\nWhy do the nations conspire,
\nand the peoples plot in vain?
\nThe kings of the earth set themselves,
\nand the rulers take counsel together,
\nagainst the LORD and his anointed . . . .
\nPsalm 2:1-2<\/p>\n

Click here to read all of Psalm 2<\/a><\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong>
\nWhy, indeed, Lord? Why do nations and leaders rebel against You? Why do we so resist Your sovereignty? Why do we try to run our own lives, believing that we know better than You do? Why do we disobey Your will, or try to bend it to fit our personal preferences? Why do those of us who call You Lord fail to submit our lives to You? Why do we so often dishonor You in the way we live?
\nWhy? Because sin claims our hearts. Because we reject our deepest created instinct, choosing instead to pretend as if we are gods. Because we seek wealth, power, security, and pleasure before we seek Your kingdom and righteousness.
\nHelp our “kings,” the leaders of the nations, to submit to You, Lord. Help them to seek Your ways and to walk in them. Give them a passion for Your peace and justice.
\nAnd may the same be true for me in my small corner of this world. May I stop conspiring against You, and start offering myself fully to You in all things. May I live in a way that honors You in all I say and do.
\nPostscript<\/strong>
\nIn the original setting of Psalm 2, the “anointed” of God is the human king of Israel. Christian readers see in this psalm something more . . . a sign pointing ahead to the coming of the Anointed One known to us as Christ (from the Greek word christos<\/em>, which means “anointed one”).<\/p>\n

Kings Canyon National Park in California at sunset<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpt Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and his anointed . . . . Psalm 2:1-2 Click here to read all of Psalm 2 Prayer Why, indeed, Lord? Why do nations and leaders rebel…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nSunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms - Mark D. Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms - Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Excerpt Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and his anointed . . . . Psalm 2:1-2 Click here to read all of Psalm 2 Prayer Why, indeed, Lord? Why do nations and leaders rebel…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-06-10T03:01:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/Kings-Canyon-Sunset-7.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms - Mark D. Roberts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms - Mark D. Roberts","og_description":"Excerpt Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and his anointed . . . . Psalm 2:1-2 Click here to read all of Psalm 2 Prayer Why, indeed, Lord? Why do nations and leaders rebel…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html","og_site_name":"Mark D. Roberts","article_published_time":"2007-06-10T03:01:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/Kings-Canyon-Sunset-7.jpg"}],"author":"Mark D. Roberts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html","name":"Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms - Mark D. Roberts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/Kings-Canyon-Sunset-7.jpg","datePublished":"2007-06-10T03:01:15+00:00","dateModified":"2007-06-10T03:01:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/Kings-Canyon-Sunset-7.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/Kings-Canyon-Sunset-7.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2007\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-pray-the-psalms-2.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/","name":"Mark D. Roberts","description":"Mark D. Roberts: Thoughtfully Christian Reflections on Jesus, the Church, and the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}