What a beautiful psalm!
There are three verses, evenly spaced that give us the theme of the psalm: 1, 7, 11. God is with us (Emmanuel - who is Jesus, the Christ); he is our help and strength.
The first verses of the psalm refers to extraordinary natural catastrophes: the earth changing, the mountains shaking in the heart of the sea, earthquakes, tsunamis.
In the middle of these terrifying events, exists the city of God (Zion, see Hebrews 12: 22). In it, everything is calm and at peace, even joyful, because it is being fed by the river of God and God is in its midst. (See Jn. 4 for the water that always and completely satisfied - again, it is Jesus, the Christ). All other nations are in an uproar; the city of God (God's people, his church, his assembly) is unmoved; it is secure.
So it is God who makes desolation on the earth. Look and see the desolation that he brings: he makes wars to cease; he breaks the offensive weapons (bows and spears) and defensive weapons (shields), and says, "Be still and know that I am God!" The desolation that he brings is the desolation of men's violence. Violence that exists because we do not trust him and know that he is God.
I don't think that this psalm could have been written when there was no war or threat of war in Israel's history. War was always taking place or on the horizon. Yet, in faith, God calls us to see what he brings. Even in times of tumult, by faith we see our God bringing an end to all wars and all violence.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Jeremiah 9: 23 - 24
Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord. 24
In the end the only thing that counts at all is that one has come to understand that our God is God and that he acts, always, in steadfast love, justice and righteousness. This is no harder to believe now than it was for the people of Jeremiah's time. But to understand God in this way gives us the way that we can come to know him.
In the end the only thing that counts at all is that one has come to understand that our God is God and that he acts, always, in steadfast love, justice and righteousness. This is no harder to believe now than it was for the people of Jeremiah's time. But to understand God in this way gives us the way that we can come to know him.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Deuteronomy 7: 17 - 26
If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?’ 18do not be afraid of them. Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20Moreover, the Lord your God will send the pestilence* against them, until even the survivors and the fugitives are destroyed. 21Have no dread of them, for the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a great and awesome God. 22The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to make a quick end of them, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you. 23But the Lord your God will give them over to you, and throw them into great panic, until they are destroyed. 24He will hand their kings over to you and you shall blot out their name from under heaven; no one will be able to stand against you, until you have destroyed them. 25The images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them and take it for yourself, because you could be ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God. 26Do not bring an abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.
1. So interesting to me that Moses says that "Yahweh, your God" will clear out the evil nations, "little by little ... otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you." Why doesn't God work the miracles we want for our perceived good instantaneously? He has his reasons, and those reasons are for our own good. It is God who has to do the hard work of crushing our enemies, but that does not mean that it happens quickly and without our agency. We fight, but it is his might. Maybe if it happened quickly, we would think it was our own agency that won the battle, forgetting God's power and letting loose the wild animals of human pride and arrogance.
2. The idols of the enemy you must destroy; you might think that you can take it and make it into something good, but you can't. No matter how valuable the substance might be in another context, it cannot be converted to something useful and good to you. Its power to ensnare has not been diminished. You must completely destroy it. So, for instance, don't think that you can love money "in the name of the Lord," somehow redeeming that idol.
1. So interesting to me that Moses says that "Yahweh, your God" will clear out the evil nations, "little by little ... otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you." Why doesn't God work the miracles we want for our perceived good instantaneously? He has his reasons, and those reasons are for our own good. It is God who has to do the hard work of crushing our enemies, but that does not mean that it happens quickly and without our agency. We fight, but it is his might. Maybe if it happened quickly, we would think it was our own agency that won the battle, forgetting God's power and letting loose the wild animals of human pride and arrogance.
2. The idols of the enemy you must destroy; you might think that you can take it and make it into something good, but you can't. No matter how valuable the substance might be in another context, it cannot be converted to something useful and good to you. Its power to ensnare has not been diminished. You must completely destroy it. So, for instance, don't think that you can love money "in the name of the Lord," somehow redeeming that idol.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Psalm 42:10
In the tenth verse of this psalm, the psalmist refers to his adversary who does him harm. I always translate adversary, "enemy." "Our battle is not against flesh and blood." Our enemy is Satan. He is the one who constantly seeks our harm. Call on the Lord: this is the constant reminder of the psalms.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
The Holy Ones: A Sunday Morning Reflection
Hagios - adjective, holy; when used alone, holy one(s)
By my count hagios is used 43 times in the New Testament to refer to Christ-followers. Not particularly sainted followers - your everyday run-of-the mill followers. The Corinthians are hagios; the Ephesians are hagios; the Colossians are hagios, and the list goes on. Fundamentally our identity is not sinners. Not that we haven't sinned or that we don't continue to sin. Not that it hurts us to think sometimes like Paul does, I am the chief of sinners or to consider James when he quotes and applies scripture to the saints, Wash your hands you sinners (Isa 1: 16). But the designation of sinners for the saints is so extremely rare as a way to write or to think about those who are now Christ-followers. In fact, these two passages that I have referred to are it - the sum total of the sinner designation for Christ-followers. Meanwhile, over and over again - 43 times, in fact - it is hagios.
So you think that the majority must have been saintly in behavior and had their doctrine down to a t? Think again. Better yet, read the Corinthian letter: what was their moral situation? What was their doctrinal situation? They, like us, are hagios not because we never sin or we have all of our beliefs in exact conformity with reality. We are hagios because we have been called that by God, made that by Christ and continually cleansed and guided into that by the Spirit. We are being called into our future - holy ones who will reign with God.
Every Sunday we meet to reaffirm this as we eat the Lord's Supper together. We are his hagios, and we eat this meal of him and with him, looking forward to the time when he returns.
By my count hagios is used 43 times in the New Testament to refer to Christ-followers. Not particularly sainted followers - your everyday run-of-the mill followers. The Corinthians are hagios; the Ephesians are hagios; the Colossians are hagios, and the list goes on. Fundamentally our identity is not sinners. Not that we haven't sinned or that we don't continue to sin. Not that it hurts us to think sometimes like Paul does, I am the chief of sinners or to consider James when he quotes and applies scripture to the saints, Wash your hands you sinners (Isa 1: 16). But the designation of sinners for the saints is so extremely rare as a way to write or to think about those who are now Christ-followers. In fact, these two passages that I have referred to are it - the sum total of the sinner designation for Christ-followers. Meanwhile, over and over again - 43 times, in fact - it is hagios.
So you think that the majority must have been saintly in behavior and had their doctrine down to a t? Think again. Better yet, read the Corinthian letter: what was their moral situation? What was their doctrinal situation? They, like us, are hagios not because we never sin or we have all of our beliefs in exact conformity with reality. We are hagios because we have been called that by God, made that by Christ and continually cleansed and guided into that by the Spirit. We are being called into our future - holy ones who will reign with God.
Every Sunday we meet to reaffirm this as we eat the Lord's Supper together. We are his hagios, and we eat this meal of him and with him, looking forward to the time when he returns.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Psalm 63
Psalm 63
O God, you are my God, I seek you,my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,*
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
6 when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night.
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me....
Sometimes people make fun of Christians who seem to be in ecstasy as they worship, eyes squinched shut, tears streaming down their faces, hands in the air, the word, Jesus, on their lips. These critics can have a valid point. Some Christians' faith can be out-of-touch with everyday life or with the death in the culture that surrounds us and may only be seeking an escapist experience. For Christians who have compartmentalized their lives in this way, church becomes entertainment, a place to be distracted from real life, to forget the demands of mundane existence and to experience euphoria for its own sake.
But don't reject the "mystical;" don't reject the experience of God; don't reject food and drink; don't "throw the baby out with the bathwater."
Here the psalmist sees the power and glory of God, not in nature, not in the lives of his people, but in the sanctuary, a place that exists solely for the worship of God. Looking in the sanctuary for God, he finds him. Praising God, thinking about God, looking for God, he is "satisfied as with a rich feast;" his thirst is quenched; he is revived; he realizes that God's "steadfast love is better than life." He clings to the God that loves and blesses him.
The experience of God, his praise and meditation, do not have to be a form of escapism, but rather what gives us life - the life we need to live in the middle of responsibilities and, even, threats to our existence (see the rest of the psalm).
This poem in its use of food and water points to Jesus as we see him in John's gospel: the water who gives us life, the bread that we must eat if we want to truly live.
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