Psalm 91-95 July 11, 2009
Posted by Sparky in Psalms.Tags: 'the wicked', Psalms
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Scripture:
Psalm 94:3-9
How long will the wicked, O LORD,
how long will the wicked be jubilant?
They pour out arrogant words;
all the evildoers are full of boasting.
They crush your people, O LORD;
they oppress your inheritance.
They slay the widow and the alien;
they murder the fatherless.
They say, “The LORD does not see;
the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
Take heed, you senseless ones among the people;
you fools, when will you become wise?
Does he who implanted the ear not hear?
Does he who formed the eye not see?
Observation:
It was the last verse of this section that stopped me as I was reading today – I just liked the psalmist’s use of irony! So it got me thinking properly about what he’s writing about (yes, I confess that sometimes I can read the Bible fairly superficially, and still expect it to feed my spirit – not sure why, but sometimes God just does it anyway!) – people, referred to as ‘wicked’, who think they can just get on with their lives and do what they want because God doesn’t see or hear them. Who are ‘the wicked’? It’s a question one can ask oneself when reading pretty much any Psalm, as they are mentioned on a regular basis. Well, in this section here, it’s people who are arrogant, who boast, who oppress believers, who don’t care about the vulnerable in the world, and who deny God’s existence.
Application:
When you think about it this way, it’s pretty clear how relevant this Psalm is to modern life in the West. Ask yourself these questions – do I know people who think they’re the best thing around (and most of us do at some point)? Do I know people who make fun of Christians (just watch any comedy show on TV for evidence)? Do I know of situations where the most vulnerable people in the world are being exploited by those with more power? Do I know people who deny that God exists? When you go through these, it’s easy to see that ‘the wicked’ referred to by the psalmist are not a special breed of horrific people, but just those who don’t live God’s way – the darkness that Jesus’ light came to break into. We all have ‘the wicked’ around us, and need to pray for wisdom and enlightenment for them, as the psalmist (kind of) does.
Prayer:
Lord, help me to see the need for Jesus in people’s lives more acutely, and pray effectively for those I know and love who aren’t going your way. Also, help me not to slip into the habits and characteristics described as ‘wicked’ in this psalm.
Psalms 1-5 March 7, 2009
Posted by Sparky in Psalms.Tags: David, forgiveness, Psalms, sin, sinner
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Scripture:
Psalm 5:4-6
You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
with you the wicked cannot dwell.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who do wrong.
6 You destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men
the LORD abhors.
Observation:
When I got to these verses in my reading this morning, I couldn’t help but stop and read them again, as I have issues with the theology behind the wording (and I checked several translations – thank you Bible Gateway – and they all say the same thing, pretty much). I’m fine with verse 4, and the first half of verse 5, but then the verbs in the rest of the selection are directed very clearly towards the people involved rather than the sins they exhibit. It doesn’t say “you hate the wrong that men do” but “you hate all who do wrong”. Nor does it say “the LORD abhors the actions of bloodthirsty and deceitful men”, but it says he hates the men themselves. This doesn’t sit well with me in these verses because everything else I know about God through Scripture and experience tells me that he loves all people equally, but certainly can’t stand the sins that we all exhibit during our lives.
Application:
So how do I rationalise this? Do I just assume that this is young, slightly more naïve David writing here, who would later fall into sin himself and understand more about forgiveness of people? That seems somewhat arrogant on my part! Is it something in the Hebrew worldview that sees the sin / sinner issue in a more black-and-white way, so I am less likely to be happy with it due to cultural reasons? Or is David just more honest – is “love the sinner, hate the sin” just a platitude that we have come to accept in current Christian circles that actually gives us an excuse to not say much or do much when we know people are sinning? I’d love to have some comments with your thoughts!
Prayer:
Praise you Lord for being a sinless God. Thank you that we can trust in your perfect holiness and righteousness, and that sin cannot stand before you. Help me Father to make sense of your Scriptures in a way that honours you and those who wrote them down. And please Lord give me the courage to make a stand against sin, as Jesus did, while showing love to the sinner.
Lamentations 1-3 December 20, 2008
Posted by Sparky in Lamentations, Wisdom.Tags: anger, despair, honesty, Lamentations, Psalms, Wisdom
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Scripture
Lamentations 1:20
“See, O LORD, how distressed I am!
I am in torment within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,
for I have been most rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves;
inside, there is only death.”
Observation
Here the writer of Lamentations (many think this is Jeremiah, who also wrote the book of prophecy that bears his name) is speaking from the point of view of the city of Jerusalem which has been left desolated by the invasion of the Babylonians and their taking its inhabitants into exile. The verse jumped out at me because of its utter despair (no different in that respect to many of the verses around it), especially in the last couplet – death is in everything, surrounding the city/writer, and the outside/inside comparison works on several levels.
Application
The Bible isn’t big on despair on the whole. Joy and praise feature much more highly in its pages, but the great thing is that that doesn’t mean that despair and hopelessness are not allowed to be present. The inclusion of books like Lamentations, and the Psalms of lament, shows us that God is not so small as to not be able to handle those kinds of emotions, or anger at Him, or disappointment in what He has or hasn’t done. And what we see in Lamentations is the grief of the nation’s destruction leading people to a repentant response, understanding their own guilt and doing something about it. Though it is rare that I personally feel angry at God, or blame him for disappointments in my life, in the past year I have spent some time shouting at Him about certain issues, and I know that as long as I don’t stay in that place, that kind of response is fine.
Prayer
Thank you Lord for the example of these writers who trusted you enough to be able to write their true feelings down; I pray that I can always be honest with you, especially as there’s no point doing otherwise!
Psalms 81-83 June 25, 2008
Posted by Sparky in Psalms.Tags: compassion, poor & needy, Psalms
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Scripture:
Selected verses:
Ps 82:4 Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Ps 82:5 “They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness;
Observation:
In many ways there is nothing radical or unusual about the first verse here – something along this theme occurs over and over again, especially in the Old Testament, when Israel needed to be reminded that along with all the nation-conquering, land-settling and temple-building they had to have an eye to the poor among them. There is a theme of good treatment of those less fortunate than yourself throughout the books of the Law that god gave his people, and no Hebrew reader or worshipper would have been surprised by these words. What struck me was verse 5, which gives an explanation as to why we should behave like this towards the weak and needy, and it’s so simple – because their desperate situation means they can’t understand the world around them. It very much reminds me of Jesus looking at those around him who had come to hear him teach like ‘sheep without a shepherd’ (aimless wanderers, without guidance, and in danger of being attacked), and having deep compassionate love for them.
Application:
I remember looking at a friend back in around November and thinking they embodied that ‘sheep without a shepherd’ look right at that moment, and I fleetingly understood the compassion that Jesus couldn’t help but feel. I want to be able to love people like that on a regular basis, to be Christ-like in that respect. I’m definitely not most of the time; I am generally very focussed on what’s going on just around me, and don’t look at others in a perceptive way at all. As well as this, though I have plenty of opportunities to campaign on behalf of the poor and needy in this world, as we all do, I only do the things that I can do easily – if it requires effort I lazily leave it to someone else.
Prayer:
God, please change this in me! Break my heart for the poor, as yours breaks for them and has always done, and cause me to look on those in need compassionately and then DO something about it!
Psalms 45-47 April 2, 2008
Posted by Sparky in Psalms.Tags: be still, Psalms, reassurance
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Scripture:
Selected verses:
46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Observation:
This is an oft-quoted verse, used in songs and prayers all the time (or so it feels). But context is king – this really only makes sense from the mouth of God after 9 verses of the earth giving way, mountains falling into the sea, waters roaring, nations being in uproar, kingdoms falling, the earth melting, bows and spears being broken and shields being burned. After all this, God reassures us with an instruction to ‘be still’ and trust in his eternal nature.
Application:
How will I apply this? On a day when I have felt such rage and anger, and not always worked it out in a way that would honour God? Very simple – I will choose to believe that in the midst of those kinds of feelings, God is God, and I can be sure of that. I’m studying Revelation this week, and that book is shot through with reassurance for persecuted Christians. I’m not being persecuted at all, but I do feel very unsure of the future, and knowing that God is eternal, and that he will take his place as the centre of worship in heaven and on earth is GREAT.
Prayer:
Be that stillness for me, God. I need it, and I need your reassurance. Don’t let me forget that you are constant.
Psalms 42-44 March 26, 2008
Posted by Sparky in Psalms.Tags: alternative translations, Hebrew worldview, Psalms, troubles
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Scripture:
Selected verses:
42:7 (NIV)
“Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.”
Observation:
I’ve heard people use this phrase ‘deep calling unto deep’ in prayers and songs and had no idea what it’s really supposed to mean (maybe they didn’t when they prayed it either!). So I have found a few alternative translations:
New Century Version: “Troubles have come again and again, sounding like waterfalls. Your waves are crashing all around me.”
Contemporary English Version: “Your vicious waves have swept over me like an angry ocean or a roaring waterfall.”
New Living Translation: “I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.”
There are several others which keep the general sense of the NIV, but with slightly different vocabulary. Perhaps it’s just my lack of skill with poetry, but I prefer the versions that emphasize the troubles that the psalmist attributes to God in the first phrase of the verse. The NIV translation could be a poetic look at creation (though not so much in the context of the whole psalm, admittedly), but the other three quoted here make it really clear that the psalmist feels totally overwhelmed by the chaotic trouble that God has sent his way. The use of water imagery is almost certainly deliberate, in keeping with the traditional Hebrew view of the Sea as the source of chaos.
None of the translations, though, are in any doubt about the psalmist’s intention to attribute the troubles as coming from God – “your waves” is in each one and is clearly inescapable in the Hebrew.
Application:
So what do I do with this? Do I see my troubles as coming from God too? Sometimes, but I am more likely to see them as a result of human choices somewhere along the line. But perhaps this means that I assume I will be able to solve them, or play the blame game and expect someone else to sort things out because it was their fault in the first place. Perhaps the Hebrew worldview that said that everything was spiritual, leading to the idea that troubles came from God, which leads one to call out to God immediately to sort things out, had some value. How often could I call out to God, over small things as well as big, when I don’t?
Prayer:
God, please remind me that you are interested in each and every part of my life, and that I can bring troubles and problems to you, no matter the size, and no matter whether they were your fault or not. I know you can handle that!
