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.
Job 11-15 January 17, 2009
Posted by Sparky in Job, Wisdom.Tags: God-centred, Job, sin, troubles, Wisdom
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SScripture
Job 13:15 – Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
I will surely defend my ways to his face.
Observation
This verse is an astonishing example of Job’s resolve in the face of trial. He attributed everything in his life as coming from God, both the good and the bad, and so was thankful for his blessings at the start of the book, and when those were taken away, knew that it was God’s doing for some reason. Job is convinced that he hasn’t sinned against the Lord, at least, not in such a major way as to warrant the punishment he gets, whereas his friends are persuaded that sin is the reason for Job’s troubles. They go through this verbal dance for many chapters – “You’ve sinned!”, “I haven’t!” – and eventually God speaks, but here we have Job stating unequivocally that he still believes that he worships a good God, though he doesn’t understand what’s going on with him.
Application
There’s something about this God-centred worldview that doesn’t really exist any more. An ‘act of God’ in modern parlance is a generally a disaster of some kind, and people ask why God doesn’t just stop suffering in the world, but blessings that are received are often put down to good luck, or results of hard work, or being in the right place at the right time. Even Christians don’t tend to put everything down to God acting in their lives. But what if we did? Perhaps we’d be more grateful for the good things that he gives us… But when life goes wrong, would we have the strength to be like Job, and say, “Fine, I don’t get it, and I don’t like it, but I’m still going to worship and believe in you God”? What would the world be like if there were lots more people like Job?
Prayer
God, help me to see your hand in my whole life, not just Sundays. Help me to give thanks for the blessings you give us, and to continue loving and worshipping you through the trials and difficulties that come our way, whether big or small. Praise you Lord!
