Psalm 10
Why do some people seem to get away with causing misery for others? This is what the psalmist starts out asking, actually, for thirteen verses. Then, as we’ve seen before in the psalms, there is an abrupt change: “But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it and take it in hand” (verse 14).
I’m wondering, how do the oppressed get to experience this? Maybe it’s like when we pray, “Thy will be done on earth …” It can’t then be, “And all the best with that, Lord.” When we pray it, we become partners with God (although lesser ones) in seeing it happen. It’s still his doing, but we place ourselves in his hands to be his hands. So maybe African refugees or mothers with AIDS wondering what’s going to happen to their children are touched by a love army of Christian volunteer missionaries who do what they can for their physical needs, for their children, and whisper prayers of God whose own heart is crushed by their experience but who also has a place for them because of Jesus who descended into our mess.
What if every Christian on earth prayed to move the hearts of pompous leaders whose prideful warring creates many of the conditions that lead to the suffering of their own people, or prevents others from helping them? What if we all pray for Russian President Putin and American President Bush as we hear President Putin speak of a Cuban missile situation in reverse, due to the presne of a missile shield system in Europe? What scares me is that often big powerful men are still little boys inside who, once fighting talk starts, find it very hard to back down.
Our confidence, our hope, our basis for what God entrusts to us to do and to pray, all comes from this, which may also be our prayer:
You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
Psalm 10:17-18
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
A House within a House
Psalm 9
I had occasion recently to walk through a movie set under construction (for a Mike Myers flick called The Love Guru, I was told). Already there was what appeared to be a complete house, built inside the set. I thought of that house-within-a-house setup in reading this Psalm.
The larger set is nothing less than God’s universal plan, history, time and space, the whole thing; and God’s working through it. For much of the Psalm, the poet celebrates this ‘holy history’ (as some call it), recounting the great deeds of God (verses 4-12), in which he brings both salvation and judgment to bear upon the real circumstances of this world, from his heavenly throne (verse 7).
The house within this spectacular set is the psalmist’s life and predicament. The Psalmist experiences God entering his life and setting, in this smaller, more personal scale, in the same way in which he acts in the larger scene. His response to this experience doesn’t just praise God for that particular action, but leads him, throughout the Psalm, to praise the God who acts for others in the same way as God has acted for him, and throughout history. There is no neat delineation here; his perception of God in history makes him think of his own circumstances, and his experience of God in his life-setting leads him to the expanded view. What a vibrant faith!
Prayer:
Lord give me a sense of connectedness of my life and circumstances to your larger scene, that I may fulfill my purpose within your great story, however small my role may seem. It is significant to you, and I thank you. Through Christ. Amen.
I had occasion recently to walk through a movie set under construction (for a Mike Myers flick called The Love Guru, I was told). Already there was what appeared to be a complete house, built inside the set. I thought of that house-within-a-house setup in reading this Psalm.
The larger set is nothing less than God’s universal plan, history, time and space, the whole thing; and God’s working through it. For much of the Psalm, the poet celebrates this ‘holy history’ (as some call it), recounting the great deeds of God (verses 4-12), in which he brings both salvation and judgment to bear upon the real circumstances of this world, from his heavenly throne (verse 7).
The house within this spectacular set is the psalmist’s life and predicament. The Psalmist experiences God entering his life and setting, in this smaller, more personal scale, in the same way in which he acts in the larger scene. His response to this experience doesn’t just praise God for that particular action, but leads him, throughout the Psalm, to praise the God who acts for others in the same way as God has acted for him, and throughout history. There is no neat delineation here; his perception of God in history makes him think of his own circumstances, and his experience of God in his life-setting leads him to the expanded view. What a vibrant faith!
Prayer:
Lord give me a sense of connectedness of my life and circumstances to your larger scene, that I may fulfill my purpose within your great story, however small my role may seem. It is significant to you, and I thank you. Through Christ. Amen.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
A hole in the water
Psalm 8
I had a boss in a secular job years ago who reveled in telling us this on a regular basis:
“You want to know how important you are? Go get a bucket of water and fill it. Stick your hands in. Pull your hands out. The hole that’s left in the water is a measure of how important you are around here.”
The thing is, he was right. If you looked just at what I did, and what others around me did (as if human value were only about function), we could have dropped out of the picture one day and someone else would be doing it the same or better the next day.
How much less significant would I seem to myself in the context of the whole of creation, instead of in just one company! But what God says is, ‘Not only do I consider you to have displacement value in that bucket of water, I will lift up what seems most insignificant and give it importance.’
When we acknowledge before God that we feel insignificant in comparison to his glory, and the vastness of all he has created, he points out to us that he has made us for glory, not because of anything intrinsic in us, but because he chooses to love us and to lend us his own goodness and love to share.
Note how the psalm begins and ends: “How majestic is your name.” When, in verses 5-6, the psalm speaks of humans and the great significance we do have in the scheme of things, who is the subject?
Prayer:
Lord, atune me to see that in what seem the most insignificant events, you may be working most powerfully; and in those who feel beaten down and very small, you may be working your most powerful witness in the world. Through Christ. Amen.
I had a boss in a secular job years ago who reveled in telling us this on a regular basis:
“You want to know how important you are? Go get a bucket of water and fill it. Stick your hands in. Pull your hands out. The hole that’s left in the water is a measure of how important you are around here.”
The thing is, he was right. If you looked just at what I did, and what others around me did (as if human value were only about function), we could have dropped out of the picture one day and someone else would be doing it the same or better the next day.
How much less significant would I seem to myself in the context of the whole of creation, instead of in just one company! But what God says is, ‘Not only do I consider you to have displacement value in that bucket of water, I will lift up what seems most insignificant and give it importance.’
When we acknowledge before God that we feel insignificant in comparison to his glory, and the vastness of all he has created, he points out to us that he has made us for glory, not because of anything intrinsic in us, but because he chooses to love us and to lend us his own goodness and love to share.
Note how the psalm begins and ends: “How majestic is your name.” When, in verses 5-6, the psalm speaks of humans and the great significance we do have in the scheme of things, who is the subject?
Prayer:
Lord, atune me to see that in what seem the most insignificant events, you may be working most powerfully; and in those who feel beaten down and very small, you may be working your most powerful witness in the world. Through Christ. Amen.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Beast Slayer
Psalm 7
The psalmist takes to the Lord his plight of being wrongly accused, apparently by the leader of a group of people, given that there is mention of “my enemy” in verse 5 and “my enemies” in verse 6. The intensity and aloneness of the experience of being wrongly accused or – more often for most of us, probably, just being misunderstood – evokes the image of a beast (verse 2). There are, naturally, intense feelings in such an experience.
The beast image is a trigger to be on guard against how we allow such an experience to work inside us. This can be extremely difficult. I can’t imagine, for example, what must go on in the heart of someone who spends years in prison, wrongly accused of something, especially if there is someone on the outside who set it all up. Yet the psalmist, undergoing something like this, ends up expressing that those who are responsible for willful false accusation against him will have their evil come back on them without any doing on his part (verse 16).
The lesson in this is critical. It’s not, in what we would say, ‘so there,' but rather, ‘Even in this obvious injustice against me I must leave the judging to God.’ Or from another angle, ‘What I have responsibility for is my own feelings, and to see that this does not cause the beast in me to rise up to destroy me from within.’
Well OK, I’m doing a lot of paraphrasing. I invite you to find your own way of inserting yourself in the kind of setting the psalmist is experiencing, because we all face it, maybe even today.
Prayer:
God, when I say, ‘take charge of my life,’ let me not hold back what I relinquish to you. It’s tempting to hold on to things to hold against someone. Let me recognize that when I think that something is unfair, I am in danger of taking your role as judge for myself, and I may already have done so in thinking it. Renew me in the grace of your Son. Amen.
The psalmist takes to the Lord his plight of being wrongly accused, apparently by the leader of a group of people, given that there is mention of “my enemy” in verse 5 and “my enemies” in verse 6. The intensity and aloneness of the experience of being wrongly accused or – more often for most of us, probably, just being misunderstood – evokes the image of a beast (verse 2). There are, naturally, intense feelings in such an experience.
The beast image is a trigger to be on guard against how we allow such an experience to work inside us. This can be extremely difficult. I can’t imagine, for example, what must go on in the heart of someone who spends years in prison, wrongly accused of something, especially if there is someone on the outside who set it all up. Yet the psalmist, undergoing something like this, ends up expressing that those who are responsible for willful false accusation against him will have their evil come back on them without any doing on his part (verse 16).
The lesson in this is critical. It’s not, in what we would say, ‘so there,' but rather, ‘Even in this obvious injustice against me I must leave the judging to God.’ Or from another angle, ‘What I have responsibility for is my own feelings, and to see that this does not cause the beast in me to rise up to destroy me from within.’
Well OK, I’m doing a lot of paraphrasing. I invite you to find your own way of inserting yourself in the kind of setting the psalmist is experiencing, because we all face it, maybe even today.
Prayer:
God, when I say, ‘take charge of my life,’ let me not hold back what I relinquish to you. It’s tempting to hold on to things to hold against someone. Let me recognize that when I think that something is unfair, I am in danger of taking your role as judge for myself, and I may already have done so in thinking it. Renew me in the grace of your Son. Amen.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Surprising God
Psalm 6
A funny thing happened on the way to verse 8. There is an abrupt change in mood here. For seven verses there is deep sorrow, even on the verge of death. He even argues with God for deliverance on the basis of not being able to praise him after he is dead – a pre-Christian sentiment that involves no heavenly praising of God.
We are not told of anything happening; the psalmist shares no sudden insight of something different, nor are we told of a counselor entering his space to show him hope in some way. Evidently he just finds God in his outpouring. He has confidence – knows – that his prayers have been heard and the effects are in motion. We don’t need to see gloating in the last verse, just more confidence that the answering of his prayer will have in effect in the here and now – and that’s the encouragement we would take from his witness.
Prayer:
God, thanks for being both dependable and unpredictable. I know you will answer my prayers; I just never know when or how. Keep surprising me. Through Christ. Amen.
A funny thing happened on the way to verse 8. There is an abrupt change in mood here. For seven verses there is deep sorrow, even on the verge of death. He even argues with God for deliverance on the basis of not being able to praise him after he is dead – a pre-Christian sentiment that involves no heavenly praising of God.
We are not told of anything happening; the psalmist shares no sudden insight of something different, nor are we told of a counselor entering his space to show him hope in some way. Evidently he just finds God in his outpouring. He has confidence – knows – that his prayers have been heard and the effects are in motion. We don’t need to see gloating in the last verse, just more confidence that the answering of his prayer will have in effect in the here and now – and that’s the encouragement we would take from his witness.
Prayer:
God, thanks for being both dependable and unpredictable. I know you will answer my prayers; I just never know when or how. Keep surprising me. Through Christ. Amen.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Investing Your Heart
Psalm 5
In order to connect with God’s heart, it seems the psalmist feels he must pour out his own, with complete honesty. That leads him to say things that aren’t very nice, particularly about others. But let’s cut him some slack. If you’re going to be completely honest with God – and there’s no point in doing anything else – you can’t edit your thoughts as you pour them out. You can do that with God; you might want to be careful what fellow humans you do that with!
Note, also, that the comments are addressed to “my King and my God,” which implies (a) that he knows God will know what to do with what he pours out to him, and (b), that the psalmist will follow whatever direction God gives him in response, knowing that the Lord will never let down those who trust in him (verse 12).
Prayer:
Lord, you are holy and awesome, and also tender toward those who trust you. Let anyone today with a heavy burden give his/her whole heart to you, trusting that you can do what no human counselor alone can: make us truly new. Through Christ. Amen.
In order to connect with God’s heart, it seems the psalmist feels he must pour out his own, with complete honesty. That leads him to say things that aren’t very nice, particularly about others. But let’s cut him some slack. If you’re going to be completely honest with God – and there’s no point in doing anything else – you can’t edit your thoughts as you pour them out. You can do that with God; you might want to be careful what fellow humans you do that with!
Note, also, that the comments are addressed to “my King and my God,” which implies (a) that he knows God will know what to do with what he pours out to him, and (b), that the psalmist will follow whatever direction God gives him in response, knowing that the Lord will never let down those who trust in him (verse 12).
Prayer:
Lord, you are holy and awesome, and also tender toward those who trust you. Let anyone today with a heavy burden give his/her whole heart to you, trusting that you can do what no human counselor alone can: make us truly new. Through Christ. Amen.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Who can show us any good?
Psalm 4
This psalm starts out sounding like the psalmist is focused on “me” and setting out to blame others around him for his problems. But it becomes evident with the second part of verse 2 that any defensiveness here is on behalf of the Lord. This is related to the previous psalm, in that he is experiencing attack on his faith. He responds with genuine concern for the well being of the attackers. He wants them to know the Lord as he has come to know him. Verses 4-5 suggest that it is the weakness of their faith that leads them to be so critical, so the psalmist – in a way we would well emulate – focuses on the faith issue more than any personal issues (verse 5). They even ask what we would call today a “seeker” question (verse 6): “Who can show us any good?”
The psalmist does his part to show true good, and experiences great blessing (verses 7-8) as he follows where the Lord is leading.
Prayer:
Lord, as I encounter others today, let me see through anything that seems personally critical to any deeper issues behind the words, at the same time I pay attention to what I may need to hear. Through Christ. Amen.
This psalm starts out sounding like the psalmist is focused on “me” and setting out to blame others around him for his problems. But it becomes evident with the second part of verse 2 that any defensiveness here is on behalf of the Lord. This is related to the previous psalm, in that he is experiencing attack on his faith. He responds with genuine concern for the well being of the attackers. He wants them to know the Lord as he has come to know him. Verses 4-5 suggest that it is the weakness of their faith that leads them to be so critical, so the psalmist – in a way we would well emulate – focuses on the faith issue more than any personal issues (verse 5). They even ask what we would call today a “seeker” question (verse 6): “Who can show us any good?”
The psalmist does his part to show true good, and experiences great blessing (verses 7-8) as he follows where the Lord is leading.
Prayer:
Lord, as I encounter others today, let me see through anything that seems personally critical to any deeper issues behind the words, at the same time I pay attention to what I may need to hear. Through Christ. Amen.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
The Bestower of Glory
Psalm 3
So you’re excited about your new-found faith or renewed faith in God. Cynicism has fallen away. A vision of life in God’s community - of lives transformed from darkness and hopelessness to light and ever deepening knowledge of the Lord and growth in Him - actually feels like a personal experience and you have hope that this will be a reality that spreads around you, even as it deepens within you.
At first you enjoy debate over this with your friends with whom you share everything but this church thing you've gone weird with. But now not only do the people you expect to mock your faith and your church revel in it, but people you love and respect point out, with uncomfortable accuracy, the serious flaws in the history of the church in general and the all-too-human character of your church friends and the church itself. “Well I know so and so from such and such and if he thinks he’s better ‘cause he’s an elder in your church well I’ve got news for you.” And so on. And, “I’ve seen that pastor talk to his kids,” or “I’ve heard the way the leaders run down the pastor,” and on and on and on. There's so much that's just negative; this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. We’ve got this slogan about lives being changed but I don’t really know what it means, and I don’t see that much of it whatever it is. Where is God in this?
The words in Psalm 3 are those of a poet-king, but they may ring all too true for some:
O LORD, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
Many are saying of me,
"God will not deliver him."
Well, maybe not even people foes, but just everything that seems to work against the happiness of the one who wants to do his/her part for the Lord and for people with what God has given him/her to work with. It should be simple, why is it so complicated?
I love what the turning point is for the poet-king who feels beaten down: Sleep. Months ago when this blog went through Genesis, we saw Jacob, on the run, on his way to see his wronged brother again and to face who-knows-what.
http://jameskitson.blogspot.com/2006/12/with-us.html
In the letting-go vulnerability of sleep, Jacob has a dream, a vision, of traffic between heaven and earth. I noted at the time that the most significant direction of the traffic is from above – heaven has more interest in earth than earth has in heaven. The Christian message is about God with us (Emmanuel).
We need to do whatever we need to do to let the voice of the Lord come through to us. People may fail us, organizations may falter, but the Lord will never let you down. Sabbath isn’t just a day of the week, it’s a principle.
But then the coolest thing is that the beleaguered Psalmist, refreshed by his renewed contact with the Lord, is able to bring all of this experience back into the community of faith! Think about it: what we’re reading here is the praise and worship book of Israel. So he’s been able to bring all of this experience back into the community of faith to help to strengthen others by sharing his experience, which is ultimately of renewal in the Lord, and he makes it part of the renewal of the community. We have this Psalm because he made it part of worship. It’s a praise of God working through imperfect human experience – a testimony.
What’s yours?
Prayer:
3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD;
you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.
So you’re excited about your new-found faith or renewed faith in God. Cynicism has fallen away. A vision of life in God’s community - of lives transformed from darkness and hopelessness to light and ever deepening knowledge of the Lord and growth in Him - actually feels like a personal experience and you have hope that this will be a reality that spreads around you, even as it deepens within you.
At first you enjoy debate over this with your friends with whom you share everything but this church thing you've gone weird with. But now not only do the people you expect to mock your faith and your church revel in it, but people you love and respect point out, with uncomfortable accuracy, the serious flaws in the history of the church in general and the all-too-human character of your church friends and the church itself. “Well I know so and so from such and such and if he thinks he’s better ‘cause he’s an elder in your church well I’ve got news for you.” And so on. And, “I’ve seen that pastor talk to his kids,” or “I’ve heard the way the leaders run down the pastor,” and on and on and on. There's so much that's just negative; this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. We’ve got this slogan about lives being changed but I don’t really know what it means, and I don’t see that much of it whatever it is. Where is God in this?
The words in Psalm 3 are those of a poet-king, but they may ring all too true for some:
O LORD, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
Many are saying of me,
"God will not deliver him."
Well, maybe not even people foes, but just everything that seems to work against the happiness of the one who wants to do his/her part for the Lord and for people with what God has given him/her to work with. It should be simple, why is it so complicated?
I love what the turning point is for the poet-king who feels beaten down: Sleep. Months ago when this blog went through Genesis, we saw Jacob, on the run, on his way to see his wronged brother again and to face who-knows-what.
http://jameskitson.blogspot.com/2006/12/with-us.html
In the letting-go vulnerability of sleep, Jacob has a dream, a vision, of traffic between heaven and earth. I noted at the time that the most significant direction of the traffic is from above – heaven has more interest in earth than earth has in heaven. The Christian message is about God with us (Emmanuel).
We need to do whatever we need to do to let the voice of the Lord come through to us. People may fail us, organizations may falter, but the Lord will never let you down. Sabbath isn’t just a day of the week, it’s a principle.
But then the coolest thing is that the beleaguered Psalmist, refreshed by his renewed contact with the Lord, is able to bring all of this experience back into the community of faith! Think about it: what we’re reading here is the praise and worship book of Israel. So he’s been able to bring all of this experience back into the community of faith to help to strengthen others by sharing his experience, which is ultimately of renewal in the Lord, and he makes it part of the renewal of the community. We have this Psalm because he made it part of worship. It’s a praise of God working through imperfect human experience – a testimony.
What’s yours?
Prayer:
3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD;
you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Ever-Increasing Glory
Psalm 2
The Hebrew praise team leader did not shrink from writing songs for worship that used very human language for the Lord. Check out verse 4, with the one enthroned in heaven laughing and scoffing. Pretty human language. What is he laughing and scoffing at? The objects of derision are human powers who think they can challenge his authority. The backdrop is the thing that happened in those days when a big ruler died. The people of the subjugated states under his rule saw it as an opportunity to rise up. The first thing the new ruler had to do was to put down the uprisings, and it was rarely a positive experience.
The psalmist dreams of a day when a king of David’s line would have the kind of rule in the earth that would put down all opposition, not for his own sake, but as the one through whom the Lord reigned on earth. Well, that never happened. Or did it?
A song quoted in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians celebrates Jesus as the one to whom every knee shall bow (Philippians 2:9-11). It’s hard to see the reign of Christ in the outward world today, when Iran thumbs its nose at the world, a nightmare is unfolding in Myanmar, and [fill in any world tragedy here].
I’ve reflected before in these posts that I believe there is Scriptural warrant for earthly authorities to fend of the effects of evil, so there is certainly a need for police and military that is legitimately based and has peace as its goal. The reality is, however, war in its various and increasingly insidious forms is likely to increase as the world as we know it moves toward its divinely appointed end. What goes on with the Christian’s life in the face of this? I believe the focus of our hope and activity comes in this:
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
What can and needs to be also evident in the world is the increasing strength of our relationship in and with Jesus Christ. As the world goes its way, the Christ’s church will be ever stronger – and indeed the church in the world is exploding, as are local churches that truly are resolved to go where the Lord is leading. Of course we should pray earnestly for specific world situations and do whatever, individually and collectively, we can to alleviate suffering and promote peace. But our first response as Christians is to grow in our relationship with Christ, and with one another in Him. As the world goes its way, our worship together should be growing in fervour and excellence, our groups should be growing in their atmosphere of mutual caring, in ever-deepening knowledge of the Lord, and in opportunities for service and evangelism.
We are far from helpless. The kingdoms may rage and rulers plot in their vanity, but we have a purpose and destiny that leads us to grow in strength, peace and even joy.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you said that as the Father sent you, you send your followers, whom you even called your friends, because you have shared your plans with us. Let us not take that lightly. Amen.
The Hebrew praise team leader did not shrink from writing songs for worship that used very human language for the Lord. Check out verse 4, with the one enthroned in heaven laughing and scoffing. Pretty human language. What is he laughing and scoffing at? The objects of derision are human powers who think they can challenge his authority. The backdrop is the thing that happened in those days when a big ruler died. The people of the subjugated states under his rule saw it as an opportunity to rise up. The first thing the new ruler had to do was to put down the uprisings, and it was rarely a positive experience.
The psalmist dreams of a day when a king of David’s line would have the kind of rule in the earth that would put down all opposition, not for his own sake, but as the one through whom the Lord reigned on earth. Well, that never happened. Or did it?
A song quoted in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians celebrates Jesus as the one to whom every knee shall bow (Philippians 2:9-11). It’s hard to see the reign of Christ in the outward world today, when Iran thumbs its nose at the world, a nightmare is unfolding in Myanmar, and [fill in any world tragedy here].
I’ve reflected before in these posts that I believe there is Scriptural warrant for earthly authorities to fend of the effects of evil, so there is certainly a need for police and military that is legitimately based and has peace as its goal. The reality is, however, war in its various and increasingly insidious forms is likely to increase as the world as we know it moves toward its divinely appointed end. What goes on with the Christian’s life in the face of this? I believe the focus of our hope and activity comes in this:
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
What can and needs to be also evident in the world is the increasing strength of our relationship in and with Jesus Christ. As the world goes its way, the Christ’s church will be ever stronger – and indeed the church in the world is exploding, as are local churches that truly are resolved to go where the Lord is leading. Of course we should pray earnestly for specific world situations and do whatever, individually and collectively, we can to alleviate suffering and promote peace. But our first response as Christians is to grow in our relationship with Christ, and with one another in Him. As the world goes its way, our worship together should be growing in fervour and excellence, our groups should be growing in their atmosphere of mutual caring, in ever-deepening knowledge of the Lord, and in opportunities for service and evangelism.
We are far from helpless. The kingdoms may rage and rulers plot in their vanity, but we have a purpose and destiny that leads us to grow in strength, peace and even joy.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you said that as the Father sent you, you send your followers, whom you even called your friends, because you have shared your plans with us. Let us not take that lightly. Amen.
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