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.