A little help here, please?

 

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. --Psalm 46:1

I just got back from vacation, where we visited my family near Waco, Texas.  We stayed with my sister, who is helping to raise her grandchildren.  My wife and I have no grandchildren, and after seeing our two- and four-year-old great nephews run their Gram ragged, I'm kind of glad we don't.

Gram sometimes refers to her grandsons as "feral children."  They run and explore and play all over the property all day long.  They have quite a few ride-on toys, as well--bicycles, scooters, a toy tractor and a battery powered four-wheeler.  Whenever they drive off the paved driveway and into the yard or the gravel road that heads to the shop out back, the driving is less than reliable.  They often get into situations where the wheels spin, but they don't go anywhere.  Whenever they get themselves into this situation, they merely have to call on Gram or G.G. (which is what they call their great-grandmother) to come give them a push.

I was thinking of this on the flight back home.  Even when the nearest adult is in the shop, or in the house, or at the other end of the property, those little guys know that calling "help!" will get someone's attention.  And because they know from experience that the nearest adult will help them when they call, they do not stop calling.  Whenever they are stuck they will cry out until Mommy, Gram, or G.G. comes to their aid.  The call is never panicked.  It is never tearful.  It is simply persistent.

Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 7:7-11.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"

Greek scholars have pointed out that the verbs ask, seek, and knock are in the present perfect tense, which to be properly translated into English would be keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.  Not just a one and done prayer, but a continuing action of asking, seeking, and knocking.  I think this is what Paul was driving home in 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, "Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Those little guys in rural Texas don't stop calling for help after one or two tries.  Mommy may be on the phone.  Gram may be putting away the breakfast dishes.  G.G. may be folding clothes.  Eventually, though, someone will answer the call if they are persistent.  It is the same with us.  We can't give up if God doesn't seem to hear our prayer the first time.  We must be persistent.  We must be consistent.  We cannot see what God is doing at all times, but we know that He will meet all of our needs.

Now, I don't want to take the position that God is a cosmic Santa, or that our prayers are some kind of Christmas list.  He will not give us what we don't need, even if we beg Him for it.  On some occasions, He may even withhold good from us in order for us to grow and mature.  Let me give you an example.

There may come a time when my sister's four-year-old grandson needs to learn to get himself out of a jam.  Instead of sitting in the driver's seat calling out, "Help, help!", Gram may want to urge him to get out of the four-wheeler and give it a little push himself.  In the same way, our heavenly Father may want to get us out of our comfort zone, urging us to stop doing what we've always done.  He may even allow us to go through a rough patch, either to shake us out of our complacency or to fully appreciate His grace and mercy when He finally does come through for us.

Before our vacation last week, I was going through a bit of a rough patch myself.  I was crying out to God for mercy as I was putting dirty clothes into the washer.  The thought occurred to me that in order to get fully clean, the smelly sock or the stained shirt had to be plunged deep into the water.  There is a device inside a washing machine that ensures the clothes get pulled deeper into the soapy water.  That device is called an agitator.

It struck me that without that agitator in the washing machine, not all of the clothes would come out fresh and clean.  In the same way, sometimes God allows us to be agitated, to be pulled deeper and deeper in over our heads, so that He can cleanse us and make us new.  Does this mean we should stop praying? Certainly not!  Remember Jonah, who cried out to God as he was sinking further into the sea.  What might have been his worst fear turned out to be his salvation; he may have been terrified of being eaten alive by a great fish, but God had prepared that fish to swallow him up and keep him safe, all the while transporting him back to the seashore.

What was Jonah's response?  We see it in Jonah chapter 2.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, "I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and He answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice.  For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all Your waves and Your billows passed over me.  Then I said, 'I am driven away from Your sight; yet I shall again look upon Your holy temple'." --Jonah 2:1-4

Next time you are stuck and it seems your wheels are spinning and you are going nowhere, call upon the Lord, who is your help.  If He delays in answering you, be persistent.  Pray continually.  And if your situation turns to agitation, or if you feel you are in over your head, to the point where your worst fears are coming true, pray some more.  God will hear you.  He will mature you.  He will be with you til the end, and beyond. 

A Glorious Word Picture

Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness shall bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it. --Isaiah 45:8 

Every once in a while I read something that touches me so deeply that it literally takes my breath away.  This happened to me this week while I was reading through the Psalms.  When I read Psalm 85, I found a word picture so vivid, so vibrant, so clear that I had to stop and give praise to God for His salvation.  The more I studied it, the more commentaries I read about it, the more I knew that I was not alone.

By way of background, the Psalm speaks to Man's greatest need, summarized in Verse 7: "Show us Your mercy, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation."  These days the Gospel is so watered down that we forget we need mercy.  On the one hand, modern culture preaches that there is no such thing as sin; that any action or behavior by any person is okay.  No judgement, right?  On the other hand, modern churches preach that Jesus loves everyone unconditionally, and there is no reason for repentance.  Any person who stands up against sin is accused of hate speech, and is shunned.  Any person who preaches the need for atonement for sin is called a fanatic.

The writer of this Psalm knew that sin--both personal and corporate--had taken them captive and had separated them from God.  Verses 4 and 5 says, "Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?"  The Psalmist knew that the people had acted foolishly, and prayed "Let them not turn back to folly." (Verse 8).  He also knew that repentance was necessary, a turning from their sins.  "Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land." (Verse 9).

With this in mind, here is the passage that stands out:  "Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.  Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven." (Verses 10 and 11).  At first glance, I see a word picture of God looking down from heaven, shining as the sun, and in response the flower growing up from the earth, the tree reaching its boughs toward heaven.  In my mind's eye, I picture warm breezes bringing moisture from the sea, forming clouds.  When these clouds are kissed by colder air aloft, the earth receives merciful rain.

Bible commentator David Guzik writes:

Mercy and truth have met together: In beautiful terms the psalmist describes the salvation God brings to His people. It might seem that mercy and truth are set against each other, with mercy looking to grant pardon and truth determined to condemn. In God’s great work of salvation, mercy and truth have met together.

Mercy and truth have met together: The word here translated mercy is the great Hebrew word hesed, which often has the idea of grace or loyal love. This verse may have been the inspiration for what John later wrote: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

Righteousness and peace have kissed: Even as mercy and truth meet, so righteousness and peace greet each other warmly. It might seem that righteousness would condemn me and prevent God’s shalom (peace) from ever reaching me. In God’s great work of salvation, His righteousness and peace are the best of friends.

C.H. Spurgeon puts it this way:

"Earth carpeted with truth and canopied with righteousness," shall be a nether heaven. When God looks down in grace, man sends his heart upward in obedience. The person of our adorable Lord Jesus Christ explains this verse most sweetly. In Him truth is found in our humanity, and his deity brings divine righteousness among us. His Spirit's work even now creates a hallowed harmony between his church below, and the sovereign righteousness above; and in the latter day, earth shall be universally adorned with every precious virtue, and heaven shall hold intimate intercourse with it. There is a world of meaning in these verses, only needing meditation to draw it out. Reader, "the well is deep," but if thou hast the Spirit, it cannot be said, that "thou hast nothing to draw with."

Are you beginning to see the word picture I saw?  God's grace comes down as our prayers go up, creating a vertical relationship between truth and righteousness.  Mercy and peace meet on a horizontal plane, intersecting the vertical relationship at the Cross of Christ.  Thomas Leblanc (1689) wrote: 

Mercy and truth; righteousness and peace. Note, four virtues stand out prominently in the incarnation; namely, mercy, truth, righteousness and peace, or love producing peace. These were like four steps of the throne of Christ, or four princes standing near and accompanying Him.

1. On the right hand, is mercy presenting the olive.
2. On the left, truth holding the white lily.
3. Before Him walks justice bearing the balance.
4. Peace follows Him, having a cornucopia full of flowers, and scattering the flowers around.

Going back to David Gezek:

“These four divine attributes parted at the fall of Adam, and met again at the birth of Christ.... Mercy was ever inclined to save man, and Peace could not be his enemy; but Truth exacted the performance of God’s threat, ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die’; and Righteousness could not but give to every one his due.” (Horne)

“Now, Where did these meet? In Christ Jesus. When were they reconciled? When he poured out his life on Calvary.” (Clarke)

Paul later expressed this idea in Romans 3:26: That He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. At the cross, God demonstrated His righteousness by offering man justification (a legal verdict of “not guilty”), while remaining completely just (because the righteous penalty of sin had been paid at the cross). God could be only just, and simply send every guilty sinner to hell, as a just judge would do. Only God could find a way to be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Keith and Kristyn Getty wrote a hymn that encapsulates this word picture for me in a song called The Lord is My Salvation.

The grace of God has reached for me
And pulled me from a raging sea
And I am safe on this solid ground
The Lord is my salvation

I will not fear when darkness falls
His strength will help me scale these walls
I'll see the dawn of the rising sun
The Lord is my salvation

Who is like the Lord, our God?
Strong to save, faithful in love
My debt is paid and the victory won
The Lord is my salvation

Life is hard

 

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.  --Hebrews 12:3

Last week we introduced what are known as Impreccatory Psalms--that is, Psalms that seem to call down curses against the enemies of God.  Psalm 69 is a great example: David became so fed up, so tired of the lies and deception, the traps set by his enemies that he cried out to God for their destruction.  Here's what he wrote.

Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.  Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.  Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.  May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.  For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.  Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.  --Psalm 69:22-28

What could have caused David to be so, well, ungracious? Vindictive? Acrimonious?  I think the rest of the Psalm explains the attitude.  If we look a little deeper, perhaps we see a bit of human nature coming out.  The great thing about this Psalm, however, is that parts of it are quoted in the New Testament describing the suffering that Jesus went through, and how He handled what life threw at Him.

Drowning in a flood of trouble

Save me, O God!  For the waters have come up to my neck.  I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.  I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.  My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.  More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies.  What I did not steal, must I now restore?  --Psalm 69: 1-4

Many of us can relate to feeling like we're in over our heads, drowning in a deluge of personal problems.  Like David, we feel we have prayed until we are parched; we have cried out to God until we are blue in the face.  We sometimes feel as if we might die before we see the power of God rescue us.

Then we remember Jesus.  He was hated without cause; He was attacked with lies.  How did He react?  In Matthew 26, starting in verse 36, we see that Jesus took a few of His closest friends and went to the Garden to pray.  Verse 37 says, "He began to be sorrowful and troubled."  The Amplified Bible says, "He began to be grieved and greatly distressed."

Jesus prayed, "Let this cup pass from me"--in other words, God, take away this stress, this burden, this problem that will be the very death of Me.  In hindsight, we know that God did not rescue Him.  Further, we see in John 15:25 a direct quote from Psalm 69:4, when Jesus said, "But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: 'They hated me without a cause'."

Jesus endured hatred, false accusations, persecution and even death, even after praying that God would spare Him.

The constant drip of disapproval

O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from You.  Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek You be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.  For it is for Your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.  I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.  For zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.  --Psalm 69:5-9

David knows that he is not perfect, but only God could judge him.  David felt the criticism of his enemies, and the sting of their words.  He felt especially bad when they criticized him for being too religious.  He felt like he was being called out for doing the right thing.  Yet his heart was pure, and David prayed that none of his actions would lead men astray.  He did not want his own actions to cause any believer to stumble, or to make anyone fall away from God because of His actions.  That's what constant criticism can do--it can make you feel guilty for doing the right thing.

Remember Jesus getting violent in the Temple?  In John chapter two, beginning in verse 13, Jesus came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, but sees atrocities in the Temple.  Profiteers were selling sheep and oxen at exorbitant prices.  Sacrifices were necessary, but not the price gouging.  Money changes were there, converting world currencies for the Temple tax.  Tithes were necessary, but not at the expense of integrity and fair-dealing.  Jesus saw it, and Scripture says he wove a whip out of cords.  He went into the pens of the livestock, and drove the animals out.  He stepped up to the tables where the currency exchange was taking place, and He threw the tables over onto their sides causing the cash boxes to spill onto the ground.  Seeing this, the disciples remembered the words from Psalm 69:9: "Zeal for Your house will consume Me." (John 2:17).

This episode early in the ministry of Jesus made enemies of the religious leaders.  Eventually it led to His death.  Doing the right thing may get us into hot water, too.  That doesn't mean we should stop doing what is right and good in the sight of God.

Our dying prayer

Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.  Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.  Answer me, O Lord, for Your steadfast love is good; according to Your abundant mercy, turn to me.  Hid not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.  Draw near to my soul, redeem me; Ransom me because of my enemies!  You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to You.  Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair.  I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.  They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.  --Psalm 69:14-21

Our world may be literally shaken with bad news.  Life is truly hard.  In his book Limping with God: Jacob and the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship, author Chad Bird writes this:

Divine visitations are not always pleasant experiences.  Nor will they necessarily take on the visionary quality of Jacob's.  They may look like a tumor on a CT scan.  An email about your termination of employment.  Or a phone call at 3 a.m. that begins with, "I am so sorry I have to tell you this, but..."  And suddenly, in an instant, everything changes.  In the weeks and months to come, following Jesus feels like a cruel joke.  You're not following anyone.  You're chained to despair.  The glowing eyes of monstrous uncertainties blink at you from the darkness.  Rather than seeing a ladder from earth to heaven, it seems there's an escalator from hell to earth, with demons showing up in legions on your doorstep.  This is ordinary.  These things happen to the people of God in our fractured world.  So, when they do, when you feel beyond overwhelmed, know that the Lord Jesus is near, right at the door.  He is wading into the darkness, eyes only for you.

Remember Jesus, who in Matthew 27 was led to be crucified, carrying His own cross.  Psalm 69:21 was fulfilled not once, but twice (see Matthew 27:34, and again in verse 48).  They offered Him sour wine to drink when He was so dehydrated He cried out.  It was for us, for our sins that He bore this suffering.  Again from author Chad Bird:

Christ has come because you cannot come to Him.  He is following you, not the other way around--following you into the vortex of pain and loss and fear and anger.  He does so unblinkingly.  Without hesitation.  Since Jesus, "for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross," do not for a moment imagine that He grimaces or flinches or weighs His opinions before entering your pain and loss and the crucible of your own suffering (Hebrews 12:2).  He's all in, all in for you, all for the joy of loving and saving you.  You will learn much about yourself, but more importantly, you will learn much about the magnanimity of the Lord's heart.  With greater clarity, you will realize that apart from Him, you have no hope.  But in Him, hope is an inexpressible gift that enables us all to face the future, which is already enfolded within the resurrection of Christ.

Whatever your trial, whatever your trouble, remember Christ.  He endured far more than we could imagine, endured far worse that whatever we are going through.  The suffering that we endure in this life do not compare to the joy that will be ours when we see Jesus. 

An old Spiritual goes like this:

1 Jesus walked this lonesome valley;
He had to walk it by himself.
Oh, nobody else could walk it for him;
He had to walk it by himself.

2 We must walk this lonesome valley;
We have to walk it by ourselves.
Oh, nobody else can walk it for us;
We have to walk it by ourselves.

3 You must go and stand your trial;
You have to stand it by yourself.
Oh, nobody else can stand it for you;
You have to stand it by yourself.

 

 

Don't imprecate me, Bro!

 

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.   --Matthew 18:6

One of my favorite Facebook groups, and a source of many biblical memes that I use on my own page, is called "Imprecatory Psalms for Dads and Malms."  It's a play on words, encouraging parents to teach the entire Scripture to their children, even those passages that aren't all warm and fuzzy.

Imprecatory is an adjective that means to curse or invoke evil on someone.  Yes, the Bible does that.  This week in my daily Bible readings I came upon Psalm 59, which is considered to be one of six or seven Imprecatory Psalms in the Bible.  

Before you shut me out or stop reading because this idea offends you, let me point out some things.  In the secular world, we use some pretty violent imagery in our daily struggle on this Earth.  How do we describe someone who happened to pick some winning stocks or bonds?  "He made a killing in the market."  How do we encourage a friend who may be going through a divorce?  "Hit him where it hurts."  What is the first thing a child might think if he has gotten into trouble?  "My parents are going to kill me."

I am a fairly decent sports fan.  Yesterday was a day for college football, where rivals on the gridiron were encouraged to "knock their heads off" or "cut them into tiny pieces."  Former football star Dick Butkus said, "When I played pro football, I never set out to hurt one deliberately--unless, you know, it was important; like a league game or something."  Today two of my favorite NFL teams played in nationally televised games.  One smashed the other team into submission; the other got beat like a rug.

Not a sports fan?  Then how about politics?  You can hardly turn on the television or radio without being subjected to the vitriol and spite hurled at the other side in order to convince you to vote for one side or the other.  Imprecations are part of the human experience; we are hard-wired to invoke curses on one another.  This doesn't stop when one becomes a believer; it is merely tempered with grace.

My enemies try to implicate me

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; Defend me from those who rise up against me.  Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloodthirsty men.  For look, they lie in wait for my life; the mighty gather against me, not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.  They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.  Awake to help me, and behold!  You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to punish all the nations; do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors.  --Psalm 59:1-5 NKJV

David was running from Saul, because Saul was determined to kill David.  Saul want to accuse David of treason, a crime for which David was completely innocent. David's prayer was a cry for justice, not limited to the house of Saul only, but against any nation that came against God's people.

Jesus said in John 15 that His followers would have to endure persecution for His Name's sake.

But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  If I had not done among them the  world's which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law: "They hated Me without a cause."  --John 15:21-25

Jesus quoted Psalm 69:4 and 109:3-5, which by the way are also known as Imprecatory Psalms.  They underscore His innocence, and prophesy that evil will one day come upon His accusers.  David's words preceded Christ's, but they spoke of the same problem, because the wicked would always accuse the innocent.

My God will vindicate me

I will wait for You, O You his Strength; for God is my defense.  My God of mercy shall come to meet me; God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.  Do not slay them, lest my people forget; scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield.  For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride, and for the cursing and lying which they speak.  Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be; and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. --Psalm 59:9-13

They say that truth is the best defense, but it is not so in this day and age.  I have a friend who posted a meme about the non-government organizations who are providing the most assistance after the devastating hurricanes in Florida: they are churches and faith-based organizations, not political ones--not Planned Parenthood or Black Lives Matter or any other pseudo-political "grass-roots" movements we have seen in the news in recent years.  Unfortunately, my friend was beset by internet trolls, who accused him of outright lying.  Their argument seemed to be that he did not know who was sending help of contributions to those in need, and therefore he needed to shut up about it.  He took down the meme, and said that he would focus instead on his own ministry.

Even as we pray that God would set things right, we do not pray for death and destruction against our enemies.  "Do not slay them," David wrote, because of God's tender mercy (long-suffering or steadfast love, as the ESV translates the Hebrew word hesed, which we have written about many times before.)  We want God's will to be done, even if that means they come to know Christ and start preaching His word.  Remember Paul?  As David described his enemies "belching out" lies and corruption (see verse 7), we are reminded that Paul was "breathing out threatenings and slaughter" against believers (see Act 9:1).  God showed mercy to Paul; He may also have mercy on our enemies, or not--that is up to Him.  If He wants to consume them utterly for their unbelief, He is entitled to do that.

Their sin will imprecate them

And at evening they return, they growl like a dog, and go all around the city.  They wander up and down for food, and howl if they are not satisfied.  But I will sing of Your power; yes I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.  To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, my God of mercy.  --Psalm 59:14-17

It is good to have God on our side.  We are sinful, separated from God, but we receive mercy.  1 John 2:1 says, "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin.  And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."  Isn't it good to have an advocate, a defense attorney who is in the Judge's good graces?

The danger with our message is that it is often too grace focused.  Will everyone believe in Jesus, and be saved from God's wrath by His shed blood?  Unfortunately, no.  Jesus Himself said, "Whoever causes on of these little ones who believes in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the sea." (Matthew 18:6).  This Imprecatory statement (e.g. curse, wishing evil upon someone) came from Jesus Himself.  In John 3:18 Jesus said, "He who believes in Him (God's Son) is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God."

Believe in Him today.  Call upon Him for forgiveness and salvation before your eternal soul meets a fate worse than death.  Confess your sins, for that is the only way to obtain God's mercy.

 

Grace wins

 

Thy mercy Lord doth to the heavens extend,
Thy faithfulness doth to the clouds ascend;
Thy justice steadfast as a mountain is,
Thy judgments deep as is the great Abyss;
Thy noble mercies save all living things,
The sons of men creep underneath thy wings:
With thy great plenty they are fed at will,
And of thy pleasure's stream they drink their fill;
For even the well of life remains with thee,
And in thy glorious light we light shall see.—Sir John Davies.

Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted as saying, "What you do speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying."  Said another way, actions speak louder than words. It is a mark of maturity to be able to look past flowery language to see the heart of a person.

God knows our heart, and in the 36th Psalm we see David contrasting the heart of evil man with the heart of God as evidenced by His steadfast love, His faithfulness, and His righteousness.  David goes on to pray that God's favor would continue to be with him (and people like him) and that we would not be tripped up by the wickedness of men among whom we live.  Let's take a closer look together.

The evil that men do

Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.  For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.  The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good.  He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.          --Psalm 36:1-4

Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." People have interpreted these words in several different ways.  Some say it means that all your evil deeds will be remembered long after the good you have done is forgotten.  Others interpret it to mean that someone may speak well of a person at their funeral, overlooking their sin and evil nature.

Similarly, there are several different interpretations of verse 1 of the 36th Psalm.  Here are just a few of them.  The Hebrew word for "speaks" is sometimes translated a "Oracle".  So the NKJV renders it this way:  "An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: there is no fear of God before his eyes."  So we see that the sinful actions of man bespeak the evil within them, as would a prophet or an Oracle (i.e. one who sees with spiritual eyes.)  Another interesting deviation among the various translations is the pronoun "his", as in "his heart."  The ASV translates it this way: "The transgression of the wicked says within my heart, There is no fear of God before his eyes."  Once we start questioning whether this should be a first person or second person pronoun, we are faced with the fact that we may see the sins of others quite easily, but we ourselves are prone to the very same sin.  Romans 3:10 reminds us that "None is righteous; no, not one."

The point, I think, is that when we see ourselves and others through the filter of our sins, our true heart is revealed.  We may flatter ourselves, or speak well of others, and kind of brush our sins under the rug so that no one can see them.  This is like putting lipstick on a pig.  People are still wicked in their heart of hearts.  The Phillips paraphrase renders verse 4 like this: "They lie awake at night hatching sinful plots.  Their actions are never good.  They make no attempt to turn from evil."  In Genesis 6:5 God made this assessment: "Every thought of man was evil all the time."  Jesus said in Matthew 24:37 that the last days would be as the days of Noah.  If you believe that we are in the last days, one of the evidences would be the utter and complete depravity of man that we see around us every day.

The absolute goodness of God

Contrast the wickedness of man with the attributes of God.  We see in verses 5-9

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, You faithfulness to the clouds.  Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord.  How precious is your steadfast love, O God!  The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.  They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You given them drink from the river of Your delights.  For with You is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.

What do we see about God in this passage?  How does David describe Him?  The first adjective he uses is the Hebrew word hesed.  This word is found almost 250 times in the Old Testament, and it is variously translated as mercy, kindness, lovingkindness, goodness, and favor.  Many would equate it with the Greek word agape, which describes the sacrificial love of God; but this is too limiting.  It does not merely mean the love of God, but goes so much deeper.  This steadfast love, this hesed, is indeed precious.

The second adjective describing God is His faithfulness.  This word can mean firmness, fidelity, steadfastness and steadiness.  In ancient times sailors would plot a course to get to their destination, and if they stayed true, and did not drift off-course, did not turn to the right or to the left, they would faithfully reach their destination.  In modern times pilots will do the same: set a course, and stay true to that heading, so that their passengers (souls on board) and cargo can safely reach their destination.  How much more is God true and faithful in bringing about His will for us?  This is what Steven Curtis Chapman was thinking when he wrote the song, the refrain of which says, "My Redeemer is faithful and true; everything He has said He will do.  Every morning His mercies are new.  My Redeemer is faithful and true."

The third word David uses to describe God in these verses is righteous.  He is without sin.  You will note that the first word used to describe man was sinful, wicked, transgressing His ways--these words are the defining qualities of man.  By contrast God is righteous, sinless, and pure; but that is not even the best or most important thing about Him.

Because His love is steadfast, we can take refuge in Him (verse 5).  Because of His faithfulness (verse 5), we can "feast on His abundance" and can "drink from the river of His delight" (verse 8).  Because of His righteousness, His sinless purity, He is the very light by which we see.  Without the shadow of any guilt or stain in the lens through which we see reality, we can see His goodness, His love, His righteousness.  We can also see our own sin.

The prayer for deliverance

Oh, continue Your steadfast love to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright of heart!  Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.  There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise.  --verses 10-12

When we are confronted with the sinfulness of man, it speaks to our heart.  When we recognize the righteous favor of God, we run to Him for refuge and forgiveness.  Yet even then we are prone to look back, to revisit our sin, to even long for it.  We must pray, as David did, that God's love would remain steadfast.  We must pray that God would impute His righteousness upon us, covering our sin.  We must not be drawn away, because then we become like those overcome by evil, lying in the dirt, unable to have fellowship with a holy God.

Salvation is not a "one-and-done" event.  We are to take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23), dying to our sinful selves and allowing God to cleanse us, to use us, to love us unconditionally.  Let us continually grow in grace, and avoid arrogance.  We must humbly call to Jesus, and not let the hooks of evil men around us draw us away from Him.  Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."  I believe the writer of Hebrews was writing to Christians, not to "sinners."  We all must shake off the effects of sin to be an effective Christian.  We all need grace.

John Newton, was a former slave trader turned Christian, who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace.  Near the end of his life he said, "Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner; and Christ is a great Savior."  

We must not forget the mercy of God in our sin.  As Christians, we know that God's mercy and grace have overcome our sin.  Grace wins.

God's got this!

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.  --Psalm 56:3 NKJV

What just happened? Something you dreaded, something unexpected, something dangerous.  Whatever it was was out of your control.  Your heart begins to race, and you panic.  Your racing heart sets off a danger alarm in your brain and sends your body’s fear response into overdrive. 

Adrenaline floods into your bloodstream, putting your body on high alert.  Your pupils dilate, and your mind becomes laser focused. Your breathing rate increases, allowing your body to take in extra oxygen. Cellular metabolism shifts to maximize the amount of glucose available to the brain and muscles. Your blood is diverted away from non-essential regions like your fingers, toes and stomach and towards the major muscles of the arms and legs — steeling them to either fight off a threat or flee the scene.

You are literally fighting to gain control.

You may think your response is the difference between life and death.  What do you say?  After an uncontrollable scream or cry, after the "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!" is done, as you try to control what happens next, what words come out of your mouth?  Those words could reflect your level of faith.

David described his own panic attack in Psalm 31:21-24.

Blessed be the Lord, for He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!  For I said in my haste, "I am cut off from before Your eyes"; nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to You.  Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints!  For the Lord preserves the faithful, and fully repays the proud person.  Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord. --NKJV

What was the situation that caused David to panic?  In this instance, he was in what was described as a "strong city."  This may be a reference to 1 Samuel 23.  Saul was pursuing David aggressively, intent on killing him.  Beginning in verse 7 we read, "And Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah. So Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars."  Then Saul called all the people together for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men."  In fact, several other versions of Psalm 31:21 (including the ESV, which I normally read) translate "strong city" as "a besieged city."

In other words, Saul heard that David had gone to a fortified city.  The gates and bars may have made David and his followers feel more secure.  Saul saw this as an opportunity to trap David.  Sure, there was no way in; but if Saul set a siege against this fortified city, David had no way out.  David literally had no hope of escape.

When David heard that the king had declared war on Keilah where David had gone for refuge, he panicked.  Verse 22 says, "I said in my haste, 'I am cut off from before Your (God's) eyes'."  The Hebrew word for "haste" literally means to be in a hurry, to be alarmed, to be terrified.  In other words, David trembled at the news, and his heart sank.  In his panic he cried out, "God has left me."

God knows our hearts.  For this reason, fear (or panic) is a theme discussed throughout Scripture.  Isaiah wrote:

I said "I shall not see YAH, the Lord in the land of the living; I shall observe man no more among the inhabitants of the world.  My life span is gone, taken from me like a shepherd's tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver.  He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make and end of me." (Isaiah 38:11-12)

Like David, King Hezekiah (whose words are recorded by the prophet Isaiah) feared that God had left him.  Hezekiah had been sick, and he was afraid that it was a sickness unto death.  However, after crying out to God, the prophet was sent to tell him that God had heard his prayers, and that he would recover, and live another 15 years.  Hezekiah's cries of anguish turned into words of praise, for later he says, "Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love You have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back." (Isaiah 38:17 ESV).

Maybe you haven't yet had a health scare that drove you to panic.  Perhaps your experience with intense fear has been with more immediate emergencies.  King Solomon describes a near death experience from drowning.  Lamentations 3:54 says, "Water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost'." (ESV--the NKJV says "I am cut off".)  Whenever I think of water closing over one's head, I think of Jonah.  As he was sinking into the depths of the sea, he said, "I have been cast out of Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple." --Jonah 2:4 NKJV

Whatever causes us to panic should drive us to our knees.  Psalm 17:7 says,  "Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You from those who rise up against them." (NKJV)  This word "lovingkindness" (or "steadfast love" from the ESV) is the Hebrew word hesed.  David used this same word in our text in Psalm 31:21, "Blessed be the Lord, for He has shown me His marvelous kindness (hesed) in a strong city!"  How did God show His marvelous kindness and mercy toward David?  Even after David panicked and thought, "God has cut me off!" we see God's hand in verse 22: "nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to You."

What is the lesson that David learned from this experience? "Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints!  For the Lord preserves the faithful, and fully repays the proud person.  Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord." (verses 23 and 24).  We should never let panic control us.  When we feel out of control we must remember God has control.  He will either save us by His power, or He will use the calamity for His glory.  In David's case, we know that Saul did not, in fact, kill him.  If you read on in 1 Samuel 23, you will see that David consulted a priest, and asked God two questions: Was Saul coming to lay siege to the city?  And if so, would the people of Keilah give David over to Saul to save their city?  God's answer was yes to both questions, so David was able to escape before Saul could capture him.

Charles Spurgeon said, "Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths."  Our strength is in the Lord, and in the power of His might.  No matter how much we struggle to maintain control, we must realize that we actually control nothing.  It's all in God's hands.  He is ultimately in control by His Providence and His power.

If we respond in faith rather than fear, we can say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." (Job 13:15)

If only there was a mediator for me

 

Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me.  --Isaiah 43:27

In ancient Greek mythology, there was a doctor-demigod named Asclepius.  According to Wikipedia, Asclepius was said to be such a skilled doctor that he could even raise people from the dead.  So stemming from the myth of his great healing powers, pilgrims would flock to "healing temples" built in his honor in order to seek spiritual and physical healing.  These temples, called Asclepieia were scattered throughout ancient Greece, and throughout the Roman empire.

Some might say that the Pool of Bethesda mentioned in John chapter 5 was just such an Asclepieon, or "healing temple."  In fact, there may have been some Hellenistic influence in this Jewish site, but the spot was definitely of Hebrew origin.  The name itself means "house of mercy" or "house of grace," and the Jews who gathered there had not made a pilgrimage to some Greek demigod.  According to verse 4, the people there were waiting for a messenger of God (usually translated "angel") to stir the waters, so that the first to wash in the water would be healed.

This Messianic hope of an intermediary, a messenger or interpreter from God to intervene on behalf of His people is evident from the earliest Jewish writings.  Perhaps the oldest book in our biblical canon is the book of Job, and in chapter 33 we see the fourth "friend" of Job excoriating him regarding repentance and deliverance.  Let's read Elihu's message in verses 23 through 30:

If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him, and he is merciful to him, and says, "Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom; let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor"; then man prays to God, and He accepts him; he sees His face with a shout of joy, and He restores to man his righteousness.  He sings before men and says: "I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me.  He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and m life shall look upon the light."  Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life. (Job 33:23-30, ESV)

Reading the book of Job is difficult, because the "friends" whom Job called "miserable comforters" (Job 16:2) all spoke half truths.  Their advice, which each one voiced vehemently, was couched in theological jargon and sounded right, but was a misinterpretation of Scripture.  Like many false teachers today, they believed that God's blessing was always found in health, wealth, and prosperity.  If a man was found to have lost his fortune, or to be stricken with disease, then he must have committed a heinous sin and God must be terribly angry with him.  The remedy, then, was repentance and penitent acts that might ease God's anger, after which one could only hope that God might forgive, and then perhaps restore what was lost.

The Pulpit Commentary explains the passage (from verses 23 and 24) this way:

"If there be a messenger (or angel) with him." It is generally supposed that "the angel of the covenant" is meant, and that the whole passage is Messianic; but much obscurity hangs over it. The Jews certainly understand it Messianically, since they read it on the great Day of Atonement, and use in their liturgies the prayer, "Raise up for us the righteous Interpreter; say, I have found a ransom." Elihu's knowledge of an Interpreter, or Mediator, one among a thousand, who should deliver the afflicted man from going down to the pit, and find a ransom for him (ver. 24), is certainly very surprising; and we can scarcely imagine that he understood the full force of his words; but it cannot be right to denude them of their natural signification. Elihu certainly did not mean to speak of himself as an "angel-interpreter, one among a thousand;" and it is not probable that he intends a reference to any merely human helper.

"Then he is gracious unto him; and says." Some interpret, "Then he (i.e. God) is gracious unto him, and he (i.e. the angel) says. Others make God the subject of both clauses. But the angel is the natural subject. "Deliver him from going down to the pit." The mediating angel thus addresses God, and adds, "I have found a ransom," leaving the nature of the ransom unexplained. Some notion of ransom, or atonement, underlay the whole idea of sacrifice, which appears to have been universally practiced from the remotest times, by the Oriental nations.

In short, Elihu was speaking more than he knew.  If God sent a messenger, or mediating angel, to intervene on Job's behalf (and it was a one-in-a-thousand shot, that may happen once in a lifetime, or maybe twice or three times if he was lucky), then Job would receive from God the light of life.

Just like the paralytic in John 5, who could not have dreamed that the man Jesus could do so much more than the mythic angel who would stir the healing waters in the pool, Elihu in Job 33 could not have imagined that the mediator whom God would send would not be merely a messenger, not merely an angel, but the very Son of God.  Without intending so, Elihu was prophetically testifying of the Messiah Himself.  Job knew better than Elihu, because in Job 19:24 Job declared, "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth."

The Enduring Word Bible Commentary says this about Elihu's wish for a messenger or Mediator:

"If there is a messenger for him": Again, Elihu (in is overly wordy way) told Job that God did send a messenger of some sort; Job’s problem was that he did not receive it.

i. On mediator in Job 33:23: “Or interpreter: i.e., one who can interpret and reveal the truth concerning God and His ways.” (Bullinger)

ii. “Jesus Christ is indeed a blessed interpreter. An interpreter must understand two languages. Our Lord Jesus understands the language of God. Whatever are the great truths of divine intelligence and infinite wisdom, too high and mysterious for us to comprehend or even to discern, Christ fully understands them all… Moreover, Jesus understands our language, for he is a man like ourselves, touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and smarting under our sicknesses. He can read whatever is in the heart of man, and so he can tell to God the language of man, and speak to man in the language of man what God would say to him.” (Spurgeon)

 I had never thought of a mediator in this way.  In the business world, a mediator will meet with both sides in a dispute, and help bridge the gap.  Jesus does this.  However, thinking of a mediator as an interpreter is more than just thinking in terms of international business.  It is more than a person fluent in both English and Japanese helping to negotiate terms between equal businesses in the US and Japan.  It is more of a spiritual exercise, by which a physical man and a spiritual God are at odds, and God becomes a Man to stand between the physical and the spiritual, and to thereby create a way for holy God to speak to sinful man, and for sinful man to come into fellowship with holy God.

Chad van Dixhoorn said, "On the judgement day, the accuser will have no arguments to match our Advocate, for the wounds of our risen Savior will eloquently plead our case."  Again, from Spurgeon:

We were neither righteous nor yet good, yet Christ died for us. “Oh!” said a little boy once to his mother, “I do not think so much of Christ dying for men, I think I would be willing to die if I could save a hundred men by dying.” But his mother said, “Suppose it was a hundred mosquitoes,—would you die for them?” “Oh, no!” he said, “I would let the whole lot of them die.” Well, we were much less, in comparison with Christ, than mosquitoes are in relation to men, yet he died for us, good-for-nothing creatures that we are. Well does one say, “God shows part of his love to us in many different ways, but he shows the whole of his love in giving Christ to die for us.” Here you see his heart laid bare, the very heart of God laid open for the inspection of every believing soul. To die for saints would be great love; but to die for sinners, while they are yet sinners, and regarding them as sinners,—this is love with emphasis, the very highest commendation that even divine love can have. (C. H. Spurgeon, “Grace Abounding,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 58 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1912), 263).

"If only," cried the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda.  "If only there was someone to carry me to the waters when they are disturbed, then I might be healed."  Jesus provided another way.  "If only," cried Elihu.  "If only there was an angel/messenger, a mediator, an interpreter who could act on Job's behalf, then he would not suffer so."  Jesus is all that and more.  Call upon Him and live.