Salvation and Glory (Psalm 62)

For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken (Psalm 62:1 & 2).

Psalm 62 continues the rock imagery of Psalm 61, expanding the metaphor to encompass salvation as well as safety.

After the initial confession of God as the believer's rock and salvation, the Psalmist writes of enemies who "attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence" (3). These enemies plot to undermine another's position. They "take pleasure in falsehood" and deceit, outwardly blessing while inwardly cursing (4).

The Psalmist repeats his refrain of waiting on God, who is our only rock and salvation, adding "On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God" (7).

When it seems that others are being successful in attempts to undermine us, we can calmly wait on God. Our salvation and glory do not rest on our works or reputation; our salvation and glory rest on God.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us (8).

Because our salvation and glory rest on God, we can trust in him "at all times." We can "pour out" our hearts in prayer to him, knowing that he is our refuge.

The next verses show that one's position in life doesn't really matter. Those of "low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion." When they are weighted together in the balance, they are "lighter than a breath" (9). In God's great scheme, both rich and poor, high and low, are inconsequential. The Psalmist urges the reader not to trust in ungodly gain or set "your heart" on riches (10).

He concludes with this confession:

Once God has spoken;
twice I have heard this:
that power belongs to God,
and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work (11 & 12).

God revealed to the Psalmist that power belongs only to him. But it is not only power that belongs to God, it is also steadfast love. God is powerful and loving. There is no limit to either of these attributes. Neither his power or his love will ever falter.

He will "render to a man according to his work," but God does not save man according to his work. Our good works cannot earn our salvation, but our gratitude for salvation necessitates good works.

We must work for the Lord, not in anxious fear about our salvation, but in humble gratitude for our eternal security.

The Higher Rock (Psalm 60)

Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I... (Psalm 60:2b).

Psalm 60 begins with a plea for God to hear the Psalmist's cry and prayer:

Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint (1 & 2a).

Even if one never travels to far points of the globe, everyone has times when they feel far from the companionship of others. We all have times when our hearts feel faint.

Those are the very times we can call on God and ask him to lead us "to the rock that is higher than I" (2b). This picturesque phrase is a wonderful image of being lifted up onto a firm rock in the middle of a battle. Surrounding enemies surge against the rock, but it is higher. It is a place of refuge.

This has long been one of my favorite verses from the Psalms and it is one I often notice our pastor include in his prayers. The very words fill my heart with peace.

The next verse confirms the refuge imagery:

For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy (3).

Truly God is our refuge!

The next petition in Psalm 60 asks for God's continued protection:

Let me dwell in your tent forever!
Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! (4)

God is our dwelling place. Our pastor sometimes says that God is our address. How wonderful it is to think of dwelling forever in God's tent! How comforting it is to imagine sheltering under strong outstretched wings, safe from life's howling winds and raging storms!

The Psalmist David then expresses his confidence in God as though God has already taken action on his behalf:

For you, O God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name (5).

The next two verses seem to apply specifically to King David:

Prolong the life of the king;
may his years endure to all generations!
May he be enthroned forever before God;
appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him! (6 & 7).

But they may be understood to apply to David's great heir, Christ, who does endure to all generations; who is enthroned forever before God. As God's annointed ruler, David asks God to appoint his steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him. As prohets, priests, and kings appointed by God to rule over our spheres of life, we too may seek the protection of God's steadfast love and faithfulness.

Once again, David concludes his Psalm with his continued commitment to proclaim God's praise:

So will I ever sing praises to your name,
as I perform my vows day after day (8).

Like David, I find tremendous comfort in the image of the rock that is higher than I. I love to think of God as my dwelling place. Meditating on these marvelous truths moves me to write for God's glory, and keeps me motivated to perform my daily tasks.

May God lead each of you, too, to the higher rock!

Singing When Surrounded (Psalm 59)

When David penned Psalm 59, he was trapped in his house, which was surrounded by men Saul had sent to kill him. Sort of puts one's own troubles into perspective, doesn't it?

When he says, "For behold, they lie in wait for my life," it wasn't hyperbole; it was reality.

David uses a simile to speak of these men:

Each evening they come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city (6).

But the entire Psalm is interwoven with David's confessions of hope in the Lord.

O my Strength, I will watch for you,
for you, O God, are my fortress.
My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
God will let me look in triumph on my enemies (9 & 10).

As a writer, I am always struck by David's commitment to tell others of God's goodness:

But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
and a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love (16 & 17).

In difficult times, my heart is often so heavy and my mind so burdened that I cannot write. But David pours out his thoughts and feelings in prayers that include petitions and praise. On his blackest days, he still sings songs of golden praise.

All of which reminds me of a poem I wrote some years ago (to really understand it, it helps to be familiar with the Old Testament and "On His Blindness" by John Milton):

Invocation

O Lord, if only You might pour on me
Abundant grace of Milton's heavenly muse!
That this gray mind would empty shadows flee
And into golden praise itself would lose.

But Lord, I'm paralyzed with Barak's fear
and blinded by my Pharasaic sight.
My hearing's grown as hard as Pharoah's ear,
While empty echoes rise to Babel's height.

You, Lord, gave Milton songs of worthy praise
And You alone can cause me to grow bold—
Explode in reminiscent rhythmic phrase—
That I, like him, might sing a song of gold,

No deathly talent hid or Lord denied,
But God in every line be gloried!
© Glenda Mathes

This is the first week I've been able to accomplish any work since my mid-May surgery. I pray that God will equip me to sing praises literally in prayer and worship, but also in the writing I do for his glory.

Broken Teeth & Torn Fangs (Psalm 58)

Psalm 58 is like Psalm 57 (see yesterday's post) in overdrive. The image of wicked liars as lions continues full force with this prayer:

O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! (v. 6).

Psalm 58 is one of what are sometimes called "imprecatory" Psalms, designated that way since they contain prayers for the destruction of the wicked. The editors of the Literary Study Bible use the term "satiric" four times in their brief introduction to Psalm 58 and avoid the use of the word "imprecatory" all together. I'm not sure David viewed this as satire when he wrote it. I find that doubtful based on what we learn about David's forceful character when he became angry at Nabal (1 Samuel 25; read the King James Version to get the full impact of David's comments).

People tend to avoid talking about the imprecatory Psalms, perhaps because they don't know what to say about them or are embarassed by their apparently vindictive words. But we know from 2 Timothy 3:16 that all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. And that includes imprecatory (or satiric, if you prefer) Psalms.

Psalm 58 is loaded with vivid images of the wicked who "go astray from birth, speaking lies" (v. 3):

They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
so that it does not hear the voice of charmer
or of the cunning enchanter (vv. 4 & 5).

Lies are like poison. Those who speak them are like devious snakes who will not listen to charmers or enchanters. These people are so intent on their malicious purpose that they will not listen to reason. They refuse to be controlled by anyone other than their own desires.

After David compares liars to young lions and asks God break their teeth and tear out their fangs (see v. 6 above), he continues to ask for their destruction with vivid images:

Let them vanish like water that runs away...
Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime...
Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
...may he sweep them away! (vv. 7-9).

The Psalm then goes into some graphic imagery:

The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked (v. 10).

How are we to understand this graphic image?

We must realize that the vengeance depicted here is not our own, but God's. He has executed it in his perfect and righteous judgment.

In Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms, John Calvin writes about this verse: "It might appear at first sight that the feeling here attributed to the righteous is far from being consistent with the mercy which ought to characterise them; but we must remember that...there is nothing absurd is supposing that believers, under the influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, should rejoice in witnessing the execution of divine judgments. ...when wilful obstinacy has at last brought round the hour of retribution, it is only natural that they should rejoice to see it inflicted, as proving the interest which God feels in their personal safety" (p. 142).

Believers ought not to cringe when reading imprecatory Psalms. These Psalms are not calls for us to perform violence, but are assurances that God will certainly judge and completely destroy those who thwart the cause of righteousness. Their destruction will serve as a witness to the entire world.

Mankind will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth" (v. 11).

This verse implies that we do not have to wait until the final Day of Judgement to see the wicked destroyed. There will be times when God will make his judgments obvious to the inhabitants of this earth.

We can read even imprecatory Psalms with appreciation for their vivid imagery and with thankfulness to our just God, who will not allow wickedness to always prevail on this earth and will completely erradicate it forever.

Surely the righteous will rejoice!

Lying Amid Lions (Psalm 57)

Way back when, before my lengthy posts about becoming a discerning reader and before my lengthy post-surgical absence, my last devotional post was on Psalm 56, "Tears in a Bottle."

This week marks my effort to get back into pre-surgical work mode, which means I'm blogging as the first work segment of my day. And I'm picking up my devotional blog thread by looking at the subsequent Psalm 57.

One of the best Mother's Day gifts I received this year was the Literary Study Bible (ESV) from my daughter, Ariel. Leland Ryken and Philip Graham Ryken are its general editors. It's a wonderful resource and a source of great blessing.

The brief introduction to each Psalm helps the reader recognize its literary pattern. Psalm 57 contains "conventional lament motifs" that include an introductory cry to God, a statement of confidence in God, a definition of the crisis, a petition (reiterated in two subsequent refrains), a repeated definition of the crisis, and a vow to praise God.

David wrote this Psalm while hiding in a cave when he fled from Saul. Like the previous Psalm, this one abounds in imagery. The descriptions of David's plight (definitions of the crisis in verses 4 & 6) are particularly vivid:

My soul is in the midst of lions;
I lie down amid fiery beasts--
the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
who tongues are sharp swords (v. 4).

They set a trap for my steps;
my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my way,
but they have fallen into it themselves (v. 6).

None of us is God's appointed (and annointed!) ruler, fleeing from someone intent on killing us. But we all have enemies. We may not be waging war against a physical army, but we all fight daily battles against our sworn enemies: the devil, the world, and our own flesh (Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 127).

One of the most difficult battles we face is when others attack us with words. David literally is facing the sharp point of a spear, but it is the words of others that wound him by crushing his spirit.

He describes his soul as being "in the midst of lions." He cannot sleep in safety or peace; he feels as if he lies down "amid fiery beasts." David defines these "lions" and "fiery beasts" as people whose teeth are "spears and arrows" and whose tongues are "sharp swords."

It is obvious that David is being greviously wounded by the malicious words of others. And these people are not merely engaging in harmful speech; they are actively working behind the scenes against him. They are setting a "trap" for his steps and digging a "pit" in his way. They lie with their mouths and lie in wait with their hands.

Is it any wonder that David's "soul was bowed down"? Few things crush the spirit like knowing that others are speaking ill of you and actively working against you.

But David doesn't only describe the "pit" being dug before him. He doesn't only express his prayer that these "fiery beasts" fall into the pit they have dug. David's hope in the Lord is so strong that he expresses his confidence that "they have fallen into it themselves."

He's still hiding in the cave, he's still running for his life, but David is so confident that the Lord will eventually cause righteousness to prevail that he considers their fall a sure thing.

He can be so confident because his soul takes refuge in "the shadow" of God's "wings" until the "storms of destruction pass by" (v. 1). He can be so confident because he knows that "God Most High...fulfills his purpose" for him (v. 2). God will save him; God "will put to shame" the one who "tramples" on him; "God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!" (v. 3).

In the middle of his lament, splitting the two verses describing his crisis, David bursts into praise: "Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!" (v. 5).

The rest of the Psalm is a reminder that because God is in control and his righteousness will prevail, we can have calm hearts and joyful spirits.

David proclaims that his heart is "steadfast" and he will "sing and make melody" (v. 7). In the midst of his affliction, when he is bowed down by the beastial behavior of others, David is able by God's grace to have a calm heart. His heart is so calm, in fact, that he is able to write this beautiful Psalm of assurance.

He may not have slept through the night, but he will greet the dawn with musical praise (v. 8). He will "give thanks" to the Lord "among the peoples" and "sing praises" to him "among the nations" (v. 9). This Psalm is an enduring testimony that continues to encourage suffering believers during the trials of this world.

In contrast to earlier expressions of his bowed down soul, David concludes this Psalm with uplifting praise:

For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds (v.10).

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!

Even if we don't face physical enemies or malicious machinations, we wrestle daily against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12). But our hope is not in our own abilities or even the strength of our faith. Our hope is only in the Most High God, who rules over all the events of our lives and loves each one of us as his own dear child.

Timecard!

For the first time in over a month, I opened a timecard document today! That implies my intention to actually do some work.