Psalm 61: Higher Than I

Photo by Greg K. Dueker

Lead Me…

While I always seem drawn to comment on v. 1-3, and today is no exception, I will try to show the connection, the “stringed instrument” between the four strophes, rather than treating them in isolation.

Hear my cry, O God,
    listen to my prayer;
from the end of the earth I call to you
    when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
    that is higher than I,
for you have been my refuge,
    a strong tower against the enemy. (v.1-3)

Certainly, verses 1-3 comprise one of my favorite passages in the Psalms and provide the words for a beloved old-time gospel song as well. One summer, while I was in college, I worked at a large Christian conference center in the mountains of Southern California. As part of the staff choir, I would sing the song based on this passage. The words that still stand out to me are “lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”  I am so glad that God is higher than me, or the "rock" would be less of a rock and more of a low, muddy place.

Photo by Greg K. Dueker

Another way I relate to this passage is that it reminds me of the blue tsunami lines we have painted on the streets in Pacific Coast towns that let you know when you are far enough above sea level that you are safe from any potential tsunami. I like the beach, but I get a little nervous when I am below the blue line. Using this metaphor, the Lord is our tsunami escape route and refuge! He is the "rock that is higher than I"! When we are faint and overwhelmed and know that we are not enough, is the rock we stand on, the rock we trust in, higher than ourselves and our efforts? I hope so. When our heart is faint, from wherever we may be, let us be resolved to call on the Lord, for he is our refuge!

Let Me…

After this first strophe, where the Psalmist could pray verses 1- 2 because of his experience of shelter in verse 3, he follows the same pattern in verses 4-5.

⁴ Let me dwell in your tent forever!
    Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah
⁵ For you, O God, have heard my vows;
    you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. (v.4-5)

The psalmist/king asked God to let him dwell in his presence. He prayed verse 4 because of his confident testimony described in verse 5. Why would he want to dwell in God’s tent forever if he did not know the great blessing of being in God’s presence? In Hebrews 11:6, faith is seen as having two parts—a belief in God's existence (He is real) and a belief in his reward for those who seek him (He is good!). For the psalmist, having known/experienced the goodness of the Lord, there could be no better place to spend forever.

Connecting with his heritage (spiritually attuned ancestors) in verse 5, the psalmist prayed for long life in verse 6 for the purpose stated in verse 7, where the steadfast love (Heb., hesed) of God would watch over him.

Love Me…

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

Photo by aaron-burden on unsplash

This prayer sounds like it could be a standard prayer for any godly ruler. It is a “God save the King!” kind of statement. But why does this king, or intercessor for the king, want his life prolonged, poetically “to all generations” (v.6)? Verse 7’s request extends the description of how his life and rule might be preserved…by being in the presence of God and protected by YHWH’s steadfast love and faithfulness. But it is verse 8 that finally reveals the “why” behind the request. 

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

The psalmist king desired continued life not for the continuance of his personal power and pleasure, but to use his prolonged life to worship God, both through singing praise and performing his vows (living out his worship). This begs the question: As a king of Israel, what vows would he need to perform?

In ancient Israel, beyond personally obeying the Mosaic Law in a general sense (think of the 10 Commandments and the command to love your neighbor as yourself, plus keeping the sacrifices and festivals), the king of Israel was responsible for building his reign upon the Word of God (writing out a copy for himself and reading it daily), upholding justice for all in his land, inquiring of the Lord for wisdom. The nation's security depended on their spiritual ties to the Living God, and the king generally set an example (for better or worse).

Negatively, there were three representative things that the king was not supposed to acquire many of—

1. horses (lest he trust his military strength or be in bondage to Egypt again),
2. wives (lest his heart turn away from the Lord and objectify others), and
3. excessive gold and silver. (lest he grow proud and stop trusting in the Lord)

Later, an additional warning was added; that kings should avoid wine and strong drink (lest they forget what they have said and perpetrate injustice on the afflicted, Prov. 31:4-5).

Positively, the kings were to fear God, keep the words of the Law, and speak up for the voiceless to defend the poor and powerless (Prov. 31:8-9). One reason for keeping the Word of God central in the life and rule of the king was so that “his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers” (Deut. 17:20). Humility was a social justice value, even in ancient Israel. Unfortunately, not many took it seriously.

Does it sound much like our leaders today? Some, but not all.

But again, the verse that stands alone is the conclusion in verse 8. It is a life that keeps its promises, which can sing true praises to the Lord.

When we have been led to the rock that is higher than ourselves, when we have started walking with God and seen his faithfulness, and when we have been kept by his steadfast love (hesed), then we will want to pay it forward!

 

Psalm 28: Judgment in 3-D--“Dragged off, Due Reward, Torn Down

Psalm 28:3-5
Do not drag me off with the wicked,

                                      with the workers of evil,
            who speak peace with their neighbors
                           while evil is in their hearts.
        Give to them according to their work
                      and according to the evil of their deeds;
        give to them according to the   work of their hands;
                                        render them their due reward.
       Because they do not regard the works of the Lord
                                               or the work of his hands,
                                he will tear them down

                                    and build them up no more.

This passage starts with the psalmist expressing his dependence on the mercy of God for deliverance, then turns toward prayer for the Lord to judge the wicked in the sure knowledge that God will do so, and by verse 6 he is once again praising God for answering his prayer.

Dragged Off (v. 3)

David's request, "Do not drag me off with the wicked" can only be depended on if we are not the same as the wicked workers of evil.  We should not be self-deceived into thinking that we can be wicked and not suffer the wrath of a holy and loving God. 

Marley & Marley in
A Muppet Christmas Carol

Verse three's use of the word "drag" reminds me of several scenes in the old Whoopi Goldberg' 1990 movie "Ghost."It powerfully depicted the moment when an evil person died and demons came up out of the sidewalk and dragged their screaming soul off to hell. It was a graphic and memorable image in the midst of an otherwise forgettable movie. A more wholesome illustration is the scene from the Muppet Christmas Carole in which the Marley brothers appear to Scrooge...wrapped in the chains of their own misdeeds and warn him to repent. David's request to not be dragged off was not a request for an exception in God's justice, but a poetic commitment to follow in the ways of the Lord by faith.

God is our saving refuge, our shepherd! To paraphrase Romans 8:37-39, nothing can drag us away from his love. Similarly, Jesus made it clear that if we hear and respond to his voice, none can snatch us from his hand! As it is written,

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. (John 10:27-29)

Due Reward (v.4)

The Lord’s cycle of reward and recompense is sure…though it may not come full circle in this life. What remains will be settled completely in the next. This reward (or recompence in this case) is just because it is “according to”. God will match his response to the person “according to” the three synonymous phrases “their work”, “the evil of their deeds”, and “the work of their hands”, the bill of sin is due and judgment will come.

However, if we think we can approach God and demand justice to be meted out we may be setting ourselves up for a fall since what we need personally is mercy. Our own righteousness is insufficient and we can only fall before a holy God and ask for forgiveness. Jesus taught that “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7) However, those who refuse the mercy of God and show no mercy to others but instead oppress and abuse them will receive their due reward. It will not be one that anyone in their right mind wants to collect and in fact, many spend their life self-medicating in an effort to forget for another hour that such a judgment is coming. It is so much easier to cry out to God like David did and allow God to call forth the response of faithful love in our hearts.

So should we advocate for justice? Absolutely. However the justice we should work for as flawed human beings is restorative rather than retributive. It is not our place to condemn others to an eternal fate but to call them to repentance. It is a merciful justice that advocates for mercy to be extended to those who are oppressed and marginalized by the selfishness of our society.

Downward Destruction (v.5)

God will not regard the work of the wicked and proud person but will oppose it. Verse 5 says,

      Because they do not regard the works of the Lord
                                                or the work of his hands,
                                he will tear them down

                                    and build them up no more.

There are some people who don’t value what God has created, sustained, and redeemed. They deny the existence (or at least the relevance) of God in the creation of the universe. They mock the redemptive work of God in the lives of former sinners. Their actions, attitudes, and words work to tear down what God has raised from the dust. But God will finally respond in kind by opposing their work and tearing it down.

Throughout ancient history, we can see God tearing down empires, nations, and social structures that do not regard his works: Babel, Egypt, Canaan, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and even Israel at times. Is it not still the way of things...that oppressive regimes are judged as God raises up a justice movement from within or by other nations from without? 

While it is easy to see the sin in the lives of other individuals, other churches, other cities, and other countries, we need to take a second look at our own lives, etc., and make sure that we approach God and others in the humility of faith and the purity of merciful justice.

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:5b-7)

If we don't then we will collectively be at risk of receiving the kind of message from God that Pharaoh once did.

Locust Swarm in Australia

So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. (Exodus 10:3-6)

If we lift ourselves up then God in his love will bring us down, and if we are low in our own eyes then God will lift us up…higher than we would ever have imagined. We can trust him with our lives! And in that trust, we will pursue justice on behalf of others.

Psalm 26: King David vs.Jesus?

Let’s start by considering two very different passages of scripture, one from the Old Testament written by a king, and the other from the New Testament proclaimed as the message of the kingdom of heaven.

Psalm 26:1-3

¹ Vindicate me, O Lord,
    for I have walked in my integrity,
    and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
² Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
    test my heart and my mind.
³ For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
    and I walk in your faithfulness.

Matthew 5:1-3

“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain,

and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”

How can we walk as King David claimed “in our integrity” and still be blessed as the “poor in spirit” or the “spiritually bankrupt” at the same time? Is it even possible for both to be true in us, or are these attitudes mutually exclusive? Or perhaps we just chalk it up to the differences due to progressive revelation from the mid-Old Testament to the early New Testament as is so often done and walk on by such issues.

Let’s be honest, sometimes King David’s claims in the Psalms seem almost arrogant and self-righteous at first glance…especially given our knowledge of his own personal and public failures. Certainly he was gifted with a completely honest approach to communicating with God and thus some of his statements may offend our more nuanced religious sensibilities. But before we are too hard on David, we need to get the log of self-promotion out of at least one of our own eyes. How often do we mentally make the same argument as David…that we deserve better? That we are not like “them”? That we have integrity in ourselves?

Let me say, in a stage-whisper aside, that it is in our corrupted nature to compare ourselves favorably with others. [Even those who despise themselves and compare themselves unfavorably to others do so with the thought that they should be better or have better in a kind of backwards pride—for if they really despised themselves then they would be happy that their life is miserable.]

We often don’t really feel the deep need for God to vindicate and redeem us because we either see no need for either vindication or redemption, or we are committed to vindicating ourselves. We think we are Superman rescuing our own lives from the gutters of both personal failures and religious superstitions. If God exists, then he must certainly accept us…but more often than not the spiritually confident live as though God

David’s request for God to “vindicate” him is actually a statement of humility. It demonstrates that he knows that he needs to be vindicated (to justify, maintain, support, defend, uphold, prove correct or right) and cannot deliver himself.

In the Expositors’ Bible Commentary Vol. 5, Willem A. VanGemeren writes, “Vindication is here the act of God whereby he declares his servant to be innocent and avenges himself of the wicked (false accusers, enemies).”[1] Note that vindication here is “the act of God” not the act of self-righteous humanity.

The integrity, to which David clung, was faithfully dependent upon the steadfast love and mercy of God (v.3). His integrity is seen in the coherence between his inner life of faith and his outward walk of faithfulness. He shunned everything that smacked of a lie or deceitfulness. He chooses not to enjoy the temporal benefits of those who oppress others. He has weighed the cost of following the Lord and does so with equal parts enthusiastic abandon steadfast endurance. So we see that to “walk in integrity” demands not perfection, but requires the honesty and humility to admit that we desperately need a gracious redeemer!

It has been said that “a life of faith” is one which serves a dream/mission so big that it requires God to miraculously bring it to pass or it is not a life of faith. If, in our integrity, we know that we need God to vindicate and redeem us and we put our whole-hearted hope in his doing so, then perhaps we are living by faith indeed as the “poor in spirit”.

Psalm 26, from which these verses are taken, is described as a psalm of entrance…that might have been used by the worshipper entering into the temple complex seeking both the clean hands and pure heart necessary to come before the presence of the Lord. The psalmist asked God to search and to test him, not because of an elevated sense of self-righteousness, but from the response of a heart captured by the steadfast love of the Lord! He wants to be able be in the presence of God.

He consciously distances himself from the oppressor and draws near to God in whom true freedom is found. For as Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)  This psalm testifies that the psalmist was a “one master” kind of guy. To quote VanGemeren again, “The psalmist's concern with integrity, acts of devotion, and words of praise flows out of a heart filled with love for the Lord and for God's house. It is motivated by a zeal for the Lord.”[2] 

So can I say the same thing about myself? A couple of years ago, in commenting on this same passage, I wrote,

I hope that one day I will be able to look back and say with the psalmist that “I have trusted the Lord without wavering.” Yet I am not so sure that I want to ask the questions of God that David asks in v.2. But I wonder if it is possible to experience unwavering trust (v.1) without asking God to test us (v.2). Maybe the key is in verse 3…where I keep God’s steadfast love before my eyes (which makes it a lot easier to trust) and I live in his perfect faithfulness (not my own).

So we see that David’s integrity caused him to cry out to the Lord for redemption, vindication, and relational access to the Lord. Perhaps David is actually a pretty good case study in the blessedness of being poor in spirit.

What do you think?

This post is also published at Compelled2 my cultural engagement blog.

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[1] Expositors Bible Commentary Vol. 8

[2] Ibid.

Psalm 9 "Just Men"

Psalm 9:1-2, 15-16, 19-20

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High...
The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
     in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
    the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands...

Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;

    let the nations be judged before you!

Put them in fear, O Lord!

    Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

Comments:

This psalm is an acrostic psalm that seems to be paired with Psalm 10. It is acrostic because each four-line section starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This poetic and memory-aiding element does not generally come through in translation. While its poetic technique is acrostic, its style is one of praise and prayer. Psalm 9 seems more focused on praise with a little lament (think “prayer request”) thrown in, while Psalm 10 is more lament with some praise thrown in. 

In Psalm 9 we see the Lord as praiseworthy, upright and just, and enduring. We also see the opposite in the nations/wicked who are despicable, oppressive, and doomed. Do you remember the cereal commercials that touted, “Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!” Well, I hear a little of that taunt in the psalmist's descriptions of those who would think that praise, honor, and glory are their own possessions. Praise is for God not for men. If we need to be personally reminded with regularity that we are “but men” (v.20) how much more so for the large groups of prideful people like us that we call nations?

I was talking this week with a couple of friends about how uncomfortable it is when we are reminded that we are “just men” and our illusion that we are something more is shattered. It is painful because such revelation happens in times of weakness, failure, rejection, disappointment, and loss of situational control. However, it is out of such times of conviction that we can confess and repent (1 John 1:9) and experience the total cleansing of Christ. It is out of the crushing brokenness that we can become vessels of encouragement to others (2 Cor. 1:3-5). It is from the dark valley of our humiliation when even in our wildest imagination we can’t take credit for anything good that might happen that God can use us powerfully like he did Gideon’s remnant of 300 (Judges 7:2). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote a humbling message to the church that thought it had it all together,

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

But let’s be honest, how many people would want to play the part of Wile E. Coyote?

Wile E. Coyote Explodes (Looney Tunes)

You remember who he is—the buyer of all things ACME to catch the Roadrunner but who always fell into his own trap (or had his own trap fall on him). Yet we do it all the time when we think we can manipulate and objectify others.

Psalm 9 makes it clear that the person who is unjust, unkind, and treacherous towards other people (who have been made in the image of God) will fall into their own trap (v. 15-16), and worse! So, I am thankful for those times when God reminds me that I am just a man; I don’t enjoy them, but I am thankful for the results.

In the end, God wins, and the nations that forget him shoot themselves in the knee.

 

I pray that my knees might not be locked or hyper-extended in my prideful defiance, but bent in the humility of praise and prayer. So far, the Lord has been faithful to let me know. How about you?

Psalm 147 "King of the Hill?"

Psalm for Today = 147:6, 10-11
⁶ The Lord lifts up the humble;
    he casts the wicked to the ground…

¹⁰ His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
¹¹ but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
     in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Comments:

Verse 6 is a repeated theme throughout the Bible and throughout human history. And when he does it, everyone cheers! The multitudes love it when the arrogant are thrown to the ground. Everyone likes it when a bully is thrown down. But what about the person who takes the bully’s place? He may have been the Lord’s instrument in throwing down the bully, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t be judged for his own pride and the way that he treats God’s people…

God threw Egypt down for oppressing Israel,

Canaanites were thrown down in judgment by Israel,

Israel was thrown down by Assyria

Assyria and Judah were thrown down by Babylon,

Babylon was thrown down by the Medo-Persians,

Persian was thrown down by the Greeks,

Greece was thrown down by the Romans

Rome was thrown down by the Barbarians, and on and on it goes.

In a spiritual sense, the exclusivity of Israel was thrown down by the death of Christ, as salvation — relationship with God — was offered to the Gentiles. Yet this should not be a point of pride for the Gentiles against the Jews (though it has been), as Paul makes clear in Romans 11:19-21.

^“Then you will say, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.”

The same warning had been given to Israel when they first entered the land of Promise. In the New Testament, in both the Epistle of James (4:6) and 1 Peter (5:5), the warning is repeated to followers of Jesus Christ, the church, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” So why do we think that we are any different today? If we are proud, then God will use some means to throw us to the ground…for our own good and for the good of others around us.

Photo by Ronaldo de Oliveira on Unsplash

Yahweh (the Lord) sends the clouds, he prepares the rain, he makes the grass grow (v.7-9). All that we depend on is actually in his care. As a result, God is not in awe of our attempts at self-sufficiency. He is not impressed with how strong our plow horse, our warhorse, or our beer-wagon horse is, nor is he intimidated by the legs of a man, how far he can run, how fast he can pedal, or how high or long he can jump. We just need to get over it. But more than that, having read the psalm, we should give praise where praise is due—the Lord God Almighty!

I would much rather hope in the steadfast love of God than in any façade my pride could throw up. I can force God to get up in my grill and throw me to the ground. He loves me enough to do it, but he much prefers to "have my back" when I trust him to do so.

Photo by John Torcasio on Unsplash

Ironically, when we give glory away to God, we end up receiving glory through the grace of God, even being exalted in the process (at the right time). When we humble ourselves, God no longer has to play linebacker for the other team, driving our bluster into the mud, but instead, he faithfully heals our broken hearts, gently meets our needs, and lifts us up in his love! I want to play on his team this season!