Psalm 33:4-5 "Oh, For The Love of God!"

Psalm 33:4-5

For the word of the Lord is upright,
    and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

Comments:

"Oh, for the love of God!"

Perhaps you have heard someone say, "Oh, For The Love of God!" in exasperation at one thing or another...or maybe said it yourself. But what if we use it as a prompt to get us thinking about the things that God loves. This passage might put a new spin on it for us. Yes, he loves the world (John 3:16), but what does he love to see in the world? In times like this, it is important for us to realize how important righteousness (innocence) and justice (for all) are to God. This is what he loves to see, for it is what is best for his people. I once posted these verses and commented, “Who could have a problem with such a God as this? My point exactly!” But of course, in a fallen world there will always be those who would have a problem. In this case, the ones who would find fault would be those who are crooked, unfaithful, and committed to injustice. Verse 1 encourages us to "Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright” It is fitting for us to praise God--like custom-made clothes! Will we choose to see God's faithfulness and love at work in the world today with awe, or just pollute our lives with complaining and discontent because its not all about us?

We need to look for God at work in the world. Yet we also see injustice rear its ugly head in moments of acute oppression, not only in places like Kabul, Paris, Munich, New Orleans, Dallas, where the violence is shockingly senseless, but also in the routinely unjust systems that keep the marginalized and powerless down and out. How can we stop the violence? How can we defend against an attack? Where do we look for solutions? Too often our first response is to arm ourselves and fight back. To some extent this approach is effective, in the short-term, in keeping our power and standard of living. However, such methods of avoiding death are not effective in actually providing life.

We are infected with sin and the weapons and ways of the world are of no use in combating a spiritual attack. Later in Psalm 33, the author makes this clear,

v.16-19 "The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine."

Where is our trust? I have been doing some freelance writing this summer on the life of King David from 1 & 2 Samuel, and have been impressed with his settled conviction to trust in the Lord for his deliverance. Sure he was a great soldier, but it wasn’t in weapons and strength that he ultimately put his trust. While he would defend others, he did not defend himself or raise himself up despite being "the Lord's anointed." In fact, it is possible that David wrote this very psalm (though untitled, it is sandwiched between two other psalms by David). Continuing on through the history of Israel recorded in Kings & Chronicles the two nations, Israel & Judah, made a habit of looking for someone/something else to trust other than God. It didn't work out so well for them. I would much rather hope in God, even during a famine!

v. 20-22 "Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.

For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.

Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you."

As we hope in the Lord together, may we stop defending our own actions and motivation in favor of listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit directing our efforts to advocate for justice for others.

Psalm 32:5,8-9 "Confession & Counsel"

Psalm 32:5

"I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,"

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin."

Comments:

The first five times (out of the six) that I commented on this psalm (back in the pre-blog Facebook days), I focused on v. 5 and the importance of confession in the process of forgiveness. Here are those brief comments, rescued from the digital dust heap of news feed oblivion.

1. Forgiveness always begins with confession. We can't be saved until we admit that we need to be! (2/2010)
2. Our forgiveness starts with our confession to the Lord Jesus that He is right and that we have been wrong, and then as a matter of integrity we extend the forgiveness we have received from him to others who have sinned against us. It is the path to freedom and joy! (8/2010)
3. Confession is always the path to take with God...since covering, concealing, and complaining are completely ineffective, not to mention stupid, considering who we are trying to convince. What a blessing it is to be forgiven! (3/2011)
4. I am so glad that I don't have to confess all my faults and failures to another person but can go directly to the Lord. I am also glad that when I do confess the Lord doesn't reject me but cleanses me, hides me from danger, preserves me from trouble, and surrounds me with deliverance! (9/2011)
5. The more we know Jesus, the more we know that we are not Him. Yet he loves us. Remember "a bruised reed he will not break" (Isa 42:3) but those who are stiff-necked in refusing to confess will be broken. (3/2012)

Then in May of 2013, I changed it up and commented on v. 6-7 instead…

Therefore let everyone who is godly
    offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
    they shall not reach him.

You are a hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from trouble;
    you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

Comment: The tsunami of circumstances and of crisis will not overwhelm the one who prays in the days of peace (preparing for a crisis before it happens). I wonder if we listen really close if we can hear a bit of God’s "shouts of deliverance" surrounding us? (5/2013)

Now, three years have passed since I last commented on this psalm but for today I will pick up where I left off and briefly consider Psalm 32:8-9.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    or it will not stay near you.

Comments: In verse 8 there is a change of voice. It is no longer the psalmist proclaiming blessing (v.1) or giving his testimony (v.3-5) or declaring his faith in God for deliverance (v.6-7). These two verses record the offering exhortation to the congregation to seek the Lord. This is the Lord speaking to the psalmist and the people alike with the instruction of wisdom. We would do well to be teachable to the instruction of the Lord. He is not the cosmic killjoy many have made him out to be. He is the one who restores joy, protects us, and surrounds us with” shouts of deliverance” (v.7).

While he may deliver us with a shout he desires to counsel us with his eye. While we are not an overly quiet family, we live near a family that seems to shout all the time. God’s family is not that way. He doesn’t constantly shout at us out of anger and frustration. Instead, he wants us to know him so well that we will respond to a simple look. For this to be the case we must know God well enough to understand and respond. This comes only by spending consistent time reading through the whole of the Scriptures, meditating on them, and listening in our times of prayer as well as speaking.

I remember hearing a message in Beaverton about 15 years ago, by Brooklyn Tabernacle’s Jim Cymbala, where he spoke about two ideas in v. 8. The first idea being that the Lord says “with my eye upon you” in the sense that there is never a moment when he will take his eye off of us. We are never out of his loving sight. The second idea he shared was that the Lord says, “I will counsel you with my eye” meaning that by the very movement of his eye we will know his leading. However, if we are like the metaphorical horse in this passage then we need a bit and bridle to control us. 

Do we have that kind of eye-to-eye intimacy with our Father that we can clearly understand his counsel? Is it our great desire to please him because he has loved us so well? Or does God have to use the “bit and bridle” of emergencies and crises to bring us close? 

Our honest confession to the Lord, and obeying the Lord's gentle counsel to us brings both forgiveness and freedom!

Psalm 84:5-10 “I’d Rather be a Gatekeeper!”

This post was originally posted on my pastoral blog at Our Long View

Text: Psalms 84:5-10

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

    in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

6 As they go through the Valley of Baca

        they make it a place of springs;

    the early rain also covers it with pools.

7 They go from strength to strength;

        each one appears before God in Zion.

8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

                              give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

9 Behold our shield, O God;

    look on the face of your anointed!

10 For a day in your courts is better

    than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Comments:

On Sunday, I wasn’t the scheduled preacher, but as we transitioned from singing our praise to the Lord to a posture of listening to the encouragement of the message, I read briefly from the Psalms and made a couple of simple devotional points that I would like to share here.

Our songs emphasized our desire to be in the presence of the Lord and our need for Christ to set us free from the chains that bind us—be they spiritual, emotional, or physical.

I read from Psalm 84 that gives voice to much the same sentiment. It was written by the “Sons of Korah” who are typically concerned with being in the presence of the Lord.

Verses 1-2 give voice to their desire to be in God’s presence. It really wasn’t about their being in the temple, but that by being in the temple they were in the presence of God. It was a place designated as a place of prayer for all the nations and was illustrated by the nesting birds in the temple compound (v. 3-4). However, this week I focused on v. 5-12 for a couple of reasons.

First, in verse 6, the psalmist describes the transforming pilgrim attitude of those who seek the Lord, 
"As they go through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs." 
Literally, the “Valley of Baca” means “Valley of Weeping,” but pilgrims of God, or disciples (as we describe them in the New Testament), dig wells and pray for rain in a way that benefits those who come behind them. Hopefully, we have all listened to speakers who have done this well—sharing from their own seasons of dryness and how the Lord delivered them. It is what we all should be doing. We all have a history and it is with the comfort that we have received from Christ that we can turn and comfort others—not as perfect people, but as those who are flawed, have been wounded, but who also have received the comfort of Christ. As Paul wrote,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. (2 Cor. 1:3-5)

Secondly, in Psalm 84:10 the Sons of Korah express that they wanted to be in the temple,

For a day in your courts is better

    than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Often we focus on the comparison between the one day and the thousand, for something is to be said about the quality of the day, not just the quantity. However, what jumped out to me this week was the phrase in v. 10 “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God.” What we need to remember is that the authors of this psalm had been assigned as doorkeepers (1 Chron. 26:1, 19).

What I am saying is that there is something about being where God wants you, doing the job that he has given you to do, which is more significant than we realize. Doing that job brings a sense of fulfillment and joy. Even the “outside” times of discomfort and labor as a part of God’s mission are far better than dwelling inside and at ease but surrounded by those who are wicked. Our jobs are appointed by the Lord so let’s rejoice at an opportunity to perform our daily duties as worship to the Lord and as service to his people. 

Remember, this desire on the part of the Sons of Korah was not one of withdrawal from the world, but rather it was one of engagement through their assigned role. For them, all of life was sacred when lived unto the Lord. Their work was fully integrated into their faith.

Let’s allow the Lord to use us whether in the "Valley of Weeping" or in the "Door of his House", to bless those who might come behind us. 

Psalm 31: “Into Your Hand”

It has been a long time, too long since I have written for this blog. My other blogs either for school (Compelled2) or for the church (Our Long View) have demanded all discretionary writing energy. Now I have the privilege, in this season, of doing some freelance writing on the life of David from 1 & 2 Samuel. This also affords me the opportunity to revisit the psalms and ponder the circumstances in David’s life that accompany their writing.

Psalm 31:1-5

¹ In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in your righteousness deliver me!
² Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
  Be a rock of refuge for me,
        a strong fortress to save me!

³ For you are my rock and my fortress;
    and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;
⁴ you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
    for you are my refuge.
⁵ Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

Comments:

While for the sake of this post, I will only be addressing the first five verses, I would encourage the reader to read this entire psalm, hearing three different voices as you do so. 

• First, read it while listening to David speaking to God about of challenges and disappointments of his life’s journey. 
• Second, read it while listening to the voice of Christ in his Passion Week culminating on the cross. 
• Finally, hear the voices of the faithful martyrs mingling with our own as we seek to follow the example of trust set for us.

David’s Patient Voice

En Gedi, one place
where David hid from Saul

David’s life was full of situations where he might have written this psalm, yet it is not explicitly tied to any one of them. In a sense, it is a psalm for all seasons of need. John Phillips in his commentary, Exploring the Psalms, titles this psalm, “Life’s Ups and Downs.” That certainly covers David’s life. If we have read 1 Samuel 16-31 and 2 Samuel 15-20 then when we read Psalm 31 it is not hard to hear David voicing this prayer in a number of different contexts as he continually chose to surrender his fate into the hands of the Lord. This was especially true in terms of the timing and circumstances of David’s becoming king of Israel.

David did not ascend the throne by subtlety and strength but by surrender: “Into Thy hand I commit my spirit.” Because he was such a surrendered man, such a submissive man, God saw to it that he ascended the throne—and by power. But not by his own power!

...It was God’s power that preserved David during his fugitive years and God’s redeeming power that raised him to the throne.” (Phillips, Exploring the Psalms, Vol. 1, 234)

Jesus’ Passionate Voice

We know that Jesus quoted verse 5’s “Into your hand I commit my spirit” as he died on the cross (Luke 23:46). However, I am not sure that we take the time to consider the entire psalm in light of that fact. Patrick Henry Reardon in his book Christ in the Psalms wrote,

It is the prayer of “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2), speaking to His Father in the context of His sufferings and death. This psalm is part of his prayer of faith…

In this psalm, we enter into the sentiments and thoughts of Jesus in His sufferings. We see the Passion “from the inside,” as it were. [p.59]

As Evangelicals, sometimes we view the atonement too transactionally and not incarnationally enough. Jesus’ entire life was part of the atonement mission of God, not just the last few hours. In his approximately 33 years on earth, he redeemed every stage of human life from infancy to adulthood. As we listen to this psalm through the voice of Christ, we will see how much he identified with and experienced our condition. One verse might require a note of further explanation. The last part of verse 10 says,

“my strength fails because of my iniquity,
    and my bones waste away.”

We know that Jesus was tempted in every way like we are yet was without sin (Heb. 4:15), so how could this verse represent the prayer of Jesus? The Bible says that Jesus not only died for our sins but that he became our sin on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21). Taken in that context this line makes perfect sense.

Our Voice (in Perspective)

If the Lord is to be our rock and our fortress, leading and guiding us, and rescuing us from the hidden traps of the enemy (v.3-5) then it is contingent upon our confession of need and calling on him for help. The first two verses introduce David’s prayer at a time when he was oppressed by others.

 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in your righteousness deliver me!
Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
    a strong fortress to save me!

It is my belief that we will sooner or later “be put to shame” unless we cry out to the Lord in prayerful dependence as did David. But if we make it our practice to keep talking to the Lord, trusting our lives into his hand, and allowing him to lead and guide us through all the circumstances of our lives. We are not immune to the sorrows of life, but we need not be alone or without hope. While at the time of David, there was no certain understanding of a resurrection and eternal life; because of the work of Christ, we have a more complete understanding and a broader application of this passage.

The psalmist sought (v.18) and received deliverance from death and trusted in the coming of such deliverance; Jesus, on the other hand, gave expression to the same statement of trust as he died. He anticipated not deliverance from death, but trusted God even in dying and death (a trust that was later fulfilled in resurrection). It is in light of the use of the psalm in the worlds of Jesus that its transformation for contemporary faith becomes clear. The psalmist prayed for life, for deliverance from death, and that is the psalm’s fundamental and legitimate sense. But in the context of resurrection faith, the psalm may also be used as a prayer in death, expressing trust and commitment to the life lying beyond the grave. [Craigie, WBC Psalms 1-50, 263]

I am comforted to know that Jesus not only knows what it is like to face unjust attacks, lies, and rumors but walks with us (by the Holy Spirit’s presence) when we face the same. May our voices echo those of David and Jesus as we pour out our hearts to the Lord, and trust everything of this life and the next to the God who is there for us!

“Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”

Psalm 30: "Daddy! Up!"

Psalm 30:1-3

"I will extol you,

O Lord, for you have drawn me up

    and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,

    and you have healed me.

O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;

    you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit." (ESV)

Comments:

King David had cried out to God to pick him up, rescue him from his foes and deliver him up from the grave. God had answered and David testified that the Lord had “drawn him up.” Further, David admits that his strength and success before the time of trouble were also due to the Lord preserving him, though he had begun to think that his success was because of his own strength. As a result, David saw the time of testing as a gift for it revealed to him his dependence on the Lord (v. 6-7). He saw the Lord not as normally angry but as One who showed a lifetime of favor. Even moments of discipline are an act of love and favor to those who are taught by them.

Ironically, this psalm was to be sung at the dedication of the temple, after David was dead. Perhaps in this light, it is a plea for the resurrection… the ultimate “Daddy, Up!”

Parents can usually remember times when their children were very young and scared and needed to be picked up and comforted. Perhaps we can remember times when we had to snatch them up into our arms to protect them from a very real danger to their lives—lifting them above sneaker waves, out of swimming pools, away from poisonous snakes, broken glass, snarling dogs, wood stoves and campfires are a few that come to mind. Most of these situations have happened down through the generations in my own family. What have you faced in yours?

Despite the failures of our biological parents, we have a Heavenly Father who does not fail, and is neither mean nor demeaning. He is a Father who doesn’t mock us for our weaknesses but is always working for our good. He is with us no matter what we face. His love changes us, but it doesn’t stop there. He has sent us to continue his mission as his hands and feet on the earth.

There are people around the world who face much worse things than the dangers I listed. There are also many children who had no loving parent to lift them to safety in such moments and there are some moments when even a loving parent has no power to rescue their child. There are far too many children who have been abandoned or abused by a parent, many are even sold into economic or sexual slavery. What an unthinkable idea to most of us…and yet it is all too real, especially for young women.  Such situations make clear the depravity of a darkened mankind. It is in the darkest times that the light can shine brightest, but will we?

At Christmas (as I write this post), perhaps we have heard the haunting lyrics of O Come, O Come Emmanuel which depicts the darkness and prayerful longing into which Christ came as heaven’s answer. Or perhaps we wrestle with the contemporary cruelty of people to each other and the apparent lack of “peace on earth” as the author of I heard the Bells on Christmas Day did. The lyrics to this carol were written by the great American poet H.W. Longfellow, in 1863, after his wife died in a fire and his son was seriously injured fighting for the Union (in the Civil War). The song climaxes with these verses,

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;

"For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Longfellow's conclusion is right, but it doesn't happen automatically. So how can we participate in the Father’s work of deliverance? As one who believes in a miracle-working God, it is my tendency to pray and expect a miracle rather than get personally involved in being part of the answer. There is nothing wrong with praying and expecting a miracle…however, he may want me to be part of the miracle that he plans to work. In which case, I need to assume that the first miracle that results from my prayer is that of the Lord changing my heart to help the oppressed...to advocate with them in their plight.

Our mourning, along with theirs, can be changed to joy by the loving, protecting, delivering, life-giving work of God…even that which comes through us.

Psalm 29 "The Throne Would Fit You Ill"

It is my custom to only address a limited section of each psalm for brevity's sake. However, with Psalm 29 I would like to briefly trace the whole psalm. As I read it, this psalm easily falls into three sections, delineated by their repeated words: “Ascribe” which is used three times (v. 1-2), the “Voice of the Lord” is repeated six times (v.3-9), and “Enthroned” is used twice in the climax of the psalm (v. 10-11). One other word that appears four times throughout the psalm is “glory” and it factors strongly into the message of this psalm.

1. Ascribe to the Lord (v.1-2)

This is the Hebrew word yahab (ya-hav) which means to give what should be given or to put something where it should be put. Often it is in regards to giving God the glory and honor he in keeping with his character. Yahab is only used in the imperative mood and thus carries the weight of command.

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
  ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
          worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. (v. 1-2)

On a literary note, in this psalm, David uses a repetitive (or iterative) structure throughout. It causes us to take more notice of the line that doesn't sound the same in each stanza. This is like the old Sesame Street song, “One of these things is not like the others.” Notice how auditory the imagery is! Our God is awesome on every level!

A very similar idea and structure is found in 1 Chronicles 16:28-29 where King David sings a song of thanksgiving upon putting the ark of the Lord in the Tabernacle where it belonged. His song of worship is repeated nearly verbatim in Psalm 96 as you can see from this excerpt,

“Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,

  ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!

 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

    bring an offering, and come into his courts!

    Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

    tremble before him, all the earth! (Psalm 96:7-9)

So, I have to ask. Do we “give” or “put” glory where it belongs, or are we given to serve lesser “puny gods” in the pantheon of self? Do we, like the psalmist, have the spiritual insight to tremble before him and to see the beauty of holiness?

2. The voice of the Lord (v. 3-9)

Photo: Greg K Dueker

In this section, we see “the voice” of God turned up even “thundering” and producing dramatic results in the realm of nature. Here is an example in 29:3-4,

"The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

the God of glory thunders,

                     the Lord, over many waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful;

 the voice of the Lord is full of majesty."

In the past, I thought about calling this psalm post "When God Raises His Voice" because it mentions the "voice" of God at least six times as a demonstration of his power. We see the "voice" of God doing powerful things in this psalm that affect the natural world. This psalm is an example of “theophany”—a physical manifestation of the power and glory of God—but it is not so much about God raising his voice as our raising our awareness to see his active involvement in all things. Will we like the psalmist, cry "Glory!" to the One who is beyond our control, or will we simply turn up the electronic voices we can control? If only we were as responsive as nature, the world would be a much better place.

Forest after Columbus Day Storm 1962

If God's voice can work such amazingly powerful things in nature, what do we expect his voice to work in our lives? I am reminded of the Bethel version of the worship song, “It is Well” that starts like this,

Grander earth has quaked before

Moved by the sound of His voice

Seas that are shaken and stirred

Can be calmed and broken for my regard

Chorus:

Through it all, through it all, My eyes are on You

Through it all, through it all, It is well

Through it all, through it all, My eyes are on You

It is well with me¹ 

How closely do we watch? How attentively do we listen? This psalm poetically reminds us to turn down our inner soundtracks and listen up to “the voice of the Lord.”

Verse 9 transitions into the climax of the psalm as we see that “in his temple all cry, “Glory!” Those who recognize they are in the presence of the Lord, who observe his voice in action, are the ones who obey the initial command to “ascribe” glory to God alone. It is in this context that we see God as he is and trust him as we should.

3. The Lord sits enthroned (v. 10-11)

God is sovereign over nature and over his people. As the psalmist wrote,

            The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
             the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
    May the Lord give strength to his people!
    May the Lord bless                 his people with peace!

It is when we see the Lord enthroned that we can trust him to strengthen us and bless us with the peace we desire. How different than the way humans act when they have tremendous power. 

I am reminded of a cinematic encounter between the alien half-brothers, Thor and Loki, in Marvel’s The Avengers, speaking about humans…

Loki: I mean to rule them. And why should I not?

Thor: You think yourself above them?

Loki: Well, yes.

Thor: Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. A throne would suit you ill.

Oval Office, 2010

I have to agree with Thor on that point, Loki’s arrogant attitude disqualifies him, but the same is true of us as well. We can see oppression and abuse of power are rampant in the world. Even when we advocate for the oppressed (and we should) we need to be wary of any level of personal power we might obtain lest we think too highly of ourselves. Until we have enthroned the Lord in our hearts and become conformed to the image and attitude of his Son (Romans 8:29; Phil. 2:1-11) all thrones "fit us ill". I am thankful to join the psalmist in abdicating and ascribing!

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
          worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. (v. 2)

[1] Written by Kristene DiMarco. © 2013 Bethel Music Publishing (ASCAP).

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.