My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 69 is a psalm of sorrow, of apparent defeat and deep emotional stress, of a distress in the heart and of being overwhelmed, of a weariness of soul, and of a waiting for an answer from God. It is a psalm that speaks of loneliness, of disappointment and of extended trials.

As we venture through the psalmist’s deep confession, his pain and his sorrow, we will encounter passages that will be referred to in the New Testament, providing a recounting of the sorrow of Jesus.

Psalm 69:16 Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Psalm 69:17 Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
Psalm 69:18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!

David has bared his soul, revealed his troubles, the threat on his life and kingdom and admitted to his inability to find strength in himself. He has spoken of his humbling in front of his enemies, and the apparent success they bore over him. How it looked for all watching that he had trusted in error. His faith had been directed towards a God who was not able to answer.

How terrible for a saint to go through the appearance of One you have boasted of, and yet experience the appearance of His failing to save. The sting of disappointment cuts to the core, along with the raising of questions in the mind, the self doubt in the heart and the “lostness” the saint may experience.

David has but one thing to say to His Master.

Answer me. The boldness of this saint to demand an answer is beyond my experience. Yes, I have been through difficult times, but I fall into the “Why”, category of prayers. In reflection, this response to difficulty be asking “Why, why why” is the sign of a self indulgent prayer, concerned with my life as opposed to the honor of God!

David needs answers, and he is speaking to God from the most inner core of his being, demanding a response, knowing even in this apparent failure, that God is steadfast in His love, and that He is good. This is foundational for David, an unshakeable truth that he depends on and reminds God of, as he struggles through this prayer.

He hinted in his appeal to God’s nature in a previous verse.

Psalm 69:13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

By the time we are three verses later, David has dropped the acceptable time option and is simply appealing to the Lord’s steadfast love and mercy.

He repeats similar demands throughout this small portion of the Psalm

Answer me

We have spent a moment on this demand, yet a moment more. To speak “answer me” is to demand an accounting from One of their inactivity, to direct One to pay attention to the state of the situation, and is to imply that the One spoken to has lost focus, is distracted, and possibly has lost interest.

David is so bold before God, yet his appeal is to the Lord of all creation, and not some vengeful, arrogant, sensitive, insecure cultural deity. He knows to whom he is speaking!

Hide not your face

For God to hide His face is a study that needs to be addressed at a later time, in a separate post or series of posts, for my readings have provided amazing implications.

For the purposes of this posting, and as a generality, God would hide His face due to His people forgetting Him. It was a way of expressing the discipline of God on His people, especially in times of prosperity for the people of God.

But let us consider the modern day believer. For the saint in the New Testament, God has provided the promise of never hiding His face.

Ezekiel 39:29 And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.”

Yet we know that the believer is sometimes disciplined by God.

Hebrews 12:5-6 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

He has promised to not hide His face, and yet we turn from Him.

We turn from Him. His face is towards us in the Savior Jesus, and yet we turn from Him.

Draw near to my soul (Redeem me)

David, after all his confessions, his admission of weakness, his declaration of the trials he is going through, the injustice that he recognizes, in all of this whirlwind of distractions and tribulations, he calls on God to draw near to him.

What?

Are we not to draw near to God? Are we not the ones who are to initiate the process of closeness to God, of repentance and confession? Yes James makes that abundantly clear.

James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

David has spent the previous verses drawing near to God through confession of his sin and inability to solve his trials. He has admitted he is not in control, and that he has no other hope than in God.

Now, he is only expecting that which a millennium later James so succinctly put together for us.

But get this – David speaks in the imperative. For those like myself that aren’t grammar nerds, that speaks of a command, even an order. David may be telling God …

I am broken before you. I am helpless. But You are of a constant and steadfast love. It is who You are O Lord! Now your faithful response O God, is to draw near to me, to my very soul.

David knew his Master. He knew his God and His nature in that He is abundant in mercy, steadfast in love, that his God is a saving God, and that His love is good.

Yes – He is good!

May those who know the Lord confess always and only that He is good!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 69 is a psalm of sorrow, of apparent defeat and deep emotional stress, of a distress in the heart and of being overwhelmed, of a weariness of soul, and of a waiting for an answer from God. It is a psalm that speaks of loneliness, of disappointment and of extended trials.

As we venture through the psalmist’s deep confession, his pain and his sorrow, we will encounter passages that will be referred to in the New Testament, providing a recounting of the sorrow of Jesus.

Psalm 69:13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
Psalm 69:14 Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
Psalm 69:15 Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.

The psalmist turns to prayer for deliverance. After describing the pit of trials he is experiencing, he draws his attention to the only One who can provide deliverance.

After describing men in the earlier passage as those who disapprove of him, as those who throw reproach and shame upon him, David now looks to the One who rightly may show disapproval. Yet David knows the God he serves. He emphasizes the impossible when he writes of God and His

..abundance of His steadfast love

Recall that for God to have steadfast love is to describe His faithfulness in the midst of rebellion. Steadfast love was often translated in older versions as mercy or even pity. The term used is חֶסֶד cheçed and is closely equivalent to our term grace in the New Testament. Also embedded in this term is the concept of commitment, of covenant keeping. I am sure when I mention that God is the ultimate keeper of covenant, my reader will heartily agree!

And yet David goes beyond simply speaking of the cheçed of God, but adds the superlative of abundance. He appeals to the abundance of mercy, faithfulness, love and commitment of God in this prayer. He is looking to the One who is NOT like the men he has just described, throwing reproach and shame on his life. No – God is different, and to that difference, David appeals!

David prays for deliverance. He has described those who are against him previously, and now uses pictures of mire, of the deep, of a flood and of the pit (grave) to emphasize his hopelessness.

Each of the pictures he uses are overwhelming situations that provide no hope of self rescue. Only an outsider could provide the deliverance required, and thankfully David knew His God as One who was fully committed to His cause, including his own life and kingdom.

How much more for the greater Son of David, and how this prayer may have contained the same spirit of desperation for Him as He prayed in the garden. God exercised an abundance of steadfast love to the Savior in delivering Him up from the grave, and shedding the salvation to the world.

Are you in a place where there is no self preservation, no way to find strength or rescue within yourself. Be it known that in this condition, you need to reach out to the One who is abundant in steadfast love.

His name is Jesus, and to follow Him is to know the love of God.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 69 is a psalm of sorrow, of apparent defeat and deep emotional stress, of a distress in the heart and of being overwhelmed, of a weariness of soul, and of a waiting for an answer from God. It is a psalm that speaks of loneliness, of disappointment and of extended trials.

As we venture through the psalmist’s deep confession, his pain and his sorrow, we will encounter passages that will be referred to in the New Testament, providing a recounting of the sorrow of Jesus.

Psalm 69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
Psalm 69:10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
Psalm 69:11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
Psalm 69:12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.

In the last post, I apologized for getting a bit long winded with my time in verse 9. Dang it, I tripped and fell into verse 10 last post, but I refuse to apologize. I am enjoying this time in Psalm 69 more than expected.

Let’s try to look at verse 11 & 12 in this post.

Psalm 69:11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.

To be considered a byword is a strange concept. What is David speaking of? The Hebrew word is מָשָׁל mâshâ, and is typically translated as parable or proverb. A definition byword likens it to be similar to a pithy maxim, an adage, a saying describing some wisdom.

This makes no sense to me. In the midst of this trial, when he was in sackcloth, denoting repentance and sorrow, his enemies considered him to be but a parable or proverb. A byword.

Might this proverb, spoken by the enemy, be describing the failure of the life of faith, the disappointment that seemed so obvious at the time of David’s suffering? His life of faith led to his loss of the kingdom, his own son seeking his head. Surely in the eyes of the enemy, this occurrence in David’s life proved God couldn’t be trusted, or that God didn’t care, or that there was no God. This could be huge news for those who hated God.

Psalm 69:12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.

For this period of apparent failure, David’s enemies surely spread the story of his downfall, of how his God had failed him, and of his deep reproach and shame he went through. All from the city leadership, those who sit in the gate, repeat the story, spreading the news.

This byword (or saying) would surely find ample audience to receive it, repeating the mockery of David’s life, the shame he experienced, the failure of his God. The rumor mill was on high alert, gossipers waiting for then next juicy nugget of misinformation, chugging out the news they wanted to hear!

For David, the spreading of this byword of failure surely damaged his reputation.

Mark 15:31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.

Jesus also experienced the appetite of the gossip monger, the rumor mill, even at His lowest time, hanging on the instrument of death, with the killers at his feet, spreading the slur that He could not save Himself. You do understand why that is a slur, that what the priest’s said for the rumor mill was incorrect? It is not that he could not save Himself but that He would not save Himself.

And the rumor continues throughout the ages, that Jesus is not powerful enough to save.

Both David and Jesus were the subject of a rumor mill, both men claiming to experience the failure of their faith, of their God, of their lives. At each of those times in these men’s lives, all appearance supported the rumor. Men could surmise their understanding of the situation and make statements that would seem to be true.

But we know better don’t we? Trust in God when all the world is spreading untrue rumors about you. God is the God who saves us, even from rumor mills!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 69 is a psalm of sorrow, of apparent defeat and deep emotional stress, of a distress in the heart and of being overwhelmed, of a weariness of soul, and of a waiting for an answer from God. It is a psalm that speaks of loneliness, of disappointment and of extended trials.

As we venture through the psalmist’s deep confession, his pain and his sorrow, we will encounter passages that will be referred to in the New Testament, providing a recounting of the sorrow of Jesus.

Psalm 69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
Psalm 69:10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
Psalm 69:11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
Psalm 69:12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.

My apologies – I got carried away with the last post, and will pick up where we left off previously. Verse 9 was just too much for me!

As mentioned in the previous post, it seems every verse in this portion of Psalm 69 speaks of the human experience of Jesus. Verse 9 was directly linked to the Lord’s life by way of the apostles, and we can rest assured their interpretation is worth trusting. For the next three verses, I will provide suggested links, understanding that I offer these thoughts to the reader for their consideration.

Psalm 69:10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.

David, in the midst of this trial that he is recounting for us, surely wept and fasted, looking for relief from his God. Even in his sorrow and weakness, his enemies attacked him, bringing further shame and disgrace on the king. Might he be recounting the time Shimei cursed him and his men as he was leaving the City of Jerusalem?

2 Samuel 16:5 When King David came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera, and as he came he cursed continually.
2 Samuel 16:6 And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.
2 Samuel 16:7 And Shimei said as he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man!

Shimei cursed continually, throwing stones at David, along with all his cohorts, cursing the king, calling him a worthless man! David had to take this in front of his men, those whom he had known for decades and that respected him. Men that he led into battle, and that brought victory to the nation for over three decades. In a shame based society like ancient Israel, this was the deepest of cuts!

David is recounting a time when he truly went through a very deep and painful experience. Can you imagine David being called a worthless man, in front of his closest allies and friends, even at his lowest point in life? Yet David accepted the reproach.

2 Samuel 16:10 But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’”

Was it an undesired shame he accepted? I think. Yet for Jesus, though a reproach was planned for Him, He considered the reproach to be of greater riches than all the treasures available to Him. David may have accepted it as a disciple of God. Jesus turned to it, He chose the reproach and chased after it, turning to the cross and the shame, knowing of the glory to come.

Hebrews 11:26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

During the ministry of Jesus, He is pictured in the gospels as a friendly, approachable, accepting, challenging and kind man. Though at times he gets perty dang ticked off at religious people, His person seems to be very social, welcoming, willing to interact with people, not out in the middle of the desert avoiding interaction. His time of rubbing shoulders with those he knew did not consist of evident reproaches.

Yet the time would come when it would become obvious that He would willingly accept reproach. Note that David also accepted the reproach of Shimei as he states a few verses after Shimei shows up.

Truly, the picture of the Savior in His accepting the reproach and shame, when compared to David, shines out as Savior that again is beyond any human expectation. He is more than we could imagine, so much more than we deserve, and such a great Savior!

Who can compare?

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 69 is a psalm of sorrow, of apparent defeat and deep emotional stress, of a distress in the heart and of being overwhelmed, of a weariness of soul, and of a waiting for an answer from God. It is a psalm that speaks of loneliness, of disappointment and of extended trials.

As we venture through the psalmist’s deep confession, his pain and his sorrow, we will encounter passages that will be referred to in the New Testament, providing a recounting of the sorrow of Jesus.

Psalm 69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
Psalm 69:10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
Psalm 69:11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
Psalm 69:12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.

Ok who wrote this? I say that sarcastically, for I know King David wrote it, but gosh golly, all I can see in this passage is the New Testament witness of Jesus.

Psalm 69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me

For David, this phrase described his desire to be close to the tabernacle, to be passionate to see God’s tabernacle become the Temple. It was a distraction of the highest magnitude, a desire that left all other goals in life to be secondary.

Remember my friend, this is the king of Israel, a world power at the time, and David was not consumed with status, power, wealth or image. He was focused on the source of all goodness and righteousness.

Mark 11:15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
Mark 11:17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

John 2:16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
John 2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

For Jesus, this zeal was intensified in His life, but not for some physical representation of God’s temple. (I mean no disrespect to King David in this instance.) Jesus was looking to the Temple of God being the people of God that God would reside in, for that has been the plan all along. A group of people who seek God, who allow God to reside in them (as a group) and exhibit the nature of God to those outside the group.

Jesus passion led Him to the cross. His zeal was all consuming, and for a time in the temple, Jesus passion exploded on the scene, for those in the temple were users of people, profiting off those who seek God, instead of living a life of self sacrifice for others. The very antipathy of God’s desire was being witnessed by the very Son of Man in the Temple of God. How utterly inviting for passion to erupt!

Psalm 69:9B

Psalm 69:9 …and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

For the king of Israel to suffer personal reproaches strikes me as odd, for many, if not all kings in the ancient days would not suffer insult or shame from any in their kingdom. Those who verbally attacked a kings person were usually punished, jailed, beaten or worse.

Yet for David, as he followed after God, realizing who God is and what God is like, willingly accepted the shame aimed at God as his own.

His passion, they may say, is extreme, just too much, he has his head in the clouds and is of no earthly good. Hatred – undeserved as mentioned in verse 4 – experienced by David from his enemies, provided for David additional instances where he would bear the burden of being a believer in the midst of unbelief.

Romans 15:3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

For Jesus, for Paul to say that He did not please Himself may be one of the greatest understatements written. Going without sleep to be alone with the Father, watching his followers disappoint Him and yet continue to invest time and effort into them, healing and preaching to the masses, knowing they will turn on Him, going for weeks without food, not having anyone but Satan know, performing a baptism ritual in identifying with sinful people, reserving judgement in order to save, turning the cheek for the sake of love.

My friend – He took the hatred and shame the world spewed onto a holy God, He took it Himself, and in the midst of all the injustice. the pain, the loneliness and ingratitude, He continued to love God with all His heart mind and soul, and every neighbor who has ever lived.

How can we truly grasp the width, depth and length of His grace and mercy towards us. It is almost as if the expanse of His grace to us is beyond belief, that is simply can’t be true, it is too good to be true.

But He rose from the grave, with hundreds seeing Him, and His church has marched on, grasping ever so slightly (at least for myself) the tremendous grace He has provided us.

May His name be praised.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 69 is a psalm of sorrow, of apparent defeat and deep emotional stress, of a distress in the heart and of being overwhelmed, of a weariness of soul, and of a waiting for an answer from God. It is a psalm that speaks of loneliness, of disappointment and of extended trials.

As we venture through the psalmist’s deep confession, his pain and his sorrow, we will encounter passages that will be referred to in the New Testament, providing a recounting of the sorrow of Jesus.

Let’s read the next three verses of this revealing psalm.

Psalm 69:6 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.
Psalm 69:7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
Psalm 69:8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.

David was the king, an outspoken adherent of the God of Israel, many times expressing his faith, leading the nation as an example. From his early days of slaying Goliath, and the many battles he successfully waged for Saul, throughout his own reign, he constantly exhibited a living faith in the LORD God of hosts. During the good and the bad, David stood with God.

His faith in God was drawing others into a living faith within the kingdom. During the most difficult days of his reign, his actions, though confusing at times, resulted in exhibiting an understanding of God that was almost New Testamental.

Consider when he lost his first child with Bathsheba. He finished mourning after the child passed. He knew of the resurrection, of the hope for life after the grave. The clean himself up upon the notice of the child’s death was shocking for the people around him, and yet so very instructive!

That was then. This is now. This period of David’s life had all the potential to completely decimate the faith of others in the kingdom. He was accepting of the responsibility that the faith he lived, was consequential to others.

This attitude showed a deep love for others, in the midst of a fiery trial. Remember, David was being crushed at this time, his very existence as a king, and possibly as a breathing person, was on the line, and he is concerned about others, and how his life, with disappointments and defeats, may cause others to lose hope.

He is concerned for others, for their hope to not be impacted by his suffering, and yet he speaks of reproach that he bore, for the sake of the Lord.

He is concerned for the sake of his brethren. He is concerned for the sake of the Lord. Can you feel the tension he is in? He has taken on the life of a disciple, seeking to serve God at his own expense, and yet in this costly life, a life that experiences a crushing of pride, a life that may experience temporal disappointments, he is concerned that as his brethren may see his difficulties, they would not be set back.

David speaks of one specific trial that cut deep. His estrangement from his mother’s sons. He is estranged, away from his kin, living the life of a foreigner in relation to his closest family ties.

But wait. Why does he mention his mother’s sons? Is he simply being poetic, saying the same thing in the next stanza? There is a possibility that something else may be going on.

Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Is David speaking of not belonging within the “proper” family of Jesse? It is coincidental that when Samuel called for the sons of Jesse to come before him, only the first seven sons were presented to him. What was David? Chopped liver? Yes he was out tending sheep, but did not Jesse have servant s for this task if needed?

No matter whether David was the result of one of his parents being unfaithful, or that he had simply been rejected by his brothers due to his call by God, the situation was very discouraging. The Word speaks of David becoming a stranger, an alien to the family. It was a process he was undergoing, and that with every rejection, every separation from his brothers, it provided fuel for the enemy to cause shame and reproach.

If David underwent all this internal conflict and strife, turmoil of his spirit, what can we say about the greater David? After all the Scriptures were written about Him.

Consider the first verse we looked at this morning in relation to the Lord Jesus. We sometimes look to Him and see an invincible, no-holds-barred type of Savior, One that could not disappoint.

Yet in the garden, might He have had this type of conflict within His soul? What massive turmoil went on in His soul in the garden? The next 24 hours would be His greatest test, His greatest opportunity to “drop the ball”, yet in the garden He, the Giver of Life, faced death. The very thing that was completely opposite of His nature was to consume Him, to overpower Him, to cause Him to be absolutely and completely alone.

I don’t know about you, and this is conjecture on my part admittedly, but I think He must have ventured into the very same doubt and worry that David expressed above, the fear that

… those who hoped in God not be put to shame through Jesus.

He saw the death, the shame, the mocking and the cruel treatment, the temptations of failing His mission. (I am convinced Jesus could not have failed, yet the fears of potential failure must have been massive, ripping at His heart, soul and mind!) The spiritual warfare must have been gut wrenching!

On the other side of the grave, after potential failure became resounding success, we can be thankful that the Scriptures provide this promise for us.

Romans 10:11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

My friends – Consider the One who suffered in the Garden. Take a moment and consider the warfare He experienced, though we truly cannot.

And during that warfare, His disciple slept. And He loved them to the end. For that is the type of Savior we have!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 69 is a psalm of sorrow, of apparent defeat and deep emotional stress, of a distress in the heart and of being overwhelmed, of a weariness of soul, and of a waiting for an answer from God. It is a psalm that speaks of loneliness, of disappointment and of extended trials.

As we venture through the psalmist’s deep confession, his pain and his sorrow, we will encounter passages that will be referred to in the New Testament, providing a recounting of the sorrow of Jesus.

Let’s continue reading this beautiful psalm.

Psalm 69:4 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 69:5 O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

“Without cause” is the Hebrew term חִנָּם chinnâm, and it can be translated as “devoid of cost”, “without reason”, “without advantage”, “for nothing”, or “to cost nothing”.

The hatred David’s enemies provide to him freely given to him due to nothing that he has done. That seems to be the message.

Now I understand that the Scriptures are God Breathed, and have a message for each of us, with the burden on us to seek to understand the message in it’s original intent, and to find application for us in our daily lives and circumstances.

Since we are in the psalms, and the author is David, I would suggest David is describing his feelings here, not an absolute truth.

Consider that if this trial was during the rebellion of Absalom, with David having been the King for close to 4 decades. As a military strategist and warrior, along with being an political animal, he surely had left a trail of reasons for some to hate him.

For instance, consider David’s counsellor Ahithophel. He turned on David during this time, joining with Absalom. Did he turn on David for no reason?

Not so sure, for if we read the Word, Ahithophel may have been the grandfather of Bathsheba. That is, if Eliam, Bathsheba’s father is the same Eliam described as Ahithophel’s son in 2 Samuel 23:34, we have a connection.

2 Samuel 11:3 …”Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

2 Samuel 23:34… Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

Now I realize I am not an Old Testament grandfather, but if someone murdered my grandbaby’s husband and committed adultery with my grandbaby, I tend to think I may have cause for some hatred! (Can you tell I got me some granddaughters? They will always be my grandbabys!)

So what is the reason for this rabbit trail Carl?

My point is that David may have felt guiltless in his circumstances, and the relative suffering he was undergoing may have been much exaggerated to what true justice may have deemed. For him to say “without cause” may have expressed his perception of his history, as opposed to living in reality. Now of course, there surely was much more going on that I do not understand, but David was suffering in this Psalm, suffering greater than I have experienced. It is with no judgement that I make this observation, but only for the sake of understanding David’s situation, his crushing heart ache, and the prayers he is crying out to God in.

David may have exaggerated his condition, for he may have given some cause for the hatred. Rightly or wrongly, David was suffering through a trial.

Yet he said “without cause”. Curious how that entered into the Word, for centuries later, the greater Son of David actually found his situation fit this statement.

John 15:25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

Not only did Jesus’ situation fit this statement of David, He taught us that the Scripture was not merely coincidental in that it fit Jesus’ situation, but that was intended to be fulfilled in Him. David, the prophet spoke of his Greater Son in his prayer, and Jesus fulfilled this statement absolutely, having not sinned against His Father nor any man.

He truly was hated without cause.

Let’s consider how John wrote the same expression in the Greek. “Without cause” is an English translation of the Greek term δωρεάν dōreán, and may also be translated as “freely”, “in vain”, “as a gift” or “for naught”.

Where might I have read of this very same concept or thought in the New Testament? Hmmmm. Oh I remember!

Romans 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

So, we see that the Christ received hatred freely, without cause and from many. This was the consummate exercise of injustice.

His death and resurrection provided believers justification freely, without cause and for many. This is the consummate exercise of grace, freely granted to each of us.

May we remember Him, His trials for us and His grace towards us. May His name be praised.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 69 is a psalm of sorrow, of apparent defeat and deep emotional stress, of a distress in the heart and of being overwhelmed, of a weariness of soul, and of a waiting for an answer from God. It is a psalm that speaks of loneliness, of disappointment and of extended trials.

As we venture through the psalmist’s deep confession, his pain and his sorrow, we will encounter passages that will be referred to in the New Testament, providing a recounting of the sorrow of Jesus.

Let’s read the first three verses of this revealing psalm.

Psalm 69:1 To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David. Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
Psalm 69:2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
Psalm 69:3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

Some place this psalm at the end of David’s life, possibly during the rebellion of Absalom his son. He certainly expresses deep sorrow, and a feeling of complete abandonment. If it was during this time of conflict with his flesh and blood, the inner turmoil must have been horrific.

Imagine the call of God on your life in combination with the betrayal of your own son. Consider the treachery and the emotional storm to navigate through. Place yourself in David’s position – God has placed you on the throne, and yet your own blood is your greatest enemy and the one seeking to destroy your life’s work.

Where is God in all of this? How could God allow this to happen? Why have you abandoned me?

Of course, much of this pain may be related to the sin of the King with Bathsheba, and his murderous actions towards her husband. Nathan spoke of the pain David brought upon himself, and the guilt David carried only multiplied the bitter betrayal.

Those who have children that are reading this post – be thankful for children who are faithful, who love you and support you. But for those true believers who have children that have walked away from God, that pain is very real. A parent’s regrets and doubts are constantly splashed up on the mind. Sleepless nights, going over and over the mistake made, the unchangeable history of wrong actions.

Yet this is not the situation David was in. Absalom did not simply walk away from the faith of his father, but he became David’s enemy, his greatest threat, a betrayer of the most heinous type, holding the very heart of the king in his hands, squeezing the life out of it.

David confesses his helplessness by speaking of being in “mire”. Mire speaks of a substance that has no bearing capacity, that will not provide support. Not only does is not provide support, it engulfs the person, even as they sink. The situation becomes worse as time moves on, and with every struggle against the surroundings, the problem only increases. The mire increases it’s hold of the sufferer. There is no self help in this situation, for it is only a matter of time before the mire overwhelms the entire person. It may be considered that the faster the sinking the better, for death is inevitable unless outside help arrives.

But as David speaks of finding no support for his own safety, that he can find no foothold, nothing he can save himself by, he also has no response from God.

No response.

He is waiting on God, yet continues to sink ever deeper. Wailing out for the Lord, but silence. He speaks of his eyes growing dim, another way of him saying he sees no way out of him circumstances.

Let’s remember who wrote this psalm. The writer is he who was after God’s heart, the mighty king David, who vanquished many by the guidance and power of God. He had walked before God since he was a young man, even as a child, and had experienced continual deliverances. He was no neophyte, who at the least disappointment with God, began to whine. God had delivered him often but in the midst of this abandonment, the very faithfulness of God was being questioned.

If this psalm was written upon the occasion of Absalom’s rebellion, we know from other passages that God allowed David to suffer, leaving his throne, his city and his temple, realizing that he may never return. God allowed him to suffer, yet in the end, David returned to his city and his dynasty continued as promised by his God.

But we also know that this psalm describes the Messiah’s abandonment, and during His abandonment, the mercy of rescue was not provided, the pulling out of the mire was not supplied. He suffered a horrific whipping, a cruel mocking, public shame and the torture of crucifixion. No mercy. No rescue. No deliverance from death.

David reluctantly entered this ultimate trial. Jesus set his face as a flint to enter into this trial. David suffered but was rescued from death, a death at the hands of his child. Jesus suffered and was murdered by His own people.

David’s turmoil was beyond my comprehension, and yet Jesus’s was far greater, far deeper, far more painful and far more mysterious.

Even as His death was galloping toward Him, He cried out to God….

“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Such an abandonment that David feared and yet escaped, his greater Son suffered through, dying all alone, forsaken by God.

How can we understand that? How can we comprehend this mystery?

My brothers and sisters – there is no comprehension for our feeble minds, neither here on this globe or in eternity. We cannot understand the depths of God’s work, His wisdom, His mercy or grace.

We can only worship such a God.

If my gentle reader is experiencing a sense of abandonment, a sense of hopelessness, look to the One who truly passed through the ultimate loneliness. Consider His mental and spiritual torture of abandonment, His struggle and turmoil to the point of death. He entered into His death through abandonment. Today He promises us keep us from abandonment.

Hebrews 13:5 …for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

No abandonment, no forsaking, but we must look to Him, who is the only One who has been totally abandoned!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 68:32 O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, Selah
Psalm 68:33 to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
Psalm 68:34 Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies.
Psalm 68:35 Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel–he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!

Our final portion of this fantastic psalm speaks of the God who in David’s sight has risen, not only in the lifting up of the ark, glorious as that must have been, but even greater in the realization that all the kingdoms of the earth will acknowledge the greatness of God, even to sing of God, sing praises to Him.

For David, he may have saw this in a physical realm, thinking that the theocracy of Israel would be the eternal dominating nation over the kings of the world.

For those of us who have met the Savior and are learning of Him, we have such a greater hope, such a stronger salvation, such a more personal connection through a suffering Savior. As Israel triumphed over their neighbors through the power of God, much could be ascribed to the God of Israel. David spoke of His greatness of God in the wars that Israel entered into, and how the Lord delivered the nation of Israel in His faithfulness.

Yet, in the final act, when the Living God willingly laid down His life for the sake of His enemies, all the physical victories paled in estimation.

We have such a great salvation, a salvation that could not be understood, imagined or comprehended in the days of old, when David was seeing God rise up. He didn’t see the whole of it!

And dare I say, we also are very weak in comprehending God’s glories in the saving work of Jesus.

May His name be praised, though we grasp so little of His mercy and grace found in the Only One!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 68:28 Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.
Psalm 68:29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem kings shall bear gifts to you.
Psalm 68:30 Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in war.
Psalm 68:31 Nobles shall come from Egypt; Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.

Lets continue in Psalm 68, where David is describing the God of Israel as rising up, bringing power to the nation, and delivering the tiny nation surrounded by enemies. His methods are unconventional to say the least, but David only concerned with God’s faithfulness, and Israel’s continued resting under His blessings.

David continues with his prayers in seeking God to continue His work in and for the nation of Israel. Think about it. It is one thing to begin strong, and by this time in the history of the nation, God had proved Himself over and over. David isn’t resting on his laurels, presuming that past victories secures future success. David is looking to God for His continuation of His power over Israel’s enemies.

Interestingly, David sees this power to be related to the temple, and rightly so, for he understood that the military success of Israel was not by human wisdom or strategy, but by the Spirit of God directing and empowering His people. This direction was hard linked to the temple, and David, of all the kings of Israel, knew of this connection well.

Centuries pass and the truth remains, that the source of strength and power of the people of God is God Himself. This never changes!

Zechariah 4:6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

As success follows success for the Israelites, and the enemies realize they are fighting much more than a small nation of slaves who came out of Egypt, the enemies come to their senses. David speaks of the humbling of the nations surrounding him. Mortal kings are generally known for their pride and arrogance, but for kings to bear gifts to Israel speaks of a humility and an admittance that they have come to the end of their rope, that they have no resources available to defeat Israel, their god is so weak, weaker than the God of Israel!

But to get to this humility, God is called upon by the warrior king David to

Rebuke the beasts

David describes beasts that dwell among the reeds, herds of bulls with the calves of the people. God is to speak correction to these bulls, these enemies of Israel.

Now we must remember when God speaks, it is not merely the compression of air from a voice box to produce sound. For God to speak is for God to expect and have results occur.

Consider Isaiah 17:13

The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away…

Notice that upon the rebuke of God, they (the enemies) will flee away. It is not that the enemies will consider God’s rebuke and then decide if they will accept it. Actually, for God’s rebuke to be directed to a nation will result in the nation fleeing.

Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute

This is a difficult portion to understand, as this psalm has presented many difficult portions. Nevertheless, God’s next action requested by King David is to trample, or to stamp down. In some passages, it is translated as hasten, or humble thyself

Proverbs 6:3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. ESV

Proverbs 6:3 Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor. CSB

Proverbs 6:3 Do this now, my son, and be delivered, For thou hast come into the hand of thy friend. Go, trample on thyself, and strengthen thy friend, YLT

How this works out in this verse is a mystery to me, other than the truth that those who seek the high life through money very often are humbled by the very thing they chase after. No matter how it works out, or how this passage is understood, the action of God trampling those who are against Israel is being requested by King David. No mincing of words for David is escalating the requests for God’s actions on the enemy!

scatter the peoples who delight in war.

To be scattered is a judgement that was left to the very end for the nation of Israel herself, as if that was the worst punishment that could be inflicted on a nation. Babylon came to scatter the people of Israel for 70 years, only to be restored under the mercy of God, and for the future provision of salvation through the Messiah. The second scattering of the nation, under the mighty Roman empire ended up without the same mercy, being permanent.

David was seeking this type of action by God on the enemies of Israel. This type of action seems irreversible for a nation, for only under the hand of God has any nation ever returned, and that only once after the Babylonian captivity!

There was no recovery for any nation if scattered. Absorption of the nation into other cultures would be inevitable, and the unified personality, dreams, and nature of any nation scattered would come to an end. This is David’s way of asking for the complete domination of any and all of Israel’s enemies.

Poetic? Yes!

Graphic? Yes!

Eventual? Yes!

In the end, all the enemies of God will be dominated by the Living God. Through pain, sorrow, humiliation, and death, the Living God, Jesus Christ, has become the King of Kings. The time will come when all mortal kings will acknowledge this truth. For Jesus has suffered pain, experienced sorrow, faced humiliation, and passed through death in order to draw all men to Him.

Will you bow the knee to the true King?

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 68:24 Your procession is seen, O God, the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary–
Psalm 68:25 the singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins playing tambourines:
Psalm 68:26 “Bless God in the great congregation, the LORD, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!”
Psalm 68:27 There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

Let’s remember the general topic of this psalm. David is writing to describe the entrance of the ark into the city of David. But more significantly, it is not simply the delivery of the ark that David has envisioned in this psalm, but the rising up of God in this action. His very first verse speaks of God arising, and His enemies scattering.

Throughout this psalm, David is describing God as One who helps the helpless (v5-6), produces results with the unlikely (vs (11-12) acts selflessly in His victory march (vs 18) and bears His people up (vs 19), instead of being supported by them.

He is altogether different than those who rule over us by the ways of men! For this we must be so thankful.

This particular passage is describing the procession of God into the sanctuary. Taken alone, we might look at verses 24 – 27 as a fairly sanitary, well rehearsed, orderly procession, and for the most part, from David’s standpoint, I am sure those bringing the ark are of such a reverent stance.

Yet the procession is spoken of immediately after the psalmist speaks of God’s foot “wading in blood” and dogs (scavengers, not pets as we commonly think of them as) lapping up their share of blood.

This is such a gruesome picture, a picture of violence sometimes described in the psalms. This particular occurrence of a warring King with bloody feet speaks of complete and utter domination over the enemy. This picture describes an imagery the Hebrew people would understand.

This image reminds me of a number of other times in the Word that speaks of the Lord being associated with blood and judgement.

Consider Isaiah 63:1

Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.”

Isaiah continues in verse 3

“I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and all My clothes were stained

and again in verse 6

I trampled the nations in My anger; in My wrath I made them drunk and poured out their blood on the ground.”

The typical Hebrew saw the God of all creation as their Savior in physical battles, providing them strength, wisdom and power over their national enemies. Of course, there were those of the remnant who understood the spiritual salvation that we as New Testament believers understand, even though dimly.

When my thoughts think of bloody feet, one verse comes to mind.

Revelation 19:13

He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is The Word of God.

The King of Kings is arriving from heaven, and the picture John provides is that of the victorious One, with His robe dipped (or sprinkled) with blood. Note also that He is on a white horse, (typical of a Victorious General leading a procession after defeating His enemies) being described in such a way, before He enters battle. You see, after the King is described as having blood on His robe, it is then that the King slays the enemies with the sword coming from His mouth.

Revelation 19:21

And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

Okay – so whose blood is on his robe/feet? The enemies have not been slain. Is it not surely His blood, speaking of His victory over death, signaling to the enemies that He is no longer subject to their threats or attacks.

He is even now in procession, leading His church, those who have been captured, and willingly follow after Him. He is victorious and the blood is the witness! No better verse to close than the verse the psalmist provides us!

Psalm 68:26 “Bless God in the great congregation, the LORD, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!”

Israel’s fountain is a fountain of blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins! Take a moment and enjoy this old old hymn. Be still and listen carefully, enter into the message.

What great truth’s were provided in the old hymns.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day
And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away

May you be blessed in the Lord today, as you consider how great He is!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah
Psalm 68:20 Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
Psalm 68:21 But God will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.
Psalm 68:22 The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
Psalm 68:23 that you may strike your feet in their blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”

Our God is a God who bears us up. He supports us, provides strength, motivation and energy, direction and guidance.

He bears us up daily.

In our text, the psalmist uses a term that describes a burden, a load to be carried, and for the Lord, the load is Israel, and by extension ourselves. Each day He carries us, bearing us as the burden that He has taken on as His task.

Each day, He carries us through our trials, through our victories and through our heartbreaks. The picture is of a mighty One with a load on His back, moving the burden, His people, from point A to point B.

He speaks of His people being His burden later in Isaiah, when He reminds them of the duration of His lifting His people, even from birth.

Isaiah 46:3-4 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

There is much that can be spoken of regarding the goodness and kindness of God toward His people in our verse in Psalm 68. The psalmist speaks of God being the Blessed One, Our Salvation, and the deliverer from death! He is the deliverer from death! So great is our God that He is the deliverer from death. May His Name be praised.

The link between Psalm 68 and Isaiah 46 begs me to consider the duration of His carrying us in both passages. Isaiah makes it clear that He will carry His people, even to gray hairs, or to the end of life. God is faithful to His people.

Take note of the psalm, where he again speaks of time passing.

striking the heads of His enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways

Let me explain my thoughts.

God bears us as a burden, yet He strikes the head of the guilty, those who are the enemy of His people. The author speaks of the hairy crown of the guilty being struck.

So which is it? Does He carry His people even to gray hair (old age) or does He strike those who walk in guilty ways? As His people, we must confess that we have not obeyed His will perfectly! At times we fall into sin and incur guilt in our lives before Him. And with guilt comes the striking!

Let us not fool ourselves to think “strike” may mean a glancing blow, or a simple nudge to correct the guilty. The word used is מָחַץ mâchats, and Strong’s dictionary provides synonyms such as “to crush, smash or violently plunge; figuratively, to subdue or destroy”

He carries His people, but the guilty He crushes. To refine the message better, it is the one “who walks in his guilty ways” that is struck.

Now as I continue in this post, I need to reiterate that I have no training in the ancient languages, and I rely only on the skimpiest understanding of verbs. With that said, the term “walk” in relation to the guilty in this verse refers to a continuous action. The NASB catches this thought somewhat clearer.

Psalm 68:21 Surely God will shatter the head of His enemies, The hairy crown of him who goes on in his guilty deeds. NASB

The NET captures the thought without any chance of misunderstanding

Psalm 68:21 Indeed God strikes the heads of his enemies, the hairy foreheads of those who persist in rebellion.

For the believer, we are to bless the Lord for His many mercies, for the constant carrying of His people. We are without hope without Him.

Yet the Word speaks of those who persist in rebellion as being the ones who will be struck!

How important is it for us as His people to trust and obey. To be in persistent rebellion against the One who carries us is to fall into great danger. Are not our lives are to be of a constant learning of the Holy One and a recurring, continual repentance of our known rebellion against Him. He carries us as a burden, and as He carries, we have the privilege of learning of Him.

I can’t help but think of the Lord as He spoke to His disciples (and us) when He voiced these words of His burden.

Matthew 11:29-30 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

His yoke is easy, and His burden is light (or manageable). This is the God who carries His people, and He continues to invite those who are heavy laden (with burdens) to find rest in Him. And as we find rest in Him, we are provided a yoke and burden to join in with Him.

He carries us. We need to learn from Him. As we learn of how great of a God we have come to know, we are to follow after Him, changing our minds (repentance) and actions (obedience) to reflect what we know of Him. As we learn we find a different burden, a manageable burden that He shares with us.

And yet in all of our lives, He carries us! He is the God to be blessed by a thankful people, for all His mercies. Praise His name for His many mercies.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 68:15 O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
Psalm 68:16 Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode, yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?
Psalm 68:17 The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
Psalm 68:18 You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.

As we are venturing through this difficult psalm, let’s remember the general topic of the psalm. David set the tone as he spoke of God rising up, of God leading in battle, and of God establishing His rule over others.

One other guiding principle I need to call to memory is that I am reading poetry. Poetry that employs word pictures, imagery and symbols to communicate a message for the people of Israel in ancient days. One word picture is that of mountains. This thinking came back to me as I researched for the location of the mount of Bashan. I can find the land of Bashan, which is to the north east of the Jordan River, where half the tribe of Manasseh settled, but I can’t find a physical mountain called Bashan.

Let’s get with the intent of the psalmist and consider mountains to represent governments, and proceed. The passage speaks of the mount of Bashan fuming with jealousy, for the Lord has chosen to dwell in Mount Zion, Sinai the holy place.

Two governments are discussed in this passage, being compared, and God’s choice is declared. The mighty mountain of Bashan does not have God dwelling in it, the government is that of men alone, without God. The government of God, His kingdom is that which is found in the Holy Place, in God Himself.

At this point, we come across a set of verses that should remind the believer of a passage in Ephesians.

Psalm 68:18	Ephesians 4:8
You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men	Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

David is watching God ascend into Jerusalem, if my understanding is correct. He is ascending to His rightful place of honor, victorious with those He conquered following in submission into the city of David. Yet a thousand years later Paul sees a completely different, much, much more expanded application of this passage.

Ascending to the heavens having conquered death, and leading a host of captives, Paul can only see Jesus as the God who is victorious. Jesus, in His resurrection and ascension is the Lord who is in the Holy place, and has conquered His enemies by dying for them.

How incredible is the King, that His plan was to conquer us by winning us over to His love. In my mind, this is something that is completely from left field, a fully unimaginable turn of events as I have been reading through this passage. And yet Paul tweaks this passage to emphasize the character of our God.

Can you identify the difference?

Heck – I can’t wait for your response. In the Old Testament, the King received gifts from men, even those He conquered. Not so under King Jesus, for as He led His captives, He gave gifts to men. Completely without precedent, for what King gives gifts to those He conquers?

He is not of this world and the more I understand of Him and His ways, the more I am mystified by His ways, shocked by His grace and stumped by the completely sacrificial love He exhibited, He endured, He suffered through, to conquer us.

I often close with “God is good and He is good all the time”, and that is so true, yet this morning as I dwell on this one aspect of our God, and the plans He has designed and completed for an ol’ fool like me, and for other sinners that have bowed the knee, I stand simply amazed at His grace.

He is so good!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 68:11-14

11 The Lord gives the word; the women who announce the news are a great host:
12 “The kings of the armies–they flee, they flee!” The women at home divide the spoil–
13 though you men lie among the sheepfolds– the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold.
14 When the Almighty scatters kings there, let snow fall on Zalmon.

This Psalm continues the theme of the Lord as the conquering One, leading His people through to victory. He gives the word to advance with plans of victory and upon the victory, we find women announcing the good news.

From a patriarchal society as Israel was, this may have been surprising to hear, yet there are numerous examples of this very thing occurring in the Old Testament.

Miriam

Exodus 15:20-21

Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

Deborah

Judges 5:1-2

Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:
“That the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves willingly, bless the LORD!

Multiple Women

1 Samuel 18:6-7

As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.
And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”

To make things worse, verse 13 intimates that the men of the nation were not in the midst of the battle, that they may have been asleep in the sheepfolds, lying down, not interacting in the battle.

For this passage, it seems typical roles are upended, or at least denied, and the one constant is that God is still leading in victory. The Lord, in the battle, scatters kings, and the psalmist refers to snow falling on Zalmon. There is one instance in the book of Judges that speaks of Zalmon that may provide some context for this passage

Judges 9:48-49

And Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a bundle of brushwood and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the men who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do as I have done.”
So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following Abimelech put it against the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about 1,000 men and women.

It is known that the snow falls on Mount Zalmon, and it covers the mount for a period of time each year. The fact that the Lord scattering kings is associated with the snow of Zalmon may be referring to the mount being covered completely, as the Lord completely gains victory over the Kings.

One possible thought, and it is mine alone, so please take it with a grain of salt, but as Abimelech torched the tower, with over 1,000 perishing, the result of the fire would produce ash. The ash of his enemies. Gruesome thought, yet the ash would disperse and cover the vicinity, appearing as a snow fall.

This would definitely bring to the ancient reader a word picture of the utter judgement of God on His enemies.

Let me know your thoughts on this difficult passage. Or better yet, share a time when the Lord caused victory in your life, especially through non-conventional means.

By the way, regarding women announcing good news, was it not the penultimate good news of the resurrection that a few women, lost in their mourning for their Master, was granted the privilege to share with all the world?

He is risen, and even the first heralds, be they women were not expected!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 68:7 O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
Psalm 68:8 the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
Psalm 68:9 Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad; you restored your inheritance as it languished;
Psalm 68:10 your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

In our earlier verses, David speaks of God riding through the desert. In this short passage, God is marching through the wilderness. The Old Testament uses a Hebrew word translated as march when referring to the ark coming from Obed-edom’s house toward the City of David. See verse 13, translated as steps below.

2 Samuel 6:12 And it was told King David, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing.
2 Samuel 6:13 ESV – And when those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal.

Of course, David is speaking of the original marching through the desert as after the Red Sea crossing, but I found that the approach into Jerusalem may be connected with this passage through the marching reference. Interesting?

Back to the verses for this morning. These verses identify the blessing and goodness of God with rain. We saw earlier the reference of a parched land as the result of rebellion, and in this set of verses, we see the alternate response of God on a national level.

I do want to remember that this portion speaks of God going out before His people. David began this psalm, referring to God rising up as He did in the days of Moses. Each time the camp broke to begin their journey to the promised land Moses speak of God rising up, to lead His people. David is continuing this call for action, for the ark is on the move. David describes this movement with terms like quaking, marching and a resultant rain that drenched the inheritance of Israel, implying the previous times were times of languishing.

God is a God of restoration, for though the land languished, God restored. He provided a dwelling for the people and safety for the vulnerable.

He is good.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 68:4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the LORD; exult before him!
Psalm 68:5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
Psalm 68:6 God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

As mentioned in my earlier post this psalm is likely a response to the ark coming into Jerusalem, a description of David when the Lord of glory come to reside in the City of David. The first three verses spoke of two reactions when God arises, when He makes moves. Either the wicked scatter of the righteous exult, even jump for joy.

David continues with the righteous, and how they are reacting to the ark of the covenant arriving from the deserts. Might David be referring to the 40 years, where God was leading the rebellious nation, that first generation that fell in the wilderness? Even as those who refused to listen to God fell, the nation continued, leading to the desired land God had planned for the nation. Even during apparent failure, God led the people, accomplishing His will. God will accomplish His will! When He arises, nations are established.

Yet, though He established the nation of Israel, leading her through the deserts, He does not forget those who are forgotten by everyone else.

David continues the thought of God’s arising in relation to orphans and widows. I have recently wrote on this verse in the Names of God series for your reference. See Names of God – FATHER OF THE FATHERLESS – 141.

God is the same God yesterday, today and forever, and these last two verses in our passage today refer to orphans and widows. Back in the time of David, God was associated with caring for widows and orphans. Nowadays, the apostle James command for believers to care for widows and orphans rings through the church.

James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Is David being repeated here by James? It is very interesting that in David’s very same verse, God is spoken of as being in His holy habitation.

David is speaking of God arising in this psalm, of widows and orphans being taken care of, and of the holiness of God. James provides these same three characteristics of pure religion but as of the duty of believers.

David continues in this psalm speaking of God reversing the condition of those in the nation. First, He speaks of the solitary, possibly referring to the orphan or widow, being in a home, amongst others and protected. Those who had fallen into crime of some sort, possibly due to circumstances beyond their control, now find themselves led into prosperity. Those who were in the midst of trials, that were without support or experiencing some restrictions in their lives were provided for.

In a consistent manner, the rebellious were also provided for in relation to their condition, receiving a parched land. Let it be known, that the rebellious David speaks of here are amongst the widows, the fatherless, and the prisoner. While those who are helpless find relief, those who are of rebellion live in a parched land.

How may that be? Though there be blessing for those who are helpless, for the widow, orphan and prisoner, the rebellious experience dryness, a parched land, for they see not the grace of God, the mercy of the Holy One.

This is a difficult truth, for those who rebel against the God of Israel, against the God who rises up, see no joy, experience no hope and can not experience any blessing, having rejected it wholesale by rejecting God Himself. In a very real way, they create their own parched land!

How sad to give up the fount of living waters to resort to broken cisterns that hold no water! Jeremiah speaks of this same outcome for those who forsake God, rebelling against Him.

Don’t rebel and live in a parched land!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 68:1-3

1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song. God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him!
2 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!
3 But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy!

I must admit to my readers that, though I have read through the Word many times this psalm is not familiar to me. I am coming to this psalm, almost as one who has never read it, never considered what it’s message is. It is somewhat like a buried treasure for me to find. Let’s consider Psalm 68 together.

As I am researching the reason for the writing of this psalm by David, I find that most historians place this writing of the psalm with the entrance of the ark coming into Jerusalem. The specific passage where the ark is prepared and brought into the City of David is 2 Samuel 6

Right out of the block, David reaches back in history, when Moses and the fledgling nation were travelling through the Sinai. Moses spoke of the Lord rising when the ark was to be moved to the next resting place, as the nation journeys to the promised land.

Numbers 10:35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.”

David is taking this passage and continuing the advancement of the ark in history, and in the nation of Israel. The Ark will reside in the sanctuary and the procession of the ark will be addressed later in this psalm. At this time and in the first three verses, David opens with the passage out of Numbers, speaking of God’s advancement, and of God’s enemies scattering, and fleeing from Him.

David, ever the poet, brings the mind picture of smoke and wax before the reader

Smoke

Typically, smoke refers to the gaseous products of materials being burnt, including the presence of very tiny particles of carbon or such. It may include a fume or vapor that is lighter than air, hotter than the surrounding atmosphere, as is obvious by its rising in the air. But note that as smoke rises in the air, the air is still. Any motion in the atmosphere is immediately felt by the smoke, and is helpless against the motion. The smoke offers no resistance to any slight wind, has no strength to oppose any minor breath of a breeze. Smoke is without any strength.

David refers to smoke as a picture of the strength of God’s enemies, the strength of those who hate God. He likens the strength of smoke as to their ability to withstand in God’s presence.

It is interesting that David speaks only of God rising as an action, not of His advancement against the enemies. It is simply that He is lifted up. The enemies have no strength. They flee as smoke in the wind.

Wax

Wax before fire.

David continues with the picture of wax being too close to a fire. As wind speaks to the smoke, so heat (or fire) speaks to the wax. And yet during the time of David, wax was plentiful in one application. Candles. As a candle is used for the production of light, the wax is consumed by the fire. It not only cannot stand in the presence of fire, it is actually consumed by the fire. Whatever you may think consumption implies in this verse, I will leave to the reader. The wicked will perish as the candle is consumed.

Not so with the righteous. Where as the wicked flee as smoke in a breeze and are consumed as wax before a fire, the righteous exult before God.

Is there a greater difference that can be expressed? No running away, no escaping, no terror and fright. Gladness, exultation and joy. As David speaks of exultation, he uses a word that speaks of one jumping for joy, of entering into a triumph or victory.

How very different two types of souls are when God rises up. Avoidance or sheer joy. Running away or gladness.

David is bringing in the Ark into Jerusalem and is recounting to us what this represents, who is coming into town! He is the One who rises up. His description is beautiful, poetic, but somewhat less than the reality we know of.

For when we think of the One rising up, we see Jesus, the One who was lifted up (onto a cross), rose up from the grave, and rises up in our hearts and lives as we seek Him.

Seek Him today, with joy and gladness.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 67:6-7

6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!

The psalmist comes to the end of his ruminations on the praiseworthiness of our God, and with these last two verses, he speaks of the abundance creation provides for His people. Our God is a God who blesses His people.

As the uncaused Cause, as the One who was from before any of all creation, it is simply logical that He is the source of all blessing. Yet as the psalmist writes, He speaks of riches, abundance and produce from the earth. He reiterates that God is the source, but the psalmist ensures the reader of the type of provider God is. God is not One who supplies “just enough”, acting as a miser or a skinflint, reluctant in providing His creation the supplies they need. He provides increase!

Whether directly by the hand of God or indirectly through His creation, God is the source of blessing. All past experience of the blessing of God into the saints life, as described by the psalmist previously is the basis for his declaration that God shall bless us.

He repeats it twice in case I didn’t notice.

God shall bless us

God shall bless us.

Our God is the One who provides abundantly, and as it is evident to all the lands the blessing God has for His people, the result will be that the ends of the earth will fear Him.

The ends of the earth my friend!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 67:4-5

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!

Can you hear the Psalmist? If only the nations understood the judgement and guidance the Lord provides. The psalmist rightly speaks of the nations being glad and singing for joy if they understood His judgement and guidance!

But, alas, the nations are blinded, and the people are deceived. Out of this deception comes misunderstanding, confusion and bickering. No joy, but jealousy of His power. No gladness, but grievances of His ways. No praise but only put downs and complaints of His Person!

Now I do not want to forget that this deception is accepted by a fallen people, a people who seek to find fault with God, who want to turn away from God and to follow their own way. But these are two different topics. The truth of God’s judgements and guidance, as compared to our ability/desire to accept this truth. I do not think the Psalmist is communicating the ability/desire of the nations/peoples, but simply that if they understood, the outcome would be praise, joy and gladness!

Before we follow God (and if we are honest with ourselves after we commit to Him), we are a people that tends to look the other way, to avoid the truth, to seek our own ways. We have an old man’s heart that surely likes to say no to God and His truth.

The psalmist is speaking of the judgement and guidance of God, and not necessarily how it is accepted by those of us below. It is as if the psalmist moans that the peoples/nations would open their eyes to the truth, to see how righteous and good God is in His judgements, in His guidance of the nations. Patience and mercy exude from the Father in all His ways, and a correct understanding of God’s judgements and guidance, to those who correctly understand it, perceive it, receive it and take it in, will produce a response of gladness, praise, and joy, even singing.

A correct understanding of God’s judgements and guidance will produce a response of gladness, praise and joy, even singing.

On a personal note, it must be understood that even in church, as I try to sing, my voice is such that it perturbs me. I can’t image the poor folks who may hear me! An exercise of mercy towards me for them!

I mess up, muddle through and am off tune, out of tune and without any talent. Yet as I grow into the Lord, and understand His holiness towards us, His mercy and patience, His many gifts of blessing to us, I find I cannot help but sing, even to the detriment of those around me.

Occasionally a tear will fall down my cheek, simply because He loves me, and somehow, in song, that reality hits me harder than during the day to day grind we all experience. And yet He loves us each and every day, whether we feel it or not. It is a truth we can settle into, lean upon and run to in times of trial.

He loves the nations. He loves people. He loves me, and for the life of me I don’t understand why – but He does and it simply pulls me in!

If only the deceptions could be pulled away from our minds, and if only our souls would seek the truth. May God have mercy on us, and reveal the Son of God in all His grace, in His resurrection, and in His patience to us, a people that are very slow to learn.

Praise Him for His judgements and guidance toward each of us each day. May we seek to understand Him and His ways more everyday!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 67:1-3

1 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!

One of my grandbabies came over to visit us for few moments a couple days back. He is a little two year old that, along with his brother, my wife watches a couple times a month. He is an energetic youngin’ and we always, with all our children and grandchildren, need a hug when the come and when they leave. I am tending to become a huggy guy!

Nevertheless, this little buckaroo gave us our hugs, but while in Gramma’s arms, turned his head and started having an attitude. He turned his face away from Gramma. He was expressing a natural reaction to some issue he was upset with Gramma about. I think it was candy related! It didn’t last long for my wife let him know it wasn’t acceptable to act like that. No candy was wrestled out of my wife’s pantry by that behavior!

But I digress. When we see a phrase in our first verse about making God’s face shine upon us, this indicates His face is not shining upon the author. There was anger being expressed, and the author knew it.

He is requesting that God turn His face to him. Now I am not in any way trying to portray God as a demanding little child, that wants something we have, but I seek only to communicate that the act of having a face turned away speaks of loss of relationship. My wifey and Theo have a great relationship, but at this time, he had his eyes on something else.

God is not turning away for some selfish desire, but because of our sin against Him. We have offended Him.

Yet notice the Psalmist speaks of God making His face turn to us. With Theo, Gramma had to explain the situation, and require Theo to “face” her. For the Psalmist, all of this action is passive, the only active participant is God Himself.

God makes His face turn to us. Does this not scream of the crucifixion, of the free will offering of the Savior, of His work to satisfy the Father and to make the wall of partition fall down between us, of His making peace between us?

Even the purpose of this “making God’s face shine upon us” is not simply for our benefit but consistent with the Great commission, that God’s ways would be practiced by all on the earth.

Matthew 28:19-20

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

And what is the natural response to this observing of God’s ways? Praise. All the people to praise the goodness of God, in that He made His face to turn to us. He did not wait for us to be good enough, or to bring more and more sacrifices, but He took action, and is waiting for the natural response of His people to praise Him and thank Him.

Take a few minutes this morning to praise Him for His many acts of mercy, for His face to shine upon us in the person of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Truly it is impossible to not be thankful, and to praise Him when we sit before Him and think on His love and mercy towards us in Christ Jesus!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 66:16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
Psalm 66:17 I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.
Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
Psalm 66:19 But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Psalm 66:20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!

In our last post, we looked at the vow the psalmist was to keep and of the commitment he had towards God. In this final portion of Psalm 66, the psalmist speaks of his inner condition, of his prayer to God., and of God’s work in the psalmist’s soul.

It appears the psalmist was in the midst of a trial, for he cried out to God, and as he has encouraged us, spoke high praise to the Lord. Immediately after declaring his prayer, he spoke of cherishing iniquity in his heart, and that if he did God would not listen. This is a common teaching that we believers understand.

But notice the “but”.

The psalmist was teaching a truth on the heart condition requirements of the believer, and immediately made an exception for the fact. A believers heart is to be clean, but in my circumstance, God listened. God truly had listened.

Verse 20 is far richer than I initially considered as I glibly read through it. Consider the psalmist, having a “not pure” heart, crying to God in the midst of a trial, and yet God listened, He noticed, He gave heed to the prayer, not rejecting the prayer, as the psalmist surely may have expected.

The psalmist can not explain this reaction from God but for one reason.

God had not removed His steadfast love from him. Dwell on this blessing today, as you venture out for Him.

He is a merciful God!

Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. KJV

Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me. NLT

Blessed be God! He has not turned away my prayer or turned his faithful love from me. CSB

Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me. LSB

Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His favor from me. NASB

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 66:13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you,
Psalm 66:14 that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
Psalm 66:15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

In our last post, we spoke of the reality of God testing the believer, and of God bringing us through some trouble or trial. The psalmist experienced his own personal trial, and spoke a vow before the Lord. The next few verses speak of him completing his vow.

Vows are serious. A vow is a verbal contract. A promise, usually a bilateral type of agreement that the offerer makes to get something out of the other party.

Now there are vows that are unilateral, that is, the offerer makes the vow without expecting any type of action on the part of the recipient, but that doesn’t happen often, and I can’t think of a time when it wasn’t God making the offer. He is like that, in that He makes a vow for our good, and that costs Him, for our sake. Doesn’t seen fair, but that isn’t the way God works. He is full of mercy, and grace. Fairness doesn’t factor into His dealings with us! (Righteousness does of course, but I fear I am getting a bit off track!)

Nevertheless, the psalmist made a vow. A promise to God for His intervention in a trial he was going through. Obviously, God pulled him though to an abundant place, and he was mow focused on performing the vow.

Did God need the sacrifice? Was God hungry, in that He needed the sacrificed meat? This idea speaks of our seeking to understand God in our terms. God did not require a sacrifice, but the psalmist needed to provide the sacrifice. He needed to complete the vow, FOR HIS OWN SAKE. .

For one to make a vow and to break it (not perform it) remains in a persons conscience. When all is quiet and there are no distractions, the truth is still there of a broken promise, of a vow incomplete, made to the One who is faithful.

For a psalm that speaks of all the earth to praise God, this particular last portion of the psalm becomes very personal, focused on the psalmist himself. Its as if the psalmist couldn’t help but to take his own counsel and to speak of the awesome deeds God had performed in his own life, and the resultant obedience that grows out of this awesome deed. I assume it was an awesome deed for the vow is quite extensive. Not only are there multiple types of sacrifice (bull and goat) but there seems to be multiple animals for each sacrifice.

Not only is the quantity high, but the quality is high also. These animals are fattened (vs 15), speaking of the health and worth of each sacrifice.

The psalmist offered burnt offerings, which were a voluntary sacrifice, a sacrifice that spoke of devotion to God. Although his vow may have been given in the heat of the moment, his devotion was long term, deep and according the the instructions provided by God.

Yet in all of this vow keeping, the psalmist does not forget that it is God that is the greater One in the relationship. In our next post, the psalmist will speak of some of the deeper, internal actions the psalmist went through, and the work of God related to his heart.

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My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 66:8 Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard,
Psalm 66:9 who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.
Psalm 66:10 For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
Psalm 66:11 You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
Psalm 66:12 you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

Up to this point in the psalm, some may think that the believers life is described as all rosey, full of cotton candy, chocolate balls and sweet gummies.

Yet to praise God for His awesome deeds is not to imply that the believer has no problems, no trials, no troubles. His deeds are awesome on their own merits, and His awesome deeds are performed for us in the midst of our pain, our suffering, our self inflicted trials and rebellion.

He rescues us from our own foolishness at times, and sometimes He allows the consequences of our foolishness to work a better life into us. The psalmist states in verse 10 that God tests us. This should not surprise any believer, for it is in the testing that we come to know of His faithfulness and of our weakness, for if we do not trust in His power, we ultimately fail, and continue to suffer through our foolish decisions. If we trust Him in the midst of the trial, in the midst of His test for us, we grow as a believer, we can confidence in His power and love, we leave behind a good witness to others, and eventually, we find ourselves in an abundant place, a place of expansion and wonder, a place of freedom to obey and a desire to follow.

His test for you may be very difficult, may be crushing you, bring tears to your eyes and a pain in your heart. The test may be through the fire or through the water, but the psalmist wants to remind us that

…He brought us out to a place of abundance.

He is a delivering God, One who seeks to bring us to a place of abundance, though through pain, and suffering at times. We must remember He is the One with wisdom, He is the One who has all knowledge.

Notice the psalmist returns to the “we/us”. As the ancients followed and suffered, us moderns are also called to follow, and possibly suffer. But the end is the same for us as it was for them.

We will come to a place of abundance. Or better said, we will come to have life abundantly and with the One who knows us best.

May His name be praised, even in our trials. May we speak out loud of His awesome deeds, even in the midst of hard lessons!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 66:5 Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
Psalm 66:6 He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him,
Psalm 66:7 who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations– let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

How is it that the psalmist invites his current audience to come and see the awesome deeds of God and then refer to actions the Lord performed hundreds of years before they were born? Psalm 66:6 goes so far as to say “There did we rejoice in him”.

Is the psalmist merely speaking in the editorial we, as referring to the entire nation of Israel? If so, this still does not address the time difference from the psalmists audience and the work being referred to.

Is the psalmist describing the ability of the group he is addressing with a past deed of God? He refers to “them” going through the river on foot, and us, his current audience rejoicing.

Why the difference in pronouns?

In my opinion (only my opinion) the psalmist is wanting to connect the existing audience with those who experienced the deed of God, and remind all that though an act of God may be performed at a particular point in time, it’s benefits extend throughout time immemorial. It is for those who follow behind to enter into this benefit, though they may not have seen, heard, felt, touched, sensed or got caught up in the experience.

The psalmist speaks of the deliverance of the children of Israel through both the Red Sean and the Jordan River, immediately changing the topic to how God rules over the nations. God saves and God guides, God delivers and God directs.

Again, the psalmist caps off his short message with a reference to the rebellious, that they do not exalt themselves. Though some may consider this a command, and it may be, and should be obeyed, I sense the psalmist is giving counsel for the sake of helping the rebellious. Not so much as threatening, but for the rebellious to consider the great deed of God and to compare themselves in reality, to live in truth.

Consider the awesome deeds of God, and in doing so, the self exaltation we crave will evaporate before His throne.

May we experience a humility that keeps us from the self appointed exaltation we so often seek. Please God – help your people to know your awesome deeds, to enter into the benefit of your work on our behalf, though we fought you all the way!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

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