Psalm 28 is an interesting Psalm where the writer moves from an unknown threat to a song of thanks and praise. The “pit” is a metaphor for death or Sheol (cf. Job 7:9; Psalm 30:3; Psalm 88:6; Psalm 143:7). The writer struggles to escape the silence of God. How many times in our troubles do we feel like God is not there for us? Yet, the Psalmist cries out to God to hear him (Psalm 28:1-5). He is concerned about experiencing the ultimate punishment of wrongdoers. The Psalmist apparently is in worship and calls out for help and lifts his hands to God’s most holy sanctuary. Makes me think of the inadequacy of our contemporary worship experiences that often lack this type of sacrifice. We gather to worship to fulfill our religious duty, while the Psalmist gathers to cry out to God for help in a concern over substance (death) than trivia (our wants). The Psalmist is looking for justice and I wonder if his friends would have counseled him not to judge or that he needed to be more inclusive of his enemies. The Psalmist is not concerned about our contemporary feelings or political correctness. He sees clearly the wrongs people have done against God (Psalm 28:4-5). The bottom line is that God hears (Psalm 28:6) and the writer moves from his concern about the pit to praising God. I wonder if our worship experience moves us this way? Do we worship in fear of something? Is the conclusion a movement from fear of the pit to praise of God? The psalmist ends in Psalm 28:7-9 in praise. He recognizes God’s protection, he offers a song of thanks, he moves to seeing that God is the strength for all his people and not just an individual, he focuses on salvation, and he sees God as a shepherd carrying his people (cf. Isaiah 40:11).
Posts Tagged ‘Death’
Day 229: Psalm 28 — From the Pit to Praise
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010Day 139: Luke 24:1-12 — “If a man dies, will he live again?”
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010Luke answers the age old philosophical question, “If a man dies, will he live again?” (Job 14:14). He answers the questions in five words in Greek, translated in the English Standard Version, “He is not here, but has risen (Luke 24:6).” Jesus was dead or at least that was what the religious establishment thought. So, they pushed Jesus aside and went on with religion as usual. They held their services and made their sacrifices. They continued to meet and debated over the law. They would drop a few alms for the poor and feel good about themselves. No more having to listen to a proclaimed Messiah that looked forward to the coming of a kingdom whose rules for admission and the boundaries of whose fellowship they did not control. No longer would they have to debate over this man who ate with tax collectors and rebuked those who gave fine dinners for their respectable friends. However, Jesus’ was no longer dead and their lives were about to be turned upside down with the coming kingdom of the church.
Luke tells us that the women were dutifully serving Jesus in the best way they knew how. They had prepared spices to anoint his body and had gone to the tomb early to finish the burial, only to be met with the challenge, “Why do you look for the living among the dead (Luke 24:5)?” In what ways do we continue to look for the living Lord among the dead? Do struggles and questions lead us to the place that we just shun Jesus like the religious leaders or do we continue to serve Jesus in the best way we know how? Jesus was not in the tomb but He was found among the grieving, among his disciples, and later in various places, and ultimately at the “right hand of God.”
“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” In the midst of tending to the necessary chores, especially the things that need to be done in the hard times, the women were met by the unexpected experience of God’s grace. Sometimes faith means going on and tending to the necessary chores that need to be done in our lives. Be faithful in the tasks that are ours and do the necessary tasks, for in them we, too, may be bearers of the good news of the day: “He is not here, but has risen!”
Day 117: I Samuel 2:25 — “It was the will of the Lord to put them to death.”
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
I love this passage! It is one of the passages in the Old Testament that shows the “good news” and “grace” of our God. You see there is a false teaching that has infiltrated our world, our lives, and our church. It is the false teaching that God is not just. You see it in those who would teach we have grace without consequences. These are code words for “God is not just”. If this passage of God’s will to put someone to death shocks you, it is a good sign that you have been infiltrated by this false teaching. I would suggest that you do not understand justice. You do not understand God. You do not understand the creator. This is a story of sin and its consequences. Eli’s sons are sinful and even Eli warns his sons (1 Samuel 2:22-25). I love this passage because just like so many other sin and consequences stories if you look for it there is judgment and the grace of God involved and vice versa. We, like Eli’s sons, deserve death but in 1 Samuel 2:26, we see there is one who is growing in stature with God and man. This is grace and hope. In the midst of judgment God has a plan to redeem us.
I love this passage because in God’s justice, we are all deserving death, yet God our creator chooses to prolong our relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. God sends His son through history to save us and pay the price for our crimes. I deserve death but the good news is that I am still alive.
However, we must not be fooled…having a relationship with God is both demanding and dangerous. Those who would serve God place themselves under both God’s grace and God’s judgment. I love this story because God is just. I don’t have to make sense of a world gone bad but I know who is in control and who is worthy to be worshiped. I don’t have to seek a warm fuzzy feeling to know God. To know God is to be judged by Him and to be judged by Him is to receive His grace. Grace and judgment are intertwined and to try to separate one from the other is foolishness. Do we really want justice (1 Samuel 2:25) or have we gotten used to injustice (we should be able to sin like Eli’s sons with no consequences)?