Today is the final of our readings and discussions about the category of Psalms under the title of “imprecatory.” Again, an “imprecation” is not a word we have likely used in general conversation this week. By definition it means “an offensive word or phrase that people say when they are angry.”

So an imprecatory Psalm involves the verbalized passions of a writer (often David) who has been effectively righteous and living for God, but who has suffered unjustly, and there does not seem to be a ready remedy. And hence they are calling out to God to bring down a just judgment upon the head of the offender(s).

Are you able to enter into the feeling of these writers? If not, let me see if the following helps you get into their sandals just a bit …

All you have to do right now is look at the international news. Check out this group of terrorists called ISIS and look into some of their behaviors. Google search “ISIS atrocities” or “Sinjar, Iraq.” I cannot even bring myself to type out the words as to what is occurring there to minority Muslim and Christian groups. Executions, beheadings, crucifixions … including women and children … heads being put on display on posts, etc. That is happening right there, right now as I write this and as you see it posted here on August 15, 2014.

How does that make you feel?  Imagine this was happening to your family and countrymen. What would you want to see done in terms of a just retribution upon those who had committed such atrocities? Would you wish upon them the same experience they have inflicted on others? If you put that into a statement, you would be making an “imprecation.” And in tha context, you would likely also put it into a prayer to the Lord to ask why this is being allowed… seeking and promoting that God would act in just judgment.

Our Psalm today is from a very different era than most we have read heretofore. It is from some 400 years after the time of David, when many from Israel have been taken from the area of Palestine and into captivity to Babylon. They experienced ISIS-like atrocities from the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar.

The Psalm pictures some Jews sitting along the river there – a beautiful spot, only a couple hundred miles from where the ISIS events spoken above are happening – and reflecting upon their homeland and Jerusalem. Their captors are taunting them to sing a song of joy, which they cannot do in their unpleasant circumstances.

Psalm 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.

The writer and his associates cry out to God, asserting their loyal hearts for Zion and home, mentioning also the despicable Edomites (descendants of Esau) and their complicit role in what had befallen them.

7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!”

You may remember from our previous “Uncharted” series on the Minor Prophets that we wrote about the little book of Obadiah – who prophesied against Edom, and you can reference that HERE.

From that devotional in January, I wrote: “Obadiah prophesied (accurately as it would turn out) that Edom would not stand up for Judah when the time of destruction of Jerusalem came at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. Not only did they not defend their former relatives, they participated in a variety of ways in assisting the decimation of God’s people… even gloating over it.”

And then in the final two verses of Psalm 137, the author turns to strong words of imprecation.

8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Wow, those are harsh words! Among the most blunt in all of Scripture. If you go to any site (of which there are many) by skeptics who mock the Bible as ridiculous and assert their view of the silliness of believing in the myth or fairytale of a loving God, you will see this verse included.

Certain nations and peoples were so constituently evil that God did desire and promote their total elimination, including the children who would be the next generations. Israel failed to obey God at several junctures in this regard, and they would pay a terrible price for it later. These were people who had completely rejected God and who were entirely given over to evil pursuits.

A part of me was ready to set out and write about what a different millennia this was and to put these harsh words in that context. But, again, referencing current events, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Sin and evil doesn’t change that much, but neither does God’s grace – open to those who will believe and trust in the one true God, be they from Babylon in 600 BC, or from ISIS in 2014.

Our Jack Russell Terrier hates rabbits. To her, a rabbit is the bane of animal life on this planet. To see it is to want to kill it. It must die! When she sees one in our yard, she claws and yelps at the door to be let out to go get it. So it is great fun to pump her up a little bit before opening the door with a “go sic ‘em” instigation. I’m not sure she has ever actually caught one, but running and chasing it is 99% of the fun.

Yes Dave Hadigian, I realize this is a Baylor U. slogan!

A lot of folks look at the Imprecatory Psalms as writers who are encouraging God to “go sic ‘em!”  And there is some truth to that. The desire of these writers is to see God execute righteous judgment on those who have been evil.

That seems very cold and not in keeping with the concept of divine love. But who would want a God who just loved and loved and never judged or brought retribution upon those who have committed evil deeds? A loving God would display that love through judgment on wrong-doers.

For example, what would you think of our government and country if we never investigated and sought to bring to justice the parties responsible for the 9/11 attacks? Would you have supported our leadership saying something like, “Well, let’s just love them more and not do anything to make them any angrier at us. Let’s send them some more international aid.”

We can see in this Psalm a sort of two-sided problem on the matter of judgment. From a national standpoint, the nation of Israel was being pounded in the days of this writer … by nations surrounding Israel who were committing atrocities and waging war as well against the God of Israel. The writer desired to see God intervene and prove and glorify Himself as the one true God.

But God didn’t seem to be showing up very quickly, and this was unsettling and confusing for the writer. And so, the Psalmist here is speculating that God is angry at the nation of Israel and is thus not defending his own people. As you read the Psalm, it would help to put verses five and eight together. The writer is asking how long will God continue in his anger at his own people – who had broken the terms of their covenant with God, and were thus experiencing his wrath.

As parents, we have all had those occasions where we made a conscious decision to not rescue our children from a problem in their lives, but rather, for their own good and learning, we allowed them to experience the consequences.

The problem in this Psalm is not a lot different than in the book of Habakkuk … when the prophet found out that God was going to use the evil Babylonians to judge his own people. This confused the prophet who simply asked (in so many words), “Why are you using them for judgment? We may be bad, but they’re far worse! How can you use the bully on the block to judge and beat up your own children?”

Whether it be then or now, it is appropriate and proper for a loving God to exhibit love by judging those who are opposed to truth and the building of God’s kingdom. And it is appropriate for us to speak to God about our perceptions of the prevalence of evil in our world and in our lives.

Yet at the same time, we should always remember that we have him to talk to and to trust in confidently because we have been, in spite of our sinful rebellion against him, a people who have been forgiven and redeemed through the blood of Christ. We did not earn it; we did not deserve it. We only even know about it because of his grace and work; we were not looking for it and are not to be credited because we were smart to accept a great deal. It was all of grace.

Even in difficult times, we must pray in trust that God is faithful and true … that he will ultimately judge evil. And in the meantime, we should grow in trust and come to know Him more, learning lessons that are often only learned in the crucible of life’s experiences.

Psalm 79

A psalm of Asaph.

1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
2 They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.
3 They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.
4 We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.

5 How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; 7 for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.

8 Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.
9 Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.
11 May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.
12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord.
13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise.

Quite a few years ago there was a controversy that hit the national news about how a very prominent leader of a large evangelical organization said that a particular non-Christian religious group should not have its leaders called upon for public prayers, because God did not “hear” those prayers. His point was that their efforts were worthless, because they did not believe in Jesus. The remark made such a stir that even President Reagan was asked to render his opinion on it.

Another evangelical leader put the whole thing into a better context, asking what was meant by “hear.”  If it meant to say if God knew what was said, then yes, he did hear it. But if what was meant was if God acknowledged those prayers as from his own people, then no, they were not “heard” in the same way of being honored.

God hears everything, for he is omniscient. And the Psalm writer today talks about his own desire that God would “hear” his cry – meaning that God would acknowledge it. But he also writes in reference to saying that he knows God hears (is knowledgeable) about what the writer’s evil enemies say and do. Therefore, the Psalmist is certain that God will rightly see the entire situation and honor and bless him in the midst of his distress.

A central question that surrounds the odd and difficult category of the Imprecatory Psalms that we are looking at all this week is this: Why does God allow injustice to so often prevail in an unpunished state?

If God never allowed injustice or anything that is wrong or evil, well, we wouldn’t have a world to live in anymore. Of course, there is going to be a final day of reckoning, and there will be a new heaven and new earth that is devoid of injustice. It ain’t right now, however.

We will all experience periods of life where injustice makes us a victim to some extent. And like in this Psalm, it may well come through the hands of someone with whom we had a very close relationship at one time – maybe even in the family of faith. Untruths, half-truths, non-contextualized things may be said against us, and we then find ourselves in a very precarious position.

And in general, it may just seem that evil and godless people around us appear to prosper, while God’s people are harmed and distressed. But remember, Jesus said that in this world we would have tribulation.

The pain of being a victim of injustice that surrounds and afflicts us may make us want to do what the writer here pictures – become a dove and fly away to some remote hiding place. But we can’t run from it; we must do what David did – cry out to God and trust him, knowing that he will ultimately deliver us.

There were three points I made in Sunday’s message about the apparent prevailing nature of injustice:

1. We are surprised by it and it seems so wrong, but we often fail to realize what a total mess sin has made of this world and our lives in it.
2. Even in a fallen world, there is a general principle at work that truth rises to the surface and evil leads to destruction and bad results (see the final verse in today’s Ps. 55).
3. God does ultimately judge all evil, so injustice only prevails in a temporary sense.

God does see and hear and know everything; and we can trust him, even in the midst of seasons where injustice abounds around us and we experience its pain.

Psalm 55

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David.

1 Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; 2 hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught 3 because of what my enemy is saying, because of the threats of the wicked; for they bring down suffering on me and assail me in their anger.

4 My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away and stay in the desert; 8 I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.”

9 Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words, for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they prowl about on its walls; malice and abuse are within it.
11 Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets.

12 If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide.
13 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, 14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers.

15 Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the realm of the dead, for evil finds lodging among them.

16 As for me, I call to God, and the Lord saves me.
17 Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.
18 He rescues me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.
19 God, who is enthroned from of old, who does not change—he will hear them and humble them, because they have no fear of God.

20 My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.
21 His talk is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.

22 Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.
23 But you, God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of decay; the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you.

Today we pick up with another Psalm credited to David, and with it we see again (as we’ll see much of this week) that it is a song about looking to God during a time of life shrouded in great distress. And as with most of these Psalms, we don’t know exactly what the historical situation was; it could have been one of dozens of terribly difficult circumstances in David’s life.

Throughout this summer study through the book of Psalms, we have been talking about the different categorizations of the songs in God’s Playlist: praise Psalms, wisdom Psalms, worship Psalms, etc. And like today, some may fit within a couple of categories.

Psalm 35 is both a lament Psalm and an imprecatory Psalm. We have studied laments already this summer, and I’ll go into greater discussion on the full meaning of imprecatory Psalms as the week progresses. Briefly, it involves a calling down of righteous judgment upon those who are evil and stand opposed to the writer, and by association against God.

It makes sense that both of these elements be together, for the writer will lament about the problem and its associated injustice, while also calling upon God for action against the oppressor.

I am sure it is impossible that any person reading this devotional has escaped some season of life where it would seem that God surely is waiting a terribly long time to answer an obvious problem or injustice. In the midst of the sorrows and challenges of this world, God welcomes us to call to him in our distress and trust him for answers and relief. Yet he works on a different time table than we do, and his purposes are higher and greater than our own. God even allows us to suffer in order that we may gain values we would never otherwise learn.

It is natural for us to envy people who are “at the top.” It would seem that to live at the top of life’s food chain would be totally awesome – to be in a position of comfort, wealth, power, or privilege. This would appear to present a life free of common worries and human anxieties.

But David was at the top for portions of his life. He was the king, the chosen one of God … even being called a man after God’s own heart. Of biblical characters, perhaps only his son Solomon had a more externally blessed life. These are guys who possessed everything.

But a problem with being at the top and “walking the point” through life is that you are a target of the plots of jealous, envious, and otherwise evil people. Surely David must have had times where he thought, “this king thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

There is no successful independence from God; we are all dependent – even the King of Israel who was especially loved and blessed by God. So don’t fight it. Trust him. Bring him your troubles and difficulties. Continue walking with him through the dark times and the pain. For a day always comes when, if you’ve been faithful, you will see God’s vindication in your life, and you will be able to sing his praise.

Psalm 35

Of David.

1 Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.
2 Take up shield and armor; arise and come to my aid.
3 Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Say to me, “I am your salvation.”

4 May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay.
5 May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away; 6 may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

7 Since they hid their net for me without cause and without cause dug a pit for me, 8 may ruin overtake them by surprise—may the net they hid entangle them, may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in his salvation.
10 My whole being will exclaim, “Who is like you, Lord?  You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

11 Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about.
12 They repay me evil for good and leave me like one bereaved.
13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered, 14 I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother.
15 But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; assailants gathered against me without my knowledge. They slandered me without ceasing.
16 Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked; they gnashed their teeth at me.

17 How long, Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.
18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among the throngs I will praise you.
19 Do not let those gloat over me who are my enemies without cause; do not let those who hate me without reason maliciously wink the eye.
20 They do not speak peaceably, but devise false accusations against those who live quietly in the land.
21 They sneer at me and say, “Aha! Aha! With our own eyes we have seen it.”

22 Lord, you have seen this; do not be silent. Do not be far from me, Lord.
23 Awake, and rise to my defense! Contend for me, my God and Lord.
24 Vindicate me in your righteousness, Lord my God; do not let them gloat over me.
25 Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!” or say, “We have swallowed him up.”

26 May all who gloat over my distress be put to shame and confusion; may all who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame and disgrace.
27 May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, “The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.”

28 My tongue will proclaim your righteousness, your praises all day long.

I have a heart for the “unconverted.”  By that I don’t simply mean those outside the walls of traditional Christianity—I mean those who have spent years within those walls, but have been converted to Christendom and not Jesus himself.  In a famous address on the Church in a post-everything world, Pastor and author Tim Keller suggested that for many, Christianity has become like an inoculation.  When we inoculate someone against a disease, we do so by introducing a small amount of the virus into the system.  The person’s natural immune system takes over, producing antibodies to stave off the “real” infection.  In much the same way, Keller argues, many within the walls of the church have heard just enough about Jesus to become immune—their minds and hearts produce antibodies to stave off the “real” message of the gospel—and so they become merely religious converts rather than genuine Christian disciples.

This is why the story of Luke 24 is so significant.  The story takes place after the resurrection, though before the disciples become fully aware of this good news.  What they’re feeling is only disappointment.  And so we join two hangdog travelers on the road to Emmaus:

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us.  They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”  (Luke 24:13-24)

Though their hopes had been raised in Jesus’ life, they lay shattered in his death.  What was their hope?  Israel’s world was one of fragile harmony between Jewish custom and Roman oppression.  They hoped for a Savior who would tip the balance in their favor.  All they got was another martyr.  Jesus looks at them and says, Your dreams are too small. 

25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

Jesus understands something quite elemental: the Bible—the whole Bible—is a story about Him.  The reason these travelers ached with disappointment is because they failed to realize that week’s events had not been a tragedy, but a divine necessity.

Lesslie Newbigin, former missionary to India, says that Western Christianity suffers for lack of story.  The way to reverse the inoculation to the gospel, he says, is to learn to see Christianity as a story that connects to every facet of life:

“The true understanding of the Bible is that it tells a story of which my life is a part, the story of God’s tireless, loving, wrathful, inexhaustible patience with the human family, and of our unbelief, blindness, disobedience.  To accept this story as the truth of the human story…commits me personally to a life of discernment and obedience in the new circumstances of each day.”

The reason that you and I often struggle through our Old Testament devotions is because we fail to see Jesus on every page.  We open the Bible for its usefulness; not its beauty.  We search its pages for solutions to our problems; not for a greater glimpse of the Savior’s face.  And when we do this, we fail to grasp the radical power of the gospel in every word.  Why would psalmists write epic poems—like Psalm 119—unless their hearts quickened to every word on the page?  Such was the experience of these early disciples, who finally recognized Jesus when He broke bread before them—symbolically reminding them of the body broken just days before.

28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going.  He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

When we see Jesus on every page, our hearts burn within our chests.  I leave you only with a video from Tim Keller, who borrows the “true and better” motif of reformed theology to show the various ways that the Bible—from beginning to end—is an extended biography of the Savior.

“Everybody serves somebody.”  So says Bob Dylan, arguably one of the greatest prophetic minds of today’s world.  God’s Word calls us to total allegiance, but let’s not forget that ultimately, all of us serve someone—or something.  To worship something is to devote your allegiance—the only question is whether this allegiance will yield delight or despair.

As we survey the scope of Psalm 119, we hear the psalmist describe the various ways that scriptural devotion yields immediate, positive results.  Mind you, it would be naïve to suggest Scripture’s truest value is found in personal blessing.  But as we grow closer to the heart of God, we naturally experience His radical goodness in the form of joy.

THE BENEFITS OF SCRIPTURE

The psalmist describes at least four specific benefits of Scripture.

• Liberation: When God is my master, “service is perfect freedom” (v. 96), and in verse 46, “liberty” is found in God’s precepts, not the absence of them. Verse 133 clarifies this by discussing the way God’s word breaks sin’s “dominion” as we learn to walk in step with God’s commands.

• Light: The psalm mentions “my feet” and “my path” (v. 105), highlighting the power of the Word to guide. In v. 130 this guidance is applies to the realm of the intellect, emphasizing a discerning power (cf. 34, 73, 125, 144, 169). The emphasis is that God’s wisdom is superior to the enlightenment of man.

• Life: This term becomes most prominent toward the psalm’s end—appear 5 times between verses 144-159. Kidner writes: “Sometimes the link between Scripture and the gift of life consists of a promise which the singer claims (25, 50, 107, 154); sometimes it is that the very keeping of God’s laws is restorative (37) and life-giving (93); since they turn one’s eyes and steps towards him.”  (Kidner, Psalms, 2:421)  Other phrases such as “revive me” (25) or “give me life” (149, 159) reflect this same idea.

• Stability: Verse 23 hints at a threatening instability—but Scripture fills an otherwise distracted mind. Verses 49-50 highlight the comfort and hope offered by God’s Word (cf. 76, 89-92, 95, 114-118, 165).

LIVING BY THE BOOK

But, you might ask, there are other ways of living outside the confines of the Bible.  Our world is an endless spiritual marketplace.  Surely we can simply draw from a variety of sources to find wisdom?

In 2008, yoga teacher Robyn Okrant undertook a project that would put this theory to the test.  She spent the entire year doing everything Oprah Winfrey suggested.  In 2011, her book—based on her experiences—was released.

In an interview with Forbes magazine, she comments:

 [The experience] was incredibly draining, and it made me really sad. It made me sad to think of how many hours I’ve lost–even when I wasn’t doing the project–to blindly following advice and listening to what other people tell me I should be doing to create my own happiness. I wondered how many hours other women have lost in the course of their lives to that.

Contrast this experience with that of A.J. Jacobs, who chose to spend a year seeking to obey every command of the Bible.  While culturally Jewish, Jacobs claims to be an agnostic regarding his spirituality. Yet when he published his book My Year of Living Biblically, he writes that the experience changed his view of the Bible:

 It was an amazing, enlightening and life-changing year. It was a spiritual journey that moved from irreverence to reverence. You see, I grew up in a totally secular home. No religion at all. I’m officially Jewish, but I’m Jewish in the way the Olive Garden is Italian. Which is to say, not very. But in recent years, I decided I needed to see what I was missing. Was I neglecting something crucial to being human, like someone who goes through life without ever hearing Beethoven or falling in love? I dived into the Bible headfirst. And lo, it was awesome. I was surprised by how relevant much of the Bible’s ancient wisdom was to my 21st-century life. I was surprised by how baffled I was by other passages. I was surprised by how a lifelong agnostic like I am could find solace in prayer. I was surprised by how the Bible revealed my flaws and challenged me to be a better person. (from an article appearing in Relevant magazine http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/deeper-walk/features/1454-my-biblical-year)

You may dismiss the Bible as a product of a primitive, superstitious era.  Yet these experiences only testify to the timeless truth contained in its pages.  Live life for yourself, and you will find only misery.  Live life by the Book, and you will find electrifying joy.

If we survey the entirety of worldwide literature, we find few books like the Bible.  Yes, there are many great literary masterpieces, many complex tomes of philosophy, but few books have had as lasting impact on the history of civilization than the Bible.  And there’s a good reason: the Bible is the only book that reads us.  Yes, other books offer wisdom and insight into the human condition, but only the Bible has a unique way of penetrating the human soul.  It’s no wonder that the writer of Hebrews described the Bible as something “living and active…piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

As we read Psalm 119 together, what are some of the ways that the psalmist describes the effects of scripture on the human heart?  In his commentary on psalms, Derek Kidner suggests that three distinct experiences emerge:

• DELIGHT

We see this first described in verses 14 and 16:

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. (Psalm 119:14)

 

I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. (Psalm 119:16)

Yet this quality emerges throughout the psalm (cf. vv 24, 47, 70, 77, 92, 143, 162, 174).   The psalm’s tone is one of scholarly pursuit, yet it is simultaneously more.  Every word is deeply personal, and echoes a devotion and relational quality not found ascribed to other forms of literature.

• LOVE

The love of the psalmist runs deeper than the text itself: the love is a devotion not to the Words but to the Speaker—God.  This is why the psalmist can write that the words are “sweeter than honey” (103), and make him “pant” (131) (cf. 47, 48, 97, 113, 119, 127, 132, 140, 159, 163, 165, 167).

• AWE

God’s Word makes the psalmist “stand in awe” (161)—but he also says that “the fear of you makes my flesh creep” (120).  Related to this is the fact that God is righteous (7, 75, 123, 138, 144. 172), dependable (43, 142), and as unshakeable as heaven and earth (89-91).  Scripture itself reflects this character, meaning that it is inexhaustible (18, 27, 129).

MERE WORDS?

Today’s world has come to drive a wedge between truth and personal experience.  For instance, in the last century Ludwig Wittgenstein observed that human language is inadequate to describe the taste and aroma of coffee.  Therefore, how can language ever capture the nature of God?  Now, in a very real sense, this is true.  I remember sharing this while speaking at an event a few years ago—and one of the audience members raised his cup in the air to voice a hearty Amen.  It’s true, isn’t it?  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then experience is infinitely greater.  But even if language proves inadequate to describe the nature of coffee, it remains adequate for giving you directions to Starbucks.  Similarly, human language may be equally adequate for pointing people to God, that they can “taste and see that the Lord is good.”  Doctrine can never replace experience, but it categorizes it, offers it a framework so that we can better understand and navigate the world around us.

Christianity’s most shocking claim isn’t that God exists; it’s that He communicates.  The Bible begins with the story of creation, where God created “the heavens and the earth” with a Word from His mouth (cf. Ps 33:6).  In theology, we know this as revelation—the means by which God “reveals” His nature and purpose.  And while “the heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps 19:1), it is in Scripture that God’s Word is most specifically articulated.

So when we come to Psalm 119, we find the unnamed psalmist singing a song of praise about the very nature of this inspired Word.  As we observed yesterday, the psalm is an “acrostic” poem of 22 sections of 8 lines each—each of the 22 sections corresponding to a sequential letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  In his study of this psalm, David Noel Freedman calls it“endlessly inventive,” though says there is “no more order than in a kaleidoscope.” (Freedman, Psalm 119, p. 87).  And this is true.  But our aim this week is to surface some of the features of this poem so that we can gain a better understanding of God’s Word.  Today we start by examining the terms that the psalmist uses to describe the Bible itself.

IN A WORD

The psalmist uses a total of eight precise words to describe God’s Word:

• “Law” (Hebrew: tora): This is probably the most familiar term—used about 25 times (vv. 1, 18, 29, 34, 44, 51, 53, 55, 61, 70, 72, 77, 85, 92, 97, 109, 113, 126, 136, 142, 150, 153, 163, 165, 174). The connection to “teach” (119:33) emphasizes the connection to God.  The Law is meant for obeying God—not merely intellectual satisfaction.  The Law may be used to refer to God’s specific statutes, to the Pentateuch, or to Scripture as a whole (in John 10:34, Jesus uses Law in to refer to the entire OT).

• “Word,” sometimes “Promise” (dabar, also imra): This is the preferred term to refer to the commandments of God. The word “Word” appears roughly 39 times (vv. 4, 5, 8, 17, 34, 44, 56, 57, 60, 67, 88, 100, 101, 129, 134, 136, 145, 158, 167, 168).  The term is general, but it elicits a variety of responses.

• “Testimonies” (‘edot): This term occurs 23 times, always plural with the exception of v. 88 (vv. 2, 14, 22, 24, 31, 36, 46, 59, 79, 88, 95, 99,111, 119, 125, 129, 138, 144, 146, 152, 157, 167, 168). This was a legal term that had both positive and negative connotations. Negatively, Israel was commanded to place the book of the law next to the Ark of the Covenant, ‘that it may be there as a witness against you’ (Dt 31:26).  Positively, the idea of “testimony” suggests the reliability of God’s Word.

• “Precepts” (piqqudim): This term appears 21 times (vv. 4, 15, 27, 40, 45, 56, 63, 69, 78, 87, 93, 94, 100, 104, 110, 128, 134, 141, 159, 168, 173)—always in the plural. This is a word used to refer to some type of officer or overseer.  Jeremiah 23:2 describes that God will “attend to [poqed]” the wayward shepherds.  This means that God’s Word impacts every detail of our lives.

• “Statutes” (huqqim): This term appears 21 times (vv. 5, 8, 12, 23, 26, 33, 48, 54, 64, 68, 71, 80, 83, 112, 117, 118, 124, 135, 145, 155, 171). This term speaks of the binding force of scripture and its durative character—Isaiah 30:8 speaks of God’s Word enduring forever.

• “Commandments” (miswot): Occurs 22 times (vv. 6, 10, 19, 21, 32, 35, 47, 48, 60, 66, 73, 86, 96, 98, 115, 127, 131, 143, 151, 166, 172, 176). This term simply refers to the Bible’s ability to give direct orders.

• “Judgments” or “Ordinances” (mispatim): Occurs 23 times in the plural (vv. 7, 13, 20, 30, 39, 43, 52, 62, 75, 91, 102, 106, 108, 120, 137, 156, 160, 164, 175) and four times in the singular (84, 121, 132, 149)—though in verse 84 the term is not used of the Word of God. These are most often used in a civil/legal sense—that of a wise judge presiding over His people (cf. Ex 21:1; Dt 17:8-9).  Scripture offers a glimpse of the fair dealings between God and man.

• “Way” (derek): Used 13 times (vv. 1, 3, 5, 14, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 37, 59, 168). This term describes a pattern of life that God lays out.

THE TRUE AND BETTER WORD

In the  New Testament, John begins his biography of Jesus by cribbing the opening lines of Genesis: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1).  What is John saying?  John is saying that Jesus is the exact revelation of God.  This is why the unnamed writer of Hebrews would later say that “Long ago…God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2).  What the Bible reveals in text, Jesus reveals in flesh and blood and sinew.

In his excellent book A Clear and Present Word, Mark A. Thompson adopts a scholarly approach to the subject of language and communication.  God’s Word, he says, can never be separated from God’s redemptive work in history.  But this also means something significant: if Jesus is the embodiment of this Word, then it changes the way the Bible is seen culturally.  How?  In today’s post-everything world, our greatest prophets insist that there are no absolutes, only perceptions.  Language, whether in a sacred book or otherwise, is always colored by the agenda of its culture of origin.  We can only read the Bible as reflective of a primitive, pre-scientific era.  It’s poetry may be moving, it’s stories beautiful, but we can’t possibly apply it to everyday life.  But if Jesus is the exact embodiment of the Bible, then this changes everything.  I can “deconstruct” a text; I can’t deconstruct a person.  So even if I remain skeptical regarding God’s Word embedded in Scripture, I remain confronted by God’s Word embodied in Jesus.

For Christ’s followers, this provides added reason for celebration and worship, because the Bible bursts free from being merely a collection of precepts, but a love song that’s been playing before the needle ever dropped.

In tomorrow’s post, we’ll examine more thoroughly the ways the Bible has an impact on the lives of those who trust in its Author.

If you seek to follow Jesus, you know what it’s like to be a stranger in a strange land.  Today we live in what’s often called a “post-Christian” America.  Though the western world has never had an official religion, a generation or so ago we inhabited a society whose arts and ethics were largely shaped by Christian values.  No more.  Now, Christianity is seen as quaint, outdated—the relic of a “Leave-it-to-Beaver” style America, where women were relegated to the kitchen and blacks to the back of the bus.  We’ve moved past this era; why would anyone wish to go back again?

So it’s only understandable that those who pursue the values of the Bible would be looked down on—at best as religious fanatics; at worst as repressive bigots.

Perhaps it’s surprising, but one of the most beloved psalms of the Bible arose out of a culture not entirely unlike our own.  Psalm 119 is a famously lengthy psalm, one that has fascinated scholars and preachers alike.  Yet no one felt they could ever do justice to its rich depth.  As early as the fourth century, Augustine shied away from commenting on this psalm, feeling it required not “an expositor, but only a reader and a listener.”

Structurally, the psalm follows a basic pattern.  The psalm contains a total of 22 sections of 8 lines each.  It’s also an acrostic poem.  If you were to read the psalm in the original Hebrew, you’d notice that each of the 22 sections begins with a sequential letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  So we can actually think of this psalm as forming something of the “A to Z” of scripture’s impact in our life.

And yes, the subject of the psalm is the Bible itself.  It is the lengthiest and most renowned example of the “Torah” psalms—songs sung in celebration of God’s revealed truth in His Word.  In his commentary on psalms, Walter Brueggeman writes:

“Clearly this psalm probes beyond the simplistic formulation of Psalm 1. A life of full obedience is not a conclusion of faith. It is a beginning point and an access to a life filled with many-sided communion with God.” (Walter Brueggeman, Psalms, p. 41)

But what do we know about the man that wrote this song?  Almost nothing.  This isn’t a song written by David; the author remains a mystery.  Still, the psalm hints at the life situation of the author—and the way he seemed to inhabit a hostile world, one where God’s truth was increasingly being dismissed as irrelevant.

In our week-long exploration of this magnificent psalm, we’ll be using Derek Kidner’s excellent commentary as something of a guide.  In his commentary, Kidner identifies three specific things we can learn about the psalmist’s situation:

1.)    AN ALIEN WORLD SHOULD SADDEN US, NOT SURPRISE US

Indeed, we are strangers in a strange land.  “It is time for the Lord to act,” he laments, “for your law has been broken” (Ps 119:126).  Clearly there was more than skepticism at work.  The psalmist’s neighbors seemed literally hell-bent on living their own way.  The psalmist calls them “double-minded” (Ps 119:113), meaning they lacked the singular commitment of God’s people.  They lay in wait “to destroy me” (Ps 119:95), and may have even been rooted in derision and slander (Ps 119:22, 23, 69, 85).  The psalmist’s reaction is simple, yet relatable:

My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law. (Ps 119:136)

As God’s people, we will find ourselves surrounded by men and women who live by their own set of rules—surely not God’s.  If we’re not careful, this can lead to a sense of moral alarm and outrage.  “Can you believe what the kids are doing these days?”  “I can’t believe that the government would allow ________________!”  And you can fill in the blank yourself.  The psalmist lived in far more threatening world than ours.  Yet his hands never clenched into fists.  Instead his eyes shed tears of compassion.  In his book The Next Christians, Gabe Lyons calls Christians to be “provoked, not offended,” meaning that we react to the moral decline of our world with love.  Yes, we must remain discerning.  But we also must remember that Jesus promised that the world we live in will get worse, not better (Matthew 24).

2.)    GOD’S PEOPLE LIVE IN AN ONGOING BATTLE

The psalmist laments that “the cords of the wicked ensare” him (Ps 119:61ff).  In verse 36, he asks:

 “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” (Ps 119:36)

And while the psalmist knows God’s commands (Ps 119:110), he later admits that they are hard to keep:

 “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.” (Ps 119:176)

God made the world so, so good.  Yet there is nothing good that man can’t bend toward his own selfish gain.  In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis suggests that the devil has no power to create—only pervert.  The reason temptation is so overwhelming is because Satan is a master of taking God’s good gifts and enticing us with them in ways or degrees that are inappropriate.  Sex, for example, is a beautiful gift meant to be shared by those who have committed their lives to one another in marriage.  Yet statistics show that this boundary has been repeatedly broken by those outside and inside the walls of traditional church.

We should therefore recognize the profound pull that sin has—even in the Godliest of people.  And we should similarly learn from this writer’s own brokenness, that there will be many battles for our hearts—battles that we often lose and give in to fleshly desire.  Though it’s a lifelong struggle, we can remain confident that at the cross, Jesus won the war—and His victory is credited to our account before God.

3.)    GOD’S PEOPLE PERSEVERE

Kidner characterizes the psalmist’s prevailing attitude as one of “quiet steadfastness.” In verse 44 the psalmist uses such words as “continually, forever and ever.” He presses on, still eager to learn (“give me understanding”) and to grow (“give me life”).   For many outside the church, Christianity must seem a beautiful dream.  It grants people hope, grants them courage in the face of suffering.  But it can be nothing more than that—a dream, a wishful story meant only to numb us to the harshness of our world.  It’s no wonder Marx so famously called religion the “opiate of the people”—implant people with false hope, he said, and they will come to tolerate even the vilest oppression.

But if the gospel is true, if Jesus truly rose from the dead, then Christianity moves from the realm of fantasy into the light of certainty.  The Bible is a story of how we can experience this same victory in our lives, that this harsh world we currently reside in will eventually be transformed into God’s paradise, where we can all experience God’s kingdom like never before.

So don’t lose hope.  Don’t be discouraged by the fact that you live in a world wholly opposed to God’s truth.  Because Jesus is the true and better psalmist.  He chose to leave the security of heaven where he—like the psalmist describes—would experience rejection, ridicule, and death.  But Jesus rose again, so that we might persevere with a new identity and a new hope.

In the next few days, we’ll unpack further the truths of this psalm, and explore the ways we can see the gospel in every letter of this beautiful piece.