First off, no…
Now that that is out of the way…
This morning, reading Psalm 108. Everything is praise, a little about deliverance, then back to praise…
Then…
Have you not rejected us, O God?
Wait… what???
Having spend the last month or so in the Psalms, this seems to be a constant theme: God is great and worthy of praise, and He is angry and has rejected us. Feels a lot like reading Catcher in the Rye… (I was pretty depressed reading that book).
It would be very easy to say, “Thank God there is a New Testament, that God is not like that anymore”. I know there are christians who never “go left” from Matthew, who don’t believe the First Testament is relevant to them… I think that goes too far in the wrong direction.
I had to read this a few more times, pray through it… Still don’t have “the answer”, but some things did come out:
- Psalm 108 has a Jacob feel to it. A, “I’m not letting you go until you bless me” kind of feel. David starts out saying, “my heart is steadfast”, and from the context it would seem he is steadfast against the circumstances he is experiencing. David presses himself to bless, to sing, to praise, and to focus his attention on the good attributes of God, even though his circumstance, and in one sense his reality says that God isn’t there. Basically, David sees the clouds and the rain, but knows the sun is ever shining behind them.
- Psalm 108 has a Job feel to it. A, “have you considered my servant Job, that there is no one like him in all the earth” kind of feel. Part of me wonders what God’s response to David is in this, when in the midst of even feeling rejected, David chooses praise. I can see God sitting on the edge of his seat, watching with the intensity of a game changing play in the Superbowl… “Did you see that! Did you see that! I’m wearing my David jersey! He just killed that play!” And speaking of game changers…
- Psalm 108 has a game changer feel to it. 4 times David said “I will”. In the midst of trouble, David chose praise. Interesting juxtaposition: when Lucifer had everything in heaven, he chose to throw it all away with his 5 “I will” statements”
“But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
You know how that ended, right? Yeah…
While Lucifer’s “I will” statements focused on what he would do apart from and against God, David’s “I will” statements focused on what he would do for and with God. David chose, not just the right perspective, but the right will…
I am updating my will…
Notable Notables
Some of you will look at the following video and find things or people you don’t like, and therefore will reject the message. I challenge you to change your will. Look for the ever shining sun behind the clouds, and find the message that will change your life.
And for a little comedy relief, another person who refuses to give up: the black knight 🙂