Today’s reading is Psalm 36.
Do you remember that song, “It’s so high, you can’t get over it. So low, you can’t get under it. So wide, you can’t get it around it. You must go through the door”? There have been different versions of this with different emphases throughout the years. Some versions refer to heaven, some to God’s love, some to the church, but they all essentially make the same point. You either enter by the door, or you’re stuck on the outside.
I can’t help but think of this song when I read Psalm 36. God’s steadfast love and faithfulness are so high they extend to the heavens and to the clouds. That is, you can’t get over them. His righteousness is high and wide like a mountain range. You can’t get over it or around it. His judgments are so deep they are like…well…the great deep. That is, you can’t plumb their depths even if you were to swim to the bottom of the ocean. You can’t get under them. (I admit it, I might be stretching to make the point about width, but surely you can still hear the song in this psalm.)
Look, you can try all you want to sneak in, over, around, under, but there is only one way. Just walk through the door into God’s steadfast love, faithfulness, righteousness, and judgments. David even provides a hint of this when he says, “Man and beast you save, O Lord.” Can you think of the event to which David is referring? Of course, the flood, when God saved man and beast in the Ark.
Do you get the picture? You either get into God and His Ark of safety His way, or you are going to be on the outside in the rain. There is no sneaky, cunning, crafty, stealthy way to get what God is offering. You won’t make an end run around God’s will and word. You might as well just do what He says. Give Him your allegiance. Take shelter under His wings. There is no other place of safety.
Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 36.
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A Word for Our Kids
Hey kids, did your parents share my message for them with you? Have you heard the song I referenced in their post?
One of the versions of that song that I learned as a kid simply went like this:
“It’s so high, you can’t get over it.
So low, you can’t get under it.
So wide, you can’t get around it.
You must go through the door.”
Then the song leader would holler out, “Who’s the door?” And all of us kids would holler back, “JESUS!!!!!”
And that’s the truth. You can’t sneak in. You won’t accidentally end up on the inside. You either get into God’s love through Jesus, or you’ll always be on the outside of it.
“Who’s the door?” I’ll let you answer this time.
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