Psalm 124: Flooded, But Not Swept Away

Today’s reading is Psalm 124.

It Wasn’t a Walk through a Park

Don’t read Psalm 124 with rose-colored glasses. The pilgrim is not providing a tourist-trap advertisement. You know the kind: promising luxury and fun, but delivering disappointment and boredom.

Yet, if we are not careful we will misread Psalm 124, thinking God has promised a primrose path, when He hasn’t. No doubt, God helped the pilgrim all along the way. He made it to Jerusalem because the LORD was His help. He didn’t die, drown, or get dragged to a dungeon by the enemies. But don’t miss, people rose against him. The anger of the Kedarians and Meshechians came rushing at him. He faced a floods. He took on torrents. The waters raged around him. He spent time in the fowler’s snare.

The psalmist’s pilgrimage was a dangerous trek across hard terrain in the face of nature’s forces and man’s attacks. At times, he was held back in the traps of the enemy. But, by the Lord’s help, strength, and grace, he overcame it all and made it to Jerusalem.

I recall Paul’s description of his own ministry as an example for all of us:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
2 Corinthians 4:8-11 (ESV)

The psalmist was shaken, but not swallowed alive (see Numbers 16:32-33 to understand this metaphor); flooded, but not swept away; attacked, but not conquered; ensnared, but not overcome. This is life as a pilgrim. Be warned. Be prepared.

But know, God will walk with you the entire way. He will not keep you out of danger, but if you always look to Him, He will rescue you from all danger and bringing you safely into His heavenly kingdom (see 2 Timothy 4:18).

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 124.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 124 admonish you?

Psalm 55: When History Repeats

Today’s reading is Psalm 55.

According to the psalm pigeonholers, David doesn’t write an imprecatory psalm. However, he does offer imprecations. Two in particular trouble modern readers. In vs. 9, David calls God to “Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues.” In vs. 15, he begs, “Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive.” Shudder.

As Christians, we balk at these preferring Jesus’s prayer for God to forgive because the people don’t know what they are doing. However, David’s requests accomplish more than a surface reading suggests. David doesn’t merely angrily beg God to blast his enemies.

First, always remember the doorway into imprecations found in Psalm 7:12. Every imprecation in the Psalms fits the context established there: “If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword.” Imprecations apply to the impenitent. Even the forgiveness Jesus requested came only to the penitent.

Second, David’s imprecations call to mind historical precedents. When David asks God to “divide their tongues,” likely a poetic reference to his prayer in 2 Samuel 15:31, he places Ahithophel and Absalom on par with the builders of the Tower of Babel. Those ancients ignored God’s instruction, setting themselves on par with God. When Absalom attacked the Lord’s anointed, he followed in the footsteps of Babel’s rebellious builders. David Calls God to repeat His judgment. Rebellion parallels idolatry and demands a commensurate judgment.

When David asks God to “let them go down to Sheol alive,” he brings a previous rebellion to mind. In Numbers 16:30, Moses explained God’s impending response to the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. In Moses’s day, God did something new opening the ground, letting it swallow the rebels, sending them “down alive to Sheol.” David didn’t ask for something new. He asked God to repeat His judgment on those who rebel against the Lord’s anointed. David asked God to show the world His appointed leader. God obliged. Absalom and Ahithophel died, as did their rebellion.

If we repeat ancient rebellions, we must not think we’ll escape ancient judgments. Rebellion deserves judgment. Learn from history. Accept God’s leader. As Psalm 2 said, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry with you and you perish in the way.”

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 55.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What in Psalm 55 encourages you to Hope in God?

When My World is Caving In

Today’s reading is Psalm 46.

2012 has come and gone. The world is still standing. Looks like the Mayans got it wrong. However, I’m sure some historian or archaeologist will figure out we just misunderstood their math. He’ll come up with a new date so a new crop of cataclysmic disaster movies can rake in the millions. However, the sons of Korah didn’t need a wide screen theater to envision the collapse of the world. Actually, all they had to do was remember the creation account and envision it going in reverse.

Instead of waters dividing and dry land appearing, they pictured the land simply falling back into the water as it roared and foamed over the quickly engulfed land. If you started to see that, how would you feel? Would you be chicken little: “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”? Or would you be the sons of Korah: “Our God is with us! Our God is with us!”?

The sons of Korah sang about their God. He is a refuge. He is strength. He is a very present help in trouble. For them even the ground collapsing, the tidal wave, the mountain falling into the sea was no need to fear. God would care for them. They had their faith in God.

Perhaps we are now see the faith that allowed the sons of Korah to write Psalms 42, 43, and 44. We wondered when reading them why someone who felt like God wasn’t keeping up His end of the bargain would keep on praying. Here we see why. No matter what it seemed like in the moment, they believed God is a refuge. He is the solid ground. He is the mountain. He is the fortress. They believed He is the only refuge. Look, if the world really is caving in on itself, where are you actually going to go? You go to God.

What about when THE world isn’t caving in, but MY world is? How will I act then? Fact is, this psalm demonstrates there are times when it is like the earth is giving way and the mountains are falling into the sea. There are times in our lives when it seems like all the supports are kicked out from under us, when everything that was a solid foundation in our lives has gone into upheaval. What will we do then? The sons of Korah knew what they would do. They would turn to God. They would keep praying to Him. They would hang on to Him no matter what. After all, God brought Noah through the flood, Jacob through his meeting with Esau, Joseph through his slavery and imprisonment, Israel through the Red Sea. When the floods are rising, the mountains are crumbling, life is collapsing, God is there. I’ll hang on to Him. How about you?

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 46

P.S. No this doesn’t mean if the floodwaters are literally rising in your neighborhood that you refuse to get into the evacuation vehicles that come along. This is simply saying, no matter what is going on in life, I’m going to keep on serving God His way.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the psalm and the written devo above?
2. Have you ever felt like your world was caving in? If so, when? If not, can you imagine what that would feel like?
3. Why do you think it is easy for people to abandon God when it feels like their world is collapsing?
4. What advice to maintain faith would you give someone if they said they felt like their world was collapsing?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this psalm and our discussion today?