Psalm 18

Again I am working at memorizing Scripture. It has been healing to me and brought much peace and insight. This is only the first six verses of a very long piece.

1) I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2) The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3) I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
4) The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5) The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.
6) In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice, my cries came before him, into his ears.


Battling life, people who seek your destruction weary a soul, God only can provide actual strenth. (Other bases are temporary refuges that leave one weaker and unprotected.) Gibralter is a rock, a fortress. But even it can be bridged. That is how it got its name Jebel Tariq, when it was mounted by Tariq the Muslim conquerer sometime during the 800 years Muslims occupied Spain. A deliverer is needed to maintain one's safety. He is our rock in which to find safe refuge.

A shield. A Christian woman well versed in Hebrew traditions informed me that the Star of David is actually called the shield of David. So when I read that the shield of David is the Lord, it made me understand that the shield is the LORD, the protector of His people. I had been wearing a Star of David, so that made that sign a better symbol to me-more of the Lord than of remembrance of the Jewish people.

I grew up in the culture of the 1950's, when westerns were a daily affair. Three or four hours each evening were saturated with watching the good guys fight with the bad guys, the cowboys fight the Indians. Wagon trains which were almost destroyed, battles that were nearly lost, were reassured by the call of the bugle. The calvary came to the rescue. Sometimes bagpipes substited for them. Thus, "the horn of my salvation" brings to mind the call of the army that is coming to my defense, who will win the day. The army of the Lord, his heavenly hosts, or just the Lord himself.

My stronghold. Many Christian books speak of strongholds of the enemy where we have given ground due to our sin, fears, or sins of our fathers. We are to take authority over them, rebuke the devil and he will flee from us. But with the Lord as my stronghold, I am safe. I call and I am saved. Cause and effect, dependable. Such a Lord is worthy to be praised.

What threatens us? Death, destruction, the grave, enemies who want to put us there. Such poetic language here, grasps the horror he went through. He had Saul frothing over him, though he had given no reason to the king to oppose him. He had his son take allies and remove him from power for awhile. He had to flee and hide in order to survive. Though we may not have actual armies out hunting us, or kings seething over us, yet we face death, disease, destruction. Cords tie us up. Yet this is progressive. Entangles me becomes coils around me.

Torrents speak of flooding waters with such power the currents are impossible to withstand. David was overwhelmed, as we all are by things that face us. Death is final, but the grave leaves no room for rescue, no hope for resurrection except in the Last Day. The snares of death confront us-where some item takes us and holds us and will not let us escape. At that point we must face it for we cannot avoid the situation further. Whether it is physical death we face, such as by cancer, we all have items in our life we are confronted by and that we must confront. So what does the psalmist do?

In his distress he called to the Lord. He cried to his God for help. Now many a person cries to God, but not all receive help. The other day my cat was meowing, as she does daily. Sometimes she can be quite obnoxious in her determination. It is not as if she is not taken care of. But sometimes even with food, she complains. We open the door but she will not go out. At times we must ignore her plaintive cries if we are to concentrate on anything else. It occured to me that we were like cats. The Lord hears all our constant complaints, and sometimes just shuts them out. After all, the praises of the cherabim and seraphim, thousands upon thousands of angels, compete against all the prayers of the saints, and the growlings of the unbelievers. Not that He doesn't hear them, but they may not have the same urgency to Him as they do to us.

But for David, the Lord recognized his voice. Just as a mother can hear, even in her sleep, the cries of her baby. Anyone can hear it when it is loud, but a special attachment is in her hearing to recognize the calls of her child. Because He heard the voice of one belonging to him, he allowed the cries to come before him, into his ears. Come before signifies a throne room in which the needs are brought before a soverign. Not just everyone can barge in, it is a privilege to be heard.

I saw the ruins of such a room in Marrakech. Barely the floorplan remained, and a few walls, of this centuries old ruler's domain. Nevertheless, it was impressive. One could imagine the envoys from other lands passing the garden (orchards of tangerines) or the subterfuges of this or that messenger trying to be heard. The waiting rooms, the family rooms (the harem for women and children) and private chambers. It was wearisome just walking the distance. And the heat without air-conditioning or electric fans would have been stifling. Of course, in old movies one sees slaves whose job it is to fan with feathers so that the privileged do not suffer much. They have iced drinks. With the city being not too far from the High Atlas mountains, the snow run off provided cool spring water even though it is only a couple of hundred miles (? or less) from the Sahara. Clearly the luxuries of the Lord's court and temple, are far below that of the Moroccan king, whose name I cannot even remember. But if the terror and power of such a man in an obscure place was so great, how much more impressive is that of the Lord?


Now you may not believe this psalm to be a better sura, but I do. While the Koran speaks of God's help with peoples, his believers as a group, it declares no one can know God. This passage clearly indicates a relationship exists of such intimacy and individual protection that that premise is refuted. The next verses show such power in how the Almighty responds, that it is overwhelming. But that must wait for another day and another post, after I have put to memory those verses and meditated on their meaning.

(I also note that when I quote the verses, though I might want to capitalize words, I do not unless they are written thus in Scripture. And when I use the word Scripture I mean the Bible, as when you do, you probably mean the Koran.)

GRACE

...Most Gracious, Most Merciful...Thee do we worship and Thine aid we seek. This you pray five times a day, or daily. You ask to be shown the straight way, the way of those on whom He has bestowed His Grace, with the proviso that it not be according to those Islam declares will receive his wrath, or go astray. Many could receive his wrath for worshipping idols, living for themselves, or having no standard of righteousness other than their own lusts and beliefs. However, it also refers to those who are Christian who "go astray" by believing in the teachings of Jesus as they were handed down from His disciples. Not for faith in his words alone, but for holding to the Trinity as well, for claiming Him to be an intercessor in Heaven for them.

Jesus taught that His was the straight way and that any other was not to be trusted. Grace also is a term borrowed from the Bible, which means undeserved favor from the Almighty. This was not favor earned by so many offerings, which needed to be repeated, at the minimum, yearly. They did not solve the problem of forgiveness permanently, so each year the requests had to be repeated. Grace was not received for the number of prayers performed, nor for the length of words.

Jesus warned against practicing them out in public made to impress others with one's feigned holiness, and against making them too long. (Saying repetitions did not win God's approval.) He gave us what we call the Lord's Prayer, an example of brevity and complete submission of one's will and obedience. Certainly He did advocate prayers to be made daily and faithfully. But they did not earn the Lord's attention. It was only by following His way that one could be assured they were entering through the door and not trying to climb over the wall, to enter in where they were unauthorized.

If one seeks Grace, he must cease his own striving to impress. He must acknowledge that he has sinned and is not perfect. He has no right to come before the Lord. But as He is most gracious, most merciful, we come only admitting our need for His forgiveness that He has provided to be given His OWN WAY. We cannot force Him to provide it in a manner suitable to us that contradicts His plan.

And that plan is that Jesus was made the sacrifice for us, a perfect one that does not need to be duplicated. He lives forever in Heaven to make intercession for our sins. His blood is that which is dripped to offer atonement for my sin, and yours. Undeserved, yes. Earned-how could I possibly do that? Even with infinite amount of years and tears poured out in supplication, I could never cajol Him into giving it to me. Only as a present, given freely may I attain this grace in which I stand. Only by not trying to earn it may I receive it. I must humble myself, thank Him for His work and His loving intent that made Him choose to do this for me.

If you are tired of striving, and after years of putting your rug down have still no reassurance of your forgiveness, then seek Him. Ask for Him to apply it for you, and do not allow someone else's well-meaning explanations to prevent you from receiving what the Almighty is waiting to give you. You seek grace, He wants to give it, but you cannot tell Him to do so. Submit yourself before Him and receive His free gift, undeserved but liberating.

More thoughts on Psalm 91

He who dwells in the refuge of the Most High has made a commitment to be there, he's walked away from depending on other refuges. Even to consider a need for one is to know the threats of the world. He also has to have been invited, as the Lord would not allow a trespasser or invader. Surely He will save you from the snare of the fowler. Such confidence of a specific rescue informs me the writer has experienced this and other type of deliverances. Not to be mundane, but I've heard people speak of praying to the Lord and having Him provide a parking place in a hectic location. Most of us don't go out hiking in the wilderness, and even if we did, those type of traps are much rarer than ancient times-at least in the first world countries. But we can say, He protected me from a bad wreck: I did not see the person, who was in my blind spot, and I almost hit him. Or someone was racing along, and nearly hit me. Those are the hazards and needs of daily modern life-which the Lord is fully able to deal with as well as He helped in times past. We should have testimonies of His practical deliverances if He is involved in our lives.Beyond the down blankets, I thought of the extreme comfort of feathers, their softness even beyond fur. Having recently acquired a new coat with a small rim of fur on the hat, I was sitting in a theater feeling a touch cold when I noticed myself sitting with the coat in my lap, just rubbing the top.God provides real comfort, even luxuries sometimes just to bless us. Having been inculcated with the almost monklike need to deny ourselves, the positive confession theologies have seemed heretical to me. But does God demand us to always forego pleasures? No. That is unbiblical. When I can think of the verse that I refer to, I will come back and post it. But it means He created all good things, and He wants to give them to us. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. For defense or offense, it is the only protection as we go about serving Him.