Thursday, August 13, 2015

God smiles in our troubles

Ps 94 12 Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD, the man you teach from your law;13 you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked.14 For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.

The Psalmist is complaining about suffering because of national apostasy.1" O LORD, the God who avenges, O God who avenges, shine forth. 2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve." The Psalms teach that God created us as social beings. He created us with as a free moral agent. This means that we are gifted with our own interior government. Each one of us has an ability to rule our own world by fulfilling our desires.

God created all things according to His laws, covenants, decrees and statutes. Not only did God create all things but He upholds and orders all things. In Gods kingdom there is nothing that is out of order. We were placed in this creation as a ruler that was able to fulfill our part in His creation without any opposition. We were able to be at our highest ability and able to rule His creation having no opposition to our desires. The Psalms teach that if we examine the whole history of the world and list all of the activities of the Gods creation, that we would see that God spoke them into existence and order them by the word of His mouth. From Gods view there is nothing that is out of order. But from our finite view we are unable to see the reasons for the events as they transpire. This is why the Psalmist expresses his frustration in questions, curses, petitions and cries. Our problem that we do not know how to experience mystery. We seem to get stuck in believing that because God is sovereign and we are not able to understand, that we must accept what has transpired. We are always left in our frustration and thinking that this is what develops patience in us.

But the Psalmist knows that because God is absolutely sovereign then He is the only being in the universe that can create stability and happiness by speaking one word. God can completely change the world in a mili second. The Psalmist believes that our frustration is resolved by seeing the simplicity that is in God. 6" The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me." "Simplehearted" is believing that God can rework everything by a miracle. You see this reasoning here in this Psalm. 13" you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked. 14 For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance." This covenant promise that" the Lord will not reject His people" is paraphrased by the Psalmist and is synonymous with " you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked." The Psalmist is saying that Gods eternal love is evidenced in His covenant promise that He will never forsake us by preparing destruction for the wicked when we suffer as a result of the apostasy. In other words our personal suffering that is caused by the evils of the wicked that is described in the Psalms as a trap that causes us to fall into a pit ...is really set for them. The Psalmist is not only saying that God will reward us doubly but He will respond to our suffering through the curse, 

We have a hard time with suffering because we do not put a value on it. We have been taught that pain is something that works in us to make us holy. We have reduced everything we face that is bad to some kind of mystical force that works in us for good. lol But in this Psalm we are taught that God values us by valuing our suffering by causing the proud to fall under the weight of Gods judgement. The word the Psalmist uses to speak of this weight is the curse. 1" O LORD, the God who avenges, O God who avenges, shine forth. 2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve." The Psalm opens up with a curse and then the Psalmist begins to reason how the power of God can destroy the opposition because of Gods covenant promise and then he applies this teaching to his soul. 16" Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers? 17 Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.18 When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O LORD, supported me.19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."

The Psalmist is teaching that when we suffer we need to get a proper perspective. We need to step back and see the world from Gods view. He is saying that our problems are a part of a much bigger problem. When we attempt to reason from Gods view , we are taught that there are lines that cannot be crossed. God has spoken about Himself in absolute terms and has revealed this to us. Our help in suffering is rooted in God as the original creator. Because God has ordered all things by the word of His mouth , He gets pleasure in forming all things by speaking into existence and describing them as He is good. But He has not left us just to examine His beauty as the agent for receiving His pleasure but He has given us a very small way of reasoning that is the outline of the total reality of the kingdom that dwells in us. The natural flow of our lives is rooted in this language that unites us to God in enjoying His fellowship. This language is the natural cry of our hearts that is expressed in laws, decrees, curses, statutes, covenants and promises. When we communicate to God in His language we reflect the value of His work and experience the honor that He deserves as the basis of our receiving support and consolation. 18" When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O LORD, supported me.19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."

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