psalms pt. 2: 2 Fast Too Furious
This is where we start getting to my favorite part: brutal honesty. Growing up in a Baptist church, I internalized a very sanitized, prim and proper reverence towards God, but in the Psalms, seemingly disrespectful, blasphemous verses are a part of the reverence. If I believe that anything I could say to God would shake Him, or cause Him to love me less, then I believe in a weak, small god. It is because I so completely know His commitment to me, His holiness and greatness, that I feel no fear in voicing something in my heart that is potentially blasphemous. And clearly David & Co. felt the same thing.
BRUTAL HONESTY: What fascinates me about David's relationship with God is that in Psalm 18, David experiences God's saving power. "In my distress I cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him." "...He bowed the heavens, and came down: and darkness was under His feet." "...He took me, He drew me out of many waters." And then David continues for the next three chapters to praise God, to write of His awesome power and love. "He delivered me because He delighted in me. (18:19)" "Now I know the Lord saveth His anointed, with the saving strength of His right hand."
Then comes along Chapter 22: "My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why are thou so far from helping me? I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not." Dude needs to get a grip.
I find a lot of hope in that though, because in the same chapter, He says "but thou art Holy." He knows God's nature, which means he knows God's love and faithfulness enough to speak the things that seem disrespectful, that feel like weak faith. It's only weak faith if we keep it in. He takes it and turns it into strength, into further conviction in His faithfulness. He is not going anywhere, so we can give Him every thought, every emotion, every shred of fear and doubt, and He won't withdraw.
After his little meltdown, David goes on to write some of the most powerful declarations of God's goodness and nature, psalms of dependence, recognizing the moving of God in David's life. "For thou art my rock and my fortress. (31:3)" "...I trust in the Lord. (31:6)"
He goes on to say in Chapter 32 "Blessed is the man in whose spirit is no guile." "...mine iniquity have I not hid." If I had to pick a theme for Psalms, it would be a relationship with God that is truly 100% open. The ripples of that kind of relationship are astounding.
For the next 40 or so chapters, David goes through that roller coaster over and over: feeling completely abandoned, telling God as much, and then declaring God's goodness over his life and praising God, then right back to asking why God abandoned him.
Chapter 77 skips over to Asaph (the Chief Musician of the temple). I love this chapter. "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord." Always a good idea. "I remembered God, and was troubled. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed." um, that's a yikes. Even though Asaph sought the Lord, and remembered God (and probably all that He had done in his life), nothing changed. His spirit was still overwhelmed.
"I commune with my own heart: and my spirit made diligent search." He is trying to solve this by being gentle with his heart and searching it carefully, not to condemn but to change. He stopped his thought spiral to search these feelings out instead of letting them grow into something damaging.
And then he gets to a real whiny point where he is expressing those feelings and thoughts that he searched out. "Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will He be favorable no more? Doth His promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" Dang. These are doubts and fear and despair put into words. And God included it in His Word, which means that it is important to work through and express those thoughts and feelings and not leave them bubbling under the surface because they're uncomfortable. God is not offended.
After Asaph has expressed what was dragging his spirit down, he then goes on to say "This is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. I will meditate also of all they work, and talk of all thy doings." Once he brought to light his questioning, he didn't coddle it, he didn't let it rule him, but instead spoke truth to it. He recognized that the change wasn't with God, but with himself. It was his issue, and God was the same through it all.
"Who is so great a God as our God?" comes 4 verses after the "Hath God forgotten to be gracious?"
Even in the face of all of those difficult times and harsh feelings and challenging questions, David and Asaph returned to what they knew to be true beyond momentary feelings: God's goodness. It was an unwavering fact in their life.
BRUTAL HONESTY: What fascinates me about David's relationship with God is that in Psalm 18, David experiences God's saving power. "In my distress I cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him." "...He bowed the heavens, and came down: and darkness was under His feet." "...He took me, He drew me out of many waters." And then David continues for the next three chapters to praise God, to write of His awesome power and love. "He delivered me because He delighted in me. (18:19)" "Now I know the Lord saveth His anointed, with the saving strength of His right hand."
Then comes along Chapter 22: "My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why are thou so far from helping me? I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not." Dude needs to get a grip.
I find a lot of hope in that though, because in the same chapter, He says "but thou art Holy." He knows God's nature, which means he knows God's love and faithfulness enough to speak the things that seem disrespectful, that feel like weak faith. It's only weak faith if we keep it in. He takes it and turns it into strength, into further conviction in His faithfulness. He is not going anywhere, so we can give Him every thought, every emotion, every shred of fear and doubt, and He won't withdraw.
After his little meltdown, David goes on to write some of the most powerful declarations of God's goodness and nature, psalms of dependence, recognizing the moving of God in David's life. "For thou art my rock and my fortress. (31:3)" "...I trust in the Lord. (31:6)"
He goes on to say in Chapter 32 "Blessed is the man in whose spirit is no guile." "...mine iniquity have I not hid." If I had to pick a theme for Psalms, it would be a relationship with God that is truly 100% open. The ripples of that kind of relationship are astounding.
For the next 40 or so chapters, David goes through that roller coaster over and over: feeling completely abandoned, telling God as much, and then declaring God's goodness over his life and praising God, then right back to asking why God abandoned him.
Chapter 77 skips over to Asaph (the Chief Musician of the temple). I love this chapter. "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord." Always a good idea. "I remembered God, and was troubled. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed." um, that's a yikes. Even though Asaph sought the Lord, and remembered God (and probably all that He had done in his life), nothing changed. His spirit was still overwhelmed.
"I commune with my own heart: and my spirit made diligent search." He is trying to solve this by being gentle with his heart and searching it carefully, not to condemn but to change. He stopped his thought spiral to search these feelings out instead of letting them grow into something damaging.
And then he gets to a real whiny point where he is expressing those feelings and thoughts that he searched out. "Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will He be favorable no more? Doth His promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" Dang. These are doubts and fear and despair put into words. And God included it in His Word, which means that it is important to work through and express those thoughts and feelings and not leave them bubbling under the surface because they're uncomfortable. God is not offended.
After Asaph has expressed what was dragging his spirit down, he then goes on to say "This is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. I will meditate also of all they work, and talk of all thy doings." Once he brought to light his questioning, he didn't coddle it, he didn't let it rule him, but instead spoke truth to it. He recognized that the change wasn't with God, but with himself. It was his issue, and God was the same through it all.
"Who is so great a God as our God?" comes 4 verses after the "Hath God forgotten to be gracious?"
Even in the face of all of those difficult times and harsh feelings and challenging questions, David and Asaph returned to what they knew to be true beyond momentary feelings: God's goodness. It was an unwavering fact in their life.
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