Web Theologian

>106:1 Praise the Lord!Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord,or declare all his praise?
3 Blessed are they who observe justice,who do righteousness at all times!
4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;help me when you save them,
5 that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones,that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,that I may glory with your inheritance.

6 Both we and our fathers have sinned;we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.
7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,did not consider your wondrous works;they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,that he might make known his mighty power.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
10 So he saved them from the hand of the foeand redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
11 And the waters covered their adversaries;not one of them was left.12 Then they believed his words;they sang his praise.

There are days you get exactly what you need, and today it is that way for me from this Psalm. It begins with praise on how good God is. Yesterday I was hit with the reality of how many mistakes I make, and it got me down. I talk about grace but in reality I have very little for myself when I mess up. So I have been very self focused and reading these praises to God helped me lift my eyes to what is important.

The language used for blessing is one of economic language, prosperity and inheritance. While not only economic, they are terms that have to do with well being finanically. That is encouraging to me, that God is interested in those things. I play a part but at the beginning and end it is not only about my actions, there is more to it.

Then instead of feeling sorry for myself I can enter into true confession like the Psalmist does at verse six. We have messed up, me and my people. I forget or ignore the amazing things God has done in my life in the past. I may have praised you in the moment, but once the next thing comes around I forget.

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26 He sent Moses, his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them
and miracles in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and made the land dark;
they did not rebel against his words.
29 He turned their waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
and gnats throughout their country.
32 He gave them hail for rain,
and fiery lightning bolts through their land.
33 He struck down their vines and fig trees,
and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
young locusts without number,
35 which devoured all the vegetation in their land
and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of all their strength.

37 Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold,
and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
for dread of them had fallen upon it.

39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
and fire to give light by night.
40 They asked, and he brought quail,
and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed through the desert like a river.
42 For he remembered his holy promise,
and Abraham, his servant.

43 So he brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
44 And he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil,
45 that they might keep his statutes
and observe his laws.
Praise the Lord!

The theme of redemption is powerful in every aspect of life, it is no surprise that it is central to God’s story. The character that most reflects this to me, other than Jesus, in the Scripture is Moses. He was a murderer who couldn’t talk very good. Yet through him God redeemed an entire nations, and led them to the place of some great real estate. Often I am driven more by ambition but over and over again in Scripture those who seems to be the greatest leaders are reluctant leaders. They serve God and people the best.

I find it cool too that in this song about Moses it only mentions the positive hitting the rock story. I sure hope that after my life more of the good is discussed by friends and family than the bad.

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>105:1 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;make known his deeds among the peoples!2 Sing to him, sing praises to him;tell of all his wondrous works!
3 Glory in his holy name;let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek the Lord and his strength;seek his presence continually!
5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
6 O offspring of Abraham, his servant,children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
7 He is the Lord our God;his judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembers his covenant forever,the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant that he made with Abraham,his sworn promise to Isaac,
10 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaanas your portion for an inheritance.”

As white Christians, at least American Reformed types that I happen to be, we don’t yell enough. I’m not talking about having to put on a show in worship with lots of hocus pocus, but rather really getting dirt under our nails when we encounter God in our personal life. I can count on the one hand the number of times God and I have had a shouting match. Yet we are told to call to God, and call to others about him.

Glory is another one of those wonderful and powerful words…should be a word of the day. It is heavy and wonderful. I can’t help but think of the campfire scene in the movie, Glory, while chills run over me. It is goodness combined with strength that takes your breath away not in a light surprised way, but in a deep way knocking the wind out of you.

This Psalm is again calling to remember the story. Why? over and over again? Because we forget. I’ll walk out of my house and forget. So remember. God has made promises to those he loves, listen to those promises, hope in those promises, be amazed by the glory of those promises.

>19 He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21 The young lions roar for their prey,seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they steal awayand lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes out to his workand to his labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!In wisdom have you made them all;the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and wide,which teems with creatures innumerable,living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
27 These all look to you,to give them their food in due season.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;when you take away their breath, they dieand return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;may the Lord rejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,who touches the mountains and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth,and let the wicked be no more!Bless the Lord, O my soul!Praise the Lord!

In worship we give God credit for everything. Since the Psalms are a song book for worship it is no wonder that they continually talk about all that God has done. Seasons, sun, moon, darkness, night it all becomes a laundry list for the poet. And in it is us. We are the ones going out into all that God has put together and working in it, playing in it, loving in it.

We get to be a part of this entire story. The image we are given in nature are powerful for the original readers. It seems these images only become powerful for us when a hurricane hits, a earthquake happens, or something awful happens. Most of the time we pretend we have it in control. One good things about the psalms it reminds us of when we weren’t so in control (or pretended to be), and that is one way to lead us to worship. This morning as I sit in Top Pot Donut I wonder what imagry would be fitting for us now.

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104:1 Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2 covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent.
3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
he rides on the wings of the wind;
4 he makes his messengers winds,
his ministers a flaming fire.

5 He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.

10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
11 they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has her home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

The first way you describe a celebrity these days is how they dress. Just think of the red carpet events and how much time, energy and money is spent on them. No when the Psalmist here is praising God and talks about he is dressed he says he is clothed in splendor, not his clothes or splendid. He is clothed in majesty, not his clothes are majestic. The are the truest form of these not a mere reflection of them.

His surrounding sounds pretty science fiction. Beams that stand on water (how about the physics of that), clouds his chariot, the winds provide his locomotion. With some research I am sure that it would be found that some of this imagery is borrow from other worship in the region at the time this Psalm was writen and the Psalmist is saying, yeah you might have good poetry but our God is better.

Then after talking about his power, we look at his provision. He cares for everything. Each animal in his creation is important to him. The trees have enough water. Even the rock badger is taken care of.

>15 As for man, his days are like grass;he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,and its place knows it no more.
17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,and his righteousness to children’s children,
18 to those who keep his covenantand remember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels,you mighty ones who do his word,obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts,his ministers, who do his will!
22 Bless the Lord, all his works,in all places of his dominion.Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Nothing more humbling then really thinking about how much our lives add up to. There is no reason to be fatalist about it, but we really get through all this quickly. Hopefully we leave a mark. That is one of the appeals of spirituality to people, it makes them and their lives feel special and full of purpose. Christianity says that God has adopted us as children, that is pretty special, and for many it brings meaning to our lives. Some my critize that, calling it weak minded, I fall more into the camp of saying it just is what it is. We need purpose, and I found it in this area of my life. Thank God.

One blog I read regularly the writer seems to be shifting into lining up his life on this purpose of a greater meaning, “In my Facebook Hotel anyone who just attacks me would be deleted. So, if that’s your idea of fun, hang out somewhere else cause I’m starting to delete comments from people who don’t add any value here. Get your own blog if all you want to do is attack me.” One collegue of mine here in Seattle and friend who happens to be a Muslim said to me the first time we met, “I do wish more people in our business believed and acted on their faith in God.” He had read my blog, and I really appreciated that. With my broad background as a pastor I often wonder if that isn’t a disadvantage, yet if my spirituality means anything it will change the way I act for the good. That means in my entire life, including my work. Let’s keep searching and asking the questions, we blades of grass.