Web Theologian

>17 Some were fools through their sinful ways,and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
18 they loathed any kind of food,and they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,and he delivered them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them,and delivered them from their destruction.
21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,for his wondrous works to the children of man!22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

Those lost in the desert, stuck in darkness, and now fools. Fools while entertaining, my favorite genre of movie is movies about idiots, they bring pain and suffering upon themselves. Food bring nourishment, wisdom, and the ability to properly function, they don’t need any of this.

Yet God hears them. His love and his work are his. They are thankful and sing about his goodness.

A great image I heard today was that from orchards. When a fruit tree doesn’t bear fruit one season, the owner of the tree will sometimes take an axe and chop at the trunk of the tree blacked a huge gouge in the tree without cutting it down. Generally the trama suffered by the tree makes it fruit the next year. We bear fruit through our sufferings I am proof of that.

>10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
prisoners in affliction and in irons,
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
they fell down, with none to help.
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and burst their bonds apart.
15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
16 For he shatters the doors of bronze
and cuts in two the bars of iron.

Yesterday it was the wanderers in the desert that God took care of. Today it is those who are in darkness. You know the problem with darkness? You cannot see anything. It distorts your entire reality, think of Plato and the cave. You can’t even tell what is real. You can be chained and not see how, you can fall and hurt yourself.

The Gospel of John, and his letters in the Newer Testament talk alot about light and dark. That God’s nature is light, freedom, tears us apart from that which has trapped us. Sometimes I bet it is like a blinding light, that is hard for me, I love sun glasses and have trouble in the sun without them. But other times the Bible says, the word is a lamp unto my feet. Enough to see in a dark world.

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>This Psalm and section that I am blogging on is pretty long therefore I am putting it after my comments. Again this is another historical Psalm. The basic pattern is God’s failful act, then faith form the people, sliding into disobedience and unfaith, then God moving in their lives again. That about sums up my life I don’t know about you. I do believe that it is getting better. Reminds me of the Monty Python skit, “I’m not quite dead yet, actually I think I am getting better.”

These Psalms are cool and remind of the Lord of the Rings. Remember how then the Return of the King was over there was talk of the songs that would be written about Frodo and Sam, and the wild adventure with the ring. This is what the Psalms do. They capture part of our spiritual history and put it to music so that we can sing and turn even a history of disobedience into worship to remind us that we are just as flawed as those who went before.

13 But they soon forgot his works;they did not wait for his counsel.
14 But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness,and put God to the test in the desert;
15 he gave them what they asked,but sent a wasting disease among them.
16 When men in the camp were jealous of Mosesand Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,
17 the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,and covered the company of Abiram.
18 Fire also broke out in their company;the flame burned up the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeband worshiped a metal image.
20 They exchanged the glory of Godfor the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God, their Savior,who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore he said he would destroy them—had not Moses, his chosen one,stood in the breach before him,to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they despised the pleasant land,having no faith in his promise.
25 They murmured in their tents,and did not obey the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
27 and would make their offspring fall among the nations,scattering them among the lands.
28 Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor,and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;
29 they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,and a plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,and the plague was stayed.
31 And that was counted to him as righteousnessfrom generation to generation forever.
32 They angered him at the waters of Meribah,and it went ill with Moses on their account,33 for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips.
34 They did not destroy the peoples,as the Lord commanded them,35 but they mixed with the nations nd learned to do as they did.
36 They served their idols,which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed their sonsand their daughters to the demons;38 they poured out innocent blood,the blood of their sons and daughters,whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,and the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus they became unclean by their acts,and played the whore in their deeds.
40 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,and he abhorred his heritage;
41 he gave them into the hand of the nations,so that those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them,and they were brought into subjection under their power.
43 Many times he delivered them,but they were rebellious in their purposesand were brought low through their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,when he heard their cry.
45 For their sake he remembered his covenant,and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.46 He caused them to be pitiedby all those who held them captive.
47 Save us, O Lord our God,and gather us from among the nations,that we may give thanks to your holy nameand glory in your praise.
48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,from everlasting to everlasting!And let all the people say, “Amen!”Praise the Lord!

>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.