The imagery in today’s reading is really powerful. David speaks of roads, decisions, angry outbursts and forgiveness. I don’t know if the Holy Spirit has given him imagination or boldness; but who would think to command heavenly beings to praise the Lord?
When most of the people who wrote what we now consider to be the Bible, they were “remembering” with the help of the Holy Spirit events and conversations that needed to be recorded. The prophets were relaying a message that had been given to them. Moses was writing down the history of the nation that had been passed down orally until this time. In the New Testament, Luke says “I have undertaken to give an account….” as he writes. Most of the Bible is simply a record of what God said, and how the people responded.
But there are precious few books in the Bible where recording history is not the purpose for writing. Psalms is one of them. (I don’t want to list any others for fear of missing one, or including the wrong one).
In Psalms, God isn’t speaking to the people, and there isn’t a clear historical sequence of events given. Once in a while we will read that a particular psalm was written “to enter Jerusalem” or “when David was hiding from Saul”….other than that, they sort of hang there, suspended in the historical record without any ties to the rest of the narrative. That’s why we can read 6 or 8 Psalms and they seem to apply to what’s happening in our life, they aren’t tied to specific events (for us).
If the future takes the form of a decision tree, with each decision moving us closer to some events, and further from others…how do we know which road to choose? Should I take a different job? Should I marry or stay single? Should we have children? buy a home? go to college?
should I travel or enroll in studies? Each decision opens new pathways, and closes others. How can I know that my decisions today will help me get to my preferred destination tomorrow?
I can’t. The ability to see the future is beyond my grasp.
Jesus, however lives beyond the future, and sees everything in both present and past tense. He exists beyond my comprehension, and controls creation in ways that our most gifted scientists didn’t know were possible. We believe we have stumbled onto something called the “God Particle”…..Jesus knows what different things come together to make it. We are only marginally aware that it exists at all. Our understanding, and our attempts to explain how the world came into being are certain to be the subject of chuckling in heaven.
Only the wisest people will look to God for insight and direction about what path to walk, and what life decisions to make. God alone can tell me what friendships I should foster, and which ones I should allow to wither. Any good decisions I make are because He told me what to do. I cannot be wise in my own strength.
How strong and perfect the Lord is! How worthy of trust and obedience! Few people can be trusted with our innermost thoughts, but God can be trusted with them all. His love for us is beyond comprehension, and His mercy and grace compel us to seek Him out, and give glory to Him.
Praise be to You Jesus, You are worthy!
This is the stuff of Psalms, the transcendent expressions of praise erupting from a heart filled with love. Ironically, sometimes the person who is speaking so eloquently is also being persecuted and feels alone. The Psalms truly are an strangely different and wonderful landscape, a garden of unspeakable riches hidden within the forest of the Bible.
Faithfully,
PR