Happy Fourth of July! I wish my ramblings made sense today--but I have two different thoughts on two different Psalms today!
Psalm 63:1 "God, My God! Its you--I search for you! My whole being thirsts for you! My body desires you!"
I kept thinking of Thomas in that. When he sees the risen Christ and says, "My Lord, My God!" I know the idea of everything I am thirsting for God. Its when I'm dry and tired. I have cried my eyes out. I have worked myself to the bone. My enemies surround me (am I starting to write like the Psalmist! HA!). Those verses resonated with my soul today--especially with as hot as it has been!
Psalm 64 was fascinating to me. See, he talks again about God piercing and destroying the enemies, and then 64:9 says, "Then all people will honor God, will announce the act of God, will understand it was God's work." I wonder if bad things can be God's work. I have built a theology based on the idea that God doesn't cause or do evil. But the Psalmist clearly believes that God work could include death and destruction. How do you reconcile the two?
Hope you are having a great time with friends and family this holiday! Be safe!!!
Blessings!
Pastor Emily
2 comments:
In 63, I hear the psalmist telling us how he can remember feeling close to God in worship (seen God in the sanctuary). He remembers that when he feels his soul thirsting for God in a dry and weary land. We can remember how close we felt to God at certain special times of worship during times that we can't worship. Those memories encourage us and remind us of God's love.
In 64 I hear the comparison between our tongues and the sword- those cutting words! People work together to plan things and think they are so smart, but God uses their plans and words to bring them down. I have experienced that- when my ideas or words are negative or mean, they turn back on me. That is why we need to trust in God alone. Let God be in our plans and on our tongues and use them for His love.
God is good, God is great... a blessing we used to say as a child. David in writing the Psalms writes about his life and much of his life involved being chased and persecuted. I think that when he writes of God avenging him from his enemies, he is writing of God being good and righteous. But does the ends justify the means? Or is he saying that the evil that the enemies do will also turn back on them as your Mom discussed? I think the latter but there is a lot I don't understand...
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