Psalm 111:3 – “Silly Stones”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

³Glorious and majestic [is] His doing,

   and His uprightness [is] standing forever.

Verse 3 at first glance may appear to be very cliché. “Right, right, of course the Lord is glorious and majestic and all of that forever …” But what strikes me is how profound this verse is.

What am I trying to say? The whole world it seems is constantly telling us that the Lord is a mean God, that He is capricious in His demands, that He is totally not to be trusted. That was Satan’s design from the beginning: “Hath God surely said …?” It was to cast doubt on the Lord’s goodness. All down through history, when the peoples of the world have invented their “gods,” those gods have usually been vindictive, capricious, implacable, and often of savory character themselves. Today people pose questions like, “If God was really a God of love, why would He …” and the very question itself leaves over Him this pall of doubt. My own heart, I’m sorry to confess, cannot seem to convince itself of His goodness, as evidenced by my seemingly endless struggle with fears and worries. I hate it, but isn’t that exactly what my heart is saying when it’s gripped with fears and worries – “I don’t know if I can trust the Lord with this?”

Enter into all of that doubt and fear and worry this Psalm:

³Glorious and majestic [is] His doing,

   and His uprightness [is] standing forever.

The words I’ve translated glorious and majestic are more picture words that speak of height, weight, power, splendor, majesty, grandeur, even royal attire. The fact the writer uses two of such words is almost as if he can’t say enough. “The Lord’s doings? They are … they are … they are … just amazing!” And not only that but “His uprightness stands forever.” In other words, He will always, always, always do what is right. There is absolutely nothing capricious in Him, nothing whatsoever less than completely trustworthy. A huge part of knowing Him is the assured belief (faith) that He will do us good. And He will.

I so appreciate Christian radio. So many times, either in a song or in something said, there will be some nugget of truth that profoundly helps me. Recently someone was talking about something and they just threw out how God expects us to work but then He steps in and makes it far more, far better than we ever could. They pointed to David and Goliath and Israel and the walls of Jericho. In both of those cases, the humans did what they could (not much) and the Lord turned it into something marvelous. It struck me because that is without a doubt the story of my life. What few things I have done right, He has always, always, always made me waaaaaaaaay more successful than I could have ever been. I’ve thrown my silly stones, blown my silly horns, and giants and walls have fallen before me.

I guess that is a huge part of my problem – that I am constantly facing what to me are impossible challenges, insurmountable obstacles, and I am painfully aware how inadequate I am to overcome them. As an engineer, I spend all day every day, it seems, working on impossible projects – no one knows “why” this happens, there’s not enough money to fix this, I have to use what kind of computer program?, the people who need to give me answers don’t seem to want to, there’s no way we can do this in that short amount of time, and on and on. And every day I just have to wade in, throw my silly stones, and live painfully aware of how inadequate I am. And yet, what has always been true? The Lord has ALWAYS come through for me. He has made things happen at just the right times in just the right places, He’s helped me see things that I would never have seen, He’s provided people to come alongside and provide just the inputs I lacked; and because of Him, the giants and walls have fallen. It is so true.

So why do I keep on fearing? Why can’t I just embrace the simple truth of Psalm 111:3? “Glorious and majestic [is] His doing, and His uprightness [is] standing forever.”

You see it isn’t cliché at all. The simple statement is absolutely profound and life-changing. The Lord is not at all the vindictive, capricious god people try to make Him out to be; and He’s not the untrustworthy God my heart (apparently) fears He might be.

I am thankful for all the help He does give me to trust Him. I often realize in the middle of my fears, in the middle of these impossible situations, that I can trust Him, that He will help me, and that is definitely what keeps me sane. I just wish I could finally and completely embrace His goodness and live above all this fear and worry. I believe it is possible. I believe, if I live long enough, He will somehow teach me and help me to make major strides in it. I just wish I was further along than I am.

But, as He says, “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Weakness? I have plenty of that to offer! Strength? He has plenty to provide. I am so glad Psalm 111:3 is true. God help me to embrace it and live it. It is anything but cliché!

Psalm 111:1,2 – “Delight”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

Praise the LORD.

¹I will praise the LORD with all of [my] heart, in council of the upright and assembly. ²Great [are] the doings of the LORD, being sought to/by all of delights of them.

Before I move on to verse 3, I want to record a couple observations from the Hebrew text of verse 2.

The NIV translates the verse, “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.” The word translated “pondered” is interesting. It is “darash” in Hebrew and gets translated many different ways by words like “searched,” “sought out,” “treasured,” “desired,” “kept in mind,” “studied,” “examined,” etc. This is one of those places one has to get in a Hebrew mindset and remember the Hebrew mind didn’t present “facts” but rather painted pictures. The picture the word paints is of taking something and beating it, thrashing it, rubbing it, trying to glean something from it, like beating up corn kernels to work out the starch.

So the picture is that we take the works of the Lord in their greatness and do just that – we rub them, and turn them over and over, and look at them from this way and that, pull them apart, and basically just do “all of the above.” That is why the word gets translated so many different ways. Everyone is trying to express this idea in English, which, unfortunately is a great language for presenting facts, but a poor one for painting pictures. One can see why the NIV “pondered” is not at all a bad choice – it just doesn’t say enough.

What we can take from all of this is that the Lord actually wants us to “darash” His works, to ponder them and study them and search them out, to “beat them and thrash them and rub them!” And note, in this case, it isn’t His words, but His works. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Some people think the only legitimate studies are purely religious, that scientific inquiry is a waste of time or even profane – and certainly nothing the Lord has any interest in. But Psalm 111:2 would beg to differ. I obviously love to study the Word itself, and to “darash” it right down to the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek letters. To study God’s Word is profoundly rewarding. But I am also a scientist. I love to study the math and the physics, the chemistry and biochemistry, the astronomy of the universe and the atomic structure beneath it all, to understand why water freezes at 32º and boils at 212 º, why iron rusts but gold does not, why the sky is blue and sunsets are red. But in all of that, it isn’t the “knowledge” in and of itself I enjoy. What makes it breathtaking is to see in all of it the absolutely amazing workings of my awesome God, the Creator, the Maker of it all; the “works of His fingers, the moon and the stars which He set in place …”

The very essence of being an engineer is the belief that our universe is ruled by very orderly laws and that, understanding those laws, we can take them and use them and in a million different ways do good to the human race. Our world is not run by magic. It is ruled by laws, like the familiar “law of gravity.” And where do all those laws come from? May I introduce you to their Creator? His name is Yahveh, Adonai, Jehovah, the Lord, the God who came to earth and walked among us, Jesus, the Savior of the world! And so anyone reading this can see why we should study not only the words of the Lord but His works as well – they all lead us back to Him and leave us amazed.

The other word I wanted to note needs little introduction at this point, but is the word translated “delight” – “pondered by all who delight in them.” It is the word “hafatz” and in the Hebrew it isn’t really clear whether we are delighting in God’s works or if they are delightful. In English we demand to know which it is. In Hebrew, I doubt they cared. It’s back to their “picture” mindset. They would probably ask, “Why do you need to know? The fact is God’s works are delightful and so anyone who really ponders them will delight in them. Yes?” Yes. As I hope anyone else feels, one word that overarches all of the considerations of God’s Word and His works (and anything else to do with Him) is “delight!” I can think of nothing else so true. To know God is to know delight, to be delighted at every turn. “Hafatz” is simply part of knowing Him.

He is amazing. It is true – His works are glorious. He is glorious.

As the Psalm begins, “Praise the Lord!”

Psalm 111:1,2 – “Cotton Candy”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

Praise the LORD.

¹I will praise the LORD with all of [my] heart, in council of the upright and assembly. ²Great [are] the doings of the LORD, being sought to/by all of delights of them.

How fun! Studying Psalms is like cotton candy – absolute, pure, sweetness.

For some good reason (of which my failing memory eludes me now), I resolved to study Psalm 112. However, when I arrived there and began to study, I realized that 112 actually follows 111 logically – and perhaps intentionally, possibly written by the same author on the same occasion and intended to be enjoyed together. They are both acrostic psalms and 111 presents the greatness of God while 112 explores the life of those who believe 111. So … I then resolved to study 111 first and (hopefully) then to peruse 112’s delights.

As usual, and of course, I no sooner than wade into the first few words of this Psalm and all that absolute, pure, cotton-candy sweetness floods back into my heart.

The title of the Psalm, like 112, is simply “Praise the Lord!” or the familiar transliteration, “Hallelujah!” And that it is.

In verse 1, the writer states his determination to do just that – to praise the Lord; and he says he will do it with “all [my] heart” and “in the council of the upright and assembly.” Of course it is “with all my heart.” The Lord is certainly worthy of no less. Our proud, evil hearts exist in divided allegiance between the Lord and all our petty lusts. In this world, we’ll never be entirely free of being thus “double-minded” but the truly godly at least resolve to (and ask) for “undivided hearts.”

Right off the bat, though, the very words of this Psalm remind me of what the Lord seems to have been teaching me lately, and that is this – that I don’t “change” very well because I resolve to. What changes me is rather to see and be consumed by His beautiful face. In this case, I can try to whomp up a big “all my heart” praise. But, after nearly 40 years of knowing Him, I find I’m not a very good “whomper.” The Law is forever saying to me, “Do this and live” and I try and simply fail. Grace says to me, “Live! … and do this” Rather than getting stuck in verse 1 and “whomping,” all I really need to do is wade right on into verse 2: “Great are the works of the Lord.” When I let my heart fall headlong into pondering the greatness of His works, I find myself praising Him … with all my heart!

What do I mean?

The works of the Lord – or literally, His “doings.” Goodness me. “The heavens declare the glory of God!” I am a scientist. Everywhere I look, whether out into the universe, or under the microscope, I am utterly amazed at the absolute wonder of His creations. There are stars out there that could holds thousands of our sun! We are in the Milky Way galaxy, yet one of the “stars” we think we see in the night sky is not a star at all, but rather the Andromeda Galaxy – an entire ‘nother galaxy of millions of stars spinning around a center, with planets spinning around those stars. And there are no doubt millions of galaxies. I look under the microscope and see an entire world of tiny creatures all living and moving (and eating each other!).

I look around and see the wonder of nature, the incredible intricacy and beauty of this world the Lord created for us to live in. As I sit here typing, out my window it is an absolutely beautiful Spring day with the trees dawning their emerald crowns, birds singing angel sounds, and the delightful, wonderful sunshine gracing everything with its bejeweling glitter.

I live in complete awe of the beautiful wife He gave me. We’ll soon celebrate our 33^rd anniversary and she is still to me the most beautiful creature who ever graced the face of the earth – and she’s my wife! Add to that she has done me good and not evil all the days of her life, stuck with me through it all, mothered my children, keeps me fed and watered, and just an absolute, total, complete blessing – a gift provided to me straight from the heart of my awesome God.

Then my mind races across so much wonder and blessing to dwell on Jesus Himself and the wonder of redemption. “And can it be, that I should gain an interest in His righteousness? Died He for me, who caused His pain, for me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be???”

My whole heart just wants to praise Him – not because I “whomped” it up, but because of His absolutely amazing beautiful face!

And so it begins – another wonderful stroll through a blessed psalm! Another mouthful of cotton candy! Another beautiful sunshiny spring day!

Bring it on!

James 4:13-17 – “What to Do?”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³Come now, ones saying, “We will go today or tomorrow into this city and spend one year there and trade and make a profit.”¹⁴Whoever, you do not know the matter of tomorrow. What [is] your life? For it is a vapor which appears toward a little and then vanishes. ¹⁵Instead of this, you [ought] to say, “If the Lord desires, we will also live and do this or that.” ¹⁶But now you are boasting in your presumptuousness. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷Therefore, it is sin to one knowing to do good and not doing [it].

Somewhere, I ran across the following quote which I believe expresses some important truths arising out of a study of this passage in James:

Within Divine control, life is within human control and this is the precise attitude and relation in which the Christian stands. The Divine control he is fully assured of, and in it he greatly rejoices. But it in no way interferes with his sense of personal responsibility, with his energy and enterprise. He plans, as other men plan; he looks forward, as other men look forward; he works toward an aim, as other men work toward an aim. But there is a cherished mood of humility, submission, and dependence in him of which the godless man knows nothing. When that mood finds expression in words, it says, ‘If the Lord will, we shall both live and do this or that.” What is wrong is:

(1)   the vauntings of self-confidence, as if we had full control of our lives, which we have not; and, on the other hand,

(2) the fatalism—whatever pietistic form it may take—which leads us to think or to say we have no control of our lives, and therefore it is of no use to plan, or to anticipate and provide for the future. True religion ennobles a man's manliness—it never enfeebles or crushes it. In everything that is manly the Christian’s sense of God should make him more manly. And it is manly and Christian to grip life with a strong hand. Life is entrusted to us that we may spend it in working out God’s plan, through working out our own; and “man is immortal till his work is done.” Find out the plan of God in your generation, and then beware lest you cross that plan, or fail to find your own place in it.

Our work is but a segment in the great sphere of God's eternal work; and if we have eyes to see, we may read, in that portion of His work which belongs to us, our name and the date of the present year.

I don’t know where I ran across the quote, and a Google search surprisingly doesn’t turn up its source. Regardless, I think the author does a good job striking the balance between the wrongful planning which is in the end practical atheism, and proper planning which is simply being responsible as we live our lives under the greatness of God.

I’m not sure yet I’ve “got it.” I feel like I do realize life is short and fragile. I feel like I do see it all as part of God’s will. But what bothers me is that the whole world thinks they’ve “got it” and yet, we obviously don’t. Am I actually an exception to the rule or just another self-deluded participant? If I say, “I’ve got it,” then, as in verse 17, I’m saying “I know the good I ought to do.” That leaves me especially accountable to answer the question, “Am I living up to the knowledge I have?” If my pride is blinding me to the sin of presumptuousness, I certainly need the Lord to open my eyes.

I guess for now, I’m just going to have to beg Him in prayer to that end and then go on. I only know to sincerely try to fill my life with love every day. I am convinced the path of love is the path of God’s will for my life. May He light the way and help me to fill my short vapor life with as much love as He will enable me to accomplish.

One thing that has perplexed me for years is this fact that we don’t know how long we’ll live. At 58, realistically I’ve probably got about 20 years to live. Then I’d be 78. 20 years is not really very long at all. On the other hand, I might live to be 98 and that would be 40 years – which seems like another lifetime. Gads, 40 years ago I was 18! On the other hand, I may die today. If I was assured I’d live to 98 (and I had the money), perhaps I could go back to school, get a degree in Celtic history and embark on a completely new career teaching history. But then again I might not live till tomorrow! So what do I do today?

As alluring as a whole different career might be (which I can’t afford anyway), it makes sense to me what Paul told the Corinthians: “Each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him … Each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to” (I Cor 7:17-24). I think what this verse would say is that, in general, we all should just keep doing whatever it is we do and let the Lord decide how long we’ll do it.

… which always brings me back to the same point – just keep doing what I do, use it as my opportunity to love the people it brings me in contact with – and keep doing it the best I can, whether I die today or live to be 98.

If I’m missing something, I sure hope the Lord will open my eyes to see it. Otherwise, this is the path I’ll take – if the Lord will(!).

Speaking of “if the Lord will,” since I’m at the end of chapter 4, I think I’ll take a break from James and go back and do some OT study for a while. If the Lord wills, I’ll live to come back and finish my study of this book of James. It sure has been fun!

James 4:13-17 – “Presumptuousness”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³Come now, ones saying, “We will go today or tomorrow into this city and spend one year there and trade and make a profit.”¹⁴Whoever, you do not know the matter of tomorrow. What [is] your life? For it is a vapor which appears toward a little and then vanishes. ¹⁵Instead of this, you [ought] to say, “If the Lord desires, we will also live and do this or that.” ¹⁶But now you are boasting in your presumptuousness. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷Therefore, it is sin to one knowing to do good and not doing [it].

I have often bemoaned that pride is a self-concealing sin, that, although it is a monstrous sin, the sin of the devil himself, yet we are utterly blind to it until the Lord opens our eyes so we can repent of it. I believe that in the present passage James is trying to do exactly this for us. He is trying to open our eyes to another expression of our evil pride and one which few ever recognize. I’ve certainly never seen this before. He would speak to us of the sin of presumptuousness.

Presumptuousness. “I’m going here and doing this and that, and then I’ll go there and do such and such and stay there for this long and then I’ll …”

James says, “Really?” When we’re talking (and thinking) like this we are forgetting two grand truths of our very existence: 1) We know absolutely nothing beyond this present moment, and 2) our life is more frail than tissue paper.

When we’re talking and thinking like this, we ought to hear in our hearts those terrible words, “Thou fool! Tonight shall thy soul be required of thee!” (Luke 12:20). Proverbs warns us, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (27:1).

As I have been studying this for a couple of weeks, I realize I’ve never really thought deeply about it. In this world, God has granted us knowledge of the past and the present but not the future. We may know much from not only our own past but of the very world itself. We are allowed to know where we are at this very moment, what we are doing, what others are doing around us. But there is an absolutely impassable wall between us and even the very next second of our lives. We know with certainty nothing of our future, neither immediate nor yet to come. “The future” is a realm to which we are allowed absolutely no certain access. It is of grand significance, this “future” of ours, yet we have been utterly denied access to it. God alone holds that future. He alone knows that future and He alone will decide what it holds. He alone knows “the end from the beginning” and He alone “inhabits eternity.”

This is precisely the point where I believe James would reveal to us a very, very subtle and utterly unrecognized expression of our sinful pride – the refusal to accept this station to which the Lord has assigned us, to be people of the past and present, while God alone  entirely possesses the future.  Presumptuousness. Refusing to accept that “our times are in His hands” (Ps 31:15).  Practical atheism.

Is not this sin at the root of worry? Is worry not, in reality, trespassing across this line between the present (our proper domain) and the future (for us a “Forbidden Zone”)? Is worry not clamoring against this limit God has given us? Is it not a restless refusal to accept that God has withheld from us any certain knowledge of or control over our future? Is it not an evil presumptuousness to paint in our minds what the future holds, to paint it as if we have the power to create it, to control it? The future is rightly God’s realm, not mine. He has assigned that I should live in the present.

Now, as far as the future, there certainly is a good and proper activity of planning and preparation. “A wise man sees danger and takes refuge.” “Go to the ant, you sluggard. He gathers now to supply his needs later.” “What man among you, building a tower, does not first of all sit down and make sure he has what he needs to finish it?” One could even say there is a sense in which people do control their future. The Great Mandate was “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over it” (Gen 1:28). We are to “take charge” of our future and work it out toward the ends which God desires. On the other hand, we are quite capable of “messing up” our lives and incurring consequences we’ll bear to our graves. But all of these things are activities (good or bad) we undertake in the present. When it comes down to it, no matter how much we “prepare” we have to remember “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord orders His steps” (Prov 16:9). Joseph’s brothers “meant it for evil” but the Lord worked it out for good “to the saving of many lives.”

So I guess that is my point. Although we certainly can make choices which theoretically will incur good or bad consequences in the future – and we actually should make good choices to that end – yet all those activities must be undertaken in the present, because there is always that great impregnable wall, that utterly impassable barrier, that I have no knowledge or control even one second into my future.

“We will go today or tomorrow into this city and spend one year there and trade and make a profit.”

Yeah, right.

No wonder God calls it boasting. It must be profoundly ridiculous to Him to hear us puffing and blowing about whatever it is we think we’re going to do, completely without any recognition of Him or the fact that our very breath is in His hand! No wonder He says, “All such boasting is evil.”

The cure for our presumptuousness, says James, is to live in the constant awareness of God’s presence and total control. “If the Lord will, we will do this or that.” All we need to do is add this element of humility to our planning and it immediately becomes something we rightly do. This element of humility saves us from our evil inclination toward a presumptuousness that God condemns. I would suggest it is simply a matter of clearly recognizing that wall between my present and even one second into my future. The present is mine in which to live under God. The present is mine to make choices which, under God, I believe will bear good fruit in my future; but that future is totally God’s domain. I possess no control over it and in fact have no certainty whatsoever I’ll even live to see it.

One scary thought, though. Someone I was reading pointed out that this statement, “Life is a vapor” is perhaps one of the most common clichés known to man. Even the ancient Greek writers acknowledged it. Yet, who anywhere honestly lets it have any effect on their life? It’s one of things we’re all quite sure “we know” and yet we spend no thought on it and go on living like it isn’t true. I suspect that is precisely why James ends with the familiar maxim, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, to them it is sin.” In other words don’t be saying, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that.” The question is, do you live like you know it?

I’m probably a case in point. I feel like I’ve “known” this my whole adult life and yet here I am pondering the subject like it’s never crossed my mind before. Like all the faces of the sin of pride, presumptuousness obviously hides itself in our hearts. It needs to be drug kicking and screaming out into the light where we can see it for the evil it really is and, in so doing, put it to death.

Definitely something I need to ponder, particularly as today is my 58^th birthday! I’m on the “other” end of life. Somewhere I passed that point where I no longer have to ponder that life is short. The reality of that thought now hovers over me. Yet, having said all that I’m still not sure I “get it.”

Will ponder more, as I go about my day (– if the Lord will!).