Galatians 4:1-7 – Overcoming Legalism, Jesus’ Way

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

¹But I am saying the heir differs nothing from a slave, as long as he is a child [though] being lord of all, ²but he is under guardians and managers until the time appointed by the father. ³Thus also we, when we were children, were being enslaved ones under the basic principles of the world. ⁴But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, made out of a woman, made under law, ⁵that He might redeem those under law, that we might receive the adoption [of sons]. ⁶And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father.” ⁷Thus you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son [you are] also an heir of God through Christ.

Well, I’ve been hiding for several months in the Psalms. But alas, it’s time to leave my glorious refuge and face the storms again. Back to Galatians and the battle of legalism. I must say, these first seven verses of chapter 4 have been an explosion of truth for me. To anyone who stumbles across this post, I will apologize ahead of time because it’s going to be a long one. I am sincerely sorry I can’t seem to be brief. However, for me, the issues are enormous, and I want to try to record my thoughts in some kind of orderly fashion. So here we go:

The Galatian Issue

In this passage Paul is basically addressing the purpose of the law and the OT. The Galatians are being persuaded that they should continue to practice OT Judaism and obviously they have found the proposition alluring. Why wouldn’t they? Our hearts are naturally and incorrigibly legalistic. “Give me the rules and I’ll follow them.” Then make those rules the OT itself , with the very endorsement of God, and it becomes irresistible. How utterly compelling to have a religion of rules ordained by God Himself! I just follow the rules and I’m good!

It would be a very weak and fruitless argument for Paul to simply say, “You don’t need that. You don’t need OT law anymore.” “But,” they would object, “These are God’s rules! How can you dismiss them??”

Knowing such an approach would be fruitless, Paul instead tries to help them understand the purpose of law, hoping they will see it was only a means to an end; and now that the “end” has come (Christ), they need to move on. As he told the Colossians, “[The OT rules were] a shadow of things to come; the reality however is Christ” (2:17).

How It Affects Us Today

May I inject at this point that this very discussion is no small matter for us today? We may not be enamored with OT law, but I would suggest we are still naturally and incorrigibly legalistic. We still love a religion of rules and if we can convince ourselves they’re God’s rules, then we think we’re in religious hog heaven. And this problem, I would observe, is pervasive across the human race. People love a religion of rules, whether they are Islamists, Hindus, Mormons, Amish, Roman Catholics, or run-of-the-mill American church-goers. Of course it is easy to see the error in the sad, cruel bondage of the Islamists and the Amish. But it is no less sad and cruel when this fetish for legalism is the modus operandi of the modern evangelical church. American churches are typically built around their own unique combination of positions, traditions, and rules. “Come to our church and do it our way – God will be pleased with you!” “Principles” and “applications” are taught from the pulpit as if they are God’s rules, when in fact there’s not a shred of Scripture to support them. It is an enormous grief in my own heart that I have too many times committed this very sin when given the opportunity to supposedly speak on God’s behalf. But, knowing my own heart, I am all too aware how pervasive is this sad but utterly toxic misunderstanding of God, His Word, and His will.

As with Paul and the Galatians, the problem for us, I think, is that you cannot simply say, “The rules we’ve made were not good. We need to dismiss them and follow these.” That is exactly what’s been going on in American churches for the last 30 years. We realize some old “rules” are not valid and dismiss them, then congratulate ourselves we are not legalists like “those people” who still cling to those things. But have we addressed this fundamental problem of legalism itself? Have we truly realized and confronted the awful error of thinking true religion is fundamentally about “rules” at all?

In fact, I would suggest, this is the entire issue Paul is confronting here in Galatians 4:1-7. Go back and read it. What the Galatians are missing is the whole point of it all. They are failing to see the whole point of “religion,” the whole point of life!

Understanding Life Without the Holy Spirit

Here is what I’m understanding from this text: First of all, our biggest problem (and it’s true of the entire human race) is that we are born of Adam, born sinners, born without a heart that understands God’s. The basic result is that we don’t “get it.” We don’t at all understand how it all fits together. We don’t at all understand the big picture. And so what did God do? He basically allowed our world to be ruled by law. “Here are the rules. Keep them. Or else!” It is the only language our fallen hearts understand.

This is true whether Gentile or Jew. In Romans, Paul says even the Gentiles “show the work of the law written on their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or excusing one another” (2:15). The Gentiles naturally live under the rule of law. They have to. Their fallen, unregenerate hearts are capable of inexpressible cruelty and self-destruction. And they have no heart to really see it or change. So God gives them a sense of law. “Do this. Don’t do that. Or else!” It is the only restraint available.

The Jews, though perhaps born-again people, still had the same rotten hearts as their Gentile compatriots. Though they might come to genuine faith, as many obviously did, yet they were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit obviously moved on them, taught them, helped them, and changed them in many ways, yet they still had the fundamental problem of their darkened hearts without the indwelling Holy Spirit. So, like the Gentiles, God placed them under law.

This is where our text vv. 1-3 enters. Paul compares the time under law to a child. The child is in fact the heir, the “lord of all,” but he is not ready to handle the responsibilities or the freedoms of actually possessing that estate. Thus he is kept under tutors and guardians to protect him from his own childish inadequacy and to train him to be becoming a young man who will be “ready” when the father’s appointed time comes. Thus Paul describes this time under law as being “in bondage under the basic principles of the world.”

Now why does Paul call OT law the “basic principles of the world?” I think he does this here because whether it was the Jews under the Law itself or these Galatian gentiles under the more general rule of law – either way this is the basic system of moral restraint in a fallen, Adamic world. As Paul describes in Colossians 2, the “basic principles of the world” are “touch not, taste not, handle not; (2:21) – rules to follow. “Do this. Do that. Or else!” When the Galatians wish to place themselves under OT law, they are simply exchanging their general rule of law and replacing it with the Jews’ more specific rule of law. As impressive as OT law may be, it is still just law. It is still just the basic principles of this world. And it is still the tutelage intended to bring people to Christ. It is still life without (yet) the Holy Spirit.

Understanding Life With the Holy Spirit

And so verses 1-3 presents us all “enslaved” under law. And what did God do? “… when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, made out of a woman, made under law, ⁵that He might redeem those under law, that we might receive the adoption [of sons]”. The time of the tutelage ended. The time appointed by the Father finally arrived. Jesus came. Jesus was born like us. He was one of us. He lived life under the rule of law like us. Only He didn’t fail. And in bearing our sins He redeemed us and freed us from that tutelage.

But in order for us to in fact be free from the tutelage of the law, something very important happened. Jesus didn’t just give us better rules or somehow make us better rule-keepers. He “sent His Spirit into our hearts, crying Abba! Father!” One of the prerogatives of the Messiah was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The victorious Messiah Jesus returned to Heaven and on that first day of Pentecost, He did just that. He poured out His Spirit.

A new day dawned. The tutelage ended. The “child,” people with only darkened Adamic hearts suddenly came of age. Suddenly they now had the very Holy Spirit of God living inside those hearts. Now they can understand. Now they can see the big picture. Now they can understand God’s heart. Now they can understand how the entire law can be summed in two commands, “Love God, Love others.”

As Paul goes on to say later in the book, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (5:22,23). “Against such things there is no law.” New Testament believers are not supposed to be “rule-keepers.” They have the indwelling Spirit to help them see God’s goals, to know His heart, and to understand what truly is important and what is not. Like the full-grown heir they are able to handle the responsibilities and freedoms of spiritual adulthood.

This is the people God wants us to be; not ignorant, immature people who can only be given rules, but rather people who see His goals, embrace them, and thus need very little “rule” to guide their lives.

Slaves or Heirs?

Thus understanding all of this, it is foolish, unnecessary and even spiritually counter-productive for the Galatians to cast aside this Spirit-given freedom in Christ only to return to a demeaning system of childish rule-keeping. Paul hoped they would understand that. I hope I understand it!

I would suggest we do err greatly when we see life as a lot of rules. Rules are for children. Rules are all a dark Adamic heart can understand. “Rules are for rule-breakers,” says Paul in I Tim 1:9. Part of the reason why we’re given the indwelling Spirit is to raise us up so we understand “The goal of the commandment is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (I Tim 1:5). Mature people see goals, not rules. And where there are rules to “keep,” still the mature person sees the goal behind them. Thus Jesus could say all the Law and the Prophets hang on just two commandments. As Paul says, “Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law,” (Rom 13:10). Jesus’ desire is for His people to embrace first of all the goals behind His laws, shall I even say the heart behind the laws. And He wants us to share His goals, His heart. Such is His intended dignity for a people made in the image of God, to rise above mere rule-keeping and rather be enamored with Him. The victorious Messiah sent His Spirit into our hearts crying, “Abba! Father!”

“So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”

Understanding the Choice

The Galatians needed not only to let go of their pauperly OT rule-keeping, they needed to see that in Christ they’ve been raised to something far greater. They have been raised to the dignity of heirs, the dignity of mature people equipped to live out the image of God. This is the age of the Spirit, the indwelling, enlightening, empowering Holy Spirit, and so, like them, we need to utterly reject legalism in all its debasing manifestations and lay hold of a life driven by faith, hope, and sincere love.

Such a life will still care very much about God’s “rules,” about obeying Him as Lord and Master. How could we be less? We are enamored with Him! We are as Paul describes himself if in I Cor 9:21, “ … not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ” – happily under the law of the One whom my soul loves! On the other hand, the Law itself will still always be there as a wall to block our way when we lose our grip and find ourselves not walking in the Spirit. The “Thou shalt nots!” still meet us on the way to sin.

But such is not the groveling tutelage of childish rule-keeping. It is the wide-eyed, deliberate, intelligent life of mature people made in the image of God. It is a life of dignity and freedom.

But What About …?

In my mind, two matters must be quickly addressed. Number one: What about David and the other OT believers who rose to impressive levels of spiritual maturity? How could this happen under the days of “childhood” and the “tutelage of law” and without the indwelling Spirit? I think the answer is in understanding tutelage itself. Say a father sets the date of maturity as the son’s 21^st birthday. Under that tutelage, there would be on the one hand a 3-year old and on the other hand a young man of 20 years and 364 days. Even under tutelage there should have been growth toward the goal. The older son should have begun to look and act and think like the heir. And thus we see, even under OT tutelage there could have been and should have been people like David, believers of impressive spiritual maturity.

Then the second question begging address: If all of this is true, why are there so few people today that seem to exhibit any spiritual maturity at all? If this is the glorious age of the Holy Spirit-infused faith, why does the church look little different from carping, griping, faithless Israel in the desert? I would suggest a big part of the problem is this very legalism itself. Just as the Galatians, though Spirit-indwelt, were “biting and devouring one another,” a modern legalistic church misses the whole point of it all, themselves practicing and teaching a system of religion which is, though appealing, in the end toxic to any real growing relationship with God. It is cosmically sad that legalism always has and always will eclipse the face of God in peoples’ hearts.

Pulling It All Together

I think today we should take a passage like this and see its immediately practical application in our own lives. The Galatians obviously found legalism alluring. Unfortunately, we’re no different. But Paul’s counsel is not that they should turn away from the OT legalism and embrace some other system of law. Christ redeemed them from law! What they need to embrace is the enormity of this Spirit-driven, heart-changed exaltation from slave-like child to heir of God’s estate. I don’t know whether they did or not. But let us turn from our rule-keeping religion and let that indwelling Spirit cry “Abba! Father!” from our very heart. Let us stop thinking like the child and instead embrace our divinely endowed role as heir of God’s estate. Let us stop living by rules and instead lift up our heads to see God’s goals, His heart, His big picture.

May we really, truly love and serve and follow Christ from our hearts!

He deserves no less.

Psalm 43:5 – The Good Fight

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

⁷You were running well. Who cut in [on] you to not be obeying the truth? ⁸This persuasion [is] not out of the One calling you. ⁹‘A little leaven leavens the whole lump’. ¹⁰I am persuaded concerning you in the Lord that you will think nothing differently but the one troubling you, whoever he is, will bear the judgment. ¹¹But, brethren, if I am yet preaching circumcision, why am I yet being persecuted? Consequently the scandal of the Cross is negated. ¹²O that the ones opposing you would castrate themselves!

In my last two posts, I looked at verses 7 & 8. I also want to record some thoughts from the little proverb in verse 9, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump”. My impression is that this was a fairly common proverb in the ancient world, much like our “What goes up must come down.” Like them, we all “know what it means” and we can use it to apply to many different situations. I would also observe that the proverb itself apparently possessed no connotation negative or positive. Jesus quoted it in Matthew 13:33 as an illustration of the Kingdom of Heaven: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”  Paul quotes it here and also in I Cor 5:6 in the context of the immoral church member: “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” 

Obviously, it was simply a way of pointing out that seemingly small influences often can grow into pervasive impacts. Jesus was saying the Kingdom of Heaven can be that way; and it is certainly true that one person’s good influence can transform an entire family, a business, a church, even a nation. On the other hand, as Paul uses it in I Cor and here in Galatians, he is applying it to evil influences, which can themselves grow to corrupt entire people groups.

As I have pointed out earlier, it seems to me Paul is no longer writing in any kind of smooth logical flow. He has already built his case logically over five chapters and now, in verses 7 through 12, his passion seems to erupt in a series of exclamations, this proverb being one of them.  I think it is fair to say the consensus would be that he has in mind the teaching of the Judaizers, that in his mind there are only a handful of them, or perhaps he is thinking of their emphasis on the rite of circumcision – as if that were the “only” requirement the Galatians will have to submit to – when, as he has pointed out earlier, once you embrace legalism there will be no end to it.

Regardless, Paul’s point, Jesus’ point, and the point of our proverb is that we should ever be aware, both for better and for worse, that small influences should never be discounted or underestimated. Here in Galatians, the point is obviously, one way or another, the influence of false doctrine, and this is precisely where my blog devolves into more questions than answers.

Here’s my rub: on the one hand, it makes perfect sense to me that we must ever be on our guard against doctrinal error. Truth is truth, and, as I have said before, to be in error will be at least frustrating and may in the long run prove fatal. On the other hand, there is some measure of wisdom in knowing what “truth” is worth fighting for and what “truth” can be delegated to the realm of giving others the space to learn themselves. As a Christian, I have been “learning” for over 30 years. I don’t even agree with me from a month ago, much less from 5 years ago, or 10 or 20. And it should be that way. God help us if we can be around the Bible and Truth and not be constantly learning. But to learn is to realize I’ve been wrong. Was it “okay” that I was wrong? Was it “okay” that I myself had to learn to get where I am today? And then, what about the people around me? When is it okay for them to be wrong? When does the “wrong” call for correction? When is the “wrong” the little leaven that (dangerously) may leaven the whole lump?

What particularly brought this to mind was reading Marin Luther’s comments on this passage. He makes the statement, “This goes to show again how much importance Paul attached to the least points of Christian doctrine, … What right, then, have we to make little of doctrine? No matter how nonessential a point of doctrine may seem, if slighted it may prove the gradual disintegration of the truths of our salvation. Let us do everything to advance the glory and authority of God’s Word. Every tittle of it is greater than heaven and earth. Christian love and unity have nothing to do with the Word of God. We are bold to curse and condemn all men who in the least point corrupt the Word of God, ‘for a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.’”

Again, on the one hand, what Luther is saying makes perfect sense. Truth is truth. What isn’t truth is error and may grow into the very destruction of an entire people group. But where is the balance? “No matter how nonessential a point of doctrine …,” Luther said. Is that true? Hmmmm. While I deeply appreciate Luther and Calvin and their championing of the Scriptures such that there could be a Protestant Reformation, I am utterly unimpressed with the vituperative spirit they all seemed to do it with. If you go back and read their writings and the history of the Reformation, you will find they all hated and cursed each other. Luther tacked up his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Chapel door in 1517, and only 10 years later, in 1527, the first protestant was martyred by protestants. Felix Manz was drowned because he differed with them on the mode of baptism. Drowned? Executed? Really? Go back up to the last paragraph and read again what Luther said. Would he have someone executed because they differed with him on the mode of baptism? Yes.

Once again, I can read what Luther is saying and it can make perfect sense. Yet, somehow, I cannot and will not accept such a condemning spirit. Yes, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump;” but which leaven can be left to the process of sanctification in others’ lives and which leaven is worth going to the mat over?

Frankly, I don’t think I know the answer to these questions. I hope I will always be a champion for truth; but somehow I also want to live out the graciousness of a God who’s big enough to give me space to grow and still love me through it all.

For whatever it’s worth, I think the issues I’ve raised are of monumental significance. As I would live my faith, I have to live it in a world that is broken. The best anyone (including me) can be is learning. The best anyone can be is to be about the business of trying to fix the brokenness. So therefore there is no perfect church or church group. There are no perfect Christians to fellowship with. Therefore, and I think this is an enormous “therefore,” I cannot take Luther’s position to “curse and condemn all men who in the least point corrupt the Word of God.”  Somehow grace must be willing to overlook much, much, much in my church, my immediate Christian acquaintances, and even in the broader circle of who I align myself with – not to mention the non-christian world I live and work in.

On the other hand, the devil, like a roaring lion, still wanders about, seeking whom he may devour. A little leaven still leavens the whole lump. Error is still in the short run frustrating and in the long run fatal. To be wrong is still a dangerous thing. As in Paul’s case here in Galatians, sometimes error is serious enough to get a godly man into an emotional froth – to even start proposing castration! Love of people sometimes gives them room to grow, but it may also need to call error error and sin sin. How can we, for the love of grace and truth, determine where to draw these lines?

Once again, I don’t think I know the answers to these questions. Guess that is where I’ll have to leave this one. God grant us the wisdom to live, to love, and to fight well.

Psalm 43:5 -- The Real Battle of Faith

O my soul! Why are you downcast? And why are you groaning within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him, the salvations of my face and my God.

As I study Psalm 43:5 I enjoy the advantage that Psalm 42:5 and 11 and essentially identical. So when one goes to read the thoughts of all my old buddies, I can go to three different places to see what they said. I am enjoying feasting at such a sumptuously set table! One commentator who very often speaks directly to my heart is John Calvin. His comments on these words as they're found in Psalm 42:5 are so thought-provoking, I would like to record them in their entirety here. If you find yourself discouraged and your soul groaning within you, if the troubles of this life seem currently to be robbing you of joy, read slowly and thoughtfully what Calvin has to say. Every single line is another pearl on a string of help and hope:

"O my soul! why art thou cast down? From this it appears that David contended strongly against his sorrow, lest he should yield to temptation: but what we ought chiefly to observe is, that he had experienced a strong and bitter contest before he obtained the victory over it; or we might rather say, that he was not delivered from it after one alarming assault, but was often called upon to enter into new scenes of conflict. It need not excite our wonder that he was so much disquieted and cast down, since he could not discern any sign of the divine favor towards him. But David here represents himself as if he formed two opposing parties. In so far as in the exercise of faith he relied upon the promises of God, being armed with the Spirit of invincible fortitude, he set himself, in opposition to the affections of his flesh, to restrain and subdue them; and, at the same time, he rebuked his own cowardice and imbecility of heart. Moreover, although he carried on war against the devil and the world, yet he does not enter into open and direct conflict with them, but rather regards himself as the enemy against whom he desires chiefly to contend. And doubtless the best way to overcome Satan is, not to go out of ourselves, but to maintain an internal conflict against the desires of our own hearts. It ought, however, to be observed, that David confesses that his soul was cast down within him: for when our infirmities rise up in vast array, and, like the waves of the sea, are ready to overwhelm us, our faith seems to us to fail, and, in consequence we are so overcome by mere fear, that we lack courage, and are afraid to enter into the conflict. Whenever, therefore, such a state of indifference and faint-heartedness shall seize upon us, let us remember, that to govern and subdue the desires of their hearts, and especially to contend against the feelings of distrust which are natural to all, is a conflict to which the godly are not unfrequently called. But here there are two evils specified, which, however apparently different, yet assail our hearts at the same time; the one is discouragement, and the other disquietude When we are quite downcast, we are not free of a feeling of disquietude, which leads us to murmur and complain. The remedy to both of them is here added, hope in God, which alone inspires our minds, in the first place, with confidence in the midst of the greatest troubles; and, secondly, by the exercise of patience, preserves them in peace. In what follows, David very well expresses the power and nature of hope by these words, I shall yet praise him; for it has the effect of elevating our thoughts to the contemplation of the grace of God, when it is hidden from our view. By the term yet, he confesses that for the present, and in so far as the praises of God are concerned, his mouth is stopped, seeing he is oppressed and shut up on all sides. This, however, does not prevent him from extending his hope to some future distant period; and, in order to escape from his present sorrow, and, as it were, get beyond its reach, he promises himself what as yet there was no appearance of obtaining. Nor is this an imaginary expectation produced by a fanciful mind; but, relying upon the promises of God, he not only encourages himself to cherish good hope, but also promises himself certain deliverance. We can only be competent witnesses to our brethren of the grace of God when, in the first place, we have borne testimony to it to our own hearts. What follows, The helps of his countenance, may be differently expounded. Commentators, for the most part, supply the word for: so that, according to this view, David here expresses the matter or cause of thanksgiving — that yet he would give praise or thanks to God for the help of his countenance This interpretation I readily admit. At the same time, the sense will not be inappropriate if we read the terms separately, thus: helps or salvations are from the countenance of God; for as soon as he is pleased to look upon his people he sets them in safety. The countenance of God is taken for the manifestation of his favor. His countenance then appears serene and gracious to us; as, on the contrary, adversity, like the intervening clouds, darkens or obscures its benign aspect."

May we all today find His countenance serene and gracious and may the joy of the Lord truly be our strength!

Psalm 43:3,4 – With Him

As usual, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

³Send forth Your light and Your truth. Let them guide me. Let them bring me to the mountain of Your holiness and to Your dwelling places, ⁴and I will come in to the altar of God, to God the joy of my rejoicing, and I will praise You with a lyre, God my God.

In my last post I noted how the Psalmist here desired to be in God’s presence. Verse 4 adds, “And I will come in to the altar of God …” Once again, note that the context of this psalm is trouble. Yet, while the psalmist wants the trouble to end, it makes his heart long for God’s presence.

It is interesting to me to realize that first of all God wants to be in our presence. He wants us with Him. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2,3). “…that you also may be where I am”-- There is no question Biblically speaking whether God wants to be with us. The question is whether we want to be with Him! In a sad sense, hell is God giving people what they wanted all along – to get away from Him. Thankfully, a believing heart has been redeemed from such eternally fatal foolishness. But still, the business of “practicing God’s presence,” of deliberately seeking His presence, is a learning process. What trouble does is jumpstart that business. As long as this world is all pleasant and wonderful, we can simply leave God out. When someone throws us in a lion’s den or a fiery furnace, all of sudden it is easier to treasure God’s presence! But I would suggest that maturity is to learn to value His presence whether in trouble or not. Maturity is desiring to be with Him constantly. He wants to be with us. Maturity is when we begin more and more to want to be with Him.

It is interesting to note in verse 4, the name God is used four times. There’s certainly no question where is this psalmist’s focus!

It is also interesting to note how he sees God. He calls Him, “the joy of my rejoicing.” The Hebrew here uses two words that are different yet very close synonyms. You could translate it, “joy of my joy” or “rejoicing of my rejoicing,” “delight of my delight,” or any combination thereof. I think we get the picture! He has grown spiritually to the point where it really is true that God is a delight to him. Once again, it is Biblically apparent that God delights in us: “The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over you with singing” (Zeph 3:17). Zephaniah uses the same two Hebrew words which occur in our passage. It is simply a fact, the Lord delights in us. The only question is whether we delight in Him! As soon as we do, the feelings are mutual. And that is exactly the relationship He intended from the beginning.

As with Adam and Eve, sin clouds that relationship. Our sins and our sinful nature leave us with a twisted view of God, seeing Him in some way as sinister or threatening or disinterested. But as we allow the blood of Jesus to wash those sins, as we hear Him calling to us to come boldly before the Throne of Grace, as we feed on His words and grow to truly know Him, we find Him everything our hearts ever desired. We find Him to be the “the joy of our rejoicing.”

One sad interjection here is to note that when we allow legalism to be our sanctification, it also clouds our view of God. Just as with the Pharisees, we may make up rules which appear very religious, which appeal to the others in our group, and which allow us to feel we’ve attained quite a level of spirituality. The problem is they’re not God’s rules. They’re not His truth. When we believe they came from Him we think they reflect Who He is. But He isn’t. He is YHVH, “I am that I am.” He is who He is and any other view of Him is simply in error. Legalism eclipses the face of God. The only hope is to diligently read and study and and let the Bible say what it says. Let it tell us Who God is, what He’s like, and what in fact He expects from us. When Jesus was here, He spoke to some of the most legalistic people who ever lived and said, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). I would suggest His “rest” comes from truly knowing Him for who He really is – this God who delights in us and Whom we will also find a delight to us, the more we truly know Him.

The key is to be “with Him.” He is with us. He said He’d never leave us. The only question is whether we’re with Him. To see Him as our psalmist sees Him, as the joy of our rejoicing, is the privilege and the end of a believing heart. In fact, Heaven itself will be the consummation of such a relationship here on earth. There we’ll forever be with Him, delighting in Him as He delights in us.

Here on earth, our adversities move us to desire His presence. Here in our psalm, the writer’s affliction moves Him to desire God’s dwelling place and His altar. But may the relationship we find there continue on, even after “these calamities pass by”.

Isn’t it great we can enjoy such a relationship now? Lord help us know You better and better and may it be true that whether in adversity or not we find in You “the joy of our rejoicing.”

Psalm 43:3 – His Presence

As usual, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Judge me, O God. Plead my cause against an unloving nation. Against a man of deceit and injustice deliver me, ²because You [are] the God of my fortress.  Why do You reject me? Why do I walk to and fro mourning in oppression of a hostile one?

³Send forth Your light and Your truth. Let them guide me. Let them bring me to the mountain of Your holiness and to Your dwelling places.

In my last post I focused on the first phrase of verse 3, “Send forth Your light …” Of course what the Psalmist asks is for God to send forth His light and His truth.  I could expound for hours on the subject of God’s truth, but I’ve done that many times so I won’t here. Suffice it to point out that God’s truth is the only absolute truth. It is the bedrock upon which life, even civilization must be built. All other “truth” must bow to His. It is one of the challenges (and pleasures) of human existence to seek out the truths of our universe, that which we properly call science. But as much as I love science (and I do), even that is always subject to the limitations and errors of perception. Only God’s truth is absolutely “true.”

Note too that specifically the Psalmist wants God’s light and truth to guide him. He could have asked that God’s light and truth exonerate him or expose the villain. People often want God’s light and truth simply to add to their store of knowledge wherewith to impress their Sunday School class. But this psalmist’s passion is not just to be intellectual. He wants to walk with God. He wants God’s light and truth to be immediately practical. Guide me. Help me to know the way wherein I should walk. Help me to know how to think about this situation, what to do about it, how to respond to it. I would suggest it becomes particularly important to pray like this when we’re being treated unjustly precisely because we ourselves are sinners and prone to respond badly.

Interesting to note, too, that he specifically asks, “Let them bring me to the mountain of Your holiness and to Your dwelling places”.   I think it irrelevant whether he is referring literally to Jerusalem and the Temple or whether he is speaking spiritually of God’s presence. Either way it is the same in the end – it is God’s presence he desires. David longed in Psalm 23 (before there was a Temple), “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” In Psalm 61 he prayed “I long to dwell in Your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.” In Psalm 27 he prayed, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple”.

“To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord”. I think I am just beginning to really understand and experience what David and the psalmist of our passage are talking about. All through my life, it has been a considerable comfort to be able to go to the Lord with my every trial, my every fear, my every need, to learn and to feed on the truth that He loves me and cares about me and wants to use those troubles for my good. I think underneath it all, part of the comfort was knowing that the trouble would end, wanting it to be over. Yes, I wanted to learn His lessons, grow closer to Him, and the like. But mainly I wanted it to be over. “Deliver me, O God!” And there is certainly nothing wrong with any of that. The writer in Psalm 116 praised God saying, “For You, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling …” Even here in Psalm 43, in verse 1 he prays, "Against a man of deceit and injustice deliver me." But I think I’m learning something even better, what he expresses here in verse 3 – the desire to see His face even in the trouble and to even find joy in seeing His face, in a sense oblivious to the trouble and whether it will or will not soon end. “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.”  One thing I ask. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord … all the days of my life.  Here in Psalm 43, the same sentiment is expressed, “Let [Your light and Your truth] guide me” not “out of this trouble” but rather “to the place where You dwell, into Your presence.”

In Psalm 27, David prayed “My heart says of You, ‘Seek His face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.” I think, I hope I’m finally learning what David means. To see His face is the best thing of all. As long as I can see Him, I find hope and strength to live by. I find the strength to love and to rise above myself. As long as I can see His face, He really does lift me up. When I can’t see His face or when I lose sight of it, that’s when my world, my heart goes dark. To see His face, to be in His presence, to be where He dwells, those are the greatest gifts to enjoy in this world. And again, what amazes my heart is how I can actually enjoy those things even while I’m suffering the slings and arrows of this world’s misfortunes.         

May I see Your face clearly all day today. Whether in trouble or not, may Your light and truth guide me each step of the way. And may my best destination be not to escape my troubles but rather to find myself enjoying Your presence. “… and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Psalm 43:3 – Light and Darkness

As usual, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Judge me, O God. Plead my cause against an unloving nation. Against a man of deceit and injustice deliver me, ²because You [are] the God of my fortress.  Why do You reject me? Why do I walk to and fro mourning in oppression of a hostile one?

³Send forth Your light and Your truth. Let them guide me. Let them bring me to the mountain of Your holiness and to Your dwelling places.

What a verse (3, that is). Eleven words in the Hebrew original exploding with galaxies of hope and peace and strength. I think I could type on for hours. Where do I even begin? Hmmmm. Maria and the children sing, “Let’s begin at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start!”

Seriously, let’s begin at the very beginning. And what does it say?

"Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day." (Gen. 1:3-5).

Our glorious God has been sending forth light and dispelling darkness for a very long time! And though light vs. darkness means nothing to Him (Ps. 139:11,12) , in His love He knows they are literally “night and day” to us. He Himself of course is “the Light of the world” and in His heaven “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Rev. 21:23).

Charles Wesley captured the intensely personal meaning of God’s light in his old hymn, “And Can It Be?”:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night,

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light!

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee!

“Light and darkness” is one of the enormous and fundamental fractals of our created existence.  The good guys dress in white; the bad guys in black. Bright sunshine is cheery and healthful; darkness is gloomy and dank. When I don’t know, I’m “in the dark;” when I figure it out “the lights come on!” In bright light I can see even minute details; in the darkness we’ll run into a wall. I have noticed for years that this contrast of light vs. darkness is a constantly recurring theme in the Bible. Once I set about to study it, then realized it was way too big a subject to even try to address with a single study. Now I know that is because it is a fractal. It is a pattern which bears upon our lives in a million different ways on a million different scales, but always that same pattern: light is good/ darkness usually bad.

And so, in our passage, the Psalmist pleads the Lord to “send forth Your light!”

Well would we pray that. Back in Psalm 36:9, David said, “In Your light, we see light.”

It is always true that we need God’s light to walk by. I need His truth to be “a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Ps 119:105); but we acutely need His light during those times of trial and trouble. Here in our Psalm, we’re dealing with those situations where we feel we are being unjustly mistreated, when others or even someone in particular is inflicting some misery into our life. How should I respond? Should I try to defend myself? Do I need to? How do I get this anger and hatred out of my heart? How can I return good for their evil? How can I even make myself want to? Why is the Lord allowing this? When will it end?

In all this confusion and emotion, we can pray, “Lord, send forth Your light!”

I have found over the years that at those times my evil heart doesn’t want to pray those words because way down deep I doubt it will do any good. My evil heart can’t imagine how God could send any light, so it persuades me, “Why bother?”

But when I gather up my faith and pray it anyway, it has always amazed me how He has, in fact, answered. I like Micah’s retort to his evil heart, “Rejoice not against me, my enemy, when I fall, for I shall arise; and when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto me” (Micah 7:8). Notice those words: “…for I shall arise; and when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto me.” Those are faith words and good medicine for believing hearts.

So let us ask, that we might receive. Lord, send forth Your light. 

Psalm 43:1,2 – Wrestling in the Darkness

As usual, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Judge me, O God. Plead my cause against an unloving nation. Against a man of deceit and injustice deliver me, ²because You [are] the God of my fortress.

 Why do You reject me? Why do I walk to and fro mourning in oppression of a hostile one?

Continuing from the last post, Psalm 43 was written in the context of some kind of injustice. In some way, the psalmist feels he is being treated unfairly or wrongly. It’s probably safe to say there’s never a time in our lives when we don’t feel we’re being treated unfairly or wrongly in some way or another. But then there are those times where the wrong is particularly painful, when it seems to be the main course in our meal of life. What are we to do? As in the last post, I am thankful the Lord included this passage of Scripture and others like it in the Bible. We have here recorded the prayer of a godly person as they face exactly what we do sooner or later. Hopefully as we study a passage like this, the Lord will help us be better equipped and able to respond to injustice in a mature and godly way.

Notice in verse 1, the focus is on the offender, the man of “deceit and injustice.” The psalmist asks the Lord to plead his cause against such a person. As we progress into verse 2, he gives the grounds of this request: “… because You are the God of my fortress.” In this world we may or may not have any human recourse to address the wrongs we suffer. Sometimes we do but I would contend that usually we do not. As I said before, in my experience it has generally done little good to try to defend oneself. Accusers, slanderers, and those who hurt others generally have little concern for truth. They have some other axe to grind or some personal gain they’re grasping for. Our “case” or our “truth” simply gets in the way of their evil. Again, there may be steps a person should take when under injustice. But even if there are, a believer soon realizes he is pretty much helpless in a world of trouble.

As in this Psalm, such realizations drive us to the Lord. Yes, it is true. He is the God of my fortress. Ultimately He and He alone can truly defend me and deliver me. Like Jesus, we must “entrust” ourselves “to Him who judges justly.” He is our strength and our strong tower. What that means to me is that I don’t have to let myself wallow in anger or self-pity. I can go on loving, being kind, even being joyful whether the immediate injustice is resolved or not. I am free to go on loving God, loving people, and honestly loving life, because I know that God is my fortress, He is in this for my good, and that the very best “deliverance” is when I let Him change me through it all, when I allow Him to make me better because of it..

As in this Psalm, however, before I get there, I may have to work through some more emotional turmoil. Notice, while the psalmist started his prayer feeling mistreated by another person, in verse 2 he turns the hurt toward God Himself. “Why doYou reject me?” It is worthy of note that the Hebrew word translated “reject” is a very strong word. It’s like taking a drink of milk only then to realize it is seriously spoiled. How violently do you spit it out? That’s the picture. And that is the intensity of the emotion the psalmist is feeling.

First we see how we’re being treated; in this case mistreated. We feel the pain and see the person(s) who seem to be inflicting it. But then, because we believe God controls everything, our hearts go to the fact that He is allowing it. “Why?” we ask in our grief! It seems that God has turned against us too! “Why do You reject me? Why do You allow this pain that makes me go to and fro mourning, being oppressed by this hostile person, this man of deceit and injustice, this unloving nation?”

Jesus cried from the Cross, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

Job said, “Even today my complaint is bitter; His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

 If only I knew where to find Him; if only I could go to His dwelling! But if I go to the east, He is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find Him. But He stands alone, and who can oppose Him? He does whatever He pleases. He carries out His decree against me, and many such plans He still has in store. That is why I am terrified before Him; when I think of all this, I fear Him. God has made my heart faint.”

In Psalm 88, the psalmist complains, “My soul is full of trouble … I cry to You for help, O Lord. Why do You reject me and hide Your face from me? I have suffered Your terrors and am in despair. Your wrath has swept over me. You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend.”

It used to puzzle me to hear such things. “Where is their faith?” I asked myself. Then I realized the very complaint is an expression of their faith. The very fact they are praying to God in their struggle is because of their belief that He is in charge. As David said, “I believed, therefore I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted!” Now it is certainly possible to question God in unbelief. From unbelievers, we read and hear such things often, like “If there is a God, then why does He allow so much evil in the world?” In their case, the question is an expression of their unbelief. But, as in the Scripture passages above, Jesus, and Job, and the Psalmist, and even we can wrestle through the emotional turmoil of our pain “questioning” God. What’s important here is that we’re talking to Him.

Charles Spurgeon said, “He who is the Author of a mysterious trial can best expound it to us.” I believe we can say with confidence, based on the Scriptures, that it is permissible, even good, to inquire of God regarding our trials, even if at the time our emotions are raw and our questions even appear to be challenging Him. He’s a big God. He can handle it. And He “knoweth our frame, that we are but dust.” Though He must allow the trouble to accomplish some good in our life, yet in His compassion He sees our pain, He feels deeply for us, He pities our helplessness, as a mother loves and pities her helpless little baby. And so He is not offended by our seeming accusations and challenges. He wants us to talk to Him, regardless of, (yea, because of!) our current emotional state.

He is the very One who said, “No trial for the present seems joyous but grievous; but afterward yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it.”

So then, in the pain of our injustice, in the pain of being mistreated, even before we “get our head straight,” let us take the matter to our God. Let us fire away all the anguish and confusion and hurt, even if it seems to be aimed at Him. He can handle it. He wants us to talk to Him. And He alone will prove to be “the God of our fortress” before it is over. He alone can “fix” us. He alone can give us wisdom and strength. He alone can even give us joy in the midst of the storm.

Let us pray our hearts away! Like Jacob, let us wrestle with Him in our darkness and say, “I will not let You go, lest You bless me!”

Psalm 43:1 – Injustice?

  Here is my literal translation of the opening verse:

¹Judge me, O God. Plead my cause against an unloving nation. Against a man of deceit and injustice deliver me.

The context of this verse is immediately an unpleasant subject: injustice. What do we do when we sincerely feel we are being treated unjustly?

Now, any true Christ-follower is a person who is sincerely trying to have good relationships in this world, trying to do good to the people around them, to be faithful in their duties, to deal honestly with people, and the such. However, as my boss often quotes, “No good turn goes unpunished.” It’s true. No matter how sincerely one tries to do right, no matter how hard we work for the good of others, we live in a malevolent world that will often hate us for it. Sometimes we may simply be misunderstood but then, on the other hand, there really are sinister people who would deliberately ruin our lives, no matter how hard we’re trying to be the best we can be. Matthew Henry said, “As long as there are such bad men out of hell, and nations of them, it is not strange that good men, who are yet out of Heaven, meet with hard and base treatment.” All Jesus ever did was love people and they crucified Him for it.

How can a believer keep on keeping on in such an unjust world?

Again, it is an unpleasant subject, but sadly it is reality. And when injustice comes crashing through my life, how can I respond? What can I do? Fortunately the Lord included this Psalm, and others like it in the Scriptures, where we can find a godly person’s prayer in the midst of just such a situation.

So what does he do? Note first of all here that he calls God to be his judge. Herein is probably often times the very reason God allows us to suffer injustice – to remind us Who’s opinion really matters anyway. There is, in fact, enormous comfort in realizing that God knows our heart, that He knows that our motives were pure, that we did do it out of love. Even if others falsely accuse us, impugn our motives, and slander us behind our backs, we need to find solace is the Lord’s approval.

The other thing it can do is provide a platform for some serious self-evaluation. No matter how malevolent others may be, it is always possible (if not likely) that there is some truth in what they’re saying. That is also part of asking God to judge us. “Lord, if there is any truth in what they’re saying, open my eyes to see my faults. Even if they’re totally wrong in how they are attacking me, still I want to grasp every opportunity to see myself for who I truly am and allow You to change me.” What is good here is that we can count on the Lord to be accurate and fair in His assessment, to be gentle in His correction, and to be sincerely interested in our good – regardless of the malevolence of others and … regardless of the tyranny of our own cruel consciences. Oh wretched man that I am – my evil pride may hide my faults but my legalistic conscience clutches every opportunity to bludgeon my feeble heart. I can’t trust others’ evaluations but I can’t trust my own either. When under attack from without, I may yet prove to be my own worst enemy. More on this later.

But back to our Psalm, it is always possible that I genuinely have done nothing wrong (in this particular instance), that I do not deserve the ill-treatment I’m receiving. The Psalmist asks God to “plead my cause.” Sometimes one needs to defend himself. But it has been my experience in life that this usually accomplishes nothing. The people who accuse us usually have no interest in truth. They only want to “win.” Defend yourself if you should but I would say usually the Psalmist’s approach is best – just ask God to do the defending. He can “bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy justice as the noonday sun.” If, rather than trying to defend ourselves, we just continue to respond in integrity, maturity, and kindness, the Lord can make sure the right people see through all the smoke. Sometimes “If a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

So ultimately our case is really with the Lord anyway.

I like what Paul said in I Corinthians 4:3,4:

“I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.”

As I alluded to above, sometimes the malevolence is from without, but unfortunately it can come just as viciously from within. Paul’s total comfort is in to rest in God’s judgment – not even his own (!).

And, particularly regarding those assaults from without, thankfully we have Jesus’ example as noted in I Peter 2:21-23:

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.”

“… He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.”

As unpleasant as injustice may be, it is good for our souls to kneel beside Jesus and pray, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” Sometimes it takes injustice to get us there.

Psalm 86:16,17 – Conclusion of the Matter

As usual, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁶Turn to me and be gracious to me. Give Your strength to Your servant and deliver the son of Your handmaid. ¹⁷Make with me a sign to good and ones hating me will see and be ashamed because You LORD have helped me and comforted me.

This entire prayer has been motivated by a particular incident in David’s life where the hate-brigade has him in their sights. No one knows exactly what is the particular nature of their hatred but, for the sake of Scripture, that really isn’t important. Obviously David’s prayer is suited for any such attack, whether it be the hate-brigade, the devil himself, or whatever kid of threat it might be.

David prays in conclusion, “Turn to me.” One should remember that the Lord is a great King with many, many people seeking audience with Him and with many matters of great import demanding His attention. In the midst of all of that, David asks Him, “Turn to me.” “In the midst of all Your kingly business, I would ask a moment of Your attention.”

And then he implores, “Be gracious to me.” The Hebrew word translated “be gracious” is exactly that, the act of a superior granting favor (not necessarily merited in any way) to an inferior, as a king granting to a subject or a master to his servant. That is truly what each of us needs. We need the great King to grant us acts of favor, regardless of whether we deserve it or not. We simply need it.

The particular grace David asks for is the Lord’s strength and deliverance. Strength is certainly what we all need to face the trials and threats and challenges of our life. I so easily lose sight of love. I so easily lose sight of treasuring relationships. I so easily lose sight of the things that really matter. And I am so easily confused. I so easily give up. Lord, grant me the strength to keep my gaze fixed on Jesus and to be Your representative, no matter what it costs or what I have to fear.

He adds that he is the “son of Your handmaid.” In the times of slavery, if a child was born to a master’s slave-girl, he automatically became the servant of that master. He could potentially be seen as especially valuable to his master since he was actually born in his house. If he had some need, he could remind the master that he was not just a slave who had been bought along the way, but actually born in his house. So David alludes, apparently, to his own mother. This is, as far as I know, the only allusion in the Bible to David’s mother’s character. I don’t believe we are ever given her name. His father was Jesse, of course, but I don’t believe we’re ever given his mother’s name. But here, apparently, David reminds the Lord that his mother was a godly woman, and that being the case, he was then “born in the Master’s house.” Certainly anyone who can attest to godly parents and grandparents can certainly bring that before the Lord as further reason for Him to come to our aid. He wants to bless “thousands of generations of them that love Him.” Godly parents and grandparents invest a lifetime of prayers and heartlove for their children and grandchildren. Whether they are still living or not, it is a kindness of the Lord that he will bless their children for their sake, just as He blessed many of Israel and then Judah’s kings “for the sake of my servant David.” So may we implore that blessing if we’ve enjoyed the benefit of godly ancestors.

Finally David asks the Lord to help him in such a way that his enemies will see it and somehow know that it was the Lord who helped him and comforted him. I don’t know how much other people have been able to see “it was the Lord who helped me” but I am certainly aware of many, many, many times when He has helped me face whatever He put in front of me. At 55, I am amazed how much he has helped me at work. He has made me way better than I am. I have faced so many problems and projects where I really didn’t know what I was going to do, or where things could have gone really badly or really well. And again, and again, He has helped me. And once again, what I see is that He has made me way better than I am. I’ve accomplished so much that really was far beyond me. But again, and again I am very aware of specific ways and instances where he stepped in helped me see something I could never have seen, helped me figure out something I could never have figured out, moved other people to do things I could never have somehow extracted from them, made things work that were simply far out of my control.

He is just so good that way. I am just floored by His kindness. Like David, every time I face new challenges, I need to remember all that past kindness and be the more determined to be loving and faithful right through it, no matter what.

I think that is the big point of Psalm 86. We need to keep in the very focus of our minds that our God is gracious, compassionate, forgiving, faithful, and abounding in loving-kindness. Then as we face our various challenges throughout our day, big or small, we need to keep on loving, assured that our good God will giv us joy and strength and help at just the right times.

He’s that kind of God. May our hearts be so full of His love that we find trusting Him habitual. He certainly deserves it.

And now, unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above anything we could ask or think, to Him be the glory throughout all the ages, world without end. Amen.

Psalm 86:14,15 – Contrasts

As usual, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁴O God, proud ones rise against me, and a group of violent ones seek my soul, and they have not set You before them, ¹⁵but You Adonai [are] a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and great [in] loving-kindness and faithfulness.

Last post I noted the existence of the hate-brigades, the people who will oppose you no matter how good or right your cause. As I noted there, unfortunately, if we don’t vigilantly, prayerfully guard our own souls against the sin of pride, we actually ourselves become the hate brigade for someone else’s good cause. The problem with us people is we’re just a fallen, wrecked bunch, all desperately in need of a Redeemer.

But, against this backdrop of human maliciousness, in verse 15 David contrasts it all with who God is: but You Adonai [are] a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and great [in] loving-kindness and faithfulness. Wow. What a combination of attributes. What more could we ask for? Just pause a moment and think about these five qualities and then marvel that this is who our God is! It is the very salvation of our souls that our God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and great in loving-kindness and faithfulness. If He was anything less we’d have all long since dropped into hell. But thankfully for us, He is who He is.

What better God could we ask for? And what better friend? What better Father? If only we could get this knowledge, this image of God fixed in our minds. If only we could so believe it and embrace it by faith that our minds never lost sight of such divine beneficence. Then we’d have no trouble trusting Him implicitly. I’m reminded of the words to the song, “You’re everything I’ve hoped for; You’re everything I need. You are so beautiful to me.” I would pray again, “Lord, unite my heart, give me a single focus, to see You clearly for who You really are. May my heart never lose sight of the wonder of Your compassion, graciousness, patience, loving-kindness, and faithfulness.

Incidentally, I just want to interject that the Hebrew word translated “compassionate” is from the same root letters as the word for a mother’s womb. In Hebrew, the idea of compassionate includes the whole picture of the very deep love, the affection, the feelings of a mother toward her tiny baby. Again, pause and consider that is how our God sees us. Amazing love. How can it be?

Back to the contrast, what is both sad and encouraging is that we were made in God’s image. We were made to be like Him. It is sad that people are proud and violent and inject misery into each other’s existence, when from their very creation they were intended to be compassionate, gracious, patient, and great in loving-kindness and faithfulness. But there is a Redeemer! And He came to redeem! That very God of compassion, graciousness, patience, loving-kindness, and faithfulness came to earth to be our Savior, to redeem our broken perverted race, to call us to Himself, and to restore us into that image. And for those who embrace that love, He promises that all things will work together for the amazing good that we should be conformed to that image – the image of Christ – the One who is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and great in loving-kindness and faithfulness!

Oh that we would be that kind of friend, that kind of parent, that kind of boss and co-worker. Oh to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer. Adam’s image now efface, stamp Thine image in its place.

On the one hand, for now reality has to be that I simply cannot expect to escape people’s meanness and cruelty. But even as I see it and suffer from it, may my heart be all the more enamored with the wonder of who my God is. And as I learn to fix my gaze on Him, may He change me into His likeness.

Second Adam from above, reinstate us in Thy love!