Highly uncontroversial

Unlike another recent social media post of the Bible, this is unlikely to cause any controversy. King David wrote the 23rd Psalm to express his confidence in God's love, care and provision for him. Ever since then, countless readers have turned to this Psalm for comfort and encouragement. 

The Bible is groovy

Long before Sons of Korah, Boney M were turning the Old Testament Psalms into songs. 39 years to the day, they had a number 2 hit with Rivers of Babylon. Until I wrote this post, I had no idea that composers have been putting this Psalm to music for hundreds of years. It shows how much I know.

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Badgerdarkness/australian_top_100_singles___03_july_1978/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalm_137

Taking it to the streets

Unless you have a cold and hardened heart towards spiritual things, one cannot fail to be moved by the Psalms. Today we looked at Psalm 139 in our weekly staff devotional time at work. Authorship of Psalm 139 is attributed to King David. Verses 13 to 16 read as follows: 

For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

This weekend I plan to attend the fourth annual March for the Babies in Melbourne. My home state of Victoria has some of the most liberal abortion laws in the world, with abortions now permitted up to the ninth month of pregnancy. It is estimated that 20,000 abortions are performed in Victoria every year. That equates to one in three pregnancies ending in abortion. 

In their context these verses have nothing to do with the abortion issue. Reflecting on his relationship with God, David marvels that God knows everything about us, we are always on God's mind, and there is nothing about us that we can hide from Him. The abortoin issue sprang to mind when I read them. Simply put, the implication of these verses is that every human life is precious in God's eyes, even before birth. This has complex ethical implications, but beginning in the womb at the moment of conception, and the formation of the embryo that gradually develops into a foetus during the gestation period, it is the hand of God that guides the processes that makes each human being unique. Because of abortion, millions of lives have been snuffed out and the potential and purpose that God implanted in them has been lost the the world forever before they even had a chance of life.

When I march on Saturday, it will not be to personally condemn or attack anybody who has ever had an abortion, or to pick a bone with any pro-choice activists, who will also be holding their own rally. I will simply be making a peaceful statement against what I consider to be an unjust and evil law.

Reflections on Psalm 7

Each day at Kingsley College begins with spiritual focus, where a staff member or student leads us in prayer and devotional reading of a passage from Scripture. Occasionally this task falls upon me, as it did last Wednesday.

Today’s reading came from Psalm 7, written by King David, the greatest of all ancient Israel's kings. To do something a bit different, I used Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase, The Message. The language is somewhat lurid in places, but does a good job on conveying the meaning of the words of this Psalm to contemporary readers.

APPLICATION

What we see here is that David was threatened by his enemies, as often happened during his life. This time he mentions Cush. Cush was from the tribe of Benjamin, which means that he probably followed Saul. As I’m sure you all know, Saul considered David to be his enemy.

We see him once again pouring out his heart or even complaining before God. He’s asking God for help and deliverance, but he knows that he can’t expect it if he is as guilty before God as his enemies are. He may not have sinned in the same way his enemies have, but he's still a sinner.

David knows that compared to his enemies, he’s done no wrong, but in the end, as we read elsewhere in Scripture, none of us are righteous in God’s eyes. None of us are without sin. God’s justice applies equally to all of us. Those of us who have faith in Jesus can trust and rejoice in God’s mercy. We have righteousness imputed to us through Christ.

It’s very humbling to read these words coming from a great man of God like David. Despite his failings, he was described as a man after God’s own heart. This is a reminder to us all, and certainly to me, to keep a short account with God.

You’ll never get me standing here and telling you to do things that I’m not prepared to do myself. If nothing else, this is a reminder to all of us of how important it to use your prayer time to confess your sins to Him. It’s a good thing to trust in His justice, but all of us need to trust in His mercy as well. I’ll leave you to ponder that.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, how grateful we are for your justice; that one day you will defeat all evil forever. We, as your children, are also grateful for your mercy towards us. But help us all not to take this for granted.

We ask this in Your Name.

Amen.