Month: March 2021

Psalm 59 and 1 Samuel 19

The events that inspired Psalm 59 were getting David down. I can hear him shouting, ‘This is the sixth time you have tried to kill me. It is getting beyond a joke.’ 1 Samuel 19 sets out the series of events. Saul was overtaken by jealousy as he was repeatedly faced by David’s greater success in battle and popularity with the masses. Jonathan, David’s best friend and son of Saul, reasoned with Saul that, ‘the lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?’ ^{1 Sam 19.5} Jonathan temporarily brought about reconciliation between Saul and David. However, the war season came again and David led a major victory over the Philistines. Saul could stand it no longer and when David was playing his lute to sooth the King, Saul picked up his spear and tried to pin David to the wall, making it the fifth time Saul attempted to murder David. David dodged and escaped fleeing to his own house.

Saul sent men to watch David’s house with the intent of arresting and killing him in the morning. David’s wife, Michal warned David and helped him escape through a window.  She then tried the old escape from prison trick of making up a dummy in his bed to look like him to give David time to escape. When Saul’s men arrived in the morning to take David to Saul she claimed he was sick and in bed. Saul’s response to his men was bring him in his bed. Once Michal’s deception was exposed Saul challenged his daughter Michal as to why she should help his enemy escape. Michal then lied to protect herself saying that David had threatened her life.

David made good his escape and reached Samuel the prophet. Saul ordered his men to pursue David but as they approached David’s hideout, at Ramah, they were overcome by the Spirit of God and started prophesying. What is meant here by prophesying is uncertain but may well have meant, praising God. Three times Saul gave the same instructions and each time his men were overcome by prophesying. Saul gave up and went himself only to find he also was overwhelmed by prophesy and spent an entire day lying naked and repentant before Samuel, prophesying.

This incredible account explains the extreme language used by David in the psalm. He pleads for God’s protection. ‘Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; deliver me from those who work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men.’ David was not innocent of all sin, but he was innocent of what Saul had charged him with. ^{vv 3,4} For David, Saul’s persistent henchmen were the howling dogs, prowling the city. ^v6,14 David’s repeated escapes were for him a clear demonstration of God’s protection, although as he wrote the words describing God’s deliverance he may well have also been drawing on other later experiences in his reign as well. ‘But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision. O my Strength I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress. My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies. ^{vv 8-10}

How, you may ask, can this psalm possibly relate to a twenty first century Christian experience? Who can possibly be relentlessly chased down with their life threatened because of their faith in Jesus? Sadly, we see many in those circumstances seeking asylum and refuge in Britain today. There are those who have fled countries controlled by ruthless gangs because their faith will not let them comply with the gang’s criminal demands. Others who by criminal gangs have been enslaved and transported into another country for prostitution, domestic servitude or economic enslavement. Many were either Christian at the point of being captured or tricked, or have become Christians since. There are churches significantly growing where men and women have escaped certain arrest, torture or execution for confessing Christ in their country of origin. Once here, even if given permission to stay, it does not mean that the gangs, families or authorities have given up on taking their revenge.

But we can join with them as they worship when they reach a place of relative safety using David’s words, ‘But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love. ^{vv 16,17}

Is there someone who needs our time, love and patience to listen to their story as well as our intercessions?

How long – Stuart Townend

Psalm 58

The above protest poster was held high by a woman in a crowd of thousands as a head of state visited a Scottish golf course. I added the exclamation marks as they are a signature feature of the head of state’s own memes. Humour, cuts sharpest, when there is an element of shock and potential truth. But that is mild compared to Psalm 58 where all humour has fallen away leaving only truth that is brutally vitriolic. The words are aimed at those with wealth and power who wield both to their own advantage, simultaneously oppressing others. The objects of David’s condemnation are rulers or as the ESV scathingly translates, ‘you gods’. ^v1

Psalm 58 has been controversial, even made optional in the Anglican 1980 service book, because of the strength of its language, especially verses 6 to 9. The language is strong, these are words that no western politician would expect to get away with. David appeals to God to break the teeth of unjust rulers and then tear them out of their mouths. He wants God to make them disappear, compares them to slugs and a still born child. He wants swift and total judgement that sweeps them from power and even life.

However, a further statement that has caused offence, ‘the righteous will be glad when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked’ ^v10 is not a celebration of personal revenge. The imprecatory psalms (of which this is one) leave judgement to God. But it does recognize there is a battle and the godly are involved in it and the righteous will be pleased with God’s victory. ^v11

This psalm makes clear that when people are not treated with equity then that is wicked and to be opposed. ‘Do you judge people with equity? No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.’ ^vv1,2 We are called to be godly in what we do and say. A core part of our calling is to campaign for justice and oppose injustice. This can take place within a political party structure but there is an increasing trend for campaigning to be cause specific and there are many causes that Christians and churches as a whole could actively support. They do not all have to be specifically Christian causes such as the persecution of Christians across the world, they can and should also be issues that impact the well-being of all e.g. modern slavery, Black lives matter and the impact on the world’s poorest of global warming.

Christian Aid is currently campaigning for debt relief for the poorest countries so that they have finances to fight the Coronavirus. Burkino Faso a country of 19 million has 11 ventilators, Sierra Leone has no intensive care beds in the hospitals. You can add your voice for debt relief here – https://www.christianaid.org.uk/campaigns/debt-jubilee-petition .

Tearfund is campaigning to clear up the plastics in the ocean which impacts on many poor people’s livelihoods. Increasing the proportion of global aid spent on waste management to 3% would more than halve the quantities of plastics entering the oceans and improve poor communities’ health. More than two billion people have no waste collection, meaning their rubbish ends up being burned or dumped in places like rivers and oceans. Tearfund are campaigning for global companies to take responsibility for the waste arising from their profits. You can join the campaign here – https://www.tearfund.org/about_you/action/

As a disciple of Jesus, do you recognise a responsibility to speak up and act for justice?

How can you help your church actively promote justice?

God of Justice (We Must Go) – Tim Hughes 

Psalm 57

There was a time when caves figured large in David’s life. (See the title) Life had not improved much since Psalm 56 when David had escaped from the Philistines in Gath. He fled to the cave of Adullam where his brothers and a general band of discontents joined him, but Saul returned from fighting off another Philistine attack with 3000 of the fittest men, to finally hunt David down, while David and his followers were hiding near the Crags of the Wild Goats. At that point David and some of his men were sheltering at the back of a large cave when Saul entered the cave to relieve himself. Despite urging from his men David refused to seize his chance to kill Saul because he honoured him as the Lord’s anointed. Instead he crept up and cut off a piece of Saul’s cloak without his knowledge. A trick fit for a pick pocket in Oliver Twist. When Saul left the cave, David called after him from a safe distance, waving the piece of the cloak and demonstrating that he had spared Saul. Saul temporarily repented of his pursuit of David and recognized that David would succeed him as King.

Psalm 57 begins as a lament ^{vv 1-4} and ends in praise. ^{vv 6-11} David has grown in confidence as he shelters under God’s wings. ^v2 It is not that his troubles, even the threat to his life, have gone away but he has seen evidence of the Lord’s protection. The threats are real, both physical from the weapons of Saul’s army and accusatory from those, ‘whose tongues are sharp swords’. ^v4 It is God who vindicates him ^v2 and so he gives glory to God in verse 5 and repeats it in the concluding verse 11. ‘Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.’ David bursts in to a song of praise, ^{vv 6-11} which gives God the glory for his salvation.

The theme of giving God the glory and living for God’s glory is repeatedly picked up in the New Testament. Jesus said, ‘Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven’. ^{Matthew 5.16} Jesus again linked his disciples lives with God’s glory in John 15.8, ‘By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples’. Jesus demonstrated how obedience to the Father brought glory to God and the Father would in turn glorify him. ‘I glorify you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.’ ^{John 17.4,5}

Later the apostles made clear how disciples of Jesus lives ought to bring glory to God. Peter instructed, ‘As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good servants of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.’ ^{1Peter 4.10,11} Paul made clear that even in the smallest things we do we ought to act in a way that brings glory to God, protecting the faith of the most vulnerable in their faith. In Corinth, meat bought at the market had previously been dedicated in some way by the butchers to a pagan god. Paul said if he eats in thankfulness to God, then his conscience is clear. However, if it becomes an obstacle to another believer then do not eat it because the greater good is in not undermining the faith of another. In all our lives we are to live for the sake of the gospel that bring glory to Jesus Christ and God the Father. In that way we can join with David in singing, Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.’

In time of trouble, do we take refuge in the shadow of the wings of the Father?

Do we draw upon the strength God supplies to live our lives in ways that glorify him through Jesus Christ?

To God be the glory – (For traditional worship)

Michael W. Smith – King of Glory ft. CeCe Winans (For full throated modern worship)

Psalm 56

When darkness is its most complete we feel the need for even the smallest amount of light. Darkness has the capacity to make us feel completely surrounded and yet absolutely alone. It makes our next step uncertain and can leave us directionless. It connects to our most primitive instincts, our other senses become heightened and our safety becomes our dominant concern. These things were all David’s experience at the time of Psalm 56. No wonder darkness and light are such powerful images in the bible. For those who are conscious of surrounding darkness in their life these are the words Jesus said to the people, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’, echoing the closing words of Psalm 56.

Life’s darkness is made worse when accompanied by loneliness and I find it difficult to think of a time when loneliness has been a greater issue than over the last few months of lock down. Psalm 56 describes David’s intimate conversation with God at an all-time low. David, described his life to Jonathan as, ‘only a step between me and death,’ ^{1 Samuel 20.3} as Saul was determined to kill him. David had fled Israel alone and sought refuge in Gath the home town of his historic enemy Goliath, carrying Goliath’s own sword. There he stood before Achish, king of the Philistines, while Achish’s servants reminded the king of the Israelite chant, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’. ^{1 Samuel 21.11} The tens of thousands being Philistines. To Achish, David was a prize hostage. It is in the light of that we can understand David’s opening plea and prayer to God. ‘Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.’ ^{Vv 1,2}

We do not have to be in fear of a sudden and violent death to experience extreme darkness and loneliness. Sometimes darkness can make us incapable of even uttering a prayer but David does an important thing, he admits he is afraid and in his fear he voices his trust in God, however weakly. ‘When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.’ ^v3 Why do I say weakly? Because he does what we are all liable to do and reverts immediately to focusing again on his troubles in detail. Although he says, he will not be afraid and in God he trusts, his trust is fragile. To escape Achish, he feigns madness and goes into an elaborate act of desperation. His behaviour is not that of a faith filled man of God.

David’s enemies and risks are two-fold, they come from his own people and the Philistines. He wants God to keep a close eye on both and hold them to account. Faith does grow though as he turns to God’s word. ‘In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?’ ^{vv 9,10}

David does two things. He remembers his vows to God and he trusts God’s word. ^v12 For the Christian we may remember a time when we made a commitment to follow Christ, that time when our promise became a life-long promise and we took Jesus at his word. That was when it was God who, ‘delivered my soul from death.’ ^v13 From then on his word reveals the light of our life – Jesus, who is the light of life.

How disciplined are we in understanding God’s word so we can walk in the light of life?

Thy word – Amy Grant

Psalm 55         2 Corinthians 11 & 1 Corinthians 3

‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.’ ^{Matthew 7.15-20 ESV}

For the Christian one of the most emotional and spiritually painful times can be when division occurs within the church or the ‘Kingdom of God’. Psalm 55 has much to say on this topic. Typically, division arises around personalities but it can also occur because of differences over aspects of theology or the way the church expresses itself. Where it does happen things other than the glory of Christ have risen to the dominant place in peoples’ minds. In David’s time the kingdom of God was a nation ruled by a king under God and division was rebellion against the king.

Frequently when David orders his thoughts and communion with God into a psalm he carefully constructs poetry according to ancient Hebrew literary conventions. Here it appears emotion has taken over and the psalm jumps around as he pours his heart out before God which in itself captures the level of upset he feels. ‘Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught … Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.’ ^{vv 1,2,5} David, as king, lived in a time when each year brought round the season for war. He was not afraid of conflict with other nations and he had repeated evidence of God’s faithfulness to him in such situations. What was different this time was the enemy was once the closest of friends, one of his own. ‘But it is you, a man like myself, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among worshipers.’ ^{vv 13,15} We do not know who this enemy is, perhaps the closest match to the description is Absalom although whilst the psalm identifies him as a close friend it does not call him a son. Absalom was however a very smooth talker whilst plotting to forcibly overthrow his father, ^v23 Conspiracy was rife in the walled capital of Jerusalem with, ‘Destructive forces at work in the city; threats and lies never leaving its streets’. ^{v 11} Arrogance has replaced a fear of God and the enemy defies the covenant God has made. ^{v 20} It could be said that similar things can occur within a church when division strikes and historically it accurately describes the church when politics and religion have become so closely entwined they could not be separated.

David’s initial reaction is to flee, leave behind the boiling city and find solace in the wilderness. ‘Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert’. ^{vv 6,7} David prays that confusion will fall upon his enemies, bringing to mind the tower of Babel and in various ways he calls for God’s judgement on them. The psalm ends with a lesson to himself. ‘Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken … but as for me, I trust in you’. ^{vv 22,23b}

The Corinthian church, as an expression of the kingdom of God, early in its life experienced division of two types. Firstly, by dividing itself according to the teacher people favoured instead of faithfulness to the gospel, or as Paul expresses it, the wisdom of God as opposed to the wisdom of this world. ^{1 Corinthians 3} Then in 2 Corinthians 11 Paul severely warns against teachers who change the gospel for personal gain. He calls them, ‘deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.’ ^{2 Corinthians 11.13} Psalm 55 provides a helpful analysis of the fruit of such teaching and Jesus words in Matthew 7 tells us to look beyond ‘smooth talking’ to the fruit of their words and life.

How are we able to check that we are living a gospel centred life?

Jesus Paid It All – Kim Walker-Smith