Photo Credit:: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Runner.jpg

Today I refer you to Skip Moen’s website to read his post.  It’s awesome!  Below are my comments on his post:

I think that fleeing is especially hard today because we’re taught to be strong and self-sufficient and to fight for what we deem to be “right.” Fleeing takes humility, the ability to admit I can’t do it alone… That is especially difficult. Fleeing also takes trust that God will do as He says. Looking back at His past reliability and faithfulness makes that easier, but it does make me have to have faith (as in the verb, not the noun).

The other day I heard someone say that the reason a person believes in Jesus is so they don’t go to hell (aren’t eternally separated from God) when they die. That made me kind of sad because if that’s the only reason a person reaches out to Yeshua, they’re missing out on so much – the relationship, the rescue in the midst of battle, and the incredible, ongoing God hunt that we are blessed with every day! Like you said, if we’re just waiting for the end, we’ll miss out on truly living. And Yeshua said that He is the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE.

Yeah God!

If you didn’t read the one previous to this (on the same verse), you can read it here.

Psalm 63:8

My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

The Hebrew here really pulls the meaning of this out:  My whole being (nephesh means “living being” – it’s where the soul, emotions, passions, will, and intellect reside – those things that make me human) follows closely after. Your right hand right hand supports me.

My nephesh follows closely after or clings to Him.  That means that everything that makes me who I am is following him: my emotions, my will (decisions), my intellect, my soul.  That’s a tall order.  Do I follow so closely after God that I press up against Him, getting underfoot, making it difficult to tell where one stops and the other starts?  It I get that close I have to lean on Him.  If He moves suddenly I’ll lose my balance.  So His right hand supports me as I follow and cling.

I think it’s interesting that the word for right hand or right side is repeated (it’s not in the English, but it is in the Hebrew  – yamiyn yamiyn).  That means there’s an emphasis on it making it more strongly stressed.  Perhaps it’s because the right hand was important (many or most people are right handed)?  Maybe it shows our value that God would use his “dominant” hand to support us.  I don’t know.  I tried to see if there is some particular symbolism or importance associated with God’s right hand, but I didn’t come up with much.  One place, an e-zine article by Jeff Benner of the Ancient Hebrew Research Center said that the right hand is seen as being stronger, therefore the right hand of God is the strength of God.  That definitely does seem to lend some insight into why that word is emphasized.  His strength strength supports me.

The point of the emphasis is to show just how strong He is, and He uses that strength to hold us as we follow closely.  For example, when my littlest boy starts to fall over (he’s a little uncoordinated but exceedingly cute), if he’s within arm’s reach I steady him with my hands.  But if he’s too far away, he’s outside the reach of my arms and he’s on his own…  This verse seems to be that same image.  Stick close to God and He uses His great strength to support me.

Jeff A. Benner

Ancient Hebrew Research Center

Psalm 63:2-6

(2) Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.

(3) Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You.

(4) So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.

(5) My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

(6) When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches,

In Hebrew it’s got that ABCBA format:

Sseeing God’s holiness and remembering and thinking about him are parallel.   His goodness is better than life and it satisfies his body with fullness causing joy – these two parts are parallel.  And the centerpiece is that I will bless Him as long as I live, lifting my hands in His name.  Cool!

Here are a couple of notes about the translation.

(2) Thus I perceive/behold Your apartness/sacredness, see Your strength/might and glory.

(3)  Because Your faithfulness/goodness is better than life my lips praise You.

(4) So I praise You while living; I lift up my hands to Your name.

(5) My whole being is satisfied/full with choisest abundance and the fatness of blessing.  My mouth praises praises with a joyful shout from my lips.

(6) When I cause to remember You on my bed/couch, I muse/meditate in the night watch.

Some thoughts:

I praise God each day I’m alive because I can see how sacred and apart He is, how strong and glorious He is, and because He is so faithful and good.  I love that the word “halah” which means praise also means to make a fool or or act like a madman!  Maybe that’s why David danced so wildly when he returned the ark to Israel and his wife scorned him because he was acting like a fool…  Perhaps worship is not a sedate and composed act.  Maybe it requires that I give up my dignity to lift my hands and be joyful, unafraid of looking a little silly.

I also love verse 5.  When I looked at the Hebrew that verse got so much fuller (haha!).   Maybe I missed something that indicated that I’m wrong, but in Hebrew it seems to be talking about fullness of abundance and blessing.  And it’s not just good stuff, it’s the choicest of the abundance and the fatness of blessing.  It’s like the cup that is filled and running over.  Every bit of my being is full with His goodness, and my response is to burst forth with praise and to think about Him and truly see Him in each day.  The word remember in verse 6 isn’t like “Oh, I just remembered something!” It’s deliberate, a causing myself to remember.  Maybe I leave myself notes to think about the things He’s done, or maybe I can choose to read His word before bed.  Remember, in the Hebrew world, the day starts in the evening.  So, in the case of this verse, David is starting His day by remembering the things God has done for him and thinking about God.  The first part of his day is spent with God.  Maybe I wasn’t so crazy when I had my quiet time at night!

Application:

Be deliberate in remembering what God has done and who He is.  Be uninhibited in praise.  Be satisfied and satiated by the abundance and blessing He has given me.

Psalm 16:8

I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

I feel pretty shaky a lot these days.  Between proposed education bills that would base my livelihood on the motivation that my students have to strive to do better and congress pushing huge bills that push us closer to socialism than to republicanism, life seems rather turbulent.  Things seem so up-in-the-air.  Hope is working on funding, but it’s an arena I’ve never entered, and I feel at a loss during this stage.  This verse reminds me that I’m not alone.  God is always right beside me to be my strength, my guide, and my protection.  I can stand tall and firm because He is there.  I just have to remember that when I’m freaking out. 

Psalm 43:5

Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again– my Savior and my God!

I know that my husband is really feeling discouraged right now.  His job is chewing him up and spitting him out mercilessly.  He’s frustrated with it and is finding it difficult to work so hard every day without any appreciation or hope of added compensation or promotion.  And I totally feel for him.  Teaching is a thankless job where you work really hard with students (teens, in my case) who may or may not want to be there (and most of whom think what is being taught is pointless and stupid) and usually end up with a tiny salary and all the blame when students aren’t as successful as the state thinks they should be.  End of rant.

I know the feeling of frustration.  We’re in a position where our choices are incredibly limited.  We don’t know what to do to get out of the mud we’re in, and it seems every time a vine lands close to the pit, it snaps just as we begin to pull free, landing us right back where we started.

Faith tells me that God has a plan, even in this, and that He can work miracles because He has resources that we know nothing about.  Faith tells me to keep trusting Him because He can work all this together for good.  Faith also tells me that God is glorified in my weakness and that He is my strength when things are so tough and it’s hard to stand.

My mind and the rest of me doesn’t always agree.

But what else can I do?  When there’s nothing left to do except trust that this isn’t all there is and this isn’t the best there is, it all comes down to faith and what I believe about the God who made me and loves me.  Some days that’s easy.  Some days that’s hard.  I choose to believe that every day is one step closer to the light at the end of the tunnel.

2 Corinthians 4:9

We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.

I am feeling hunted this morning.  At work I feel like “Big Brother” is watching every move I make so he can pounce on any small mistake to use against me.  And now, I get that feeling at home, too.  I haven’t felt like this since I was a child.  It’s really frustrating because I can’t ask the questions I want to ask or make the observations that I want to make.  So, I’m praying for God’s grace and patience in the situation.  This verse spoke to my heart because God doesn’t abandon me.  He’s not like the watchful, vengeful spirits or people that are just waiting for something to comment on or use to make a point.  He doesn’t lay in wait for me to make a mistake or do something he doesn’t like.  He is always there and doesn’t leave me when I’m in a precarious position.  When I feel crushed under the weight of the fishbowl, He is there to give me His support so that I can get back up and keep going.  That’s what I need now.

I know, Lord, that a person’s life is not his own.  No one is able to plan his own course.  So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle.  Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.

Ok, I know you’re thinking, what does food poisoning have to do with anything?  Nothing, really, except that it’s my excuse for not posting anything yesterday.  I know it wasn’t a punishment or anything, but boy, it would have been effective!  I’m still reeling from it (and so is my husband – it sure was fun taking care of two little boys when we had food poisoning!).

Anyways, I thought this verse was perfect for those times when I feel like I’ve been living in the desert because I’m living the consequences of my poor decisions.  (Interesting aside: while writing I debated about whether to write “poor” or “bad” decisions.  I chose “poor” because it sounded more proper and less harsh, but really, the decisions are just plain bad.)  I know that correction is necessary.  I discipline my children whether I like it or not, because it’s necessary to keep them safe and to show them the proper way to interact with the world.  They hate it.  My oldest son (who just turned two) starts screaming and throws himself on the floor when he is fussed at or disciplined in any way.  It takes about 5 minutes and then he’ll come over and want to snuggle, but initially he is really  mad (or maybe upset that he disappointed us) and doesn’t want much to do with whoever disciplined him.  We do that with God.  I know that I’ll do something stupid, God allows the consequences of my actions to catch up with me, and I get mad at Him for doing it.

Thankfully, God loves us and doesn’t just throw up His hands in disgust.  So, my prayer, like Jeremiah’s, is for God to be gentle in His correction and not correct me in anger, because I am just a small human and cannot stand up to the wrath of God.  Right now, I think I’m feeling the consequences of my actions (no, not the food poisoning, the financial spot we’re in).  It’s been really, really hard.  But, like I put in my last post, I’m not going to look back at the reasons I am here (I already know those reasons and don’t need to sit here rehashing them over and over and over); I am going to look ahead and try to learn from my mistakes so that I can move forward, hopefully out of correction and in a new direction.  Lord, be gentle, please!

One things I’ve been reminded of recently is that I can’t move forward if I’m always looking back because I’m facing the wrong direction. Whatever direction your head is facing is the direction your body will go. So, logically, if my face is always looking backwards then I’ll be moving that direction. That’s a scary thought. There have been a lot of times recently when I’ve caught myself looking back and wishing I’d done something or other differently. The problem is that if I keep looking back at that time, I’ll never move forward or learn from it because I’m fixating on the issue. It’s so easy to stay chained to mistakes we’ve made and refuse to step out of the chains, even though they’re not locked on us because we’ve been forgiven by Jesus. He has set us free. He doesn’t look back (He’s forgotten it, remember), and neither should we. Look forward so we can move forward. What can I do today, what can I do tomorrow. Or better, rejoice in today and rejoice in the promise of tomorrow, resting on God’s strength and promises to see you through today and tomorrow.

This verse made me think of our culture. We go around pretending that there is no God or that He is impersonal and uninterested in our lives. It gives us a feeling that we are powerful or in control. But in the end, who is the one who is getting hurt? Does pretending there isn’t a God make it true? It makes Him sad, but it doesn’t make Him not God. We hurt ourselves by taking on the weights and worries of this world, by trusting in ourselves instead of allowing the God who made us and knows exactly the perfect solution to lead us. We like to think we are so self-sufficient, but we hurt ourselves by making it all so hard when there is a loving Father who wants to help. We just need to stop trying to play God and trust God to BE God.

I often think of God as a loving, Abba Father, whose lap I can snuggle into and be safe and warm. And this is true of Him. But He is also Almight God, Judge of humanity. He does love me, but He is just. He created the Universe, telling the oceans where they have to stop, the sun where and how hot to shine, and the earth exactly how it must orbit to sustain life. It’s His hand that knows every detail and whose hand everything must pass through to affect our life.

It’s so easy to forget to have respect for God, thinking only of the warmer side of His love. It’s very easy, and convenient for us, to forget that He is so incredibly powerful and holds each minute of our life in His hand. We are so fragile compared to Him. How easily He could break us if He chose to. How greatly He loves us – enough to bless and enough to punish. Love and Trembling. Both are aspects of our relationship with God. Love to remind us that we are valued and bought at a tremendous price; and trembling to remind us that God is just and that He asks for obedience and faith.