Passage to Prepare Us for Worship: Psalm 22 (again)

Psalm 22

To the lead player, on ayeleth hashahar, a David psalm.

My God, my God, why have You forsake me?

Far from my rescue are the words that I roar.

My God, I call out by day and You do not answer,

By night – no stillness for me.

And You, the Holy One – enthroned in Israel’s praise.

In You did our fathers trust,

They trusted, and You set them free.

To You they cried out, and escaped,

In You they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and no man,

A disgrace among men, by the people reviled.

All who see me do mock me -

They curl their lips, they shake their head.

Who turns to the LORD, He will set him free.

He will save him, for He delights in him.

For You drew me out from the womb,

Made me safe at my mother’s breasts.

Upon You I was cast from birth,

From my mother’s belly You were my God.

Do not be far from me,

For distress is near,

For there is none to help.

Brawny bulls surrounded me,

The mighty of Bashan encompassed me.

They gaped with their mouths against me -

A ravening, roaring lion.

Like water I spilled out,

All my limbs fell apart.

My heart was like wax,

Melting within my chest.

My palate turned dry as a shard

And my tongue was annealed to my jaw,

And to death’s dust did You thrust me.

For the curs came all around me,

A pack of the evil encircled me,

They bound my hands and my feet.

They counted out all my bones,

It is they who looked, who stared at me.

They shared out my garments among them

And cast lots for my clothes.

But You, O LORD, be not far.

My strength, to my aid O hasten!

Save from the sword my life,

From the cur’s power my person.

Rescue me from the lion’s mouth.

And from the horns of the ram You answered me.

Let me tell Your name to my brothers,

In the assembly let me praise You.

Fearers of the LORD, O praise Him!

All the seed of Jacob revere Him!

And be afraid of Him, all Israel’s seed!

For He has not spurned nor has despised

The affliction of the lowly,

And has not hidden His face from him;

When he cried out to Him, He heard.

For You – my praise in the great assembly.

My vows I fulfill before those who fear Him.

The lowly will eat and be sated.

Those who seek Him will praise the LORD.

May you be of good cheer forever.

All the far ends of earth will remember

And return to the LORD.

All the clans of the nations

Will bow down before You.

For the LORD’s is the kingship -

And He rules over the nations.

Yes, to Him will bow down

All the netherworld’s sleepers.

Before Him will kneel

All who go down to the dust

Whose life is undone.

My seed will serve Him.

It will be told for generations to come.

They will proclaim His bounty to a people aborning

For He has done.

Tonight, read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion. Then read this psalm. Then look through the names in the church directory. Then pray. That’s my recommendation.

Bible Reading: Romans 16 one more time!

With patience a ruler may be persuaded,

And a soft tongue will break a bone.

Just let your eye drift over the previous proverbs in chapter 25. Remember, these were originally given as lessons in court etiquette. These traits will serve you well as you stand before the king. “But as proverbs, these pedagogic universals now serve as paradigms of many other situations and address all Israel.” (Waltke, 302). In other words, proverbs first given to aspiring courtiers have many more general applications.

Humility, caution, confidentiality, appropriateness (a sense of timing), reliability – and now gentleness. Here are things for you to cultivate in your life. Are you frustrated with calls to seek wisdom? Does that sound too general to be worthwhile? Well here are the details of wisdom for you to work on.

“Bone may have been chosen because ‘the bones are the most rigid parts inside of a person, and fracturing the bones here refers to breaking down the deepest, most hardened resistance to an idea a person may possess’…The courtier can bring another to his way of thinking through a patient, open, and warm disposition and through sensitive, tactful speech.” (Waltke, 324-325 – also quoting Garrett).

When you watch a TV show or movie you almost always see a one-time, heated argument where there is a clear winner and a clear loser. KAZAM!! But you have to have this kind of compressed, emotional moment because the show/movie can only last for so long. This discourse doesn’t work in real life – not at all.

In real life you need to engage differences of opinion slowly. And heat and anger should RARELY, RARELY be a part of the conversation. Let gentleness rule the day, even in argument. Don’t put all your eggs into one conversation. You’ll win…but over time. You’ll break the bone…but softly does it! (This not to be confused with ‘soft-pedaling)

Dear people, do you see how much we – YOU- need to change. We need to change our whole disposition. Start that now!

Bible Reading: Romans 16: 25-27

I should memorize this one. Can you follow Paul’s phrasing?

Is a faithful messenger to those who send him;

He refreshes the soul of his masters.

Like clouds and wind without rain

Is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.

I’ve heard Rudy Giuliani (remember him!) say, “Under-promise and over-deliver.” We are prone to do just the opposite!

We all have our stories: I have a friend who lives in CO who exemplifies this proverb. He’s reliable. What does that look like? Well, he’s not really eager to accept new responsibilities, but once he commits to it – consider it done (and done well)! Brian always comes through.

And then the other stories: I remember a teacher I’ve had. At the start of the semester he wowed us with what we would learn, he hinted that we would come out of his class completely transformed. He threw around some impressive words.

But a couple of weeks into semester we noticed he always arrived late, he always seemed harried. In the back of our minds we thought, “Funny traits for the guy with the goods.” But we still hoped…

Come to the end of the semester, we were squarely disillusioned. His lectures were scattered. He had some rhetorical flourishes, but didn’t really understand the subject. He graded our papers quickly and too high. He moved ahead on flattery and flippancy. Bottom line: he couldn’t control his life; how was he to change ours?

Perhaps the most oft-admired quality of God in the Old Testament is His faithfulness. And this long-standing attention to His plan reached an incredible pinnacle when He sent His Son and gave Him over to be killed. God “endures all things.”

What I want for myself, what I hope my kids manifest, is not mainly a talent for novelty or cleverness: We’re after reliability.

Bible Reading: Romans 16:21-23

Paul asks for his greetings to be sent (1-16) and then sends his greetings (21-23). Do you see what the crucifixion and resurrection has brought about? Civility and brotherly kindness! When you come into the office, don’t just plop in your chair – greet people. When you leave home, say goodbye.

What your eyes have seen

Do not hastily bring into court,

For what will you do in the end,

When your neighbor puts you to shame?

Argue your case with your neighbor himself,

And do not reveal another’s secret,

Lest he who hears you bring shame upon you,

And your ill repute have no end.

Do you have something on someone? Did you discover his dirty secret? Do you have a good case against someone? Well, be careful how you carry that business around!

First lesson here: The wisdom of God is to mainly be slow. Caution is usually smart. Consider this, maybe you’ve misunderstood? Maybe your one side of the story has placed you on a false trail and brought you to a wrong conclusion?

Our proverb says, what will happen when your bring your uninformed accusation to court, and your shown up as reckless and spiteful. So quickly the tables can turn!

The other skill in having dirt on someone is holding confidentiality. As an application, let’s bring up a common dilemma of parents: what to do with the tattletale? Brother A (normally the stodgy older brother) comes with all moral earnestness engaged to his parents. Brother B, it seems, told him that he took extra cookies when mom wasn’t looking.

Hear the wisdom of God. Brother A must not lose energy in telling his parents about Brother B. Instead, he should use his moral earnestness to urge his brother to an honest position. But generally speaking, his first responsibility is not to divulge all to his parents, but to retain the confidence of his brother.

Would Paul have been on Facebook? These are not only Paul’s friends, but even more it seems that he has an interesting history with many of them. Paul lived!

Message: Mark 11: 27- 12: 12

Passage to Prepare Us for Worship: 1 Peter 2