What Does This Mean to You?

I’ve been thinking about Isaiah 55:1-5 a lot these last few days. I’m curious to know what others hear when they read these words.

¹ “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
² Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
³ Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
⁴ See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
⁵ Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”(NIV)

What does this mean to you? How does this speak into our world today? I’d love to know.

Cleanse My Heart

This last Sunday I got to preach a sermon in a real church for the first time. IT WAS SO COOL!! Way more fun than preaching in class.

The text that I preached from was Psalm 51:1-12. Here are my thoughts.

I love this psalm. It’s one of my most favorite passages in the whole bible. I love it because it’s so honest. The book of Psalms is often called the prayer book of the soul. The psalms give voice to the deepest feelings of our hearts. The full range of human emotion can be found in the psalms. Here, in the psalms, we find permission to enter into completely honest dialogue with God. The psalms show us that we can come to God and open our hearts fully. Nothing is off the table.

I love this psalm in particular because here we find a prayer of complete repentance. Take a look at the subtitle for this text. You will notice that each psalm has a brief description or note at its beginning. These are not editorial notes from the scholars who published this translation. These notes are in the ancient Hebrew texts. See the note for this text. This psalm is believed to have been written by King David after the prophet Nathan confronts him about the sins David committed regarding Bathsheba. While David is remembered as Israel’s greatest king, what he did, driven by his lust for her, also makes him one of Israel’s worst kings. He coveted a woman who was married to another person and arranged for the murder of a man who would have died for him and then tried to cover it all up.

But God cannot be fooled and sends Nathan to call David to account, and David, knowing that he is guilty, is brought to his knees. This psalm is not a list of poor choices, quickly listed off before a perfunctory request for God’s forgiveness. This is the anguished cry of a man who knows that he has strayed into water well over head and is caught in the riptide. This psalm is the lament of one who has taken an honest look within and is disgusted by what he has found.

How many of us have been in such a place? Who here has come into worship and as you sat and listened and sang memories from the past come bubbling up uninvited; things you thought were water under a bridge, mistakes you made or people you’ve hurt, cruel words that you wish you could take back? Or how many of us have ever been driving along and suddenly something triggers a memory of something that we are not proud of? I know that has certainly happened to me. It’s been said that when people look back on their lives, they often look back through rose-colored glasses. That may be true, but I know that often we look back and see a lot of things we wish we hadn’t done. Sometimes our lenses are colored by shame and we feel like we’ve failed. Sometimes when we look back, all we see is dirt and debris. Our memories sometimes feel like sweaty and grimy work-clothes and we long to be rid of them and take a good long bath.

That’s why I’m so glad we have this psalm; because we have a song that leads us faithfully to the only place where those burdens can be lifted, those wounds can be healed and our hearts can be washed clean of the muck and grime of our sin. You see, David knows something that is very important for us to remember. We see it at the very start. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to YOUR STEADFAST LOVE; according to your ABUNDANT MERCY blot out my transgressions.” David knows that above all, God is loving and rich in mercy. The steadfast love that David sings of here is the same love that we sing of when we sing, “On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.” This is love that never goes away. God’s love for us is like an unmovable rock. St. Paul writes about this love in Romans 8, when he says that nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love. God’s love is faithful and endures no matter what.

David also knows that God is rich in mercy. God is able and more than willing to forgive. We know that while there’s nothing that we can do to save ourselves, God CAN save. God CAN make us right again.

But when we go on, we see that there’s more to it. David acknowledges in verses 6 through 8 that we need to be cleansed from the inside out. The wrong things we do are a symptom of a deeper malady. We are unclean on the inside. God desires truth and righteousness to live deep inside us, not just on the outside in our actions, but also in our hearts. But sin has worked its way deep into our hearts and there is darkness in the deep recesses of our beings.

David says, “Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be white like snow.” Hyssop was a medicinal plant used like we use Neosporin. David knows that in order to be fully healed of his brokenness, the infection inside him must be treated.

Our portion of the psalm finishes with one of the most famous passages in all of the Old Testament. I love the way the King James Version says it. “Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence. Take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.”  The cause of our wrongdoings is found in our hearts being distant from God. If we want to be clean again, we need a spirit that is akin to that of God. David asks God to give him a spirit that is steadfast and faithful. A Spirit that is just like God as we see in verses 1 and 2, a spirit that is defined by steadfast love. Just like David asks God to turn God’s face away from his sins, we must turn our hearts and spirits back toward God, the living center of our lives.

In order to be made right with God and each other, we need to be healed, made well. But what can possibly heal the embedded brokenness that haunts us and makes a mess of things?

The prophet Isaiah foretells of the one who will accomplish this in Isaiah 53:5. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

Two Thursdays from now, Christians all over the world will gather and remember how our Lords made good on that promise when he took a cup and said “This cup is the new covenant, sealed in my blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins.”

Have you ever plucked up the courage to apologize to someone and been forgiven? You feel like you just grew a foot taller. The weight of the issue that stood between the two of you has been removed from your shoulders. You can’t help but feel clean inside.

As the season of lent draws to a close and we begin to make the journey toward Calvary and the cross, we find that there our healing is completed. We are reminded of the gravity of our sin, but we are also reminded that By of the blood of Jesus, poured out on our behalf, his life laid down for us on the cross, and in his resurrection life, God has made us clean forever. “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.”  Brothers and Sisters, hear the good news: in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

A Psalm

When I was in college, my college pastor taught a class in which he encouraged everyone to write a psalm of their own. I realize that some may find that sacrilegious. If that’s you, I apologize and I hope you will find someone to learn from who knows about the psalms. The psalter in the bible has been called “The Prayer Book for the Soul.” The psalms are a collection of writings from throughout the ancient history of Israel by numerous people. The most famous psalmist, of course, being King David.

What the psalms are at heart, are the full range of human emotion and experience in conversation with God. They are not all prophesy. Nor are they all laments or praises. They are everything. The psalms give us permission to be candid with God. Believe you me, there is nothing you can say to God that is not in the psalms. God didn’t strike the ancient psalmists down, and they said some pretty crazy stuff. God will not strike anyone down now. God can work with people when they are able to speak honestly.

While I would never suggest that modern psalms be added to the canon, I do believe that writing personal psalms is not only allowed by God, but God encourages us it. Psalms are prayers on paper. Try it for yourself. It will not only give voice to what you are feeling inside, it will draw you closer to God and challenge you to converse with God more deeply.

So, here’s mine:

Shout to the Lord, oh my soul
Worship the Lord, with gladness
For the Lord is your God and you are His beloved son
His throne is higher than any other throne

The greatest of rulers and most powerful of kings tremble in His mighty presence.
All the nations bow before Him.
You, oh Lord, are the Father of Lights
The source of all understanding
Your wisdom cannot be fathomed
I study your ways all the days of my life and still I am amazed
Truly, full knowledge of you is too great for me.

You, my God, are the great creator
You are the giver of life
You breathed life into me I was but earth and dust
You gave shape to the mountains and formed the great seas at the dawn of time
You created every plant and tree, every beast of the field, bird of the air and fish of the sea
In the beginning you spoke the stars, sun and moon into the sky
At your word, the night gave way to day.

In you my God I find peace and strength
When the world closes in around me and my enemies besiege me on every side
When my strength ebbs away, I call upon your name and I am renewed
Your power and strength flow through me and I stand in defiance of my enemies
I scorn their assault, for you, my God, are with me
You are my rock and my fortress I rest safe in your embrace.

You oh Lord, are my redeemer
Often I wander from your side and stray from the path that you have laid for me
I turn my back on you and your teachings, trusting in my own knowledge
I climb high in my pride without you beside me
I fall and become ensnared in the traps set by my pride.

But you, oh Lord, are full of compassion
You search for me and you find me
You pull me up out of the pit
You rescue me from the grave
You set me high on a mountaintop and show me wondrous sights
You wash me clean and make me new
You make me your own
By the new covenant in your blood, you have made me your son.

You take the broken pieces of my life and dreams and refashion them something more beautiful than I can imagine.

Go Go Gadget Exegete: The Shema & The Foundation for Our Life in Deuteronomy 6

I remember a Sunday morning many years ago, when I was a little kid.  It was early and Mom and Dad had bundled my brothers and me into the car and we were driving to church.  All three of us kids were not at all pleased to be up this early on a day when there was no school.  “Why do we have to be up so early?” one of the other two asked very sulkily.  “Because we’re going to church.” said Mom.  “Why do we have to go to church?” I asked.  “Because,” Dad replied, “We are going to say ‘thank you’ to Jesus for all of the wonderful things he’s done for us.  Once upon a time, everyone in the world was separated from God and very sad, and God sent Jesus to remind us how much God loves us and to die for our sins and rise from the dead so we can have a joyful life.”

Hearing this was not very helpful at the time and certainly did nothing to make us feel any better about being dragged out of bed, and we didn’t realize then what our father was doing.  Now, looking back, it’s plain what Dad was up to.  Dad was telling us the basic Gospel story.  He was giving us the foundation upon which the Christian story and way of life is built.  Dad was telling us about our heritage as Christians. He was laying the foundation for us to live into our identity in Christ as we grew older.

What my father was doing all those years ago in the car is exactly what God is doing through the words of Moses in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy.  The Israelites have been led out of captivity in Egypt.  They have wandered in the wilderness for forty years, and now they are about to enter into the land the God had promised to their ancestors.  Moses is now very old and is delivering a final address to the people before he dies.

Moses has just finished explaining the Ten Commandments to the people and now spells out the heart of the law to the people in no uncertain terms.  The statutes and ordinances that God commanded Moses to teach the people are encapsulated within one great commandment:            “שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֶל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד” or, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.  You shall love the Lord, your God with all of your heart, all of your soul and all of your might.” (Deut. 6:4-5 NRSV)  God is giving through Moses to the Israelites the bedrock upon which they are to build their society, the foundation for their identity and way of life forever.

It is important to note that there is difficulty in translating verse four.  The only verb in the entire sentence is the imperative, “Hear.” That is why this passage is often called the Shema.  שְׁמַע here literally is a command to hear.  But the literal translation of this verse is, “Hear Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord, one.”  This creates some confusion over where to insert the word “is.”  Also the Hebrew word, אֶחָד can be translated, “one,” “only” or “alone.” This word demarcates something’s singularity. The NIV translates verse four as “Hear O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”  Both the NIV and the NRSV translations say things about God which are true.  YHWH is truly one God. The doctrine of the Trinity states clearly that God is three persons, yet one God.  It is also true that YHWH is the one and only living God and we should follow YHWH and no other.

In this case, I believe that the NRSV has the better translation.  Saying that YHWH alone is our God is more applicable to the context that the Israelites were in when Moses first spoke these words.  The NRSV’s translation fits better into the big picture because until this point, the people had been nomads wandering around the land and had become aware of the many different religions around them.  Each land they wandered through had a different pantheon. Egypt had its own host of gods too.  Moses had just taken great pains to make it clear to the people in chapter four that YHWH is a much greater God than any other peoples’ gods (Deut. 4:7-8), and he reminded the people what God thought of Baal and Baal’s followers. (Deut. 4:3-4)   The Israelites lived in those days in a highly polytheistic world.

God is also aware of this and wants to get the people started on the right foot as they build a new society.  God is really smart here. God doesn’t waste time going on and on about the gods of the surrounding peoples are not real.  He makes it simple.  God is going to teach the people how to walk before teaching them to roller-skate.  God declares to the people through Moses that YHWH is their Lord and no one else.  God repeats this more than once. The first commandment in chapter five is “you shall have no other gods before me.”  God expands on this in verses thirteen and fourteen of chapter six. “You shall fear the Lord your God and you shall serve him. And by his name you shall swear. You shall never go after other gods, or even the gods of the peoples who surround you.”

God wants to be the only one the people look to and worship.  This tells me that God is a God who values intimate relationship with people.  If God didn’t really care much about having a relationship with the people, then God would not go so far out of the way to tell them to focus their attention upon him alone.  Verse 15 says that God is a passionate or jealous God.  This implies that God is very attached to the people. This verse carries a vibe that is similar to how married people feel attached to their spouse.  The most hurtful thing a person can do to their spouse is to commit adultery.  In this light, it’s not surprising that Moses warns the people that God’s anger would blaze up if they committed adultery with other gods.

After asserting that God is their only Lord, God tells the people that they are to love God back with every part of who they are.  A loving relationship only works if both parties love each other back. God says that the people are to love God with all of their heart.  This has two meanings. The first is the obvious emotional meaning.  The second is that people are to love God with their entire mind too.  The word לְבָבְךָ used here means both “heart” and “mind.”  This is most likely because in those days, people in the near east thought one understood things and thought with one’s heart. No one really understood what the brain is and what it’s for.  In any case, God wants the people to love God with all their ability to think and understand as well as with their emotions.  God also says that the people are to love God with all of their soul and all their “muchness,” “power” or “might.”  In short God wants to be loved by the people with everything they have, because that is the closest approximation of how much God loves them back.  Close relationship is the first component of the foundation God is giving to the Israelites to begin their life as a nation upon.

The second component of Israel’s societal foundation is the knowledge that God keeps God’s promises and that God gave them everything they have as a gift.  This is where we see the beginning of our understanding that the grace which redeems us and gives us new life is a generous gift from God.  This is where we see that God is in the business of giving lavish gifts to those whom God loves.

Verses ten through eleven describe the land that the people are about to enter into.  Moses reminds them in verse ten that this is the land which God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give to their descendants, the Israelites.  Now the people are going to witness the keeping of that promise. In verse eleven Moses tells the people that they will find in this land good cities which they never built, houses full of every good thing, which they never filled, wells dug out which they never dug, and vineyards and olive trees which they never planted.  Moses tells the people how they are going to eat and be full.

These two verses are full of images of the things that the people had been longing for all of their lives.  The language is full of words that emanate life.  There will be cities and houses for shelter, food and water, for nourishment, and all these things are טוֹב, or “good.”  Moses reminds the people here that they have done nothing to deserve credit for their lives in this new land being good.  They did not play any part in the building up the good things that they will get to enjoy.  All of this is a gift from God; and God could have given them a land that was fertile but empty, and still lived up to the promise to their ancestors.  But God shows that he is rich in gift-giving by giving them a land that is already well established for their prosperity.  This is a display of pure grace.

The final component to the foundation is closely related to the second. This third component is memory.  The people of Israel are to remember that they didn’t come by their freedom from slavery nor this blessed land which they are about to take possession of by any merit of their own, nor did they attain these things out of any clever scheme of their own.  They are to remember that God gave them their freedom and their home.  They are to remember the Lord their God, and remember to live according to the way of life that God has just finished explaining to them.  If the people do remember, then even more blessings will be poured out on them as a result.  God is the one who protects, and provides for them, so if they draw closer to God and pursue a life lived in right relationship with God, the natural byproduct will be more life.

The topic of remembering comes up right at the beginning.  Verses one through three are all about learning and remembering.  “This is the commandment…which the Lord your God commanded to teach you to do.” (Verse 1)  “So that you will fear the Lord your God and keep all of his statutes and commandments… you and your children and your children’s children… in order that he (the Lord) will prolong your days.” (Verse 2)  One of the biggest aspects to learning anything is being able to remember it.  God knows that it will be very easydown the line, when the people have settled, to forget that all this is a gift and to forget that they are chosen out to follow YHWH alone.  Anyone who has been set apart knows how awkward it is and how much one yearns to fit in and be just like everyone else.  God knows this, and so God makes the theme of remembering a major one right from the start; and promises that if the people do keep God commandments, then they will have long lives.

God continues, speaking through Moses, “Hear O Israel, so you may observe to do this, so that it will be well with you.” (Verse 3)  Moses reminds the people that good things will come from sticking with God’s way of living.  If the people stick to the plan, they will become great in number and strength, just like God told their ancestors they would.

In verse six, Moses tells everyone again to remember. This time some instructions on how to remember are given. God knows that it’s much easier to remember something that you talk about with others and that if you don’t talk about it, you’ll forget. So the people are told to talk about it all through the day; when they get up in the morning, when they lay down at night, in their homes, on the road, and they shall be always telling their children and grandchildren about how they are to love God and remember God’s blessings. “You shall say to them again and again.” (Verse 7)

Moses instructs the people to do tangible things to remember. They are to write God’s commands on their doorposts and gates. (Verse 9)  They are to bind them on their hands. These commands will be visible marks upon the people. They shall be as a visible sign between their eyes. No one can miss seeing anything that is on your forehead between your eyes.

Next, Moses presents the need to remember in a more negative light.  He warns the people they should keep God commands, because if they don’t, they’ll forget that it was God who brought them out of slavery in Egypt.  He warns the people to fear the Lord lest they forget and commit adultery against God and suffer God’s anger like their parents did at Massah, when they made and worshiped the golden calf.

Finally Moses dedicates the rest of chapter six to establishing a tradition for passing on the memory of God’s goodness to future generations.  Moses instructs them when they’re children ask (and ask they will) why they have to do all these things that seem like a hassle, to tell the story of how God rescued them from Egypt and gave them this good land to live in and have their home.  God really wants the people to remember and not forget.

So what does all this have to do with us?  These three components that God gave to the Israelites as a base on which to begin building their new lives as a people set free and chosen out to be an example to the world are the same things that need to form the foundation upon which we need to build our own lives upon as followers of Christ.

Just like back then, it is all too easy to chase after the many gods of the world around us.  The gods themselves have changed over the years, but their allure is just as potent.  The false gods of wealth, possessions, being popular, looking beautiful and security are all very captivating.  But when we stop and think it through, we know that these are all hollow.  God alone is the one we pursue. For only God can give us the things that we think those other gods will give.  God alone can provide for our needs. Only God can protect us from harm. God is the only one with whom we can be so close that we can be known all the way through and still be loved utterly without reservation.  It is the desire for this kind of closeness that drove God to the cross on our behalf.  God couldn’t stand to let things stay so messed up and watch us waste away in our own wretchedness.  As Christ said in John 10:10: “I have come that they (the world) may have life and have it abundantly.”  God wants to have a close relationship, built on deep mutual love, with us just as much as God wanted one with the Israelites all those centuries ago.

Just like when Moses was addressing the children of Israel, we too need to remember where our blessings come from.  As Christians, we must remember that the grace given to us in Christ Jesus is a gift generously given.  We have nothing to earn God’s benevolence or good will toward us.  God would have been within God’s rights to have never made a covenant with Noah and just wiped us all out and start over with a new species.  But God, out of pure generosity chose to make a new beginning and a new covenant based upon Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross.

Sometimes it is all too easy to look at a good thing in our lives and say to ourselves, “Wow! I did good on that one! Yes sir!”  It is critical for us to build our lives on the truth that God is the origin of all good things and that what we have is a gift given freely and we are to steward that gift in a fashion that honors the one who gave it and says a fitting “thank you.”

Finally, we need to remember God today as well.  If anything, it’s become easier over the centuries to forget God and to forget that life radiates out from God.  How often we forget that as we push closer into God, the living center of our lives, the natural result is that we receive life more abundantly.  We also forget the converse. We forget that as we venture farther away from God, the natural result is that life diminishes.

Just like the Israelites did so long ago, we must devise ways to remind ourselves of God’s redeeming work in our lives and our communities.  Jacob was in the habit of erecting monuments at places where something important happened.  God gave us the rainbow as a reminder that God will never again bring a flood to destroy the earth.  The Israelites wrote God’s commandments on their doors and gates.  In the same way, we too need to actively remember.  That is one reason why we go to church each Sunday. That’s why we read scripture and sing songs.  All of these are ways to “Bind (my commandments) as a sign upon our hand and have them as a frontlet between our eyes.” At weddings, those who are married are asked to renew their vows to each other as the bride and groom make theirs for the first time. At baptisms, we are asked to remember our own baptisms as the person in front receives their baptism.  Most of all we remember Christ’s words as he instituted the Eucharist, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Just as Moses told the people to never stop telling each other about God’s commandments.  So we also must talk about them to one another to keep them fresh in our minds.  This is why we have small group bibles studies. This is why we regularly observe the sacraments.  Paul tells us that “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again.”  Until he comes again; that is our great hope.  That is why we remember.  It’s easy to look around at all that’s wrong with the world and be discouraged.  What keeps up our courage is remembering what God has done for us in the past.  As we look back with the clarity of hind-sight, it becomes easier to see what God is doing now.  When we remember Easter, all of a sudden the lame situation at the present seems less hopeless.  If God can defeat death, then nothing is a lost cause.

I could not see it at the time, but in the car on our way to church that morning, my father was living out God’s command given through Moses on the eastern shore of the Jordan.  Dad was showing us how to remember God.  He was telling the story of how God rescued us from the bondage of sin and death and brought us into a new life defined by grace.  Dad demonstrated to us how we can set the gospel as a visible sign.  Most of all, Dad showed us that we live the way we do as a way of saying “thank you” to God for all the good that God has done for us, as a gift, completely undeserved, yet still joyfully and lavishly given.

A Servant Song

Behold my servant, whom I uphold

My chosen one, in whom my soul delights

I have set my spirit upon him

He shall bring forth justice to the nations

He will not cry out and he will not lift his voice

He will not make his voice to be heard in the streets

A bruised reed he will not break

A dimly burning wick he will not snuff out

He will faithfully bring forth my way

He will not grow dim and not be crushed

Until he has established my way in the land

And the coastland await his instruction

Thus says God, the Lord

The one who created the heavens and stretched them out

The one who spread out the earth and its offspring

The one who gives breath to the people upon it

And spirit to the ones walking in it

I am the Lord

I have called you by grace

I will hold you by the hand and watch over you

I will give you as a covenant for the people

As a light to the nations

To open the eyes of the blind

To bring prisoners out from the dungeon

Out of the house of bondage those who sit in darkness

I am the Lord! That is my name,

My glory I will give to no other

My song of praise I will never give to idols.*

A man walks home after dinner with the woman he loved more than anything in the world.  He checks his watch. 1 hour. It took only 60 minutes to end the three best years of his life. The ring he’s been saving for will never be bought. The loving light that once had shown in her eyes is now gone.  As he walks in the front door, tears streaming down his face, Phil Wickham sings from the bedroom, “There is a battle in the distance, I see it flashing in the sky, It’s gonna be a long…long… night.”

A father and mother sit with the phone in hand. “Who do we call first?” She asks. They have just come home from the latest doctor’s appointment with their small child.  The stomach ache they thought was the flu is actually terminal panchreatic cancer.  Their beloved child has received a death sentence. On the radio Phil Wickham sings, “All that was holding you together is crumbling apart, and left you with an aching heart.”

A once proud nation watches as a foreign invader destroys their holy city, the symbol of their national identity.  Their temple, the symbol of their covenant with God, is reduced to rubble.  Their best and brightest are led away in chains to spend the rest of their days exiled among their conquerors.  Everyone else is left to scratch a living from the land as best they can with no protection from marauders and looters.

The people of Israel are thoroughly beaten down.  Babylon has defeated them utterly.  The chosen people have been broken and trampled; and to all who look, it seems as though their God, and all his promises, has been defeated by the barbarian gods of Babylon.

For us, we see relationships fail.  We watch helplessly as innocent ones we love are stricken down before their time.  We see our friends and family ruthlessly beaten down for not fitting our culture’s definition of “beautiful,” or “cool.” We see them languish in bondage to shame, self-loathing, and depression.  We turn on the evening news and see story after story that makes us ask “Where are you God?  Don’t you care about us anymore?” In the darkness, we huddle in and whisper, “Help me! Some body; anybody.

It is into this despair that God speaks to us in Isaiah 42:1-8. Actually all of Isaiah 40-43. These three chapters of Isaiah are commonly referred to as “The Servant Song” because these verses of poetry refer to a servant whom God will send. Isaiah is quite possibly my most favorite book of the Bible and the Servant Song of chapter 42 is one chief reason why.

Israel is beaten down. We are beaten down.  We need a rescuer, and to us God proclaims, “Behold my servant! My chosen one, in whom my soul delights. I have set my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth JUSTICE to the nations.” This servant song was sung into the despair of the Israelite exiles and quickly forms then foundation of their great messianic hope. God is saying “Don’t give up. Help is on the way.  Hold on.”

This servant catches our attention because they are not like anyone we’ve heard of before.  They are not a conquering general. They are not a dynamic motivational speaker telling us to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps.

This servant is humble.  “He will not cause his voice to be heard in the street.”  “A bruised reed, he shall not break. A faint wick he shall not snuff out.”  This chosen one of God is gentle and kind.  The justice which this servant shall establish is not vengeance or retribution.  Instead, it’s a whole new way of living. This servant shall establish God’s way in the nations.

Friends, this is Jesus.  Jesus arrives on the scene when God’s people are suffering under brutal foreign oppression.  The people of God are bruised reeds.  Their longing for the promised one from God is reaching desperation.  Their hearts are hoping for another David, a great king to come and rescue them from the hand of the Romans.

Instead, God sends someone who washes peoples’ feet.  We remember the numerous times he shows compassion for those who are suffering. We remember a woman, at her wits’ end reaching out in desperation for hem of Jesus’ cloak.  Not only is her body healed; but Jesus recognizes her and restores her dignity in the community.  Time and again people meet Jesus convinced they were worthless, with wicks so dim they hardly burn at all; and time and again we see Jesus meet them with love and set them on their feet.

On Good Friday, we gather and remember how our Lord was tried and condemned, and all the while, he never raised his voice to defend himself.  From the moment of his arrest until his death on the cross, he never “raised up” or “made his voice heard in the street.”

In verse 5 God speaks to the servant.  “Thus says God, the Lord, I have called you by grace. I will hold you by the hand and watch over you.  I will send you as a covenant for the people.”

We are transported to an upper room in Jerusalem and we hear our Lord telling his friends, “This cup is the new covenant, sealed in my blood. All of you drink of it.”

On Easter ever year, we gather in joy to celebrate that God really did have Jesus’s hand.  God really was watching over him and raised him from the dead.

God’s speech is to the servant, but God speaks it so we can hear it too. God describes the task that is set before them.  Jesus shows that he is the servant to whom God is speaking.

But this word is also for us. God tells us, “My soul, all of who I am delights in you! And I am sending you to be a light in the world.”  Jesus calls us “the light of the world” in his sermon on the mount.  God says we are to open the eyes of the blind, bring prisoners out from the dungeon and out from bondage those who sit in darkness.  We are to make God’s way known, just like Jesus did.  Our great commission is to make disciples of all the nations.

Are we disciples of Jesus? A disciple is a servant who seeks to emulate their master so completely, that when people see them, they see the master. Or are we just fans who sit on the sidelines cheering for Jesus while doing nothing ourselves? If we truly are disciples of Christ, then we also are the servant God commissions with this song.

This is a big task and our instinct is to say that it’s too big for us.  God responds by saying that we won’t be alone. He will hold us by the hand and watch over us.

We can put our weight on this promise because not just anyone is doing the promsing. God, the creator of heaven and earth, is the one who calls us to this mission. “I am the Lord” God says. Twice.  If God says anything twice like this, then we would do well to remember it.

In the second verse of Phil Wickham’s song, God says, “I’m gonna carry you through fire. I’m gonna hold you in the rain. You don’t have to be afraid. Take my hand. Here I am.”

Our brokenhearted man, after lying wake all night, meets with his small group and tells them all about it.  They weep with him.  They get angry with him. They sit with him, lay hands on him and they pray with him.  It takes a long time, but one day he wakes up and sees the sun shine again.  He can never go back to how things were before, but now he finds the darkness of his depression is less. He finds he can laugh again.

Our young parents call their parents and their pastor.  The community gathers around them, cooking meals, doing chores so they can spend as much time with their son as possible.  Above all they pray, often and hard.

One day the word comes that their beloved son has passed away. The day of the memorial, more than a thousand people come to the church to grieve the loss of their son. They also come to bear witness to the truth of the resurrection and lift up this broken family on their worship.  Life is never the same. The sorrow never fully goes away. But this family, whose world was ripped apart, begins, little by little to find the chains of grief are falling away and the darkness of death is swallowed up in the light of a new vision and purpose.

What is it that has you sitting in darkness?  When you look in the mirror, is the person looking back at you addicted to winning?  In your opinion, is that person smart enough? Pretty enough? Strong enough? Is that person convinced they have to write brilliant papers, get a 4.0, make a certain amount of money or have a kick-ass job in order to be loved? Has anyone ever told them that God delights in them?

Jesus’ last words on the cross were, “It is finished.”  Friends, because Christ has risen from the dead, all those things are finished.  Our days of self-loathing and anxiety are over. We have been set free. We have been sent by Christ into the world to receive and proclaim this good news. Will we be Disciples?  Or will we be Fans?

My hope and prayer for us is that  God would open our eyes to see those in our midst who need to hear that they are loved by Him beyond their wildest dreams. That God would help us to find those whose wick is barely burning and show them kindness. And by the Holy Spirit, our Lord would help our hearts to heal so that we may once again leap with joy on unfettered feet and raise unshackled hands to you in praise.  I ask this earnestly in Jesus’ name.

*My Translation

Go Go Gadget Exegete!

I love the psalms.

The psalter has been called the Prayerbook of the Soul; and for good reason. You’ll find it all in the psalms.

One of my favorites is Psalm 103.  Since I happen to possess a knowledge of Biblical Hebrew and an ability to perform good exegesis of the Old Testament, I decided to do a study of this beloved psalm from a Christian perspective.  Be warned: this is a bit academic. I hope that nothing in this is useless to living out one’s faith in Jesus Christ. On the contrary, I hope it’s helpful. But if you are not a fan or word studies, please accept my sincere apology.

Psalm 103 is found in a very interesting place in the psalter.  It comes as the final member of a trio of psalms which perfectly represents what Walter Brueggemann describes in his book, Psalms and the Life of Faith, as “psalms of orientation, disorientation and reorientation.”  Psalm 101 is a psalm of orientation.  It is full general statements of God’s greatness and goodness.  There is no real tension or crisis.  It is a simple acknowledgement of who God is.  Psalm 102 is a psalm of disorientation, or a psalm of lament.  The psalmist is in some kind of crisis.  They cry out for God hear them. The psalm is full of words of despair, weeping, illness, being reviled by enemies and cast out by God.  Psalm 103 is a psalm of reorientation or a psalm of thanksgiving.  The psalmist has most likely experienced some kind of calamity and deliverance by God. If it is true that David wrote this psalm, it could be in remembrance of how God redeemed him after his affair with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. The psalmist could also be remembering God’s redemptive work in the life of Israel as a whole, like God’s deliverance of the people out of Egypt or Babylon for instance.

What is clear is that in the larger context of the psalter, psalm 103 is the testimony that answers psalm 102’s counter testimony.  The crisis was large and all seemed lost at the time.  But God is a loving God who understands our limitations.  But rather than holding our short-comings against us, God has compassion and rescues us from the messes we get ourselves into.

This passage comes in two sections, vv. 1-5 and vv. 6-14.  In 1-5, the psalm begins with the psalmist exhorting themself to praise God. “Bless the Lord, o my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” (NRSV)  “The Lord” is the focus of the whole psalm, and the word actually used is “YHWH,” the unpronounceable name of God.  This is important because it makes clear that the God of Israel, and no other God or earthly lord deserves this praise.

Another interesting word here is “Bless.”  The verb, barak (בָּרַךְ) is an imperative that has a number of meanings.  It is translated as “bless” throughout the Old Testament with different meanings. One of the most famous places is in Gen. 27:1-37 where Jacob tricks Isaac into giving him Esau’s blessing.  In Genesis 27 barak means a benediction, or pronouncement of alpha status in the clan. It is Isaac wishing Jacob the power for success, fertility and prosperity. (HALOT, 160)

Here in Psalm 103 “bless” is a little different. Literally, barak means “to kneel,” or “to bend knee.”  When people bless one another or God blesses people it means the one doing the blessing is stooping down to the one being blessed. Not unlike the way a parent takes a knee when speaking to a small child. But in this case, when referring to a person blessing YHWH, it carries the image of prostrating one’s self or paying homage.  In this passage it means to declare YHWH the origin of the power for success, fertility, prosperity and any other good thing in life. (HALOT, 160)

The psalmist goes on to command themself to remember the good things YHWH has done for them.  “Forget not” is the way they put it.  Then there is a list of good things or “benefits” that YHWH has done.  Here the word that keeps appearing is kal (כַל) or “all/every.”  The psalmist gives YHWH total credit for the blessings they have received. They exhort “all my inward parts” or “all that is within me” (NRSV) to praise YHWH. In other words, they are praising YHWH with all of who they are, every last bit.  For YHWH has forgiven all their sins, healed all their diseases.  Nothing is beyond YHWH’s power to fix.

The psalmist then declares that YHWH rescues from the pit.  Here “pit” or shahat (שַׁחַת) can mean either a pit-trap for catching animals or most likely, the grave, or the “under world” (Sheol).  Whichever of these meanings we choose; YHWH can rescue us from even the worst possible scenario.

The passage takes a bit of a turn in the middle of vs. 4.  It goes from a focus on YHWH’s power to YHWH’s kindness.  Here the operative word is hesed (חֶסֶד).  Hesed is a major theme in the psalter.  If appears 127 time in the book of Psalms alone.  This word is most often translated “steadfast love” in the English versions.  Hesed can also mean “faithfulness,” “goodness,” or “kindness.”  Whichever is used here, hesed is a “love” word.  YHWH crowns or surrounds us with love that is faithful and will not give up on us.  This theme carries through vs. 5.  The exact meaning is unclear, but the reader is reminded of Isaiah 40:31 where the Lord promises that our strength will be renewed and the exhausted down-trodden will again have vigor and energy to soar with the eagles.

Section two begins with vs. 6.  Here the text changes to tell of YHWH’s righteousness and grace.  The section begins with YHWH acting with sedek (צֶדֶק) or “righteousness” and judging justly with regard to those who are wronged or oppressed. Verse 7 follows up with remembrance of YHWH’s self-revelation to Moses and the people of Israel long ago.  In this revelation, the life-giving way of YHWH was shown to the people.

Next the psalmist moves into an exhibition of YHWH’s grace.  We see again that YHWH is abounding in hesed.  We are told that YHWH is slow to anger and doesn’t stay angry long.  YHWH demonstrates what grace looks like.  YHWH chooses not to deal with people according to their transgressions.  YHWH does not keep a record of our screw-ups.  Rather, YHWH takes our sins away from us as far as the east is from the west.  Why?  Because YHWH’s love for us is as great as the distance that heaven is above the earth.

This passage wraps up with a brief comparison between YHWH and humans.  Here we see that YHWH is like a loving father.  YHWH has compassion on us just like a good father has on his children.  YHWH can’t stay angry at us for long because YHWH loves us too darn much.  But YHWH is also different from humans.  YHWH remembers how we are made.  Here the word yitsrenu (יִצרֶנוּ) literally means “our frame.” YHWH remembers how we tick and how we are put together.  Finally, YHWH knows that we are dust.  Humans are mortal transient beings but YHWH is eternal.  We can’t see the big picture because we are too small.  But YHWH knows that and doesn’t expect us to.

Psalm 103 is a wonderful example of a reorienting psalm.  When bad things happen to us we feel like we are being tossed about in a rough sea.  We can’t tell up from down.  It’s all we can do to keep our head above water, and even that may be more than we can do.  We cry out to God to save us and we find ourselves set back on solid ground.  Psalm 103 provides a beautiful poetic balance compared to the vertigo we experience in our laments.  Each verse is in balance with two thoughts or statements.  “Bless the Lord O my soul; do not forget all his benefits.” (vs. 2 NRSV)  “He made known His way to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel.” (vs. 7)  The first verse, which has three, is balanced out by the final verse of the psalm which also has three points.

Then best thing about all the psalms, and psalm 103 in particular, is that we can see our own experience described in the poetry.  We all remember when we really made a hash of things, or when we let somebody down.  We all have felt the shame of our sin and the weight of our guilt, so heavy on our shoulders that it drives us to our knees.  But we all can remember when came crawling to God afraid we would be thrown away and instead found God taking our burden of guilt and placing us back on our feet, telling us that we are loved.

As Christians when we come to a reorienting psalm such as this, we see the cross.  We remember that once we were dead in our transgressions.  We also see the man nailed to that cross with all the shame we thought we had to carry on his shoulders and not ours.  We go to the tomb and find it empty and we hear the risen Jesus call us by name.  We turn in awe to look on the face of the one who loves us better than any father we ever knew before, and we ask, “What wondrous love is this, O my soul?” And at last we catch the beginning of a spark of the realization of just how high heaven is above the earth and how far east is from west.  As this amazing truth sinks in, we fix our eyes back where they should have been all along.  We refocus our attention and our priorities back onto the one who keeps us in the palm of their hand, and will never let us go, no matter what.