KEEP ME SAFE
Psalm 16: 1-11
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A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe |
We are fortunate in our day and time that the wild life here in Central Ohio is generally not dangerous. In my short fifty years I have only been attacked by a crazy squirrel who didn't want me mowing around my own grape arbor. Since I was able to keep the power mower between us, there was no danger. And in fact, since I was worried about the squirrel having rabies, his protests were cut short! When my grandmother was young and picking berries near Chipmunk Corners, she was warned by her grandmother to keep an eye out for bears, which had not been seen for many years in that area. There are rumors of wild dog packs in our area, so there are now several places where it would be wise to carry some heat along for protection.
Of more concern is the growing menace of human wildlife who practice random acts of violence. Still, these incidents are limited to specific neighborhoods and a wise person can easily live in reasonable safety. Only in certain neighborhoods do the children sleep on the floor wrapped in their mattress. And one family we once knew who lived in that condition was moved out at our expense to a safer area.
Providentially it has been six or seven generations since my family suffered religious persecution to the point of death on the other side of the pond! If you truly desire a martyrs crown there are places where you can go to find it. And it may be that some of the Scottish martyrs, at least, really deserved a just punishment for their peculiar band of terrorism waged between the various parties of Orangemen and IRA types. Sir Walter Scot once observed that only after the extremists of both sides had killed each other off did religious peace come to Scotland. In this fair land we are currently at peace, there is no real want and no real impoverishment except for people who actually want to live in that condition out of ignorance or choice.
So what can we comprehend from the opening phrase in this psalm: "Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge"? The idea of safety and being saved are concepts that are not really and truly understood at a basic gut level anymore! In my reading lately I have more and more run across the idea that Pastors sometimes need to dig deep enough into God's word to show specific dangers that by and large the world and even the elect have grown complacently ignorant about. Jonathan Edwards pursued the elect and those who thought they were elect diligently to lay open the vast spiritual incompetence of the human heart and to show by the commandments and the law what our true spiritual state actually was.
In my mind, probably the most dangerous activity that an adult male can engage in these days is an unregulated surfing of the world wide web. In the last week I have heard two men report that their patient wives had had to say "computer or me"! Even apart from the very dangerous cess pools that are scattered here and there across the net, the very addictive access can estrange relationships, and promote irresponsibility. You almost have to experience the thrill of the surf to understand the temptation! The first few months I was on line, I counted 40 and 50 hours of precious time that could have been spent somewhere else. At least I'm well below twenty hours this month.
One good thing that has come out of this is that television is a much more minimal part of my life. And yes, on the web, I can hang out with Jonathan Edwards, C.H. Spurgeon and others of like mind. Books that I have only heard of these many years are becoming available. Yet learning to use the technology appropriately has been difficult. Very many of you know that already. Like the psalmist who lived so many generations ago, yet through the Spirit so completely understands our temptations and life style, we see in these short verses an admonition to fear for our spiritual lives when we so little appreciate the dangers that are not readily apparent.
Cotten Mather was once quoted that when men are converted from a party life to a life of labor, savings and careful management, very soon the temptations of wealth come along and the creature is faced with a whole new spiritual dilemma which can actually its own way be more dangerous than the former condition. If you doubt the line of thought I am pursuing today, than consider your eating habits! Formerly, people ate things that they did not necessarily enjoy. My grandmothers enjoyed parts of a chicken that I personally would not consider as edible. And I once met a Hill Jack who didn't appreciate the pointed humor about a "road kill cafe"! Some in my family (who had lived through the depression) even worried that my sister, brothers and I were being spoiled as children because we were not forced by necessity to eat foods that were popular only because of their low cost.
Believe me, there are reasons why beef heart, liver, tongue and tail are cheaper than the other cuts. So too are some common pests in the urban environment now more widely known than in times past. Years ago, these opossum, geese, ground hogs and even raccoons were appreciated as a mystery meat in some poverty stricken homes. In Europe during World War Two, the pigeon population almost went extinct. Not because of the bombing, but because that was the most readily obtained form of meat by the poor people.
And now that we have pretty much solved the sources of food in this country, what is the greatest public health challenge to the majority of the population? Isn't it the fact that we are too well fed?
How much do we need to learn to pray the opening words of this psalm in our day? Do you say a little prayer when you go onto the internet, or before you sit down to eat at your favorite eating place: "Keep me safe, O God"? It is good on the internet to enjoy the wisdom of saints now departed in the real sense of verse three. It is also wise to know the danger of those who would pursue other company as we are admonished in verse four. Look again at verses five and six and as you surf the net or the salad bar, understand your assigned portions.
Surely if the idea we are pursuing here this morning is worthwhile we may learn to praise the Lord who would counsel us in verse seven. And even as we understand that we are to make every thought word and deed submissive to the Lord, let us follow the instruction of verse eight. If we would bring our eating, drinking and surfing and every other action under the Lord's authority we may well understand the blessings with which this psalm ends. It is important that we measure all of life against the wisdom of the Lord revealed in His word. And while the teachings on gluttony and drunkenness are not widely appreciated in our day and time, do let us be cautious in seeking the true path of spiritual life and make that life before Him a primary concern. Amen.
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Resources Used: |
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IBS: The Holy Bible, New International Version (1984) | ||
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Psm 016b |
24 August 97 | |