YOU HAVE BROUGHT US
Psalm 66: 5-12
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A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe |
Yesterday morning and evening as I was working in the natural heat without benefit of air conditioning, I was able to work up a sweat just sitting there with a keyboard. Not my idea of the calling to study and share the benefits of labor, insight and the gifts that God has graciously given to me. Most of the time I do the hardest sermon first and usually save the psalm meditation for last. The psalms are almost like candy for me. But even the finest candy melts on hot summer days like we have been having. In desperation, I loaded some country music on my CD player to take my mind off of the heat. Very quickly, my country music selection produced all the sounds of a cool shower and distant thunder.
Earlier this, week when the boys and I were playing cowboys and cattle herding, we were caught in the middle of just such a storm. And for almost an hour we helped the vet sort and treat the new herd. I don't think I've ever felt so good being caught out in the rain. It was nice to get soaking wet from the outside in instead of the other way around, like normal this summer. At least with the imaginary storm I didn't have to get my computer wet. And believe it or not I actually began to feel a little cooler even though it wasn't real. But, I still wasn't totally refreshed.
You know, a lot of the worldly religions are very much like that artificial storm recorded on the CD. All the outward sounds and mental appearances, but if you really dig down deep, it is all a sham. In our psalm portion today, we are invited in verse five to "Come and see the works of God, He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men." Then in verse six we are shown the reality of what God has done in the midst of the desert journey out of Egypt.
The passage here should not be imagined in the sense of poverty stricken theology of this century where some scholars would tell us that the water in question was very much like the waters of Indian Lake in the county where I live. It is said that if you fall overboard at Indian Lake, all you have to do is put your feet down and you can walk to shore. We even hear stories about people walking clear across the lake in water no higher than their waist. So do some scholars imagine the reed sea of antiquity. The reality of God's deliverance was much different, dry land is specifically mentioned. While Cecil B DeMill may have over dramatized it, we may be assured that the Scriptures are correct in describing how God brought the Israelites out of Egypt. The water was indeed parted and dried overnight for the benefit of His people. His miracles are not as some suppose, mere fancies of man's imagination. No indeed, Our God after all is an historic God.
He is one who works in and through recorded history. Other God's were the subject of myths and fables. The Romans and Greeks and other peoples told stories of their gods and goddesses that changed over time. These stories were fabricated as events produced them. How very much different is the revelation of our God. There is clear evidence that throughout recorded time the events associated with His activity in our behalf are faithfully recorded and transmitted.
The psalmist has but to refer to the historic crossing of the Red Sea to make his point that God's miracles are done with a purpose. And that purpose is for the well being of His own people. In verse seven the psalmist draws out his reference of past action as proving future action. He declares that God rules forever by his power. Selah, the psalmist declares. Pause and consider that all the future promises of God are proved by recorded events in space and in time. Events to which there were many thousands of witnesses!
Now are you ready to praise the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the rest? Then let the sound of his praise be heard! After all, not only have the historic Israelites and early Christians been saved, sanctified and called to glory. But as the psalmist asserts in verse nine, we too have been preserved! Do you remember all the troubles you have gotten yourself into. Do you remember all the little pains of life that have caused you depression. Yet, you are still here to praise God. That is because He has kept you from slipping. That is because you have been tested and proved to be sons and daughters who gather to give Him praise. Let us remember the pain of daily cares and woes. Yes, in some way depending upon our abilities to sustain testing, we have all gone through fire and water. But, our God has kept us safe.
There is a poetic story about two sets of footprints on a beach. One accordingly is Christ's and the other set is human. At one point, the human complains that for a long stretch as he looked back, there was only one set. Why he asks, did you leave me to walk alone? The poet points out that where there was but one set of prints, Christ had carried the poor downtrodden human. Sometimes we can be a very heavy load. When our teenagers were little ones, they always wanted to be carried. We even nicknamed one of them "sandbag" because he seemed heavier than the other two.
Our God has graciously brought us into His presence where His love and grace are abundant. So let the world do its worse. Let the world wear us down with pressures and persecution. Let the world haul us into court or into jail. Let those burdens be piled upon our shoulders. Even as we go through fire and water, we well know the reality of God's presence, His protection and the promise of glory when we finally at long last behold Him at the end of the age.
How much better we are than the unfortunate worldly pagans. They have their self-imagined religions to comfort them in one life alone. By comparison, we have not only the comfort of God's presence in this life, but also the promise of heaven to come. Come quickly Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.
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Resources Used: |
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Kidner, Derek. |
Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Psalms. | |
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Spurgeon, C.H. |
The Treasury of David. | |
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Foundation for Reformation. New Geneva Study Bible . (1995) Thomas Nelson, Inc. New King James Version. (1982) | ||
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Psm 066c |
13 August 95 | |