Meeting God in life’s whirlwind

What if we get in the way of those bent on living their own—as opposed to God’s—version of the good life? Sometimes they want it so bad they’ll stop at nothing to get it. Thankfully, God is our defender.

A David psalm, from when he fled from his son Absalom. 

¹ So many enemies, Yahveh—
mobs massing against me!
² “Even God won’t deliver him this time!”
they guffaw and gush.
³ But you shield me from every blow
honor me with your presence
and lift up my downcast head. 

⁴ I cried to Yahveh
and from his holy mountain he answered me.
⁵ I stretched out and slept
and woke up refreshed.
⁶ For why should I fear these enemy hordes
closing in on every side
with him beside me? 

⁷ Move out, Yahveh!
Deliver me, God!
Yes, you’ll hit my enemies’ iron jaw
smashing their bared fangs.
⁸ Because deliverance belongs to you, Yahveh
and your blessing to your people.

Like Psalm 2, this psalm responds to an attempted coup—only David’s own egomaniacal son leads the power grab. David’s family life is a veritable train wreck. Absalom’s revolt was the culmination of a whole series of failures on David’s part—failures to do right. David’s over-indulgent love for his sons kept him from faithfully holding them to account. When Absalom returned from self-exile, David left him in limbo, feeding the overblown sense of injustice that prompted his rebellion.[1]

Having fled Jerusalem, God’s royal residence, David remains conflicted, unwilling to respond as he should, yet grieved that his beloved son is seeking his head and dividing the nation. While David has been a fugitive before, now he’s the older guy in the chase, and his foes are convinced he’s done for.

So David cries out to God, whose care for him is already evident. And God graciously meets him where he is, giving him rest in the knowledge that nothing can separate him from God’s love. So this is what finding refuge in God looks like. David asks God to defend him against his foes and holds onto two truths that anchor him in the storm: nothing on earth can overthrow God’s sovereign rule and nothing can rob God’s people of his blessing.

No less a work in progress than David, I desperately need your grace, Lord. Deliver me from evil—my own as well as others’. You mercifully shield me, honor me and lift up my head. However hopeless things seem, I put my trust in you. “All other ground is sinking sand.” Amen.

During your free moments today, meditate on these words:

You shield me from every blow
honor me with your presence
and lift up my downcast head.

[1] The story is told in 2 Samuel 13-18.

Coronation song

The West’s diluted faith in the God who came down to save us has long been haemorrhaging away. But refusing to be bound by such a “fairy tale” isn’t making the world a better place. Only God can do that. 

¹ What nonsense!
Mere earthlings, whole nations
furiously plotting the overthrow of heaven!
² Kings and other power brokers
conspiring against Yahveh and his anointed king
³ bellowing, “Come on!
Let’s break their chains off us
and break free from these tyrants
once and for all!” 

⁴ Enthroned in heaven above
the Lord laughs out loud at the absurdity of it all.
⁵ Then he angrily rebukes them
the heat of his anger terrifying them:

⁶ “Now get this!
It’s all over and done:
I’ve made my choice
and installed my king on Zion
my holy mountain.”

⁷ This is what Yahveh decreed:
“I hereby make you my royal son
and today become your royal father.
⁸ Just ask
and I’ll make the nations your coronation gift!
Draw your boundaries
around earth’s remotest corners.
⁹ You’ll crush all resistance
like an iron rod smashing a clay pot.” 

¹⁰ So look out, big shots
and wise up, wise guys!
¹¹ Submit to Yahveh reverently
gladly, though trembling in awe.
¹² Quick!
Fall before the son and kiss his feet
lest he destroy you while you’re deliberating!
His anger could flare up at any moment
but if you run to him for shelter
all that awaits you is blessing.

The first psalm pictured two alternative ways of living—serving God and asserting self-rule. This psalm builds on that, as the second part of the book’s introductory frame. Here humankind’s leaders defiantly unite in trying to rid themselves of God’s “interference” in their lives. He responds by laughing at their attempted coup. Deeply disturbed by their insolence, he also angrily rebukes them. Then he announces the coronation of his royal son as a fait accompli.

In ancient times, an emperor adopted vassal kings as his sons, thus giving them a son’s full rights and responsibilities. So he announces the coronation of his royal son as a fait accompli. Even as God’s enemies were plotting their move, he installed his king on Zion’s holy hill, declaring him his son. Since the king reigns in his stead, God invites him to go big and ask for the whole earth as his kingdom. His enemies are no match for him whatsoever.

The psalmist then urges everyone resisting to surrender unconditionally—humbly, reverently, gladly, promptly. What’s to deliberate when God’s judgment could fall any minute? Then for all the psalm’s drama and passion, it ends with the calm assurance that all who seek shelter under the king’s rule find joy and rest.

Likely composed for the coronation of David or one of his descendants, the psalm points to God’s sovereignty, against all odds. But it’s more profoundly true of the coronation of the ultimate Davidic king, the Messiah, whose mandate literally encompasses the world.[1]

Thank you that your foes are no match for you or your Messiah, Lord. Even when all seems lost, you reign in wisdom, power and love. Thank you for the refuge you offer—constant flourishing, even when surrounded by enemies. I bow in worship before you and kiss your feet. Amen.

During your free moments today, meditate on these words:

His anger could flare up at any moment
but if you run to him for shelter
all that awaits you is blessing.

[1] The Hebrew word mashiah, or “anointed” (v. 2), described every Israelite king, as well as the Messiah himself. Not surprisingly, Jewish and Christian scholars are divided over the question of who this psalm’s anointed king was, whether a lesser Davidic king or David’s greater son, the Messiah. If the former, then vv. 8-9 were originally uttered as royal hyperbole. But there’s no reason why we can’t take mashiah to refer to both since great poetry often has more than one level of meaning.

The choice

Led by our marketers, Western culture tells us what the good life is. The vision is one of wealth, status and security, all attained autonomously. The Book of Psalms offers a very different take on the good life.

¹ How blessed the person
who doesn’t follow the advice of the wicked
subscribe to the twisted values of self-seekers
or join in the empty sneering of mockers.
² Instead, they savor Yahveh’s instruction
and draw on its wisdom day and night.
³ That makes them thrive
like a tree beside a clear flowing stream—
bearing fruit without pause
growing old but not weak
flourishing in all they do.

⁴ But not self-seekers!
They’re like chaff driven by the wind.
⁵ Without a leg to stand on before God’s law
they find no place
in the community of God-seekers.
⁶ Because God stakes out the path
of those who seek him
while the road the wicked take
leads to doom and disaster.

This psalm and the next frame the entire book, this one by telling us where true happiness lies, contrasting the two ways of life before us and their predetermined ends. Seeking God and his instruction leads to flourishing, spurning him to alienation and ruin. While God’s instruction in scripture is primary, the psalmist commends a constant openness to God, who speaks to us in many ways. Calvin called this a “teachable frame.”

The problem is that the self-seekers’ destination looks nothing like that path in its beginning. Indeed, who wouldn’t want to be their own god, do whatever they like and laugh off anyone cramping their style? Ironically, the autonomy Western culture idolizes is the very evil that leads to ruin. It’s not ultimately freedom at all.

The psalmist’s stark contrast isn’t saying that pleasing God is an endless picnic, self-seeking a total disaster. But being anchored only to yourself does nothing in a storm. And crowd applause dies out fast when the ship is going down. Letting self-love crowd God out ultimately leaves us alone, which is why the psalmist invites us to delight in God and discover life instead.

Most scholars believe the ancient Israelites had no clear concept of the afterlife, that the psalmist speaks of the present life only. Naturally, this raises questions for suffering believers. And many psalms take up those very questions, asking how God can allow the wicked to prosper and begging him to honor his word. Still, this psalm frames the book with the truth that oneness with God brings wholeness and life, ignoring him life’s dissolution.

The choice before me is obscured in a hundred million ways, God. But I see that loving myself supremely leaves me with only myself. How much better to find my true self in you. Please help me hold to the path you’ve marked out for me and love you supremely, whatever the cost. Amen.

During your free moments today, meditate on this truth:

Drawing on his wisdom day and night
they thrive like trees beside clear flowing streams
bearing fruit without pause, growing old but not weak
and flourishing in all they do.

[1] While God’s instruction in scripture is primary, the psalmist commends a constant openness to God, who is everywhere present and speaks to us in a plethora of ways. Calvin referred to this openness as a “teachable frame.”

The psalms are not randomly thrown together, and the way they’re organized is significant. They’re grouped into five “books,”  mimicking the five books of Moses’ law. The first four books end with a verse of praise that belong to the book, not the psalm they’re attached to. The editors of the Psalms may have wanted the book’s structure to imply that, even though the psalms are mainly prayers written by believers, they bear the same authority as the Torah since it was God who gave the prayers to their writers.

The ordering of the five books and of the psalms within each book tells us something about their meaning. The first book includes Psalms 1 through 41. This collection includes many psalms written by David, many of them laments. There are small connections between successive psalms, giving each of the books a discernible forward movement–with a predominance of laments, giving way to full-on praise in the fifth book. This suggests that while we endure hardships and pain in this life, we’re moving relentlessly toward a kingdom when all will be joy and praise.