Psalm 94 - The God who takes notice

This psalm has four parts which explain the logic of the psalm

94:1 Heading: Yhwh is the avenging God

A 94:2-7 Problem: The wicked are unrestrained

B 94:8-19 Answer: Yhwh takes notice and will act

A' 94:20-23 Result: The wicked will be repaid

The wicked which encircle the suppliant also encircle the structure of the psalm. There are a few different words, such as רשׁע (rasha`, wicked 4x: 94:3,3,13,21); רע/רעה/רעע (ra', evil, 3x: 94:13 (evil days), 16 (evildoers), 23 (evil)); און (awon, iniquity 3x 94:4,16,23). They are clustered in 3-4, 13-16, 21-23), at the beginning and the end to explain the problem and hoped-for result, and in the centre to explain the context against which they call out to God for rescue. 

The description of God in this psalm is twofold. Firstly with reference to God's power and protection, Yhwh is an avenging God, he is the judge of the earth, he is a helper, the one who sustains, a stronghold and a rock of refuge (1-2, 17-18, 22)

Secondly, God is the teacher, the instructor, the one who sees and the one who knows (8-12). And this is where this psalm stands out. They scoff in v7, "Yah will not see us; the God of Jacob will not take notice." The response in v8-11 is an expansive retort, using the same verb בין (bin), "Take notice! ... Wise up! Does the one who made ears not hear, the one who formed the eye, does he not take notice?" 

Because he is the creator of the ears and eyes, to scoff "he will not notice" is to demonstrate a dangerous ignorance regarding the information gathering abilities and activities of Yhwh. The psalmist plays on the fluidity of the verb יסר (yasar, to instruct/warn/rebuke) to explain that the one who instructs nations  with knowledge also reproves them (10), but he also gives this to individuals, to the one who is thereby blessed (12). 

This all explains the way Yhwh cares for his people in the following verses, and in particular, in the context of evil. It is not a military victory that is explicitly promised, but a true knowledge of God and of the cosmos, which gives a calm, which soothes one's soul (v19). 

Is this an Exodus psalm?

I've been arguing that 90-106 (Book IV) is an Exodus collection. How then does this psalm work in that context? It does seem as if there is something of a flow, working through the Exodus story bit by bit, but here, it appears to jump forward to the giving of the law from 20-23, but especially the importance of the law in the context of evil as is described in Exodus 23:2, "Don't follow after the many in doing evil". Rather, be instructed by Yhwh to stand firm in his teaching (תורה, torah), v12 - this word providing the other link back. 

In this way, perhaps Psalm 94 is a hidden wisdom psalm rather than a psalm for rescue. For although the default desire is for divine intervention, in this psalm it is the instruction of Yhwh, which, even if not rescuing, enables one to stand firm despite the evil which encircles, which, if nothing else, is surely one of the key messages from the entire Exodus experience.

the wisdom of wedlock

i tried to follow the same basic outline for all three weeks, so the outline was again

i] what is wedlock?
ii] we need wisdom to guide us through wedlock
iii] Proverbs is not the end of the story - Jesus redeems wedlock

again, it was an opportunity to put together some of the strands from ethics this year.

i] we first thought through the importance of wedlock in the media - both the gossip columns as well as the political sphere. we also recognised that we all have some interest in the topic - most of us are the product of wedlock, and most of us either are, will be, or desire to be married one day.

again, we looked at Gen 1-2 and 3, to see that there is a tarnished goodness in marriage - it is spoilt by sin, but there is still goodness in marriage.

ii] Proverbs is a bit politically incorrect - the context is the father to the son. and you can't just make it all gender non-specific, it doesn't always work. so that, as well as the context where most people are married (most at church aren't) means we need wisdom to apply the wisdom of Proverbs to us in our situations and contexts.

the two extremes are the adulteress and the quarrelsome woman.

• as far as the adulteress is concerned, this is not marriage advice but fooling around/sowing-wild-oats kind of advice. she is alluring
  

  Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
  let us delight ourselves with love.
  For my husband is not at home;
  he has gone on a long journey;
  he took a bag of money with him;
  he won’t be back for a month.”
  Prov. 7.18-20

  but despite the intoxication of the thought of 'lovemaking till morning', this woman leads us to death.
  
• the other extreme is marrying poorly
  

  a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.
  Prov. 9.13b
  
  Better to live on a corner of the roof
  than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
  Prov. 25.24
  
  Better to live in a desert
  than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.
  Prov. 21.19

  
  
• the middle point, the third way, is to choose your wife well and enjoy your life with her.
  

  May your fountain be blessed,
  and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
  A loving doe, a graceful deer—
  may her breasts satisfy you always,
  may you ever be captivated by her love.
  Prov. 5.18-19

  
  
• an even better good tho, than finding a good wife, is finding miss wisdom herself, and marrying her.
  

  Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
  and call understanding your relative.
  She will keep you from the forbidden woman,
  from the adulteress with her smooth words.
  Prov. 7.4-5

  that is, finding true wisdom will keep you from following the path of folly to death.
  this places the good of marriage into it's appropriate place, that is, it is a good thing to marry (Prov. 18.22), but this good is secondary to the goodness of seeking wisdom; the folly of marrying the quarrelsome woman is therefore not a good to be pursued.

iii] this then is how Jesus redeems wedlock. such that Paul can write to the Corinthians both of the goodness of marriage, but also great good of not being married. so then marriage is seen differently, as it points people to the love of Christ for the church. but singleness is seen differently also:

1. because we’re part of a community of believers, unmarried people can honour marriage, by being glad for those who are married without bitterness and envy, and caring for those who are married in their own areas of need.
   
2. part of this can be making sure marrieds don’t turn their marriages and families if they have them into an idol. you can do this by reminding them of those beyond their immediate horizon, that God’s Kingdom is to be our horizon, and service of others is to be the way of life for all Christians, whatever our marital status.
   
3. single people can model in a different way what it looks like to be a Christian who is content with the riches we share in Christ. this means being sexually pure, making the most of the gift of singleness. this also means that while you may ask God for the gift of marriage, there is no place for thinking of yourself as a second-class Christian, or for making crass jokes about getting people married. there may be many reasons that people are single, some not by choice, but others are single for well-thought through reasons.

finally, i reflected a bit more on the sadness that singleness can be, because it is good part of God's good creation.
and then there was a call in line with Heb. 13.4, that all are to honour marriage.
and lastly, a reminder to all, to keep focussing on the thing greater than the greatest marriage, the future of all believers, in the closest of relationships with our saviour.

Paraphrasing Proverbs

The worshippers of Yhwh counted the wise among them, and the wise faced the realities of experience from the point of view of the Yahwist faith that was theirs.
R.E. Murphy, Proverbs WBC 1998, i think describing G. von Rad's understanding of OT wisdom

i'm trying to work out (preferably before Sunday @8:30am!) what the relationship is between

wisdom,

the son, and

the man (הַאָדָם)

do you think the above quote is right?

i'm thinking in particular about Proverbs 3:13-26, and throughout proverbs - i take it that instruction for the man is general advice to humanity, whilst that to the son is specific for the follower of Yhwh. but why would the man care unless he followed Yhwh?

a brief Christmas sermon

my thoughts about the importance of Christmas in light of tonight's sermon at St Matt's Wanniassa
(i should add, the sermon made me think about the importance Christmas should, and does have, and i also got to thinking about what would i say were i up the front doing the talk &c.).


Christmas recognises the God who crossed THE great divide: on one side the wholly other Holy Other, on the other fallen humanity. yet in reaching out to a world lost in sin, God reached out, crossed over, became one with us.

  The Word became flesh
and took up residence among us.
We observed His glory,
the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
  (John testified concerning Him and exclaimed,
"This was the One of whom I said,
'The One coming after me has surpassed me,
because He existed before me.' ")
  Indeed, we have all received grace after grace
from His fullness,
  for although the law was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
  No one has ever seen God.
The One and Only Son —
the One who is at the Father's side —
He has revealed Him.
John 1:14-18

yet even though this eternal logos became flesh, it became flesh in the most paradoxical of ways - a bub in a food-trough.

God has chosen the world's insignificant and despised things — the things viewed as nothing — so He might bring to nothing the things that are viewed as something,
1 Corinthians 1:28

materialism vs hedonism

reflecting tonight on old friends who would work all summer, yet spend their entire wages on weed and grog (marijuana and alcohol), a friend's remark really got me thinking. he said,
"i have much more respect for a hedonist than a materialist."

i guess i had never really tried to work out which i preferred, but in essence he was saying,
rather be the perishing, who echo "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die," with those of 1 Corinthians 15 (and interestingly also Isaiah 22)
than the arrogant (who will obviously also perish), who says "I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods." (Luke 12)

indeed, in the Bible the fool who is perishing is to be pitied, rather than put down, unlike the arrogant farmer of Luke 12.
for instance the words of King Lemuel (from his mum) in Proverbs 31:6-7,

Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,
and wine to those in bitter distress;
let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.

but what difference is there really between the perishing fool who thinks there is nothing beyond the grave but rot and decay (the hedonist), and the arrogant fool, who believes that he is in control of his own destiny (the materialist)?

i ask this because at the end of the day there is none.
in Luke 12, the purpose of his materialism is that he may say to himself, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry."

the materialist is really a hedonist, only with superannuation.

well actually,
the materialist responds to eternity by carving it up into manageable chunks (80 years or so),
whereas the hedonist faces it a day at a time, squeezing the most out of every minute.

Guidance MYC

another week away, another dozen less blogservers (that's a contraction of bloggers and observers i think)

so yeah, week away at MidYearConference, the topic being guidance.

my biggest take-home point was the no-bulls-eye, plan-a idea.

grimmo acknowledged that he nicked it from someone else (the new director of MTS), who in turn nicked it from someone, which just goes to show it's a good example.


that is, we all have this belief that God's got this plan-a in store for each and every one of us; Mr/Mrs Right, the perfect, fulfilling job, the ministry where we will be of best service etc.

however the guidance we are given by God is that we are free to serve by means of the wisdom he gives us, and the Holy Spirit he sends to work in our hearts to conform us to live by his wisdom.

this means we aren't to fear making the wrong decision, so long as we are making it for godly reasons, and regarding the wise counsel of Christian brothers and sisters.

in this respect (and this is my favourite line from the whole week), the little decisions are the big decisions, whilst the big decisions are infact the little decisions!