Translating this psalm helped me understand and appreciate it more. So did Eugene Peterson's insights. So, here are a few observations on this Song of Ascents (#2 of 15).
First, here's a translation--
Song of Ascents. I raise my eyes to the mountains. From where will my help come? My help is from YHWH, Maker of heavens and earth. May He not give your feet to a shaking, not fall asleep watching over you.
Now please understand. He will not doze off and will not sleep! He is the Guardian of Israel!
YHWH is protecting you. YHWH is your shade at your right hand. By day the sun will not beat on me, nor the moon by night.
YHWH will protect you from all evil. He will guard your life. YHWH will watch over your going forth and your coming, from now until eternity.
The italicized words are all from a single Hebrew root--shamar. The fact that it is used six times in eight verses seems to make it the key word in this Psalm.
I had never understood the image of the Lord being a "shade" at my right hand. The dictionary I used (Holladay) describes this shade as that of a tree, a roof, or a cloud. It is an image of shelter or protection. For someone like me with very fair skin, such shelter (especially pre-sunscreen) can hardly be overvalued. The psalmist then connects this image with an interesting location..."at my right hand." This is the place that an honored person would take. God, the Almighty, the Honored One, is my shade. He not only protects me from trials. He also provides comfort. He "shamar"s me. He watches over me.
Peterson sees three dangers in this psalm: twisting one's ankle, sunstroke, and moonstroke (lunacy). Do Christians not suffer such trials? Sure they do. But we know where to look for help--to the Lord who accompanies us every step of the way. We need not look to the hills (where the pagan shrines were set up). No, this world's remedies are vacuous. God is with us. His love is constant. He will watch over our going and coming, from now until eternity.
May our trust not be in the remedies of pop culture magazines, nor in the numbing escape of prime-time TV. May we rely on Him who guards our soul, both night and day.
I end by quoting Eugene Peterson:
"All the water in the oceans cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside. Nor can all the trouble in the world harm us unless it gets within us. That is the promise of the psalm: 'The LORD will keep you from all evil.'...None of the things that happen to you, none of the troubles you encounter, have any power to get between you and God, dilute his grace in you, divert his will from you."
(A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, pp. 38-39)
"Faith is not a precarious affair of chance escape from satanic assaults. It is the solid, massive, secure experience of God who keeps all evil from getting inside us, who keeps our life, who keeps our going out and our coming in from this time forth and forevermore." (p. 41)
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Psalm 120
Psalm 120, the first of the 15 Songs of Ascents, is a song of pilgrimage. The psalmist complains because of the wickedness of his surroundings. He bemoans the lying lips, the deceitful tongues, and the bent for war that seem to assail him from every side. His lament, "Woe to me that I dwell" (among such) is a lament of pilgrimage. The author has realized that he is out of sync with the status quo. He is a stranger on this earth. Just as Jesus came to His own and was rejected by them, so too the psalmist is maligned and persecuted for his righteous stance.
This realization is the first step on the road to heaven. The psalmist perceives the sin and turns his back on the empty way of life from which he was redeemed. He is now swimming against the stream, traveling on the narrow way. It is not an easy path to travel, but the Spirit strengthens, the Father blesses and guides, and the Son walks with us along the way.
It is impossible not to be influenced by our surroundings unless we deliberately renew our minds and abide in the will of the Father. May this psalm remind us to resist conformity with the world and to turn our face toward our eternal Home. May we cry out to the Lord, for He will answer.
This realization is the first step on the road to heaven. The psalmist perceives the sin and turns his back on the empty way of life from which he was redeemed. He is now swimming against the stream, traveling on the narrow way. It is not an easy path to travel, but the Spirit strengthens, the Father blesses and guides, and the Son walks with us along the way.
It is impossible not to be influenced by our surroundings unless we deliberately renew our minds and abide in the will of the Father. May this psalm remind us to resist conformity with the world and to turn our face toward our eternal Home. May we cry out to the Lord, for He will answer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
