Oxygen from Psalm 34:9-11 (Fear)

Fear the LORD, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the LORD will lack no good thing. Come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the LORD.
(Psalm 34:9-11)

Merciful God:

How can I learn to fear
The One I hold so dear,
The One who banished fright,
gave me songs in the night,
and bid me come in simple trust?

How can I learn to fear
The One whose presence cheers,
The One who suffered terror
for my unrighteous errors,
for all my brazenness?

Our culture sings sex ditties
while epics sung in ancient cities
chronicled the fights of heroes,
into fear and tempest thrown,
against the terrors of the gods.

Safety in our stronghold
gives rise to softer songs,
softer people, softer minds,
unaware of the true time,
seldom overcome with awe.

May Thy transcendent threat
make every evil-doer fret;
restrain my self-centered spike
when I would compromise the right,
that I not Thee disappoint.

David, teach me, inspired bard,
how to rightly fear the Lord,
how to rightly hear His call,
how to live in abject awe
of my Redeemer's love.

Amen.

Oxygen from Psalm 34:2-9 (Force-praise)

American Christianity is about a happy, clappy religion in praise of a diety more like Santa Claus than the God of the Bible. The Bible, written for us but not to us, takes place in a world that was violent and ruthless. David has been anointed King under God's authority, but he's hunted like a criminal. Here's what happened when he had lost everything.

My soul force-praises Yahweh;
those with nothing left, rejoice.
Make Yahweh bigger than your need
Do so and we shall praise him together.
I pleaded with Yahweh, "What are you doing?"
He answered and delivered me.
How? He made all my fears slink away.


How many times have I seen it -
those who force-praise light up;
their faces free of shame or care.
So myself, when I lost everything,
force-praised Yahweh,
and He heard and acted,
overcoming my distress.


Yahweh's messenger surrounds 
those who force-praise him,
He delivers them.
Taste! See that Yahweh is good.
Oh the joy of those who trust him
when they lose everything.
Force-praise Yahweh, you his chosen,
When everything is gone, 
You have everything you need.


(Psalm 34:2-9, DKB Interplation)


Ever-present God:

How blessed I am to live free
in a prosperous and safe country,
with enough to eat and shelter fine,
where I have control over my time.
But how rare historically
is this blest stability.
Most of the human story tells
of war and famine and awful smells,
of raiders coming to my village
to rape and kidnap and to pillage.
In spite of our unsolved problems
These are the best of times.

So David while a refugee
under Saul's death penalty,
flees to enemy territory;
with nothing but his cloak and story.
There he's captured, loses hope,
destitute, in slavery's yoke,
has nothing left, not one ally,
prays "Why me? Why am I
hunted like the jackal, hated?
Is this how you treat your Anointed?"
Then comes into his prison cave
The One who will one day save
all the saints from Barabbas' cross.

Did he break David's chains?
Did he take away the pains?
There was no magic, no miracle,
No evidence of any oracle,
circumstance did not re-arrange
but something inside David changed.
Faith welled up like a spring
and caused his aching heart to sing,
not yet free, not yet King,
but praise in spite of everything.
And what looked to Acish like insanity
was a soul in faithful rapture.

Force-praise is the covenant faith,
that trusts in God though all forsake,
Force-praise exalts God's ability
when we have lost all stability.
Perhaps we can only know
the power of faith when we must go
and force-praise God against
all odds, against all sense,
against the doctor's diagnosis
force-praise Him who truly knows us.
Still I can taste and know His goodness
who is my full Deliverance..

O may I know my deep need of Thee,
admit my true need and poverty;
may I with patience wait to see
how force-praising will set me free.

Amen.

Oxygen from Psalm 34:1 (The Great Pretender)

Don't dismiss the setting given in the Hebrew Bible for Psalm 34.  I think it may shed light on what David is trying to communicate.

When David pretended to be something he's not before before Abimelek, who drove him away, and David left.  


I will extol Yahweh at all times; 
I will constantly speak his praises.
(Psalm 34:1)


Changeless God:

The hummingbird at my feeder
cannot betray its nature;
cannot become more or less
than you, Creator, planned.
My sweet Corgi cannot feign
a quiet, passive disposition,
nor wish she was a Great Dane,
embarrased at her shortness.

Only humans give pretense,
become something we are not,
lie to ourselves without sense,
sin and call it virtuous.
Only people practice dissipation,
hold others up to ridicule;
our species unique in all creation:
pretenders, prevaricators, cruel.

This flaw infects us all,
no one is immune from falsity.
Since Adam and the fall,
all Utopias crumble on this fault.
And never are we more at risk
than to deny our duplicity,
betray the Truth with a kiss,
release our inner Iscariot.

David pretends to madness
to save himself from Abimelech;
acts the fool, cursed by badness,
just to get out of a mess.
Yet even as he pretends,
he extols your holy name,
by which he knows the Covenant extends
to cover every hypocrisy.

So may we whose unholy habit
is to be something we are not,
know your nearness while we're sinning,
extol your grace in which we're caught.
Abandon us -- you shall never do,
but make our pilgrimage of faith
the struggle to subdue
lesser passions to the upward call of Christ.

Amen

Oxygen from Psalm 33:10-22

The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations
and thwarts all their schemes.
But the LORD’s plans stand firm forever;
his intentions can never be shaken.
What joy for the nation whose God is the LORD,
whose people he has chosen as his inheritance.
The LORD looks down from heaven
and sees the whole human race.
From his throne he observes
all who live on the earth.
He made their hearts,
so he understands everything they do.
The best-equipped army cannot save a king,
nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.
Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—
for all its strength, it cannot save you.
But the LORD watches over those who fear him,
those who rely on his unfailing love.
He rescues them from death
and keeps them alive in times of famine.
We put our hope in the LORD.
He is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
Let your covenant love surround us, LORD,
for our hope is in you alone.
Psalm 33:10-22

Sovereign God:
The nations are frustrated,
mired in debt, poor job creation;
just when we need the voice of reason
campaign rhetoric is now in season.
Save us from tribal divisions
that blame each other for omissions,
that test your sovereign grace
with lying lips, arrogant face,
as though a single man
or political party plan
could bring us back from the precipise.

You set the times and boundaries
for every nation's ascendency
and decline as fits your plan;
the heavenly purpose for every land:
to reveal your justice, truth, (Acts 17:26-27)
to punish the vile and uncouth,
and reward the good, provide relief,
regardless of their belief,
Providential care out-poured
from Earth's true King and Lord,
who waits not for us to choose,
for if he did, we would lose
every chance of peace and solace.

He understands the way we are
for he made us, knows our hearts.
Does that mean God made me queer?
Not at all, be drawn near
and find the answers of confused identity,
peace from one you thought Enemy,
who offered up the sacrifice
of the Perfect Lamb, the price of freedom paid.

So let me sing and raise my voice
not of my country or my choice,
but let my song forever be
of my sovereign's choice of me,
not for anything I have done
but for the pleasure of His Son,
who's covenant love and faithfulness
is stronger than any warrior's horse,
greater than any army horde,
who dares stand against the Lord,
whose Anointed lives and reigns,
our only hope, His unfailing love.

Amen.

Oxygen from Psalm 33:1-9: Worship for a New Creation

You righteous in Christ, sing for joy!
His upright love to praise him.
Praise the LORD with strings,
make music for him on the ten-string.
Sing a new song of praise to him;
play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.
For the Word of the LORD holds true,
and we can trust everything he does.
He loves whatever is just and good;
Christ's covenant love fills the earth.
Yahweh merely spoke,
and the heavens were created.
He breathed the word,
and all the stars were born.
He gathered the seas to their boundaries
and filled the deep mines with treasures.
Let the whole world fear the LORD,
and let everyone stand in awe of him.
When he spoke, the world began.
It appeared at his command.
Psalm  33:1-9

Gracious, Ever-Faithful God:

What has happened to our worship praise?
Read from books and slides and overlays?
Please don't wake the snoring!
Who made worship boring?
Why veneration of human tradition
as if God's new creation
could be confined to pew-sitting watchers
of some Chrysostomic cleric,
protected by ancient liturgy
from rebutal or from question?

Rock 'n roll worship is far worse,
shunning truth for sing-song verse,
appealing to the rock concert crowd,
entertainment played quite loud,
Bible as self-help advice,
"Do more, try harder, be nice,"
the weekly message from the pulpit,
bootstraps R us -- how to stop it.
How to cease the rot of culture
transforming church into transgendered bride?

Where is skill?  Where the excellence?
Where the new song played with brilliance?
Where the overwhelming awe,
and Gospel truth about our flaws;
my quaking hand laid on my prize lamb,
knife to neck, it's life for mine?
No hocus pocus; but laser focus
on the blood that was shed for me.

Holy Spirit, infuse my worship,
with joy and song, here I belong!
Gather those made righteous by Christ's decree
like You gathered primordal seas,
and set the boundaries of our love
to the expanse of your good and justice.

Give us new songs for new creation,
hover, Holy Spirit, end lamentation;
Take us as far as we may go
in our temples here below.
Meet us in the courtyards of holiness,
near enough for You to bless us,
not holed up in sanctuaries,
but exposed to light and air and world,
exposed to Gospel grace, Your Word proclaim,
recreating all the fallen,
known to You by name,
inheritors of redemption's age.

Amen

Oxygen from Psalm 32:8-9

Yahweh says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”



Gracious God,

I am not a thoroughbred, sleek and fast;
no war horse me, built to last,
or ignore the battle's blast,
but stubborn mule, made to pull,
biggie ears, braying fool,
prone to wander off alone.

Yet You harness my potential,
fit me with Your bit and bridle,
by Your Word you take control.
lead me to your healing streams,
bathe my wounds and wash my dreams,
restore my strength and vision.

When first you gave to me Your bit
I did not like it's taste or fit.
Unfair, I grumbled, spit it out.
But you persisted my refusal,
comforted, soothed, made me useful;
freedom now a run in harnass.

Guide me on Your chosen path,
Pioneer and Faith Perfector,
past the ambush of defectors
to wide prairies of endless vistas,
and with faithful brothers, sisters,
ride into a sunrise of delight.

Amen.

Psalm 16 Bible Study

     To ancient Hebrews, the words of our Scriptures were the pop songs everyone knew, the history that defined their identity, even the after-dinner entertainment of the day.  In Bronze Age society stories and songs were the mass media of a pre-literate culture. If I wrote a song that you had never heard before, but used these three words, “Dandy,” “Doodle,” “Yankee,” you would immediately recognize a historical connection, even if what I was writing on the surface had nothing to do with history.

     This is the case with Psalm 16, I think. The three words that would have rung familiar to the ancient Hebrew listener are “portion,” “cup,” and “boundary.” Now, many modern translations may not even have these key words. The problem with many modern translations is they must make sense to people who may be Biblically illiterate. So publishers eliminate the very key words necessary to hear how the song would have been heard in the 10^th century BC and in later epochs. We know this happened to a huge extent during the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews in the 5^th and 6^th centuries BC.  The old language became less and less used and many people forgot the meaning of words. In fact, in Psalm 16 verse 6 there is a word with Babylonian roots, the word for “delightful” or “wonderful.” So, we know that the form in which we now read Psalm 16 comes from after the 5th Century, not from the pen of David.

     Is it possible for us three thousand years removed to know how Psalm 16 might have sounded in the ears of David’s contemporaries? The only way to even begin to accomplish this is to use the older texts of Scripture to interpret the newer ones. Four hundred years before David, in the earliest days of the Israeli national identity, portion, cup, and boundary would have triggered two thoughts: a covenant meal and land distribution. There’s no one verse in the Old Testament that mentions all three of these concepts. So we have to do a bit of detective work to see what two stories David may be linking up, either in his own inspired imagination or from something well-known in his time but lost to us.

     Portion and cup are words associated with a meal.  A servant received his or her portion of food and drink from the master. David sings this song to his God and Master, Yahweh. There’s only one sacred meal in which the worshipper of Yahweh had a “portion” and a “cup;” the peace offering detailed in Leviticus 3, 7:15-16, and 22:29-30.  The peace offering was how reconciliation occurred after two parties had a falling out. The peace offering initiated a covenant meal between God and sinners. 

     What about the concept of boundary lines changing or being assigned as an inheritance? This recalled two events that were inseparably linked in the Hebrew mind: first, the covenant ceremony led by Joshua at Shechem (Joshua 24); and second, the Jubilee legislation that provided for an a complete economic reset of all debts and deals as a reminder that the land belonged to Yahweh (Leviticus 25).  In Deuteronomy 15, there is some evidence that this reset may have occurred every seven years  in the earliest days of the theocracy. I think it entirely possible that David composed Psalm 16, out of the remnants of an ancient liturgy of covenant renewal, a shared meal, and the redistribution or reaffirmation of holy boundaries. Psalm 16:1 is pure covenantal language. “I will be your God and you will be my people.” Preserve me, O God, I refuge in you. I will do my part and you will do your part. It was the way every treaty was worded in the Bronze Age.

     When that ancient covenant liturgy was first made, Israel was not in the Promised Land of Canaan. They were on the other side of the Jordan, preparing to go in and take the land that belonged to other peoples, specifically, the Canaanites, a fierce and militarily superior nation. Why would David think about that portion, cup, and boundary? It may have been the time of the Feast of Covenant Renewal (later called Tabernacles or Booths) that David saw in the situation of those ancient Hebrews awaiting the conquest of Canaan, a picture of his own plight. Many of David's Psalms carry inscriptions of the historical context which occasioned the song. Many are from the time David is on the run from Saul. Psalm 16 carries no such historical reference, but it does picture a man on the run in verse 1, like an unintended criminal fleeing to the cities of Refuge (Deuteronomy 4:41ff.), needing safe sanctuary. This fits perfectly the time that Saul, King of the Jews, is pursuing David with the intent to kill the son of Jesse. But only David knows from the great prophet and priest, Samuel himself, that the Kingship has been withdrawn from Saul and given to David. So, here’s David, the rightful king, with no portion or cup from his Master, no inheritance at all, an outlaw with only God’s big idea and God’s Word and Presence to sustain him.

     David sings about the covenant blessings of belonging body and soul to Yahweh. The LORD himself instructs David (Psalm 16:7) with the counsel of His Word. David knows the presence of God surrounding him; God makes himself real to David (v.8). While Saul threatens him with murder, David has an abiding joy and certain promise that the Holy One of his family will not be abandoned in the grave to rot (v.10). He has everything he needs while outwardly having nothing.

     How similar to Jesus a thousand years after David. He, too, was announced to be God’s King of the Jews, but he had nothing, no power, no title, and no prospects but death and suffering. Pilate asks, "You are a King then?" Jesus answers, "Are you saying this of your own accord or did you hear this from others?" Jesus is checking to see if the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in Pilate. But alas, no. So Jesus answers, "My kingdom is not from the world." Jesus' kingship is a different kind of King than Pilate could ever conceive. But look at the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, stricken, bloodied. What a King! Every one of his followers would desert him in his hour of need. But like David was preserved, so Jesus was preserved by God's covenant faithfulness.

     Between the resurrection and his ascension, Jesus spent hours in Bible study with his disciples, showing them how the Old Testament was really all about him. He must have pointed out Psalm 16 specifically, since Peter refers to it in his Pentecost sermon as prophesying the resurrection of David’s Holy Son (Acts 2:25-28). It's not hard to imagine our Savior praying the words of Psalm 16 in Gethsemane’s Garden and with Psalm 22 while hanging on the cross, a great song of abiding trust and confidence in the promises of God when it seems that all is lost.

     Jesus, on the eve of his great Exodus, transformed the Passover into the covenant-renewing peace offering meal of reconciliation in his body and blood. He knew the struggles of the flesh, being tempted in every way we are, yet without sin. When Jesus said, "As often as you do this you remember me," he's not talking about religious reminiscing.  We are actually participating in the same Kingdom building God was doing in ancient Israel, rehearsing the covenant faithfulness of God this side of Jordan's stormy banks. We are like David, awaiting an unseen inheritance that is ours by faith in the victory of Jesus over death and the grave. When it seems darkest, God is preserving us through the counsel of His Word, through the love of His saints, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, showing us the path of life, the fullness of joy, and wonder of permanence forever more.