Wilderness Wanderings

"Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back, you mountains, that you skipped like rams, you hills like lambs? (Psalm 114:5-6).

Let's begin with some things Pastor Anthony said yesterday about Psalm 113. That psalm asks: "Who is like the Lord our God?" Answer? No one. Nothing. Our God is utterly unique. And in his Son Jesus Christ, we get an even better look at him. He did not consider equality with God as something to be used to his own advantage but instead became nothing. The highest of the high, the utterly transcendent, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God was born into this world as the lowest of the low: the baby out-of-wedlock of a poor peasant couple from the Podunk frontier town of Nazareth.

Why did our God take such a lowly path? To raise us up to the highest heights with him, that's why. It was Israel who was first brought up from their poverty and need in Egypt: they were set free and made into a people.

Among Jews, Psalms 113 & 114 are recited at the beginning of the Passover meal. Why did God's people choose this Psalm to remember the victory of their God?

Because it puts the eaters smack dab in the middle of the great saving acts of God. With vivid simplicity the psalm proclaims what happens when God shows up.

Showing up in power, his first act is to choose Israel both for His sanctuary and His kingdom. Thus, if anyone else in all the earth wants to meet God or observe life in his realm, all they need do is show up in Israel.

All contrary powers are driven from the field by His appearance. The chaotic powers that put salvation in question must flee before Him. In His presence the mountains- the symbols of all that is solid, durable-quake.

God's mighty salvific work is proclaimed by all the facts that are brought together in this weighty hymn. When Israel is thirsty, God offers her water from the rocks and desert sands. When she is hungry, she can pluck birds out of the air and bread from the ground.

God provides for those who are near Him. The elements of creation react to the powerful appearance of God. Because they move before God's coming, Israel's passage into the Promised Land stretches out before her. All this and more are remembered as the Jews sit down to eat the Passover meal.

Do you know why Christians choose to worship on the first day of the week rather than the Jewish seventh? The early Christians saw Easter as our Exodus. As much as the Exodus from Egypt shaped the imagination, the memory, and the living faith of Old Testament Israel, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, shapes the imagination, the memory, and the living faith of the church.

As much as the Exodus was the birth of Israel, so Easter is the birth of the church. And as much as Israel was God's dominion and sanctuary in the Old Testament, we believe the church is God's kingdom and sanctuary today.

Thus, if anyone else in all the earth wants to meet God or observe life in His Kingdom, all they need do is find the church of Jesus.

There Psalms are recited as the opening of the Passover meal. They helped the eaters enter the story of God, their story. We worship Jesus today to enter the story of Easter, to make it our story.

How does Easter shape your life? How will living in the presence of the God who raised Jesus from the dead, impact your life today?

Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of his people. (Psalm 113:5-8)

There is something unique about Israel's God that sets him apart from any other human or deity. Not only is he high above the highest heights—a great God on the throne who reigns over the whole of the universe—but he is also a God who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth, even taking an interest in the plight of the poor and needy—the lowliest of the low.

There was no other deity of the ancient world like that. Sure there were gods that sat in highest heights, but they didn't care about any human problems. And sure there were great heroes among men, but even they were not terribly concerned about the lowest of the low. That Israel's God could and did span and draw together such a mindbending spectrum as that between the utterly transcendent throne room of heaven and the utterly mundane and imminent ash heap of the needy made this God simply incomparable.

So, the psalm asks: "who is like the Lord our God?" Answer there? No one. Nothing. Our God is utterly unique. And in his Son Jesus Christ, we get an even better look at him. This one who did not consider equality with God as something to be used to his own advantage but instead became nothing. The highest of the high, the utterly transcendent, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God was born into this world as the lowest of the low: the baby out-of-wedlock of a poor peasant couple from the Podunk frontier town of Nazareth.

Why did our God take such a lowly path? To raise us up to the highest heights with him, that's why. It was Israel who was first brought up from their poverty and need in Egypt: they were set free and made into a people. And with Jesus, we too have been raised up. We have not been given an earthly place, but a heavenly place next to the prince of peace who has become our brother.

Of course, God still does this work of justice and of salvation in a thousand other ways too. He really does rescue the poor and lifts them up. He really does still rescue the needy of our world from the ash heaps. Sometimes he even invites us into that work—to join him, our prince, into the places where he is still today, spanning the gap between the highest heights and the lowest lows. Our God still sees, he still acts. He still hears the cries of those who have long been oppressed, and he still moves in justice and salvation on their behalf.

We are never to think that we are too high not to stoop down low. Nor are we to ever think we are too low not to be lifted back up high. Our God is in both places, and meets us in each. Rescuing us, and also inviting us to join him in his work of bringing justice, grace, and mercy to others, too.

Praise the Lord for his great work that continues even today! Praise the Lord, for there is no one else like him!

"Hallelujah! Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous person. Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice" (Psalm 112:1,4,5).

When I was young, I remember waking up on certain mornings to a world gone missing. Outside my window there was nothing but a light grey brightness: fog.

On school mornings, the buses would run an hour or two late depending on how long the meteorologist expected the fog to stay. Those unexpected extra hours were dedicated to pure enjoyment while we waited for the sun to burn the mist away.

When my children were in school, the buses were just cancelled. Its as if someone forgot that the sun would rise and burn it away. When faced with fog, it is easy to forget that there is a sun.

Psalm 112 calls attention to this Christian forgetfulness. Verses 4 and 7 both speak of fog in the life of the saint; yet the godly person is not afraid. Despite a foggy morning, the righteous sing: Hallelujah!

We know that behind the fog is the sun. Behind the clouds of pain, God still reigns. Christians are people of faith; there is more to this world than what the physical eye can see. Jesus is king, even if the evidence is hiding. Despite a foggy morning, the righteous sing: Hallelujah!

If you are looking for the word 'Hallelujah!' in this psalm, you will not find it in many English translations. It's a Hebrew word most often translated, "Praise the Lord!" (In Greek, Alleluia).

There is much to meditate on in this psalm, but two more things for today. First, early on, we come across the word 'Blessed' which we find so often in the Bible that we frequently overlook it.

Its one of those wonderfully difficult words to translate because it has such profound emotional and spiritual resonance. But let's try. The dictionary includes this: "go straight, advance, follow the track."

Think about the seven dwarfs from Snow White's story, sauntering home after a day's work singing their song. They know every inch of the path; each shrub and rock familiar to them. At the end of the path is their snug little dwarf home.

To be blessed means that one is walking on the right path, the one God has laid out for us. This path is the basic trail of the Christian life: loving God and neighbour as fully as possible. And to be enjoying that path to the fullest. Living thus is to be blessed.

Do you know this? Do you believe it? Do you live this way?

Second, the psalm points out that the work of the righteous (the acts of love) will endure while the work and memory of the wicked will fade. God will take the good that we do and cause it to produce fruit 30, 60, and 100-fold.

Jesus makes mention of this when he calls us to "lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:20-21).

What kind of treasures are you making? Where is your heart fixed?

The blessed person is content to walk along the path of God, not afraid of the fog, knowing that God will shine through. Our Lord will also cause our righteous acts to produce their harvest.

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Colossians 1:15-23 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

1. Who is Jesus? (Use today's sermon as a starting point; include other things you know).
2. What did Jesus show us in his life and ministry? What do we miss when we focus only on the cross?
3. What does it mean that Jesus stands in our place? Why is Jesus more than an example for us to follow?
4. God's salvation is free. Why is it good to know that? How is God's grace active in the Christian life?
5. What value does Jesus' ascension into heaven have for us? What is he doing there?

He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever—holy and awesome is his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. (Psalm 111:9-10)

Psalm 111 praises God for his great works—two of them mainly—God's work of fulfilling his covenant of promise to Abraham and God's work of giving his covenant of law to Israel.

Many of the works named in the first part of the psalm correspond directly to God's work of saving Israel from Egypt, providing for them through the desert, and bringing them safely into the land of promise. Our God is a God of redemption, faithful to his covenant and promises.

But God has given his people not only a covenant of promise, but also a covenant of law. While wandering through the desert, God discipled his people into the ways of his commandments. Commandments that, over many long years in the desert, the people learned to quite literally walk out in their lives day by day. Our God is a God who commands a trustworthy, faithful, and upright way in which to walk and live.

The beauty of this psalm is that it draws both of these great works of the Lord together—both his covenant of promise and his covenant of law—and then reflects on them. The things that God himself did on Israel's behalf as he fulfilled his promise to them is the very thing that God calls them to do in response through his commandments. God has redeemed and commands his people to redeem. God provided for his people and commands them to provide for one another. God has been faithful and commands his people to be faithful. God is trustworthy and commands his people to be trustworthy.

We have been taught to pray "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." This psalm would suggest that the way to know, understand, and live the kingdom and will of the Lord is to watch what he himself has done and to follow in obedience after what he himself has commanded. For: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

This fear of the Lord is also the beginning of praise. When we watch and learn from the fearsome and marvelous deeds of the Lord and when we follow his precepts, we cannot help but say thank you. We cannot help but marvel at the way he lovingly saves and mercifully provides for us and so return some awe and wonder his way. All his people who have watched and followed this, their God have done just that for centuries and will continue to do so into and through the day his kingdom comes—for "to him belongs eternal praise."

The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: You are a priest forever…" (Psalm 110:1,4).

If the New Testament had its way, Psalm 110 would be our favourite psalm, not the 23rd. This is a song worth knowing. It may not be the easiest to understand or to pray, but it may be the most important of them all. How so? It is the most often quoted psalm in the New Testament: 14 different places.

(Add that to your next Bible trivia game: list 7 places where Psalm 110 is used in the New Testament).

Before you continue take a moment to read the psalm. If its not familiar to you, it may take a few readings before it sticks. Now some reflections on it.

This psalm is God's declaration of a newly enthroned monarch who is followed and obeyed willingly by the people. He is endowed with strength and stamina which encourages and strengthens all who follow (3). This monarch will also be priest, mediating between God and his people. He will be priest and king forever.

The early church had a fundamental belief that we may have lost: "When God speaks things happen…"

Jesus was born in Nazareth: poor, powerless, obscure. He did not appear to be a contender for anything. But then God spoke: "The Lord says to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'"

Thus, Peter uses it to back up his claim that God has exalted Jesus to his right hand. Having quoted verse one, he finishes his Pentecost sermon with the words, "Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36).

So, God declared Jesus the king who brings order, beauty, justice, and peace. And God declared that Jesus is the priest who brings us back into relationship with God. With metaphors, not arguments, the psalmist invites us to pray for this to become reality.

The final sentence is unforgettable, "He will drink from the brook…and lift his head high." A picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, the king priest, among us on our level, thirsty in his humanness and kneeling at the brook; then refreshed, with lifted head, proceeding on his way, ruling, and saving. But he was so ordinary. A thirsty messiah, who would want?

Much of our spirituality is shaped by Psalm 23 which we misuse in two ways. One, we emphasize "my", meaning, he is mine to control, I get to tell him how to shepherd me. Two, we leave God out until our funeral. In these ways, our spirituality is as ego centric as the rest of our lives. This is very hard to root out.

But now consider a spirituality centred in Psalm 110 which is difficult to misuse. It un-centres us from ourselves. It recentres us in the being and action of God, calling us to join God in his work. Moreover, the capacity to live and work for God does not come from within, but from the monarch, Jesus. Sounds like the work of the Holy Spirit. No wonder it's a Pentecost song.

The action in the Psalm belongs to God, as it does in Psalm 23. Both Psalms are about God and what he does. Somehow, the shepherd song often gets twisted to be about me and my wants. This kingly psalm does not lend to that.

We ought to recite this Psalm along side every recitation of the 23rd. Selfishness is very persistent. We need something to counteract it. Starting each day with Psalm 110 will help.

Spiritually, we often start well but then we drift. There is no time for drifting here. In seven verses we hear four times, "The Lord". This is followed by "he will" four times.

Psalm 110 centres us in God. It doesn't ignore that we live in a messed-up world. It doesn't ignore that our good works and our good intentions are flawed in such a way that they often do as much harm as good. But it says that, despite this, we are not disqualified from the work because we are drawn into what God is doing in Christ to establish his will "on earth as it is in heaven."

Help me, Lord my God; save me according to your unfailing love. Let them know that it is your hand, that you, Lord, have done it. While they curse, may you bless; may those who attack me be put to shame, but may your servant rejoice. May my accusers be clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak. (Psalm 109:26-29)

There was a song that came on the country radio a decade or so ago now called "Pray for you." It has lines like "I pray your brakes go out running down a hill. I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I'd like to." Those lyrics probably make you cringe a little bit, right? But they might not be quite so far from the Bible as we might piously think.

Psalm 109 is the most imprecatory of the imprecatory psalms. Imprecatory is a fancy word for a curse. So to say: this is a cursing psalm. Yes, says the Bible: there are times when even the person of faith needs to curse. Maybe not quite like that country song did. But close.

The psalmist goes on for 15 verses praying awful things toward their enemy. Things like: "may his prayers condemn him…" "may his days be few…" "may a creditor seize all he has…" "may his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation."

Why all this hate? Well, the psalmist identifies himself as one who is poor and needy, his heart wounded within him. He has been a friend to this man he now prays against. To describe this person, the psalmist says this: "he never thought of doing a kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted. He loved to pronounce a curse—may it come back on him. He found no pleasure in blessing—may it be far from him."

In short: this is a prayer that the one who would not bless be not blessed—that the one who only cursed be cursed. It's the golden rule. May it be done unto him as he did it unto others. May he get what he gave.

But notice that the psalmist does not take matters into his own hands. For his part: the psalmist has been a friend. The psalmist has loved this man, even though he has only received hate in return. And so the psalmist lays it all out before God in prayer—asking for the Lord of unfailing love to intervene on behalf of him: the one who has shown love. Even though this enemy may dole out curses at the psalmists and all the other poor and needy people like him: the psalmist asks for God to transform those curses into blessing. God, after all, is a God of love, of life, and of blessing. Not of cursing, death, and destruction.

The Apostles saw Jesus in the words of the psalmist. He was the one who loved his enemies unfailingly in the face of their curses and persecutions, even though it cost him his life. The apostles saw Judas as the one this psalm is prayed against—as the one who returned curse for blessing, hate for love. They quote this psalm as evidence of the judgement of God when they select Judas' replacement in the book of Acts.

If nothing else, this psalm gives a second way for Christians to deal with the evil of this world. Not only through words and prayers of lament: but also through prayers that ask God to curse those who curse.

But we do well to remember always that it is the Lord's to dole out the judgements—not ours. We can be brutally honest with God about what we've experienced and what we'd like to see done—but it ends there by surrendering that prayer to God to work it out as he will. God is the one who vindicates and God is the one who repays.

"My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul. Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies" (Psalm 108:1, 2, 12, 13).

This psalm offers us unique insight into the spiritual practices of ancient Israel and, as such, it ought to inform our own spirituality and faith in the same God.

It is commonly understood that Book 5 of the Psalms (Psalms 107-150) was compiled after the Israelites returned from the Babylonian exile. As the Jews trickled back into Palestine, they began to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple of God.

With this rebuilding emerged a new tradition of worship at the temple site. It was a new day which required new songs and prayers. The psalms gathered into Book 5 are part of this worship renewal.

The words of Psalm 108 are parts of Psalms 57 and 60 melded together. It offers us some insight into this new period in Israel's history. The opening stanzas offer two declarations. On the one hand, the psalm proclaims that God is great and exalted among all the nations.

Though this is a note often strummed in the psalter, it is worth repeating. In a world in which we know every horror that is happening everywhere, it is easy to forget this basic Christian belief. The Apostle's Creed's opening line, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth" is a very succinct statement of this theme. Our World Belongs to God, a Contemporary Testimony developed by the Christian Reformed Denomination, weaves this theme through every paragraph.

The second declaration of these opening verses is that the psalmist will praise and exalt this God. In fact, praise to the Lord Almighty will awaken the dawn. The first and foremost task of the day is the praise of God!

These opening words give the impression that the psalmist is having a 'good week'. But then we discover (6) that Israel is in trouble. God has promised the land to her, but she does not possess it yet. As returning exiles, they have little and less. Just a little more trouble will snuff them out.

When trouble arises in North America, we expect to hear someone ask, "Where is God?" Many of us have asked it too. Israel teaches us a different way of life.

When things are not as they should be, Israel's worship leaders teach their people to do two things. First, not to complain but to worship. This is reminiscent of Israel marching around Jericho's walls before they had fallen. Worship, especially the corporate worship of God's people, includes a recitation of God's great deeds. One of its purposes is to renew flagging faith. If you haven't returned to the post-COVID worshipping community, I encourage you, if it is possible, to join God's people in worship.

Second, in times of trouble, Israel is taught to remind God of His promises. Verses 7-9 recall what God promised long ago. So, her prayer becomes, "God, its time you kept your promises." If God is indeed Israel's mighty covenant God than He will surely keep his promises.

As you meditate on this psalm notice the robust prayers that arise out of the knowledge of God's character and promises. I'm regularly struck by the audacity of the Israelite prayers. By contrast, our prayers appear too polite and too timid.

After Thanksgiving, our Immanuel congregation will be invited in into 28-days of prayer. I encourage all of us to be emboldened by such prayers as this psalm. Keep this psalm in mind when you ask God for things. After all, Jesus taught us to prayer, "your will be done on earth as in heaven." That's no little prayer.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. … Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord. (Psalm 107:1-3, 43)

Have you been saved by the Lord? Redeemed in Jesus? Then tell your story!

There is a significant movement across churches in North America to move more deeply into faith storytelling. Some Baptist traditions might call it "testimony time;" Pentecostals: "testifying." But in the Reformed church and other mainline churches, we've not been so good at this. Psalm 107 tells us to start practicing.

The story of God's salvation—any story of God's salvation—is good news! There is the big, first, primary story of how we have been saved in Jesus, yes. But our God is in the business of saving and redeeming his people who cry out to him each and every day. He saves us time and time again, no matter the mess we've gotten ourselves into, because "his love endures forever!"

Don't believe it? Just listen to the psalm: there were those wanderers who were perishing from hunger and thirst—they cried out to the Lord, and he filled them with good things! There were those imprisoned in darkness, enslaved to their labors—they cried out to the Lord and he broke their shackles, setting them free! There were those sick and despairing, near to death—they cried out to the Lord and he rescued them from the grave by his word! Others—merchants, business people, and trades people—were adrift in storm-tossed seas riding the markets up and crashing down to the depths where their courage failed, but they too cried out to the Lord and he stilled the storm and brought them to a haven of rest.

Two of these stories are about God's salvation from sin, but the other two are about God's salvation from a peril that befell these people through no fault of their own.

Every one of these threads of God's saving work can be found in Jesus, yes, but every one of them is also unique to a personal situation. So, what is your story of God's salvation? Where and from what has God saved you, concretely, in the course of your own life? We need to share and to hear these stories of "God sightings" so that we might all remember and believe that our God is alive and active. So let all those that the Lord has redeemed—including you—tell their story so that all may rejoice in God's unfailing love and his mighty works of salvation! And, may we all be made wise and faithful because of it.

The psalm finally declares that it is only the wicked who are silenced: those redeemed by the Lord always have a good word to share! So, tell your story to someone today! If you're not sure how, I've linked some prompting questions here in the notes from our denomination's Faith Formation ministries that can help you think about where you have seen God at work in your own life!

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Genesis 3:1-5, 21 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

1. What three things do humans do in response to sinful behaviour? What other things have you done to evade a sense of guilt?
2. Why is this story not primarily about humans? How does that inform how we read the Bible?
3. What is the surprise in Genesis 3? How is it revealed? How have you experienced it? Have you offered it to others?
4. What are some ways in which we can live out this surprise in our daily lives?
5. In what way does this story inform the rest of the Bible? What resources do we have which the folks in the Old Testament did not have?