Wilderness Wanderings

Everyone lies to his neighbour; their flattering lips speak with deception. "Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise," says the Lord. "I will protect them from those who malign them." And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times (Psalm 12:2,5,6)

Does it seem to you that Psalm 12 describes our society? Do we expect the truth to be spoken? As I listened to the opening part of the Ontario leaders' debate on Monday night, I found myself inclined to mistrust everything I heard. We don't really believe the campaign promises made, yet we vote for those who make the biggest promises (which means, the biggest lies).

Centuries after David penned this lament, the apostle Paul wrote, "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

CEOs tell us they care about the laid off factory worker while they deposit their bonuses for streamlining the company. And we the consumer, we shrug our shoulders and purchase their merchandise (which we don't really need).

Eugene Peterson once described the state of our culture:

"The puzzle is why so many people live so badly. Not so wickedly but so inanely. Not so cruel but so stupidly. There's little to admire and less to imitate in the people who are prominent in our culture. We have celebrities but not saints. Famous entertainers amuse a nation of bored insomniacs. Infamous criminals act out the aggression of timid conformists. Petulant and spoiled athletes play games vicariously for lazy and apathetic spectators. Aimless and bored, people amuse themselves with trivia and trash. Neither the adventure of goodness nor the pursuit of righteousness gets headlines" (Run with the Horses).

How should Christians live in such a treacherous society? First, we need to recognize the state of things, acknowledging that truth is not loved around us. This is not a matter in which Christians ought to feel superior, but one in which we ought to test our own hearts, examining how easily we get caught up in lies.

In his psalm, David recognized that a society built on lies mistreats its citizens. The ones on the bottom of the socio-economic pile will get buried deeper and deeper. It is the powerful who create the lies for their own advantage. They gain from the lies. But it is a dangerous game they play, "Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise," says the Lord. "I will protect them from those who malign them" (5).

We must ask ourselves. Where are we in the pile of lies our society lives on?

Secondly, we ought to join David in his prayer, "May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue" (3). As dangerous prayer! Will our tongues and lips survive? We will not defeat evil. The enemy is too strong. Rather, we pray that our warrior King will be defeat evil. We wait for His justice and for his Spirit to sanctify our living.

Thirdly, David says, "The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver..." (6). The antidote to the lying in our society is a delight in the truth which is found in God's Word. It reveals the way to true life. Do we love it?

And so, we pray that our lives will be permeated with God's words, not marked by uncontrollable tongues. If we're controlled by the Spirit, we won't manipulate people. We will minster to them. And we will experience fullness in place of emptiness, wholeness in place of fragmentation, and fellowship in place of loneliness.

In the Lord I take refuge. How then can you say to me: "Flee like a bird to your mountain. For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face. (Psalm 11)

What do you do when you're backed against a wall? Only hanging on by a thread? Threatened? Stuck?

That's the context of this psalm. When everything is hopeless and you feel helpless what do you do? Some might say: flee away! Run as far as you can! Escape your troubles! Elijah did that. He ran for his life all the way to the mountain of God in the desert to try to find some steady and solid place in which he could reclaim his trust in God in a time when he felt all alone and abandoned. When he arrived though, God asked him: "what are you doing here, Elijah?" An arresting question.

Of course, maybe the writer of this psalm felt the sarcasm of those who were telling him to flee. They were taunting, shaming. Taking advantage of the fact that the psalmist was all alone. We do attempt to assume that everyone is tolerant and nice and whatnot, but there are bullies out there. People that cheer for our downfall. People that would love nothing more than to see us throw in the towel and walk away a failure.

Of course, when we're talking about those who might root against us because we're Christian, or people who might root against the church, we may very well be talking not about bullies but about people who have been hurt by the church. There are a lot of them. And those of us inside the church increasingly feel some of that pain too. Residential schools are one example. Sex abuse scandals another. It's hard to stand firm in the name and identity of "Christian" these days when it means wearing all these public sins that tarnish the name of "church." So maybe folks are right and it is time for us to just go away already. Indeed, lots of people have.

So: "When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" When the church is shrinking, when its witness is broken, when our discipleship falters, and when even God seems distant: what can we who place our hope in Christ do? Should we give up and flee?

We can't. Somehow beyond all doubt and arrows shot from the shadows, we hold faith that the temple is not empty after all and that the King still sits on his throne. Somehow, someway, even when everything is hopeless and we feel helpless, we remain because of this curious confession the psalm begins with: "in the Lord I take refuge."

We do not stand as the church because of our own righteousness—indeed, left to ourselves the record doesn't look so good. No, we stand because Jesus stands. We stand because the one in whom we've taken refuge forgives and redeems us. We stand because we trust that he will do right and that he finally will see us through until the day we see him.

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (Psalm 10:1)

At first glance the opening stanza of Psalm 10 strikes us as less than pious. But at a second glance it strikes us as right on the mark. It is, after all, a prayer of lament.

Still, it may not be our normal way of addressing God. We tend to use with nice, polite words, often, with little emotion. But this psalm expresses how we often experience life and invites us to bring to God all the raw emotion we feel about the unfairness of life.

When life is tough, we often ask, "Where is God?" and we often think something is amiss with our religion. We may conclude it's not working. But this psalmist makes God's absence normal.

Why do we not pray like this psalmist? Let me make this suggestion. We have taken the doctrine of the incarnation to an illogical conclusion!

In his final words to his disciples Jesus made this promise, "I am with you to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). I totally believe Jesus keeps this promise.

But we have interpreted this to mean that we will always be able to feel His presence. Further, we believe it means our lives will by and large be the way we want them to be. I believe both these things are wrong.

Jesus promised to be with us as we fulfill the mission which he gave us. He did not promise to make our lives smooth or that we would always feel the balm of our faith.

It must also be said that God's purposes are rarely understood by us. The disciples certainly didn't get Jesus very well. Jesus said that His kingdom is hidden.

This is the matter that the psalmist is lamenting. He firmly believes that the Lord is King forever and forever (16). He also believes that God hears and defends the helpless and the oppressed (17-18). His problem is that he does not see it.

He is frustrated that the arrogant are having their way in this world. They tend to have the power; thus, they get to call the shots. Their wrecking ball is destroying society. It's become a blood bath.

It's the same today, isn't it? Murdering dictators in other countries and ruthless business leaders and dishonest politicians in ours. How do we live in such a society?

First, we allow Psalm 10 to shape our prayers. We willingly look at the horrible ways that human society functions: the war, the poverty, the human trafficking, the destruction of the planet. And seeing this, we take the time for lament. We feel the pain of creation in turmoil, and we bring it all before God, daring to tell him that he better see what we are seeing.

Second, we do not join the arrogant in their lifestyles. We deliberately look at our lifestyles to discover the ways we may be contributing to the chaos. Do we know who is producing the products we buy? Are the workers getting a fare wage? How does the power we have impact others?

Third, we 'act justly; we love mercy; and we walk humbly with our God' (Micah 6:8). We follow Jesus and partner with God in redeeming activities. Only God can establish his kingdom. Yet, he chooses to use us in the process. Jesus went out to meet those in need of him. Where will we go to meet those who need us?

An extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is 1 Corinthians 2:3-16 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

DIVE IN QUESTIONS 1. What distinctions do we tend to draw between ourselves and others—whether others in the world or in the church? How has this passage played into the way we draw those distinctions? 2. Where are we at in the letter of 1 Corinthians? Where does Paul's current train of thought begin and where does it end (hint: think in chapters, not verses)? What is the overarching concern of that large section and how does/should that guide the way we hear the present passage? 3. In what words, phrases, and verses do you see the idea of "Christ Crucified" lurking in this passage about spiritual mysteries? What difference does it make to see the crucified Lord in all these places? How does it change the way one might live? 4. Pastor Anthony mentioned that verse 15 might be about the Spirit only, and not about us: how does that change our understanding of the distinctions we might (or might not) be able to make between ourselves and others? How does the mind of Christ further enable us to make bridges instead of distinctions? 5. How might the way you live and the things you say be shaped by Christ crucified this week?

Most of this Psalm is a prayerful song of praise to God for who he is as Judge of the Nations and what he has done in showing himself to be a refuge for the oppressed against their oppressors. But near the end of the Psalm, the tune begins to turn from praise to plea. A plea for justice and judgement against the nations and the wicked.

A funny thing happens across the Psalm: the whole of the congregation who may have sung or recited this Psalm identify themselves with the oppressed and needy. "The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed" and a God who never forsakes those who seek him. On the other side, the enemy is identified with the nations, the mortals, the wicked ones.

I have often found it hard to draw such hard lines as the Psalms do. I am rarely as confident in my own righteousness so as to shout out with David: "vindicate the integrity of my cause!" I likewise have a hard time slapping the label of wicked on anyone and asking for them to be destroyed.

But there's more to the prayers of the Psalms than just these hard lines and categories. Surely there were wicked people and enemies in Israel too. Surely there were wealthy and arrogant people that would not have so well fit the category of "the oppressed."

And yet, when the Israelites came to worship before their God, they became "the needy." To ask for salvation and justice from God is to admit of one's need. To recognize that there are, in fact, powers with which one cannot reckon on one's own is to admit of one's need. To recognize that one is "only mortal" is to knock all of one's arrogance and pretentions to power down to the appropriate lens of perspective that allows one to admit of one's need.

The Israelites are so humbled as they enter worship and remember again that it is only by God's work and not their own that they are ever saved and preserved, whether they find themselves in humble and oppressive circumstances, or not. And this then becomes the prayer for the nations too: may they also be reminded that they are but mortal. May they also be humbled in the presence of God so to admit of their need.

This, I think, is a very good way to hear this Psalm spiritually for all those of us who might not find ourselves to be particularly "oppressed" at any given moment.

But of course, there is also the very real and hard thread that runs through this Psalm too that we just can't ignore: the Judge will judge with justice. Those who really are oppressed or needy, those who are addicted, abused, homeless, hungry, or afflicted in whatever other way—they have a refuge in God when they seek him. Not just because he comforts them, but also because he brings justice.

This Psalm then is also a call to all of us who may not be oppressed to keep a keen eye out both for those who are, but also for the ways that we might be contributing to their oppression. This is where the spiritual meets the practical: as we are humbled to our own mortality and need in worship before God the judge, we are called to gain the eyes to see others who were already there.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1 & 9)

John Calvin gets credit for suggesting that the psalms contain both the entire gospel and the entire range of human emotion. Psalm 8 transverses the vast kaleidoscopes of both the gospel and the human soul.

Consider the stanza that brackets the song, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth." God's name is compared to all the grandeurs of the created order. David knew a few of those: the delicate flowers along the creek banks, the roar of the lion, the bond between mother sheep and her lamb, the vastness of the night sky unmarred by modern streetlights, just to name a few.

But among all the majesty of the created order, there is nothing that matches the majesty of God's name. God's name evokes everything from fear of condemnation to outright frolicking. When we know God, its difficult to be indifferent. We either fear his judgement against our self-aggrandizement or we revel in the depths of his love.

Greatness tends to arouse jealousy and enemies. And this majestic God has His enemies. But here are hints of the gospel, the praise of infants will silence the foe and the avenger. It will not be great deeds that bring peace on earth, rather, the small and weak will lead the way. Reminds us of Christmas and Jesus welcoming children!

Having been awed by the glories of the heavens, the psalmist replaces the telescope with the microscope. After marvelling at the stars, he marvels at humanity. "What is...the son of man that you care for him?"

Biblical scholars' debate who is referenced here. What does the "son of man" mean? It's difficult to know exactly what David meant by this. But this we know: the New Testament writers saw a shadow here pointing towards Jesus. In Hebrews 2 this psalm is used to validate that Jesus is greater than all the angels.

We also know this: that we will be like him. We, those who believe in His name, are being remade to be just like him. We humans were meant to be the rulers of the creation. Today, we are making a mess of things, but some day we will know how to rule just fine.

This psalm takes its cue from the glories of creation. But its thrust is not about creation as a whole. It focuses its lens on the one created to lead all of creation: humanity. "What is man?" it asks, hinting that the honest answer is, "not much; a disaster, mostly."

But God was not satisfied with that. Nor was he willing to abandon us. No, he set out to recreate, to reshape, to restore. At the heart of the restoration is Mary's baby boy. How absurd! Jesus, the Word of God; he flung the stars into space, heaped up the mountains, scooped out the Great Lakes; now he lies in Mary's arms, nursing from her breast.

How undignified! How bewildering! The hope of the world? Indeed.

What can we say except, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

The creation is awash with the glory of God. David saw it. He composed poems and songs about it. Living in dense urban centres, many of us have few opportunities to really see. But that is the thing isn't? We must open our eyes and see. Even in concrete jungles there is plenty of evidence of God's majesty. Look for it.

To really sing, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" we must see what God has made. But then, we must also know the 'son of man' of Hebrews 2. When we know him, "O Lord", becomes, "our Lord" and we join the song.

God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day. If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows. Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads. I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High. (Psalm 7:11-17)

Psalm 7: another real good example of the deeply rooted faith of the Psalms that takes God and evil seriously and that finally rests in submission to God and his justice.

At the beginning of this Psalm, David brings his case before God, his refuge, by saying: "Arise, Lord, in your anger… Awake, my God; decree justice. Let the Lord judge the peoples. Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High" (vv. 6-8)

But, David also leaves room for his own presumption of innocence to be overturned by the God who is Judge, by saying: "…if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands—if I have repaid my ally with evil or without cause have robbed my foe—then let my enemy pursue and overtake me…" (vv. 3-5).

And here we have a picture of how the faith of the Psalms understood God's wrath and judgement to be enacted practically, especially through the final verses of the Psalm that I've included in our reading today.

God's deadly weapons of wrath are displayed, says David, not in activity, but in passivity. God enacts his wrathful judgements by allowing the one who has dug a pit to fall into it, by allowing the trouble one has caused to recoil on them, and by allowing the violence one has committed to come down on their own heads. The fact that God does not save from these calamities of one's own making, is the evidence that God has passed judgement.

I've been struck often in these last years by how many Biblical narratives in the Old Testament and the New portray this exact movement of God's judgement: a judgement and wrath enacted not by the addition of punishment, but by the removal of presence. The narrative of the Ark of the Covenant we preached through from 1 Samuel earlier this year is an excellent example. The people wished to fight their battles on their own, and so God lets them. It doesn't turn out well.

Our conception of hell and final judgement fits this picture too. In 2 Thessalonians 1, Paul writes that those who were shutting the Christians of Thessalonica out of society for their faith in Jesus would themselves be "shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might," which would be their destruction. C.S. Lewis puts it the same way as he writes: "There are only two kids of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'thy will be done."

This is far from the picture of an angry, vengeful God that we catch on first blush when reading Psalm 7 or any number of other passages in the Bible. It is a God who sounds rather more just. A God who does not step in to keep troublesome people from receiving the trouble that they seek, but also a God who actively grants salvation and mercy for those who seek to find salvation and mercy in him. So like David, let us be exactly that sort of people.

Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long? (Psalm 6:1-3).

Yesterday, Pastor Anthony used Psalm 5 to remind us of the basic elements of Lament: taking God seriously, taking evil seriously and submitting ourselves to God. Prayers of lament articulate the pain of life in this broken world, while also accepting that only God can be trusted to deal with evil.

Today, in Psalm 6, we find these elements explored further. This is a penitential psalm, a prayer of confession and repentance. The psalmist is living under a great weight, feeling wretched, miserable, at wit's end. This misery is caused by God's anger. There is only one cause for God's anger: human sin.

Let's remember that God is not peevish, nor does he get miffed when he doesn't get his way. Having created the cosmos good and flourishing with life, God becomes angry when he sees his creation getting wrecked. We must think not just of the physical creation around us; but also, of the strain we put on human relationships because of our selfishness and anger. We beat each other up with our silence and with our words. Further, injustice systems that keep certain people impoverished arouse God's anger.

Many people do not like the idea of an angry God. We want a nice God. But the God of the Bible doesn't come across as nice. To quote C.S. Lewis, "He is dangerous, but good." In Romans 1, Paul gives us context to God's anger. It is his response toward the hard of heart, the unrepentant, those sinners who turn their backs and deliberately refuse His grace. "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness" (Romans 1:18).

Paul's point is that God's anger is not directed towards us every time we do something bad. It is aroused because we deliberately and willfully move away from him; we harden our hearts towards him. It is not just a mistake; it is not something for which we simply apologize. It is, rather, a choice to deface the image of God in us or in others; to selfishly ruin what God created good.

Lament takes us down the road in which we take our own sin seriously. We cannot simply end our prayers with a quick "and forgive us our sins. Amen" and assume confession is accomplished. Rather, it invites the introspection which ends Psalm 139, "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting" (23-24).

It brings us to the space in which, because of our sin, we recognize that we are under God's judgement: his anger and wrath. We have turned away from God and made a mess of things. His anger has been aroused. We are in trouble.

Thankfully, the psalmist does not leave us with God's anger. Instead, we are pointed towards God's mercy. "Me merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint...Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love" (2, 4). We need to make such prayers because hardness of heart remains a possibility for all of us.

The only way out from under God's anger is God's mercy. The God of the Bible is not quick to anger, but he is quick with his mercy. God's anger is in service of God's love. His anger is not a permanent state but arises from time to time because of human violence against other creatures whom also God loves. Thus, we are encouraged to pray for God's mercy with confidence.

It seems our psalmist has suffered under the fallout of his sins for some time. But now he is turning to God and is confident that God will answer him and deliver him. The wages of sin are death. But the mercy of God is vast and rich and without end. To know this mercy, we must know our sin first.

So don't read this psalm too quickly. Take the time to make it real for you.

Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. … For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. … Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies—make your way straight before me. Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies. Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. (Psalm 5:1-2,4,8-11)

Psalm 5 explicitly introduces us to a new form of prayer: lament. It's already showed up in the Psalter starting at Psalm 3, but Psalm 5 explicitly uses the word, and so today is a good time to remind ourselves about what it means to lament to God.

Often in the face of evil: whether it's come through events or people, we will opt to do something about it ourselves. Our fight or flight response is activated and so we'll strive to overcome the evil or perhaps seek to run away from it or ignore it. But whichever response we use, it does not always occur to us to invoke God's name as part of our response.

The mindset of the Psalms and Psalmists is different. In the face of evil and enemies, the first inclination of the Psalms is to come to God. And as people of faith, this is a good inclination to embody in our own lives. Lament helps us to do that by forming us in three core habits. You may remember them from our sermon series on lament that had begun just before our first COVID lockdown.

Firstly, the prayer of lament takes God seriously, as here. David declares God to be his God and also his King. David believes in his God and King, and reminds God of who he is: a God who is not pleased with wickedness nor welcoming of wicked people.

Secondly, the prayer of lament takes the evil of this world seriously. David has enemies and faces evil—people who lie and betray trust. But rather than taking matters into his own hands or fleeing away from the evil around him, David turns the situation over to God. Taking God and evil seriously means that the presence of evil in this world is firstly God's problem and is a problem rightly submitted to God. God has said that wickedness has no place in his kingdom: so David appeals to God—"declare them guilty, O God!"

Finally, the prayer of lament is a prayer of submission to God. We don't only turn the evil of our world over to God, but also ourselves. We don't set ourselves up as a judge over God when we see evil in the world, instead we submit to him as the rightful ruler. This finally is where the Psalm ends: "let all who take refuge in you be glad."

So, when you feel pressed by fear, pain, enemies, or the overwhelming crush of evil in this world: do something about it. Lament. Take God and the evil you face seriously enough to pray, shout, and cry about it before God. Then rest in submission to this God to whom you've come for refuge.

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Romans 6:1-14 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