As we enter Holy Week this week and all that this signifies, our psalm selection this week contrasts the wickedness of man and God’s holiness, love, and faithfulness. Man’s wickedness was surely evident during the final week of Christ’s life on earth, and God’s love and mercy to us was equally evident. In this psalm, Psalm 36, we have the comforting assurance of God’s love. Regardless of the circumstances of life, God’s love is a beacon of hope. It is our ever-present, inexhaustible source of strength and confidence.
As our psalm begins, David describes some of the characteristics of a wicked person, one who has not given their life over to Yahweh, who does not follow His ways or live for Him (vs. 1-4). Nothing stops the wicked from sinning. They just forge ahead because they have no fear of God. The fear of God is a deeply reverential respect and awe for Him. Those who show a fear of God, a respect and reverence for Him, will seek to obey His Word, and to live for Him. The wicked today do not show any respect for God. They are proud and conceited in their own abilities and desires. As long as someone is proud, he cannot know God. The wicked have a skewed view of God and of themselves. The righteous fear God and recognize their dependence upon Him, whereas the wicked do not. The wicked look to themselves as the most important reality in the universe. They flatter and deceive themselves. They fail to act wisely or to do good. Not only do they spend their days following the paths of sin, but at night, as they lie upon their bed, they plan more wickedness, plotting and scheming against others.
As we continue on in the psalm, we read of David’s testimony that God’s lovingkindness is limitless. His mercy remains eternally. They are sharply contrasted with the sinful hearts of man. Because of these loving and merciful attributes of His, God delays His judgment of the wicked to give them a chance to repent. In spite of our sinfulness, God pours out His love on those who know Him.
God is our fountain (vs. 9). When the world leaves us dry, we are refreshed when we go to Him. He is living water, and the fountain of life (John 7:37-38). God offers the only true life there is. When we walk in His light, by His Word and the Holy Spirit, we can enjoy life to the fullest.
In his psalm. David compares God’s loving care of us with that of a mother bird, who gathers her chicks around her, protecting them from harm while under her wing (vs. 7). When the shadow of a hawk passes over, a mother hen will call her chicks to her, covering them under her wing. They will stay there until the danger has passed. God wants us to come to Him for safety and protection, for Him to shelter us in His protecting care.
At one point during the week before His crucifixion, Jesus stood on a hill outside Jerusalem, looking down on the city. He knew what lay before Him later that week. He knew that the people of the city would reject Him one final time as they would shout out to Pontius Pilate to have Him crucified. Jesus cries over Jerusalem and her people, saying that He wishes He could gather the people of the city in His arms, just as a hen gathers her chicks to her with love and protection, but the people have refused Him (Matthew 23:37).
How about us? Will we come to Jesus for His loving care and kindness, for His mercy and protection? Or will we be like those people of Jerusalem on that Good Friday, who rejected their Messiah and Savior? The safest place for us is in the protection of the arms of God. He wants to gather us like a hen with her chicks, but unfortunately so many are not willing.
No comments:
Post a Comment