Daily Devotion - 2/16/09

Christ is in our Midst!

Psalm 99 continues the psalms of praise that fill this portion of the Psalter.  In ringing words the psalmist reminds that God is the God of history.  For those of us who need proof of his sovereign power and saving strength, the writer of Psalm 99 does some important “name-dropping”:  Jacob; Moses, Aaron; Samuel.  One might suspect that this psalm was written to reassure the ancient Hebrews:  God was indeed the God of all peoples, but He certainly had an intimate and salvific relationship with His Chosen People. 

God is in charge, this song reminds again.  This is said so many times in Scripture that the importance of this idea can scarcely be overestimated.   Usually we think that we’re in charge; when things go bad, then I’m certain that you’re running the show.  But the psalmist tells us over and over again---despite our attempts not to hear him---that God in fact rules the universe.  Everything is happening according to His providential will. 

This fact should both comfort us---and sober us.  The God we worship is in control.  He has promised not to abandon His people.  He keeps His promises.  Therefore it is entirely appropriate that I live in hope.  No matter how black my real or imagined plight, God is there with me. 

But I should be likewise sobered by God’s sovereignty.  For what ought to be immediately clear (but often isn’t) is that when perfectly awful things happen, they occur with God’s permission.  The Fathers say that God, in giving us free will, has to live with His choice:  in order for men to be free to worship God, it also means that they are free to do perfectly horrendous things to themselves and each other and the world.  There is no other way.    

The result, of course, becomes like the classic modern lawsuit:  have you heard the one about the children who murdered their parents then demanded the mercy of the court because they had been orphaned; or the one about humanity disobeying God, bringing untold horrors to the world, then blaming Him for giving us free will.  In each case, sadly, the joke’s on us.  I cannot expect that God will intervene every time something bad is about to happen---even if it is about to happen to me.  Sadly, God has “discovered” that one of the few times He gets our almost undivided attention is when we think (or know) that something bad is about to happen to us. 

As the Christian world prepares in its various traditions to enter into Lent, a fruitful line of meditation might deal with my own role in disordering the world.  Reading Psalm 99, I can see in outline what God seems to have in mind:  a world of symmetry and justice; a world where His precepts are obeyed; a world where He is worshipped.  In about a nanosecond I can begin to list the ways great and small that I have interfered with this order; ways that I have made God’s job harder; ways that I have attempted to thwart His will. 

Thus Psalm 99 should sober me in one more way.  God is in charge of history, the psalm insists, and a moment’s reflection reminds that those who have stood in God’s way ultimately have not faired so well.  All the great conquerors, the “beautiful people,” the rich and the famous of every era---all share one thing in common:  their power, beauty, wealth, fame, all lasted for a season.  Sooner or later, that season is no more.  My “season” too, will run its course.

Psalm 99, like many of the psalms, serves as a very useful sort of “lie-detector”:  can I pray this psalm with a “straight face?”  Or as I read it must I ruefully admit that I am in reality not all that interested or concerned with God’s sovereignty; much more important is “my space” than the idea of living in “God’s space.” 

You might think on this as you read Psalm 99.

Gary

Week of Meatfare; feast of the Holy Martyr Pamphilius and those with him.

Psalm 99

 The LORD reigns, 
       let the nations tremble; 
       He sits enthroned between the cherubim, 
       let the earth shake.

 Great is the LORD in Zion; 
       He is exalted over all the nations.

 Let them praise Your great and awesome name— 
       He is holy.

 The King is mighty, He loves justice— 
       You have established equity; 
       in Jacob You have done 
       what is just and right.

 Exalt the LORD our God 
       and worship at His footstool; 
       He is holy.

 Moses and Aaron were among His priests, 
       Samuel was among those who called on His name; 
       they called on the LORD 
       and He answered them.

 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; 
       they kept His statutes and the decrees He gave them.

 O LORD our God, 
       You answered them; 
       You were to Israel
 a forgiving God, 
       though You punished their misdeeds.

 Exalt the LORD our God 
       and worship at His holy mountain, 
       for the LORD our God is holy.