Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
Psalm 14:7
I can remember the saddest day of my life. I was at a funeral for a very dear friend who died too young, succumbing to the evil that is cancer. I sat at his funeral, listening to people talk, all of whom sounded brokenhearted and dejected; after all, we had spent years praying for victory, only to see the brokenness of this world seemingly win. All that sadness led me to pray fiercely and fervently that Jesus would come back that very instant - that He would return, and take us all, and spare His people the pain of living in such a very broken world. I had never, until that moment, prayed that so so sincerely.
I hear that same urgency coming to us from the psalmist in Psalm 14. He is looking around at the depravity around him, and is crying out for God to deliver his people - to send salvation from Zion. So what was the situation back then? There were people all around who denied God's existence (v. 1). There was no one who did good(v. 1, 3). No one was seeking God. The world was full of corrupt evildoers. This Psalm depicts people who live as if God did not exist and therefore as if they can act in any way they please without consequence. The psalmist calls these people fools - and not fools in the sense that we think of. The word fool here in Hebrew is "nabal" (thought to come from the story of David and Nabal in 1 Samuel 25). This "nabal," this fool, is not a stupid person or a person who does not have reason. This is a person who, for whatever reason, incorrectly assumes that God has no power in his life.
Sound familiar? It sure does sound like 2008 in America today. We live in the midst of a society that is full of people who deny God and who profane His name. So many people - even people who bear the name "Christian" - deny God and deny that God is truly active in the lives of His children. They laugh at the thought of heaven and hell. They ignore God's instruction and "follow their hearts." Just turn on the news and you will hear scores of stories about evildoers, who must say in their hearts "there is no God" to do the evil things that they do. Men and women across the world are being persecuted as a result of vile men who "devour [God's] people as men eat bread."
What then, should our response to this corruption and depravity be? Psalm 14 tells us that we can and should take refuge in the Lord, that He is present in the company of the righteous. The psalmist tells us in v. 7 that salvation for Israel (of which we are a part!) will come out of Zion, and that the Lord will restore the fortunes of His people. Praise God for this promise to us!
When we are overwhelmed with the depravity of the world around us, when all seems broken and unfair, when we are overcome with what sin has done to the human race...salvation is what we should be asking for. And may we remember to thank Him when the day comes!
*Maranatha is a word found in the New Testament that means, "our Lord is coming," or, alternatively, "Come, Lord!" Let this be the cry and prayer of our hearts today.
~Kim
4 comments:
can anyone answer me why Ps. 14 and Ps. 53 are the same in my bible? what do your bibles look like? I enjoyed it Kim.
Interesting, Matt! I had not noticed that! My NIV text note calls Psalm 53 a "somewhat revised dupicate." Very interesting...and Glenn will have to answer the technical questions.
First of all, I want to say to Kim that you are an excellent writer. I am so glad that you are in this rotation. I look forward to reading your future posts.
Secondly, to answer the question that Matt posted, the answer is in understanding how the book of Psalms came to be compiled. Of course, there are lots of details that we do not know, but we do know that our current canonical book, Psalms, is a compilation of five earlier books of psalms. If you will notice, Psalm 14 is in book one while Psalm 53 is in book two which starts with Psalm 42. So this psalm was simply included in the two separate "publications" prior to the compilation of our current book.
A cool question is "Why would God in his providence, repeat this psalm in his completed canon?" Well, consider how important its contents are for preparing the world for the gospel. This psalm becomes the culmination of Paul's argument in the first three chapters of Romans that all men, Jew and Gentile, are horribly corrupt. Paul's point is to fully set the stage for Romans 3:21-26. Maybe God repeats himself in the canon so that we will notice the contents and how this psalm points to our need for "a righteousness from God [that] comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."
Glenn
Kim,
What a great post. :) And a nice title too. ;)
Thanks for letting me know you're writing over here- I'm glad to have come across this.
~Jess
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