Through the Bible in one year - Day 64

Psalm 64:1

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;

preserve my life from dread of the enemy.

I notice that this asks for protection from dread – not from the enemy – but actually from the worrying about the enemy. There are many times when the dread of something takes more time and I spend more energy on worrying about something then the actual problem deserves – I rob myself of the present moment and I give up my peace of mind in this worry.

I was just going to post the first verse, but the rest of it has grabbed my attention and I am going to post the entire Psalm for you to read here:

Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,

from the throng of evildoers,

who whet their tongues like swords,

who aim bitter words like arrows,

shooting from ambush at the blameless,

shooting at him suddenly and without fear.

They hold fast to their evil purpose;

they talk of laying snares secretly,

thinking, "Who can see them?"

They search out injustice,

saying, "We have accomplished a diligent search."

For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep!

But God shoots his arrow at them;

they are wounded suddenly.

They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them;

all who see them will wag their heads.

Then all mankind fears;

they tell what God has brought about

and ponder what he has done.

Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord

and take refuge in him!

Let all the upright in heart exult! (Psalm 64:2-10)

This is good news for those of us who worry that the ‘bad-guys’ won’t get what’s coming to them; here we see that they don’t fool God. The writer here uses words well – can’t you visualize those who use their tongues like swords and aim words like arrows? And then we hear just what we were waiting for – their own words will turn against them – in the end the truth will out. Those who live by lies and deceit will be without friends and no one will trust them – that is the reward for their actions. OK, knowing this, I can leave the dread alone.

Yesterday we had gnats, and today now we have flies. In both cases these are annoying little things that take the joy out of you. Living in the country when the fields are being turned or the manure spread, there are times of flies – and they are annoying – but they are nothing like this plague described; these flies are everywhere, all the time; un-relentless, and so we begin to hear Pharaoh say OK, you can worship this God of yours (notice he really doesn’t believe he is God of everything yet) and only wants them to take a little vacation from being slaves. Pharaoh thinks he’ll just give them a bit of a break and that should suffice. Now the next thing I noticed today, is that this plague on the livestock is the opposite of what Joseph did for Pharaoh in his time; Joseph saved the livestock from famine – and here we have a new Pharaoh forgetting what Joseph had done and for this, his livestock dies. This livestock had been a gift from God in one sense and now, through Pharaoh’s disobedience and hard-heartedness it is taken away. This next plague of boils makes the magicians unable to stand – so no longer can they compete against the miracles of the Lord. They, I am guessing are ready to call for a truce – but Pharaoh is still not willing.

In quick succession we read of one after another who reigned as ‘an abomination’ in Israel. This is what we see in the middle of chapter 36 of 2 Chronicles:

The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy. (verses 15-16)

This sounds a lot like what we are reading about in Egypt in Exodus – this constant disregard for the Lord, and his repeated calling back to us.

Lastly, today, we read in Paul’s letter to the Romans that by our own actions and of our own accord we can never be righteous. This is a short passage today. Luckily there will be more to read tomorrow, and I know that God does not leave us in our unrighteousness – he comes to us as he has been doing in the passages in Exodus and 2 Chronicles and in the Psalms.

Today’s readings: Psalm 64, Exodus 8:20-9:12, 2 Chronicles 36, Romans 3:9-20