ג Gimmel (Part 2)

21    Cursed, insolent ones You rebuke; who wander from Your commandments.
 22   Contempt and scorn take away from me, for Your testimonies I have kept.
 23   Crowned princes even, conspiring against me, still Your servant will meditate on Your statutes.
 24   Cherished indeed are Your testimonies to me;they are my counselors.

Verses 21-24 “My Hope in a Foreign World”

We are connected again in Christ.  We have life.  We belong to God.  But we still live as strangers in this world.  We cannot get away from that.  In fact, belonging to God means we are even more strangers here.  Around us there are those that the psalm calls “insolent,” and they have things to say, insults to fling, and things to do.  We find this out when we dare to talk about right and wrong (God’s commandments, and especially in our day the commandment about morality); or about Jesus as the only way of salvation.

Whether we are new to the faith or have many years as Christians we want to tell about Jesus.  But the message about salvation in Jesus often is greeted with contempt and scorn.  Sometimes it is outright rejection, or else an impatient “we’re tired of hearing about Jesus.”  We really are strangers here!  The Christian and his faith is mocked.  And talked about.  And things happen: in school; at work; in our other relationships.  As a pastor friend once said, “They hate you because of your good character.”  What do we do?  How do we face this?

God answers with a warning and a promise.  (Law and Gospel.)  God rebukes the insolent, the ones who wander away, who disregard His commandments.  There are those who say God’s opinion of right and wrong just does not matter.  “The Lord does not see.”  The Lord does not hear.  The Lord will not act. (Psalm 94:7)  Their turning away is not even a questioning; but rather a “who cares.”  Right and wrong don’t count.  And they don’t just leave God; they abandon what they are made to be – moral and spiritual beings.  Pride against God turns into something strange, and we hear them teaching that we are nothing but smart animals.  It has turned upside-down and the self-degrading is stunning.  But this is the fall and this is the curse, and we are all caught in it.  It is a contempt, a scorn and a rebuke we have all deserved.  How can we find our way free of this?

It is Jesus!  Again the answer is found only in the one who has taken the scorn and contempt on Himself.  He was talked about, ridiculed as out of his mind, plotted against, and for Him it was the rulers, all who had power.  But even more, Jesus took on Himself the scorn and condemnation that was hanging over us.  A part of the suffering of the cross, was the shame of the cross.  Judged and condemned by the earthly authorities, He was also judged and forsaken by God the Father.  He presented Himself before His Father with all the sins of the whole human race, and accepted the shame and condemnation that went with it.  The verse in the Old Testament says, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” and that verse was prepared for Jesus.  So Paul says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” (Galatians 3:13) He has lifted off of us the rebuke and the shame and carried it away so we may be free forever. (John 8:36) 

Lord, because You have taken this contempt, rebuke and curse away; help me then to bear the contempt and scorn that comes from belonging to You.  Even if the high and mighty, the cool and popular in this world conspire to shame, call me Your own and it is enough.

With that in mind the psalmist holds to the words and promises of God.  He keeps the “testimonies,” the story of God’s saving work in Christ, because in Jesus we have all the riches of God promised and given.  He meditates on God’s statutes – how God has set up and put together the world.  He turns them over and over in his mind remembering the promise to come, “Behold, I make all things new (Revelation 21:5), that even now everything is being made over and recreated, founded on the cross of Jesus and His empty tomb.  “God has exalted Him to the highest place and given Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Philippians 2:9-11)  But He is exalted and everything is built around Him because He took the lowest place, because Jesus “became obedient unto death, even death on the cross”. (Philippians 2:8)

This is the way Jesus walked, holding to the testimonies, the plan and story of salvation.  As the psalmist, and as we treasure the testimonies and meditate on the statutes, we are doing nothing else than hearing His voice calling and saying, “Follow Me,” and knowing our Shepherd has called us.

His voice tells us of salvation.  His testimonies lead us.  His teachings are our counselors.  And how do we see them but to cherish these words of life.  In this dark world; in this strange and alien place they connect us with life and truth; and with who we are in Christ.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd, be with me in this world where it is so often hard to follow You and stand for what is right.  Give me courage by Your Gospel, by Your walk of faith and by the promise of Your cross and empty tomb.  Let Your words take such deep root in my heart that they may guide me in every place and in every situation to live as Your disciple.  Amen.