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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.
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17 Charitably deal with Your servant, that I may live and observe Your word.
18 Clear-sighted make my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.† 19 Cast off; I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not Your commandments from me! 20 Consumed is my soul with longing all the time for Your ordinances. 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. ג (GIMMEL) – Part 1 Verses 17-20 “Keeping it Real” For the new Christian when it gets difficult, everything should be blessing and delight. The heart is reconciled. Sins forgiven. All is founded and built on the Mighty Acts of God in Jesus. Why must the psalmist cry out? How can it be that God should seem distant? But that is where he finds himself, so much that he calls to God to deal charitably or he will not even survive. And there is an added desire woven in with the basic cry – “and observe Your word.” Life is not simply to continue breathing and having a heartbeat. It is to be connected to God through His word. Going one step deeper, it is an interesting phrase “observe Your word.” It goes beyond hearing the word of God; works out from believing God’s word; develops even beyond meditating on God’s word. It means to look, watch, trust, and see with eyes of faith as God’s word works into and changes every part of life, as every bit of history is taken captive by the kingdom and plan of God. To see that by faith calls for more faith and a different vision than any of us can bring. “Charitably deal with Your servant.” We might think of Peter in Matthew 16 suddenly seeing, “You are the Christ,” and Jesus saying, “Blessed are you Simon . . . flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Even more to the point, think of Jesus in the garden praying, “Father, if it is possible [and the answer is, “No”] let this cup pass [again, “no”], yet not my will, but Yours.” “Let Me live and see Your word acting, conquering, victorious.” But there is only one way for that to happen and it is the cross. Isaiah 53 says, “Because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.” (v. 12) Because of that He will live and observe “Your word.” Again, “out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied.” (v. 11) In this way Jesus has joined us in our separation, our sojourning – to find us, to meet us and to bring us back by showing us that He knows our cry and makes it His own. Verse 18 repeats the prayer slightly changed to open it up even more. “Clear-sighted make my eyes.” If God does not do this, if the Holy Spirit does not guide and open these things to us there is no way we can see any of the acts of God or any of His Word, or grasp any of the revelation (Torah) of God. (Verses 19-20) This is the only answer we have in our wandering. For all those times we feel cast off (and they are many), or a sojourner (wandering without plan or home), when the word of God seems closed and we call out for a word, a commandment, a revelation – for anything! When we are overtaken with longing and it gets to the point where it seems to be “all the time,” there is the Sojourner of God, the Lamb forsaken, the Servant (“Behold My Servant!” (1)) struck down. And He is there to bring the charitable dealing – the GRACE (2) of God with the wonderful “It is finished,” and we are connected again! Prayer: Lord Jesus, You came to me in my wandering, bearing my burdens and meeting me in the place of separation. When God seems distant, when heaven seems closed, remind me of Your sojourning, of Your walk of faith, of Your prayer in the garden, and how You know all that is in my soul. Help me when I am in the middle of things I do not understand – help me then to lean on You and know that no matter what anything seems or feels like; You are my Lamb forsaken and my companion in my journey every day and every hour. Amen. Notes: 1 For further reading: The Servant Songs of Isaiah show us Jesus as the suffering Savior. Piece by piece His ministry is revealed through: Isaiah 42:1-9 – the Servant will bring salvation to the world. Isaiah 42:18-21 – the Servant must walk by faith, not by sight, and so exalt the words and promises of God. Isaiah 44:1-5 – the Servant brings together all the Old Testament purposes of God and sends His people out as witnesses to the world. Isaiah 49:1-13 – the Servant, sent first to the people of Israel, has His mission expanded to the whole world. Isaiah 50:4-9 – the Servant draws His strength from the word of God in order to comfort and encourage, and in order to face the suffering that is involved in bringing us salvation. Isaiah 52:13-53:12 – the Servant goes to suffering for our forgiveness. Isaiah 61:1-3 – this is the preaching of the Servant, as preached in the Synagogue at Nazareth, and it describes the results of His ministry. 2 GRACE = God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense 13 By my lips I declare
all the just decrees of Your mouth. 14 Blissful, I exult in the way of Your testimonies as over all riches. 15 Bound to Your precepts I meditate and I fix my eyes on Your ways. 16 Boundlessly I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Verses 13-16 “Celebrating Blessings” It comes out of the deep relationship (the deep connection) with God. It comes to us through His words and promises. And remember that the Word of God became flesh, and in Him are gathered all the promises of God. Out of this comes the celebration and praise. Jesus said to His disciples on the way to the cross, “I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (John 16:22) It is a joy founded and built on the work of Jesus. So: By my lips I declare Blissful I exult I meditate I fix my eyes . . . The wondrous works, the amazing ways of God come together and they are the story of salvation. These are the testimonies of God – the telling of all that God has done from the beginnings of the promise (Genesis 3:15); to the amazing pictures in Genesis 22; Exodus 12; Leviticus 14; Isaiah 51; to the story of Jesus entering our world (Luke 1-2). And then the Testimonies of God come to us in the preaching of Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7); to the words of Jesus before the Council and Pilate . . . and on the Cross: “Father, forgive them” . . . “Today you shall be with Me in paradise” . . . “It is finished.” And then the testimonies of God call us into the joy of Easter in the garden (John 20), on the Emmaus road (Luke 24) and in the upper room (Luke 24 and John 20). These are so clearly the testimonies of God that the onlookers in Acts 2 said “We hear them telling . . . the mighty works of God.” This is the one story – the word of God calling to us in Jesus is where God is bringing all our stories together – gathering us together within “the mighty acts of God,” the story of Jesus To have and to know Jesus is worth more than all other riches. Celebrate! Sing for joy! Maybe even dance! You have everything in Jesus because of the cross and empty tomb! That is why we are right there with the psalmist: (v. 13) By our lips we declare all the just decrees of Your mouth – because Your words declare that I am justified, made holy by Jesus and all that He has done. (v. 14) Blissful, we exult in the way of Your testimonies as over all riches – they are our true riches; riches of life and blessings forever. (v. 15) Bound to Your precepts we meditate – we want to think on and ponder and hold in our souls what You have decided and set down. (v. 15) We fix our eyes on Your ways – focused in on what You have done and how You have done it. (v. 16) Boundlessly we delight in Your statutes – being taught by God is beyond compare; learning from Jesus is better than anything else. So it should go without saying that we will not forget Your word – because of all that Your Word is to us. But we are who we are. Lord, by Your Spirit keep Your word in our hearts and minds. What more is there to say? The delight in God’s word and His teaching knows no bounds. There is no limit. The blessings, the joy, the peace, the life and everything else. The celebration is endless as God’s walk with us is endless. How could we; how would we ever forget His word? Prayer: Lord, fill my heart, my eyes, my thoughts and my words with the joy of Your blessings; with exulting in the gift of life, peace and forgiveness in Jesus; with the wonder of the blessings to come; and with the sweetness of Your ways of walking with me. Amen. |
Rev. Mark WilligPastor Willig is pastor emeritus of Friends in Christ Lutheran Church. Archives
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