From ccrlist at tulip.org Thu Jul 7 08:29:20 2005
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Thu Jul 7 08:29:31 2005
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20050707082210.0225e180@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Morning,
Thank you for putting up with my unedited manuscripts, as I was preaching
Sunday, I noticed more than the usual errors, but have not had any time to
fix them! In that vein, at the end of the meditation, while we were
singing this Psalm, I panicked when I noticed a verse nine, as you will
notice, as I outlined the text, I accidentally renumbered the verses seven
and eight. It is all there, but confusing. Come September, I'll be taking
almost a whole month off for vacation - hopefully, I can get some of these
"Senior Moments" under control.
God Bless
Max A Forsythe
Psalm 28
08 The Lord is the strength of His people;
the stronghold of salvation for His anointed.
09 Oh, save Your people and bless Your heritage!
Be their shepherd and carry them forever.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
Save Your People!
For the Lord?s Day: the 3rd of July 2005
Introduction: In my collection of military hats, there are quite a few
made from soft materials, that would become formless after being worn in
any amount of rain. However, the military mind could never tolerate such
sloppiness and so most of them have a stiffing element hidden somewhere
within the folds of felt, fur or other unlikely materials. My favorite
Glengarry, which I have worn the most often over the years ? has developed
a crack within the stiffening component and now ? it not only does not hold
its un-natural shape, but can barely be kept on one?s head at any angle,
let alone the ordinarily fashionable angle.
I use this example to get us to the apt conclusion of our passage for
today. And that is, the ordinary human ? without the stiffening of the
Holy Spirit is a sorry specimen for the Lord?s work indeed. The military
mind has often described their lest perfect specimens, who cannot even
stand up straight as needing the stiffening of an iron ramrod alongside the
person?s backbone. I won?t tell you how that is supposed to be accomplished!
At the very least, in the closing verses of this Psalm, David takes a
realistic view of the human species and sets forth the most obvious
conclusion that ?The Lord is the strength of His people.?
Development: What sorry sinful specimens of humanity we would all be if it
were not for the power of the Holy Spirit which has come upon us, made and
molded us to perfections which are beyond our capacity.
The boy?s recently had a large hay wagon fold up in upon itself because of
flaws in the material from which it was made. Once the wagon was unloaded
and the failed beam replaced ? the wagon once again has some utility. But,
a lot of time was wasted in handling the bales of hay an extra time and
then there was the labor to wrench out the failed components and finally to
realign the wagon so that it could not only carry a load, but also run
straight and true along the roadway.
Do we realize the love, mercy and grace required to make us useful to the
Kingdom of the Spirit? David does, and he counts it all gain ? that the
Lord of hosts is willing to invest so much precious capital on his sorry
behalf. And so he writes to admonish us all: ?The Lord is the strength of
His people.?
And further, as we note in the second line of verse seven: He is ?the
stronghold of salvation for His anointed.? The word stronghold here is
military in its application. It means a fortress, somewhat like ?Helm?s
Deep? in Tolkien?s tale. In fact, this is the last refuge, the national
redoubt ? if we remember how Tolkien?s fantasy plays out. In real life,
the Kingdom of the Belgians developed the city of Antwerp as a national
redoubt early in the last century. And to that redoubt did the divisions
of their Army retreat in face of the Germanic horde that crossed their
border in the late summer of 1914. The border fortresses fell one by one
and as the whole national focus became confined to Antwerp, it was almost
as if national survival depended upon holding out to the last man.
Yet, it was not to be ? the heavy German artillery reduced the most modern
fortifications one shell at a time ? and the remnants of the Belgian forces
fled along the sea shore to Flanders where they found a means of stopping
the German invasion. But, they had to flood their beloved country in order
to save it, and thereby they desperately hung on to a small portion of the
national real estate until the war was finally won. And little Belgium was
grateful for their salvation ? they were the only country in World War One
to ever repay us every cent spent on their behalf.
The ?anointed? here in David?s psalm refers of course to David the king,
but the term is theologically pregnant as well. By that I mean that the
greater Son of David, the one messianic in His anointing: He must be
considered as well. Just as the God of heaven and earth sustained David in
all his trials, so too in ways we may not fully understand ? the Father
sustained the Son through worse things than David ever imagined.
If we come to an end our appreciation of verse seven with the thought that
the Lord?s guarantee is absolute, we do not fall short of the implications
in this blessed verse.
In other words, the Lord God is not only our strength, but also our
salvation and this is accomplished by His sustaining the Son even though He
went to the depths of a hellish experience in that terrible death upon the
tree. The Lord?s ?Anointed? was not only saved, but also raised up from
death, and by that providential process being accomplished, death itself
died: at least for all of those for whom the Son voluntarily gave up His
own life.
Application: Even this saving process is anticipated in the hopes and
prayers of David:
?Oh, save Your people and bless Your heritage!
Be their shepherd and carry them forever.?
In this prayer, David prays for all of the elect: ?Oh, save Your people?
he pleads on bended knee. David of course realizes that it is only in the
strength and power of God that anyone?s salvation can be accomplished. So
therefore, even as Christ prays for us from the great throne in heaven, so
too did David pray for the Lord?s people when he was enthroned in Jerusalem
so many centuries ago.
In the second phrase of verse eight, the word ?heritage? ordinarily means
in our language something that we possess from the past history of our
family and people. Here, it is parallel with the people of Israel who were
a special possession of God alone. Certainly, we can appreciate both
implications. From the love of the Father for us at the beginning of time,
we have a very special ?heritage.? And in the familial sense of being
adopted into the family of God we know full well the blessings of once
being chosen.
The last verse, in the sense of knowing Christ as our Great Shepherd ? is a
blessing indeed. ?Be their shepherd,? David prays earnestly for all his
countrymen. ?Be their shepherd,? David implies for all of those in every
time and place who come into the same heritage known by him. And what does
it mean for God in Christ to be our Shepherd: ?carry them forever,? David
prays. Here we have moved beyond the military symbols and implications of
verse seven. No longer shall David suppose the supply of just a little
back bone. Here he comes closer to the heart of God and His providential
plan for using all the people of God. The Lamb who died in our place, the
Savior who gave His life, the Lord of the Universe will carry us through as
the old hymn goes! ?Jesus will carry you through.?
There is an important lesson here for any and every one who believes that
they can learn to be all that they should be on this earth. I have known
institutions that would ramrod their members ? all in the name of
perfecting them for heaven. While this could easily be the way of the
world, it is not the way of heaven. ?Jesus will carry you through.? Amen.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament ? Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel028d.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go to:
http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/
From ccrlist at tulip.org Tue Jul 12 21:29:26 2005
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Tue Jul 12 21:29:43 2005
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20050712212528.0228fa00@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Evening,
Please be in prayer for us at CCR as we continue to hope for new families.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
Psalm 29
A Psalm of David
01 Acknowledge the Lord,
O mighty ones.
Ascribe to the Lord,
glory and strength.
02 Give to the Lord,
the glory due His Name;
Worship the Lord in the majesty of His holiness.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
Worship the Lord
For the Lord?s Day: the 10th of July 2005
Introduction: We have all experienced the natural forces of storms in one
manner or another. Just this week, it seems that the hurricane season
began early in the Gulf of Mexico, and many have prepared as best they are
able for the strength of wind and waves. On one occasion, when I was
driving, I could see the edge of a storm ahead of me and as I entered into
it, the construction barrels along the side of the highway began to blow
and several of the barrels passed me in the passing lane! I turned off at
the very next exit to get clear of the storm tossed barrels. By that time,
the rain was coming down by the barrelful! My little car was being tossed
from side to side by the force of wind and rain! Another time when I saw
in the distance four and then eight dancing funnel clouds being formed as a
larger tornado blew itself out and dissipated its strength. I saw that
happen from about six miles away and I have no desire to experience these
things any closer than I already have.
To the ancients, winds and storms were more terrifying events than they are
today. After all, all we have to do today is listen to the media or log on
to a weather site and get first hand information about when and where the
storm is going to strike!
Our psalm before us today speaks awesome things about such storms. In
these storms the psalmist sees the hand and presence of our God and
King. Great things and glorious things have been spoken about our God and
our King and this summary psalm details the ancient perspective of the
revealed Glory in the weathering processes of nature. As Spurgeon allows,
our psalm may be conveniently divided into three sections. The first two
verses are a call to adoration. In verses three to nine is the tempest
traced, and the attributes of God are magnified. The last two verses give
us assurance that God is all powerful and that He strengthens and blesses
His people.
Now, the particular circumstances of the writing of this psalm have been
long lost. However, we may note that this is one of the Nature Psalms as
the theme here relates to a tremendous thunderstorm. Certainly, from time
to time, we can appreciate the images contained in these verses. And yet,
in our modern sophistication we know that the thunderous noise that comes
with lightning is scientifically explainable. In our smug scientific
knowledge we tend to loose the wonder and awe of primitive man when it
comes to comprehending the unknown and often misunderstood activities of
our natural world. What we need to learn from our passage today is
this: However we look into the eye of the storm, there is the power of God
displayed! It makes little difference whether we understand that storm
mythically or scientifically, God, seen through the eyes of His creation is
indeed awesome.
As we consider this storm psalm, there are two factors we need to keep in
mind. First, our writer - like all the Hebrews of his time, were close to
the land and knew how their dependence was linked to the weather and
soil. C.S. Lewis notes on these nature psalms that the Hebrews, like our
Amish friends in Logan County took a special delight in talking about the
weather. He hints that there is almost a vegetable enjoyment in the liquid
refreshment brought down in buckets and barrels from the storm clouds!
Second, our writer, contrary to all but a few of the pagan writers of
antiquity, senses that there is a distinct separation of God and
nature. God rules, nature obeys. David has a keen sense of creation here
that was shared only by the Greek Philosopher Plato. Most of the ancient
myths of paganism do not comprehend the idea of creation in the Hebrew and
Christian sense at all. Now there is a consequence to this idea of
creation. A specific creation of nature by God empties Nature herself of
divinity. Whereas the pagans worshipped nature, the Hebrew and Christian
world view sees nature only as a manifestation of the divine hand at
work. We in a narrow sense, not shared by the evolutionists, the
environmentalists and so on, see nature as the reflected Glory of our
God! Let us keep this idea in mind as we peruse the verses of this
particular psalm this morning.
Development: Our Psalm begins with a threefold ascription to the power and
might of the most Holy Being in the universe. We should also note that
there are aspects of this psalm that transcend the time and place being
described poetically by David the king. Verses one and two in our psalm
encourage us to ?Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His Name?.
Since, the word ?ascribe? is no longer common in the English language, I
have twice used words that better relate the implications of its
meaning: ?acknowledge? and ?give?. The three fold deposition thereby
allows us to frame the meaning clearly and succinctly.
In verse one; we see that the ?mighty ones? are called to acknowledge the
person and place of the Most High God of heaven and earth. These ?mighty
ones? are translated differently by several commentators. And the words
are supposed to include the various spirits, deities and angels common to
the acknowledgement of mankind down through the ages. Calvin will have
none of these Jewish superstitions ? which the ancient commentators chose
to explain the difficulty of the phrase here in the Hebrew of verse one.
Calvin limits the call to adoration and acknowledgement to the great men of
his and every time. ?It was no doubt David?s design to lead all men to
worship and reverence God, but as it is more difficult to reduce great men,
who excel in rank,? he expressly addresses them. Since we have a certain
plurality in this call to worship, let us conclude that all those with
sufficient strength to stand alone and above the common crowd are the ones
who are invited to see in our God and King: a personage worthy of worship.
In newspaper terminology, the first phrase establishes ?who? is to be
interested and the second strophe tells us ?what? the hearer ought to
do. The third phrase tells us ?why? this is attention is desirable and
finally, the purpose of David?s invocation is clearly established ? in
order that the Lord God of heaven and earth may receive the worship of
every living person, both small and great.
In verse two the testimony of God's glory turns to a call to worship. And
notice something important there. We are to worship in the splendor of his
holiness. Now all of my commentators either ignore this phrase or get this
wrong. But in the sense of this psalm I would think that David means us to
heed the threefold call to focus on God alone in the realization that we
must stand in awe before the awesome throne of our God. Our need to
develop this childlike awe is conveyed in the following verses through the
image of the storm.
Application: But, before we delve into the heart of the storm next week ?
let us first establish the purpose of David?s invitation, so that we are
mindful of just who is to be revealed in the poetic storm imagery that
follows. The Person revealed here is not some imaginary ?nature god? so
common in the nations around Israel. No indeed, David is inviting everyone
to consider the awesome God of heaven and earth as He may be revealed in
the natural wonders of the earth which He created.
Our first step is to understand the three fold implications of the Olde
English term: ?Ascribe.? In the first line, I have attempted to draw out
the invitation to simply acknowledge the fact that there is a
God. ?Acknowledge the Lord, O mighty ones?. This, after all is the first
step in coming into the faith once given to the people of God. And this is
a step that the worldly are fighting tooth and nail. This is why the
liberals with their religion of humanism, so decry the simple faith of our
president and everyone who might agree with him. ?In God we trust,? and
?One nation under God? are fighting words to those who would like to remove
any knowledge and every reference of the Holy from the public domain.
A second step is to then assume, on the basis of biblical revelation that
the God who exists is not only all powerful, benevolent, merciful and long
suffering; but also absolute in His attributes of character. The fourth
question of our catechism summarizes the teaching of scripture: ?God is a
Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power,
holiness, justice, goodness and truth.?
Both David and the fathers of both Testament Churches lived in less jaded
times. The Old Covenant elders had only to contend with imaginary deities
published through the myths of neighboring tribes and nations. The New
Covenant elders witnessed the triumph of the Triune God over those
fictitious characters. And only in modern times has the church been
confronted with a crowd of detractors who believe in nothing.
Just as the liberal media would blame every civilized impulse of our
national agenda today for all the wickedness rampant in the world, so too
would they refuse to reach a justified assumption that the God of creation
is one glorious and strong in all respects. ?Ascribe to the Lord, glory
and strength,? David invites his generation even as we must invite our
own. ?Glory and strength,? are not human qualities, in spite of the
presumption of power to which the priests of humanism assume to themselves.
We are not to bow our knees before lesser beings, whether they are deities
or men! Here is the third step in David?s invitation to worship: ?Give to
the Lord, the glory due His Name.? While, this third phrase builds on the
assumptions of the previous, still the moral and theological implications
are staggering. Think of it this way. Francis Schaeffer, a Reformed
theologian for the second half of the last century made two definitive
statements about the Lord God. ?He is there, and He is not silent!? For
all of those who have heard His still small voice in and through the
revelation of the Holy Spirit ? the apparent sound of His voice proves the
first declaration, that ?He is there.? Logically then, if He is there,
then as founder, manager and ruler of the whole universe ? he has, by every
right: therefore, a certain deference on our part towards Him is a
reasonable expectation.
In our day and age, ninety-some per cent of our population will admit that
God exists ? but we well know that He does not need their acknowledgement
to make that existence certain. Further, a major portion of that larger
percentage will on the basis of the Judeao-Christian heritage understand
Him to be supreme in His position of authority. However, only about
twenty-five to forty per cent of the population will subscribe to the idea
that His exalted position is worthy of worship and respect.
This is the final position to which David would call his
generation: ?Worship the Lord in the majesty of His holiness.? And yet,
even as David knew, and as we too must acknowledge, the greater majority of
mankind would worship anything else rather than the Creator God. That the
majority of this world?s population could come to that position is
unlikely. After all, as Calvin observes, the worship of the One God alone,
?cannot come to pass until the world be reclaimed from all foolish
inventions and services forged in the brains of men.?
May we, today give honor and thanks and praise to the Holy God who may be
known not only through the storm, but also in the quiet instruction of the
Holy Spirit. Remember, that the God who is ? is not silent and it is
specifically He who calls us to worship Himself alone! And may we worship
Him today ?in the majesty of His holiness.? Amen.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament ? Psalms.
Lewis, C.S. Reflections on the Psalms.
MacLaren, Alexander. The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel029a.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go
to:
http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/
From ccrlist at tulip.org Thu Jul 21 10:01:10 2005
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Thu Jul 21 10:01:30 2005
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly 17 July 05
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20050721095359.023b0240@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Morning,
Any visitors you have been praying for on our behalf, may well have shown
up Sunday! Keep praying that they will come back and stay, please!
We have called an Assistant Pastor, Bryan Duty, once Presbytery takes final
action in September, I will be preaching one Lord's Day an month. However,
I will be working week by week on the Psalms, in preparation for a possible
Doctorate in that area, so I should be able to continue this online ministry.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
Psalm 29
03 The voice of the Lord resounds over the seas;
the God of glory thunders,
[His voice] echoes over the oceans.
04 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
05 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
Yes! the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
06 He makes the mountains of Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Mount Hermon like a young bull.
07 The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.
08 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
09 The voice of the Lord shatters [the forest]
and strips the [trees] bare.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
A Sevenfold Invitation
For the Lord?s Day: the 17th of July 2005
Introduction: There is a graduation poem, that sings of a future where
graduates may be faced with many storms of life. And in the midst of those
storms, they are encouraged to hold their heads up high. In almost the
same theme, David celebrates the mighty power of God revealed in the
ordinary storms of nature. He will of course end with a similar admonition
to recognize the reality of nature being under the restraint of the Creator
God. ?Glory,? will be the encouraged response to the manifold revelation
that nature?s God is in control.
I am reminded of a substitute teacher, who was challenged by a statement
that the ordinary teacher didn?t do things in the way being advocated. The
teacher simply announced that, since the ordinary teacher wasn?t there and
he was, by virtue of his presence, he did indeed own the room! I have used
that reasoning several times in my own teaching career!
How does the Apostle Paul frame it in his letter to the Romans? ?[God?s]
invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things
that have been made. So they are without excuse.? (Romans 1:20)
David too, in the nineteenth psalm celebrates the general revelations given
in and through the witness of nature. In that same psalm, he also
testifies to the specific nature of the revelation of God?s Spirit as
well. But just as those who wandered in the desert ? some hear the voice
of God and others note only the noise of thunder.
After the open invitation of the first three verses, David here is
specifically and pointedly identifying those natural events which should
call forth awe and wonder from watching worldlings, who other wise might
miss the implications in and through the storms that threaten life and limb
even as they demonstrate the mighty power of God.
Development: There are in these verses seven specific observations of
David, and each begins with the phrase: ?The voice of the Lord.? And just
as I mentioned earlier about the substitute owning the class room, so here
is the Lord announcing by David?s estimate: the universe! In the first
invitation of verse three, David trades on the movement of a Mediterranean
storm front. ?The voice of the Lord resounds over the seas; the God of
glory thunders, [His voice] echoes over the oceans.?
Now, let us be careful here, some would see primeval waters here, as well
as both heavenly and earthly. But given, the long understood identity as a
nature psalm, we should be content that our psalmist only notes that the
storm front can be heard as it rushes towards land. And as we all know
from experience, the sound of thunder rolls and echoes across the whole
landscape. The black clouds frame the landscape and flashes of lightning
precede the resounding cannonade. There is nothing more in this poetic
trinity of observant notes by the psalmist.
Even though the storm is moving towards land, still the clouds, lightning
and thundering is visibly at sea. And what a vast panorama must the
awesome sight be indeed. From a place such as Mount Carmel ? vast indeed
could the sweep on the horizon be! And David, feeling very small and
insignificant senses the power and might of the Creator God. In today?s
world, movie goers need the quiet vista of space to work up a sense of the
endless nature of the creative order. But no matter whether it be the
storm tossed seas or the swirling of galaxies ? still the creative order
must demonstrate the power and might of the One who made them and thereby
the One who shows the grandeur of His person in the awesome nature of the
natural order.
?The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of
majesty.? All of this, David is sensing and even as he watches, he
realizes the mighty power of the God who has let loose the clouds of the
storm. That the God of heaven is above and beyond the storm is an accepted
fact. And David appraises the natural flow of events as further evidence
of the majesty of God. And by majesty, we mean the otherworldly nature of
nature?s God and Creator. Just as some people take delight in their hero?s
being able to make 3,000 hits ? so David?s hero is of much greater
substance! All powerful of total in His majesty is the Lord God of heaven
and earth, land and sea and even the weather front obeys His voice.
In verses five and six the storm breaks onto the coast of northern
Palestine. It seems centered on the hills of Lebanon. ?The voice of the
Lord breaks the cedars; Yes! the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
The winds and thunder ascend the heights, the full fury of the storm breaks
upon the forests of Lebanon. There is a hurricane of destruction and the
mighty trees in the mountain are split asunder. And David is thinking: if
the Lord can break in pieces four to five hundred year old trees in the
force of His wind, ought not all the mighty one?s bow their knee before
Him? In verse six, not only the trees, but the eternal mountains quake and
tremble as the earth moves according to our Father's will. Whether, this
is an earthquake, or gale force winds, the text does not tell. I remember
storms that shook our home, and there are countless branches blown out of
our trees. Our yard was a disaster area after last winter?s ice storm. On
at least one occasion, the hillside next to us melted into a river of
mud. Both fields, east and west of our property are fully four to six
inches lower than our own land. Only because they were caught plowed,
harrowed and compacted for planting, when an untimely storm carried tons of
dirt away. Look at the poetic images here in these splendid verses, ?the
mountains skip like calves and Mount Hermon like a young bull.?
But the storm is not finished, in verse seven we read of the fiery dance of
lightning bolts, tearing trees asunder and perhaps even splitting a rock or
two in half. ?The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of
lightning.? You know, many of the heathen are particularly scared of
lightning. One commentator reports for us that the Roman Emperors Augustus
and Caligula were absolutely frightened by thunder storms to the point of
hiding under their beds. Another of the ancients, Horace by name,
confesses that he was reclaimed from atheism by the terror of thunder and
lightning. Martin Luther, cowered in fear from lightning, as did Sergeant
York of American military fame. One of my own neighbors was converted by
lightning. But, it was the second time he was hit, not the first ? because
as he admitted: he was a slow learner and did not see the hand of God in
the first bolt!
In verse eight we see the storm moving down out of the mountains into the
desert. There, even though the damage is not so extensive, the desert is
still shaken. ?The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord
shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.?
Application: Verse nine is difficult to translate. Some translators offer
the observation that God "twists the oaks" and others suppose that He
"causes the hinds to calve". Whichever translation is hidden in the
original language let us take note that the power of the Lord is at work in
hidden ways. Sometimes, just when all seems lost in the tragedies of life,
new opportunities suddenly open up.
As I look into this storm, I prefer this translation of the seventh
invitation of David: ?The voice of the Lord shatters [the forest] and
strips the [trees] bare.? Now what good can come of that you may
wonder? Many of the woods in my neighborhood remind me of the colonial
geography called the Fallen Timbers. It was an area where Mad Anthony
Wayne defeated the forces of Tecumseh. Fallen Timbers, it was named
because of a destructive storm some years before the battle.
Last winter, as I drove around the county, I really wondered what the woods
would look like when spring opened up the new sprouts and leaves. Many
ancient trees now have hundreds of new nubbins, that will one day branch
and twist to various angles to gain the precious life of the sun.
So too, would David have us realize that the storms of life have their
purpose and that in all things God is working things out for the good of
His people. Let us therefore remember then that this spiritually understood
storm of David not only shakes the mighty and proud Caesars but also causes
spiritual birth in the case of Horace. Is this not the case with all
natural phenomena. Some people are not affected spiritually towards
repentance and faith, while for others many events prove crucial to their
salvation!
David?s witness is simple and easy to understand here: God has spoken
through all manner of storms and even though there be death and
destruction, still thereby in the awesome demonstration of His eternal
power ? some are saved when they see His hand in the laws of nature. A man
I know of, told me how he and his daughters were sitting at the end of a
lane, waiting for a bus. Suddenly, a storm blew up and a tree by the side
of the lane fell in front of his truck. He put his truck in reverse, but
before he could back up, another tree fell behind him, blocking any
escape. However, the tree that remained stood firm. Had it fallen on the
cab of his truck, he and his daughters might have been badly injured. It
remained alone of the three, standing against the storm. When he asked me
what he should think of such an event, I offered the witness of David, and
I asked him if he saw the merciful hand of God, or if he would now hear the
voice of the Father? Have you seen Hand, have you heard His voice? Praise
the Lord, even as David does, if you have. And the next time a storm blows
up, look at it with David?s insights. I believe you will sense more than
wind, rain and lightning! Amen.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament ? Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel029b.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go
to:
http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/
From ccrlist at tulip.org Sun Jul 24 21:16:45 2005
From: ccrlist at tulip.org (ccrlist@tulip.org)
Date: Sun Jul 24 21:16:56 2005
Subject: [Ccrlist] CCR Weekly 24 July 05
Message-ID: <6.1.0.6.2.20050724210949.022b56b0@mail.loganrec.com>
Good Lord's Day Evening,
A special note for any CCR members on this list. Given the changing status
of ministry at CCR, I am going to be sending out the Psalm messages before
they are given from our pulpit. This will allow me to keep on track
towards the Doctorate project involving the first 32 Psalms that I hope to
begin further labor on later this year.
For the rest of you in various places, you will be the first audience now
instead of the secondary.
God bless,
Max A Forsythe
Psalm 29
And in His temple,
every one speaks of His Glory!
10 The Lord sat enthroned over the [Great] Flood;
the Lord is enthroned as king from eternity.
11 May the Lord give strength to His people!
may the Lord bless His people with peace!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
Glory
For the Lord?s Day: the 24th of July 2005
Introduction: Certainly, we may affirm that the whole world is a temple
that cannot contain the awesome glory of God. All nature speaks the
glories of His praise. And even in the eye of the storm may every believer
may sense His awesome power and glory. And yet, even as Calvin
notes: ?God?s voice fills the whole world, and spreads itself to its
farthest limits; but the prophet declares that his glory is celebrated only
in his church, because God not only speaks intelligibly and distinctly
there, but also there gently allures the faithful to himself.?
And so, having admonished the worldly to see and hear the voice of the Lord
in the great power of the storm, David returns his focus to the tabernacle
precincts where God?s people are more apt to hear His voice. Ever and
always, this is the work of the church, to witness and work towards
convincing the world that our God is not only the One God, but also the all
powerful Prime Mover behind the whole of creation. But, this is our daily
work, and on the Lord?s Day we may retire from that continuous calling and
humbly give glory, honor and praise to the One God who has spoken to us and
made Himself known.
Development: Therefore, we may understand David, in these last few lines
to be speaking to the choir, as we might have it in our day and time. What
was unintelligible to the worldly when the winds swept aside the geography
of nature, that awesome presence is known by all of those who take refuge
of their natural fears in the Temple of the Lord.
Ah, and here we are getting to a very important point because, immediately
after this transitional line, we sense the primal fear, if I may use a
psychobabble term ? for the Great Flood which once swept away all of
humanity except for Noah and his family. As we all know, hundreds of
tribal and ethnic groups have their own version of the Great Flood, all
transcribed into the memories of the whole human race. And while, those
who are covered by the Covenant of Grace know full well the promise made to
Noah, the worldly have no such assurance. The same God who destroyed a
world of sinners may well indeed have it in for them, since they know all
too well that they are outside the spiritual kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first line of verse ten has a special meaning when referenced to the
words used to describe the Great Flood. In fact we should translate this
line in this manner: ?The Lord sat enthroned over the [Great]
Flood.? Martin Luther even translated this text in these words: ?The Lord
sitteth to prepare a Flood.?
And it is only those who fabricate modern myths, who try to dismiss the
truth of what God did for Noah and the family of God in antiquity. But
still, as I mentioned earlier, the wicked count their myths as only one
story among many, and deep in the recesses of their mind, they know in fact
that there is much to fear in the context of lightning, storm and powerful
winds. We have only to watch the news to see the worldly follow every
natural nuance of the hurricanes being formed at sea. Every movement of
wind and wave within their boundary is considered, so as to warn the
southern residents where and when to seek high ground!
Years ago, an untracked hurricane killed five thousand people off the
central coast of the American beaches. Today, if a similar storm were
untracked and allowed to hit an unprepared population, the casualties could
possibly be ten times the earlier toll. This same lack of preparedness,
this same lack of an effective warning system is what multiplied the deaths
and sufferings last winter in Southern Asia.
The worldly of course, would readily listen to such scientific forecasts
and take heed any request to move to safer territory when it comes to the
storms of nature. But, David?s early warning notices in the body of this
Psalm, even though they be every bit as factual and important, his words
doe indeed fall on deaf ears!
The worldly do not know what David and all his spiritual kin know for
certain: ?the Lord is enthroned as king from eternity.? Thus, every storm
? including the ?perfect storm,? if I may use a worldly movie term ? every
storm belongs to the Lord God of heaven and earth. And if he chooses to
use such to carry away a portion of humanity, thereby are others warned
time after time, that their days are numbered.
Delitzsch notes the meaning here in this context. The Lord, according to
our poet, ?sat (upon His throne) at the Flood (to execute it), and sits
(enthroned)
since that time
as King forever, inasmuch as He rules down
here upon earth
in wrath and in mercy, judging and dispensing blessing.?
Application: I can all too readily remember the words of two worldly men,
whose worldly attitude was at least moderated with the realization that the
God of heaven could do with them as He chose. However, neither was of the
mind to submit this life to the divine order or to recognize His claim upon
their present life on earth. Sadly, both perished and while they knew part
of the truth, they did not guess the best part!
Like Esau of antiquity, they both remained unblessed along with countless
others since the dawn of time. It should not be surprising then at the
ending to which David comes in this beautiful nature psalm.
?May the Lord give strength to His people!
may the Lord bless His people with peace!?
The special blessing here, in the context of this whole Psalm is the fact
that David and all God?s people have indeed heard the still small voice of
the Holy Spirit, and by the power of that Spirit drawing them into the
Kingdom of Heaven, they are entitled share in the pleasant glories of the
kingdom present and that of the world to come.
It is to this timely end that the psalmist begs for strength to all the
people of God, those claimed by the Almighty powerful God of the Storm and
all Creation. Calvin says the same, but in more weighty
language: ?Although God exhibits his visible power to the view of the
whole world indiscriminately, yet he exerts it in a peculiar manner in
behalf of his elect people.? Therefore the ?strength? imparted here
implies ?every thing necessary for the preservation of the life of the godly.?
And if that were not enough, David begs that we all might be blessed with
the peace that passes understanding.: the peace of knowing that we are His
and He is ours. I recently heard a story of a man converted while watching
the movie: Gods & Generals. It was Stonewall Jackson?s testimony that he
?felt as safe and secure on the battlefield as sleeping at home in his
bed?, that caught the man?s attention. The more he studied and considered
the matter, the more he was drawn into the Kingdom of the Spirit.
During our course of study on the themes of this glorious nature psalm, I
had mentioned the graduation song that encouraged young people to hold
their heads up high, no matter the battering that might come through the
storms of life. While that advice is worldly to a large extent, still the
premise is not all wrong if in doing that the person looks to heaven in the
midst of strife and gains a glimpse of David?s God. And thereby is the
purpose of David?s instruction.
In that one time popular movie: The Perfect Storm, after the small, frail
fishing boat was overwhelmed in the mighty flood, the movie cut to a
funeral service in the small fishing community at home. The grand hymn
treasured by honest English speaking seamen for a century and a half was
being sung:
?Eternal Father Strong to save,
whose arm doth bind the restless wave,
who bidd?st the mighty ocean deep
its own appointed limits keep.
O hear us when we cry to thee
for those in peril on the sea.?
May the words of our Psalm, as well as the words of that immortal hymn be
engraved on many hearts who are turning to the Lord in the midst of life
storms that entangle them. And may we give witness to the God of Peace as
we comfort those coming through the storms of life. Amen.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
PREACHING RESOURCES
Calvin, John: Commentary on Book of Psalms.
Delitzsch, F: Commentary on the Old Testament ? Psalms.
Spurgeon, C.H: Treasury of David.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.
http://www.tulip.org/selah/sel029c.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe go
to:
http://www.four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/ccrlist/