Psalm 35Psalm 35 is a cry out for God to bring justice to those who persecute him. He speaks with a voice of reverence to God and he mentions the wickedness of his enemies. verse 26 says "may all who gloat over my distress be put to shame and confusion." in contrast verse 13 and 14 say "yet when they were ill, i put on sack cloth and humbled myself with fasting. when my prayers returned to me unanswered i went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. i bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother. Here we see the psalmist take two apparently opposing sides: on the one side he mourns for his enemies and seems to love them like a Christ calls us to. on the other side he asks God to "go get em" in a sense. I have seen this in other psalms as well so the question i raise is: what is the balance between praying for relief from oppression and loving our enemies and what action should accompany loving our enemy.
Acts 13
Acts 13 is an amazing chapter that includes the longest sermon ever recorded by Paul. there are so many questions and profound points that this arises. I'm going to highlight a few of my favorite points and then ask a question. comment on either.
the first point I found interesting was the boldness of Paul. We know that Paul is an amazing leader and an educated man but here he takes a random opportunity to share the word of God with an entire city. It was customary at that time to ask visiting rabbi if he would like to speak. Paul took this opportunity to give the longest sermon recorded.
secondly it brings about interesting questions and statements about the old testament. Paul says "there fore, my brothers, i want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses." this provides insight into the relationship between the new and old covenent.
Finally I would like to comment on the presence and word of God in this chapter. at the beginning verse 2 says "while they were worshiping the lord and fasting, the holy spirit said "set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which i have called them" the audible voice of God is amazing and something i hope i get to experience some day so my question is this. Can we still hear God today. if we can what can we do to prepare our hearts to hear him, in this chapter the believers are worshiping and fasting before they hear the word of God, and Isiah 1:15 -17 says that God will not listen to the prayers of Israel. Isiah tells them to "learn to do whats right! seek justice." could it be that if we truly prepare ourselves for an experience with the Voice of God that we may actually experience communication, or is our communication in the present day limited to what we learn from the bible?
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ReplyDeletePsalm 35:
ReplyDeleteI've always questioned this as well. It seems, according to the psalmist, that it is ok to pretty much hate our enemies...Psalm 139:19 says "if only you would slay the wicked, O God. They speak with you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you and abhor those who rise up against you? I ave nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies."
I really don't have an answer to why exactly the psalmist said this. Maybe it was a "righteous hatred" in the same way that we speak of a "righteous anger."
But I do believe that we have to be bold toward our enemy just like Jesus was bold toward the pharisees who rose up against them. Maybe it has to do with the condition of the opposing person's heart. ALot of the times we do not know why people act the way they do. We need to be able to look into their hearts with the eyes of Jesus. We gotta be open to what Jesus might be telling u s about that person.
So to answer the question...we don't have to take people treating us unfairly...but we must also take our actions toward those people captive and make sure that they are godly!
Acts 13:
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good question I'm not sure how to answer. I know that God speaks to us through circumstances and in our daily lives. but I'm not sure he specifically speaks directly (audibly) to us. I guess I'll just leave this with...I don't know!