What does your word mean? When you give it? When you say tell someone you will do something, do you do it? Words are so important that Jesus calls Himself the Word of God - the Logos - the expression of God. In this psalm, David is trusting in the words of his God concerning His rising up and defending the helpless from the liars and flatterers around them.
Lord, You will keep us safe. You will protect us from such people. (vs.7) How does David know this? Because God's words are pure, refined, flawless. David knows it because God said He would protect them. The psalmist has faith in the word of God. If He says He will do something, you can bet on it. Here is what God says about His own words:
"The words I speak will not return to me empty. They make the things happen that I want to happen, and they succeed in doing what I send them to do." Isaiah 55
Empty words. Isn't that what makes us so upset? Someone makes a promise and it is empty. No action. Pretty soon a friendship is in question - or even a marriage - because you cannot depend upon the other person to follow through. Better to never promise. Better to just keep quiet and hope you can do what you said rather than to promise and be a deadbeat. I know so many adult children whose divorced parent failed to show up when she/he said she would. Now grown, trust is a huge issue for them on other levels, too. Our word says who we are.
I love the story in Matthew 21. Jesus starts the story by saying: "Tell me what you think about this." Hmmm. Jesus wants my response to this story of two brothers. It goes like this. A father approaches his sons, telling them to go out and work in the fields that day. The first son says, "I won't do it." Later, however, he thinks better of his response and goes. The second son said: "Oh, yes sir, Father. I will go and work." He did not. The question from Jesus: "Which one of these sons obeyed his father?"
Don't know what went on in the mind of the first son after he refused to go to work. I'm guessing, though, that he regretted his disobedience, his curt manner with his father, and decided to repent of his bad attitude and get to work. He loved his father enough to do what he did not want to do that day. The other son? My guess is that he never had any real intention of going to work. Empty words. Get Dad off my back. Maybe he saw that his brother had changed his mind, so he did not need to go after all. Clearly, though, only one obeyed the Father. Which is the point Jesus is trying to make. Don't give lip service to God. Do what He says. Better yet! Say it and do it! What do you think about that?
Jesus, the Word of God become flesh, tells us to pray in His name. By His integrity. Like David, we can know that the words of Jesus are pure, flawless and powerful, because He keeps His word. He came and did what He said He would before the foundations of the world when it was clear that He would be our Lamb, sacrificed for our sins. He did not want to suffer all that He did....cried in the garden that the Father not give Him the cup of suffering. But like the faithful brother, He did what He did not want to do in order to fulfill what the Father wanted. That is radical. That is Someone whose every word we can trust.
Ever thought that God really wants reciprocal love and trust from us. It is not a one-way street all the time. If the discussion is always God's trustworthiness, then what of the part we play? Shouldn't He be able to trust our word? Shouldn't He be able to depend upon us to do what He asks? As His dear children, shouldn't we say yes to working in the fields today even if we don't really want to expend that kind of energy? Say yes! It does the Father's heart good.
Lord, You will keep us safe. You will protect us from such people. (vs.7) How does David know this? Because God's words are pure, refined, flawless. David knows it because God said He would protect them. The psalmist has faith in the word of God. If He says He will do something, you can bet on it. Here is what God says about His own words:
"The words I speak will not return to me empty. They make the things happen that I want to happen, and they succeed in doing what I send them to do." Isaiah 55
Empty words. Isn't that what makes us so upset? Someone makes a promise and it is empty. No action. Pretty soon a friendship is in question - or even a marriage - because you cannot depend upon the other person to follow through. Better to never promise. Better to just keep quiet and hope you can do what you said rather than to promise and be a deadbeat. I know so many adult children whose divorced parent failed to show up when she/he said she would. Now grown, trust is a huge issue for them on other levels, too. Our word says who we are.
I love the story in Matthew 21. Jesus starts the story by saying: "Tell me what you think about this." Hmmm. Jesus wants my response to this story of two brothers. It goes like this. A father approaches his sons, telling them to go out and work in the fields that day. The first son says, "I won't do it." Later, however, he thinks better of his response and goes. The second son said: "Oh, yes sir, Father. I will go and work." He did not. The question from Jesus: "Which one of these sons obeyed his father?"
Don't know what went on in the mind of the first son after he refused to go to work. I'm guessing, though, that he regretted his disobedience, his curt manner with his father, and decided to repent of his bad attitude and get to work. He loved his father enough to do what he did not want to do that day. The other son? My guess is that he never had any real intention of going to work. Empty words. Get Dad off my back. Maybe he saw that his brother had changed his mind, so he did not need to go after all. Clearly, though, only one obeyed the Father. Which is the point Jesus is trying to make. Don't give lip service to God. Do what He says. Better yet! Say it and do it! What do you think about that?
Jesus, the Word of God become flesh, tells us to pray in His name. By His integrity. Like David, we can know that the words of Jesus are pure, flawless and powerful, because He keeps His word. He came and did what He said He would before the foundations of the world when it was clear that He would be our Lamb, sacrificed for our sins. He did not want to suffer all that He did....cried in the garden that the Father not give Him the cup of suffering. But like the faithful brother, He did what He did not want to do in order to fulfill what the Father wanted. That is radical. That is Someone whose every word we can trust.
Ever thought that God really wants reciprocal love and trust from us. It is not a one-way street all the time. If the discussion is always God's trustworthiness, then what of the part we play? Shouldn't He be able to trust our word? Shouldn't He be able to depend upon us to do what He asks? As His dear children, shouldn't we say yes to working in the fields today even if we don't really want to expend that kind of energy? Say yes! It does the Father's heart good.
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