Author: Meredith Beatty

Psalm 136 is very, very repetitive but in a very good way. I used to have trouble focusing on this Psalm when I read it. The same phrase over and over would just wash over me without landing on me the way I desired.

His love endures forever.

But after years of reading this Psalm it has become very precious to me. There’s something about reading the same thing over and over that causes you to see more and more treasure.

I think that’s why he repeats this phrase over and over.

His love endures forever.

He recounts the journey of his people and every single step is underlined with this phrase.

His love endures forever.

We are weak people and very forgetful. God wants us to remember this phrase. He wants us to remember the truth that will carry us every day, all the way to the end.

His love endures forever.

Meditation on being a sluggard:

“Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.” Proverbs 20:4

There are many dichotomies in Proverbs: rich and poor, wise and foolish, the diligent and the sluggard.

The diligent understand the value of discipline and consistent work.

“In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23

A sluggard is a person who is habitually inactive or lazy, a dawdler and an idler, someone who doesn’t understand the value of the day in and day out of daily obedience.

A farmer has a lot to do and appointed times to do it. He has to till the soil and drop the seeds. One by one. One by one. He tends the crop. He prays for rain. Day after day after day he cares for the crop. He waits and waits for the harvest.

What does the sluggard do? Rather, what does he not do?

The sluggard does not plow, but wait, the verse doesn’t say that. It says he doesn’t plow in season. So he doesn’t plow at the right time. Maybe he plowed when he felt like it. Maybe he just talked about plowing. The point is, there is a right time to plow. There is a right time to sow the seed and it takes diligence and patience.

But the next phrase reveals another aspect of the sluggard. At harvest time, he looks.

At harvest time he looks.

So this time the sluggard goes out at the right time, at harvest time. He is looking for something. He is expecting to find something. Maybe he thinks he has done enough to produce a crop? I don’t know. But he’s looking and expecting to get something from the little he’s done.

The sluggard is obviously deceived. He thinks that the little he’s done will produce something. But it won’t. It can’t. He hasn’t put in the diligent and daily obedience to get a harvest.

“I passed by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” Proverbs 24:30-34

Again, I cannot recommend to you enough the practice of reading a lot of Scripture in one sitting. The repeated words and phrases sink deeper as you encounter them one after another. What struck me today were the repeated calls in Proverbs to cry out for wisdom.

“but whoever listens to me will live in safety…” Proverbs 1:33

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless…” Proverbs 2:6-7

“Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.” Proverbs 3:13-14

“Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Proverbs 4:5-7

James 1 says that if we lack wisdom we should ask God who gives generously to all without reproach. Reading Proverbs 1-15 underlines that encouragement as if in red pen. Over and over Proverbs directs us to cry out for wisdom. Wisdom is personified and positions herself as freely available to anyone who calls out for her.

“Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city, ‘Let all who are simple come to my house!’ To those who have no sense she says, ‘Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.'” Proverbs 9:1-6

Reading James 1 in light of Proverbs increases my faith! God reveals more of his character to me and further assures me that he desires my good. He does give generously, very generously and without reproach.

Psalm 119 rarely gets read all at once. It needs to be though. The impact is tremendous. What I noticed today was the connection between God’s word and his character. They are inextricably linked.

Some people say they believe in God but don’t believe the Bible is completely true. That is an untenable position.

If God is true, all his words are true.

If God is righteous, all his words are righteous.

If God is love, all his words are to be loved and delighted in.

Psalm 119 clearly communicates this:

“You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word.” Psalm 119:65

I think this is why the psalmist is so passionate about God’s word. He is passionate to know, obey and delight in it, because he is passionate to know, obey and delight in the Lord.

Psalm 118 says:

“It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.”

What does this mean – “take refuge in the LORD”? God is a spirit, he does not have flesh and bone. We cannot literally hide in his embrace.

Let’s go to the dictionary.  A refuge is a shelter, a protection from danger or trouble. Other words like it that are also ascribed to God are shelter, fortress and stronghold. But still, God is not a physical structure that we can run to and hide in.

So what does this mean? We need to remember that although God is a spirit, the Bible uses metaphors to help us.

Merciful metaphors. Our Father wants us to know him, really know him. He wants us to trust him, and not just a little. I think this is the reason for so many metaphors. In Psalm 18 we have rock, fortress, refuge, shield, horn of my salvation.

God didn’t have to inspire the Bible in this way. Poetry is language that conveys beauty and emotion. It stirs our spirits. God desires us to be drawn in.

So what does it mean that God is a refuge and how do we take refuge in him? I think he wants us to use our imaginations. He is merciful to us in using a metaphor that means a secure place of safety. We can picture it in our minds. So to take refuge in God means to trust in him, look to him, know that as we place our faith in him, we are safe and secure.

Some observations on 2 Samuel 24/1 Chronicles 21:

• It says that God’s anger again burned against Israel. God gets angry at his people but his anger is always righteous and controlled.
• Why is counting your army a sin? Does David’s success breed self-sufficiency and pride?
• In the 1 Chronicles account, it says Joab doesn’t complete the census because it’s repulsive to him. It’s odd that this thing is repulsive to Joab compared to the other violent things he’s done.
• God gives David a choice between three different punishments. Has God ever given anyone else that kind of choice? Wow.
• In the end, God mercifully relents before destroying Jerusalem.

Psalm 58 is troubling to many readers.

“O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted. Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.” Psalm 58:6-8

I taught a Bible study in the Psalms at the beginning of this year. We encountered a couple Psalms like this that contain what are called imprecatory prayers. Most of them are written by David. The language is violent, calling down judgment on his enemies. But when you read about David’s life, you don’t see David taking vengeance on anyone. In yesterday’s reading David is fleeing Jerusalem as a result of Absalom’s conspiracy to take over the throne. A man named Shimei calls down curses on David and throws stones at him as he flees. David refuses to allow his men to take vengeance on Shimei. David goes so far as to say that maybe Shimei’s cursing is from the Lord.

So where do these prayers come from?

Walter Brueggemann helped me out as I researched this question. He speaks of this psalm in particular and says that godly people aren’t supposed to feel like this. But what if they do? What do you do with the emotions that roil within you? It’s helpful  to remember that David was a man of war. He had many enemies, enemies that treated him unjustly, enemies that lived lives in defiance of God and God’s people.

Brueggemann’s point is that these psalms of imprecation are a way for David to take all the violent emotion he must be feeling and process it in prayer.

Take everything you feel and place it before the Lord in prayer. Prayer is a way to process it all, to remember that God is the only perfect judge.

Yesterday I marveled at the fact that God the Almighty hears prayer. His ears are open.

Today I noticed this in Psalm 86:

“For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.”

You may have a God whose ears are open but that doesn’t tell you anything about the disposition of that God towards you and your prayers.

He may hear, but then not answer.

He may hear and give a harsh answer.

He may hear and require elaborate rituals in order to get an answer.

In Psalms 32 and 51 and now in Psalm 86 there are beautiful descriptions of a God whose disposition is forgiveness, mercy and abounding, steadfast love!

Sometimes it helps to stop and look up a word in the dictionary to get its full meaning.

To abound means to exist in great quantities, to be rich in. It comes from the Latin which means to overflow.

God’s ears are open to his children and his disposition is that of overflowing, bountiful love.

It reminds me of John 1:16:

“And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

One of the dominant themes in today’s psalms was that God is the Mighty One, the LORD; he is awesome in power. He does not need anything we can give him, even the sacrifices and offerings he commanded.

And yet this one verse strikes me as precious:

“O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.” Psalm 65:2

God hears prayer.

God, the Almighty, who needs nothing we can give him….. hears…….. our………. prayer.

God’s ears are open to my weak whisperings.

I need to let that sink into me. I need to pray that it will cross that chasm between my head and my heart.

As I lay in bed late tonight reading these passages I am overwhelmed by the grace and faithfulness of my God.

He chooses a people for himself. He covenants with them, not based on what they do or don’t do. He swears by his own name to be faithful to them.

Yesterday I wrote about how complicated and flawed humans are, how David wasn’t the perfect hero we want him to be.

Today the readings were all about what God has done for David, that God desires to establish a name and a house for David. And again, it’s not because of some perfect track record that David’s achieved. No. It’s pure grace.

“You, LORD God, have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men.” 1 Chronicles 17:17