Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

presence of God. The eagle is the only bird that gazes directly into the sun for navigation; God wants us to navigate life by keeping our eye upon his blazing mercy.

II HE REVEALED HIS CHARACTER - 6-12

• “The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly.” (6) This psalm seems to have been written towards the end of David’s life summarizing what he had seen during his long reign. Again he uses the word ‘all’ to describe the fairness of God’s justice. • “He revealed his character (ways) to Moses and his deeds (acts) to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious; he is slow to get angry and full of unfailing love. ” (7, 8) The ‘ways’ or ‘char- acter’ spoken of here are not the commands given to Moses in which man should follow, but they were the intimate revelation of the personality of God. The people of Israel only saw the miracles while Moses knew the miracle worker face to face. While he stood upon Mount Sinai with the tablets of the law in his hands God said: “I am the Lord, the merciful and gracious God. I am slow to anger and rich in unfailing love and faithfulness. I show this unfailing love to many thousands by forgiving every kind of sin and re- bellion.” (Ex. 34:6,7) David takes the revelation given to Moses and expands it in poetry and musical form. • “He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever.” (9) God will not hold grudges. Once the offense is forgiven, it is forgotten with God. We need to forget what he has forgiven. • “He has not punished us for all our sins, nor does he deal with us as we deserve.” (10) His grace favors us, we are not paid back for all the transgressions we commit against him. Among the ben- efits we should never forget is ‘what he does not do’ as well as ‘what he does do.’ • “For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.” (11) God gives us the ‘geometry of his love 5 ’; its height reaches to the farthest galaxies and stars and is beyond our ability to fully experience. The New Testament further explains the dimensions of God’s love: “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.” (Eph. 3:18) • “He has removed our rebellious acts as far away from us as the east is from the west.”(12) God gives us the ‘geography of his pardon’ through one of the greatest poetic images of all time. Our sins go east and we go west, never to meet again in judgment and condemnation. “The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he understands how weak we are; he knows we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass; like wild- flowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone–as though we had never been here.” (13- 16) Here is the beginning of the revelation of God as ‘Father’ that finds its full expression in the rela- tionship between Jesus and the Father God. “…he had spoken of God as his Father, thereby making himself equal with God. Jesus replied, ‘ I assure you, the son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing.”(Jn. 5:18, 19) Jesus taught that our relationship with God was one of Father-child: “In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” (Mt. 5:45) God responds to those who fear and respect him with the most-tender feelings a father can experience. His eternal nature is contrasted with the frailty of human existence; we are like dust, like grass and like wild- flowers that bloom temporarily and then are dried out to extinction by the burning ‘sirocco’ winds of the middle-eastern deserts. “But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the chil- dren’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!” (17, 18) The only qualifying ingredient for receiving the love of God is a heart of respect and desire to please him. In the revelation of God given to Moses under the law, it was judgment that was passed on to the children’s children: “I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations.” (Ex. 34:7) In the greater age of grace, salvation is extended from generation to generation upon those who are faithfully obedient. We pass our example on to following generations. III HE UNDERSTANDS HOW WEAK WE ARE - 13-18

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