Survivors

This is one of those hard Psalms to write about.  I read it in The Message and thought, that can't be right, so I read it in New King James Version, and it's pretty much the same.  So I read it in a few other versions of the Bible... same.  So, I looked it up in a Bible Handbook thinking there's probably a hidden meaning.  It said, "This is inexcusable." So.  Here we are.  

I designed a way to warn people when things get ugly in a Bible Study. : )
© Karen Kyle Ericson, all rights reserved.

 

We're still reading through the Psalms sung on the way to Jerusalem.   After reading such a nice Psalm yesterday, this is much different.  The Bible contains the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I think that's why I love it so much- it's honest.  The people are real.  I can relate to some of these feelings.

Psalm 129

Israel has definitely had more than their share of troubles!  But one thing I must admit is they don't stay down.  They are survivors.

Psalms 129:1-3

"Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth,"

Let Israel now say —

2 "Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth;

Yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 The plowers plowed on my back;

They made their furrows long."

This sounds painful.  Yikes!  But the author praises God for cutting the cords of the wicked.  The plowmen are gone.  Some of our jobs today sound like this.  We're stuck financially in a situation that takes everything we have just to work and be professional. 

4 The Lord is righteous;

He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked.

Here's where it gets ugly...  Essentially, they are saying that now that they are free.  May their enemies be put to shame, let them die before they grow up.  Let them go without food and income and may the Lord's blessing never fall on them.  Ouch!

5 Let all those who hate Zion

Be put to shame and turned back.

6 Let them be as the grass on the housetops,

Which withers before it grows up,

7 With which the reaper does not fill his hand,

Nor he who binds sheaves, his arms.

8 Neither let those who pass by them say,

"The blessing of the Lord be upon you;

We bless you in the name of the Lord!"

NKJV

What comes to my mind is I have 3 choices in responding to this:
1.  Wow!  I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this way.

2.  I would never say such a thing!
3.  Go get em guys!

I chose number 1, because it's honest.  I don't always think the nicest thoughts toward others.  And I have a verse for those occasions, when I feel guilty.

1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
NKJV
The best way to travel through this life and be a survivor, is without the bitterness of anger.  I know from experience.  Feel free to share your reactions too.

Dry and thirsty

This is a Passover hymn about how God delivered the Israelites from Egypt.  The author is unknown.  The Psalms have many references to the exodus from Egypt.  You'll know I'm not a super-saint when I confess I saw this and thought, "Oy!  Another Psalm about the Exodus!!?"  Maybe the children felt the same way when they gathered for Passover celebrations.  "Can we sing something else please? We get it.  Ok?"  But the truth is, this is a part of Christian and Jewish heritage.  We must remember what God did in the Exodus.  These miracles are mighty acts of God.  It shows us how God can use an individual, as His servant, like Moses, to save His people.   I wonder what He has in mind for you and me.   I saw Jesus in this Psalm!

Psalms 114

The twelve tribes (offspring of the sons) of Israel (also known as Jacob) came to Egypt to seek refuge and food during a terrible drought.  They multiplied a great deal. They eventually were made slaves.  They were stuck in a world with a foreign language, a world with a strange religion of many gods.  
1 When Israel went out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,

In Revelation 5:5, Jesus is referred to as the lion from the tribe of Judah.   In this Psalm, Judah, a tribe of Israel becomes His sanctuary, His dominion.
2 Judah became His sanctuary,
And Israel His dominion.

I have this image in my mind from movies.  The red sea became a roadblock for the exodus.  Moses placed the staff in the red sea, and God parted the waters.  Mountains like Sinai smoked.  The earth trembled at God's command, it would've been so awesome to see- much better than the movies.  Jordan refers to the river.
3 The sea saw it and fled;
Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
The little hills like lambs.
5 What ails you, O sea, that you fled?
O Jordan, that you turned back?
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams?
O little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,


This incident happened along their journey, they camped in Rephidim.  There wasn't any water.  The Israelites took it out on Moses.  He was accused of bringing them out of Egypt so they would die of thirst.  Oy!  Poor Moses!  Moses went to God asking what to do.  So God told him to go to a rock with some of the elders as witnesses.  Moses hit the rock with his staff, and water gushed out.  God was not pleased with the attitude of the Israelites  (Exodus 17:1-6).  It reminds me of how important it is to go to God first before you put a plan in place.
8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.
NKJV


Like the Israelites, I sometimes feel dry and thirsty.  People can really get on my nerves, bring out anger and feelings I'd rather not experience.  The latest news is a prime example.  I find reading the Bible and praying melts the hopelessness around me.  Jesus is my rock, the Bible is the way for me to tap into Jesus' refreshing spring of water giving me an endless supply of hope and peace.  It gives me the knowledge that no matter how crazy the world seems, God is still on His throne.  
Jesus is the Rock of our salvation. 

Ps 95:1-2
5 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
NKJV

Jesus said,
Matt 7:24-25
24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
NKJV

Jesus is the water of life, He said,

John 4:13

13 ..."Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,  14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
NKJV