Rescue Psalms

I have lately been making my way through the Psalms, and have sometimes found myself reading cries and petitions that don’t seem to have a great deal of immediate application to me. I’m thinking of those psalms in which the psalmist groans for deliverance from his enemies. These 'rescue psalms' (as we might call them) are wonderful psalms! And yet, what to do with them when I don’t really have a great many earthly enemies? What does an American, living a pretty easy life, do, for instance, with verses like the following?

Lord, how long will You look on?

Rescue my soul from their ravages,

My only life from the lions.

I will give You thanks in the great congregation;

I will praise You among a mighty throng.

Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me;

Nor let those who hate me without cause wink maliciously.

For they do not speak peace,

But they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.

They opened their mouth wide against me;

They said, “Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!”

You have seen it, O LORD, do not keep silent;

O Lord, do not be far from me.

Stir up Yourself, and awake to my right

And to my cause, my God and my Lord.

Judge me, O LORD my God, according to Your righteousness,

And do not let them rejoice over me.

Do not let them say in their heart, “Aha, our desire!”

Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up!”

Psalm 35:17-25

What do I do when there is no one (seemingly) “open[ing] their mouth wide against me”? A few thoughts on how to make good use of these psalms:

1. Remember our brothers and sisters who do have such enemies. Persecuted Christians in places like North Korea, or the Middle East. Christian business owners in this country, under fire for trying to work according to their consciences. Abused women and children. And so on. There are those for whom the words of such psalms are very immediately relevant. So use the psalms to pray for them!

2. Remember these psalms for when you do need them. Life is not always easy! And a time may come when someone does set him or herself up as your enemy … either because of your faith, or perhaps for some other reason. Gossip, slander, persecution, abuse, unfair lawsuits. These sorts of things can happen. And we’ll need the likes of Psalm 35 then! So remember that they are there! Keep them in your back pocket, as it were, and pull them out when the tough times come.

3. Remember that you do have enemies. Maybe not in the form of other people who desire to “swallow [you] up” … but your own sin is a mortal enemy! And so are the devil and his minions. And so, when sins, or doubts, or temptations, or the devil’s accusations are laid before you like snares, the rescue psalms can be taken up then, too. “Rescue my soul from their ravages, My only life from the lions.”

4. Remember the Messiah. Two of the seven statements Jesus uttered from the cross are direct quotations from the sorts of psalms I have in mind in this article (see Psalms 22:1 and 31:5), and a third is closely connected with Psalm 69:21. So Jesus was thinking of these sorts of psalms when under the thumb of His enemies! And that means, I would say, that we should be thinking of Him when we read them!* No one ever suffered like Jesus! And He repaired to the psalms in the midst of His suffering! And so when we read the suffering and the cries of the Psalms, let us think of this ultimate Sufferer, and praise God that His cries were heard … and that, in Him, so also will be the cries of His people!

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*Not to say that everything in the rescue psalms has a correlation in Christ’s suffering and cries. But there are correlations – some more general, others more direct – that you will notice if you are looking for them.  So look for them!  Think about how what you are reading in the Psalms compares to the sufferings and/or cries of Christ.  And, if your Bible contains cross-references, use those to help you!  Not every correlation may be listed in the cross-references (so do some comparative thinking on your own, aside from the cross-references).  But some such correlations (especially the more direct ones) may be noted in the cross-references. And so it would be a good exercise, when reading the rescue psalms, to scan down through those cross-references, looking to see if they call attention to any correlations between the psalm and the life of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Doing this with Psalm 35, while working on this article, the NASB cross-references informed me, for instance, that Psalm 35:19 is quoted in John 15:25 in reference to the sufferings of Jesus: “They hated me without a cause.”

A Lesson from the Ant

“Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers provision in harvest.” 

Proverbs 6.6-8

It’s a powerful little picture Solomon paints, is it not? Why aren’t ants hungry all winter long, buried beneath the cold, hard soil with no food to eat? Because they worked hard during the rest of the year – stripping, foraging, and storing away food! And we should go to them, Solomon says, and observe them, and be wise. How so? What do the ants have to teach us?

Among other things, they give us a warning against idleness. Again, the reason why the ants are not hungry in winter is because they are not idle in summer and fall! They’re busy! In fact, if you literally determine to go to the ants, you will find that this seems to be their hallmark. Brush back the edges of any ant-hill and you will find hundreds of the little fellows, crawling this way and that, always being productive.

Solomon says there is a lesson in that! Busy people succeed. Idle people struggle (see Proverbs 6.10). And that’s true on more than one level. It’s true, first of all, on the simple level of making ends meet. The ants have enough food because they work … hard. And the lesson is plain. We must work hard, too. We must be busy with our hands, making ends meet. And if we do not – if we are idle – we’ll suffer for it in our stomachs. That’s not to say that idleness is the only reason why people struggle financially. There are many reasons. Indeed, some of the hardest working people are forced to live from paycheck to paycheck. But the fact remains that, if we are lazy and sedentary, things will only be worse! Idleness causes hungry stomachs and empty bank accounts.

But idleness also causes suffering of a different kind. I think it is fair to say, after 12 years of pastoral counseling – both with Christians, and unbelievers – that a significant number of the sin problems people deal with would be largely solved if the persons in question had a little more responsibility on their plates. For instance, gossip is usually at its worst among people who have little else to do with their time (1 Tim 5.13). In addition, sinful fretting over this and that, and obsessions with what other people do or think, and bitterness over past hurts, all seem to lay down their deepest roots in the empty soil of long days with nothing productive to claim our time. Also, the people with the biggest substance abuse problems are often the same folks who have far too much time on their hands. Addiction to pornography and video games occurs most in young men who have all evening every evening to do a whole lot of nothing. Overeating is often largely a product of boredom. And the list could go on … proving the old adage that ‘idle hands are the devil’s workshop.’ It’s an old adage because it’s true!

Does that mean that, if we’ll just get busy, all our sin habits will fade away? No! Our sin problems have, as their ultimate root, our sin natures … which will not disappear no matter how busy we may be. The busiest people in the world are still sinners. But they probably don’t have time to sit on the phone and talk bad about other people. They probably don’t have time to tool around for hours on the internet. And so, while their busyness in no way eradicates their sin nature, it certainly does give that nature less free time to work with!

So let us all consider the ants, and get busy. There are far too many people who need encouragement; far too many ministries that need helpers; far too many tongues, tribes, peoples, and nations that need praying for; and far too many Bible truths that need studying for any of us to spend too much time twiddling our thumbs! Let us redeem the time, therefore. We’ll get a good example if we “go to the ant”!

Armageddon?

Every now and again, in place of a Wednesday night sermon, I ask our congregation to turn in biblical or theological questions they've been pondering (a few days in advance), and I try and tackle a handful of them during our Wednesday worship.  Last night one of the questions was:

Does the battle of Armageddon actually take place?

The simplest answer to this question is ‘yes’ … and ‘no.’ Allow me to explain:

Turn to Revelation 16, and you will find yourself at the very end of the world. The final trumpet of the great tribulation has sounded (chapter 11), Christ has returned at the end of that tribulation (chapter 14) and taken His church out of the world. And, in chapter 16, God’s final judgments are unleashed on the world, by means of “the seven bowls of the wrath of God” which are poured out on the earth, beginning in verse 1. And, when the sixth of those seven bowls is upturned, a great company of demons and men gathers to make war against our God, and against His Lamb. Read about these events in verses 12-16:

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”) And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.

So yes, there is this gathering together for the great battle of Armageddon, or “Har-Magedon”, as the NASB translates it. This is evidently a reference to a battlefield near the Israelite town of Megiddo, where a couple of key Old Testament battles were fought. Here, in the place where Satan had so often tried to destroy God’s people, he takes up arms against God Himself! Here, in the place where the good King Josiah was slain by his enemy, the Enemy of the great King Jesus rides out with the same intentions in mind – in this Hebrew place called “Har-Megedon.”

But what actually becomes of the combat? What takes place after the armies gather in Revelation16.16? Does an epic, Lord-of-the-Rings-type of battle scene unfold, with men of faith valor, perhaps joined by good angels, holding out against this one final assault of the dark forces? That’s not what unfolds at all, is it? No! In verse 16.17, far from giving a description of a great battle, we are simply told that the seventh angel pours out his bowl upon the earth, that God pronounces “It is done,” and that the already ravaged earth begins to come apart at the seams. These final events of planet earth are expanded upon in chapter 19.19-21:

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Note that when we pick up the storyline, there in Revelation 19.19, the battle of Armageddon has not yet begun. The beast and the kings of the earth are still gathered in order to make war, but shots have not been fired yet. And how does the battle finally commence? As no battle at all! The rider on the white horse (19.11); the one on whose thigh is written “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords” (v.16); the Son of God simply plucks up the beast and the false prophet and throws them alive into hell! And the rest of the gathered armies of Armageddon are wiped away, it would seem, with a single blow of His sword!

Do you see? While it is true that a great army of demons and men will assemble against the Lord in the last day; and while it is true (Rev. 19.14) that He will have the armies of heaven riding behind Him onto the field of battle … it does not appear that either of the armies even so much as get their shoes muddy in the battle! No arrows fly; no advances are made; and no swords clash! The King of Kings simply wields His scepter and flashes His sword, such that the hosts of hell and the armies of men are swept away in a moment! Such is the power of our great King!

And so I ask you: Can this Jesus not defend you against all the wiles of the devil? You have nothing to fear if you are following behind the rider on the white horse! No weapon formed against you shall prosper. “Now power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck you from His hand”*! No persecution can ultimately destroy you. No Satanic temptation can ultimately defeat you. And no demonic power can get the better of you, so long as you continue riding on the coattails of the rider on the white horse! “He who is in you is greater than He who is in the world.” And He who is in you says, at the end of this book, “I am coming quickly.”

*From the hymn by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, "In Christ Alone."  Copyright 2001, Kingsway's Thankyou Music.

Respect the Devil!

But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you”! But these men revile the things which they do not understand. Jude 9-10a

Perhaps my title threw you off a little bit. I hope it at least got you intrigued. ‘Is Kurt really saying we are supposed to respect the devil? What in the world does he mean by that?’ Well, know that I do mean what the title implies. We ought to respect the devil. Know also that I will explain what I mean as I type along down the page.

First, realize that what Jude says in verses 9-10 is a continuation of what he just said in verse 8. Remember that, in that verse, Jude was beginning to compile a list of traits that characterize false teachers. They dream instead of studying. They defile the flesh and live sinful lives. They reject authorities and often run one man shows. And they revile angelic majesties. That is to say that they become so puffed up with pride; so sure that they are God’s unique, anointed servants that they come to think of themselves as invincible. And that pride asserts itself, especially, in the way they assume they can personally ‘bind the devil’, hogtie the demons, and so on.

So that was verse 8 – four characteristics of false teachers. And, in verses 9-10a, Jude expands on the last of those points. He gives more detail as to why reviling angelic majesties is so foolish. And what he says is actually quite amazing.

Evidently, when Moses died, Satan and the archangel Michael had a giant brouhaha about who would get control of Moses’ corpse. The Bible says nothing about this, so we cannot be certain exactly why they were disputing over such a thing. And, really, it is beside the point in Jude’s train of thought. The main thing is that Satan and Michael were having a dispute. And here’s the kicker: Michael, in the midst of that dispute, was unwilling to call names, pronounce judgment, or in any way assert personal superiority over the devil. That’s what verse 9 is all about. He did not personally revile or rebuke the devil, but simply said “The Lord rebuke you.”  It was God's name and God's power that won the day, not Michael's!

Why is that significant? Because Michael (apparently the strongest of God’s angels) evidently recognized the great might and power of the one with whom he was disputing. Yes, he engaged Satan in battle (and evidently won).  But he respected Satan’s might and would not lock horns with him in his own name or strength. And that is significant! If not even Michael the archangel would personally rebuke the devil … what does that say about the men on television who venture to do so, and with Hollywood bravado?  What does it say about Christians who think they can bind the devil with a glib mantra, or wrestle him to the mat with a magic verbal formula? It says, as Jude points out in verse 10a, that these people are reviling “things which they do not understand.”

This is not to deny that Christians sometimes can (and must) do hand-to-hand combat with the unclean spirits.  There are plenty of examples of this in the New Testament.  But let the words of the seventy in Luke 10 sink in deeply: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."  When believers engage in conflict with (or verbally rebuke) the dark forces, it is always in the Lord's name, not by their own cleverness, bravery, or strength! That is Jude’s point in verses 9-10. Anyone who would attempt to rebuke the devil directly ought not be trusted as a Christian teacher … because he doesn’t understand even the most basic things – namely that he is absolutely helpless apart from Christ!

The devil is not, by any means, invincible ... nor should Christians should cower before him. After all, "He that is in you is greater (far greater) than he that is in the world."  Jesus will one day scoop Satan up like the lint in your dryer’s catch-basin and throw him into the lake of fire. But note well that it is Jesus who will do this! Only God Himself can effectively revile and rebuke the devil. And you and I can only reasonably engage him when we say, with Michael the archangel, “the Lord rebuke you”. So rather than personally rebuking him or reviling him, we ought to respect the devil – not at all for his character or goodness (which is worthy of our hatred); not in a servile way; and certainly not in the way we reverence God. But we ought to respect him nonetheless – not mainly as a bow to his strength (which is considerable and real), but as an acknowledgment that we are not God!



*emphasis within scriptural quotations is mine.

What if Satan Took Over?

From Michael Horton:

What would things look like if Satan really took control of a city? Over a half century ago, Presbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse offered his own scenario in his weekly sermon that was also broadcast nationwide on CBS radio. Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over Philadelphia, all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am,” and the churches would be full every Sunday . . . where Christ is not preached. From Christless Christianity. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), p. 15.

Food for thought.

HT: Justin Taylor