Psalm 59
Psalm 59 continues
the theme of the previous two psalms.
David once more compares the people around him to the righteousness of
God. Did you notice again some of the
similar imagery? We hear about the
people as having sharp swords in their lips.
{Can’t help but think of the Nexu again!} We hear about them prowling about the city as
if to devour whatever they find. We hear
about their bloodthirsty nature. Again
David gives a fairly low impression of humanity – especially those people who
aren’t abiding in God’s ways.
Let’s
spend some time comparing the behaviors of the “evil” people and the behaviors
of God. The evil people lie in wait for
David. They watch him in order to bring
any injustice to him. They roam the
streets arrogantly thinking that nobody will see them, hold them accountable,
or be able to stop them. They utter
curses. They speak lies. They growl if they do not get their fill of
whatever it is for which they happen to be looking. Can you see the arrogance and self-centeredness
of the human race? We so easily become
drunk with our own power and control!
On the
other hand, let’s look at the behaviors of God.
God delivers us from enemies. He
protects us. He saves us. He comes to meet us. He rouses himself against our enemies. He laughs at the evil and the arrogant. He looks with derision upon those who are
drunk with the power of the world. He is
a fortress. He is steadfast. He is our strength and our refuge.
Do you see
the difference? God’s nature is love and
compassion. God’s nature is to look to
the other. God’s nature is to call us
unto Him so that our nature might become like His nature. God knows the evil that lies in our hearts
and He desires us to abandon that natural evil and adopt His nature.
I am always
amazed at the great difference between God and His creation. In today’s culture, we cling more than we
should to the fact that “we are made in the image of God.” While certainly this is true, I think we have
heard that stated so much that we have genuinely come to believe that God is
like us. I think this is actually a
theological paradox. We are certainly
made in the image of God, but He is nothing like us.
It has to
be this way. Remember what the word
“holy” means? Holy means
“separate.” Holy means “different.” It means “set apart.” It means “consecrated.” {The Hebrew word is qadash and the Greek word
is hagios – these words mean the same thing in their respective languages.} If God is by definition holy, then by
definition we are saying that He is separate and different from us.
When we
look at psalms like this, one of the things we should come face-to-face with is
this concept of just how different the nature of God is from us. Yes, we are made in His image. But our flesh is corrupted by sin. Our desires are rooted in the
self-monger. We are blessed to be made
in the image of God, but that does not give us permission to remake God in our
image. God is not like us; we are to
become like Him.
I think
this is what makes David such a neat character in the Old Testament. In Christian circles, we know the process
through which we become more like God: sanctification. We become like God as the Holy Spirit comes
within us and dwells among us. But David
did not have evidence to this process in God’s Word like we do. David knew this process through life. David knew this process because God was with
Him and was sanctifying Him. We know
this because David is always able to look at humanity and see the difference
between God’s nature and our nature.
David knows that God is different than us, and David desires to shed the
differences and become more like God.
We should
sing praises to God. He has done
marvelous things. He will do marvelous
things. He will do these things because
He is righteous and holy.
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