Share with you what I feel about me reading the bible. I'm sure God's word is living, active and piercing (Hebrews 4: 12-13)...but my heart just seems so hardened most of the time that it seems like all the good stuff is lost on me. It's like having rich cuisine on the table but I can't appreciate it. For e.g., in Psalm 8, David can barely contain his awe & joy as he explodes into praise at the start and end of the Psalm - "how majestic is your name in all the earth!" But I'm still like a frozen fish.
Weiling and I have been struggling to keep up with Psalm thus far. This morning, I did 4 chapters (5,6,7 & 8). Not ideal I think because I think they require more meditation than just a quick read. So far, one impression David's Psalms have left on me is: this is a man/king who knows his place. He is incredibly dependent on God. Just extracting some of the many verses that expresses his dependence.
Psalm 3 - "To the LORD I cry aloud..."
Psalm 4 - "Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer"
Psalm 5 - "Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God..."
Psalm 6 - "Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love."
Psalm 7 - " O LORD my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me"
Some discoveries on Psalm 8
If you read the link (i.e. "Overview of Psalm") under "Resources" of this blog, you would have read about hebrew poetry and one mechanism of hebrew poetry is parallelism. Think there's at least one in Psalm 8: 4 -6
"What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
"You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory & honor.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet"
So when God is mindful of you and me...its not that he happens to remember us. When God is mindful of you and me, it has overtones of compassion and love. He cares for us, you and me. May this be the best thing you hear today.
KING JESUS
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. The chief priests of the Jews protested to pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews." Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
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I have been struggling with Psalms too. This has been my experience so far, and it has convinced me that what we are doing is a 'good' thing.
Last year, I never had any problems staying up till 11pm-12am every night. Granted, I would engage mostly in frivolous activities like watching TV or surfing the net.
When Lon invited me to be part of this blog, I assumed that I would not have any problems keeping up with the readings.
I was wrong.
Since I started (and struggled) reading John and now Psalms, I have rarely been able to stay awake past 10pm at night. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I'm not inclined to think so. I wonder how many of you have felt the same since you made commited to reading the Word on a daily basis.
So friends... No, brothers and sisters, lets keep pressing on to the goal that has been set before us, both literally and metaphorically, and let's keep encouraging each other along the way. I don't intend to throw in the towel just yet, and I hope you won't too.
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