May 29th, 2011
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Darkness and Light

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Mighty God, You are the great liberator. Your Word is powerful and sets me free. Speak that word now.

Read PSALM 18:1-50

[1] For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD. He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love you, O LORD, my strength. [2] The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. [3] I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. [4] The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. [5] The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. [6] In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. [7] The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. [8] Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. [9] He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. [10] He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. [11] He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him- the dark rain clouds of the sky. [12] Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning. [13] The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. [14] He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them. [15] The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils. [16] He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. [17] He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. [18] They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. [19] He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. [20] The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. [21] For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God. [22] All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. [23] I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. [24] The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. [25] To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, [26] to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd. [27] You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. [28] You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. [29] With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall. [30] As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. [31] For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? [32] It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. [33] He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. [34] He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. [35] You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. [36] You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn. [37] I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. [38] I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. [39] You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet. [40] You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. [41] They cried for help, but there was no one to save them- to the LORD, but he did not answer. [42] I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind; I poured them out like mud in the streets. [43] You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations; people I did not know are subject to me. [44] As soon as they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cringe before me. [45] They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds. [46] The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! [47] He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, [48] who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me. [49] Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name. [50] He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“O thou Good Omnipotent, who so carest for every one of us as if thou carest for him alone, and so for all as if all were but one” (Augustine).

Think Further

This psalm, one of the royal psalms, gives a template for what might have been. The description of David’s troubles, described in cosmic terms (4,5), could equally apply to his descendant, Zedekiah. If only Zedekiah and his predecessors could have responded like David, who “cried to [his] God for help” (6), the story might have been different. Instead they looked to Egypt and to the lies of their false prophets. Then came the exile.

For David, the answer to his prayer was a sense of participation in the awe-inspiring cosmic magnificence of God (7-15). This God who shakes the very universe to its roots is the same God who rescues David and brings him to a place of safety, away from the danger of ambush by his enemies (19). If only Zedekiah and his advisers could have known that sense of the loving power of God.

Yet there is something about the being and doing of God that remains mysterious. He “shields all who take refuge in him” (30), but also remains shrouded from humanity (9,11). God responds as we search for him as purely and faithfully as we can (20-27), and yet it is God, and not our piety, which saves (19,27,28). God destroys the house of David in the final defeat of Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar and remains faithful to his promised “love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever” (50). Jeremiah foresaw this in his promise of an end to the exile. We now see it more fully revealed in the person of Jesus, son of David, who has rescued us, but still we long for the time when we no longer see God “through a glass, darkly” but “face to face” (1 Cor. 16:22b).

Apply

Thank God that one day, all that which is now strange or troubling will be made clear.

Closing prayer

Lord, as I come before You today, I desire purity of heart, integrity of life, and a deep love for You and for all those around me.

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