Greetings to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was so excited to do a whole long post about how deer hunting is actually Biblical. I was reading Deuteronomy 12 this morning and twice, God gives them permission to eat meat freely. His example is: "as the gazelle and deer are eaten!" Twice, the Lord uses deer hunting as an example that His people can eat meat. See deer hunting is Biblical. Hopefully this is enough to convince my mother to stop praying for the deer every time I go hunting. I was dreaming this morning about deer hunting, have been talking to several guys about ground to hunt on; I am thoroughly ready to be out in the woods with my gun!! And then this verse comes along and I am even more excited. Just then, I read an extra resource on the psalm for the day and that hope of deer hunting was quickly replaced. I mean I am still super excited to go hunting, but my priorities were set straight again as the brilliance of Psalm 114 was revealed to me in my reading. Psalm 114 is pretty awesome on its own as you read it. Talking about oceans and rivers fleeing, mountains and hills jumping like sheep, definitely catches your attention. However, I thought this was merely pointing to creation being under God's power and control. My first thought was that this psalm is speaking about the creation demonstrating a "fear of the Lord" style worship. Boy was I wrong. Patrick Henry Reardon wrote an awesome book called Christ in the Psalms. I try to read this every day with the psalm of the day, because he normally has some pretty awesome thoughts to add to each psalm. Today might have been the best one yet though. Reardon explains not only what Psalm 114 is getting at, but how it uses Hebrew poetry so masterfully. By repeating similar ideas twice, Hebrew poetry gets the reader to slow down and think about what he or she is reading. (My idea from yesterday's blog). So you see the repetition in the Judah/Israel, sea/Jordan, mountains/hills. These are meant to have you really think about what you are reading. However, here is the really cool part that I don't know if I would have ever come to on my own understanding, this psalm is speaking about the history of the exodus. The sea and the Jordan are the two ends of the time period. From the time they crossed the Red Sea until they reached the Jordan, the people of Israel and Judah were wondering in the desert. What was significant things in that history period? Oh mountains as in Mt. Sinai, and water flowing from rocks in the desert to give His people water to drink. You see, the mountains and hills are solid and immovable, but when God is present they go jumping like sheep. The earth trembles as God shows His people so many powerful signs of Himself being present on the mountain and water flowing from rocks, as the people travel from sea to river.
And then how does this relate to us? Well if Jesus is seen as the new Israel being brought out of slavery, then the life of the church is represented by their wandering in the desert waiting to reach the promised land. So this is a psalm that directly correlates to us as the life of the church. If this psalm was to be tweaked to fit our exact situation today, it would be about Christ redeeming us from the bondage of sin instead of the slavery of Egypt. Instead of Israel and Judah, it would be the new Israel of all Christian believers. Instead of the sea and the Jordan, it would be the empty tomb/place of Christ's ascension to His second coming (whatever place that will be). It could still be mountains and hills jumping like sheep. However, instead of water flowing from rocks, it could be baptismal waters flowing from His Word or body and blood being in, with, and under the bread and the wine. However, it would still be the same joyous psalm of praising God for His work of redeeming, providing for and being with His people. Just as much as the Israelites and Judahites had to be thankful for God bringing them up out of Egypt, providing them with water from rocks, and being with them as the mountains shook; we are thankful that God brought us out of sin, provided spiritual water of cleansing, and His presence as the kingdom shakes with His grace. Maybe it is just because I am a psalm nerd, but I was so fascinated with this new way of looking at Psalm 114 I almost (almost being the key word) forgot all about deer hunting. Which is really OK, because God's Word should be the joy and highlight of my day, even more than thinking about hunting. So feel free to pray Psalm 114 slowly, reflecting on it, with the idea in mind that this is our psalm as thanks just as it was this psalmists psalm of thanks for the mighty wonders God does for His people.
No comments:
Post a Comment