Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope. (Matthew 12.18 – 21, ESV, Jesus quoting from Isaiah 42)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5.1 – 5, ESV)

We come to Psalm 130 in our journey through the Psalms of Ascent.

• Help, GOD—the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy.
• If you, GOD, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped.
• I pray to GOD—my life a prayer— and wait for what he’ll say and do. My life’s on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning.
• O Israel, wait and watch for GOD— with GOD’s arrival comes love, with GOD’s arrival comes generous redemption. No doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel, buy back Israel from captivity to sin. (1 – 8)

“Wait and watch for GOD.” A fitting introduction to Advent, which starts tomorrow.

Peterson opens with the observation that “To be human is to be in trouble.”

Help, GOD—the bottom has fallen out of my life! (Psalm 130.1, MSG)

…man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. (Job 5.7, ESV)

He writes:

We live in a culture that wants to do away with suffering or pretend that it doesn’t exist. But Psalm 130 is an affirmation that “…suffering is real; God is real.” But Peterson continues:

Peterson talks about “waiting and watching” in terms of being a night watchman. He worked as one for a year…

But I never did anything, never constructed anything, never made anything happen. I waited and watched. I hoped…The psalmist’s and the Christian’s waiting and watching—that is, hoping—is based on the conviction that God is actively involved in his creation and vigorously at work in redemption.

Hoping does not mean doing nothing…It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions…

And hoping is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion or fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain. It means a confident, alert expectation that God will do what what he said he will do…in his way and in his time.

Tomorrow begins Advent Season, and the First Sunday of Advent has been designated “Hope.” It gives new meaning to Psalm 130’s nearly last words:

O Israel, wait and watch for GOD— with GOD’s arrival comes love, with GOD’s arrival comes generous redemption. (Psalm 130.7, MSG)

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4.4, 5, ESV)

We move to Psalm 129:

• “They’ve kicked me around ever since I was young” —this is how Israel tells it— “They’ve kicked me around ever since I was young, but they never could keep me down. Their plowmen plowed long furrows up and down my back; Then GOD ripped the harnesses of the evil plowmen to shreds.”
• Oh, let all those who hate Zion grovel in humiliation; Let them be like grass in shallow ground that withers before the harvest, Before the farmhands can gather it in, the harvesters get in the crop, Before the neighbors have a chance to call out, “Congratulations on your wonderful crop! We bless you in GOD’s name!” (1 – 8)

There will always be “us” and “them.” I’ve been “out of it” my whole life. Some of it from excessive legalism, but not all. Couldn’t go to movies with my friends when I was young. Couldn’t join in with the foul language at ROTC summer camp (some of the worst I’ve heard). Couldn’t do the crazy things my fellow Air Force officers did when they were drunk (I always left those parties early). “They’ve kicked me around…”

Eugene Peterson says that Psalm 129 is about Perseverance.

Yep. We persist in the face of various kinds of persecution.

Peterson says that when he was growing up he flitted from one interest to another. His mother would say:

He continues:

Paul persevered. See 2 Corinthians 11.23 – 29.

The writer of Hebrews called for perseverance:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12.1 – 3, ESV)

Yes, it’s still on despite retailers’ attempts to quash it. The Family Circus comic of November 15 shows mom walking into a store with the four kids. The store is already decorated for Christmas, and one of the kids said:

Aren’t they going to have Thanksgiving this year, Mommy?

Yes, “they” are, at least we are. We celebrated with sons Mark and Matt and their families last Saturday. We finally decided there are too many moving parts with in-laws and exes to try to squeeze in their Thanksgiving on the day. June and I are having Thanksgiving dinner at a nice restaurant tonight.

Clockwise around the table beginning with Mark, farthest away: Mark, Kesley, June, Bob, Matt, Amber, Emerson (8)

And ought not every day be Thanksgiving Day, anyway?

• Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever.
• Give thanks to the God of gods,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever.
• Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever;
• to him who alone does great wonders,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever;
• to him who by understanding made the heavens,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever;
• to him who spread out the earth above the waters,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever;
• to him who made the great lights,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever;
• the sun to rule over the day,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever;
• the moon and stars to rule over the night,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever;
• …It is he who remembered us in our low estate,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever;
• and rescued us from our foes,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever;
• he who gives food to all flesh,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever.
• Give thanks to the God of heaven,
  • for his steadfast love endures forever. (Psalm 136, ESV)

PS Sahil Bloom posted a lovely Thanksgiving meditation centered around:

What did your younger self pray for that you take for granted today?

It’s worth the read in its entirety.

Continuing with the Psalms of Ascent, we come to 128:

• All you who fear GOD, how blessed you are! how happily you walk on his smooth straight road! You worked hard and deserve all you’ve got coming. Enjoy the blessing! Revel in the goodness!
• Your wife will bear children as a vine bears grapes, your household lush as a vineyard, The children around your table as fresh and promising as young olive shoots. Stand in awe of God’s Yes. Oh, how he blesses the one who fears GOD!
• Enjoy the good life in Jerusalem every day of your life. And enjoy your grandchildren. Peace to Israel! (Psalm 128.1 – 6, MSG)

I said yesterday that both psalms 127 and 128 contain positive comments about the family. Here’s the promise from Psalm 128:

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. (Psalm 128.3, ESV)

Eugene Peterson’s take? Psalm 128 is about Happiness. He opens:

He continues:

Summarizing:

Blessing is the word that describes this happy state of affairs.

Jesus’ most famous sermon starts with the “beatitudes:” “Blessed are…” Eight of them. (Matthew 5.1 – 10)

Enjoying God and the good life presumes that we are walking the road he intended for us. Peterson concludes:

The psalms open with the same idea:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1.1, 2, ESV)

We come to Psalm 127 in our Psalms of Ascent, long a favorite of mine, and, I’ll confess, I didn’t associate it with the Ascent psalms. I memorized it in KJV decades ago:

• Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
• It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows: For so he giveth his beloved sleep.
• Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: And the fruit of the womb is his reward.
• As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; So are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:
• They shall not be ashamed, But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127.1 – 5, KJV)

Three uses of “vain” in the first two verses: my work is in vain if the LORD isn’t in it. Then three positive verses on the family: “Happy is the man whose quiver is full of children.” There are more positive verses on the family in Psalm 128. Stay tuned.

Here’s The Message:

• If GOD doesn’t build the house, the builders only build shacks. If GOD doesn’t guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap. It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?
• Don’t you see that children are GOD’s best gift? the fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don’t stand a chance against you; you’ll sweep them right off your doorstep. (Psalm 127, MSG)

Peterson deals with two extremes on our perspective on work.

• Babel

The greatest work project of the ancient world is a story of disaster. The unexcelled organization and enormous energy that were concentrated in building the Tower of Babel resulted in such a shattered community and garbled communication that civilization is still trying to recover. Effort, even if the effort is religious (perhaps especially when the effort is religious), does not in itself justify anything.

• Buddha

Eastern culture…manifests a deep-rooted pessimism regarding human effort. Since all work is tainted with selfishness and pride, the solution is to withdraw from all activity into pure being. The symbol of such an attitude is the Buddha—an enormous fat person sitting cross-legged, looking at his own navel. Motionless, inert, quiet. All trouble comes from doing too much; therefore do nothing. Step out of the rat race.

Peterson said there were people in Paul’s Thessalonica like that, and Paul had to address the problem:

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you…For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. (2 Thessalonians 3.6 – 11, ESV)

Peterson goes on to say that work with the right perspective is a good thing. I’ve made that point many times, most recently a little over a week ago.

The premise of the psalm for all work is that God works: “If GOD doesn’t build the house . . . If GOD doesn’t guard the city . . .” The condition if presupposes that God does work: he builds; he guards…The Bible begins with the announcement “In the beginning God created”—not “sat majestic in the heavens,” not “was filled with beauty and love.” He created. He did something. He made something. He fashioned heaven and earth. The week of creation was a week of work. The days are described not by their weather conditions and not by their horoscope readings: Genesis 1 is a journal of work. We live in a universe and in a history where God is working.

And he concludes by pointing out that the most productive “work” we do – reproduction – doesn’t feel like work at all!

Don’t you see that children are GOD’s best gift? the fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! (Psalm 127.3, 4, MSG)

We continue our journey through Psalms of Ascent. Today, Psalm 126:

It seemed like a dream, too good to be true, when GOD returned Zion’s exiles. We laughed, we sang, we couldn’t believe our good fortune. We were the talk of the nations— “GOD was wonderful to them!” GOD was wonderful to us; we are one happy people.

And now, GOD, do it again— bring rains to our drought-stricken lives So those who planted their crops in despair will shout hurrahs at the harvest, So those who went off with heavy hearts will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing. (1 – 6)

Growing up I was taught to quote verse 6 in the context of “soul-winning.” (You go out weeping for the lost and carrying the gospel and come home with the fruit – new believers!)

He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalm 126.6, ESV)

So I, fixated on weeping, wondered what what Peterson’s theme would be… Duh, read the text! It’s JOY!

• We laughed, we sang, we couldn’t believe our good fortune.
• We are one happy people.
• Those who went off with heavy hearts will come home laughing.

The fruit of the Spirit is…joy. (Galatians 5.22, ESV)

Our former Pastor, Dave Jordan-Irwin, who passed a little over a year ago from pancreatic cancer epitomized joy. From our first meeting, laughing over jokes in the Babylon Bee and Wittenburg Door to his last public appearance, he radiated joy.

Dave Jordan-Irwin greets June at a receiving line at his last public appearance.

Ironically, Dave was a Presbyterian pastor, a tribe erroneously known for no joy. Eugene Peterson, another Presbyterian pastor, opens his Psalm 126 homily this way:

Ellen Glasgow, in her autobiography, tells of her father who was a Presbyterian elder, full of rectitude and rigid with duty: “He was entirely unselfish, and in his long life he never committed a pleasure.” Peter Jay, in a political column in the Baltimore Sun, described the sober intensity and personal austerities of one of our Maryland politicians and then threw in this line: “He dresses like a Presbyterian.”

I know there are Christians, so-called, who never crack a smile and who can’t abide a joke, and I suppose Presbyterians contribute their quota. But I don’t meet very many of them. The stereotype as such is a big lie created, presumably, by the devil. One of the delightful discoveries along the way of Christian discipleship is how much enjoyment there is, how much laughter you hear, how much sheer fun you find.

Peterson clarifies for the benefit of those who for whatever reason don’t experience joy. (Another pastor I had once talked about “summer Christians” and “winter Christians.” He was definitely a “winter,” consumed with the trials of people he counseled all week long.) Peterson writes:

Joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship, it is a consequence. It is not what we have to acquire in order to experience life in Christ; it is what comes to us when we are walking in the way of faith and obedience…We cannot make ourselves joyful. Joy cannot be commanded, purchased or arranged. But there is something we can do. We can decide to live in response to the abundance of God and not under the dictatorship of our own poor needs. We can decide to live in the environment of a living God and not our own dying selves. We can decide to center ourselves in the God who generously gives and not in our own egos which greedily grab. One of the certain consequences of such a life is joy, the kind expressed in Psalm 126.

Amen.

I wrote about the Northern Lights twice last year. I missed them in May, and I missed them again in October, blogging about them almost exactly one year ago. But a few days ago, the evening of Veteran’s Day, I received a text from my son Mark at 7:30p: “Northern lights visible from my house.” He’s only 10 minutes away, but before we drove up there, we decided to find out if we could see them from here.

Our house faces north, so we just walked out the front door. There are a few small street lights in our little gated community, so we walked past those, and there they were: a faint red glow to the naked eye. But much brighter to the camera!

I’m 78 years old, and that’s my first view of the Northern Lights for myself. I would have missed it if Mark hadn’t alerted me. I’d be reading stories about it instead.

Tomorrow, I’ll be conducting training for pastors from two different churches on how to lead The Navigators’ 2:7 Series, a discipleship tool for church people, many of whom have never seen the “Northern Lights” for themselves. The highlight for me in leading this course is watching people read the Bible and hear from God directly for the first time. A lot of believers gather faithfully every Sunday to hear their pastors share what God told them from the Word. Many even read the Bible at home without “listening for God.“

We teach them during the first meeting how to read the Bible and hear directly from God, and the excitement at the second meeting is palpable. The light is there. Someone just needs to point people to it.

The entrance of your words gives light… (Psalm 119.130, NKJV)

I mentioned yesterday that Eugene Peterson addressed backsliding in his meditation on Psalm 125. He concluded that it’s possible but it’s not accidental. His opening two stories are worth looking at. Here’s the first:

Backslider was a basic word in the religious vocabulary I learned as I grew up. Exempla were on display throughout the town: people who had made a commitment of faith to our Lord, had been active in our little church but had lost their footing on the ascent to Christ and backslid. My uncle Oscar was a backslider. He had been a warm, ardent Christian. In his middle years, on the basis of a mere wisp of rumor, he acquired hundreds of acres of useless land. Not long afterward the Department of the Interior decided to build a hydroelectric dam on that land. Suddenly my uncle was a rich man. The excitement of making money got into his blood; attendance at worship became infrequent. He became impatient with his children and with me, his nephew. His work habits became compulsive. That was when I first heard backslider applied to someone I knew. He died of high blood pressure and a heart attack. Everyone in his family visibly relaxed.

Uncle Oscar was, unfortunately, a backslider as were Templeton and Ehrman that I wrote about over two years ago. But Peterson told another personal story that starts this way:

Two girls, older than I, whom I very much admired, attractive and vivacious, went away to college. They returned for vacation wearing brighter lipstick and shorter skirts. From the pew in front of me on a Sunday morning I heard the stage whispers between two grandmotherly types: “Do you think they have backslidden?”

What do you think? Had the girls “backslidden” as evidenced by brighter lipstick and shorter skirts? With characteristic dry humor, Peterson continues:

One became a pastor’s wife, the other a missionary with her husband in Africa.

So, no. We need to be careful not to judge people for the wrong things.

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”

He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. (Matthew 15.1 – 6, ESV)

We are continuing through the Psalms of Ascent, guided largely by the thoughts of Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. We come to Psalm 125, and the theme – Security – is obvious to the casual observer:

Those who trust in GOD are like Zion Mountain: Nothing can move it, a rock-solid mountain you can always depend on. Mountains encircle Jerusalem, and GOD encircles his people— always has and always will. The fist of the wicked will never violate What is due the righteous, provoking wrongful violence. Be good to your good people, GOD, to those whose hearts are right! GOD will round up the backsliders, corral them with the incorrigibles. Peace over Israel! (1 – 5)

My first thought was Psalm 34.7:

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. (ESV)

Peterson emphasizes security in walking with God:

The emphasis of Psalm 125 is not on the precariousness of the Christian life but on its solidity. Living as a Christian is not walking a tightrope without a safety net high above a breathless crowd, many of whom would like nothing better than the morbid thrill of seeing you fall; it is sitting secure in a fortress. The psalm uses familiar geography to demonstrate the truth:

Those who trust in GOD are like Zion Mountain: Nothing can move it, a rock-solid mountain you can always depend on. Mountains encircle Jerusalem, and GOD encircles his people— always has and always will. (Psalm 125.1, 2, MSG)

…People of faith have the same needs for protection and security as anyone else. We are no better than others in that regard. What is different is that we find that we don’t have to build our own: “God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him” (Ps 46:1).

I like his take on “backsliding,” a term I, like Peterson, heard a lot growing up. He includes the word in his translation of Psalm 125.5:

GOD will round up the backsliders…

The term appears in the standard translations in Jeremiah (2.19, 3.22, 15.6) and Ezekiel 37.23.

Peterson writes about whether permanent backsliding, “defection,” is possible:

The third threat to the confidence promised to the Christian is the known possibility of defection. The general truth under which the Christian lives in this regard is “once saved always saved.” Once you are a Christian there is no getting out of it. It is a nonnegotiable contract. Once you have signed you cannot become a free agent again, no matter what the commissioner or the Supreme Court rules.

However true that is generally, and I think it is, there are exceptions. It would seem that if God will not force us to faith in the first place, he will not keep us against our will finally. Falling away is possible. We know of Judas. We know of Hymenaeus and Alexander, who “made shipwreck of their faith” (see 1 Tim 1:19-20). These are the ones described in the psalm as “the backsliders.”The way of discipleship gets difficult; they see an opening through the trees that promises a softer, easier path. Distracted and diverted, they slip off and never return.

I wrote about two modern-day examples in Beliefs and Doubts. But such defection does not occur accidentally. Peterson writes:

If it is possible to defect, how do I know that I won’t—or even worse, that I haven’t? How do I know that I have not already lost faith, especially during times when I am depressed or have one calamity after another piled on me?

Such insinuated insecurities need to be confronted directly and plainly. It is not possible to drift unconsciously from faith to perdition. We wander like lost sheep, true; but God is a faithful shepherd who pursues us relentlessly. We have our ups and downs…but he is faithful. We break our promises, but he doesn’t break his. Discipleship is not a contract in which if we break our part of the agreement he is free to break his; it is a covenant in which he establishes the conditions and guarantees the results.

Certainly you may quit if you wish. You may say no to God…But it is not the kind of thing you fall into by chance or slip into by ignorance. Defection requires a deliberate, sustained and determined act of rejection.

Psalm 125 is about Security. Peterson concludes:

…the last sentence is “Peace over Israel!” A colloquial, but in the context accurate, translation would be “Relax.” We are secure. God is running the show. Neither our feelings of depression nor the facts of suffering nor the possibilities of defection are evidence that God has abandoned us. There is nothing more certain than that he will accomplish his salvation in our lives and perfect his will in our histories. Three times in his great Sermon, Jesus, knowing how easily we imagine the worst, repeats the reassuring command “Do not be anxious” (Mt 6:25, 31, 34 RSV). Our life with God is a sure thing.

The Apostle Paul was clear:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1.6, ESV)