Thursday, July 27, 2017

Challenge and Comfort in Psalm 10


The church we are attending has a Scripture reading each Sunday. We are currently reading through the Psalms: the reader will read a verse, the congregation reads the next and so on through the selected portion. The pastor must have decided to limit the readings to ten or eleven verses or else that is what will fit in the bulletin because that is about the length of each reading. The only downside to this is many Psalms have to be divided, even a short psalm like Psalm 10. So we read the first eleven verses and have to wait until next week for the rest of the story.

Psalm 10 opens with a bang, Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? And the next ten verses present a lament, a complaint even. In the second half of the Psalm David finds comfort in the Lord, but we didn’t see that! I was struck by that and commented on the first verse and then mentioned the resolution in the last few verses as I began my sermon. Let’s take a quick look at the whole Psalm and see the challenge and the comfort.

Challenge to faith 1-11
1 Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
This is a haunting verse. And if we’re honest, we have uttered this question. Spurgeon commented, “It is not the trouble, but the hiding of our Father's face, which cuts us to the quick."

Then, in verses 2-11, he describes the wicked man and it is enlightening to see what God highlights as wickedness. “There is not, in my judgment, a Psalm which describes the mind, the manners, the works, the words, the feelings, and the fate of the ungodly with so much propriety, fulness, and light, as this Psalm.” (Luther)

2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.
10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.

What are the sins of the wicked? Pride. Persecuting and oppressing the poor. Boasting. Blessing the covetous. (And notice, the Lord abhors the covetous.)  He does not seek God or think about Him. Cursing, deceit, fraud, mischief, and vanity. God is not in his thoughts, but when he does think of God he says, God hath forgotten; he will never see it.

There are times when men like this prevail and oppress the poor and innocent. The righteous cry and nothing happens. No wonder David asks, Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

The comfort of faith 12-18
12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
14 Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
Here is the prayer of the righteous, "Arise and forget not."

Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? Contemn is an old word, it means to scorn or despise. The wicked do not think about God often, yet when they do it is to despise and scorn him, he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. "I can do what I want, He won’t do a thing about it."

Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
But the righteous knows in his heart, God has seen it and will take up the cause of the poor and defenseless. Break the arm of the wicked. Break his strength and power; bring an end to his oppression.

16 The Lord is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
17 Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.
Amen! The Lord is King for ever. I may not see his outstretched arm right now, the wicked may say, God has forgotten, but it is not true. He is King. He is Lord. He is God. He sits on the throne. The end of the wicked is sure. The King has heard the desire of the humble, he will judge the fatherless and the oppressed.

David began with the heavy notes of despair and ends with joyful confidence in the Lord who is King for ever. My King hath not forgotten! He will hear our prayer! He will rescue us! Justice and righteousness will be seen on the earth.

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

The importance of warming up


We picked up my grandson Ryan so he could spend a week with us. That was last Friday and we’ve been busy.

Monday morning we went to a local park with baseball fields so we could play catch. To our dismay we found all four fields padlocked and inaccessible, but then we discovered the batting cages. And they were unlocked! We availed ourselves of this boon – I pitched while he practiced batting left handed. Lot of fun. Then in the afternoon we tossed the ball for a while. Good day.

Tuesday morning we headed back to the batting cages. We went straight to work. I threw the first pitch. And it hurt! My shoulder that is. I tossed another one. Man! (I should take a moment to explain – my left shoulder hurt last year and I came oh so close to having surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. Insurance denied the surgery and I took steroid pills which seemed to work wonders, the pain in my left shoulder is almost non-existent. Now my right shoulder is giving me trouble and this was the shoulder that was hurting.) Ryan noticed my pain and said, “We can go back home.” Very thoughtful, but I replied, “No way!” Then he suggested we warm up first.

What a novel idea and great suggestion! (You see, in my head I’m still 25-30 years old and undamaged.) We got closer together and began to toss the ball back a forth. At first it hurt, but as we continued to toss the ball the pain went away. I backed up a few steps and continued to toss the ball. A couple more steps back and so on until I was at the spot where I would be pitching. Arm limbered up, no pain, ready to go. Which we did.

This shows the importance of warming up. Of course, I’m having to take a non-steroid anti-inflammatory to alleviate the pain in my shoulder, but I can still pitch if I warm up properly!!

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Why did you ever leave?

Mary invited a friend to go with her to see The King and I in Charlotte. When she and her daughter got here, they came in the front door, then they all headed out the back door for Mary’s car. They saw my banana trees and the daughter said, “Look, Mom, banana trees!” I said, “Yeah, I used to live in Hawai’i.” She asked, “Why did you ever leave?”

Why did I ever leave Hawai’i? That’s a good question and I actually have a good answer. As I told her, “I was in high school and my mom decided to leave.”

Now for the rest of the story.

We moved to Hawai’i when I was in the 3rd grade. Our first residence was The Round Hotel (the official name is The Circle Hotel), located right on Prince Kuhio Beach in Waikiki.


We moved into a little apartment in Honolulu and I finished 3rd grade at Queen Liliuokalani Elementary School.


After the school year we moved to Kahaluu and I went to 4th grade there. At the end of the school year we moved again, this time to Kaneohe. We lived here the rest of our time in Hawai’i. I went to elementary and intermediate school (5th-8th grade) in Kaneohe, then 9th through 11th grade in Kailua. My junior year in high school my Dad got really sick and eventually took his life.

I remember the day the landlord came and explained to my Mother that he would be raising the rent. Mother told us we could not afford this increase so we would be moving back to the mainland. I was stunned. Devastated. And determined not to move. I left home.

I found a job that offered housing and moved out. I can’t recall what the job entailed. I worked that first day and then we all returned to this guy’s house. There were maybe three or four other men there. Here I was, fresh out of my junior year in high school, working and living with grown men. Strange grown men. That first night, oh my! Next morning I decided it would be better to go back home and move to the mainland.

We held a yard sale, sold as much of our stuff as we could, and boarded a plane bound for Nashville, TN. And that’s why I left Hawai’i.

But think about it:

The Round Hotel
Prince Kuhio Beach
Waikiki
Queen Liliuokalani Elementary School
Kahaluu
Kaneohe
Kapunahala Elementary School
Kailua

Pretty cool stuff! That’s what I think about when I look at my banana trees.