Psalm 65:4 is a launching pad. It launches me toward a couple of other passages that I find continually both encouraging and challenging, Psalm 27:4 and Psalm 84:10. Additionally, 65:4 reminds me of the “chosen” thread in 1 Peter.
Here the Psalmist is challenging us to rejoice in the fact that we are chosen by God. When confronted by this notion my experience is that is not the initial reaction of most people. Most of us seem to become, for lack of a better word, defensive. We are not willing to cede choice to God. We view that idea as offensive, after all choice is ours is it not?
Paul did not seem to think so.
In Romans 8 - 11 he clearly sets out that the choice is not ours but God’s.
The negative reactions that we have seem to come from an ingrained fierce independence. I wonder if that fierce independence is a result of the fall. I wonder if that fierce commitment to doing our own thing is that from which Christ came to redeem us. Paul called that state of fierce independence slavery to sin in Romans 6.
Perhaps what is happening in Psalm 65 is that the psalmist is suggesting we praise God for choosing to save us from ourselves…
Paul did not seem to think so.
In Romans 8 - 11 he clearly sets out that the choice is not ours but God’s.
The negative reactions that we have seem to come from an ingrained fierce independence. I wonder if that fierce independence is a result of the fall. I wonder if that fierce commitment to doing our own thing is that from which Christ came to redeem us. Paul called that state of fierce independence slavery to sin in Romans 6.
Perhaps what is happening in Psalm 65 is that the psalmist is suggesting we praise God for choosing to save us from ourselves…
This is surely one of the (if not the) most difficult teachings of Scripture (which is honestly impossible to deny; it's everywhere. And the implications are nothing less than stunning and critical to our relationship with God itself. I cannot grasp that I can only live by faith IF I grasp this reality. Otherwise my salvation ultimately depends either in my fortunate circumstances (I was born into a godly family in the United States and surrounded by an atmosphere where the Good News was prominent with uncounted opportunities to accept it), or some quality of mine that made me receptive, or even worse (and generally accepted) that it's something particular that I did.
ReplyDeleteThis battle has only raged for 2000 years so far, and I see no end of it - given who we are.