Take Up My Cross

Ever heard the phrase "Christians are intolerant?" Ever seen it play out in society? The truth is, Christians often believe that theirs is a religion that comes with many rules. It starts in Genesis, where God commands Adam not to eat from the particular trees. The story famously moves on to Moses who receives 10 commandments on the mountain. Then we have entire books stuffed with law - Deuteronomy, Numbers, Leviticus. We have punishment after punishment given out on those who break the law, and this comes up to the time of Jesus. In John 8, the people bring a adulteress before Jesus to ask if they should stone her, as according to the law. Jesus ignores them at first, then finally tells them - "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." Sure enough, nobody throws anything and they leave eventually. Jesus too, forgives her, and tells her to sin no more. Well, what have we learnt out of this example? 1. Judgement belongs...

Verses 1 - 7 are a description of David's enemies and his plea to God to deliver him because of who God is Verses 8 - 10 are a description of God's character Verses 11 - 13 describe the action David hopes for God to take Verses 14 - 15 repeat verse 1-7 Verses 16 and 17 are about God's character again. Written in a ABCAB structure - repeating certain elements. If I don't remember wrongly in Hebrew this places an emphasis on the unrepeated verses - 11-13. But key points are here: God's character makes Him judge. God, being righteous, being the God of all the earth, cannot and will not let sin go unpunished God is our Strength, our fortress, and His steadfast love in particular is our source of hope. God's judgement shows the world that God is ruler of all. This is the emphasized point, and this links to the previous Psalm's themes as well. Application: We need a clear understanding of God's character to truly understand His reasons for ...

Okay I skipped a lot. Been very inconsistent. Been terribly slow. Been stuck at the same Psalm since forever. Gotta say it's a lot with the way I am. Impatient. Searching for new answers. It's a struggle to read Psalms (which are grouped thematically) because sequential ones just sound the same over and over again. But hey, here goes the next try to restart this. And I want to write them - because writing is where I understand. Verses 1-5 deal with the condition of the authorities of men - the "gods" that David spites. He marks them as decreeing evil, of unjust judgement, of violence on earth. He labels them venomous and reviling for many reasons. Verses 6 to 9 then talk about his prayer for God's judgement against these people. The imagery is also very strong - breaking their teeth, tearing out the fangs of the young lions, to be like stillborn children who never see the sun. Finally verses 10 and 11 speak of the rejoicing that comes with the judgemen...