Needs (felt or real) drive desire. Desperate need really drives desire.
From mid 2001 into mid 2003 I worked as a diaconal pastor in a poorer urban residential church. A large part of my work went into planning, developing, and coordinating a mobile food pantry. The mobile food pantry was of a converted soda-pop truck that would come to us from Second Harvest Gleaners. We would open the roll-up doors and the sides of the soda-pop trailer, and each slot became a grocery bin filled with cast-off produce and past-date food goods. Those who needed the groceries would gather for a devotional, grab a box and, form a single file line, and then file around the trailer filling their box with much needed food. Rain, snow, sleet, or sweltering heat, nearly a hundred people would gather on Saturday afternoons for food. Even though we scheduled the mobile food pantry for a two hours, most times, we could distribute 10,000 lbs of food in about a half an hour (after 45 minutes all the eatable food was gone). While I was working as a pastor for this church, an agnostic acquaintance heard about the mobile food pantry and commented to me at a social gathering:
“What you’re doing is some radically important stuff man. I mean, I couldn’t do what you’re doing – I’m impressed. You know some people just need religion and church and all that kind of stuff. If it weren’t for guys like you and churches like yours people who need that kind of thing wouldn’t have a place to go to get their needs met. Some people just need you and the whole Christian thing. I’m glad there are some people who can make use of religion and all that.”
Implied in his comments (as flattering as they were intended to be) was the belief that he didn’t really need God, the Christian faith, or the church. This acquaintance had a great job, a lot of money, a nice house, great health, a well off family, some cool friends, etc. He didn’t seem to have any real needs that he didn’t think that couldn’t make up for on his own or with the slight help of his family and friends. In his mind, God, Jesus, Christianity, and church are for those other people in life who need something extra to help them to get buy in life. How about you? Do you desperately need God or is God just an added bonus in life?
In Psalm 120 we will see that everyone is in dire need of God and his deliverance, and a realization of this dire need for God begins our approach to worship. As we saw in the previous blog posting, the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120—134) were sung as prayers in anticipation or preparation for worship. Upon first reading, Psalm 120 may not seem like a sung prayer that would particularly prepare someone for worship. But, upon closer reading, we will see that this Psalm sets off our preparation for worship by highlighting our need for God who is the center of our worship. Let’s take a closer look at Psalm 120.
“In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.” (v. 1)
To begin with, a simple observation, in the Psalmist distress he calls upon the LORD. As simple as this observation may be, all too often, when we are distressed, we call upon anything or anyone but God. When we find ourselves emotionally distressed, we quickly call upon our family and friends for deliverance. When we find ourselves financially distressed, we rapidly call upon any stream of income we can find. When we feel distressed over our self worth, we call upon our education, career, or our social circle. When we find ourselves socio-politically distressed, we call upon the government or a political party for deliverance. If we find ourselves distressed, we will find someone or something to call upon. And, it is not that family, friends, finances, education, career, or government are not to help us in times of need. It is important that our primary plea it so God, and that any assistance, aid, or help we receive in times of need is seen as coming from God’s hand (James ). In your distress, do you call out to God first and foremost?
So, what sort of distress is it that has prompted the Psalmist to call out to the LORD?
“Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. . . Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!” (vv. 2, 5—7)
In a culture that tries to convince school children that “sticks and stone may break bones but words can never hurt,” the issue in this Psalm may leave you wondering, “What kind of hyper-sensitive basket-case would get distressed over lies and slander?” Well, we all know that words do effect us, and speech has consequences. In fact, a basic observation of history shows us that lies and deceit have almost always predicated actual violence. Lies can lead to murder; propaganda fuels world wars; and deception has promulgated genocide. According to Jesus, even seemingly innocuous mocking speech is murderous (Matt ). And, in Psalm 120 we see the explicit connection between deception and war. We could re-work the tired old clichéd children’s rhyme into something like, “Words can do exceptional harm, and all too often they lead to bones that are broken by sticks and stones.”
Now, just in case we are tempted to see this as a personal problem of an isolated individual who can’t handle himself in this cruel world, Psalm 120 makes it clear that this is a problem of everyone who believes in God. The reference to Meshech and Kedar provides us with an image of the Jews’ position in the heart of the ancient near-eastern world. Meshech and Kedar are two geographically separate people. The people of Meshech lived on the south side of the Black Sea , well north of Judea (Ezekiel 27:13). The people of Kedar were descendants of Ishmael who lived nomadically in the Arabian Desert to the south of Judea (Genesis 25:13). Instead of describing an actual situation in which the Psalmist was in a camp together with the people from Meshech and Kedar, this reference is most likely intended to be inclusive of gentiles as a whole. And, most vividly, this is not a picture of an individual who has found himself in trouble; this is a picture of the Jewish people as a whole surrounded by people who slanderously intend them harm. Psalm 120 is about so much more than a particular individual who happens to be slandered for his belief; Psalm 120 is about the predicament that all of God’s people find themselves as aliens and sojourners in this world.
So, how does the Psalmist anticipate the LORD to deliver him from the lying lips and deceitful tongues of those around him?
“What shall be given to you [liars and deceivers], and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? A warrior’s sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree!” (vv. 3—4)
The Psalmist’s expectations are simple and straightforward, he expects those with deceitful tongues to be utterly destroyed. The arrows anticipate death and the burning coals of the broom tree anticipate an all consuming fire. Utter destruction.
Well now, before we come to the conclusion that Psalm 120 is about how God helps us poor decent folk with those amorphous other people who are deceitful and violent, we need to read Psalm 120 in light of Romans 3 and Isaiah 6.
Romans 3 stuns us by bluntly saying:
“None is righteous, no, not one; . . . Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongue to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes . . . for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:10b, 13—18, 23)
Romans 3 makes it very clear that we are the ones with lying lips and deceitful tongues in Psalm 120. We are the people of Meshech and Kedar who call for war as opposed to the one who is for peace. When we read Psalm 120, if we are honest about ourselves, we should cry out along with Isaiah, “Woe is me! For I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5).
Ouch, how does this Psalm provide any hope or comfort? There is no hope or comfort in Psalm 120 apart from Christ, for that matter, there is no hope or comfort in any of the Psalms apart from Christ. Now then, here is the hope in Psalm 120. Ultimately, this Psalm is a prophecy of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the ultimate sojourner who left the throne room of heaven to pitch his tent and dwell among us (John ). Despite the honor of having the Son of God living in our midst, we didn’t receive him (John ). We were God’s enemies. And:
“While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, not that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Chris, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:10—11)
The one who was the ultimate victim of lies and deceit was Jesus Christ who was executed on a Roman cross after of being falsely charged in a fixed trial. On top of that, Jesus was abandoned by his disciples, and one of his closest disciples even lied about knowing Jesus in front of Jesus’ face. The person of truth in Psalm 120 is Jesus Christ who is “the way the truth and the life” (John 14:6). The person of peace in Psalm 120 is Jesus Christ who is the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6—7). The one who finds deliverance from lying lips and deceitful tongues in Psalm 120 is Christ Jesus; and the only hope we have in Psalm 120 is that our lives are hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3; Ephesians 2:1—10).
So, what does this have to do with anticipation and preparation for worship? Needs (felt or real) drive desire. Desperate need really drives desire. Beyond that, when our dire needs are met, gratitude becomes and irresistible driving force in our lives. When we deserved to be consumed, God met our deepest dire need and reconciled us to himself in Christ Jesus. This humbling reality ought to transform our attitude toward worship from a mere option into a delight. Our attitude toward worship should shift from “what ever” to “I can’t wait to join with other to thank God for what he has done for us.” Worship is no longer a burdensome legalism we have to do in order to earn some favor with God. Instead, we are propelled into worship by an insatiable gratitude. This grateful delight is the first step in our anticipation and preparation for worship.
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