Joe Satriani, "God Is Crying", Holy Week, and the Attributes of God

Recently, I have been listening to Joe Satriani’s latest album “Black Swans and Worm Hole Wizards”.  Over this Holy Week, I have been particularly drawn to track 11 “God Is Crying”:

http://www.myspace.com/joesatriani/music/albums/black-swans-and-wormhole-wizards-16732530 
(Above is the link to the album “Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards” on Satriani’s MySpace page.  Scroll down to track 11 and click on the play icon.  If you do not have a MySpace membership you can only listen to about three songs in their entirety; if you have a MySpace membership you have unlimited access to listen to whole albums that are posted on an artist’s page)

For those of you who may not know much about Joe Satriani (a.k.a. Satch, the Professor, the Extremist), he is a rock and roll guitar virtuoso, innovator, and technical genius.  He has released 13 studio albums, sold over 10 million albums, and he has had 15 Grammy nominations (he has the 2^nd most Grammy nominations without a win, after Brian McKnight).  He is a guitar player’s guitar player. (Most of the content of this paragraph was taken from Wikipedia.)

Through Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday – looking forward to Easter – among other things pertaining to the atonement, I have been reflecting on God’s sorrow over human sin, Jesus weeping at Lazarus’ tomb (John 11:1—43, esp. v. 35), and Jesus weeping over Jerusalem (Luke 19:28—44, esp. v. 41).  And, so, I have been listening to “God Is Crying” by Joe Satriani.  By Satch’s own admission on a Facebook video podcast, this song “is not what you would expect given the title “God Is Crying””, which you may have gathered for yourself by listening to the song on his MySpace page.  You may have expected to hear a slow, moody, lilting, haunting melody line, or you may have expected to hear a series of scale runs, some with a smooth descending legato, and others with punctuated staccato evoking the image of streaming or falling tears.  Instead, as Satch describes it, “God Is Crying” is an “intense” and “explosive” song with a “heavy groove.”  In an A flat minor key with 4/4 drive, the song is powerful and aggressive.  And, I would also describe the song as being a bit angry.  Overtop of the drive, Satch lays down a soaring melody line with heavy use of a wha peddle (made famous by the Dunlop Cry Baby Wha peddle). This is what makes this song so interesting to me during Holy Week: the song seems to depict God’s crying, weeping, sorrowful tears mixed with intense power and anger. 

Now, it’s not that Satch isn’t capable of playing a slow song with a dark, somber, smooth tone (he is known for being able to play such songs alongside blazing fast technical masterpieces).  Two examples of Satch’s slow, easy, moody, haunting, and lilting melodies come to mind from his last album “Super Colossal”:

First, “The Meaning of Love” (track # 8)

Second, “A Love Eternal” (track # 12)
http://www.myspace.com/joesatriani/music/albums/super-colossal-8120159
(Actually, the song “Slow and Easy” from the album “Engines of Creation” came to mind first, but I couldn’t find a link to an online sample.)

As to those songs filled with legato and staccato scale runs that fall like tears, two songs come to mind:

First, “Made of Tears” from the album “Super Colossal” (track # 9)

http://www.myspace.com/joesatriani/music/albums/super-colossal-8120159

Second, “Wind in the Trees” from the album “Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards” (track # 10 – as you listen to this track try to picture a willow tree being moved by the wind.)

http://www.myspace.com/joesatriani/music/albums/black-swans-and-wormhole-wizards-16732530

In the March 9, 2011 issue of Guitar World Magazine Satch was asked about the song “God Is Crying”; these are his comments:

I was thinking about God – the concept of God actually.  Where is he?  Why do we need him? . . . But I started to think, what would happen if God came down to earth?  Not just as a spirit, but really came down here physically and walked around and took a look at what we’ve done to the world.  And, all I could think was, he would cry.

In a heightened way, from Advent and Christmas through Lent and Easter, Christians are confronted with the reality that God, through the Second Person of the Trinity – Jesus Christ, came to earth and took on the form of a man – he took on the form of a lowly humble servant (Phil. 2: 5—10).  And, Jesus wept (John 11:35).  He didn’t just weep over what we had done to the world (though this surely is part of what causes God sorrow).  He wept over us and our corrupt sinful nature, which causes us to commit sin and defile God’s precious creation.  Surely the way we twist and distort culture causes God sorrow; surely the way we pollute and abuse nature causes God sorrow; surely our broken homes and our chuck full prisons cause God sorrow; surely wars and poverty cause God sorrow.  Yet, it’s the sinful heart of man caused Jesus Christ to weep. 

Here’s the good news, God didn’t just weep and wring his hands in the far distant recesses of heaven; he did something about our sinful predicament.  (This is where I think Satriani is intuitively on to something in his song “God Is Crying”.)  When God did something about our sinful existence, his sorrow over sinful mankind was joined with his omnipotent power.  When God redeemed us from our sin, his love and mercy stood side by side with his just wrath. 

In a Facebook video podcast, Satch said, “It [the songs juxtaposed title and heavy grove] makes sense when you think about it.”  Well, I thought about it, and it does make perfect sense.  The genocidal slaughter of 800,000 in Rwanda causes me to weep, while at the same time it gave rise to appropriate anger at the perpetrators of such atrocities.  As human beings we all experience such a mix of emotions on a regular basis.  Now, amplify that instance of Rwandan atrocity by the whole of human history; and, then, try to imagine viewing that sum total of human history from God’s perfect perspective.  (An impossible exercise, yet a valuable exercise in the hermeneutic of “how much more then does God . . .”) 

Is there some way of making sense of a God who is at the same time sorrowful, wrathful, loving, merciful, compassionate, angry, omnipotent, holy, and just?  The key to this question is the doctrine of the simplicity of God.  This is not simplicity in the sense of a simple back woods country bumpkin.  By the simplicity of God we mean that God is one and his attributes are united in a simple whole.  God is not a conglomeration of attributes that are linked together like so many Legos.  God’s attributes are inextricably united in the oneness of God’s being.  Where one of his attributes is, there all his other attributes are.  And, the cross is the best place to see the beautiful commingling of God’s attributes.  In his love, compassion, and mercy God sent his Son Jesus Christ to die to save sinners.  God’s holiness and justice is maintained when Jesus Christ died to pay the price of our sin.  The right wrath of God against human sin is satisfied upon the cross.  God exercises his omnipotent power by vanquishing sin, death and Satan through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

So, what about Satch’s musings and questions about God?  God did come into our midst as a man, and he did cry.  But, he did so much more than weep over the human condition: he did something about the human condition; He sent his Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.

.

Book Review: "The Next Christians: The Good News about the End of Christian America, How a New Generation Is Restoring the Faith." By Gabe Lyons, Doubleday, NY, 2010

“The Next Christians” is a provocative read that is sure to push buttons while providing positive theoretical and practical content that will help the reader develop a richer more deliberate concept of Christian ministry (no matter the level of involvement in ministry or Church background).  For that I gave the book four stars.  I almost gave the book three stars because of an apparent weak “historical memory” and an apparent hyperbolic overstatement of the “The Next Christians” unique place in history. 

In Part I of “The Next Christians” Lyons describes the undeniable cultural shifts that have lead to what is now commonly referred to as “Post-Christian America” (ch. 1& 2).  From there, Lyons outlines six “parodies” of how Christians tend to respond to culture (ch. 3).  His six “parodies” somewhat resemble H. Richard Niebuhr’s five categories of how Christians engage culture in his seminal work “Christ and Culture”.  Those Niebuhr categorizes as “Christ against Culture” and “Christ in Paradox with Culture” Lyons seems to divide into three groups: 1) Insiders, 2) Culture Warriors, and 3) Evangelizers.  Those Niebuhr categorizes as “Christ above Culture” and “Christ of Culture” loosely resemble Lyons’ two classifications dubbed 1) Blenders and 2) Philanthropists.  And, those Niebuhr categorizes as “Christ the Transformer of Culture” Lyons calls Restorers.  It is the Restorers whom Lyons champions through the rest of the book.  In chapter four, Lyons asserts that the Restorers have rediscovered the full and complete plot line of the Gospel – a Gospel with four major movements: a) creation, b) fall, c) redemption, d) glorification/consummation.  Lyons contrasts this full orbed Gospel understanding with a “truncated gospel” that begins with the fall in order to press home the urgency of redemption, all the while forgetting to frame Gods redemptive plan in terms of creation and re-creation.  Here Lyons calls for Christians to embrace a Gospel that looks forward to all things being made new as opposed to a “truncated gospel” that promises some sort of “eternal-life-escape-boat” from this doomed and sinking world.   A full orbed understanding of the Gospel (creation, fall, redemption, consummation) is what Lyons believes drives Restorers toward a more fruitful application of the Gospel (word and deed) to the whole of life.  (A Reformed or Presbyterian reader will cheer the next Christians at this point since a creation, fall, redemption, consummation understanding of the Gospel has always been a central component of Reformed theology – even if this component has been neglected from time to time.  In this section it is easy to see why Os Guinness, Chuck Colson, and Tim Keller have all praised this book.)

How is it that the Restorers are gaining meaningful traction living out their faith in the midst of our current cultural context?  Lyons lays out six ways in which the Restorers are bearing fruit in the post-Christian American cultural context:

1)      They are “Provoked, not Offended” (ch. 5)

2)      They are “Creators, not Critics” (ch. 6)

3)      They are “Called, not Employed” (ch. 7)

4)      They are “Grounded, not Distracted” (ch. 8)

5)      They are “In Community, not Alone” (ch. 9)

6)      They are “Countercultural, not ‘Relevant’” (ch. 10)

(I read this book soon after reading Tullian Tchividjian’s book “Unfashionable”, and I was very intrigued at how Tchividjian’s six characteristics of transformational cultural engagement compliment  Lyons six characteristics of transformational cultural engagement.  I will keep these two books together in my study on a shelf dedicated to Christianity and culture.)

Each one of these chapters is filled with compelling case studies and real-life examples of Christians who are effectively living out the Christian faith in the midst of places and contexts that many Christians have given up for lost.  A small group, discipleship group, Sunday school class, leadership team, or congregation that deliberately works through this book will surely come up with several ways in which they can penetrate their surrounding culture and transform it for the good of the Kingdom of God.  I would like to see small clutches of pastors meeting together to discuss the book and its practical applications.  Then, after working through the book, in turn, it would be neat to see those pastors work through this book with people in their churches who are eager to see the Kingdom of God permeate every arena of culture more fully. 

In the final section (“Part III: A New Era”) and final chapter of the book (“The Next Big Shift”), using the thesis that the Christian Church passes through a time of major transition every 500 years, with a hopeful positive outlook Lyons offers a motivational call to action. 

With these positives, I have one negative critique and one caution about the use of “The Next Christians”.  First, it seemed to me that Lyons has a bit of a weak “historical memory”.  Lyons does say that the next Christians who are engaged in the work of restoration “are relearning . . . rediscovering the depth and breath of the most critical, orthodox teaching of our faith – the Gospel message” (pg. 50; see also pg. 192).  And Lyons does say, “The people of God will continue forward as they’ve been doing for two millennia so long as we keep the foundations of our faith grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is of first importance” (pg. 189).  And, Lyons even acknowledges that “The perspective they [the next Christians] exhibit is not a new Christian idea; it’s actually quite old” (pg. 48).  Yet, in a slightly inconsistent way, Lyons claims that “Restorers exhibit the mind-set, humility and commitment that seem destined to rejuvenate the momentum of the faith. They have a peculiar way of thinking, being, and doing that is radically different from previous generations” (pg. 47).  This last statement comes off like a teenager exiting a movie theater exclaiming, “Harry Potter movies are the best movies ever!”  It is true that every generation and age has unique contextual differences; nevertheless, good, solid, sound, vibrant, beautiful Christianity is timeless and consistent.  Faithful and fruitful Christians don’t look to create or to be something new, they are always returning to the ancient paths that have been laid our for them once and for all (Jeremiah 6:16).  Lyons' work is not so ground breaking, after all, H. Richard Niebuhr addressed similar issues 50 years ago.  Abraham Kuyper (the Father of Transformationalism) modeled this over 100 years ago.  As Lyons recognizes, 200 years ago William Wilberforce, John Newton, and the relatively small Clapham Circle community restored an entire nation’s moral standing.  The people Lyons describes as Restorers, in many ways, are not all that new or unique; each and every generation has had restorative or transformational Christians (without exception).  I can think of a multitude of senior-citizens in the sunset years of their life who fit Gabe Lyon’s description of “The Next Christians.” It just so happens that in this current age, the Restorers or Transformers are becoming more visible as they gain significant ground and produce noticeably sweet fruit within their cultural context.  Are we witnessing a refining process that is drawing out a purer solid Christianity while burning away the dross of superficial Christianity that has flourished in recent years?  I will grant Lyons this, if Restorative or Transformational Christians would have been more common in the past century, then we would not have so much superficial Christianity today and a deterioration of Christianity’s standing in the culture at large. 

Along these lines, I would like to see a subsequent edition of this book with a chapter dealing with the reality that the best of Christians will still be despised by the culture even when they live the faith extremely well.  During this read, I wanted to hear Lyons address the difference between Christians creating un-due or inappropriate offence and the inevitable offence that the Christian Gospel will always create (c.f. the relationship between I Cor. 1:23 & II Cor. 6:3).  After all, the majority of Christians around the world suffer derision, rejection, and persecution within their cultural context despite their best efforts to live out the faith.

As to the caution, one could read this book and turn being a Restorer into a form of Phariseeism.  This book needs to be read with a heart of grace toward non-Christians and toward Christians with whom you may disagree (i.e. those Lyons rightly negatively classifies as Insiders, Culture Warriors, Evangelizers, Blenders, and Philanthropists).  Please avoid the temptation of defining what it means to be a Restorer too narrowly.  A narrow understanding of what it means to be a Restorer, could lead someone to become wrongly disappointed with those whom you may perceive not to be transformational enough. 

OK, with those pointed critiques, I benefited deeply from reading this book.  I benefited because it caused me to wrestle and struggle with the finer points of how I approach living the Christian life – a few times, I woke in the middle of the night to jot down thoughts that were rattling around in my head on account of this book.  There are points in this book that will surgically cut each and every reader (this is a great quality in any book that seeks to lead people to improve in the Christian life).  You will think long and hard about what it means to live out your faith in this day and age.  This book offers hope and a positive outlook for the future of the Church along with concrete practical approaches that will help groups of Christians confidently live out their faith with an expectant eye to the future. 

(I received this book free for the purposes of review from Mulnomah/Waterbrook Books.)

Sunday Afternon Reflections Will Be Postponed 1 Week

Due to schedule issues and prior commitments, Sunday Afternoon Reflections will be postponed one week.  We will pick up our reflections on the Psalms of Ascent next week with Psalm 123.  I look forward to your comments and feedback as I attempt to develop this into something more substantial.  Other postings will be forthcoming this week, including a review of Gabe Lyons' book "The Next Christians."  Have a blessed Sabbath Day.

In Christ's Care,

Tim Van Lant

Sunday Afternoon Reflections: Psalm 122 & Contagiously Joyful Worship

An expression of shared enjoyment is often very contagious.  Have you ever eavesdropped on a group of people having an animated conversation about something of intense interest and excited enjoyment?  You know the type of situation I’m talking about.  You’re out having a quick bite to eat over the lunch hour between appointments, and you find yourself sitting ten feet from a group a people who are genuinely engaged in conversation: they are sitting forward in their seats; they have a twinkle in their eyes as they maintain unbroken eye contact; they smile, nod, and gesticulate oh so easily.  Your interest perked, you turn your head so as to catch a bit of their wonderful conversation.  You hear something like this:

“. . . I know . . . you too?  The plot just gripped me; my mind was spinning trying to figure out . . . He is such a great actor, I think I’ve seen all his movies . . . The director’s last two movies were a bit weird, so I was kind’a leery about how this movie would come off, but . . . I have seen it twice, and my whole family loves it too . . . I was shocked by her performance; I wouldn’t have expected her to be in a movie with him, but the chemistry was . . . Beautiful cinematography . . . the soundtrack really was . . .” 

A few minutes into your eavesdropping and you have moved a foot or two closer to the group carefully trying to avoid being noticed.  You are desperate to catch the name of the movie (or at least some evidence that will help you deduce the movie’s title) so that you can check out the movie yourself.  An expression of shared enjoyment has become contagious. 

However, there are also times when an expression of shared enjoyment can cause alienation.  Maybe you have been a part of a conversation that took a turn into a subject you couldn’t relate to or didn’t understand.  You and your friends are having a conversation over dinner about family vacations.  Then, the conversation drifts into airfare and hotel reservation websites.  From there, the conversation inexplicably evolves into a technical discussion of internet search engines and computer language programming that sounds more like Charlie Brown’s trumpet-mute-mother than English.  All the while you smile and nod politely as your friends share their excitement over a common shared interest.  An expression of shared enjoyment has caused you to feel alienated. 

Psalm 122 is an expression of shared joy with then intention of encouraging others to join in joy. 

“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the House of the LORD!”  Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! [Implied: come on join us, won’t you?]”  (vv. 1—2)

We can almost hear a similar modern expression (all be it infinitely more trivial – infinite in the literal sense as opposed to the hyperbolic sense). 

“I’m was glad Jeff and Kelly suggested Friday night bowling, you should come with us, after all it’s Friday night!” 

“I’m so glad you invited us to the Indian Buffet we have been wanted to eat there for a while now; we should call the Ericksons they would love to join us.” 

“That movie was a great suggestion; I want to see it again with my folks.”

However, we Christians are less and less likely to make such expressions of shared enjoyment over worship.  And, when we Christians do express such a shared enjoyment of worship, it seems to fall on deaf ears.  It is as if Christian worship and the Christian faith have become so foreign, alien, and obscure that all people hear when we talk about Christianity is jargon, lingo, buzzwords, and catchphrases.  And, what should be an expression of shared enjoyment that is contagious, instead, becomes an expression of shared joy that causes alienated. 

So, learning from Psalm 122, what is it about gathering together for worship that would inspire us to share a more genuine and contagious expression of shared joy with others?  And, what should such an expression of shared joy communicate to others so as to motivate them to join us in worship?  In the new American multi-faith culture of ambiguous spirituality, regular worship provides a consistent setting in which the transcendent God of the universe is immanently present in community.  Psalm 122 is book ended by the phrase “the House of the LORD” (vv. 1 & 9).  This is notable given that King David is credited as the author of this Psalm.  David labored long and hard to establish the Kingdom of Israel, Jerusalem, and a permanent site for the Ark of the Covenant and Tabernacle, which would become the site of the Temple David longed to personally build.  From Exodus through Deuteronomy, God continued to promise Mosses that the Hebrew people would have a permanent home land, and in that Promised Land the Tabernacle would have a permanent fixed home.  No longer would the people of God wonder through the wilderness wondering when and where they would set up the Tabernacle in order to meet with God – there was to be a consistent place of worship around which the people of God could build a nation, society, and culture.  Reading through Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, and the beginning of II Samuel there is a palpable sense of frustrated urgency as the Hebrew people struggle to possess the Promised Land and erect the Tabernacle on its permanent site.  Then, after Saul’s failed monarchy, God establishes David as the king of Israel, and the promised place of worship starts to become a reality.  After the loss of the Ark of the Covenant, David jubilantly brings the Ark up to Jerusalem (II Samuel 6).  Following that promise fulfilling moment, God them establishes a covenant with David that guaranteed that one of David’s descendants would always sit on Israel’s throne (II Samuel 7).  Then, after a downward spiral of tragedies and moral failings (II Samuel 11 & 12), all seems to come undone as David’s son Absalom incites a civil war expelling David from Jerusalem (II Samuel 13—18).  I can’t help but believe that David composed this Psalm some time after David’s return to Jerusalem in II Samuel 19.  However, just as all seemed well and fulfilled, Israel is ripped apart into two kingdoms – celebrative joy is replaced by a “melancholy devastation” (John Calvin, Commentary on the Psalms vol. 5 pg 72).  To add insult to injury, threatening to completely reverse all God had promised, the ten tribes of Israel are eradicated and Judah is carried away into exile.  The former sense of God’s abiding permanence and stability in the Temple becomes a vague dream overshadowed by the nightmare of slavery in a foreign conquering empire.  Yet, the Bible is clear about God’s un-failing faithfulness to his promises – the Jewish people return from exile to Jerusalem.  Imagine the words of Psalm 122 being sung by pilgrims returning to Jerusalem and the Temple which was the epicenter of their culture.  With this extensive history in mind, imagine subsequent generations singing Psalm 122 with each and every passing Passover, Pentecost, and Feast of Tabernacles.  Despite Israel’s disobedience and half-hearted inconsistent piety, God continues to call his people back to a consistent, stable, permanent place of worship in which his transcendence is immanently present with his people.  In the context of vapid inconsistency God is faithfully consistent to his promises. 

What does this have to do with us in our present day context?  In the current American Postmodern setting, everyone seem to be on a quest for some modicum of reliable wisdom, understanding, and – dare I say – “truth” that transcends our culture of seemingly endless flux.  Everyone I know is looking for that anchor that will offer some sense of security and stability in the tempests of life.  People want something that will help them to make sense of their family relationships, friendships, politics, finances, career, vocation, purpose, aging, sickness, tragedy, suffering, loss, and death.  And, in a society with a been-there-done-that attitude toward Christianity, we are seeing a rise in new spiritualities and neo-paganism as people seek to make sense of life.  Now, more than ever, Christians need a credible and contagious expression of our shared joy.  And, this shared joy needs to flow from our worship of God in the paradox of his transcendence and immanence. 

This begs the question, is there anything that can cultivate a credible and contagious expression of our shared joy as people who worship God?  Psalm 122 shows us three things that contribute to our shared joy as we worship God together, and, in turn, these three things lend credibility to what we have to say to others about the joy of worshiping God:

1). The Church is to be a place of refuge (v. 3).

2). The Church is to be a place of thankfulness (v. 4).

3). The Church is to be a place of justice (v. 5).

“Jerusalem – built as a city that is bound firmly together,” (v. 3)

First, the Church is to be a place of refuge.  There are many people who may find the imagery of city bound tightly together very unattractive.  But, in the ancient near east a city bound firmly together was an image of refuge and protection.  Such a city provided tight walls that could not be breached.  Such a city offered all the amenities needed to sustain life.  Above all, such a city had to be ruled well so that the people inside could actually get along and live together in harmony for there to be any security.  In a world where interpersonal conflict runs rampant, Jesus not only teaches his followers to get along and live in harmony, through his atoning death and resurrection Jesus makes it possible for us to live in harmony.  Because Jesus has saved us by grace alone apart from works, we have no reason to put on a front.  We can be honest with one another about who we are as sinners freely offering grace to one another.

“To which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.” (v. 4)

Second, the Church is to be a place of thankfulness.  When we gather together for worship we realize our identity as one of God’s people.  We are one of a grand multitude, yet we don’t loose our identity in some homogenous uniform mass (when the people of Israel went up to worship, they still went up as members of specific tribes).  What a picture: beautiful unique people together in unity (not uniformity).  Yet, on top of this astoundingly beautiful image, we don’t gather together simply to meet up with one another seeking mutual benefit.  We unite together to meet with the Lord and give him thanks.  In a society in which families can hardly agree on what to eat for dinner, such unity ought to amaze.

“There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.” (v. 5)

Third, the Church is to be a place of justice.  OK, the thought of judgment thrones doesn’t seem to appealing in our day and age.  However, in ancient Israel, verse five would have been very comforting to pilgrims on their approach to worship in Jerusalem.  During the pilgrimage seasons of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, the pilgrims would have come to Jerusalem with disputes that the local courts could not settle, and thus, unresolved conflicts would have been settled by royal courts. In Christ, we have received ultimate justice; Jesus Christ the Son of David has granted us pardon by his blood and reconciled us unto God and thereby unto his people. 

All of this said, as Christians we are simultaneously justified and yet sinners.  And, we all know that as much as the Church is to be a place of refuge, brokenness, conflict, and disputes remain.  As much as the Church is to be a place of thanksgiving, discontent remains.  As much at the Church is to be a place of justice, wrong and injustice remain.  This explains the Psalmist’s plea for peace in verses six through nine.  David calls his hearers to pray for peace and to then actively seek that peace.  And, this peace is not to be sought around and about Jerusalem; this peace is to be sought within Jerusalem – in and among the people of God.  We are to be marked by peace, both in our prayer and in our actions. 

Yet, despite all the human effort we could ever possibly muster, we cannot achieve the peace this Psalm envisions.  We can’t make the Church a place of perfect refuge.  We can make the Church a place of perfect thanksgiving.  We can’t make the Church a place of perfect justice.  As was noted before, there is no hope in the Psalms apart from Christ.  Psalm 122 stands in stark contrast to Jesus weeping over Jerusalem as he approaches the city for the ultimate Passover.  What we can not do on our own, Christ does on our behalf so that we can live as Scripture call us to live.  In John 17 Jesus prays that those who believe in him would live in perfect unity.  And Jesus doesn’t just pray for the peace of his people, Jesus offers himself up as the once for all sacrifice providing ultimate peace between God and man.  And, where Jerusalem fell to the Roman empire in 70AD, God promises to remain faithful by bringing his people into the New Eternal Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1—ff).  This New Jerusalem will be perfectly bound together in unity; so much so that the cycle of sojourning and pilgrimage will come to an end.  The New Jerusalem will not be a place we long for; it will be an eternal reality of our daily existence.

.

Sunday Afternoon Reflections: Psalm 121 and Courage Driven Worship

We all need help (some of us are more willing to admit this than others).  And, there are more than few people out there who are willing to offer a helping hand of sorts.  Unfortunately, much of that help comes with a price tag, or the help isn’t much help at all.

This weekend, I was scanning through the meager few channels we get with our rabbit ears.  Now, I’m not a basketball, golf, or baseball fan so my options were even more limited.  It seemed like all the rest of the channels were airing infomercials.  One by one the infomercials offered pricy help for every possible problem (real or invented) one could have.

“I needed help getting my acne under control until I found . . .”

“I had to get help with my credit card bills; that’s why I called . . .”

“After my accident I needed help fighting the insurance company so I called . . .”

“I couldn’t get my floors as clean as I wanted until I got the help of a . . .”

“I wasn’t happy with the wrinkles under my neck, and nothing helped until I got . . .”

“My teeth just weren’t as white as I wanted, and the only thing that helped was . . .”

Celebrities, experts, and ordinary people are quick to tell us about all sorts of things that can be of help.  But, all too often these helpful things are costly, or worthless (how many of us have unused exercise videos and kitchen gadgets we wish we never bought).

What makes Psalm 121 any different than the many boy-do-I-have-a-deal-for-you offers out there? 

Given that the Psalms of Ascent were prayers sung by Jewish pilgrims preparing them for worship as the journeyed to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles; Psalm 121 picks up where Psalm 120 left off.  Psalm 120 describes a sojourner in a hostile land.  Psalm 121 describes a pilgrim looking ahead at the beginning of a journey. 

Psalm 121 begins with one person (the “I” of the text) fixing his eyes and bolstering his and another person’s (the “your” & “you” of the text) confidence for the pilgrimage ahead:

“I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?” (v. 1)

If you have ever seen the Judean Hills surrounding Jerusalem it’s not too hard to imagine the dangers of foot travel over narrow rugged paths up to Jerusalem upon Mount Zion.  In several places, one could easily slip on loose unstable gravel and fall into a deep wadi or ravine.  There is little shelter and water could be difficult to find.  If the natural elements aren’t enough to wary a traveler, there would have been no shortage of wild beast to increase the danger of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  Then, add to these dangers bandits and outlaws lying in wait to mug and murder unsuspecting travelers.  But, as much as these dangers would lead one to ask the rhetorical question, “From where does my help come?”  The pilgrim in this Psalm may well have a different more insidious danger in mind: idolatry. Hills in the ancient Near East were places of idol worship; it would not have been uncommon for a person to look up to the hills and see cult shrines scattered here and there (Jer. 3:23).  So, the pilgrim looks to the hills as he anticipates his journey to the House of the Lord, and recognizes the dangers of the journey.  Having recognized the dangers of the journey, he sees the many places of idol worship begging for his devotion in order to gain false protection, and he is provoked to ask his rhetorical question, “I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?”  With deep desire and confident expectation the speaker in Psalm 121 proclaims, “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”  With the full cultural context in mind, we can almost hear the speaker’s scorn and contempt for the idols, which tempt pilgrims to abandon their trust in the LORD.  “My help comes for the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” 

Now, you and I don’t face a treacherous journey up rugged arid mountain paths as we anticipate gathering for worship.  We don’t wind our way past cultic shrines or centers of idol worship as we prepare for worship.  Or do we?  We may not face the same perils that the pilgrim in Psalm 121 faced, but we do face perils every day or our lives (physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually).  It would be impossible to enumerate all the ways our lives can be hurt, wrecked, or ruined with each passing day.  And, we may not be tempted to seek protection against these perils from a cult shrine, but, if we are honest with ourselves, we do get a false sense of wellbeing and protection from all sorts of people, things, and stuff we idolize.  We fear aging and death, so we put our hope in diet and health fads.  We worry about our financial security, so we put our hope in investments.  We agonize over fitting in, so we put our hope in gossip and fashions.  We are plagued by insecurity, so we put our hope in our careers, education, and social circles.  We have a tendency to gaze out over the terrain or our lives, and seeing perils (real or imagined), we too quickly run to our favorite modern day idols for help, hope, and happiness. 

At this point, we are challenged with an implied question in the Psalm, “What could possibly give us the confidence to affirm that our help comes from the Lord?”  How do we come to have the same deep desire and confident trust that compelled the Psalmist to proclaim, “My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth”? 

The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus is credited with saying, “It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confident knowledge that they will help us.”  Before Epicurus spoke these words, the speaker in Psalm 121 tries to convince his traveling companion that the Lord is a sure and certain help in any and every situation.  And, this confidence, trust, or faith heightens the pilgrims’ anticipation for worship.  The Psalmist bolsters his fellow pilgrim with three points in three pairs of verses.

First:

“He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”  (vv. 3—4)

God protects his people despite their weakness.  The perilous journey to Jerusalem exposes the pilgrims’ weakness.  Weary travelers slip and fall.  Tired pilgrims fall fast asleep with bandits lurking in darkness of night.  Despite the individual pilgrims’ weakness, he can trust that the Lord won’t fail to keep watch over him.  And, just in case there is any doubt, the Psalmist directs his pilgrim companion’s attention to the history or Israel.  In effect, the Psalmist says,

“If you doubt that the Lord will protect you, just look at how the Lord has protected his people Israel.  He delivered Israel from the land of bondage, out of the land of Egypt.  He led Israel through the wilderness to the Promised Land, a land filled with cities, homes, vineyards, orchards, fields, and wells.  He established his people in the Promised Land, and secured them from all oppressors.  If the Lord can keep and protect his chosen nation, how could you think that he would fail to keep you, a single pilgrim?”

How many of us let our weaknesses drag us down, and, then turn our weaknesses into a long list of excuses that keep us from worship?  At these moments, we need to be reminded that God protects us and keeps us despite our weaknesses.  If we need proof, we just have to look at the masses of feeble, frail, fragile, fallen Christians throughout history who have been kept by God. 

Second:

“The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand.  The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.” (vv. 5—6)

God protects his people in the midst of real danger.  The heat of the Middle Eastern sun is enough to cause a weak pilgrim heat stroke.  And, when the sun goes down, there is no respite from danger; the shadowy moon lit night conceals its own stalking dangers.  In the midst of this dangerous treck, the Lord is not only with the pilgrim, the Lord is at the pilgrim’s right hand.  In the ancient Near East, the phrase “on your right hand” is used to refer to the place of a king’s closest servant, advisor, or officer.  This word picture in this Psalm is astounding; God almighty avails himself for the protection of a lowly pilgrim.  Could you imagine calling God your right hand man?  If this sound ridiculous, just remember the Jesus took on the form of servant in order to save us from sin and death (Phil 2:6—7).  He wasn’t just any ordinary servant; he was a suffering servant who humbled himself to the point of dying upon a cross for our salvation (Phil 2:8—10; Isa. 53).  

Life is full of very real perils; and, these perils all too often hold us back from worship.  Financial troubles, family difficulties, work issues, health problems, and the death of loves ones can weigh the heart down so much that worship is unfathomable.  Yet, in the midst of all such situations, Christ promises to be with us, and no situation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Matt. 28:20b; Rom. 8:37—39).  Let’s take an all too common example in the current economic climate.  As much as a job loss can weigh on a man’s spirit and threaten his future well being, that job loss can’t keep that man out of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Third:

“The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.  The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”   (vv. 7—8)

These last two verses press the reality of the human condition to the core.  It’s not just our personal weakness that God protects us from.  It’s not just the perils and dangers of life that God protects us from.  Ultimately, it is evil that God protects us from.  Since the sin and evil entered the world at the fall, perilous dangers have become common place in daily life.  We live in a world that is filled with ravishing poverty, terminal illness, tragic accidents, violent wars, devious crooks, and dishonest politicians.  We could survey the world around us and come to the conclusion that we are poor innocent prey in world of predatory evil.  However, the Bible is clear that we are fallen, sinful, evil creatures; and, it is the sin of humanity that unleashed sin and evil upon creation.  Following the fall, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5).  When confronting the Pharisees, Jesus was very clear that evil flows from heart of fallen human beings (Matt. 12:34; 15:19; Mk. 7:21).  We need deliverance; but, we need deliverance from more than just the perils of this fallen world, we need deliverance from ourselves.  The Lord delivers us from evil by giving us a spiritual heart transplant; the Lord removes our sinful hearts and gives us a new heart – a Christ-like heart (Ezek. 36:25—27; Eph. 3:17; Heb. 10:22).  A renewed, living, vital heart is the greatest evidence we have that God keeps and preserves us.  When we have a new heart we have eternal life; we are kept by God for all time.  Nothing bolsters our confidence in Christ and moves to worship more than a transformed heart – a renewed spiritually alive heart. 

“Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, les us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscious and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promises is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:19—25)

.