Open-ended, Life-centred,
Gospel-Focussed Explorations of Australian Prayer Book Psalms.
Psalm 86:11-17...PENTECOST PLUS 10 (A)
.... (For the
Gospel, please scroll)
INTRODUCTION: 1]The
alternative PSS
set for after
Pentecost are used here. 2]
Psalms
are poetry for singing;
personal, depending not on rhyme, but on developing an idea,
contrasting it, etc. They date from pre-1000 BC (David)
to mid 400s
BC. Being of their day, we may
find attitudes in some PSS abhorrent.3]
Even if those of old actually feared
God, since Jesus, 'standing in awe' of God is a more appropriate
response. 4] The then Jewish
view of death was that Sheol (like the Greek Hades) was 'a deep pit far
below the busy surface' (of the world).[R. Alter ad loc] Not a place of
destruction like the later Christian invention, Hell.)
WARMING UP: Do we ever
feel all alone in the world?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
11-13 Is the fact that Jesus calls Himself
'the Way' a complete enough answer to what the PSt prays here? Are we
walking in that way now that we know what / Who it is? Can we walk the
Jesus way without also walking the Jesus Truth? Do we ever try to
separate Way from Truth? Does it work? Can we ever delight in God's
name without walking God's Way & fearing God (See N3)? Might we enjoy God a bit
more if we spent more time praising & glorifying Him? Can we praise & glorify
God at all without taking the rest of the package?
What difference, if any, does adding 'abiding' in before love' make to
our experience of being loved & loving? Has God ever 'delivered our
life' in any sense? What hang-ups do we have regarding death &
dying & what happens next? (See
N4) Have we got all that sorted out in the light of Jesus' life
& death?
14 Do we ever
see others as 'insolent', 'rising against us', a 'ruthless band'? Do we
/ have we ever experienced that in growing up, in our working life,
etc? How real is it, or has it been, & how much a figment of our
own way of looking at people? Are there others who may see us in
exactly those same terms? Does the 'not setting God before their eyes'
bit raise the whole question of our belief system, those of others,
& those who have no such belief system? What happens if we don't
have a belief system?
In today's terms might the PSt's message here be something like, say:
'If we don't have the belief system revealed & expected by God, we
won't need others to put us down or bring us down - we'll do it to
ourself'?
15-17 Could we
come up with a better description of the God we believe in, experience,
& relate to than, 'gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, full of
goodness & truth'? Anything else we'd like to add? Do we find it at
all surprising that someone so long before Jesus could, in effect,
describe Him so accurately; as accurately as Jesus Himself shows God to
be? Do we ever find ourself pleading with God as the PSt does here,
that God will either 'turn to me', 'be merciful' to me, 'give me
strength', 'save me', 'show me some token...' - or the lot? Is wanting
'those who hate me', or at least aren't friendly towards me, to see God
blessing me & 'being ashamed that God is my helper & comforter'
part of our agenda? Wouldn't that just be one-upmanship? Do we ever
want to see someone else put down (by God?) for their attitude to us?
What if God put us down because of our attitude to Him?
PLUS: Can we learn anything from the contrast the PSt paints
between God's / Jesus' way of seeing people & responding to them,
& human ways?
