Grounding in Gathering
Psalm 52 – Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
2 Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 You love evil more than good,
Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah
4 You love all devouring words,
You deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise destroy you forever;
He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous also shall see and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
7 “Here is the man who did not make God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his [b]wickedness.”
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
9 I will praise You forever,
Because You have done it;
And in the presence of Your saints
I will wait on Your name, for it [c]is good.
Reflects Rick James in Out Of The Depths, "I love to hear the older people in my congregation recount the ways God has worked in their lives." "When they recount the stories," he considers, " the memory is brought back into the present and the past somehow becomes now. The problem is that far too often our memories only extend back to the things we have personally encountered in our lifetime. This isn't nearly enough context to help us understand worship. Authentic worship will help us to remember things that we had never experienced ourselves.
In this, James traces a Psalm 52 pattern for our consideration. David's faith is no more glib than that of Christ his Lord and Descendent. Both are honest about the hurts of life, sharp deceitful tongue and love of evil. Both are forthright about the end of such actions and the desire from which they spring. They are able at conjuring up the big picture of a healthy, somewhat philosophical picture of the place of suffering in this world.
But David in Psalm 52, and Rick James, and often Christ, it up in a revealingly similar place. David sings, I know the pattern well enough to recount it, but it is in the presence of Your saints, God, that I wait for Your Name. As consistently as people disappoint or even betray Him, we see this preference for fellowship exhibited by the Lord Jesus. When he heard of John the Baptist's beheading, He sought to get away with His disciples. When He faced the looming crucifixion, He said he looked forward to the time with them at the Last Supper.
Might we crave, then, the presence of the saints among which to wait for the full revelation of Christ's attributes. Yes, at various times all of them will disappoint us individually. Sometimes the bulk of them will disappoint us collectively. To repurpose Lincoln, the enemy of our souls. Some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time. Yet, He does not, by God's Providence, fool all of the people all the time. God is faithful to display Himself through His remnant in such a way that we cannot fail to see His likeness as we gather with His people by resolute faith.
The goodness of God endures continually.
2 Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 You love evil more than good,
Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah
4 You love all devouring words,
You deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise destroy you forever;
He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous also shall see and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
7 “Here is the man who did not make God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his [b]wickedness.”
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
9 I will praise You forever,
Because You have done it;
And in the presence of Your saints
I will wait on Your name, for it [c]is good.
Reflects Rick James in Out Of The Depths, "I love to hear the older people in my congregation recount the ways God has worked in their lives." "When they recount the stories," he considers, " the memory is brought back into the present and the past somehow becomes now. The problem is that far too often our memories only extend back to the things we have personally encountered in our lifetime. This isn't nearly enough context to help us understand worship. Authentic worship will help us to remember things that we had never experienced ourselves.
In this, James traces a Psalm 52 pattern for our consideration. David's faith is no more glib than that of Christ his Lord and Descendent. Both are honest about the hurts of life, sharp deceitful tongue and love of evil. Both are forthright about the end of such actions and the desire from which they spring. They are able at conjuring up the big picture of a healthy, somewhat philosophical picture of the place of suffering in this world.
But David in Psalm 52, and Rick James, and often Christ, it up in a revealingly similar place. David sings, I know the pattern well enough to recount it, but it is in the presence of Your saints, God, that I wait for Your Name. As consistently as people disappoint or even betray Him, we see this preference for fellowship exhibited by the Lord Jesus. When he heard of John the Baptist's beheading, He sought to get away with His disciples. When He faced the looming crucifixion, He said he looked forward to the time with them at the Last Supper.
Might we crave, then, the presence of the saints among which to wait for the full revelation of Christ's attributes. Yes, at various times all of them will disappoint us individually. Sometimes the bulk of them will disappoint us collectively. To repurpose Lincoln, the enemy of our souls. Some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time. Yet, He does not, by God's Providence, fool all of the people all the time. God is faithful to display Himself through His remnant in such a way that we cannot fail to see His likeness as we gather with His people by resolute faith.
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