Psalms - Dene's Blog

Wake Up Call

11/21/2025 0 Comments

When I was very small, my favorite song was “Wake Up, Little Susie.” I am probably dating myself with that admission. In case you are from a different generation, the song was about a young couple who fell asleep during their movie date, and were afraid of what people might think.

Psalm 103 is David’s version of the song—one he is singing to himself. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, vv 1-2. I found it difficult to see that “wake up” admonition, I admit. But every commentator I checked, five of them, saw it clear as a bell. One likened it to Psalm 42:5: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. That one is much easier to see. Why are you so depressed, he asks himself, when you have the salvation offered by God? Now look again at 103: Bless the Lord…and forget not his benefits.

For isn’t that exactly what we do? We go along in our ordinary, normal lives, nothing important happens, nothing exciting happens, and we become complacent in our service and even a little despondent in our ordinariness, and forget what God has done for us. But just think about this morning. You woke up in your comfortable bed (check) in your comfortable house (check), possibly next to your beloved (check). You ate a breakfast from a pantry and refrigerator full of possibilities (check). You stood in front of a closet and chose from among all those clothes what you wanted to wear (check). You might have gotten in your car (check) and driven to school or work or the store without mishap (check). How many blessings is that already that you never even noticed? How many more will you receive the rest of the day, and still not notice?

“Forget not his benefits!” David reminds himself—and later on the people of Israel, and ultimately us. Why is it that when something bad happens we will blame God, but never think to give Him credit for all the good we enjoy nearly every single minute of the day? “Wake up and praise the Lord!”

And then there is this: while God gives us brethren to encourage us, David shows us that in the final analysis, we are responsible for our own rousing. We cannot blame the church, we cannot blame the elders, we cannot blame our families if we fall into hopelessness and despair—it’s my business to see myself clearly, to notice when I need a nudge or a prod or even a kick in the rear. And after I have awakened, then I will follow David’s example of leadership and wake others too.

Which is what this has been, I hope—wake up little Susie, or Joey, or Charlie, or Cathy, or whatever your name may be. Do not forget the benefits of being God’s child. Always count your blessings, no matter how trite that may seem. David did. He’s not a bad leader to follow.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change, James 1:17.

Dene Ward

Be Still and Know

11/17/2025 0 Comments

I think there is a part in all of us that wants to show off for our parents. Over the last several years, I have gotten into distance swimming as an exercise routine. I swim across a cove and back on the island every couple of days, roughly 0.7 mile. Nobody in my family had ever seen me swim it. None of us had ever been big swimmers until I stumbled into it. So, when Mom and Dad came to visit late last October, I drug them to the beach. (It was my day for swimming. I had gotten to the point that if I missed, I got antsy, but there was a big part of "Look at me, Mommy and Daddy!" in it.) I swam a longer route than usual, nearly 0.9 mile, and Mom and Dad were appropriately impressed. (No, they didn't give me a lollipop.)

Dad asked something regarding my concern about getting into trouble while swimming. I grinned and said, "I don't get into trouble in the water." His response was, "That's a dangerous attitude." I completely understand his point. Cockiness in dangerous situations is stupid and leads people into serious injury and death routinely. And, make no mistake, open water swimming has dangers. The Gulf of Mexico is not a big pool, as several tourists find out to their dismay each year. Even the intercoastal waterway, which is where I usually swim, has tidal currents, wind driven chop that can get dicey, and aquatic wildlife that can range from cute, to annoying to truly dangerous. Dad, however, had misunderstood my statement.

You see, people don't drown because they get out over their heads and can't swim back. People drown because they panic, then exhaust themselves flailing about, and then begin to despair. It is almost like giving up and allowing oneself to go under. Almost everyone can float. Stay calm, roll over on your back and float. While doing so, think. How are you going to get back? Then implement your plan, resting occasionally as needed. The key is to stay calm. I routinely go out a hundred yards or so on the days in between long swims and just practice being calm in the water. I practice several different drown-proofing techniques. I hang out in 8-10 feet of water for 45 minutes and learn to think of that as one of my natural environments. Which is why when, on two occasions, my left shoulder just decided it was done for the day, I didn't drown. I shrugged (one shouldered) and sidestroked to shore. You see? I don't get in trouble in the water, because no matter what happens, I can stay calm and handle it. Which kind of reminds me of Psalm 46.

1-3 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah"

Do you ever feel like your world is falling apart? In either your personal life or as you look around and don't recognize the country you grew up in? Are there days you would be ready to swear that the earth is sliding into the sea? Stay calm, because God is your refuge and strength.

6-7 "The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; He utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah"

I know there are times when it seems that everyone is against us. When standing for even the concept of truth, much less God's truth, seems to outrage the world. Stay calm and keep swimming, because the LORD of Hosts, who can melt the world with the sound of His voice, is with us.

Just like in open water swimming, panic and despair are what kills in our spiritual life. We start to think that we just can't handle the bullying and ridicule anymore. We just can't keep ourselves from the ever nearer and easier to achieve temptations of the world. We just aren't going to make it, as the waves crash over our heads. Stay calm. Breathe and know that you can make it, not because you are such a great swimmer, but because God is right there with you. He is your refuge, providing rest if you will just avail yourself of it. He is your strength, to keep you swimming. He is with you. Stay calm; rely on Him, keep swimming.

Ps. 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God."

Lucas Ward

Godly Sorrow—Comparing Psalms 51 and 32

10/14/2025 0 Comments

I’ve known a lot of people who seem to think that true repentance is shown by moping around in a depressed state for weeks on end, as if the longer they beat themselves up the more worthy they are of forgiveness. If we have learned anything in our Psalms study lately, it’s just the opposite.

David shows us in the progression of repentance that occurs between Psalms 51 and 32 that we should “get over it;” that a failure to do so is harmful to our souls.

In our class we charted the verses in those two psalms. We found similar things in each: repentance, the effects of sin, and the effects that God’s forgiveness ought to have in our lives. Guess what we discovered? In Psalm 51, obviously written within a short time after Nathan’s visit to David in 2 Sam 12, even though at that time Nathan proclaimed God’s forgiveness, David is fraught with guilt and sorrow, even physically ailing from that burden of regret. He uses every synonym you can imagine for sin and his plea for mercy. In our modern divisions, those pleas take up seven verses. Another three describe his woeful emotional and physical state after finally recognizing the enormity and complexity of what he has done, a total of ten verses.

Yes, he finally recognizes his forgiveness and spends three verses on his desire to get back to work for the Lord and on his concern for others, a general list of things he plans to carry out as “fruit meet for repentance.”

And Psalm 32? This psalm is much less emotional. David repents yet again, but in two verses this time instead of ten. Does that mean it is not as heartfelt? Of course not, but his focus has changed. This time he spends most of the psalm recounting what he has learned from his sin and how to avoid it in the future. Listen to instruction, hear counsel, consider and come to an understanding, learn to control yourself. He has gone past emotion and is now using the experience to gain wisdom and strength. Then he spends more time in concern for others, that they learn the same lessons he has. Finally he shouts for joy, the joy found in forgiveness and a renewed fellowship with God. This section takes up four verses of an eleven verse psalm, where in 51 we are looking at three verses of a nineteen verse psalm. Those four verses in Psalm 32 are far more practical and helpful to us in terms of overcoming than the ones in 51, where his grief over his sin is the focus.

By the time of Psalm 32’s writing, David has learned an invaluable lesson—though indeed his sin was “ever before me,” he understood that allowing one’s grief to paralyze him and pull him down into despondency was as much an aid to Satan as sinning in the first place. He was no longer serving God; he was no longer serving others. In fact, he was bringing others down with his depression. There is a selfishness in this sort of sorrow that is completely inappropriate—a “worldly” sorrow.

Grief is certainly fitting. I wonder if we ever experience the kind of grief David did over sin, especially as shown in Psalm 51. If we did, perhaps we would sin less. But there comes a time when we must “get over it” and get back to work. “Restore unto me the joy of your salvation,” David says (51:12). “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,” and “Shout for joy!” (32:11). Sitting in sackcloth and ashes for the rest of your life, David is telling us, is not the way to show gratitude for your forgiveness.

For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter, 2 Cor 7:8-11.

Dene Ward

The Proper Perspective

9/30/2025 0 Comments

Psalms 74 and 79, along with the books of Lamentations and Habakkuk, which are also national psalms of lament over the destruction of Jerusalem, will make you cringe in their horrific detail of destruction. Women and young girls raped, leaders hung up for all to see, the Temple in ruins, dead bodies lying everywhere, far too many for the few left alive to bury.

              Psalm 74 lists sacrilege after sacrilege: God’s enemies standing in the meeting place; the intricate and artistic carvings of the Temple chopped to pieces by heathen axes, the sanctuary on fire, the dwelling place of God razed to the ground. Psalm 79 uses opposites to the same effect: the holy defiled; Jerusalem in rubble; God’s servants as carrion; and blood flowing like water in the streets. Imagine seeing all this one horrible morning and then speaking to God in these words: Help us, O God of our salvation, 79:9.

              God of our salvation? How could the psalmist possibly use that description? Where in all this nightmare does he see salvation?

              The poet understood this basic truth: even in this dreadful event, God is still seeking the salvation of His people. He could still see a Father’s love behind the most severe discipline.

              Again in Psalm 74, the psalmist says, Yet God is my King of Old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Not just in the midst of the earth, but in the middle of all this horror, he can still see the true nature of God.

              Habakkuk in his lament ends with the same thoughts: For though the fig-tree shall not flourish, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Hab 3:17-18.

              What do we see when evil befalls us? If all we feel is the pain, if all we see is the sorrow, Satan already has a foothold. We must learn to use what happens in our lives as a steppingstone to Heaven, a lift to a higher plane of spirituality.

              Surely it isn’t always punishment from God as it was for those people, but then it becomes even more important to see events in the correct way. We are in a world that is temporary, that is tainted with sin. Of course we will have problems. Are we so naïve as to think that something Satan has poisoned will ever be good? Jeremiah tells us in his lament, that if it weren’t for God there wouldn’t be anything good left in this world at all, Lam 3:22, and we have no right to expect it to be any different.

              If I cannot see the salvation of God even in the midst of trials as Jeremiah did, I am blind to who He is. He is there, helping us prepare for a world where those things will be no more. If I rail against Him when the trials come, I do not know Him. Illness and death are the tools of Satan to lure us away, but with faith and the proper perspective--seeing the God of our salvation instead of the God of our pain--we can use Satan’s own tools against him as a road to triumph.

              It is better to depart and be with the Lord, Paul said, Phil 1:23. To die is gain for a Christian, v 21. “O death where is thy victory, O death where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the Law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Cor 15:55-57) If I see death as the victor, I am giving myself away—showing that my perspective is indeed unspiritual, immature, and faithless.

              Is it easy to have this perspective, especially in the middle of a traumatic life event? No, because we are still in this flesh. But while in this flesh the Lord Himself conquered all these things and expects us to follow His example, as difficult as it may be. And He gives us the means to do it.

              He is and always will be the God of our salvation.

But as for me, I will look unto Jehovah; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me, Mic 7:7.

Dene Ward

Bad News Bearers

9/2/2025 0 Comments

Have you noticed this about the internet? Everyone is in a hurry to spread bad news, almost as if a prize were given to the one who knows it first and has the most lurid detail. Why is that, especially among Christians? Shouldn’t a group created by Good News be far more likely to share that? Yet the many who are quick to excuse their inability to talk to their neighbors about their salvation, have no such qualms about telling even their enemies about a tragedy.
            Psalm 22 should give us pause. We tend to think of it as “the crucifixion psalm” and relegate it to Messianic prophecy alone. However, most scholars believe that these psalms had an application in the day in which they were written also. Therefore, Psalm 22, which is clearly Messianic in many ways, also applied to some time in David’s life.
            It must be obvious that we do not know every detail of his life. John said about the life of Jesus, Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:25. Surely the same could be said for David, who lived far longer than the Lord on this earth. He could easily have had a serious illness we are not told about, or a life-threatening injury. As many enemies as this man of war had, this psalm could refer to some of them. Whatever it was, this psalm tells us about some dire straits David found himself in.
            Note the structure of the psalm. If you have a modern version, you will see the sections separated clearly. The “I/me” sections, those about David and his lament, are alternated with the “thou/you” sections, those addressed to God. The “I/me” sections gradually increase in length, first two verses, then three, then seven. The “thou” sections gradually increase their urgency until the final one when David seems to scream, “Save me from the mouth of the lion!”
            The danger pictured in the psalm gradually increases. “Many bulls encompass me.” “They open wide their mouths.” “Dogs encompass me…they pierced my hands and feet.” “Come quickly. Save me from the mouth of the lion and the horns of the wild oxen.” By this point, David feels the end is near one way or the other.
            Suddenly, in verse 22, the mood changes. The poet uses less figurative language and calmer speech. “Praise” becomes the repetitive word instead of “Deliver me, save me, rescue me.” David begins to recount this desperate time only so he can tell others the good news—God delivered him. “Praise him, glorify him, stand in awe of him,” he tells the assembled congregation, probably those whom he had invited to his thank offering feast. The Law of Moses made provision for a man to offer a sacrifice when something wonderful had happened to him. He was to invite his friends and neighbors and share not only the feast, but the good news of the blessings God had given him. (Lev 7:15; Deut 12:15-18; Psa 40:9,10) Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have such a tradition today? Especially in a day where all we want to share with others are the disasters, the complaints, and the bad news, to actually share good news and praise God for His blessings would be a welcome change.
            What are you sharing with your Facebook friends today? With your family and neighbors, your classmates, fellow workers, and even the cashiers and waitresses you see during the day? Is bad news the only thing that exhilarates you, or do you excitedly tell others the good news—that a Savior loves them just as he loves you and has done so many wonderful things for you.
            God had a people once who only reveled in the bad news, including ten men who came back from seeing a glorious Promised Land and with their evil report (bad news) “made the people complain” Num 14:36. It did not take long for God to give them up to a wilderness in which they learned what bad news really was.
            Think today, not only before you speak, but before you share. Let’s start a new tradition. Let’s make a thank offering feast for our friends instead of a gripe-fest. Share the good things in your life, so that someday you can more easily share the most important thing—your Lord.

The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones…Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country, Prov 15:30; 25:25.

Dene Ward

Blessings Psalm 103

8/27/2025 0 Comments

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Psalm 103:1

            In our Psalms class we came upon this call from David to bless Jehovah, a wake-up call directed first to himself as he sat complacent and satisfied with his ho-hum worship, and then later to the people who were following their king’s lead. The question quite naturally arose then, how can a man bless God? So we did a little research.
            Your first thought might be that there are two distinct words for “bless”—one for God blessing men and one for men blessing God. Not true. Both are the same Hebrew word. It doesn’t take a Hebrew scholar to look at the anglicized word barak in several different verses and see that it is indeed the same word.
            Here is something else we discovered with but a small amount of time searching the scriptures: “bless” usually does not involve physical things. We tend to think that way in our all too materialistic culture. When asked to count our blessings, what do we list? When we ask God to bless us, what do we expect? Yet in the scriptures, I found that well over half the times the word “bless” was used it involved nothing more than what we might call “well wishes,” wanting good to happen to the other person. Now think about the opposite—if someone curses a person, what is it exactly that he wants? He wants evil to befall that person. We understand that perfectly fine; the problem comes when we think a blessing involves a tangible gift. Of course, we cannot do that for God, but we can give God other “blessings.”
            We checked out over 300 verses using the word “bless,” many of which involved men blessing God. It helped enormously when we saw the various ways that word is translated in the KJV. In fact, some of these things completely lost there punch in the newer versions. Let that be a lesson to you not to completely ignore those older versions. They lasted a long time for a good reason.
            Five times the word is translated “salute.” In the newer versions that word is translated “greet.” There is a world of difference between saluting someone and simply saying hello. Salutations involve respect. Especially in 1 Sam 25:14 the difference between David’s men “saluting” Nabal and just greeting him color how we view Nabal’s reaction—it was completely out of line if he had been saluted.
            One time the word is translated “congratulate” (1 Chron 18:10). When do you usually congratulate someone? When he has received an accolade or a well-deserved award. This word involves honor.
            One time the word barak is translated “thanks.” This word denotes gratitude and appreciation.
            Three times it is translated “kneel” or some variation of it. That word signifies humility and submission.
            All of these are other English words used to translate the word “bless” found in Psalm 103:1, Bless God, O my soul. So how do we as mere mortal men bless an Eternal and Almighty God? We show respect, we give Him honor, we appreciate the things He has done for us, and with humility we submit our lives to Him.
            Can a disobedient person bless God? Read that last paragraph again. No, he cannot. Can a self-righteous person bless God? No, not a chance in the world. Can a half-hearted Christian, who somehow thinks there is a minimum he can do to get by bless God? None of those things show honor, respect, gratitude, and humility.
            Be careful before you read Psalm 103. It demands a whole lot more than most people want to give.

Then David said to all the assembly, “Bless the LORD your God.” And all the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the LORD and to the king, 1 Chron 29:20.

Dene Ward

For Thy Name's Sake

8/8/2025 0 Comments

I came across the phrase “for thy name’s sake” in Psalm 79: Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for thy name’s sake.
            The whole psalm bases its appeal on the fact that God is the one being scorned when His people are defeated by the nations. The psalmist certainly had it right—those people who had slipped so far into idolatry and all its vile and attendant practices could not possibly think that God would save them based upon how faithful and righteous they had been. The only possibility of salvation was to throw themselves on the mercies of their God, to remind Him that it was a personal affront to Him when His people were conquered.
            The nations have come into your inheritance…your holy temple they have defiled…the dead bodies of your servants have they given to the birds of the heavens for food…render sevenfold into the laps of our neighbors the taunts wherewith they have taunted you. And in keeping with that, the psalmist then asks for forgiveness, not for the people’s sake, but for God’s name’s sake.
            I looked up that phrase and found it several more times in the collection. What was God asked to do “for His name’s sake?” Pardon sins, 25:11; lead in paths of righteousness, 23:3; preserve life, 143:11; lead and guide, 31:3; deal on my behalf and deliver, 109:21. Herein lies a lesson we need—all these things, including pardon and deliverance, God does, not because we deserve them, but because of Who He is. We have nothing to bargain with any more than those fickle people of old. We, too, have sinned against a loving Father, often in a rebellious and disrespectful way. We may not bow down to an idol, but we love the world as much as they did, follow its example as if we fear to be different from it, and let it seep into our minds to the point we no longer even recognize sin.
            I hear too many brethren in the midst of a trial ask God, “Why, when I have tried so hard to be faithful for so long?” We just don’t get it. One sin forever makes us unworthy to be in the presence of God. It breaks our covenant with Him as surely as a broken contract today.   God is Holy, He is righteous, He cannot tolerate sin. But lucky for us, God is love, too, and because of Who He is, we have hope.
            When the trials come, when the fear mounts and the sorrow overwhelms, this is what we say to Him: We know we do not deserve it. We know you are far above us and our frail existence. Please show the world your essence. Please help us and comfort us and deliver us, not for our sakes, but for your name’s sake. Otherwise we don’t have a leg to stand on, and we know it.

"I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Isaiah 43:25

"For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Isaiah 48:9

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7.

Dene Ward

Forget-Me-Nots Psalm 13

7/17/2025 0 Comments

Forget-me-nots are small unassuming plants with tiny blooms. I read one legend in which God is busy naming the flowers and nearly finished when a small one whispers plaintively, “Forget-me-not.” God replies, “I won’t, and that shall be your name.” Of course that is not how it happened, but the plea for God not to “forget me” has sounded out down through the ages.
            How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? Psalm 13:1.
            Of course God does not forget His people. But Zion said…the Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb. Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you, Isa 49:14,15.
            Everyone knows God does not forget us, but even a nursing child, when hunger strikes, wonders why his mother is not taking care of him RIGHT THIS MINUTE! “She must have forgotten me.”
            If we do a little research, we can understand what David meant in the psalm. The opposite of “forget” is “remember” and both words have connotations we may not realize.
            In Gen 8:1 “God remembered” Noah and the animals, and made the rain stop.
            In Gen 19:29, “God remembered” Abraham, and spared Lot from Sodom.
            In Gen 30:22, “God remembered” Rachel, and gave her a son.
            In Ex 2:24, “God remembered” his covenant with Abraham, and sent Moses to save the people
            In 1 Sam 1:19,20, “God remembered” Hannah, and gave her a son.
            Do you see it? Every time we are told “God remembered” He acted. If “remembering” means to act, then “forgetting” means the opposite, no action. David could see no deliverance. It was not that he thought God had really removed him from His mind, it was that he could not see God coming to his aid when he needed it.
            In the midst of trials we may not be able to see the hand of God. He often works behind the scenes. He usually uses the hands of others to accomplish His will and those hands may be slow in acting. His timetable may not match ours. In fact, we may even face times when it seems He “forgot” us. Rest assured He has not.
            It is not for us to demand explanations from an Almighty Creator. It is for us to follow the solution David ultimately comes to in verse five: I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. David had not yet seen that salvation, but he trusted so implicitly it was as if it had already happened. I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me, v 6.
            David began this psalm with fear and depression which fell on him because the trial was long and hard and he saw no relief in sight. Eventually he sank into despondency. He felt completely alone. Because he felt alone, he even looked to himself for advice. How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart? The worst counselor you can have is yourself. If all you do is look inward, you will despair. According to David, you must look outside yourself to find help and consolation.
            When David states his solution, “I will trust in the Lord,” he is making a choice: “I will.” That choice to trust God cannot be taken away from you by anyone, whether a physical or spiritual Enemy.
            When we face trials—especially long, difficult ordeals—we should remember Psalm 13. What began with a charge of God forgetting ended with a trust in His bounty so complete it is as if it had already been accomplished, even more (“bountifully”) than was necessary.
            God did not forget the tiny flower and He does not forget us either. It is up to us to choose His help when it is offered and how it is offered, not the way we think is best, but in the manner our Wise Creator knows is best.

Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love, Psalm 33:18.

Dene Ward

Are We There Yet? Psalm 13

7/15/2025 0 Comments

It’s a classic kids’ comment, one Keith and I make to one another for laughs, but we never really had to deal with it when the boys were little. Frankly, parents are their own worst enemies about things like this—your children know exactly what they can and cannot get away with long before they can even tell you in words. If you don’t want to hear that particular whine, then do something about it.
            Yet still I thought of that question when I was working on Psalm 13. “How long?” David asks, not once, but four times in the first two verses. It was just as common then as it is now. Habakkuk’s psalm begins, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear?” Hab 1:2. The martyrs pictured around the throne of God cry out, “O Sovereign Lord...how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Rev. 6:9,10. “How long” is indeed a common complaint in the scriptures—I found it listed 52 times!
            And the point is this, these people are undergoing not just trials, but long, drawn out trials. “Time flies when you’re having fun,” we often say, and that means it crawls when you aren’t.
            “It is not under the sharpest, but the longest trials that we are most in danger of fainting,” Andrew Fuller says in Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. It is so true. Just last week I nearly lost it over something small and inconsequential.
            Being married to a deaf man can be extremely frustrating. Three times in one hour Keith and I had a misunderstanding based totally on the fact that he could not hear what I was saying. If he could have heard just three words, none of it would have even mattered, but because he couldn’t, it made the situation more and more complex, and more and more exasperating as it went on. And the reason I couldn’t handle it that morning? Not because it was three times in one hour, but because we have been dealing with it for fifty-one years now.
            But who am I to complain? The woman in Luke 8 had her issue of blood for 12 years. The woman who had the spirit of infirmity in Luke 13 had been suffering for 18 years. The man who lay at the pool of Bethesda (John 5) had done so for 38 years. The blind beggar in John 9 had been that way from birth. Sarah had waited for a child for decades. The people of God waited for a Messiah for several thousand years! These people had far more reason than I to ask God, “How long?”
            All of us are prone to ask, “Are we there yet?” and sometimes the answer does not come in this lifetime. That may be the most difficult thing to deal with. Some are born into suffering and never get out of it. Some, due to random accident or maybe even their own bad choices, suffer for the remaining years of their lives and never see a reason. God has His plans and we are not always privy to them.
            But one day we will receive the answer we want to hear: “How long? Now! We are there!” The waiting will be over, no more suffering of any sort, even the petty little annoyances that no one else can understand, that drive you up a wall on a bad day, that fill you with guilt when your mind clears and you finally recognize just how blessed you truly are.
            Some day we will arrive, and we won’t be going on any more long difficult journeys ever again.

It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. Deuteronomy 31:8.

Dene Ward

Asides from Psalms 6—Figurative Language--The final part in the series

5/23/2025 0 Comments

The psalms are poetry. By definition poetry is full of figurative language. The psalms, therefore, must be full of figurative language.
            Simile: As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God, 42:1.
            Metaphor: The Lord is my rock, 18:2. The Lord is my shepherd, 23:1.
            Personification: When the waters saw you they were afraid, 77:16.
            Hyperbole: God looks down on the children of men to see if there are any…who seek after God. They have all fallen away…there is none who does good, not even one, 53:2,3.
            We all use figurative language every day of our lives: “He’ll give you the shirt off his back.” “I need a new set of wheels.” “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times.” But for some reason we don’t get it when we find it in the scriptures. We make up some weird gate in Jerusalem that archaeologists have never found, nor that the disciples had ever heard of, instead of understanding that Jesus was using hyperbole when he said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven.” We are not any better than our religious friends who want every item in the book of Revelation to be literal. Maybe we should take the log out of our own eyes before we talk about them.
            We do the same thing with our hymns. Granted there are lines in some hymns that we probably should not sing. They teach religious dogma that is not found in the New Testament. But far more often I have picky brethren who ignore the authority the book of Psalms gives us to use poetry, the hallmark of which is figurative language. We follow the examples of our neighbors and make it all literal, then ban it from our assemblies. Hymns are poetry set to music just as the psalms were. We should treat them as such.
            It would be helpful if we recognize that a figure of speech is meant to address only one specific point and stop trying to carry it beyond reason. “A sower went forth to sow,” Jesus taught. The point of the parable was how the seed grew based on the ground it fell on. Who would be so silly as to ask what the bag in which the sower carried seed represented? The same ones who wonder about camels and needles. The same ones who want a literal thousand year kingdom on the earth instead of an eternal kingdom in Heaven. The reason one group didn’t fall for the other fallacy was not their understanding of how to use figurative language, i.e., the same way we use it every day of lives. The reason they stayed “sound” on one and not the other is they were indoctrinated otherwise. It’s time we fixed that problem.
            Even denominational preachers understand the uses and abuses of figurative language when it comes down to brass tacks. Just read Dungan’s Hermeneutics. He has a great list of exactly how to interpret figurative language (Chapter 8). If you follow it, you won’t fall for the strange gate OR the millennium.
            So let’s stop being ridiculous with our hymns, too. We would not stand for anyone interpreting the things we say the way we interpret those poets. “Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you, do you also unto them.”
            And, more to the point, if we banned poetic language, we would miss a whole lot of wonderful teaching that reaches the heart in ways that straight prose never could. Funny how God knew that so many thousands of years ago.

Jehovah, I have called upon you; make haste unto me: Give ear unto my voice, when I call unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth as incense before you; The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O Jehovah, before my mouth; Keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness with men that work iniquity: And let me not eat of their dainties. Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; And let him reprove me, it shall be as oil upon the head; Let not my head refuse it: For even in their wickedness shall my prayer continue. Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock; And they shall hear my words; For they are sweet. As when one plows and cleaves the earth, Our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol. For my eyes are unto you, O Jehovah the Lord: In you do I take refuge; leave not my soul destitute. Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, And from the gins of the workers of iniquity. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, While I escape. Psalms 141:1-10

Dene Ward