An Invitation to God’s Refreshment

Scholars suggest that Psalm 95 was written to be sung during the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles every autumn, when the Jewish people recalled God’s great care for them during their forty years of wandering in the desert.  Interestingly, though, it is only the conclusion of the psalm, verses 8-11, that makes any reference to those years in the desert, and the focus in these verses in not on God’s good care of the Israelites, but on the hardness of heart of those who doubted God and grumbled against Moses.  The psalm refers specifically to an incident that took place at Massah and Meribah (meaning “Test and Quarrel”).  Such a name was given to that place because the people put God to the test, and they grumbled against Moses, coming close to stoning Moses. 

Psalm 95:10 tells us, “For forty years I loathed that generation.  But if God loathed that generation for forty years, he had a strange way of showing it.  Those forty years began with God separating the waters of the Red Sea so that the people could escape the pursuing Egyptian army.  After that, God led them by a pillar of fire; he provided water for them from a rock; he fed them daily with manna from heaven; and he gave them the Law and the Ark of the Covenant.  During all those years, Scripture tells us, their clothes did not wear out, nor did their sandals.  If this is what it meant for them to be loathed by God, most of us would be glad to have been in their position. 

Yet there was something particular that God despised.  Verse 10 spells it out for us: “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.”  What God loathed was their hardheartedness and their grumbling.

Verse 11 warns us that such hardheartedness and grumbling kept the people from entering God’s rest.  That’s the natural consequence of hardheartedness and grumbling.  When our hearts are hard and when our attention is directed at grumbling rather than gratitude, we miss out on God’s rest and peace.  There is no life for us—no joy or contentment or peace—when we are filled with hardheartedness and grumbling.

Yet God wants us to live in his rest and peace.  Therefore, Psalm 95 is filled with invitations from God to us to put aside our hardness of heart and our grumbling and to come to God.  Verses 1, 2, and 6 offer us a series of invitations:

• O come….
• Let us sing to the Lord;
• Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
• Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
• Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
• O come….
• Let us worship and bow down,
• Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

The practice of worship and gratitude dissolves the hardness of heart.  It sets us free.  It invigorates us.

Many years ago, on his television show, Art Linkletter asked a young girl named Debbie, “What is salt?”

Debbie answered, “Salt is what spoils the potatoes when you leave it out.”

The same could be said about worship and gratitude:  Worship and gratitude are what spoil life when you leave them out.  Worship and gratitude are what enable us to embrace the refreshing care of God.

“You Shall Not Covet”

Aesop told the story of a dog that was given a meaty bone by a generous neighbor.  On his way home, with the bone held securely between its teeth, the dog had to cross a bridge over a narrow stream.  Upon reaching the middle of the bridge, the dog paused to look into the water.  He saw his own reflection magnified by the water.  Thinking that the dog that looked up at him had a larger bone, the dog decided to take it by force.  He leaned over and snapped at his own reflection.  As he did so, the bone between his teeth fell into the water and was lost. 

I believe God watches this kind of behavior often as God observes how we live our lives.  It is God’s concern over this kind of behavior that is at the heart of the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female servant, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Covetousness is the longing for something that I don’t have but wish that I did have because somebody else has it.  Covetousness is the illusion that I could be happy if only I could get whatever it is that somebody else has.  As such, covetousness is a heart that is dissatisfied—a heart that is anxious, a heart that is craving something else.

The greatest problem with covetousness is the delusion it stirs up within us that we can gain happiness by getting what we see our neighbor owning.

William Barclay comments, “The basis and foundation of covetousness is the idea that to get what we have not got will bring happiness.  The feeling in the mind and heart is: ‘If…only I could get this or that I would be satisfied.’  All life, from childhood to old age, proves what a delusion that idea is.  It is quite true that when we get the thing on which we have set our hearts, there is a brief thrill, but the thrill does not last….

“If the possession of things brought happiness and contentment, then this would be the happiest and the most contented age in history, for never was there such material well-being, and never were this world’s goods more widely distributed in western civilization.  Things which were once the possession of the privileged few, things like motor cars and television sets and continental holidays are the possession of the many—which in itself is an excellent thing; but it is also true that there never was a more neurotic and dissatisfied age in history…. Contentment is certainly not found in the possession of things.”

Bob James offers some perspective: “Recently I laid a small circle of poison around a hill of stinging ants.  Thinking the tiny granules of poison were food, the ants began to pick them up and carry them throughout the colony. 

“I returned later to see how well the poison was working.  Hundreds of the stinging ants were carrying the poison down into their hill.  Then I noticed a hole in the circle of poison.  Some of the poison was moving in the opposite way—away from the hill.  Some smaller, non-stinging ants had found this ‘food’ and were stealing it from their ant neighbors.  Thinking they were getting the other ant’s treasure, they unwittingly poisoned themselves.

“When we see someone with more than we have, we must beware.  The hunger to beg, borrow or steal our way into what is theirs may poison us.”

Charles Swindoll sums it up well: “The good life exists only when we stop wanting a better one.  The itch for things is a virus draining the soul of contentment.”

Contentment is found not through coveting what our neighbor has but by loving our neighbor.  Henry Drummond reminds us, “You will find, as you look back upon your life, that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.” 

Use Your Tongue to Build Others Up

Our words matter.  They have power for good or for evil.  They can build people up, or they can tear people down.

Therefore, when God presented people with commandments for them to live by, God included a commandment pertaining to our words: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

William Barclay points to a difference in wording between Exodus 20:16 and Deuteronomy 5:20.  In English, both are translated, “You shall not bear false witness,” but in the Hebrew there is a slight difference between the words.  “In the Exodus version the meaning is lying or untrue; in the Deuteronomy version the meaning is insincere, empty, frivolous.  The meaning is not essentially different, but it might be said that the Exodus version thinks rather of the nature of the evidence and the Deuteronomy version thinks rather of the spirit in which it is given.”

Most literally, this commandment applies to how we are to handle ourselves in legal proceedings.  But, as with all the commandments, the heart of the command goes deeper and the application of the command goes further.

Indeed, many verses in Scripture speak of God’s concern over how we use our tongues.  For example:

• Proverbs 12:18: “Rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” 
• Proverbs 15:4: “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”
• Proverbs 15:28: “The mind of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil.”
• Proverbs 26:20: “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.”
• Proverbs 26:28: “A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin.”
• Ephesians 4:29: “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.”

Scripture makes it clear that God’s call to us is to stop using our tongues in ways that beat people down. 

In the comic strip Pickles, Earl is walking one day with his daughter Sylvia:

Earl: “I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been kind of hard on Dan lately.”

Sylvia: “I know.  I keep criticizing him and finding fault, and I don’t know why I do it.”

Earl: “How do you think it makes Dan feel?”

Sylvia: “I don’t know.  What do you think?”

Earl: “Probably about the same as a lamp post feels about dogs.”

God’s call to us is to use our tongues to build others up.

Glennon Doyle shares, “Does anybody remember what God used in Genesis to make the world?  Was it bricks?  Was it stones?  It was WORDS.  God said, ‘Let there be light.’  And there was light.  God’s words built the world.”

“Maybe the writers of that story wanted us to think about how powerful our words are.  God created us in God’s image so, like God, we can use our voices to create beautiful things.  Every time we open our mouths and speak, we are either saying ‘Let there be light’ or ‘Let there be darkness.’  When we gossip, when we criticize, when we lie or tell hurtful jokes or use labels that categorize and demean people, we are saying: ‘Let there be darkness.’  We create a world around us that is not so beautiful.  And then we have to live in it.

“When we offer a compliment, when we defend a friend or a stranger, when we stick to the truth, when we speak a kind word to anyone, we are saying, ‘Let there be light.’  We are creating a more beautiful world, and then we get to live in it.

“Dear God, help us use our voices to create a more beautiful world.  Let every word we speak be a stepping stone toward peace.  Help us speak light so we can watch darkness scatter.” 

“You Shall Not Steal”

When summarizing God’s commands, Jesus pointed to two: You shall love the Lord your God with the whole of your being and you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. 

The call to love our God and to love our neighbor is at the foundation of the eighth commandment: “You shall not steal.” 

If we are to love our neighbor, we must not steal from our neighbor, for the experience of being stolen from is deeply distressing. 

Tom Moss remarks, “Burglary isn’t just about losing your possessions.  It also violates people’s sense of feeling safe in their own homes.”  People who have been robbed experience post-traumatic stress.  Typical reactions include: anger, intense sadness, feelings of guilt that the individual did not do enough, anxiety in crowds, being suspicious of people, difficulty sleeping, nightmares, hypervigilance, obsessive thinking about the robbery, being startled easily by unexpected sounds, feelings of vulnerability, and difficulty concentrating.

About this commandment, William Barclay comments, “This is what might be called a basic commandment…. It is a necessary part of any agreement to live together.  It is part of the foundations of any society, and without obedience to it any society would be impossible.”    

We cannot both love our neighbor and steal from our neighbor.

It is important for us to recognize that stealing from our neighbor involves far more than just burglary.  In teaching the Ten Commandments to all who are learning the Christian faith, the Heidelberg Catechism asks, “What does God forbid in the eighth commandment?”  And provides this answer: “He forbids not only the theft and robbery which civil authorities punish, but God also labels as theft all wicked tricks and schemes by which we seek to get for ourselves our neighbor’s goods, whether by force or under the pretext of right, such as false weights and measures, deceptive advertising or merchandising, counterfeit money, exorbitant interest, or any other means forbidden by God.  He also forbids all greed and misuse and waste of his gifts.” 

The next question asks, “But what does God require of you in this commandment?”  And gives this answer: “That I work for the good of my neighbor wherever I can and may, deal with him as I would have others deal with me, and do my work well so that I may be able to help the poor in their need.”

At its minimum, this commandment is a call to us not to cheat our neighbor in any way.  At its highest, this commandment is a call to us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and to work for the good of our neighbor so that we “may be able to help the poor in their need.” 

When he was twelve years of age, Charles Dickens worked 10-hour days in a rat-infested shoe-polish factory for six shillings a week, while his father, mother, and five siblings (ages 2-11) were in debtors’ prison.  In Dicken’s novel A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is approached by two men collecting donations for the poor and needy at Christmas time:

“‘Are there no prisons?’ asked Scrooge.

“‘Plenty of prisons,’ said the gentleman. Laying down the pen again.

“‘And the Union workhouses?’ demanded Scrooge.  ‘Are they still in operation?’

“‘They are.  Still,’ returned the gentleman, ‘I wish I could say they were not.’

“‘The treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?’ said Scrooge.

“‘Both very busy, sir.’

“‘Oh!  I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,’ said Scrooge…. Those who are badly off must go there.’

“‘Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.’

“‘If they would rather die,’ said Scrooge, ‘they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.’”

The treadmill, Matthew Caruchet explains, “was a feature in prisons where inmates would walk endlessly, pushing a huge wheel while holding bars at chest height.  With every step, the wheel would turn, grinding corn…. The Poor Law is a reference to the popular economic theories of Thomas Malthus, Malthus argued that ruinous poverty and starvation were necessary ills, as society could not possibly provide for everyone and death would remove the undesirables from the population.  He supported the Poor Law to create workhouses for the poor, as people who were unable to sustain themselves did not have the right to live.”

If we are to love the Lord our God with the whole of our being, we must not steal from our neighbor or take economic advantage of our neighbor, for cheating one’s neighbor is antithetical to loving God.  1 John 4:20 stresses, “Those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” 

A Cry of Anguish in the Face of Evil

Sometimes we cannot understand the tragedies and cruelties of life in this world.

The family van Jerry Sittser was driving, filled with members of his family, was struck by a drunk driver, killing Jerry’s mother, wife and four-year-old daughter.  Because of a mistake on the part of the investigating officer, the drunk driver escaped punishment.  Jerry and his surviving children were left in shock and turmoil.  How are a grieving father and children to respond to such tragedy and injustice?

In his book A Grace Disguised, Jerry Sittser shares, “In one instance David, then seven, crawled up on my lap late at night, long after his normal bedtime.  At first he just sat there.  then, hesitatingly, he began to express rage at the drunk driver who…caused the accident.  He cried with anguish.  He said that he wanted to punish that man and make him hurt as much as he had hurt us.  he said that he wanted to make the whole world suffer so everyone would feel as bad as he did.”

Psalm 94 expresses the same sentiment.  It begins, “O Lord, you God of vengeance, you God of vengeance, shine forth!  Rise up, O judge of the earth; give to the proud what they deserve!  O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?  They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.  They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage.  They kill the widow and the stranger; they murder the orphan; and they say, ‘The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.’”

Psalm 94 is an angry and bitter reply to the evils of the world.  Psalm 94 lets us know that it is okay for us to express to God the anger and bitterness we feel when we encounter life’s evils. 

When we struggle with the evils of life, we can respond in one of two ways: We can respond as a Dualist, or we can respond as a Christian.

C.S. Lewis describes Dualism as “the belief that there are two equal and independent powers at the back of everything, one of them good and the other bad, and that this universe is the battlefield in which they fight out an endless war” (Mere Christianity, p. 48).  A Dualist may groan and complain about the evils of this world, but in the end there is no hope of life ever getting better for we are stuck in a never ending conflict between two equal and opposite forces, good and evil.

The Christian viewpoint recognizes the presence and the horror of evil, but it does not perceive of evil as equal and opposite of good.  It sees evil as a corruption of good.  Therefore, it sees evil as of lesser strength than good.  The Christian viewpoint believes that God will eventually triumph over evil, with good eventually prevailing over evil.

Thus Psalm 94 concludes not with despair because evil lasts but with hope because God is the one who lasts: “If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.  When I thought, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.  When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul…. But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.  He will repay them for their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the Lord our God will wipe them out.”

The Christian viewpoint enables us to see evil for what it is: a lesser corruption of good.  The Christian viewpoint also allows us to make the move in our own lives from the realm of evil to the realm of good, including the realm of compassion.  That’s what happened with Jerry Sittser’s son David.  As Jerry continues the story, “After he stopped crying, we sat in silence for a while.  Then he said, ‘You know, Dad, I bet someone hurt him, too, like maybe his parents.  That’s why he did something to hurt us.  And then I bet someone else hurt his parents.  It just keeps going on and on.  When will it ever stop?’” (p. 75)

A Commandment to Protect Intimacy

As far back as the time of Moses, God’s people have been commanded, “You shall not commit adultery.”  But is that a commandment we still need to pay attention to? 

Media mogul Ted Turner expressed his opinion.  He said, “If you’re only going to have 10 rules, I don’t know if adultery should be one of them.” 

In an article in Time magazine on August 15, 1994, Robert Wright argued, “Of course, you don’t need a Ph.D. to see that till-death-do-we-part fidelity doesn’t come as naturally to people as, say, eating…. The good news is that human beings are designed to fall in love.  The bad news is that they aren’t designed to stay there.  According to evolutionary psychology, it is ‘natural’ for both men and women—at some times, under some circumstances—to commit adultery or to sour on a mate, to suddenly find a spouse unattractive, irritating, wholly unreasonable.  It is similarly natural to find some attractive colleague superior on all counts to the sorry wreck of a spouse you’re saddled with.  When we see a couple celebrate a golden anniversary, one apt reaction is the famous remark about a dog walking on two legs: the point is not that the feat was done well but that it was done at all.”    

About his numerous affairs, Newt Gingrich remarked, “I start with an assumption that all human beings sin.  So all I’ll say is that I’ve led a human life.”

Is it just human nature to have affairs?  Should this command be set aside as archaic?

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said to people, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest….”  Jesus spoke those words out of a heart that was filled with compassion and concern for those whose hearts have been crushed by the sorrows and struggles and pains of life.  The seventh command is placed in Scripture out of the same heart of compassion and concern for those who would end up broken-hearted through the cruelty of infidelity.  This commandment is intended to protect people from such heartbreak. 

After twenty eight years of marriage, when Elizabeth Edwards learned of her husband John’s year-long affair with a campaign worker, Elizabeth shared, “After I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up…. I felt that the ground underneath me had been pulled away…. I am imperfect in a million ways, but I always thought I was the kind of woman, the kind of wife to whom a husband would be faithful.  I had asked for fidelity, begged for it, really, when we married.  I never need flowers or jewelry; I don’t care about vacations or a nice car.  But I need you to be faithful.  Leave me, if you must, but be faithful to me if you are with me.” 

About her experience, Amy Chan wrote, “I felt terribly alone.  To have your trust breached and your heart so wounded feels like there is a dark cloud of misery that follows you everywhere you go.  It’s with you no matter how you try to distract yourself.  Even in sleep you cannot escape, as pain haunts you in the form of nightmares.  You feel trapped, because there is nothing you can say or do to make it go away…. A year later, I still have moments where sadness and anger creep up on me and I break down in tears.  These tears go way beyond my experience of betrayal—they stem down to the little girl inside, whose deepest insecurity is not being good enough.  That little girl who never seemed to be able to get love and approval from her father comes out and wonders if she will ever be worthy of love from a man…. The hurt, anger, denial, thirst for revenge—those are all part of the emotional roller coaster that comes with betrayal.” 

It is God’s heart of compassion and concern for all whose hearts would be crushed by infidelity that led God to instruct us, “You shall not commit adultery.”  It is a call for the protection of intimacy.

The fulfillment of this command is expressed beautifully in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.  Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone?  And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one.  A threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

The God Who Is Not Depleted

About Psalm 93, Robert Fudge writes, “I am going to borrow an illustration my dad used many years ago.  He said he once had an old hound dog that would howl all night at a full moon, but, in spite of the loud protests by the dog, the moon did not change or go away.” 

This is a fitting analogy for understanding Psalm 93; however Psalm 93 speaks not of a hound dog howling at the moon but of life’s troubles howling at God.  As verse 3 puts it: “The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring.”

The “floods” here represents all the troubles and turbulence and chaos of life.  Scholars believe Psalm 93 was written when Jewish people were returning to Jerusalem and the surrounding areas after the Babylonian captivity.  This had been a turbulent time for the people, being uprooted from their homeland, taken away as captives to a new land, establishing themselves in a new land, then returning to their old land, trying to resettle it in the face of new hostility.  This psalm was written amidst chaos and uncertainty, and it speaks to all people who encounter chaos and uncertainty in their lives. 

In the midst of the chaos, in the midst of the uncertainties of life, God stands firm amidst the “floods.”  Thus, verse 4 declares, “More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the Lord!”  And verses 1-2 state, “The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he is girded with strength.  He has established the world; it shall never be moved; your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.” 

All of the howling of the hound dog does not make the moon change or go away.  All of the howling of life’s troubles does not make God change or go away.

Brian Croft offers a helpful analogy.  He says that his friend, Bruce Ware, took his daughters to the beach when they were about 5 and 6 years old.  He said to them, “Hey, girls, you know how the Bible teaches that God holds the oceans in the palms of his hands?  Well, you see how big daddy is, right?  I’m going to walk into the water, cup my hands, and when I pull water out with my hands, I want you to watch to see if the ocean level goes down at all.  Okay?”

Just as we cannot lower the level of the ocean by our handful of water, neither can any trouble of this life deplete God.  Through all of life’s turbulence and chaos, God stands firm, undepleted, always with us, and always for us.