In The Shadow
Notes
Transcript
The NIV Application Commentary: Psalms, Volume 2 Bridging Contexts
Effectively, Jesus believed the promise of Psalm 91 without requiring proof of its veracity.
The NIV Application Commentary: Psalms, Volume 2 Bridging Contexts
The aim of Psalm 91 is to encourage all God’s people to employ a quiet and simple trust in him, regardless of how threatening our circumstances may feel. Psalm 91 is not the poetic meditation of a spiritual kamikaze; it is the call to trust in God’s presence and help even when everything around us screams that he is not real and not involved. Psalm 91 helps the believer to remember that God is both near to us and intimately engaged with our reality.
Life is full of contradictions.
Life is full of contradictions.
We have birth and then later death. Right and wrong. One minute the word you said was exactly the best thing to say and then in the next situation which is like it, it was the worse thing to say. We experience moments of utter joy and for some the next day everything seems to have fallen apart.
An either/or world.
An either/or world.
This gives us the allusion of simplicity, which sometimes, and the emphasis is sometimes, does not exist. Yes there are times when it is either/or. There is absolute truth or not. Sin is either sin or it is not. Yet, sometimes this is not the case. We think this is where safety and security is.
Maybe a both/and world is needed.
Maybe a both/and world is needed.
A world where the seemingly contradictions of life are held together. One can be both right and wrong at the same time on some matters. What worked for one person may not work for another. The previous success of an organization may no longer be true a couple years later.
This approach provides the reality of life and the complexity of life. Unfortunately, it is also harder to navigate.
But first, a story...
But first, a story...
The Way:
A group of people were formed, maybe better put, we knit together by their founder in such a way that contradictions existed. Even the group itself would have been classified by some as a “walking contradiction”. Pro-government individuals gladly worked alongside those who saw the government as the enemy. Those who were extremely educated by the standards of the day, and those who were uneducated. Women and men. Young and Old. Those considered insiders and those considered outsiders.
Yet, they never felt as if they were a “new” group or sect as some would call them. Instead, they felt their heritage was as old as time itself. Their “founder/leader” did not come to get rid of the old but redeem it. One of their first struggles was what to “name” themselves. The tension of old and new, both a rich history but also a new beginning. (In all fairness they probably weren’t very concerned about what to call themselves as much as they were concerned with fulfilling the purpose they were created for.)
They became The Way. Indicating their believe was not just a point in time but a journey in life. For them, it also encompassed their rich history and marked them separate from the other religions around them. It reminded them of their leader, as he remarked being “The way” and how they needed to be about his way, not their way.
The history which they were a part of talked about ways to live. Would contrast the way of life and the person right with God and those whose ways are destructive. The Way as they became called were reminded in that name how thinking and believing the correct things were not a substitute for living in such a way that others could join in.
The name described a believe that they were travelers on a journey and not satisfied with the world around them. They were looking for a home not able to be found on Earth. Yet, they brought life to Earth in almost every area they touched.
But, others did not like “The Way”. They saw them as too radical, not like “them” and so devised a way to try and get rid of them. The group/religion they shared a history with became those would try to destroy them. For The Way this was not a surprise, in fact their leader had warned them this was coming. Yet, the persevered, remaining faithful to living on the way of life, even in the shadow of death.
After some time their “name” changed, but not because of something they did. It was those not part of their group who started calling them by a different name, one which for those on the outside helped, so it seemed, to describe not just who they were but what they believed. The named them after their leader. So what did they become called? Christians. And the name “stuck”. They were both members of “The Way” and “Christians”.
Psalms is about all of life.
Psalms is about all of life.
The good and the bad. The times of seemingly defeat alongside tremendous confidence.
Psalm 91 depicts a way of life.
Psalm 91 depicts a way of life.
This isn’t just a good Psalm, but it is a Psalm meant to encourage, convict, and teach us there is a way to live which will produce life.
Psalm 91 is poetry.
Psalm 91 is poetry.
Because of this we must understand that there is imagery and hyperbole, meaning exaggeration present, which is not always literal in meaning.
In God’s shadow there is safety.
In God’s shadow there is safety.
Notice this, it is only in the shadow of God do we truly find rest, security, and an assurance that what may come our way will not have the last word.
God will save us.
God will save us.
This is the hope of all the world. This is why we need not be afraid of whatever may come our way. Does this mean we are immune from the troubles of the world? Does this mean nothing bad will happen to those who are find in Christ, in the shadow of God?
The story of Jim Elliot, the early church, the martyrs of the 21st Century.
We must hold the tension of Scripture.
We must hold the tension of Scripture.
Meaning, sometimes it seems to say different things but in reality Scripture never, and I mean NEVER contradicts itself. We must interpret Scripture with Scripture.
Jesus helps interpret this Psalm.
Jesus helps interpret this Psalm.
It is one of those Psalms which we see a direct quotation, to some extent, in the NT. We find the quotation and interpretation in Luke 4.1-13 and also Matthew 4.1-11.
The NIV Application Commentary: Psalms, Volume 2 Bridging Contexts
Effectively, Jesus believed the promise of Psalm 91 without requiring proof of its veracity.
God can do anything.
God can do anything.
This is one of the lessons of the book of Psalms. He is the true King. He can do whatever he wants and all the world is to praise His name.
God doesn’t do everything.
God doesn’t do everything.
This is where the laments come in. This is where the Psalms of complaint and disorientation, as some call them, come in. This is where life has happened and it isn’t all roses.
The promise is presence.
The promise is presence.
What does this promise look like. It is the presence of God himself. It is an attentive God who is not distant but is very near.
Jesus is the fulfillment.
Jesus is the fulfillment.
He has given us himself, the Holy Spirit, who is with us. His presence does not leave us nor will He forsake us. This is why a couple months ago we looked at the great passage of Paul in Romans 8 which proclaims the fulfillment of this Psalm and life. We are more than conquerers. We cannot be separate from God’s love. If we are IN CHRIST. In His Shadow. In the shadow of the Cross. Are you there? Don’t move out of the shadow. If you do come back into the shadow. We do not need to proof that the promises are true in order for them to be true.