Day 166. Psalms 68-71

Psalm 68
How do we know God? We know God through reflection upon his guidance of our lives. We look back upon the twists and turns our lives have taken, and with thanksgiving we see the hand of God at work in them—faith comes from seeing that of deliverance. That's what this psalm—#68—does. It begins by portraying God riding upon the clouds as he comes to the rescue of those who in one way or another are oppressed. "Sing to the LORD, sing praises to his name," the psalmist sings (68:4), as he imagines the "father of orphans and protector of widows" (5) coming to the help of the helpless. The first line of this psalm is sung by the people of Israel as the Ark of the Covenant is carried before them through the wilderness—see Numbers 10:35. The psalmist remembers that "when [the LORD] went out before [his] people, when [they] marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, [and] the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of
Sinai. . . ." (7-8). God is the one who guides the people through the wilderness of Sinai. God is the one who gives rain which provides an abundant harvest and food for the multitude. God is the one who defeats the kings of Canaan, and "when the Almighty scattered kings there [in Canaan], snow fell on Zalmon" (14). Snow and rain are compared to the grace of God which rescues his people and provides for the "desolate" and needy. The LORD acts again and again to help and support his own. God chooses Zion to be "his abode" as opposed to the "mountain of Bashan" (15-16)—some other unknown place--and the Ark of the Covenant is carried as a throne as the procession of the people "ascend[s] the high mount" (18) of Jerusalem. When they are threatened by foes, the LORD's deliverance takes the form of annihilation of the ruthless—he "scatters the heads" of the enemies of his people (21), the voice of the psalmist says. Then he
describes the Ark being carried shoulder high at the head of a "solemn procession. . . to the sanctuary, the singers in front" (24). God is being enthroned in the sanctuary, so that his people call upon him there and "summon [his] might´ as they have done before. The temple is the place of the LORD's revelation to the nations—nations from far away are called upon to bring tribute to the God who is enthroned (31). The God who once rode through the heavens on the storm now dwells in his sanctuary in Jerusalem, where he "gives power and strength to his people" (35). He is their God, and they are his people forever.
Psalm 69
This prayer is offered by one who is in danger of being overwhelmed by his circumstances—"waters have come up" to his neck (69:1), he says. He is caught in a situation beyond his control—an absurd, chaotic mess--and his "eyes grow dim with waiting" for his God to help him (3). He is hated without cause by numberless foes; he is dishonored by his faithfulness, and he begs the LORD to turn the "shame" of those who trust in him into honor (6). He calls out for vindication. His "zeal" for God's house has made him look ridiculous to his godless enemies. Their hostility is compared to the forces of chaos in the universe—the formless "mire," the "deep waters," the raging "flood," and "the Pit," which represents death itself (13-15). The psalmist "in distress" calls upon the LORD to "draw near" to him, "redeem"—buy him back--and "set him free" from his enemies (18), from bondage and from the "shame and
dishonor" into which he has fallen (19). (The early church saw the prediction of the suffering of Jesus in verse 21b–see Matthew 27:34.) The voice prays that God will "blot out" the names of those who have treated him so badly "from the book of the living" (28)—this is a way of asking God to forget them—and those whom God forgets do not exist. Then the psalm changes direction in verse 30—deliverance has come to him at long last and now the voice promises to "praise the name of God with a song" and "magnify him with thanksgiving" (30). A psalm of thanksgiving will please him more than sacrifices. God loves to help the needy and free those "that are in bonds" (33)—it is his nature to do these things. And this psalm, which begins as a personal plea of one who is being overwhelmed by hostile enemies, ends with the promise that God will "save Zion"—Jerusalem—from its surrounding foes. God pledges to "rebuild"
its cities and renews his covenant promise to give the land to "those who love his name" so that they may "live in it" (36)
Psalm 70
Again the voice of this psalm calls upon God in a time of trouble. He has been dishonored, and he prays that those who ridicule him may "turn back because of their shame" (70:3). All those who seek God and worship him in the temple rejoice when they see how he helps and delivers those who are poor and needy (5). And the psalmist ends with a call for God to "hasten"—hurry up and help him without delay that he may again praise him.
Psalm 71
The word "refuge" is repeated again and again in this psalm. In the midst of a storm of troubles, the voice calls upon the LORD, who is his "rock" and his "fortress" (3). He has trusted the Lord "from his youth" (5), he says, and now he prays that God, his "refuge," will not cast him "off in the time of old age" (9). He has been faithful, and now he calls upon God to answer with faithfulness. Things have come to a desperate pass—he begs God to "make haste to help" him (12). And when his he is he will testify to God's "righteous acts" on his behalf in the congregation; he will comes to the temple "praising the mighty deeds of the LORD God" (16). His life has been a stream of continuous praise "from his youth" until now (17), and in his "old age and gray hairs," he asks upon God not to "forsake" him (18), until he gets a chance to "proclaim" his goodness "to all the generations to come." His life,
like the history of Israel, is a record of the "great things" God has done. He has been brought low only to be raised up again; he has known dishonor in order to experience "comfort . . . once again" (21). As so often in the psalms, this one ends with music sung in the temple "with the harp" and with the "lyre" (22). In his song the psalmist—who represents the whole worshipping congregation--will praise God because he has been "rescued" (23). And again his song of thankfulness will be accompanied with verbal testimony—proclamation. "All day long" he will "talk of [God's] righteous help" (24), how he has been rescued from dishonor and how those who "tried to do [him] harm" have been "put to shame" (24).