Speaker 1: Life Audio.
Speaker 2: Hey, and welcome to another Prayer through the Psalms episode
Speaker 2: of the Praying Christian Women podcast. I'm Jamie and today
Speaker 2: we're going to be talking about Psalm sixty eight. This
Speaker 2: is called the God of Sinai and of the Sanctuary.
Speaker 2: For the choir director, a Psalm of David, a song
Speaker 2: portraying the extent of God's bigness and the fact that
Speaker 2: he has no rival, that no enemy has a chance,
Speaker 2: and it kind of goes through this whole thing and
Speaker 2: contrasts God with those who would stand against him the
Speaker 2: whole way. And it's amazing in our day to be
Speaker 2: able to look at that and kind of contrast that
Speaker 2: to the giants we face, to look back in that
Speaker 2: day and realize that Spiritually speaking, we've talked about this
Speaker 2: many times before, it was really not widely accepted that
Speaker 2: there was this like huge god of everything that had
Speaker 2: no rival. There were gods and even those that in
Speaker 2: the ancient world had their gods that they considered supreme
Speaker 2: that they were loyal to. It wasn't like there was
Speaker 2: this one giant god that overshadowed all of them. And
Speaker 2: so this was significant and for Israel, it was important
Speaker 2: for them to proclaim that, and David seems to be
Speaker 2: kind of the I don't know. David is the promoter
Speaker 2: of this theology of God being the god of nations
Speaker 2: and everything else cowering under his feet, and I love it.
Speaker 2: So I don't know what giants you're facing right now
Speaker 2: in your life, what enemies are surrounding you, What difficulties
Speaker 2: you're up against that seem big. Maybe it's not even
Speaker 2: an enemy. Maybe it's just kind of the situation you're
Speaker 2: in right now. Maybe it seems big and insurmountable. I
Speaker 2: also just want to bring up like, maybe it seems
Speaker 2: too small. Maybe there's something you're dealing with. Like I
Speaker 2: was talking to someone the other day that was having
Speaker 2: issues with work, and they were like, Eh, God doesn't
Speaker 2: care about my job, Like I have what I need.
Speaker 1: Why would God.
Speaker 2: Want to hear my complaints about my job and the
Speaker 2: difficulties within it. Maybe your biggest problem is something you
Speaker 2: would consider to be too small or insignificant or unspiritual
Speaker 2: for God to be concerned with. Or maybe you were
Speaker 2: faced with looking at the problems of the world or
Speaker 2: the problems of other people that seem much bigger or
Speaker 2: more significant, or more worthy of attention of God, and think,
Speaker 2: who am I to complain? I'm just going to keep
Speaker 2: my mouth shut. But the reality is God, God is
Speaker 2: bigger than all of it, and he is I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't want to speak for God, but I believe
Speaker 2: because I'm parent of a child, and because God is
Speaker 2: our loving, heavenly Father, that when I have one kid
Speaker 2: come to me with just a devastating problem, it doesn't
Speaker 2: pain me less for another child to be struggling with
Speaker 2: something that might not be quantitatively the same, because that
Speaker 2: pain that they're feeling like, especially if they're a child
Speaker 2: in a different circumstance, that pain could be just as
Speaker 2: great in both situations. I hope that makes sense, because
Speaker 2: I don't think God wants us to minimize our experiences
Speaker 2: and the things that cause us pain, because God isn't
Speaker 2: interested necessarily in the subject matter as much as he's
Speaker 2: interested in the relationship with you, the fact that you
Speaker 2: came to him. And if God is that big, I
Speaker 2: don't even know if he sees the difference between something
Speaker 2: we would consider big and small, just because he's so
Speaker 2: much bigger than all of it. It's all problems and
Speaker 2: they're all tiny. Do you notice the difference between a
Speaker 2: micrometer and a nanometer. I don't actually know the difference,
Speaker 2: and I don't remember which one is smaller. I'm pretty
Speaker 2: sure it's nano. But do you know the difference. You
Speaker 2: can't see either one, right, So I just hope that'll
Speaker 2: be a picture for you to recognize that God loves us,
Speaker 2: and he is so much bigger than all of it.
Speaker 2: I know he wants you to come to him with
Speaker 2: everything that you're struggling with. Whether you think it's too
Speaker 2: big for him to handle, or whether you think it's
Speaker 2: too small for him to be concerned with. I think
Speaker 2: both of those beliefs are lies from the enemy. Let's pray,
Speaker 2: Father God, we just thank you that we can come
Speaker 2: to you with anything. We praise you for being a
Speaker 2: great God, the almighty God, who has no rival, no equal,
Speaker 2: no one on the same playing field even, and we
Speaker 2: just praise you for your goodness and your love, your
Speaker 2: loving kindness that would even want a relationship with us
Speaker 2: as humans. I pray now against the lies the enemy
Speaker 2: would give us, the lies swirling around in our minds
Speaker 2: that prevent us from taking the step of bringing our
Speaker 2: problems and our burdens, and our worries and our sorrows
Speaker 2: to you, and our questions and our anger, all of it.
Speaker 2: I pray that you would remove the blinders, help us
Speaker 2: to see clearly that you are standing there with open arms,
Speaker 2: not wishing for any of us to perish, not wishing
Speaker 2: for any of us to suffer, but wanting us to
Speaker 2: take that suffering to you, to bring those burdens to you.
Speaker 2: Jesus said, come to me, all of you who are
Speaker 2: weary and burdened, heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Speaker 2: Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy,
Speaker 2: my burden is light. And he was the personification of you.
Speaker 2: And so those are your words too. So we come
Speaker 2: before you, Lord, We lay our burdens at your feet,
Speaker 2: praying for your help, your wisdom, your work, your kingdom. Come.
Speaker 2: Your will be done on earth, in each of our lives,
Speaker 2: as it is in heaven.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 2: Contrast to Psalm sixty seven, Psalm sixty eight is a doozy.
Speaker 2: It's pretty long. So it is thirty five verses, and
Speaker 2: I'm going to read them all because I feel like
Speaker 2: it's important to read these in context. I was gonna
Speaker 2: split it up, but I like the entirety, because it
Speaker 2: gives us like the big picture of what David was saying,
Speaker 2: and a lot of times he has a method and
Speaker 2: a rhyme and reason to what he's doing. And it's
Speaker 2: not just something that can be taken a few verses
Speaker 2: at a time. There's a big picture to be found.
Speaker 2: So I would love for you to just maybe even
Speaker 2: close your eyes and listen. If you need to follow along,
Speaker 2: you can open your Bible and follow along if you
Speaker 2: if you learn better that way. But just take it
Speaker 2: all in and see what the Lord says, the God
Speaker 2: of Sinai and of the Sanctuary. For the choir director,
Speaker 2: a psalm of David a song. Let God arise, Let
Speaker 2: his enemies be scattered, and let those who hate him
Speaker 2: flee before him as smoke is driven away. So drive
Speaker 2: them away, as wax melts before the fire. So let
Speaker 2: the wicked perish before God. But let the righteous be glad.
Speaker 2: Let them exult before God. Yes, let them rejoice with gladness.
Speaker 2: Sing to God, sing praises to his name. Lift up
Speaker 2: a song for him who rides through the deserts, whose
Speaker 2: name is the Lord, and exult before him. A father
Speaker 2: of the fatherless and a judge for the widows. Is God.
Speaker 2: In his holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely.
Speaker 2: He leads out the prisoners into prosperity. Only the rebellious
Speaker 2: dwell in a parched land. Oh God, When you went
Speaker 2: forth before your people, when you marched through the wilderness,
Speaker 2: say lah, the earth quaked. The heavens also dropped rain
Speaker 2: at the presence of God. Zeinai itself quaked at the
Speaker 2: presence of God, the God of Israel. You shed abroad
Speaker 2: a plentiful reign. Oh God, you confirmed your inheritance when
Speaker 2: it was parched, your creatures settled in it. You provided
Speaker 2: in your goodness for the poor. Oh God, the Lord
Speaker 2: gives the command. The women who proclaim the good tidings
Speaker 2: are a great host. Kings of armies flee. They flee,
Speaker 2: and she who remains at home will divide the spoil.
Speaker 2: When you lie down among the sheep folds, you are
Speaker 2: like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and
Speaker 2: its pinions with glistening gold. When the almighties scattered the
Speaker 2: kings there it was snowing in Zalmen, a mountain of
Speaker 2: God is the mountain of Bashan, a mountain of many
Speaker 2: peaks is the mountain of Bashan. Why do you look
Speaker 2: with envy, oh, mountains with many peaks, at the mountain
Speaker 2: which God has desired for his abode. Surely the Lord
Speaker 2: will dwell there forever. The chariots of God are myriads,
Speaker 2: thousands upon thousands. The Lord is among them, as at Sinai.
Speaker 2: In holiness, you have ascended on high. You have led
Speaker 2: captive your captives. You have received gifts among men, even
Speaker 2: among the rebellious. Also that the Lord God may dwell there.
Speaker 2: Blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burden, the
Speaker 2: God who is our salvation Seelah. God is to us
Speaker 2: a God of deliverances, and to God the Lord belong
Speaker 2: escapes from death. Surely God will shatter the head of
Speaker 2: his enemies, the hairy crown of him who goes on
Speaker 2: in his guilty deeds. The Lord said, I will bring
Speaker 2: them back from Bashan. I will bring them back from
Speaker 2: the depths of the sea, that your foot may shatter
Speaker 2: them in blood. The tongue of your may have its
Speaker 2: portion from your enemies. They have seen your procession, O God,
Speaker 2: the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.
Speaker 2: The singers went on the musicians after them, in the
Speaker 2: midst of the maidens, beating tambourines. Bless God. In the congregations,
Speaker 2: even the Lord You, who are of the fountain of Israel.
Speaker 2: There is Benjamin the youngest ruling them, the princes of
Speaker 2: Judah in their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes
Speaker 2: of Nethtali. Your God has commanded your strength. Show yourself strong,
Speaker 2: o God, who have acted on our behalf because of
Speaker 2: your temple at Jerusalem. Kings will bring gifts to you.
Speaker 2: Rebuke the beasts and the reeds, the herd of bulls,
Speaker 2: with the calves of the peoples, trampling underfoot the pieces
Speaker 2: of silver he has scattered the peoples who delight in war.
Speaker 2: Envoys will come out of Egypt. Dopia will quickly stretch
Speaker 2: out her hands to God. Sing to God, all kingdoms
Speaker 2: of the earth, sing praises to the Lord Seelah, to
Speaker 2: him who rides upon the highest heavens which are from
Speaker 2: ancient times. Behold, he speaks forth with his voice, a
Speaker 2: mighty voice. Ascribe strength to God. His majesty is over Israel,
Speaker 2: and his strength is in the sgise. Oh God, you
Speaker 2: are awesome. From your sanctuary. The God of Israel himself
Speaker 2: gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God.
Speaker 2: I would like to take just a minute of our
Speaker 2: prayer time and just have like a minute of silence
Speaker 2: for us to ruminate on what God said through this
Speaker 2: psalm through David. Before I give any of my opinions,
Speaker 2: I just want you to sit with these words and
Speaker 2: just maybe reread them if you have a Bible in
Speaker 2: front of you, or just close your eyes and think
Speaker 2: back to what was said and just see what God
Speaker 2: says to you.
Speaker 1: Let's pray. God. We just asked that your spirit would
Speaker 1: speak to us.
Speaker 2: As we think about these words of this psalm, that
Speaker 2: you would pull out parts that are meaningful for us
Speaker 2: in our lives today.
Speaker 1: Speak to us Lord.
Speaker 2: Amen. I hope you thought back to something that we
Speaker 2: read together. I just thought maybe we should do that.
Speaker 2: So in this passage, the things that stood out to
Speaker 2: me were, like I said, this overview, this big picture
Speaker 2: of God is being bigger. I loved this imagery because
Speaker 2: I'm going to use this imagery when I think about
Speaker 2: the things that are coming against me, whether it's the worries,
Speaker 2: the burdens, the enemies, whatever perceived enemies. I love where
Speaker 2: it says, as smoke is driven away, drive them away.
Speaker 2: And so he's saying, let God's enemies be scattered. Let
Speaker 2: those who hate him flee before him, and those who
Speaker 2: hate him sometimes they're those who hate us. And I
Speaker 2: think that can kind of translate, and so we could
Speaker 2: just say, God, as smoke is driven away, drive those
Speaker 2: enemies away. Have you ever seen there are lots of
Speaker 2: wildfires right now in Utah, So sometimes I can't even
Speaker 2: see the mountains that are just right behind our house,
Speaker 2: and much less like you know down in the valley.
Speaker 2: But you just have like one good storm or wind
Speaker 2: gust and it's clear as a bell. It's beautiful, and
Speaker 2: so that smoke is nothing to that wind. As smoke
Speaker 2: is driven away, so drive them away. And this is
Speaker 2: my favorite. As wax melts before the fire, so let
Speaker 2: the way I could perish before God. I just picture
Speaker 2: idols like graven idols that people would use. I'm actually
Speaker 2: thinking about the movie Gladiator where he has this little
Speaker 2: bag of these little idols, and I don't know if
Speaker 2: they represented his family or or something, but anyway, he
Speaker 2: would pray to his gods and use these little things.
Speaker 2: What I picture is just if one of those things,
Speaker 2: those false idols, if we could just put it before
Speaker 2: God and just let him melt it, that it would
Speaker 2: just come to nothing, that we could see it with
Speaker 2: our own eyes and realize how futile it is to
Speaker 2: pursue it. Or if you think of a problem, kind
Speaker 2: of like encapsulate it in your mind as some kind
Speaker 2: of little wax graven image that represents your problem and
Speaker 2: just set it there in your mind's eye before the
Speaker 2: Lord and watch it melt. He's that powerful, is that powerful?
Speaker 2: And I love that, love that imagery. I'm going to
Speaker 2: use that and call back to that. And I also
Speaker 2: think it's interesting that it talks about this mountain. I
Speaker 2: had to do a little research because I didn't understand
Speaker 2: what it was saying, and I still might not one
Speaker 2: hundred percent, But it says a mountain of God. This
Speaker 2: is verse fifteen. A mountain of God is the mountain
Speaker 2: of Bashan. A mountain of many peaks is the mountain
Speaker 2: of Bashan. Why do you look with envy? Oh, mountains
Speaker 2: with many peaks, at the mountain which God has desired
Speaker 2: for his abode. And that's referring to Zion, the Holy
Speaker 2: Mountain of God where he meets with his people. And
Speaker 2: an interesting tidbit is that Zion was not a tall mountain.
Speaker 2: So while Mount Herman, which is one of the big
Speaker 2: mountains in Bashan, in that range of many peaks, it's
Speaker 2: like over nine thousand feet, apparently Zion is only about
Speaker 2: twenty five hundred feet. So isn't that just kind of
Speaker 2: in the upside down Kingdom of God? How he would
Speaker 2: choose his holy mountain to be smaller in it. I
Speaker 2: guess if humans fabricated where God's mountain would be, they'd
Speaker 2: make it the tallest mountain, right, but not God. And
Speaker 2: yet he is without rival, he is without equal and
Speaker 2: Bishon and Herman, and that whole area is tied to
Speaker 2: spiritual rebellion in ancient history, and that's why as it
Speaker 2: goes down, it says, I will bring them his enemies
Speaker 2: back from Bashon. I will bring them back from the
Speaker 2: depths of the sea. So he has enemies in Bashon.
Speaker 2: That is where spiritual rebellion happened. It's the heartland of evil,
Speaker 2: and it's bigger than Zion. That area of mountains is
Speaker 2: taller and many times, like high mountains were associated with
Speaker 2: meeting with gods and deities, so it's interesting not to
Speaker 2: be confusing. So verse fifteen, this is what confused me.
Speaker 2: It said, a mountain of God is the mountain of Bashon,
Speaker 2: but a better translation of that is mighty mountain. So
Speaker 2: a mighty mountain.
Speaker 1: But Sean is.
Speaker 2: Great and glorious and huge. It has many peaks, And
Speaker 2: so it's saying, why do you that have many peaks
Speaker 2: and you're taller, why do you look with envy at
Speaker 2: the mountain that God has desired for his abode? And
Speaker 2: it's because God is better, and God is bigger, and
Speaker 2: God is more powerful, and he chooses the least and
Speaker 2: the last to be first and powerful, not the greatest.
Speaker 2: And that just warms my heart for many reasons. One
Speaker 2: is because I wouldn't have come up with it myself.
Speaker 2: I get great comfort and great joy out of seeing
Speaker 2: things in the Bible that I would never have put there,
Speaker 2: because it's just more evidence that it's holy and divine
Speaker 2: and inspired and other than human wisdom. And the second
Speaker 2: reason is no matter how big something looks, no matter
Speaker 2: how great and looming a problem or situation or worry
Speaker 2: or burden, it's still no match for God.
Speaker 1: And we have to take that on faith, and we have.
Speaker 2: To picture it as a little wax figuring sitting before
Speaker 2: God and just melting in His glorious radiance, because that
Speaker 2: is all it is, or smoke, it's just vapor, can
Speaker 2: be blown away at a moment's notice. So I hope
Speaker 2: and pray that this time with God with his word
Speaker 2: has blessed you like it has me, and I'll see
Speaker 2: you next time.
Speaker 1: We'd like to.
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