July 16 Sermon: Surely

Consider these questions as we look at Psalm 58:

1. How does Pastor Mark grapple with the discomfort and harsh language present in certain passages of scripture, particularly in relation to imprecatory psalms?

2. What is the psalmist's perspective on earthly rulers and their capacity for justice and righteousness in Psalm 58?

3. How does the author reconcile the challenging imagery and language of Psalm 58 with their belief in a merciful God?

Transcript:

Let’s be honest. As you read through the pages of scripture there are many times where you come upon passages that can make us feel uncomfortable. And this is only naturally because there are difficult passages in scripture that speak of things that can come up against many of our modern sensibilities. We live in a time that is very different than the one in which the Bible was written. Things were naturally very different and even some simple customs might seem off to us just because it is nothing like anything we would ever even imagine doing. There are also times where the way sin has been softened in our culture even makes us as Christians balk at some of the bold statements about what is sinful. We don’t like the way in which scripture clearly teaches something is contrary to the will of God and we will justify it with the distance in time we have between us and the authors of the divine words of the Bible.

‌There are also a lot of passages that we heartily agree with about what is sin and how God will judge us but at the same time, we aren’t so sure we want to proclaim that from the rooftops because we live in a society that is quite easily offended by statements of absolute truth.

‌You may or may not be able to quickly think of examples of what I am talking about we contemplate this idea here together this morning but regardless, I think we have all had times where we either were uncomfortable or we lamented that we didn’t take the bold stand in alignment with scripture that we thought we should have.

‌When I consider this idea about the tough and uncomfortable parts of scripture, the imprecatory psalms come to mind for me. We have been progressing in making our way through the psalms with responsive readings for quite some time now. I didn’t take the time to go back and look at exactly when we started this because the time we have spent doing this is noticeable in the fact that this morning we were in the second half of Psalm 79. We started with working our way through Psalm 119 and then went toPsalm 1 and haven’t missed any since. It took us 22 weeks to work through Psalm 119 because that psalm is broke up into 22 sections, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In many cases we do one psalm a week but more often than not and so even someone as poor at math as myself can figure out we’ve taken quite a bit of time making our way through the psalms.

‌Now, you maybe don’t notice the things that I do when we read them but these imprecatory Psalms give me pause when I am breaking down the different psalms into responsive readings. I tend to naturally want to put the harshest statements and calls for judgments in my mouth and not in yours. I actually had a moment of conviction about this a couple of years back. I don’t remember which psalm it was, it may have been Psalm 58, but I was struggling with how to break the verses down so you weren’t saying some of these hard statements. The conviction I had was that this was the word of God and why am I wanting to keep particular parts of it out of your mouths. Do I really believe it is the inspired and inerrant word of God and that it is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training the people of God in righteousness? Then why did I want to only designate positive words and words of praise to be in bold print on the screen for you to say. Shouldn’t I boldly want to hear you say even the harder words of scripture back to me.

‌Seriously, this was an important moment of growth for me but at the same time I need to acknowledge that reading Psalm 58 verses 6-8 are not easy to read.

‌To say “break their teeth in their mouths and let them be like snails that dissolve into slime or like a still born child who never sees the sun” is beyond brutal language even if we are talking about our enemies.

‌So, what do we do with words such as these? How do we reconcile our belief in a God of mercy with praying to him that he would break the teeth of our enemies in their mouths? Do we jump over these altogether? Do we just read them and explain them away as being unimportant words of a more savage time?

‌As I was plotting out the different psalms we would be looking at this summer this psalm was honestly one of the first ones that I decided we needed to look at because it is difficult and because we need to not only be able to interpret a psalm such as this one but we also want to know how we can understand it in light of the Lord Jesus Christ.

‌So lets strap ourselves in and consider these challenging words from the psalter.

‌We see here the psalmist asking a question of gods. The use of small “g” god here is likely speaking of the judges that are referenced in the second sentence here. The word god is often used of those who are in positions of earthly power because of the power that they have over the people.

‌And we can tell that the psalmist is using contrast here to draw out the justice of God. Do you earthly rulers decree things that are right and just for your people? Do you judge and make decisions that have righteousness and justice in mind? Without even mentioning Yahweh we are drawn to his nature in contrast to human authority that fails and does injustice. We inherently know that human authorities do not rule perfectly and often they use their power to oppress.

‌In fact, in verse two we see the psalmist suggest that that oppression isn’t happening on accident. They are devising these things and they are dealing out violence. Verse two lets us understand clearly that what the psalmist is saying about these human authorities isn’t a question whether or not their actions are intelligent. He’s not saying you’re fallen and so you get your judgments and policies wrong every once in a while. No, they are devising these things and in doing so they are handing out violence on earth. This is more than incompetence, it’s evil and as we move on to verse three we see why this is and it calls back to what we saw when we looked at Psalm 53 last week. The condition of the human heart is a desperate problem and Psalm 58 spells this truth out in very deliberate language.

‌‌And once again, we see that this problem isn’t something that is acquired. The idea of original sin and the depth of human corruption isn’t something we get from a verse here and maybe another one over there. It is a recurring theme in scripture and in this passage it uses very strong language and imagery.

‌We read here that this is from the womb and from birth they speak lies and then these wicked rulers are compared to snakes. Now, this is one of those moments where, at least for me, I need to make sure that I’m slowing down a little bit as I read. As someone who isn’t a big fan of snakes, like at all. I read this and my first thought goes to my personal distaste for snakes. Even people who like snakes won’t get too terribly excited about being compared to one. No one wants to be called a snake but we also have to consider that this imagery is also calling back to the garden and the source of human corruption from our first parents succumbing to the temptation of the serpent in the garden. These rulers are not just corrupt and have been this way since birth, they are corrupt like the one who led to the corruption. This is a scathing statement about those who do injustice. And we also read that these snakes are deaf to anyone leading them away from their corrupt ways. No one can charm these snakes to do what is right. These poisonous snakes are going to spread their venom and it’s not going to be stopped by any human intervention into the matter.

‌And this is the fundamental problem spelled out by the psalmist here. There are terrible things that are taking place. These people in authority are doing injustice and oppressing the people. The psalmist didn’t sit down and go through the effort of acquiring parchment and ink to write down a plea for these venomous serpents to change their ways. He also didn’t come to write down some words as a way of using his eloquence with words to convince them that they need to stop. What we see instead is an acknowledgment that what is needed here is divine intervention and it is a harsh call for judgment that we read here as we move to verses 6 through 8.

‌Now, I’ve continually suggested that we need to savor the words of the Psalms. That we need to slow down and not speed through them like we are trying to be able to say that we read them. That is absolutely the best advise that I can give you for reading the psalms but when we come to these three verses it’s honestly difficult to do that because these words are difficult. Calls for judgment are never easy to read and particularly in the book of Psalms. Where do our minds naturally go when we think of the Psalms? They go to phrases like praise the Lord and we probably think of statements such as he makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me by still waters. We don’t dwell and meditate on these three verses and understandably so. These are hard words.

‌You aren’t going to ask the words “O God, break the teeth in their mouths” to be read at your funeral, right? But these are the words of holy scripture and they are inspired and so it is important that we consider these divinely inspired words.

‌This is a prayer for God to break the teeth of the wicked in their mouths and it doesn’t stop there. He wants God to tear out their fangs.

‌What is the idea behind this? What’s the imagery here? They are predators on the weak. What would stop them? Removing their teeth so that they cannot devour their prey. This is not a prayer that the human rulers would have their teeth broken. It is a prayer that their evil actions would be stopped. That they would no longer be able to do their wickedness and that they would be ineffective.

‌The psalmist prays that they would vanish like water that runs away. He also prays that their arrows would be blunted. I like this image. I imagine an army of warriors arriving for battle and discovering that their arrows are no longer the sharp, piercing one but just blunt practice arrows and realizing that they have no chance against the enemy.

‌But in the midst of these calls for ineffectiveness there are also calls for the enemies of God to meet their demise. The psalmist asks that they would be like a snail that dissolves into slime. That imagery doesn’t do much to get our attention. We aren’t too worried about a snail that dies but the next image given to us by Psalm 58 is difficult to read. His prayer is that they would be like a stillborn child who never sees the sun. This is more than just a call for ineffectiveness. This a hope that they will snuffed out before they can do any more evil. And we see that the psalmist wants God to bring swift justice with what we read in verse 9.

‌‌I had no idea what this verse was trying to say because all I know about thorns is that I don’t want to come into contact with them. Well, after doing a little digging I discovered that thorns, whether they are dry or green, burn quickly. So, as fast as a pot would heat up with a fire made of thorns.

‌And as the passage closes up we see the continued prayer of the psalmist for judgment and it doesn’t get any softer.

‌The imagery here is really graphic. It starts out pretty good with the righteous rejoicing in the judgment of God but then it turns pretty intense with the idea of the righteous bathing their feet in the blood of the wicked. How can that be anything that is rejoiced in? This is just feels wrong to our modern sensibilities, doesn’t it? It is a gruesome idea but we need to stop for a second and consider the fullness of what is being said here.

‌Look at verse 11. Mankind will say, surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges the earth. That’s big point of this psalm, that there is a God and that there will come a day when the righteous are rewarded and the evil will be judged. We don’t like this imagery of judgment and honestly, I don’t feel we are supposed to truly like it. It is supposed to convict us. It is supposed to show us that the evil and wickedness in the world will not stand. The oppression of the wicked will not triumph, the God who is righteous will triumph.

‌I’ve been considering these types of psalms for some time because, let’s face it, they are difficult. I have read an excellent book entitled War Psalms of the Prince of Peace and it has really helped me to process through these passages and their purpose. I use an app that sends me seven random highlights every day from the books that I read to help me remember what what I’ve read. Anyway, as I was considering this topic I was sent a highlight from what I believe was the intro of the book. I want to share it with you this morning, because I think it is really helpful as we consider how we can apply this imprecatory psalm to our lives.

‌Can we not recognize the error of having our prayers revolve around our feelings, wants, and comforts? Have our prayers become so man-centered that we actually cringe to utter prayers that have God's glory as their final end?

‌I appreciate this quote so much because when we come to a prayer such as this we might struggle to pray in this way because we would do it in a man-centered, selfish way and so we cringe. If we were to want to pray a prayer such as this with a motivation for our own glory or our own advancement, then that would be utterly sinful, but if we come to these psalms and understand that God is glorified in the destruction of evil and wickedness then this is the type of prayer that we would not only want to pray but, we need to pray. Now, I’m not suggesting you should load your prayers with gruesome imagery that would work as lyrics for a death metal band from the 90s or anything, but I am suggesting that we should pray that evil and oppression will be vanquished and that God’s righteousness would reign.

‌I don’t know about you, but when I see injustice and oppression in the world and it seems as though evil prevails, I need to this last verse of this psalm to be true. I need to know that surely there is a reward for the righteous and that there is surely a God who judges the earth.

‌And as we consider our application we need to understand how Jesus truly unlocks psalms such as these for us as believers.

‌First, when we consider the evil in this world we naturally consider whether we are among the oppressors. And while you and I do not sit in positions of power to do the evil that this psalm was lamenting, you and I are not perfectly righteous. We have sinned and there are times where we have been the ones who have acted unjustly. This psalm should humble us and convict us of our sin because it makes it clear that God is a God who judges rightly. We should cry out to God for mercy knowing that the full cup of his wrath was poured out on Christ for the people of God. He bore the wrath and rose from the dead that we might receive his perfect righteousness as a gift. And because of that righteousness we know that we shall receive the reward of eternal life with him.

‌But we also look to the wrath that Jesus bore for sin and understand that not all receive mercy. Jesus is victorious over sin, death, and hell and he has ascended to the right hand of the Father and as we confess, King Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. As I said before, I need to know this is true. I need the confidence that surely there is a God who is righteous who judges the earth. We know that he does not just let sin and wickedness slide because he bore the punishment for it himself. Sin is not easily wiped away. For those who do not receive mercy from God there is judgment. There will come a day where all the evil in the world will be vanquished and put to an end. We can read these psalms and have confidence that this day is coming. Evil does not go unpunished and because our victorious savior is the judge of the living and the dead, we can have confidence that surely his judgment will be just and he will do right.

‌These psalms give us confidence that the day is coming when righteousness will be restored. May you and I not shy away from praying for that day and praying that those who are in rebellion against God would cry out for mercy. For we surely there is a God who judges the earth and surely he rewards the righteous.