May the mumbling commence!
The local public high school that I drive bus for – Buhler High of Kansas – had a marching band routine this year that was titled “Man Versus Machine”. As always, they did quite well.
Today, I turn my thoughts to man versus deity. And, with these thoughts I will look at two passages from Psalm twelve. One of the passages describes humanity; the other describes our Lord God Almighty. Read them below:
Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. (Verses 1-2)
Humanity finds it impossible to sustain godliness and faithfulness. We can spend years and years and generations upon generations and get a few more miles down the road to godliness and faithfulness only to see all that progress vanish in the matter of moments.
Help us, O Lord! Help us, indeed. Humanly speaking it appears to be impossible. But, let us give thanks that with God the impossible becomes possible. These are the words of Jesus, the Word of God.
With God and godly people surrounding us, we have a much greater chance at not lapsing into idle speech. And idle speech does nothing but hurt. Idle speech reveals humanity for what it is – hopelessly self-centered and narcissist. Yet, we crave relationship – God made us with such a craving.
But, to enter into rightful relationship with God and all of creation we need to think first about other people and other things than ourselves. To be hopelessly self-centered and narcissist and to crave relationship is quite a paradox.
The psalmist talks about having a double heart. It is not a phrase that I am familiar with, so it struck me. What does it mean to have a double heart? I believe that it describes the tug of war on our lives. The competing pulls to ask, “What’s in it for me?” And to ask, “How can I serve God and others?” can lead to a double heart.
Which pull will win out? The simple answer is whichever one I feed more. The more complex answer lies in priorities. How much will I allow God to affect my life – change it, rather return it to being what He intended it to be? And how much do I wish to set my own goals and pursuits?
To pursue anything other than the heart of God is an empty pursuit with no way to win – only ways to lose less. To pursue anything other than the heart of God is a thankless and reward-less pursuit. It leads to death and eternal separation from God.
To pursue God’s heart alone is to heal the double heart of humanity. It is the cure for what ails us in our human condition. But we have to choose God and diligently pursue Him.
How am I doing in my pursuit of God’s heart? Ask those who know me best – like my wife. That is where you will get a better answer than from me.
Think about this verse from Proverbs chapter twenty-seven:
“As in water face reflects face,
So a man's heart reveals the man.” (Verse 19)
And, what is God like? Read the description from Psalm twelve:
The words of the Lord are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
You shall keep them, O Lord,
You shall preserve them
from this generation forever. (Verses 6-7)
The Lord is perfectly pure – seven times denotes perfection in the Hebrew Scriptures. And it tells us that we cannot possibly get it right the first time.
Thank God that He will keep us safe in Christ, our Life Preserver.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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