Author: henry

Out of the Depths is the title of a book on the Psalms by Bernhard W. Anderson, and an excellent little book it is!  it’s title comes from this Psalm.

There are just two major points I’d like to make about this Psalm.  There is much excellent commentary about it, and the notes are worth reading.  You could do worse than to preach from it or use it in Sunday School.

First, if you are to cry “out of the depths” that’s means you’re going to be there.  I say that not to discourage, but to encourage.  There are many Christians who either believe, or more commonly imply by the way the talk, that you are never really supposed to be in the depths.  As a Christian you’re supposed to be up, happy, and bouncy all the time.  How do they imply this?  By putting on their “faith face” and denying troubles.  They’ll testify about how God helped them after a problem is successfully handled, but somehow their friends never get to catch them when they’re really down.

I have this problem even in communicating with my wife.  I don’t want to burden her with the idea that I’m not in control of everything.  But that’s a silly position to be in.  She already knows I’m not in control!

Odd then, that we should try to put on our faith face even to God.  It’s very discouraging, first because we have to force ourselves to pretend, and second because we make others pretend.  If the “faithful” are always happy and never in the depths, then others who in their own minds are not so faithful must try to keep up or be thought second class citizens.  A little honesty, as exemplified by the Psalmist, would go a long ways!

Second, however, is  verse 4.  Because there is forgiveness of God, he can be feared. Doesn’t that sound paradoxical!  Now many will try to diminish the impact of the word “fear” by using “respect” or “held in awe” or something similar.  But there is a solid element of fear in respecting God in the Old Testament.

But the bottom line is that without a recognition of our sin (see verse 3), there would be no way for us to truly respect God.  The person who feels no guilt does not feel fear.  I remember being pulled over by a Michigan state trooper while I was in graduate school.  When the lights flashed behind me and the siren did its thing I was momentarily concerned, but I quickly saw that I was within the speed limit.  I knew I hadn’t blown through any stop signs or been driving erratically, so as she approached the car I was more curious than fearful.  As it turned out, unknown to me my license plate was dangling by one loose screw.  It’s possible someone had started to steal it.  She verified my registration and told me I needed to secure it.  Then on I went.

With God, we have to recognize who we are and who he is.  But if God was not forgiving, that  recognition would make it impossible to approach for the opposite reason–terror!  Now there is a proper fear of the Lord, a fear that recognizes that there are consequences for our actions and that God knows all.  But there is an improper fear, a different sense of fear.  It’s the difference between fear of just punishment and fear of assault and battery.  The same word may be used, but we all recognize the difference.

The Psalms are amazingly honest and forthright.  Perhaps we should all try some of that ourselves!

I must be sounding like a broken record, but  I really dislike mangled passages.  It is sometimes possible to quote part of a passage and just hit the highlights.  That may be required by time limitations. But when the changes made to the passage change the intent of the story, or make nonsense of it, that is another matter.

In Proper 14B, the Old Testament passage is 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33. I would divide the story into the following elements, with those in red included in the lection, while those in black are not:

1. David commands that Absalom be treated gently
2. The battle occurs and is won by David’s forces
3. Absalom encounters his father’s troops
4. Joab is told and rebukes the messenger for not having killed Absalom himself; they debate
5. Joab goes to where Absalom is hanging from a tree and pierces him with them
6. Joab’s young men finish the job
7. The battle ends
8. A considerable debate about messengers
9. The Cushite takes word of Absalom’s death
10. David mourns

Thus we lose the actual story of Joab’s disobedience which explains much of the later history.  The death appears to be some sort of mob action.  I do agree that in seeking highlights one could leave out the long debate about messengers, though I fail to see why the entire passage cannot be read.

David’s indulgence is part of the story of David as king.  Note how he is overwhelmed with grief at the death of Absalom while paying little attention to thousands of deaths among the troops who were following Absalom.  One might consider this more or less natural for an ancient near eastern despot, but not for the man after God’s own heart.  And we can see that David’s own followers don’t see it as such a natural thing.  They want thanks for their service and they want to celebrate their victory.

All of these are elements of the story that call on us to think about the consequences of our attitudes and actions.

I know that people don’t have much patience for long scripture readings, but learning the Bible story is not well served by cutting out key elements of the narrative.