Read Psalm 36
I remember thirteen or fourteen years ago we were still receiving credit card statements through the mail. And for whatever reason we didn’t get our statement one month. At least that is how I remember it. We were living remotely in Montana and only had dial-up internet and didn’t own a cell phone. So, I wasn’t checking our accounts regularly. Life just kind of progressed onward and I didn’t think about not receiving the statement until the next month when we had a late fee on our bill. I didn’t want to shell out an extra $25 and so I called the company.
You could hardly pay me enough to work customer service at a credit card company. I naturally avoid conflict. But, I find an inner boldness when talking to complete strangers after fifteen minutes of pressing 3 and then pressing 2 and then entering my account number and then pressing 4 and then accidentally pressing 8 when I meant to press 5 and having to start all over again.
The customer service agent didn’t see things my way. I argued. I complained. I yelled. I asked for supervisors and argued and complained and yelled again. My heart rate got going.
Anger, even for relatively calm people, makes one feel more alive. In my mind there was no way I was wrong. It was absolutely incomprehensible to me that they wouldn’t just take that late fee off. I’m sure I threatened to find another credit card company (my $300 a year of purchases back then would have been a real loss for them, I’m sure). It is also entirely possible that I found the statement under a stack of papers on the kitchen counter a few days later.
It is easy to gloss over the first few verses of Psalm 36. We don’t tend to identify ourselves with the wicked (vs. 1). They are those people. Not us. But we too flatter ourselves in our own eyes (vs. 2). Our words cause trouble (vs. 3) and not just our words; our actions, inactions, and over reactions cause trouble too. We regularly “cease to act wisely.”
How often have you daydreamed ways to get even or win the argument and embarrass your enemy (vs. 4)? The deception (vs. 3) often begins in our own hearts. We easily assume our innocence even when we set ourselves “in a way that is not good.” When we are in the dark we can’t see what we are doing. In contrast, the errors of others are glaring. We don’t overlook them and we often find ones that aren’t actually there.
When we get to verse five, the psalm takes a sharp turn. (For all you Third Day fans this was one of my favorite songs years ago).
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
Your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
Your judgments are like the great deep;
Both people and animals you save, O Lord. (vs. 5-6)
The Psalmist focuses his attention on the character of God. The wicked in heart are not steadfast, they are not faithful, they are not righteous, they are not just. But, God is. And it is in God, therefore, that we find refuge.
God’s children feast on the abundance of his house (vs. 8). They drink from the river of his delights (vs. 8). He is the fountain of life (vs. 9).
All of this is worth meditating on.
But, the line in the Psalm that struck me this week was the final stanza in verse 9.
“In your light do we see light.”
I didn’t get glasses until I was in my mid thirties. I could read and work on a computer with no problem. What I didn’t know was that my long distance vision was beginning to deteriorate. It happened gradually and didn’t seem to affect any of my daily life. When I went to the eye doctor for a routine annual exam, they recommended that I get glasses for driving and for watching television. I did, and all of a sudden the t.v. looked clearer. I saw road signs at night from further away. But, before I got the glasses I didn’t know any better. I just saw what I saw.
We go through much of life just seeing what we see. And our eyesight is off. What we see is a distorted view of others and a distorted view of ourselves.
It is only in God’s light that we are able to see light.
In my experience the distorted view of ourselves typically takes on one of two competing possibilities. Many hear and know of the grace of God, sing about it and read about it, but believe they are the exception. They cannot believe that God would forgive them. They struggle mightily with shame and guilt and are convinced they will never measure up. No matter how many times they read, “therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 8:1) they can’t believe it to be true. It is for these people that I gave this blog site the title, “Grace is Sufficient.” Jesus’ grace really is sufficient - everything that needed to be done has already been done for you in Christ. Rest in that light.
The other distortion heads in the opposite direction. Many, or certainly the most vocal, hear and know of the grace of God, sing about it and read about it, but don’t really believe they need it. They see the need in others and are happy to point it out (often without extending any hope of grace). But, there is no humility. And where there is no humility there is no joy or gratitude or compassion. One of the great paradoxes of the Christian life is that humility actually leads to joy. Those who are unable to see the depth of their own need will never bask in the delight of God’s abundant provision. If you don’t know you’re thirsty you have no time for the fountain of life.
In your light do we see light. Lord, shine your light on us.
We are often walking in the light of cable news and social media. Both places tend to be very dark. I actually sat down and watched ten minutes of a cable news show the other day. I don’t recommend it. In the ten minutes I could endure, absolutely no news was offered. Instead, there was a ten minute rant about how the other political side was actively trying to deceive and manipulate my children, lie about the past, ruin my future and take over the world. I am a Presbyterian, and therefore have a fairly dim view of humanity in its natural state, but I have trouble suspecting most of our public figures have any agenda at all let alone one so complex or comprehensive.
My guess is that the average follower of Jesus in America today spends around 10-20 times the amount of time sitting in the light of their favorite political news anchors and social media than we do in the light of Scripture. And full disclosure, I consume the media of writers and podcasts that share my skepticism on the merits of cable news and social media more than I consume the light of Scripture too. The point is not to make us all feel a little more condemnation. The point is to recognize as Anne Lamott so nicely put, “you can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image, when God ends up hating all the same people you do.”
We need God’s light to see the light. Otherwise we remain in the dark. And that is why the Psalm ends with a prayer.
Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
And your righteousness to the upright of heart!
Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
Nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. (vs. 10-11)
We need God to continue his steadfast love and his righteousness for us. And he will. And he does. May we walk in his light.
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