Summer in the Psalms - Week Nine Gathering Place

Thank you so much for your lovely words, welcoming me back to our Gathering Place and just plain, back! I really had a great time with my family, I'll tell you all about it later... with pictures!
Angie said in one of her comments that I would be overjoyed at the activity that has been taking place in the Comment Cafe and, oh my goodness, Angie, were you ever right! I was on the deck with my computer early this morning, laughing and clapping my hands in sheer delight as I saw your time together in the Cafe. I giggled when Angie said that she was enjoying chasing Debbie around in it, I totally 'think' in pictures, so this was a visual that just tickled me no end! Edna, Marnie, Debbie, Takako, Jan, Margaret and Angie you are my 'go to' girls this week, and I treasure you like crazy!

After reading through your (very lively, I might add) discussion, it became apparent that I needed to, once again, just bring everything that I had personally gleaned over this past week, lay it before the Lord and only add to your comments very little, so as not to go over what I believe you all 'caught and got' already!

Right out of the gate, I just have to say that when I read Takako's comment, my arm just flung itself into the air and punched out the exclamation marks to my repeatedly stated word of YES! YES! YES! Takako sweetheart, you nailed it, pure and simple... any form of true spiritual deliverance, out of the enemies schemes against the child of God, will only come IN THE NAME OF THE LORD... ever. Read through v. 10-14 and notice that through the psalmist, God tells us that the enemy nations that surrounded the psalmist, surrounded him like bees. Girls, have you ever been surrounded by bees? Is there any possible way of escape? Which one do you hit? How many can you hit? They are too numerous to count. If you hit 50, will that nullify the other 1,000 that are attacking you? Can you see them all at one time, simultaneously? They are too numerous to count, and so like many, you end up just yelling, swinging your arms and legs frantically, randomly, hoping to hit, shake or scare any or all of them away. What do you think your odds are of achieving victory - not only over being stung, but of sending them all 'to flight' or even causing them to all drop dead?

I found these verses to be quite profound, in the sense that the word 'surrounded' is in the past tense, meaning the occurrence of this 'surrounding' has already happened in the past, and yet it is in the present tense that the psalmist takes us back to that very moment of faith in his God, that moment in the midst of his being surrounded by an enemy whose numbers were too numerous to count, that moment in time where he lifted up his voice in faith and shouted, "IN THE NAME OF THE LORD I WILL SURELY CUT THEM OFF!" And those bees, that enemy whose numbers were too numerous to count "were extinguished as a fire of thorns". During biblical times, thorns were used as kindling, if thorns were burned on their own, they would eventually be extinquished as the source of fuel itself had completely burned up without anything else for it to ignite. It was a crown of thorns that was placed around the head of our Saviour Jesus, but those thorns, placed mockingly upon His head, when kindled by God Himself, as He hung on that cross, ignited the power of the cross and became the burning fire of the crown of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and led to a fire in the bosom of his children that is unquenchable.

In Psalm 118, we see the enemy that was extinguished as a fire of kindling thorns and written of by the psalmist, become a roaring fire of faith in the heart of this same psalmist.

God never wastes a Word. And in this psalm He wants us to KNOW, that it is the enemy that pushes the child of God violently so that they fall (v.13); but that it is God Who helps that child, when they call upon THE NAME OF THE LORD. The Lord is our strength, He is our song, He has become our salvation (v.14) This is a truth, and also a warning.

Margaret, you were absolutely right in pointing out v. 29 as being a covenant term in relation to God's kindness being everlasting; and also when you shared that this Psalm was also part of the Hallel that would have been sung during the Passover. Girls, since we have just come out of our year long study in John, think about this. Psalm 118 is the last of the Hallel Psalms - Hallel simply means praise, and consisted of Psalm 113-118 that was sung, in all probability, by Jesus and His disciples in the Upper Room before they began the journey to the Mount of Olives on the night of His arrest.

Now, think about Jesus singing this, last of the Hallel's - "Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His kindness is everlasting." As He stood singing the Hallel with His disciples, He was the New Covenant; He was the Stone the builders had rejected who would soon, through the cross, become the Chief Corner Stone; He Himself was and is the Gate of Righteousness that we ourselves have now entered through; and get this .... "this is the LORD'S doing", He knew what lay ahead of Him and it was His doing, and isn't it truly just "marvelous in our eyes"!

When v. 24 tells us that "this is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it", the day that is being spoken of here is the church age, the age that we now live in, inaugurated through the cross, as the Stone the builders rejected became the Chief Corner Stone, and which points, ultimately to the "day of the Lord" yet to come (1 Thess. 5:2). The LORD Himself made this day (v.24), it is His doing (v.23), that all who now enter in through the rent veil of the flesh of the Son of Man may now have fellowship with God and access to the very throne of the Father Himself.

Remember, it is vital that we understand that the an enemy attack is 'cut off' IN THE NAME OF THE LORD and not by our own fleshly strength or worldly wisdom. Look at v. 26... those who come IN THE NAME OF THE LORD are... blessed! Debbie asked a great question, I just loved it, because it just so ties in the Old and New Testaments so beautifully, and Angie, you did a great job answering it! In the O.T. those that COME IN THE NAME OF THE LORD were not only blessed by God Himself through the priests, but today, those that COME IN THE NAME OF THE LORD are blessed by God Himself, through Christ in their brothers and sisters in Christ. Believers are a royal priesthood in the house of the Lord, Jesus Himself being our Great High Priest (Hebrews 6:20), and when others come IN HIS NAME we bless them from this house!

Where is this 'house of the Lord', this temple of God today? Today, the Lord takes up His residency within believers.... we are the house of the Lord, the temple of the Lord! (1 Cor. 3:16 1 Cor. 6:19).

In Psalm 118:15 God promises us, through the psalmist that "the sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous" - "the tents of the righteous" today, on this side of the cross, are our earthly bodies, where Christ Himself dwells. This has always been one of my favorite verses, and of course, last week we learned all about "joyful shouting', so the impact of this should be huge for us this week.

There is so much more that I would like to say regarding what this Psalm has to say about 'distress', or what this Psalm means regarding "therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me", but we can continue that discussion in the Comment Cafe!

By the way, Angie and Jan, what a blessing it was to hear your conversation regarding the Family of God. I was blessed by your words to one another and it really resonated within me because of my own thoughts and musings before the Lord just this past Saturday morning. The last line I wrote in my Journal before heading into the day was this - "...this morning I give thanks, His covenant kindness is everlasting, and I join my voice with all believers as I read through Psalm 118, knowing that my precious sisters in Christ, are doing the same.

I love you and cherish each and every one of you, and frankly, missed you like crazy!

I'll give you the 'heads-up' on our next Psalm in the next post!