Psalm 33: Sing a New Song

Psalm 33 – Sing a New Song

Psalm 33 instructs us to sing a new song – what might this new song be?  How do we know it is new and not just a rehash of some other songs, warmed over and re-served?  Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new under the sun.  If so, what could this new song be?  More often than not, when we preach, we try to find new ways to get across the same old story – the story of God’s love, a message worth repeating.  We struggle to find new ways to get our listener’s attention so that God might speak to them. 

Often people claim they are starting out fresh, maybe leaving a relationship or job for another, only to find themselves in the same rut with the same problems, only the names and faces have changed.  So what is the new song the Psalmist is writing about?

Psalm 33 talks of God as creator.  The writer praises our God who through his word made the heavens (6-9).  It is the Lord’s counsel that stands forever, not the counsel of men (10-11).   Our God watches the goings on below on his earth and keeps his people safe (13-15, 18-19).  People are not saved by armies but by their God (16-17).  And so we have reason to sing songs to our God, but what is so new about this?

God in Isaiah says “see I am doing something new.”  Only God can do something new.   So how do we know we are doing something new?  If God is the author.   Only God, the creator, can bring new life out of dried out bones; only God creates, we are but participants in God’s creation. 

So sing a song to our God, allow God to sing within us, allow God to change us, transform us, and then our song will be new.  So . . . what are you doing that is new????

Copyright Robertson January 2013

Psalm 32: Is Confession Good for the Soul?

Psalm 32: Is Confession Good for the Soul?

“When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away. . . I acknowledged my sin . . . then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.” (3-5)

It’s been said that confession is good for the soul, and this psalm would attest to that.  The writer was afflicted with suffering.  Knowledge of some past sin was haunting him to the point that he had become physically ill.  As long as he held it in, he was tortured, wracked with guilt but when he told his sin to God, he found forgiveness. 

This is the second of the penitential Psalms, but it is also a psalm of thanksgiving.  The writer is thankful to God for the gift of forgiveness.  “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,” (1a) he states.  He knows the gift of forgiveness, but in order to know this he had to first sin and recognize his sinfulness.  “It can no doubt be ‘a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ (Heb. 10:31), but it is a worse thing to fall out of them,” as one commentator states (Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 4, p. 170).  The psalmist had fallen out of God’s hands through his sin.  How great his delight to return to God through confession.  The psalmist then instructs the reader to not be stubborn like a mule but to turn to God for forgiveness in order to experience what it is to be “blessed.”

Surely confession is good for the soul, but first there must be recognition of what needs to be confessed, then there must be genuine remorse.  It isn’t enough to admit to a wrong doing.  In the news this week has been Lance Armstrong’s confession that he had used drugs during his years of competition.  He finally admitted to what he had done but he claimed he was just doing what everyone else was doing.  He justified his actions.  So, was this confession good for his soul?  It is not for us to judge what is in his heart, that is for God – best to leave it there.

“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.  Words without thoughts never to heaven go,” the king in Hamlet states after an unsuccessful attempt at prayer. (Hamlet, Act III, sc. III)  He knew he had sinned but wasn’t willing to do what was necessary to make amends, to admit to what he had done and give up his ill-gotten gain.  And so he remained in his sin.

Perhaps the greatest sins are the ones we refuse to see, sins of excessive pride, greed, justifications for hording the world’s goods, walking away from those in need.  None of us are perfect; therefore all of us are in need of God’s forgiveness.  Perhaps our prayer needs to be that God will help us see when we have fallen short of the mark for by ourselves we remain blind.  Then our confession will bring the healing and forgiveness we need.

Copyright Robertson January 2013

A Cup of Coffee and the Psalms

Coffee and the Psalms

 “My strength returns to me with my cup of coffee and the reading of the Psalms.”  Dorothy Day

Good things happen over a cup of coffee or tea:  in depth conversations with a friend or just shooting the breeze; early morning meditations with God.

Since I’m no longer preaching every Sunday, I took a break from posting to this blog in order to re-evaluate, redesign and recommit.  I’m still pursuing my own study of the Psalms, praying them, reflecting on them, studying them.  I will be sharing these but my entries will be shorter.  I hope they will still provide fodder for preachers who may want to preach on the Psalms but will also reach a wider audience.

I hope that this blog will be a space for dialogue about the Psalms, for a chance to, in a sense, sit down together with a cup of coffee and converse.  To discuss, what are your favorite Psalms and why?  Are there quotes about the Psalms that you really like?  Have the Psalms played an important role in your life and if so, how?  All of these will be up for discussion.  I hope you will join me in this endeavor.