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Psalm 62: Low and High Degree

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Introduction

Most psalms of affliction begin with the problem and work through to the solution of faith—there is a story arc to the psalm. One of them is grim and gray from beginning to end (Ps. 88). But this psalm is all confidence, from the first words to the end of the psalm. The troubles are there, but so is the faith, right from the start. The psalmist is not working things out as he sings—this is already worked out.

The Text

“Truly my soul waiteth upon God: From him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved . . .” (Psalm 62:1-12).

Summary of the Text

David waits upon God because he knows that God is his salvation (v. 1). God alone is his rock and salvation; God alone is his sure defense, and this is why he will not be moved (v. 2). He then turns to challenge his adversaries—how long will they devise mischief? They are all of them going down, they are all going to be slain (v. 3). They are bent like a bulging wall, ready to collapse (v. 3). They conspire against David’s majesty; they delight in lies, and their mouths and hearts respectively juxtapose blessing and cursing (v. 4). Reflect on this. Selah. David charges his soul to wait upon God only, and to look to Him for his expectation (v. 5). God is his rock and salvation; God is his defense, and David is therefore immovable (v. 6). God is his salvation and his glory; his rock and refuge are in God (v. 7). The people are then charged to trust in Him always, and to pour out their hearts before Him. God is our refuge again, and Selah again (v. 8). Men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie (v. 9); together they are a bunch of air piled onto the scales. Don’t trust in oppression or theft. If riches grow, you should still not trust in them (v. 10). God has said one thing—no, make that two things He has said. The first is that power belongs to God (v. 11), and the second is that mercy belongs to God (v. 12). God renders to every man according to his work (v. 12).

The Glory of Mine

Notice what David does here—my expectation, my rock, my salvation, my defense, my salvation, my glory, my strength, my refuge. As Spurgeon put it, “It is the word my which puts the honey into the comb.” My expectation—where is despair? My rock—where is uncertainty? My salvation—where is he that condemns? My defense—where is loss? My strength—where is failure? My refuge—where is vulnerability?

And the one that may surprise us is this one: my glory—where is slander? As John Donne once put it, “If my ‘glory,’ what calumny shall defame me?”

Democracy and Aristocracy

The rabble is a bunch of nothing, but few are deceived by them anyway. The men of high degree—the aristocracy—are a lie because people think they might be formidable. But put the great and small together onto the scales and they are lighter than vanity. Take the mob and take the elite, and hold them up against the strength of God—it is like trying to weigh a cloud of helium on your bathroom scales.

We don’t want to adopt the cynicism of Ambrose Bierce when he defined an idiot as “a member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling.” But having resisted that temptation, we still have to recognize that he was closer to the truth than any amount of chirrupy and optimistic vainglory.

Notice how the biblical writers do not choose up sides between rich and poor. They are not elitists and they are not populists. Some think God automatically sides with the rich. Some think he automatically sides with the poor. No, there are other variables.

If Riches Increase . . .

Those men who trust in riches should know that riches have never been true or faithful. Riches are a heartbreaker—if you are foolish enough to trust in them. They fly to you on the wings of little sparrows, and fly away like a condor. A man consumed with how to get and how to keep the vanity of wealth is like a man looking for constancy in love by dating floozies, painted ladies, and honky-tonk angels. Do not trust in them. We see the same thing in 1 Timothy 6.

“Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:17-19).

Riches should be brought in like contract labor, not wooed and courted like a prospective wife. So you who desire to be rich, you who really want that status with all your soul—I have a word from God for you.

Merciful and Mighty

The writer of Holy, Holy, Holy put these words—merciful and mighty—together, and he did so with a wonderful biblical instinct. Nehemiah prayed this way—“I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments . . .” (Neh. 1:5). Or “O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him . . .” (Dan. 9:4).

Merciful and mighty—this is what we should know about our God. I have known one thing . . . no, two things I have known. First, we know that power belongs to God. And we know also—through Jesus Christ—that mercy belongs to Him as well. And whatever belongs to God, through Christ, belongs to us as well. That means that we are in present possession of God’s power and God’s mercy. Let us give thanks for that now.

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Child Communion and the Keys (Part 2)

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

As you are bringing your children up in the covenant, your operating assumption ought to be that your God is their God, and that they are, adjusting for levels of maturity, faithful covenant members. Your attitude should not be that of assuming that “your sweet baby” must be converted despite a sullenness that ascends to the skies, and your attitude should not be one of chronic suspicion either. Rather, you should “trust but verify.” But how do we verify?

The Text

“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death” (1 Jn. 3:14).

Summary of the Text

The apostle John does not assume that we are trying to figure out who was baptized and who not. That is too easy. They remembered when those baptisms occurred—these were first generation Christians after all. The tests for assurance of salvation are given to us so that we could know who had passed from death to life among those who are professing Christians. This has been a problem from the very first—I don’t doubt that it began at Pentecost.

There are two things to mark here. Passing from death to life is one of them, and knowing that you have is the other. The first indicator here is that of love for your fellow Christians. Love is the mark of a real Christian.

Important Caution

When you talk about assurance of salvation, there is always the Christian with a tender conscience, ever eager for reasons to doubt that he is saved. But that is not what we are doing here. The contrast is being loving and hating, not between loving as much you should and not loving as much as you should have. We are not contrasting playing the piano superbly and playing it like a hack musician, but rather playing the piano and playing a trash can lid with a wooden stick. We are not contrasting big red apples and smaller red apples, but rather apples and road apples.

The works of the flesh are manifest (Gal. 5:19ff). Look at the sorts of things that the New Testament lists as being inconsistent with inheriting the kingdom of heaven (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5). You will not find on these lists anything about how many times this week you missed your Bible reading.

A Checklist, Gingerly Held

Here is a checklist which should not be treated as a checklist, if you know what I mean. The center of all assurance means looking to Christ, not yourself. But how can you know you are looking to Him, and not just striking a pose for everybody?

  • Loveforthebrothers:Aswesawinourtext(1Jn.3:14),realChristiansloveotherreal Christians. Before salvation, Christians were insufferable; afterwards, they somehow became a delight. For those growing up in the covenant, there should be a real attraction for real Christians.
  • Obediencestartstohappen:“Andherebywedoknowthatweknowhim,ifwekeephis commandments” (1 Jn. 2:3). Note that our salvation is not based on obedience, but our assurance should be. For those growing up in the covenant, there should be an orientation to obedience, mediated through obedience to parents.
  • What happens when we disobey: “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Heb. 12:7-8). The previous point is not a perfectionistic one. We all fail and fall. But what happens when we do? For those growing up in the covenant, there is a pattern of putting things right because God spanks you.
  • Understanding of spiritual things: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14; cf. 1 Cor. 1:18). There is a certain upside-down-ness to the way God does things. Christians get it. For those growing up in the covenant,
  • Holding fast to the truth: “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God” (1 Jn. 4:15). The Christian faith has a clear center of dogma, and Christians hold to it. For those growing up in the covenant, there is a desire to understand so that you can hold to it faithfully.
  • The presence of the Holy Spirit: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (1 Jn. 4:13). When the Spirit is given, He causes us to cry out, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15-16; Gal. 4:6-7). For those growing up in the covenant, this is the gift that enables you to evaluate this list without a counterproductive form of navel gazing. This is all about relationship. 

    What is the Direction?

    When a child is baptized, one of the things we do as a congregation is promise to assist the parents in the Christian nurture of their child. We do not promise to do this only so long as the parents are totally not defensive about it.

  • Although “parent” is not an office in the church, the fact that we are coming together as families means that parents are usually the ones called to speak the words of the gospel to their children as we administer the Supper.
  • Your children can be included as soon as they are tracking in the service—and you can tell this by when they start to notice that they are being excluded.
  • As your children grow up, you will probably have (early on) some communion flip out stories —when your child has to be taken outside for some discipline in the middle of the observance. We don’t do this with grown-ups, but a lot of communion services would probably be greatly improved if some of the adults got spanks.
  • If a child is “old enough to know better,” and the attitude is still rebellious or sullen, or if their demeanor in church is fine, but they are living wildly, then parents (or their friends) should call for pastoral help from the elders.

A godly church should never have discipline on a hair trigger. But if we are going to commune our children, it is because we believe the promises, and we want them to walk with God all the days of their lives.

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Psalm 61: A Rock that is Higher than I

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

This is a psalm of David in a time of affliction. Because he is likely king at this time (see v. 6), and because he longs to be restored to the tabernacle (v. 4), it would be safest to locate this psalm as being written during the time of Absalom’s rebellion. So this is not just a matter of danger for David (which he had faced many times before), but of mortal danger from a dearly loved son.

The Text

“Hear my cry, O God; Attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: Lead me to the rock that is higher than I . . .” (Psalm 61:1-8).

Summary of the Text

First, this is not a dispassionate prayer. David cries out, “Hear my cry, O God” (v. 1). He is in a desperate way. He will cry out to God from the ends of the earth, which indicates some form of exile (v. 2). When he is overwhelmed, when his heart is overwhelmed, he asks that he be led to a rock that is higher than he is (v. 2). God has been a shelter for him in times past, a strong tower against the enemy (v. 3). This indicates that on the top of the rock that is higher than David there is a fortress. Having presented the request, David declares his confidence that he will return to the tabernacle to be there forever, and that he will trust in the covert of God’s wings (v. 4). He then says Selah, which most likely means something like “pause and reflect.”

David has made vows, and God has heard them (v. 5). He is confident that he has been given the heritage of those who fear God (v. 5). The king’s life will be prolonged, and his years will be extended like they were generations (v. 6). He will abide with God forever (v. 7), and mercy and truth will do it. God will be praised forever, and He will be praised forever daily (v. 8).

Attend to My Prayer

Here is a striking difference between the formalist and the true believer. The formalist is content with having prayed. The true believer has a holy discontent until he has an answer. The formalist checks the box that says he has “said his prayers,” but he, along with everybody else knows that prayers are not meant to be answered. God, for some mysterious reason, wants us to say them, but He isn’t listening. Away with all that. The psalmist says “Hear my cry, O God.” He says, “attend to my prayer.”

The Ends of the Earth

It might be the end of the earth, but it is not the end of prayer. It may be far away from the tabernacle, but God is no local baal tied to just one mountain, or to one shrine. David’s distance might be geographical, as a man might pray when lost on a glacier in Greenland. Or David’s distance might be ecclesiastical—where the tabernacle was taken as the very center of all things. Either way, or both, God is immediately there. Wherever God is, there is the true center.

So the end of the earth is not the end of prayer, but the end of prayer is the end of man.

A Rock That is Higher

Not only does David not have a Rock that is higher than he is, he doesn’t know where it is. He knows

there is one, but he can’t find it, and he can’t get up on it. His cry is to the one who can accomplish a full deliverance. The first thing is that he must be led to the Rock; he needs to be shown where it is. And because the Rock is higher than he is, two things follow—if he gets up on it, he will be saved, but because it is higher than he is, he can’t get up on it. He needs to be led there, and he needs to be placed there.

And just being led there is not enough. Picture this great danger along a rocky coast, and you are a mariner whose ship has foundered. The shoreline is a series of rocky cliffs—your salvation from the waves is there, right there. You can see it now. But seeing it and being on it are two entirely different things.

No Expiration Date

God’s past kindnesses do not have an expiration date. Notice how David prays from the past to the future, from “thou hast been a shelter . . . (v. 3)” to “I will abide . . . I will trust” (v. 4), from “God, hast heard . . .” (v. 5) and “hast given” (v. 5) to “Thou wilt prolong . . .” (v. 6).

God’s faithfulness in the past is a sure indication of His faithfulness in the future. God’s hard providences are sometimes hard, sometimes tangled and messy, sometimes inscrutable, but always faithful. The plots twists are often over our heads, but the happy endings never are. The Christian cosmos is a comedy, not a tragedy, and not a farce.

Contentment is a Gift

If contentment is a gift from God, and it is, then it is appropriate for us to plead for it. And when we are pleading for it, it only stands to reason that we know that we do not yet have it. You don’t know where it is, or how it can be, but you know who has it to give.

David wanted to be back at the tabernacle. The shelter of God’s wings might be seen in the Holy of Holies, with the wings (“the covert of thy wings”) of the cherubim extending over the mercy seat.

Jesus is that mercy seat. Jesus is the Rock that is higher, much higher, than we are. Jesus is the tower fortress on top of that Rock. Jesus is the tabernacle. Jesus welcomes you under the covering of His wings. Jesus is your heritage. Jesus is mercy and truth. Jesus is the fulfillment of all our vows.

What do you do, then, when your heart is overwhelmed? You fly, you fly to Jesus. Nothing else makes any sense.

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Child Communion and the Keys (Part 1)

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

As anyone who has worshiped with us can see, it is our practice to include our baptized children with us in our celebration of the Lord’s Supper. We do not want to be superstitious about it, as though the elements of bread and wine were magic, but it is a routine practice for us to begin including children in the Supper at a pretty tender age. This is what we mean by child communion. What is meant by “the keys?” This refers to the authority of the church in discipline. It is not possible to talk about communication of the elements without also talking about excommunication (Matt. 16:19). So how should we relate these issues? It is necessary to take the right kind of great caution.

The Text

“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted” (1 Cor. 10:1-6).

Summary of the Text

The Corinthian Gentiles had begun to put on airs, over against the Jews. “We are baptized. We have spiritual drink. We have spiritual food.” So did the Israelites in the wilderness, Paul says, and look what happened to them. The nation of Israel passed through the cloud and the sea (v. 1), which Paul identifies as their baptism (v. 2). Not only did they have that monumental baptismal experience, they also ate spiritual food (v. 3), referring to the manna, bread from Heaven. In addition to that, all of them drank from the Rock that traveled with them, and that Rock was Christ Himself (v. 4). But if the Israelites were tempted to gloat in these spiritual privileges, they ought not to have. God was not pleased with many of them, and they were overthrown in the wilderness (v. 5). These things were written down, Paul says, to provide an example for new covenant Christians (v. 6), that we not fall into lust as they did.

The key thing to take away here is the fact that modern Christians often draw old covenant/new covenant contrasts at just the place where the New Testament demands that we draw parallels. These things happened to them as examples for us.

Clearing Some Debris

There are two things to keep in the forefront of our minds as we reflect on our inclusion of children in the Supper. First, we do not do it because it is “cute,” or “endearing.” If children are included for sentimental reasons, then if discipline ever becomes necessary, a number of people won’t want to do it . . . for those same sentimental reasons. We cannot have it both ways—if we object to discipline because “he is too young,” then we need to object to the communication of the elements for the same reason.

Secondly, we do not include our children through a misguided tribalism. The church holds the power of the keys, and not the patriarch of the family. The father has a key shepherding role to play, working with the elders, but he is not the church.

In stating these caveats, we should acknowledge that in some ways, child communion was an easy sell in some quarters for all the wrong reasons. But our thinking should be covenantal—not sentimental, and not familialist.

The Holy Spirit Does Not Need a Manager

When Jesus teaches us about the importance of the new birth, He does so by telling us that the Holy Spirit comes and goes as He pleases (John 3:8). We cannot bottle Him. We cannot anchor Him to the waters of baptism, or to the bread and wine, or to the Red Sea, or to the manna, or to the Rock. He is sovereign over us, not the other way around.

So our hunt for “badges” of the new birth usually gravitates to things we can manipulate or control— whether they are biblical things like baptism and the Lord’s Supper, or extra-biblical things, like throwing pine cones in the fire the last night of youth camp. We want things we can count—we want to put a turnstile on the gates of the kingdom with an automatic clicker in it.

Light Lights Up

The scriptural response to this does not flatter us. The differences between the converted and unconverted are not subtle. It is the difference between light and dark. It is the difference between righteousness and unrighteousness (John 3:19). It is the difference between clean and filthy (1 Thess. 4:7). It is the difference between love and hate (1 Jn. 3:12-14). The works of the flesh are manifest, Paul says (Gal. 5:19). People who live that way won’t inherit the kingdom (Gal. 5:21). Don’t over- engineer this. When it comes to assurance of salvation, we do not need to know what time the sun rose to know that it is up.

You never get an apple crop as the result of throwing a lever in the control room. Fruit doesn’t work this way. And the presence of the Spirit for blessing is indicated by gracious fruit (Gal. 5:22-23)—not by His gifts (1 Cor. 1:7; 1 Cor. 3:1), not by His sacraments (1 Cor. 10:1-6), not by doctrinal prowess (1 Cor. 13:2), and not by external good deeds (1 Cor. 13:3). But we tend to want a lever, any lever, because we think that our hands must be able to reach it.

Vessels of Wrath, Vessels of Mercy

The Bible teaches that all of our children are by nature objects of wrath (Eph. 2:3). They, just like us, have descended from Adam. In order for anyone to be saved, our children included, they must be transferred from one human race to another. The perennial temptation is for us to try to effect this transfer, instead of resorting to the gospel of Christ, and waiting upon Him. We come to the gospel, and we do so in order to hear it, believe it, wash with it, taste it, swallow it. It is not the outside of the thing, obviously. But neither is it faith to throw away all these means that God has so graciously provided.

What would happen to a man who ate the manna without faith? He would die in the desert. What would happen to a hyper-evangelical Israelite, who refused the manna because he just wanted to treasure up spiritual manna in his heart? Well, he would die too.

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