We’re only human
Psalm 103:13-18
Henry Francis Lyte wrote a wonderful hymn based on Psalm 103. I love the second verse:
Father-like he tends and spares us,
Well our feeble frame he knows,
In his hands he gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes
Praise him, praise him,
Widely as his mercy flows.
I love that line… ‘Well our feeble frame he knows’
A quotation from ‘scripture’ may help introduce this theme:
And the Lord said unto Noah: “Where is the ark which I have commanded thee to build?
And Noah said to the Lord: “Verily, I have had three carpenters off ill. The gopher wood supplier hath let me down - yea, even though the gopher wood hath been on order for nigh upon 12 months. What can I do O Lord?
And God said unto Noah: “I want that ark finished even after 7 days and 7 nights.
And Noah said: “It will be so”.
And it was not so. And the Lord said unto Noah: “What seemeth to be the trouble this time?”
And Noah said unto the Lord: “Mine subcontractor hath gone bankrupt. The pitch, which thou commandest me to put on the outside and the inside of the ark, hath not arrived. The Plumber hath gone on strike. Shem, my son who helpeth me on the ark side of the business, hath formed a boy band with his brothers. Lord, I am undone.”
And the Lord grew angry and said, “What about the animals, the male and female of every sort that I ordered to come unto thee to keep their seed alive upon the face of the earth?”
And Noah said: “They have been delivered unto the wrong address but should arriveth on Friday.”
And the Lord said: “How about the Unicorns, and the fowls of the air by sevens?”
And Noah wrung his hands and wept saying, “Lord. Unicorns are a discontinued line; thou cannot get them for love or money. And fowls of the air are sold only in half dozens. Lord, Lord, Thou knowest how it is.”
And the Lord in His wisdom said, “Noah my son, I knowest. Why else dost thou think I have caused a flood to descend upon the earth?”
He knows, he really does know!
We expect so much from ourselves. When we fail to live up to our expectations we feel so rotten about ourselves. Do these sound familiar?
- Personal goals that prove to be unrealistic – setting ourselves up for failure
- A secret and persistent need for recognition – we cannot be happy unless others notice us and are talking about us
- Preoccupation with appearances – we know that our inner world is a mess, but we look so good on the outside!
- An irrational need to seem perfect – others get depressed, loose their jobs, have marriage difficulties, but not me!
It is a sobering list, and we are prone to all of these and more. Christians are especially prone to an unrealistic need to seem perfect, or desperation for recognition. Psalm 103 is therapeutic in this respect. Reflect upon verses 14 to 16, God knows that we are dust, perhaps he is not expecting as much form you as you expect of yourself.
At some point we each need to decide what God wants us to do, and then be satisfied with that task. However much pressure we feel to shift our priorities we stay with the task. Then, whatever happens, we know we are doing what God wants us to do; it is an antidote to discouragement.
John the Baptist is a great example of someone who got this right. He had built up a nationwide ministry with hundreds of disciples and influence that went all the way to the top. Then the competition moves in on him – he began to hemorrhage disciples. Like all shrinking religious groups, they began to squabble over pointless issues. It was during one of these arguments that a disconsolate little group of diehards who loved John more than anything came to him and said, “Rabbi, you know that preacher we met on the other side of the Jordan? Well he has started baptizing people now and everyone is going to him instead. What are we going to do?” John’s answer was simple and pastorally very useful, “A man can only receive what is given him from heaven… he must become greater and I must become less” [1] .
What is ‘given to you from heaven? Do you know? Have you been pulled aside by something else? Has the simplicity of what he has called you to do been buried by a mountain of you own making? Is my unhappiness caused by my driving myself to do something God has not given me to do? The answers to these questions could shape some fruitful discussion when you get home.
Stakeholders in infinity!
Of course, we are, quite literally, dust! God took the dust of the ground and breathed life into it and the first humans came into being. The word apaar means dust or loose, dry earth. Latin for earth is humus from which we get the word human. We are, in essence, dust animated by the breath of God in us. Psalm 104 says, “You take away your breath, they die and return to the dust” (Psalm 104:29c). We are of heaven and of earth. So we belong in the world God has made, we ‘fit’ into it like a glove (Psalm 104:23 & 26). But we must never forget that we are of heaven too… otherwise we are only dust.
Verses 14 to 15, taken just by themselves, are a spiritual Haiku that encapsulates the most appalling thought in the Hebrew mind – the fear of death and oblivion.
When I was a kid I used to play on a large piece of rough ground, on the banks of the river Wear in Sunderland. The place was completely overgrown, and every now and then you would come across a gravestone hidden in the long grass and brambles. This was Galley’s Gill, one of Sunderland’s early graveyards. I remember looking at the names on those old tombstones and trying to imagine who these people were. But I couldn’t, they were long dead and long forgotten. There were no clues as to who these people were, what they achieved or what they loved; their place remembered them no more.
Fragile as flowers, lightweight as dust, we are destined to be forgotten.
In contrast, God is not like dust, he cannot be blown away; he is infinite (17). Let’s get a little help from Psalm 90:1-2 to fill out this verse:
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
First, before the creation of the earth (and presumably, long after its destruction) God just is - whatever infinity is, and nobody really knows, God inhabits it, it is his birthright. He is eternal.
Second, for Israel, each successive generation had found God to be their home, their dwelling place. Home is the place you feel safe, the place you find comfort, and the place you have most fun in… that is God; our dwelling place.
But what happens when we die? Moses was sure; we return to dust (Psalm 90:3) But David was not so sure; “He redeems my life from the pit (4) … from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him and his righteousness with their children’s children (17)”. Jesus’ disciples were not sure either, though he kept talking about life continuing after death. Then he proved it by dying and returning from the dead in person. Death is not the end.
And it is a short step from here to some of the most breathtaking words in the New Testament: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:3-6) “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13b-14).
Those who love the lord, those who fear the lord, those who trust in the Lord have become stakeholders in infinity. Faith is like glue – it fastens your destiny to God’s and you can never be separated. You are going to live forever!
Covenant Love
What does it mean, to “… keep his covenant” (18)? David’s covenant is obsolete, he was required to keep the Old Testament law to experience God’s blessing. It was a covenant tied to human performance and it was deadly.
Jesus initiated a new covenant. We are asked to trust him and live our lives under his rule – he is our king. He gives us eternal life. We have a covenant which is glorious; it gives life, where the old brought death, it leads to righteousness, where the old left you feeling condemned.
This God, who redeems your life from the pit (4), has taken his covenant people to be the objects of his love for eternity. Through this everlasting covenant the children of dust become stakeholders in infinity.
Now… try this little thought-experiment: Imagine that God is thinking about you, what do you think he feels when you come into his mind?
David Benner [2] asks this question and says:
“When I ask people to do this, a surprising number of people say that the first thing they assume God feels is disappointment. Others assume that God feels anger. In both cases, these people are convinced that it is their sin that first catches God’s attention.”
We are wrong; it is his passionate and extreme love for you that fills God’s heart. Whatever the world has bashed you into thinking about yourself, he thinks the world of you, and he has reserved you a place in his kingdom.
It is worth reflecting again about that word ‘love’ – such an insipid English word for a full blooded Biblical one. When Miles Coverdale published the first complete printed English Bible he used the word ‘loving-kindness’ in each instance in this Psalm translating the Hebrew hessed. Today’s NASB follows his example. What is this love?
Technical stuff about words is pretty tedious, and this is where poetry helps us through the difficulties. Hessed is the ‘love that will not let me go’ in George Matheson’s lovely old hymn:
O Love that wilt not let me go
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths it’s flow
may richer, fuller, be.
This is hessed, the love that will not let me go and that drives God to extremes; like Bethlehem, like Gethsemane, like Calvary. This is Love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins [3] .
What does it mean to ‘keep his covenant’? Whatever it meant for David, for us it means to trust. Trust him to keep his promises to you no matter how dark it gets or how muddy the waters become. You don’t have to believe that Joshua made the sun stand still, or that the world was made in seven days, you only have to believe that he knows the way home through the darkness, that he has done all that is necessary to get you to heaven, and all you need to do is follow him. Believe this, through thick and thin:
You have a significant place in an unshakable kingdom.
The Lord has established his throne in heaven, his kingdom rules over all
Psalm 103:19
[1] John 3:27-30
[2] Quotes are from “Surrender to Love: Discovering the Heart of Christian Spirituality” by David Benner, published by IVP-US
[3] I John 4:10