Psalms 146 – 148
Verse 146:2 started some conviction in me:
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being
How many times have I sung this in church or given the preacher an “amen” for saying it. Now once I would leave church, this would be forgotten and set aside for the next time I go to that safe place. We are told to be salt and light, not lukewarm Christians who will be spat out. This has become my biggest fear over the past few years where I become more in tune with the world in public and God in private.
Verse 147:11 is another time fear is used and I get an improper image:
but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
On the surface we read this in English and it seems God enjoys watching us cower in fear of Him. It is verses like this that on the surface make God seem maniacal. How can someone who loves us want to live our lives in fear that He may crush us? Hence why I get into the hermeneutics of the Bible and do not rely on just one version. Since I do not know Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic I must rely on different translations to gain clarity.
Although most translations to English say fear, there are some who include adjectives like “reverently and worshipfully” to describe the type of fear. The Voice has just made it to BibleGateway and I think says it best:
But the Eternal does take pleasure in those who worship Him,
those who invest hope in His unfailing love.
We are not to fear God unless we do something wrong and do not give a heartfelt confession. We do need to respect His authority and grandeur; therefore not treat Him as a “mate” (Aussie). We need to have frank and honest prayers, but with reverence and honor.
Verse 148:3 caught me by surprise:
Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!
If you have not noticed in my writings I have been studying for some time the occult. Not from an aspect of wanting to get into it, but more knowing what it is and how it’s affecting my relationship with God. Like this morning I saw a “God” post of the sun with an outer ring and a black dot. On this surface it was beautiful, but it formed the occult symbol for sun and was a being present as God being light and a drop of blood. The comments, although benign were very disconcerting when you look at this through the occult filter.
Back in the 70’s I went to a conference called Basic Youth Conflicts with Bill Goddard. It was a wonderful time, but the only real thing I took away from it was he wanted me to burn my vast record collection of rock-n-roll. I took that as rubbish and they still sit in my barn today. Granted I don’t listen to them anymore, but keep them still thinking that they are benign, just vinyl. That is where evil is allowed to creep into our lives. Yesterday I started burning all the stuff we had from the shop with occult symbols, starting with the Bam “Heartogram” socks.
Although they are just cotton and fuzzy, the pentagram symbol with heart shapes is an occult symbol which demons could attach themselves to, so into the fire they went. It was hard since they were the best tube socks I own. Now back to this verse and the reference to God with the sun and moon. In the occult the sun is Nimrod and the moon is his wife Semiramis (more common as Jezebel). I saw these three with the little “h” him and was concerned we were talking gods and not the Lord most high. Again the Voice tends to clear it up a bit:
Sun, moon, and all you brilliant stars above:
praise Him!
So there you have it, my paranoia is not praising the sun and moon, but rather praising God for them.