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The Hubris of this Generation: My journey through Psalms (52-53)

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“Why do you boast of evil, you might man [woman]?” Psalm 52: 1

I spend most of my days in the company of teenagers. As such, it has become a habit for me to end each week with the following statement: “Be good, have fun and make good decisions!”

It is a well known fact that teenagers often make very poor decisions, but what I couldn’t fathom was why they wanted to brag about the stupid things they were doing. I mean seriously. Every time a super-villain stopped to explain his ‘brilliant’ plan, he or she gets caught and defeated. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. So what should that tell you about bragging and boasting of your stupidity? I just don’t understand, which is what inspired this decision making flow chart for my students.

Still, the bragging continues.

“I refuse to look at that chart, Ms. C,” one student tells me. And when I question this student, the answer is simple: “Because then I would have to actually think through some of the things I am doing. Where is the fun in that?”

Insert groan here.

We like to believe that as a culture we are more civilized than the barbarians of yester-year, but are we? In many ways we are still as barbaric as our ancient ancestors. In my English 4 class we have talked a lot about heroes lately, comparing ancient civilizations to modern culture. Interestingly, in most cases, what leads to the hero’s downfall?

Boasting, bragging, and pride–often in the stupidest things.

Hubris.

So why don’t we learn from these barbaric heroes? Why don’t we live smarter?

I used to hate the story of Romeo and Juliet. Glorifying teenagers for making stupid and impulsive decisions seemed like the worst story you could ever teach to impressionable teenagers.

Until I realized this story is exactly what they need–if it’s taught with a different approach.

I don’t teach it as the greatest love story.

Because it’s not.

It’s a warning to the younger generation. A warning that could maybe even be traced back to the first impressionable person who decided to make an impulsive, stupid, emotion-driven decision.

David’s time was not the first, nor was it the last, moment in history where God looked down and saw that people had turned from him. Turned from wisdom (53:2).http-www-pixteller-com-pdata-t-l-541870

As a culture, well even as a species, we need to stop glorifying people who make decisions like lovesick teenagers who can’t spot wisdom even if it punched them in the face.

We need to value those who seek wisdom (not just learning, but TRUE wisdom) and boast about good decisions people make rather than making celebrities out of people who kill, get drunk, abuse drugs, abuse people, and live in a narcissistic bubble of selfish desires. We not only need to be olive trees flourishing in God’s house (52: 8), we need to teach the future generation HOW to do this, and more importantly, WHY it is important and VALUED.

We value the wrong things.

We think if we prove we are right on a topic, then we win. But we don’t stop to see how we’ve pursued our quest to be right. How we hurt others. How we’ve set an example for those who are searching for value and we ripped that rug out from beneath them because we need to be validated.

We never stop to think that it’s maybe not so much about being right as it should be about living right.

The decisions we make shape the future.

Even if we don’t realize it.

 

 

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Strongholds: Psalm 27-28; 30-31 (My journey through Psalms)

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Many of us struggle with different strongholds in our lives–sometimes we don’t even realize they’ve become a stronghold until something rather significant knocks us on our rear-end and we’re left staring up at the sky wondering what happened. When all along, it wasn’t what happened at that moment, but what had been festering inside us all along, growing stronger. Something we simply chose not to deal with, or thought we could ignore, or believed wasn’t a big deal. Or worse, thought we could handle on our own.

But strongholds are, in fact, strongholds because we CAN’T handle them on our own and until we hand them over to Jesus and make him the ONLY stronghold in our life (Psalm 27:1), we’ll continue to lay on our backside staring at the sky and wondering.

So why do we hold on to strongholds like bitterness, pride, fear, anger, lust, all these things that bring so much pain?

I think it’s because despite the pain, it has become comfortable. Letting go is scary. It’s like in an action-adventure movie where the hero and heroine are hanging off of some kind of cliff or something and swinging back and forth. You can tell at any moment the hero is going to lose his grip and drop the woman into the pit, but then he says ‘do you trust me’? and the woman is sitting there, hanging over that pit thinking ‘dude, I just met you, why on Earth do you think I would trust you?’ But she really doesn’t have any choice. And in that moment she knows he is going to let her go and she has to decide if she trusts him enough to let go or if she wants to hang on–in pain, but where she still feels the comfort of being held.

Inevitably, when the hero lets her go, she falls to some safe little nook. Like it was made just for her in this time of crisis, but if she had held on she might have fallen straight into the pit.

Our strongholds are the same way. We want to hang on because it seems like that is safe. It’s what we know, but if we keep holding on we’re going to fall into the pit. If we let go and let God drop us into a nook of grace, that’s where true grace begins to change and envelop us.

That is not to say that Christians don’t struggle with strongholds. Believe me, they do. And sometimes they’re holding on just as tight as the next guy. BUT the difference is the ultimate STRONGHOLD is there to BREAK the defenses of these other things (Psalm 28:1). And even if we do fall into the pit, he is there to pull us back out again. Because he is always willing to redeem us. It’s all a part of his infinite mercy and grace.

So, do you trust him? Then LET GO!

 

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Forgetting our Fears Psalm 24-26

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My niece is very profound. The other day she was talking to her mom and spouted some profound theology.

“So Mom, I was thinking about what you read about people wanting to stay in darkness and I thought why would they want to do that? Then I thought about how when you first wake up and the light hurts your eyes. I think they are scared to go because it hurts a little. We have to help them see that the light is better after you get used to it.”

Bailey is only six years old, but she understands human nature better than some people who have PhDs in psychology. In the end it all boils down to giving in to our fears or overcoming them with righteous and divine guidance

The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. For He founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Psalm 24:1

There is a reason why the most common command in the Bible is “FEAR NOT”. We often allow our fears to keep us from becoming our GENUINE selves.

Guard my life and rescue me, do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. Psalm 25:20

Unfortunately tough we may forget form time to time, life isn’t about us. We live in a narcissistic, self-promoting society, but that’s not who we are made to be and it’s amazing how many of our fears would melt into obscurity if we would deny ourselves and focus on what we were truly created to become.

My feet stand on level ground, in the great congregation I will praise the LORD. Psalm 26:2

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Standing Strong: My Journey through Psalms (11-12)

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Psalm 11-12

Help, Lord, for the godly are no more.(12:1)
The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men. (12:8)

Looking at the bookends of Psalm 12 is like spitting out the attitude I’ve had for a lot of my life. I look around at this fallen and broken world and instead of feeling hope, I feel despair. Where are the redeemed? It seems every time I hear of one good thing a human does I hear a dozen more terrible things humans do to destroy one another. And I know that much of that is perception, and much of it is the enemy playing on my fears and doubts. The media sensationalizes the worst of humanity (fair and balanced hasn’t truly described any media outlet, maybe ever, but certainly not in the past 20 years). The other day I was watching the news and after much of the gruesome, they showed a YouTube video of a puppy and a bunny doing something cute, which I guess was supposed to be comic relief–but when did we begin living in a play where comic relief is fed to us in between the drastic bits of life? Not to balance out what we see in humanity, but just to soften the perception of reality; in a way to desensitize us to the seriousness of the vile among men.
But that’s not the worst of it.
Since when do we heroize villains and honor them?

I’m not against all secular television, don’t get me wrong, but some of what we call ‘entertainment’ is really frightening. And vile. And it is honored among men.
The thing is, God hasn’t changed since the beginning of time (I think the fact that this applies to our time every bit as much as it did to Davidic times proves that), and he doesn’t appreciate these things. And I know what happens when the vile are honored–God withdraws his protection and his people are scattered. Which is why it is important to draw closer and closer to him each and ever day.
Psalm 11 offers that hope, and provides a warning.

In the Lord I take refuge. (11:1a)

Because there is no one else who can provide shelter from the current or future storm.

How then can you say to me: Flee like a bird to your mountain? (11:1b)

The Psalmist takes a stand, he doesn’t flee. He doesn’t run into his local church and stay there, barricading the doors against the evils of the world. He takes refuge in the world, takes a stand and let’s the arrows fly around him. That is a beautiful image and one I feel is important for me to hold onto. Escapism, whatever form it takes, is awfully tempting. Running seems like a good idea. Sheltering yourself from the evils, sure that might work.

But if all God’s people flee, who will stand against the enemy?

Romans tells us we are MORE THAN conquerors through Him who loved us. MORE THAN, beyond. It is our duty and our right to fight for the Lord’s presence even in times of honor the vile. (Romans 8:35-39)

For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice. Upright men will see his face. (11:7)

And that’s the only promise I need to hold on to.

Questions to Ponder:

  1. What vile things do I need to take a stand against in my life?
  2. How do I continue to stand up for God without alienating myself from the world?
  3. How can I remember to take refuge in God rather than fleeing like a bird? l-373970
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Created to Praise: My Journey through Psalms (8)

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Psalm 8

“What are men to rocks and mountains?” originally spoken by Mary Bennett in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice I’ve always interpreted this in a rather Romantic way. No, not as in lovey-dovey let’s grow old together romanticism of the 21st century, but 19th century Romanticism where idealism and nature reigned supreme and people really did look at the world around them in terms of simplicity and beauty as opposed to what they can use it for. Of course that was before industrialism stripped the world into a barren wasteland and though technology and progress certainly make life easier, I’m not entirely sure it has made our world better. But I digress.
On one level, Mary (and then in the adaptation, Elizabeth’s) spoken question is literally pointing out freedoms associated with natural beauty–anticipating Elizabeth’s upcoming trip to the lake district and the escape from the soul crushing societal expectations. On another it embodies the theme of most Romantics–the search for individual freedoms and happiness among a society that places pressure on each person to maintain a certain amount of social balance.  What I find interesting is the equivocating nature of the question: comparing “men” to “nature”. Men could, in fact, just refer to Elizabeth (and all the sisters’) search for ‘suitable’ husbands to save them from social ostracisim, yet “men” embodies so much more, especially in the 19th century before feminism took political correctness to a whole new level. Reaching beyond just the surface, “men” could also be “society” or “humankind”.
What is society compared to nature?
Psalm 8 cries out in verse 3 “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”
Humankind and nature have always been intertwined, and whether you want to admit it or not, nature holds a power over humankind that we cannot (and maybe should not) tame. Verse 5 continues “You made him little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hand”.  It’s a matter of order, not a matter of control.
Mark 11: 23 says, “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”
Read those pronouns. “Yourself”, the mountain is a part of the action. “Done for them”, man didn’t do it–their faith in the One with more power than they did. Humankind isn’t in control.
Just as a ruler who respects his people will have a more effective reign, humankind must respect our role in creation. Throwing mountains into oceans for no reason isn’t respectful to anyone. We are not gods. We are not masters. We are not in control. We are only a part of the whole. And we are all created to do the same thing: praise the one who created us.

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Questions to ponder:

  1. How is humankind and nature intertwined?
  2. Do I have any bad habits that need correcting to make me a better part of God’s creation?
  3. How can I praise God more?