Lord God, bless your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it; through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Read Psalm 6
Quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "The seven so-called repentance Psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143), but not only they... lead us into the total depth of the recognition of sin before God. They lead us to the confession of guilt and direct our complete confidence to the forgiving grace of God, so that Luther has quite correctly called them the 'Pauline Psalms.' Usually a special occasion leads to such a prayer. It is serious guilt (Psalms 32 and 51) or an unexpected suffering that drives to repentance (Psalms 38 and 102). In every case all hope is fixed on free forgiveness, as it has been offered to us and promised by God in his word about Jesus Christ for all times.
"The Christian will find scarcely any difficulties in the praying of these Psalms. However, the question could arise as to how one is to think about the fact that Christ also prays these Psalms with us. How can the sinless one ask for forgiveness? In no way other than he can, as the sinless one, bear the sins of the world and be made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). Not for the sake of his sins, but for the sake of our sins, which he has taken upon himself and for which he suffers, does Jesus pray for the forgiveness of sins. He positions himself entirely for us. He wants to be a man before God as we are. So he prays also the most human of all prayers with us and thereby demonstrates precisely that he is the true Son of God." Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible, Augsburg Fortress, p. 50-52.
Read Genesis 6
Meditation:
God is a just God. He demands holiness. This is why he curses Creation in Genesis 3. This curse Adam and Eve earned with their sin. God had every right to act the way he did. Some people struggle with that. They say, "What kind of a God lets his people fall into sin and then punishes them for it?" One of my seminary professors was fond of answering those objections by saying, "What kind of a God? It's the God you've got!" It's not so much an answer as it is a challenge to recognize and accept the truth concerning our situation and God's solution. We are sinful, fallen, cursed. We need a Savior.
We see that wickedness increased on the earth leading up to the time of Noah. And isn't it interesting that in Genesis 3 when man rebelled against God, there was a curse, but not a destruction of all Creation? But here God grieves that he made man, and determines to wipe them all out (v. 6-7). It is interesting that God is patient when they first sin against him - Adam and Eve are not instantly wiped out. But violence of men toward one another sends God over the edge (see verse 13). How many of us who are parents would rather see our children sin against only us rather than be cruel to their brothers and sisters? I know I would!
But Noah "found favor." We need to remember that "favor" is a grace-word. This is not an earned standing before God. It is given by God. So even righteous, believing, faithful Noah was in need of God's grace. And God was abundant with that mercy. So God provides a way for his wrath to be poured and sweep away the wicked, but to preserve safely in the ark those who have found favor with him (by God's grace alone).
These waters of the flood foreshadow baptism, which saves us (1 Peter 3:21!) Though judgment is and will be poured out upon the wicked, we are preserved in the "ark of the church," as some of our old prayers declare. By the grace of God, our repentance is pleasing to God, and our sorrowful hearts are encouraged.
In repentance we pray prayers like Psalm 6 which not only confess guilt, but cling to God's mercy. That's real repentance. We don't despair like Judas who confessed wrong but had no faith. We repent, rather, like Peter, who wept bitterly, but cherished Christ's forgiveness, won on the cross, and declared to him again by the shore (John 21:15ff). Jesus assured him of forgiveness not so much by saying "I forgive you," but rather by calling him to continue on as a disciple and apostle.
I have so much guilt. I deserve to be swept away in a world-wide flood or in a personal tragedy. But I cling to the mercy of my Christ, who (as Bonhoeffer reminds me) bore my sin on the tree. Thanks be to God!
Ask Yourself:
The world doubts that God is just and punishes sin. Do I? What does Scripture show me?
The world doubts that it needs God's mercy. Do I? What sins lead me to beg God's mercy today?
On the cross I see Judgment and Mercy. What can I do to remind myself of that when I am secure in sin on one hand, or when I doubt He forgives on the other?
Pray:
Luther's "Flood" Prayer, which is in our Baptism liturgy (adapted here):
Almighty and eternal God, according to Your strict judgment You condemned the unbelieving world through the flood, yet according to Your great mercy You preserved believing Noah and his family, eight souls in all...foreshadowing [the] washing of Your Holy Baptism. Through the Baptism in the Jordan of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, You sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of sin.
...Grant that I be kept safe and secure in the holy ark of the Christian Church, being separated from the multitude of unbelievers and serving Your name at all times with a fervent spirit and a joyful hope, so that, with all believers in Your promise, I would be declared worthy of eternal life; through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Study with me tomorrow.
Pastor Jon
Soli Deo Gloria!
A couple questions today.
ReplyDeleteHow do we know that Judas had “no faith”? I mean, it all probability, depending on his motive, he probably did not, BUT how do we know that? I think it would have taken a very strong man to do what he did and then turn around and face his brothers. If he did have faith, then I can certainly see the horror that he must have felt.
I’d like to couple this with my next question.
Psalm 6:5
“No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?”
The question that naturally arises here is: Did David know what would happen at the time of death? Now, I don’t know enough about Jewish history, but what would Judas have been raised to believe would happen at the time of death? Or better yet, what did Jews believe in regards to suicide? Now, certainly Jesus taught Judas what would happen, but did his upbringing tell him something different?
Sorry, a tad off of judgment and repentance…oh well.
I base my comments concerning Judas on the fact that Jesus said about him "It would be better for him if he had not been born." (Matthew 26:24). Whether he believed at some point, I do not know. But at his death, he had no faith, according to my understanding of Jesus' comment. Some people try to justify Judas, saying that God's plan had to be carried out some way. But Jesus seems to say, "Yes this had to happen" ("The Son of man goes as it is written"), "But that doesn't excuse the sin!" (But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is Betrayed!") In fact, he says of Judas, "One of you is a devil!" (John 6:70-71).
ReplyDeleteThe problem was not the suicide (though that is sin, a forgiveable sin I might add - not that we should test God). No, the damnable offense was unbelief.
What Judas believed about the afterlife, I can't say for sure.
But David's comments in Psalm 6:5 can't be used to try to argue what Jews did or didn't believe about the afterlife. (True OT believers believed the same as we do though maybe we understand more fully). David's point here is that if God rescues his life, he will go on to praise and glorify God with his words and actions. But if David goes down to the pit, will he be praising God from the grave? He may be praising God in heaven, but that public witness would no longer be on earth before his fellow mankind. David uses this prayer to persuade God to help, heal, and restore.