A Psalm Definitely for Our Times
Psalm 36
Jim Davis
There seems to be more weeping in the first 41 psalms than rejoicing. Through all the heartaches, weeping and struggles we see how troubled souls were able to rejoice as they sought God’s protection in the worst of times. The psalms allow us to see the internal struggles of the writers. We get a glimpse into their hearts as they rejoice and as they weep.
Psalm 36 is definitely great message for our day. The writer reminds us of how we should focus on God as we face a troubled world. It is a message from God to a lost world.
Psalm 36:1-4
I have a message from God in my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.
In their own eyes they flatter themselves
too much to detect or hate their sin.
The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;
they fail to act wisely or do good.
Even on their beds they plot evil;
they commit themselves to a sinful course
and do not reject what is wrong.
This psalm is not conjured up in a paranoid mind. It is a message from God describing God’s view of a sinful wicked world. A world where narcissistic minds blind them to their wicked deceitful ways as they scheme to do more evil.
It seems to be a perfect description of the world we live in. I can’t see how God’s description of the psalmist world could me much different from his view of our world today. We ask ourselves: where is there a sense of justice? Where is there a sense of right and wrong? Everyone does what is right in their own eyes as they reject any standards beyond themselves.
What Does the Future Hold
Times like these make us question, What does the future hold for us? If we look down the road the big question is, Where does it lead? We are warned of times like these.
2 Peter 3:3
Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
1 Timothy 4:4 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
We may feel helpless to make any real difference. There is one thing only you and I can do. Our church’s motto is, a better you makes a better world. That seems small and insignificant, but in reality that is all any of us can do as we invite God into each challenge we face. It is the most powerful response anyone can make. This is how Christians challenge the world order.
1 Peter 2:11-17
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
God doesn’t need super humans to turn the tide. He just needs each of us to determine to be a better person. That makes a better world.
It doesn’t take a person with a strong faith. It takes a person who seeks to believe as they ask for God’s help to enable them overcome their unbelief. We may be asking, if God is for us, why is all this happening to us? This may be the kind of thoughts haunting us as we take the next step into making a better world. But just take the next step. It is all we are required to do.
Gideon asked God, if you are with us, why is all this happening to us. God didn’t bother to answer his question. Instead he gave him instructions on what he should do. Gideon did what God instructed him to do regardless of his doubts. God delivered the Israelites from a massive army with Gideon and 300 men.
James 3:13-18
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
It is important that we live by these principles so when our deliverance comes from the Lord the world will take note.
1 Peter 2:12
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Peter says, live good lives so that the world will take note when God visits us. Peter is not speaking of the end of the world or the day of judgement. He is speaking of God visiting us in our troubles. We look back over the thousands of years of salvation history taking note of God’s repeated deliverance of the faithful.
God visited Sarah when she was barren.
Genesis 21:1
And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac
God visited the Hebrews when they were enslaved in Egypt.
Exodus 3:16-17
Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt
God promised he would visit those taken into Babylonian captivity with deliverance. He did what he promised.
Ezekiel 38:8
After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.
Will he not do the same for us today? God sees our troubles and he will visit us. As I get older I can look back recalling the times that no doubt God visited my life. I didn’t see God then, but I can see where he visited through hindsight. There is no doubt that he was there when I was unaware—when I questioned why things were happening to me—when I questioned his presence.
God visited Joseph in prison.
God visited Esther in the kings harem.
God never forgets us even in our failures. God visited Daniel in the Lion’s den. My favorite passages in the book of Daniel is where Daniel confesses his sins and Israel’s sins to God.
Daniel 9:4-19
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
7 “Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; 10 we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.
“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. 12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. 14 The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.
15 “Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
17 “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
What makes this my favorite passage is that God continued visiting Daniel in his troubles throughout his captivity. God revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel. God delivered Daniel’s friends from the fiery furnace. God made it possible for Daniel to interpret the handwriting on the wall. Daniel was somewhere between 60-75 years old when God delivered him from the lion’s den.
God delivered the Corinthians. Paul informs us of the kind of lives the Corinthians lived before God sanctified them as his holy people.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
God’s Faithfulness Gives Hope
The psalmist reminds himself of God’s unfathomable love. He also reminds each of us the reason to take courage in times such as these.
Psalm 36:5-12
Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart.
May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!
God visited the psalmist in these troubling times. The psalmist proclaims in the last stanza, “See how the evildoers lie fallen—thrown down, not able to rise!” He sees the demise of evildoers as they lie fallen and unable to help themselves. The psalmist writes this psalm by God’s instruction after he was delivered from his troubles. He sees clearly now how God visited him in his troubles.
It is much easier to praise God after our deliverance—after the storm. Our praise is more passionate following our deliverance. Doubt is replaced with faith and assurance and our praise takes on an exciting tone.
The Hebrews sang their loudest praise after marching through the parted waters of the Red Sea. Miriam led them in singing this psalm.
Exodus 15:1-18
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
“I will sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
he has hurled into the sea.
“The Lord is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.
Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers
are drowned in the Red Sea.
The deep waters have covered them;
they sank to the depths like a stone
Your right hand, Lord,
was majestic in power.
Your right hand, Lord,
shattered the enemy.
“In the greatness of your majesty
you threw down those who opposed you.
You unleashed your burning anger;
it consumed them like stubble.
By the blast of your nostrils
the waters piled up.
The surging waters stood up like a wall;
the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy boasted,
‘I will pursue, I will overtake them.
I will divide the spoils;
I will gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword
and my hand will destroy them.’
But you blew with your breath,
and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
in the mighty waters.
Who among the gods
is like you, Lord?
Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders?
“You stretch out your right hand,
and the earth swallows your enemies.
In your unfailing love you will lead
the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them
to your holy dwelling.
The nations will hear and tremble;
anguish will grip the people of Philistia.
The chiefs of Edom will be terrified,
the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling,
the people of Canaan will melt away;
terror and dread will fall on them.
By the power of your arm
they will be as still as a stone—
until your people pass by, Lord,
until the people you bought pass by.
You will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain of your inheritance—
the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling,
the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.
“The Lord reigns
for ever and ever.”
Conclusion:
When we get to heaven perhaps we will be singing Miriam’s psalm or surely one similar.
