Psalm 70
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!
Let them be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
Let them turn back because of their shame
who say, “Aha, Aha!”
May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, November 12, is Psalm 70. Make haste, oh god to Deliver me, O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt. Let them turn back because of their shame who say, aha, aha. May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who love your salvation say evermore, God is great. But I am poor and needy. Hasten to me, Oh, God, you are my help and my deliverer. Oh, Lord, do not delay. Here ends the reading. This psalm begins with a passage that is part of our evening and morning prayer services in in mountains, the the song at the beginning goes, make haste, oh, God to deliver me. And the congregation responds, make haste to help me Oh, lord. It's a part of the chanting responses for that. The idea is that we call on God to come to us and save us. And isn't that part of the church's cry all the time? Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly make haste to save us. The Psalmist goes on, and says, Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt, let them turn back because of their shame, who say, aha, aha. David, the author of this is calling on God, to turn away the people who are his enemies. Back in the old testament, David as the anointed king of Israel, the Chosen One of God, his real life, human enemies were also the enemies of God because they were fighting against God's kingdom and God's King. We in the New Testament don't typically think about our enemies, as human beings, they are more like sin, death, and the devil. Even those human beings who fight against the church can be turned into friends, by the power of the Holy Spirit's, they hear the gospel and turn to faith in Jesus Christ. And so here, as we look at this, we say, maybe we're not supposed to put to shame people. But this is turning away the forces of sin, death and the devil. And Colossians talks about putting the sin and the demons to open mockery, when Jesus was nailed to the cross, destroying the power of death forever. And so we look at that. And we see we see that here. I think the passage where it says, let them turn back because of their shame, who say, aha, aha, it's a little confusing, like, what? What is a Ha ha, mean, right? This is kind of the mockery part again, a Ha ha, is we discover someone in their in their vulnerability, and we laugh. And that's what David is talking about. In this next piece, there's a transition. David goes from calling on God to defend him from the people who seek his life, to now turning towards the people who love God. May all who seek who rejoice and be glad, and you may those who love your salvation say evermore God is great. So it's a desire for all of God's people to turn to God and rejoice in Him in all circumstances. To say, God is great. And we know why God is great is because of his salvation. Because He sent Jesus Christ to die for us to give us life that lasts forever. Another transition happens where David says, have have everybody rejoice in you, oh, God, but me. I'm poor and needy. Come to me, Oh, God, hasten to me. You are my help and deliver, oh, Lord, do not delay. And isn't that the cry of the Christian? We who are poor and needy in our sin, who look at a world filled with brokenness and our hearts filled with disaster and guilt, and we say, Oh, God, please, come and save me. The burden of this world is so great in the pain that we face so difficult. And even when we have moments of joy and respite, we know all of that will pass away. A Tomorrow will be another difficult day and it will always come. This is why we pray for Jesus to come in return to descend from the heavens with power in mind, and to cleanse this world from all sin from death and the power of the devil. And give us joy forever. That's all we have today. See you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai