Mike's Day 6: Psalm 5

The Psalmist asks God to consider his sighing, his cries for help, which he
brings before God on a daily basis. God does not take pleasure in evil, and
abbhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful. In contrast, the Psalmist's way will be
made straight as he worships God at the temple. He reminds God that the
wicket cannot be trusted and asks God to banish them for their rebellion.
Finally he asks God's blessing on the righteous.

This is one of the dualisms in the book of Psalms: the difference between the wicked and the righteous.

The wicked are right royal schemers, manipulators, liars etc., who create intrigues in which others fall like an 'open grave'. On the other hand, the righteous (or 'the godly' Psalm 4) are not only those who do the opposite of lie, take pleasure in evil, but, primarily, take refuge in God.

So, the difference is not only moral, it is theological, that is, it relates to the character of God - Psalms is defining God as the god who hates evil and loves righteousness, and a key feature of evil is that is that it is 'rebellion' against God.

I should add, there is not a hint of smug self-satisfaction. Instead, the approach of the Psalmist is one of reverence and humility in coming to God for salvation. Jesus would have known such Psalms well.

Like Ps. 4, Ps. 5 has an opening call or invitation/request to God, and ends with a declaration of his protection and the vindication of the righteous: "For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with favour as with a shield."

Chrissy's Day 6: "Credited to him as righteousness"

Hmmm, I missed days 4 and 5. Felt guilty but hey, life happens all I can do is my best. I'm realising that as a mum, the best way to worship God is to love my girl the best I can. And thats what I've been trying to do this weekend. Phew. Exhausted.

Summary of Romans 4

The scriptures say that Abraham was made right with God because of his faith, not because of anything he did. If someone does a job, they receive wages. But when someone trusts God to do a job they can't do, they are given the gift of righteousness.

And this blessing is for the uncircumcised as well as the circumcised. In fact, Abraham received his gift before he was circumcised - the circumcision was a symbol and way of confirmaing what God had done. So that means that Abraham is the father of all those who are not circumcised. He's also the father of those who are circumcised and follow God.

Abraham didn't receive his promise from God because of anything he did. No, it was because God had made him right through faith.

The promise comes through faith so that it can be a gift to everyone.

Abraham became the father of many nations because he believed and had hope. He had faith even though he was old and his wife had been infertile for many years. He didn't waver in unbelief; rather his faith was strengthened because he believed God had the power to keep his promise.

That's why God made Abraham right with him. But this is also a promise for us! For us who believe in God who raised Jesus from death.

Reflection

I've really been struggling over the phrase 'credited to him as righteousness'. At first while writing my summary I decided to ignore it as I couldn't work out how to simplify the term. But unfortunately when I got to the end of the passage I realised that Paul repeats the phrase. In fact, I think it is the crux of the whole passage.

Bummer. I'm gonna have to try and work out what it means!

With a little help from some online dictionaries:

Righteous means 'free from guilt or sin'.
Credit means 'to consider that someone has a particular quality'.

So if Abraham was 'credited with righteousness' it means God considered him to be free from guilt or sin. That was the gift he received because he believed and trusted that God would keep his promise and make him a father.

Paul is trying to make it very clear that Abraham didn't earn his gift. It's not like wages for a job, because God did the work, not Abraham. What Abraham did was trust - even when all the evidence pointed to a negative outcome - that God could make him the 'father of many nations'.

The great thing is, and Paul really wants to point this out too, is that we can be considered free from guilt or sin (credited with righteousness) too!

What do we have to do? Nothing! Just trust God to do the work. Believe that he has the power. Believe that he raised Jesus from the dead.

I'm thinking of that worship song "It's all about you, it's all about you Jesus". It's so easy to think that salvation is all about us. "I've been saved, I've been made righteous." But that is missing the point I think. I think what we should be saying is "God saves, God is righteous".

Needs more thought I think.

Prayer

God,

It is you that saves.
It is you that is righteous.

Please help me to forget about myself and focus on you.

Amen