Weighty Matters

Awake, my glory!  Awake, harp and lyre!  I will awaken the dawn.   Psalm 57:8  NASB My glory – Did you find David’s expression a bit unusual?  Is he foreshadowing Maslow or Shakespeare?  Does he mean that his glory, the importance of his own self-esteem, needs to find expression (Maslow) or is he using the phrase…

The Sleeper

Awake, my glory!  Awake, harp and lyre!  I will awaken the dawn.   Psalm 57:8  NASB Awake – So you’re hiding from your enemies.  You’ve found a nice hole in the ground and you’ve covered yourself in darkness.  You’re safe.  Then you realize, just as Elijah did, that all the threats that seeks to harm you…

Hebrew Certainty

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!  Psalm 57:7  NASB Steadfast – To put it bluntly, Greek certainty is cognitive, Hebrew certainty is volitional.  In Greek thought, certainty is a function of justified true belief.  It is the attempt to determine rational, logical conclusions…

Hebrew Justice

They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down; they dug a pit before me; they themselves have fallen into the midst of it.  Selah.  Psalm 57:6  NASB Into the midst – The fundamental principle of biblical justice is “measure for measure.”  This idea can be found throughout Scripture.  We notice…

David’s Benediction

Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above the earth.  Psalm 57:5  NASB Glory – We need to know all that we can about God’s glory.  Of course, that implies a stern warning.  Get too close and you will be burned.  The purity of His glory extinguishes life.  That itself is…

Psychological Paradigms

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!  Let your glory be over all the earth!  Psalm 57:5  ESV Be exalted – All contemporary models of psychological practice are based on a Greek paradigm of cause and effect.  Basically, they all seek to understand causes in order to alter effects.  From pharmacology to Freudian analysis, the…

The End of the World

My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts – the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.  Psalm 57:4 ESV Children of man – Who are the lions in your life?  Who are the fiery beasts?  Whose spears and arrows must you…

Pilate’s Problem

 He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me.  Selah.  God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.  Psalm 57:3 NASB Truth – “What is truth?” the man asked.  Pilate’s question is still with us.  He was a conventionalist.  Truth is what he decided was truth.  It was…

The Embodiment of God

He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me.  Selah.  God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.  Psalm 57:3 NASB Lovingkindness – By now we certainly recognize that the NASB translates hesed by the English “lovingkindness.”  And we also know that hesed can’t be captured by this…