Psalm 143 - Today we come to Psalm 143 – a praise and a prayer – in which David calls out to the LORD on the singular basis of His divine nature (i.e., His faithfulness, His righteousness, and His unfailing love). The Psalmist cries out for God’s “mercy and relief from [the] judgment of his enemies” (verses 1-3). David realized that his enemies have driven him to shaky ground (verse 3), and he recognizes and confesses that, before God, “no one living is righteous” (verse 2). Apart from God’s own unique characteristics, no salvation could ever be obtained by anyone. David’s enemies have “pursued him, crushed him, and made him to dwell in darkness” (verse 3), but David has placed “his trust in the LORD” (verse 8). David trusts in the One Who, “for the sake of His name, His faithfulness, His righteousness, His unfailing love, and His promises, rescues and preserves the life of His servants” (verses 2-12). When “our spirits fail” and we find ourselves “in trouble” – on shaky ground – we need to do exactly what David did; we need to “cry out” to the LORD for “His mercy and relief.” God desires to deliver us from our troubles and to lift up our spirits. As the Creator of all life, God wants “to preserve our lives” (verse 11) and “lead us to level ground" (verse 10).
Malachi 1:1-2:16 - We come today to our readings in Malachi – (cf., 1:1-2:16) – the last book of the Old Testament. Goodness! We’ve had quite a journey this past year, haven’t we? Here in this section, we see God’s exhortation to the people of Israel to recognize His unfailing love for them and to remember their stubborn contempt for His love and His laws. Through Malachi, God reminds Israel of Esau – someone from whose example – the Israelites should have learned by now. Esau was faithless and “godless” (cf., Hebrews 12:16-17), and he lived his entire life on shaky ground. The exile is now over and the Israelites are back in their land, yet – after all that God had done historically for them – the people have become guilty in their continuance of the same sins as Esau – contempt, complacency, pride, scorn, and breaking God’s covenant. God tells the people – undeniably – “I have loved you” (verse 2), but we notice Israel’s audacious and arrogant response – reminiscent of Esau – “How have you loved us?” (verse 2). This statement is so undeniably absurd, and God is so offended by it, that we don’t wonder about His response: “Why don’t you just close the temple doors?” (verse 10). No nation has ever enjoyed so much of the Lord’s favor while standing on such shaky and dangerous ground.
Revelation 6 - We come to Revelation 6, where we see the “Lamb opens” six of the seven seals. Here, as the first four seals are opened, we see the respective emergence of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse and the general events that relate to their appearing – conquest, war, economic disaster, and death in the form of sword, famine, and plague. These events do not represent a pleasant future for unregenerate man. The fifth seal is associated with the saints who have previously been martyred for Christ and their call for justice – which the Lord will mete out “after a little longer” (verse 11) – in His proper time. The sixth seal relates to cataclysmic disasters in both the heavens and the earth. These disasters will fundamentally alter everything naturally recognizable to human beings. Until now, God has been merciful toward man’s sinful disposition, but the full unleashing of God’s wrath, as expressed through these initial tribulation seals, will come fast and furious – to such an extent – that people will be overcome by them and pray “to the mountains and the rocks to fall on them and hide them from God’s face” (verse 16). Sin is so deeply rooted in human nature that, under God’s direct judgment, mankind – like Adam and Eve – will still run and hide from God (cf., Genesis 3:8) rather than receive His tender loving forgiveness. Talk about standing on shaky ground!
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