Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
Psalm 71:2.
Our text makes three main statements, highlighting three possible ways or combination of ways by which God might save a person:
There are those that say that it doesn’t matter how a woman dresses, because bad men will still lust after a woman after all; that the problem is not the look out there but the heart of the looker. Such philosophies are generally callous excuses for an obstinate lifestyle. That a bad heart will usually see bad things out there, even in the good, is only partly true. Some that thus defend their bareness often insist on their right to a freedom of attire, mindless of whom they wrong with their stubborn rights.
The common conception of faith is that it is an inner power by which we might obtain outer benefits, an intangible force for getting tangible things, a spiritual key to material gains. To that extent, faith is often proclaimed as a means of getting something. Such perspectives are quick to point to such verses in Hebrews 11 as state, for example, how “by faith” there were escapes from the danger of lions and fires, how deadly weapons became powerless against the faith-full, how “women received their dead raised to life again” (Hebrews 11:33-35). Nevertheless, that is merely one side to the total truth about faith in that chapter.
According to the prophet Ezekiel, famine is a reproach, anytime, anywhere. It is no honour to have no food when you are hungry, very hungry. It is tough to have to ask ‘help’ to catch a bus to the next stop. It is reproachful to watch your children cry for food and seem to mock your lack. It is worse to have to beg the heathen for bread, especially if you had known abundance. But the Lord says now to you, “And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen” (Ezekiel 36:30). Amen.
Have you ever come upon beauty products, especially perfumes, with very unusual names such as Seduction, Lust, Passion, Scandal, Savage, Black Night, Vampire, Cobra, and so on? Some of them with the creepy design of skulls, snakes, and such other eerie stuff? I have, and I generally refrain from them, because I judge that they belong to the opposite side of my spirituality. Don’t ask about my experience. That will be an arresting story for another day.
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Psalm 119:130.
Not everything heard enters; only what enters gives light. Yet not everything that enters gives light; only the word of God that enters does (Matthew 13:19; Luke 8:12). Everything heard is not the word of God, no matter how much like it it might seem. That is the irony of so much content but little light.
God’s word that enters “giveth light.” The Hebrew word for light there is ‘owr, which not only means light but also to shine and to set on fire. In other words, the residency of His word not only illuminates, it also distinguishes the blazing carrier visibly. This fire not only illuminates a space and distinguishes the self, it also attracts amazement and dispels predators (Exodus 3:2-5; Acts 28:5). “…He LED them with a cloud, and all the night with a LIGHT of FIRE” (Psalm 78:14).
4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep…
Joel 1:4-5.
A pattern of successive calamities is often indicative of a manipulating mystic finger. When one disaster strangely follows another like a mischievous Olympic relay, we might be watching much more than mere coincidences. Jesus was sorry not only for those with an ear adamantly deaf to the prophetic voice but also for those with hearts and eyes naïvely blind to prophetic signs (Matthew 16:2-3). In other words, signs speak no less than voices – for those who can ‘hear,’ and the element of the prophetic could be as much in the voluminous voice of the fiery Elijah as in the mellowed tunes of Solomon the sage. Sometimes, as redemptive pointers (for those that can discern), nature signs a signature in the landscape and in the patterns of life.
The missions of God are sometimes not on carriages of gold. Not always might a divine ride seem pleasant. Sometimes the safest way might be through the dusty path; and ‘destination’ is not the same for everyone even on the same road. If we should judge divine approval solely by the pleasures of the ride we could miss some rides to Paradise. Jonah rode in the slimy belly of an underwater ‘machine’ that God had sent to transport him to Nineveh. It was no pleasant ride. He called it an “affliction,” and it made him cry (Jonah 2:2), yet it took him to Nineveh where destiny was forever to announce his name. It is true, though, that if he had not missed his first call, if he had not chosen first to flee, he might have had a better ride on a calmer sea than under it in the belly of a fish.
Some prominent prophecies could be immediately annoying, being clearly at odds with the people and place to which they seem directed. It therefore happens that the proclaimers of such prophecies get readily tagged as false or fake prophets because what they predicted didn’t come to pass as generally expected.
Sadly, sometimes, the error in such cases is not in the prophet but in the hearers who had assumed an interpretation because they felt sure that the prophecy was clearly understood. A long time ago, a prophet called Zephaniah was there, as the following scripture would reveal:
There is no proper Christian who has never prayed for divine direction, because we always want to make the right choice – in marriage, career, housing, business, travels, etc. We ask God for guidance because we do not know the best way. Unfortunately, we frequently miss our way because we often fail to heed provided landmarks. Sometimes the misses are so painful that they leave us with the nagging sadness as of a highly favoured team that missed a decisive penalty in the dying seconds of a very crucial game.
When one guides another, it is traditional to give directions with recognizable indications, so that the other can tell where they have reached when they see those indications or landmarks. For example, you might say to a stranger seeking direction, “To get to Mr Mark’s house, take the second street left, where you find a tall mango tree. Walk about a minute down that street to the Catholic cathedral to your right, then take the road opposite it. Walk down two minutes until you get to the tall telecommunication mast. The green-roof bungalow next to it is his house.” The landmarks are: second street left, tall mango tree, Catholic cathedral, telecommunication mast, green-roof bungalow. If any of those landmarks should be missing at the indicated place, there is bound to be confusion, delay, frustration, or even a termination of the trip. It is one thing to obey instructions and walk in a given direction, it is another to find the landmarks.
