In Psalm 9, David is praising God for protecting his people and overcoming his enemies. After Christ, however, we find that we are often our own enemies. So as I read, the final verse struck me in my own context. The verse reads like this:

“Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail;
   let the nations be judged before you!
Put them in fear, O LORD!
   Let the nations know that they are but men! “

We live in a country of unprecedented privilege. Unprecedented resources. Unprecedented safety. And even us in the church struggle to remember that God is behind this. Not government, not family, not self—but God.

So, in my own mind, David’s prayer reads more like this.

“Arise, O LORD! Let us not prevail ourselves;
   thank you that Christ has taken the wrath of your judgment for me!
Put fear in me, O LORD!
  Let me know that I am but a man, and you are my God!”

In Tim Keller’s book Counterfeit Gods he talks about this concept of ‘Apocalyptic Love’. A concept that says once mankind lost faith in God and thus, lost any ultimate meaning, they sought to create that meaning by intensifying the meaning of romantic love. The idea that love is the absolute end all of everything—Apocalyptic love.

That term, for me, resonates. Although perhaps for slightly different reasons.

I’ve often listened to love songs and thought to myself, “I wish love really were like that”. In music and theater, romantic love is elevated to these impossible heights. To a place which I’m sure would be a profound experience. But, in truth, there is no experience between humans quite like that.

It seems like the grand romantic view of love is in part responsible for the huge number of divorces. As Keller puts it:

“We maintain the fantasy that if we find our one true soul mate, everything wrong with us will be healed. But when our expectations and hopes reach that magnitude… ‘the love object [becomes] god’. No lover, no human being, is qualified for that role. No one can live up to that. The inevitable result is bitter disillusionment.”

Bitter disillusionment. That’s what we all finally experience when we think we’ve found that apocalyptic love. We’re left disappointed, disillusioned and divorced.

The only place to find true apocalyptic love is in the Lord, in the proven and reliable love of Christ.

Abraham had this unfortunate habit of telling people that Sarah was his sister, not his wife. Twice in scripture he allows the people of the land that he is dwelling in to believe this. Because of Sarah’s beauty, both times a ruler took Sarah as his wife and the wrath of God began to fall on that leader and nation.

In this case, it was Abimelech, the king of Geber. But listen to what happens. Genesis 20:4-6:

[Abimelech] said, "Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this." 6Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.

Abimelech did something wicked in ignorance. Honest ignorance—and God took note. He kept Abimelech from consummating their marriage and it was merciful. Matthew-Henry says it well.

If our consciences witness, that, however we may have been cheated into a snare, we have not knowingly sinned against God, it will be our rejoicing in the day of evil. It is matter of comfort to those who are honest, that God knows their honesty, and will acknowledge it. It is a great mercy to be hindered from committing sin; of this God must have the glory.

God was merciful on Abimelech when his wrong doing really was an honest mistake. I wonder, why does the church have so much difficulty extending that kind of mercy?

Before God destroyed Sodom, he got Lot out of there. But just read how that actually went down:

As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city." But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

Lot was given ample warning to get out of the city. But he lingered. He didn’t move quickly enough on his own. So, the angels God sent to do the deed ‘seized’ Lot and they brought them out of harms immediate way.

That is a beautiful picture of God’s grace and patience with his people.

This year, my family is having Thanksgiving dinner at our sister’s new house. My sister (who is now pregnant with her second child) and her husband moved into the house a few months ago and this Thanksgiving dinner is the first family even they’re hosting.

To make things easier, we’re all brining a different portion of the meal. The picture you see at the top here, is my contribution—two apple pies. Having made a third for general eating, I can say with confidence, these pies are amazing.

So, happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy your time with family if you have it. And, on a more serious note, Psalm 97:12:

“Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous,and give thanks to his holy name!”

Psalm 4:8:

“In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
   for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

Matthew-Henry writes:

“It is said of the husbandman, that having cast his seed into the ground, he sleeps and riseth day and night, and the seed springs and grows he knoweth not how. Mark 4:26,27. So a good man having by faith and prayer cast his care upon God, he resteth night and day, and is very easy, leaving it to his God to perform all things for him according to his holy will.”

Jesus says:

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Anxiety and worry are an insult to rationality in the Christian’s mind; and to God in himself. Yet here many of us are, almost constantly hurling insults.

Discussing with a friend today how difficult it is to understand how Christians can continue to struggle in sin, he used an analogy which I found insightful.

Imagine there is a man in a local restaurant working as a dishwasher. It’s the job he’s done most of his life. He didn’t go to school, didn’t get married, didn’t do any of that. Unskilled, manual labor is pretty much all he’s known. One day, a well dressed man shows up at the restaurant and informs the man that he is actually the long lost brother of the king. And, the king wants him to come and join his royal court. Ecstatic, the man accepts the offer and moves into the palace with the king and the rest of the royal family. But, life as a noble is absolutely foreign to the man. Though he is of noble blood, he struggles to act like it.

Moving from spiritual deadness into spiritual life isn’t altogether different. Being a noble in the king’s court, as my friend pointed out, isn’t merely a title—it’s an identity. And, while we have a tendency to see our faith as title (i.e., now I’m a ‘Christian’) it is so much more than that. It’s an identity that runs as deep, deeper, than the very blood in our veins.

Like the dishwasher turned noble, we’ve spent a lifetime learning to live in one specific way. Now that we’re in the King’s palace and our true identity in Him is revealed, the identity of a man who doesn’t really exist persists.

Once the dishwasher fully accepts his real identity, his behavior will change. Christians have more than a title. We have a brand new identity in Christ. As we become more secure in that identity, the old behavior will begin to fade into memory and we’ll begin to act like members of the royal family we belong to.