February 27, 2025: Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 8
May Blessing and Peace, by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, fill your life today.
Please continue the prayers shared earlier in the week. The good news is that Sharyn's foster son, now an adult, was found after several days, did not know who he was, and had been injured, apparently again after his first trip to the hospital, where he is now. Please pray for healing, and health for this young man. Pray too for employment for all who have been recently separated from their government jobs, as well as everyone who is seeking work. There is a great deal of upheaval in their lives right now. Pray too please for the people of the Gaza Strip in Israel, as a second round of peace talks is about to take place, to stop fighting in their communities, as well as praying for the people in the West Bank where Israel is once again on the attack against those communities as well. Every nation has a right to defend itself, it does not have the right to move in any way toward genocide of whole populations of people. Please pray for unaccompanied minor immigrants who may now be sent out of the country to whatever nations might be willing to receive them. These children will be left in places where they know no one, without any family support, where they will, in all likelihood, be forced to become members of violent gangs to survive. Remember, this is our nation committing these kinds of inhumane actions. This is my seg way this morning into the content of Psalm 8.
In the content of this Psalm, we find David talking about crying infants. This kind of concern is usually, in the Old Testament, speaking of the victims of conflict, famine, and disease. Of course, we have seen this kind of reality for years in nations of Africa that have been torn by upheaval and war. Young girls are kidnapped, raped and imprisoned as slaves, young boys become warriors who kill others before the age of 10, and then of course there have certainly been periods of drought and starvation from around the world. I hope that you can see how this connects to the coming actions of our own nation. The Psalm tells us that there is a point beyond which God will not go. In other words, though you and I have been created as the pinnacle of God's creative work, the nature of sinfulness in our world, reaches a point beyond which God will not move. Such brazen sin has its limits before the Creator. We have been given the right as stewards to care for all of God's creation, and perhaps because people are the top of the order of God's creation, we often step way out of the bounds which God has made for all of his creation, thinking that it is our right to do so. These atrocities, which include the abuse of children in our own culture, and in others cultures, including now a likely move to discontinue meal programs for school age children, and seniors, may well be reaching the point where God's consequences for all of us, even those of us who come to God through the merit of Jesus Christ, who work diligently to be the people who God desires us to be, who are full participants in the line of people who have served the Lord's Truth, and helped to move God's plans for His creation forward, will also suffer the consequences of this brutality toward others, perhaps most especially those who are least able to defend themselves, who must be seen as the LORD'S treasure too. David, the likely author of this Psalm, knew these realities in the world of his time too. We must all remember that the LORD Almighty is to be honored, respected, and finally, seen as the One who is always in charge of all things. Let's face it, you and I do not know the fullness of God's plan for His Creation. We live such a short time, and see only a tiny part of What God is doing through us, and by the power of Christ's Spirit, however we must remember that we too are a part of that plan, and when anything that humans do that gets in the way of this plan, God has established a barrier beyond which it may not go. I know, that in my everyday life, I am so thankful for the forgiveness that I am given through the Spirit's faith gift in my life, because as hard I as try, I know that like the people of all times past, present, and future, God is protecting His faithful children with that barrier beyond which the brokenness of the world may not go. We must know that God's majesty and might will have its way. Do we acknowledge God as the ultimate authority, or do we continue to open the gate of our hearts to allow for permissiveness the committing of such heinous crimes and offensive acts against the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Next week we move into Psalm nine where David continues to offer praise to the one true God because that is God's due.
Thanks for sharing with me today. I know what I have spoken about today is a part of the polarization of our nation, and of many nations around the world, and that you may not see things the way I do, but I want you to know that I have worked for 40 years of serving the Gospel of Jesus Christ, called to be prophet and priest, and though Luther didn't really say it, I can do no other than stand on the power and truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In His love, Pastor Kim
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