Saints, Sinners, Sufferers: A Paradigm for Applying the Bible
"I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.
Save me, O LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
What will he do to you, and what more besides, O deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom tree.
Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war."
Ps. 120
Saints, sinners, and sufferers--so are we. Michael Emlet in his book Cross Talk (1) says that God addresses us through the Bible in these three roles. Thus, he offers a paradigm for reading and applying the Bible. After having done the proper inductive steps of "What does this say?" and then "What does this mean?" we move to application, and here looking at the text and what it says to saints, sinners, and sufferers can be helpful.
The psalm strikes us most as addressed to sufferers--distress, save me, punish, woe... There is "not a glad note in the whole of Psalm 120" (2). It is a prayer psalm or an individual lament (3). The psalmist's distress is apparently connected to the lying lips, deceitful tongues, and his dispersion among those who hate peace. "Kedar" and "Meshech" are Gentile nations, not extraordinarily hostile to Israel, and distant from each other. As such, they represent the various nations to which Israel is living in dispersion, sojourners and exiles.
Thus, the note of suffering rings predominate. It chimes with those who have been gossiped against, around whom rumors congregate like vultures. It echoes with the subtle, unspoken mistrust among people, that unease that is not voiced but hangs. It goes right to the war of the soul-crushing betrayal and slander. To these people it speaks, pointing us to not respond with bitter words, but to the Lord our God. It is a prayer to him, asking him to bring vengeance.
Conversely, it speaks to the sinners, to those who are of lying lips and deceitful tongues, reminding them that there will be judgment. For "The LORD detests lying lips" (Prov. 12:22; cf. Prov. 6:17). The arrows of the warrior are brought against the foes who love war themselves.
Finally, it speaks to saints in various ways. It reminds us that we can still cry out to the Lord while we live in exile as his people. Even though we live as sojourners in this world, among the ungodly, among those who persecute us and slander our Lord, we can still cry out to him and he still hears us. It reminds us of the hope that he will bring justice eventually.
It also reminds saints that we are to be people of peace. Here, Goldingay notes a twist (4). The psalmist's cry that the Lord punishes them with sharp arrows and burning coals does not sound like a heart that is for peace. The psalmist who says he loves peace is evoking images of war against his foes. It can open a door into our own saint-sinner-sufferer's hearts. When we are in suffering from the result of someone else's sin, we can in turn sin in return. Or we can store up resentment and bitterness, brooding war in our hearts. Rather than turning war on our foes, we need to war against the flesh that still lurks in our hearts. We need to be delivered from our own flesh-lunge for war. We need to follow our Divine-Warrior, the Prince of Peace who calls us to cut out all bitter roots and to turn our cheeks and live in peace with others as much as possible (Isa. 9:6; Eph.2:14; Heb. 12:15; Mat. 5:39; Rom. 12:18). It is not easy.
No, it is a war against our own flesh to live in that kind of peace among a people who call for war. How is it possible? By turning to the one who is peace. As the psalmist turned to God, so we turn to God--a God who has revealed even more of himself in his Son, Jesus of Nazareth. The Son who was slandered, gossiped, had a ruined reputation, who was the victim of deceitful lips and lying tongues, and bore it for us. He has become our peace (Eph. 2:14) in a supernatural way and now gives us all we need to live in accordance with his commands (2 Pet. 1:3-4).
So, Christ is our deliverer, the man of peace who makes us people of peace. He is the ultimate fulfillment of this psalm--the one who truly suffered the distress of lying lips in a different world; the one who will bring just judgment upon the sinners but in the meantime calls them to know him, The Truth; and he is the saint who was the perfect man of peace among those who cried for war. Praise be to Christ, our peace.
NOTES
(1) Michael R. Emlet, Cross Talk: Where Life and Scripture Meet (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2009).
(2) Carl Armerding, Psalms in a Minor Key (Chicago: Moody Press, 1973), 134.
(3) John E. Goldingay, Psalms Volume 3: Psalms 89-150, Baker Commentary on Wisdom and Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic), 451-452. Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101-150, Word Biblical Commentary series (Waco: Word Books, 1983), 147-148.
(4) Goldingay, Psalms 89-150.
Save me, O LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
What will he do to you, and what more besides, O deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom tree.
Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war."
Ps. 120
Saints, sinners, and sufferers--so are we. Michael Emlet in his book Cross Talk (1) says that God addresses us through the Bible in these three roles. Thus, he offers a paradigm for reading and applying the Bible. After having done the proper inductive steps of "What does this say?" and then "What does this mean?" we move to application, and here looking at the text and what it says to saints, sinners, and sufferers can be helpful.
The psalm strikes us most as addressed to sufferers--distress, save me, punish, woe... There is "not a glad note in the whole of Psalm 120" (2). It is a prayer psalm or an individual lament (3). The psalmist's distress is apparently connected to the lying lips, deceitful tongues, and his dispersion among those who hate peace. "Kedar" and "Meshech" are Gentile nations, not extraordinarily hostile to Israel, and distant from each other. As such, they represent the various nations to which Israel is living in dispersion, sojourners and exiles.
Thus, the note of suffering rings predominate. It chimes with those who have been gossiped against, around whom rumors congregate like vultures. It echoes with the subtle, unspoken mistrust among people, that unease that is not voiced but hangs. It goes right to the war of the soul-crushing betrayal and slander. To these people it speaks, pointing us to not respond with bitter words, but to the Lord our God. It is a prayer to him, asking him to bring vengeance.
Conversely, it speaks to the sinners, to those who are of lying lips and deceitful tongues, reminding them that there will be judgment. For "The LORD detests lying lips" (Prov. 12:22; cf. Prov. 6:17). The arrows of the warrior are brought against the foes who love war themselves.
Finally, it speaks to saints in various ways. It reminds us that we can still cry out to the Lord while we live in exile as his people. Even though we live as sojourners in this world, among the ungodly, among those who persecute us and slander our Lord, we can still cry out to him and he still hears us. It reminds us of the hope that he will bring justice eventually.
It also reminds saints that we are to be people of peace. Here, Goldingay notes a twist (4). The psalmist's cry that the Lord punishes them with sharp arrows and burning coals does not sound like a heart that is for peace. The psalmist who says he loves peace is evoking images of war against his foes. It can open a door into our own saint-sinner-sufferer's hearts. When we are in suffering from the result of someone else's sin, we can in turn sin in return. Or we can store up resentment and bitterness, brooding war in our hearts. Rather than turning war on our foes, we need to war against the flesh that still lurks in our hearts. We need to be delivered from our own flesh-lunge for war. We need to follow our Divine-Warrior, the Prince of Peace who calls us to cut out all bitter roots and to turn our cheeks and live in peace with others as much as possible (Isa. 9:6; Eph.2:14; Heb. 12:15; Mat. 5:39; Rom. 12:18). It is not easy.
No, it is a war against our own flesh to live in that kind of peace among a people who call for war. How is it possible? By turning to the one who is peace. As the psalmist turned to God, so we turn to God--a God who has revealed even more of himself in his Son, Jesus of Nazareth. The Son who was slandered, gossiped, had a ruined reputation, who was the victim of deceitful lips and lying tongues, and bore it for us. He has become our peace (Eph. 2:14) in a supernatural way and now gives us all we need to live in accordance with his commands (2 Pet. 1:3-4).
So, Christ is our deliverer, the man of peace who makes us people of peace. He is the ultimate fulfillment of this psalm--the one who truly suffered the distress of lying lips in a different world; the one who will bring just judgment upon the sinners but in the meantime calls them to know him, The Truth; and he is the saint who was the perfect man of peace among those who cried for war. Praise be to Christ, our peace.
NOTES
(1) Michael R. Emlet, Cross Talk: Where Life and Scripture Meet (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2009).
(2) Carl Armerding, Psalms in a Minor Key (Chicago: Moody Press, 1973), 134.
(3) John E. Goldingay, Psalms Volume 3: Psalms 89-150, Baker Commentary on Wisdom and Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic), 451-452. Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101-150, Word Biblical Commentary series (Waco: Word Books, 1983), 147-148.
(4) Goldingay, Psalms 89-150.
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