by R. Herbert | Jul 26, 2020 | Growth
The title of this blog post is not talking about the beginning of physical life at conception or birth or the beginning of our spiritual lives at conversion. It is talking about the first two minutes of our lives as we experience them each and every day: the first two minutes after we wake in the morning.
Because we are often still sleepy and perhaps “coming to,” we tend to not even notice these first minutes after waking. For many of us the day does not start to come into focus until we are up and dressed, or perhaps have had our morning coffee. But just because we do not notice or think about the first minutes of wakefulness each day does not mean they are not important. In fact, it can easily be argued that those two first minutes of our day are the most important, spiritually, of our whole day – of our whole lives.
Let me explain. It is often said that the beginning of a journey is not as important as its ending, but it is often the beginning of the journey – the planning, preparation, and mindset – that determines if we will ever reach the end of our journey and how successful it will be. The same may be said of a military operation or any important undertaking. Each day of life is no different. Stumbling into each day we are given is akin to starting on a long journey or going on an important mission with no preparation at all. Without proper preparation we will likely miss many of the opportunities – and be oblivious to many of the dangers – we may meet as we set out on each journey or into each day.
Lack of preparation also lessens our chances for success, as C.S. Lewis so aptly stressed in Mere Christianity, by opening us up to a world of distraction:
“… the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger life come flowing in. And so on, all day.”
In these words, Lewis hit on one of the most important aspects of our spiritual growth – or lack of it: we must intentionally prepare our minds both to avoid distraction and to align ourselves with the way of God.
Speaking words of praise and thanks in the first minutes of each day is as much listening as it is speaking – we attune ourselves to hear what God wants us to hear as the day begins. The prophet Isaiah describes this very principle: “He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed” (Isaiah 50:4) – and the result of this “hearing” is clear: “The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away” (Isaiah 50:5).
So how do we accomplish this? To properly prepare for each day and to maximize its opportunities, we must put our minds in spiritual gear from the moment we wake. Some may feel this would be almost impossible for them – that they are not “morning people” or that they don’t wake up properly until they get in the shower, get to their coffee, or whatever. But the truth is no matter how slow we may be to get started each day, we can still focus our minds in the first minute or two after waking just as we can focus our eyes in that same time.
This means that if we make our first conscious thoughts each day to be ones of thanksgiving for the gift of life, of praise for the One who has given it, and of dedication to the way of serving, giving, and helping – these thoughts not only set the tone for the whole day, they serve to reset the mind’s spiritual compass and increase the likelihood that as we go into the day it will not be to spiritually stumble and wander.
But it is imperative that this “orienting” of our minds and of our spiritual selves is done immediately when we wake. We can do this before we open our eyes if we wish, or we can simply focus our minds as our eyes come into focus. But if we start the practice and stick with it, we will find it not only becomes easier, but it also becomes ingrained and soon becomes second nature: we wake up and focus spiritually without having to think about it.
This may sound like a very small way to approach spiritual growth, but it is not. One or two minutes of spiritual preparation for the day invariably means that our days go better from that perspective. Our normal morning prayers will be more focused and effective, our first – and ongoing – interactions with others in the day will better reflect the attitude God wants us to display, and we will be better primed to use the day to learn and grow, to serve and help, to the full.
Spiritual growth does not happen by itself; preparing for growth is a big part of making growth possible on a daily basis. Walking with God means focusing and making necessary course corrections throughout the day, but our success in this and in growing in grace can be tremendously enhanced each morning in the first two minutes of daily life.
by R. Herbert | Jul 12, 2020 | Difficult Scriptures, Strategic Articles
“My God … do not remain silent …Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation” (Psalm 109:1,6-13).
The so-called imprecatory psalms have a way of getting our attention. Their name comes from the verb “imprecate” which means “to invoke a curse upon,” as these compositions invoke judgement, punishment or curses on – and may even express hatred for – the individuals or groups they are directed against.
The psalms given this label include 5, 10, 17, 28, 31, 35, 40, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, 139, and 140, though some of these compositions only contain a few verses of an imprecatory nature. But the extreme nature of the curses these psalms call down seems to be at total odds with Christ’s command that we love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). How are we to understand them then, as inspired compositions within the Bible as a whole?
Problematic Explanations
Apologists have tried to explain these psalms in various ways. The most common rationale for the assumed disparity between the curses of the imprecatory psalms and Christian attitudes is that psalms of this type belong to an “Old Covenant” dispensation and that they reflect a sub-Christian ethical standard that was replaced with the teachings of Christ. But this view fails to take into account the fact that Christ himself frequently quoted the imprecatory psalms (for example, Psalm 69 – quoted in Matthew 27:24, John 2:17, John 15:25, etc.) and the apostle Paul states that certain individuals should be “accursed” in a very similar manner (Galatians 1:8-9, etc.).
Another view is that the psalmist was simply stating what would happen to the wicked rather than wishing evil on them, and that these psalms were spoken in the “indicative mood,” explaining the punishment that would occur, and not in the “imperative mood,” commanding or requesting the punishment. But that theory does not fit the wording of a number of the psalms which make clear requests to God to destroy the offending individual or enemy.
Various other approaches suggest that the curses found in these psalms were “cathartic” for emotional or ritual cleansing or for release of frustration (we might say “blowing off steam”), or even just quoting other people’s words, but these and similar explanations are all unconvincing in trying to avoid the simple reality that the imprecatory psalms seem to be in direct contradiction to an attitude of forgiveness.
Ancient Legalities
There are two much more likely possibilities for understanding the imprecatory psalms. The first centers on the fact that in a great many of these compositions, there seems to be a background of some kind of accusation. For example, in Psalm 109 the curses (quoted at the beginning of this article) are preceded with the statement:
“… people who are wicked and deceitful have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues. With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause. In return for my friendship they accuse me …” (Psalm 109:2-4 and see vs. 31).
In the same way, after reciting the curses of this psalm, the psalmist exclaims: “May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me” (Psalm 109:20).
It is known that in many cultures of the ancient Near East curses were invoked on those who acted as false witnesses. If the imprecatory psalms follow this pattern, we should see their curses as the “legal boilerplate” of the day rather than as personal expressions of hatred or vengeance. This view is an attractive one in that many of the Psalms are known to utilize the specific religious and social vocabulary of their time.
Two Sides of the Same Truth
But although this understanding of the nature of the imprecatory psalms makes very good sense, there is also another and perhaps even better explanation for them – that their curses are exactly what they seem to be and that this need not, in fact, contradict the Christian ethic of forgiveness.
Viewed this way, the curses of the Old Testament reflect the psalmist’s firm belief in both God’s justice and his intolerance for sin. Taking this view, the biblical scholar Walter Kaiser wrote:
“To be sure, the attacks which provoked these prayers were not from personal enemies; rather, they were rightfully seen as attacks against God and especially his representatives in the promised line of the Messiah” (Hard Sayings of the Old Testament, Downers Grove, IL, 1988, p. 172).
This approach certainly fits a great many of the facts we have. In Psalm 109 – the example we have used throughout this article – the psalmist stresses that the attacks on him were not from enemies, but from friends who had falsely turned on him (Psalm 109:3-5). This is a common theme that the attackers who had turned on the anointed king equally displayed wickedness in their rebellion against God:
“Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you” (Psalm 5:10).
When we attempt, as Christians, to forgivingly love the sinner while hating the sin, this is very different from the situation in which David is, under inspiration, looking at the sin from the perspective of God’s judgment. That there is nothing “unchristian ” about this is seen in the fact that Christ himself essentially did the same thing in declaring “woe” on the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:13-39) or on the inhabitants of Capernaum (Matthew 10:15), and that Paul quoted the imprecatory Psalm 69:22-23 in Romans 11:9-10 and he himself also leveled imprecation against certain individuals.
In his book Reflections on the Psalms (London and New York, 1958, p. 33), C. S. Lewis wrote: “The ferocious parts of the Psalms serve as a reminder that there is in the world such a thing as wickedness and that . . . is hateful to God.” This is perhaps the most realistic way to look at the imprecatory psalms – that they describe hatred for extreme sin and its practitioners at the level in which the two are not separated, which is completely different from the Christian approach of looking at individuals from the perspective of God’s love and willingness to forgive and thus separating the sinner from the sin.
Both approaches look at sin from God’s perspective, but one view – seen in the words of Christ and Paul as well as those of David – is based on God’s judgment, and the other (also seen in the words of Christ and Paul as well as those of David) is based on God’s mercy. As has often been said, we must not ever presume that one aspect of God’s character obliterates any other. The imprecatory psalms represent the justice of God’s ways just as the scriptural call to forgiveness represents his mercy.
* You can download a free copy of our e-book Spotlight on the Psalms – available in three versions for reading on computers or e-book readers here.
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