Justified By Grace Through Faith

“I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” ~Galatians 2:21 (NRSV).

What is quite basic to understand is still hard to live. So many of us are still trapped by extrinsic requirements; otherwise, the law—or the legalistic entrapment of doing rather than being.

We know that there is nothing we can add to our salvation; that we received this through no earning of it on our own. Yet, to placate ourselves, and those about us—and perhaps to satisfy some weird understanding of God to the contrary—we do and do and do, and struggle to just be.

There’s nothing wrong with doing if there’s a God-infused purpose about it. We do the doing because we love to do it, we need to do it, because we are compelled to do it from within us.

Paul’s Fight To Get Through To The Galatians

The purpose of Paul’s epistle to the Galatians is centralised in bringing them around to the correct understanding of grace (versus the law)—the power of God for the saving of entire humanity, in the name of Christ Jesus, through faith, being that the law requires no faith.

We can only please God by our faith (Hebrews 11:6).

Following the legalistic trail is fraught not only with frustration but it infuriates God; it’s as if we look at the work of the cross and reject it for our own proud strength. It’s the most foolish thing anyone can do, for our proud strength is actually real weakness; an eternal blight against us.

Paul’s biggest hurdle, with the Galatians, and others, was the constant refutation of the gospel of grace for a powerless ‘gospel’ of obedience to the law. But if we follow it through it’s not only the Galatians that have problems with legalism; we, too, struggle with this striving determination which undermines grace, making it inaccessible to us in our moments. It’s our human way.

Paul’s fight is against the human default; that is, our own inadequacies compel us to want to add something to redeem an earned salvation. We find it hard to accept grace.

What Did Christ Die for?

How we interact with life—in grace or via legalistic ways—directly speaks for what we presently believe regarding Christ’s eternal sacrifice.

Did this friend of ours, the Lord Jesus Christ, in fact die for our sins—wholly, comprehensively—or was it insufficient, in our own estimation, for the once-for-all redemption of our lives?

Our actions speak louder than our thoughts or words on the subject.

Our actions are the test. These attest to our belief. We respond, in faith, to the message of the gospel or we continue to please ourselves. For to live in faith is to surrender the flesh to the Spirit, over and over again, every day, growing each day for the rest of our lives into Christ.

It’s over to us. The message to the Galatians is also a message to us. Where, in fact, do we need to reject the legalism in our lives, for the substance of faith which proves grace?

Where do we need to ‘be still and know God’ in place of doing for the sake of doing?

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Proverbs 8 – Wisdom’s Call and Self-Portrait

“Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?” ~Proverbs 8:1 (NRSV).

As Christians we’re apt to think of the greatest gift of God is the re-birth in Christ. But perhaps God’s greatest, more fundamental gift is the thing that underpins salvation—(being that) Jesus is Wisdom, as is the Godhead.

We find it strange to conjure thought of something coming from where Wisdom comes from; always there, eternally. As God was, is and is to come... so was, is and will be, Wisdom.

Personification – “Wisdom”

One thing we need to continue to recognise within Proverbs is how Wisdom is personified as a woman, and is hence capitalised: Wisdom.

There are important reasons for this—besides the choice of gender—for Wisdom becomes more real to us, like God, when it’s known as a person would be known, with the possibility to attach to it human qualities for our further comprehension. This enriches the character of Wisdom for us.

Reminiscences of Proverbs 1:20-33

Wisdom makes another speech here, calling out to all, including the simple, and the foolish—to all.

We are hearing Wisdom speak perhaps, as the case would have it, with a sense of déjà vu. There is an echo of sense that fills our minds; we’ve heard this before. Of course, there’s good reason for this. We all need messages from Wisdom to ring continually through our minds, filtering in and through our consciousness such that we might grow beyond staying fixed in our plateaus of spiritual convenience.

Wisdom Calling – Proverbs 8:1-11

The truth is God’s calling to us in nothing more certainly than through Wisdom; the agency of life, the Lord cloaked in the manifestation of life, cause and effect, virtue, righteousness, justice and fairness.

Wisdom calls to the whole of God’s creation, to humankind in its totality.

It commands us to listen, for we’re quick to run the way away from Wisdom in our transitory folly. Jesus called it Wisdom, that thing that would be known wise of its children i.e. what comes after (Matthew 11:19). This is the adjudication of both wisdom and folly—how things turn out. Wisdom is calling us to good things as they will turn out and end up, via a process that is also blessed in love, good sense and truth.

The Character of Wisdom – How She is Known

Verses 12-21 tell us a lot of what Wisdom actually looks like, how she interacts and what she values.

Wisdom dwells in and possesses characteristics such as prudence, knowledge and discretion. These are sharply against pride, arrogance and perverted speech. They embrace the much-cherished fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7).

She is the modus operandi of kings, rulers and nobles—they rule righteously with Wisdom. Anything less is a blight on a godless leadership which rules over a cursed people. A sovereign power purposed in the vestiges of Wisdom knows the value of wisdom is of more worth than all the world’s silver and gold.

Personal Benefits

Most applicably, Wisdom blesses the person who loves her, endowing them with much wealth that money cannot buy, filling their treasuries (verse 21).

Proverbs 8:22-36 – Wisdom’s Self-Portrait and Finding Life

“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago.” ~Proverbs 8:22 (NRSV)

Proverbs chapter 8 is the jewel in the crown of Proverbs’ Wisdom. We could not get thirty-six more insightful verses of Scripture in one delineated section regarding the character of Wisdom.

Here Wisdom’s case is made all the more compelling due to the place she holds with God. Not before God, but there from the beginning she has been.

In the Beginning

Without getting overly analytical, it’s safe to say that Wisdom was there even before creation. She was the first of the Lord’s works.

Verses 22-31 take us faithfully back to the creation accounts of Genesis 1 and 2 and suggest, “There was I [Wisdom],” an eye witness to the splendour of that Divine set of feats.

Now that the credibility of Wisdom is firmly established we can safely go on and venture with her into the meaning of verses 32-36: the penultimate speech of Wisdom in Proverbs’ introductory section.

Finding Life

Blessed, Proverbs says, is the person finding Wisdom:

“For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord...” ~Proverbs 8:35 (NRSV).

This verse is remarkably similar to a later proverb (18:22), for finding Wisdom is like finding a good partner—a faithful wife for an honest man, but no less the other way around.

Finding life is about establishing a life that works.

How can ‘finding life’ end up being a life that doesn’t work—that doesn’t truthfully serve us as much as we serve it?

No, God has more in mind for us, and Wisdom is the way. As we wait daily at God’s gate, watching beside his door, we listen to the nuances of Wisdom as they eek their way out. Wisdom is peace for us and every good way.

Wisdom and Truth

Finally, Wisdom is most abundantly about finding the truth. Indeed, Wisdom and truth should not be seen as separates but as twin siblings, in allegiance for each other in highly complementary ways.

Truth sets aside the right way with a real sense of decisiveness. Truth and Wisdom, then, collude to fuel assertiveness via faith, so that the power of the Spirit is made known in us, and through us by our acts and interactions.

This could otherwise be called a meld of competence and confidence: pure dynamism.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

This article is an excerpt from my book, Grow In GOD. All author proceeds from this book go to Compassion Australia to help some of the world’s neediest children and families.

The Lordship of Jesus in Acts

The Apostle Peter speaking: “You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.” ~Acts 10:36 (NRSV).

There is a heresy that has enjoyed a certain undercurrent-of-hearing throughout the ages, ever since Jesus’ earthly life.

It is known most famously in Ebionism and Arianism. These are similar theologies espousing that—against clear Scriptural witness—Jesus is not, or has not been made, God. Arianism—a more sophisticated and well-thought-out version of the heresy—is known in movements like Jehovah’s Witnesses. These heretics reject the full deity of Christ.

Of course, like huge portions of the New Testament, the book of Acts disagrees.

In Jewish tradition, the term “Lord” (Greek: kurios)—as used extensively in Acts, as well as most other books in the Bible—is used (in Acts) interchangeably to describe both the Father and the Son, Jesus.

It is clear that at times the term the “Lord” is used to describe the Father, whereas other times it’s used to describe Jesus—numerous times it describes God: the Father or Jesus or Father/Son/Holy Spirit; for these purposes, one and essentially the same.

Interestingly enough, compared with other books in the New Testament, Acts is quietly inconspicuous on the subject of Jesus’ deity—his oneness with the Father (and the Holy Spirit) in the Godhead—apart from the interchanging of the term “Lord.” But it is clear that the earliest Jewish tradition in the use of the word kurios—referring specifically to be Septuagint (LXX) which is the Greek version of the Old Testament—dates well before Jesus, referring to “Jehovah” and “Adonai” as “Lord.”

Besides this, like other New Testament books, Acts links Jesus to Old Testament references for “Lord” directly. The verdict, biblically at least, is beyond question.

An Urgent Warning

As Christians we need to be awake to the heresies of millennia previous; these seem to be alive and ‘well’ even today.

As evangelical Christians we believe in the inerrancy of the Bible—that “the Bible is fully truthful in all of its teachings.” This, of course, is something we believe by faith because we take God at his Word, because that is what the Bible requires. Certainly not less, we’ve experienced salvation—a salvation making the Bible true in our experience.

If we are Bible-believing Christians, we will read with clarity; it is clear in Acts that both Apostles, Paul and Peter, preached Jesus as Lord, and therefore God.

We can all too easily begin to hear out those aggressive voices speaking charismatic and perhaps alluring theologies. We, however, are always best advised to plunge urgently back into our Bibles. There we will find the truth.

Let us not elevate those committed to false teaching; those who might dissuade us from hearing aright—the message of salvation for all. Only in Jesus can we be saved.

Let us “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

General Reference: Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology: Second Edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker books, 2004), pp. 707-08, 711-12. Erickson, here, cites Acts 1:24; 2:47; 8:39; 9:31; 11:21; 13:10-12; 16:14; 20:19; 21:14.

Trusting a God That Never Tires

An inescapable thread is manifest in all of life—the Law of God as it unfolds. The casually deliberate observer takes no umbrage at the disposal of such events. They, instead, marvel at the intense and random beauty of a force so pervasive it commands worship.

As notice is taken of the sense—God working—in the ‘saving’ of nobody in particular—sight is seen of the Majesty above creation; the Being controlling it, harmonising it.

This is a splendiferous thing; most probably beyond our deliberate insight; and a thing so obvious it hides in its inevitability.

Accepting the Incomprehensibility of God

How do we describe God?

How do we, not less, comprehend this sole Deity—a force beyond reckoning? The point is we cannot. God proves the capacity for life and tranquillity at the acceptance of certain inalienable truths.

At peace with God, in truth, we have every spiritual thing we are able to grasp. But when the moment comes to grasp greedily, all of the good vanishes. God cannot be “got”.

Instead, we cast our minds to heaven, as we conclude that God works infinitely, eternally—beyond our wishes and prayers.

God Working for Us – In Acceptance

So, it may be ruminated of: just how does God work and, specifically, for us?

Well, it’s first to be based in the word acceptance. As God is unfathomable—to the study of holy antiquity—so is the mode of acceptance in the holy and heavenly realms. Acceptance is otherwise humility and certainly faith. It’s also, at the inner core, maturity. And how is acceptance to make its mark in us?

It’s in the practice of disconnecting from the world, and disentangling ourselves from the grip of the flesh-greed cling—that manner of being that has us acquiring, even beyond sense.

Instead, we connect with eternal life—those things in the here and now that persist despite us. We agree with the forward flowing force of life itself; to the laws of grace permitting us freedom.

We plan but we do not become inflexible to those plans. We also reflect but we don’t get lost in reflection.

We understand our finite place in the quanta of infinity—and we accept the chalice that’s our life, to live in harmony with this flow.

God Working Always

Before Jesus—the Man—God was working. Since Jesus, and eternally, God works. And the Son always was, is, and always will be—working, as part of the Godhead.

We know now how to live.

Not under some rock of captivity to a law; but in appreciation—all the same—of the irrefutable Law of the God Most High; a Law captivating love.

There is a sharp, yet discreet, difference. One law has us home to indifference, pain, confusion, anger, and a chaotic certitude. The other Law relieves us of these in an instant as we’re called higher in our conscious mind—God is working, just as God has been working, and God will always work.

God never tires.

Humble appreciation of this matter will enlighten and ignite a sense of wondrous acceptance which will join any mood of pleasure or pain that remits through us. These matters are not hard to trust, for we see them operate more and more as we note them in acceptance.

Trusting enough to let go of the gasps and grasps we interminably have, and trusting enough to hold on when it matters; that’s the key.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Psalm 7 – Establish the Righteous, O God

“O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous, you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God.” ~Psalm 7:9 (NRSV).

Dealing with those against us is more a matter of life than we’d hope to acknowledge.

Our lives are riddled with conflict at times; much of this can be unspoken, but it’s felt all the same. The relationships we have with people and our families, those in our workplaces, and even those in our churches—each of these is subject to dissonance between disparate minds; the capacity to be at odds.

As Christians we tend to overplay the harmony in our relationships, whilst we underplay the conflict; yet, we cannot pretend it doesn’t occur. David—the psalmist—never minces words with God; he is honest in his lament, and so ought we to be.

Two Halves and a Hinge

There are two neat eight-verse halves (verses 1-8 and 10-17) to this psalm, hinged by verse 9—the one profiled above. The first half of the psalm focuses more on David’s immediate psychological position; the impacts on his mind regarding matters of his pursuit by the “enemy.”

David’s Personal Predicament

David, as we do all, expects here for the Lord to come through for him. We all pray for justice, especially when we are undone by the injustices that often plague us.

The mood of God’s servant, here, is judicial. David goes before God, his Legal Counsel, Jury and Judge. He asks God in verses 3-5, “if there is wrong in my hands... then let the enemy pursue and overtake me.”

We do well if we can be that honest before God; where we can honestly say, “your will be done, Lord, not mine.”

Confidence in the Nature of God

Verses 6-9 feature an ebbing, flowing mood in the psalmist. He seeks to transition from the personal lament onto a more assured frame of heart; the calling home to the facets of God’s very saving nature.

But the problem is—as we all too well know—actually adjusting and aligning our moods to the preferred is not always as easy as it seems. We backslide into complaint when we’re really so over it already. Our resolve to ‘be positive’ weakens. We want to see things positively, but alas we cannot hide what is really going on within us.

But eventually we reach the place David reaches.

From verse 10 we see David recalling the nature of God to redeem the faithful servant in God’s time. He sees God judging the wicked and unpeeling justice as only the Lord can.

These facts give David renewed confidence.

Contemporary Reflections

We, too, need our confidence to be renewed; to be reminded that the Lord will establish righteousness. It is God’s nature to do this, beyond our will and the will of mortal humankind.

Let us have confidence that all things will turn out justly in the end.

We must hope to be those people known as righteous; those to be established. God will make solid ground as the foundation for those who remain morally right, just, and fair.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Overcoming the Trinity of Torment

“... for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” ~1 John 5:4-5 (NRSV).

Most Christians who’ve been around a while know about this Trinity of Torment: the living flesh, the world, Satan. Never synonymous with the Holy Trinity, these three together are our arch-nemesis.

It must first be said that Jesus has overcome this Trinity of Torment by the work of the cross. All that waits now is for us to redeem this victory in our moments, in Jesus’ name.

Overcoming the Living Flesh

Jesus said:

“What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” ~John 3:6 (NRSV).

It is clear that to overcome our living flesh—the substance the causes our weakness (Mark 14:38)—we must be born of the Spirit. This is the whole point of John chapter 3. But to be born of the Spirit implies we must live of the Spirit as well.

This leads into the second point—overcoming the world.

Overcoming the World

“I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” ~John 16:33 (NRSV).

These above are our operational instructions as we trudge headlong into our worlds. We are destined for difficulty, certain to struggle, challenged and chastened, and persecuted more when we obey than when we disobey. We could almost ask, why become Christian?

Of course, there is an easy answer; one that Jesus answers—we have no need to overcome because Jesus has already overcome the world. The discreet difference is in whose strength we fight. We magnify our weakness to draw on Spiritual strength. The less we try the more the Spirit intercedes for us. It’s a paradoxical, upside-down reality, but that’s the truth.

How we interact with the world very much speaks for the command we might have over our flesh—all of this sponsored intrinsically by the Holy Spirit.

Overcoming Satan

“The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” ~Revelation 12:9 (NRSV).

We can expect to meet Satan in this world of ours. But Satan is less of a problem than we often make out. Christians can be forgiven for feeling constantly berated by the spirit of accusation, condemnation and isolation. Satan tends to work in our minds, fighting our logical mind, increasing negativity.

Then we have to remember that Jesus has already overcome Satan. This was done over a long weekend that commenced on a Friday, nearly two millennia ago. All Satan has to work with, now, are those things of earthly prominence; he has no command over the heavenly realm.

And if we are born of the Spirit, we are the very kin of heaven. The Devil can’t touch us if we rise to higher mental ground—to think in the heavenly realm. The mind of Christ overcomes (1 Corinthians 2:16).

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Graphic Credit: Christine Laureano.

Psalm 23 – I Will Fear No Evil

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.” ~Psalm 23:6 (NRSV).

It can happen any day. Fear grips us as we walk into a meeting, get ready for breakfast, or drive to work. Fear has a way of clouding our judgment and constraining our vision. It robs us of our hope and joy.

The truth is we walk many corridors of fear during our lifetimes; it’s not just in the realm of death—its traditional setting—that this particular psalm provides meditative benefit. As we progress through its six verses we read a sort of reflective benediction that echoes to us an eternal comfort.

A Prayer of Comfort in Culmination

Verse 1 commences in summative fashion. The Lord is the psalmist’s Shepherd—a supremely faithful Provider in times of dire want. It is the signature of trust that David, in this case, can say in times of fear, “I shall not want.”

Our Shepherd God is provider of those green pastures and the still waters of life and these are a bequest, again, waiting for a trusting heart. These images are metaphors for peace; the restoration of tired souls.

The name of the Lord is surety for the right path in verse 3. The ancient path of the Lord is light in darkness.

Verse 4 highlights the Presence of the Lord as light for the path that dims. Even when things, and circumstances in life, become as dark as pitch we can still note with assurance the rod and staff of God, reassuring and comforting us, as we traverse the dark way.

Ably assisting us in verse 5, all the accompaniments of the way are prepared for us by God in advance; we have this advantage over our enemies.

All the foregoing culminates in the final verse, profiled above—that quiet confidence of trust; that the goodness and mercy of God shall prevail, following the servant all the days of their life, as they continue to dwell in safety along the full journey of life’s path.

The contemporary significance of this prayer

Set in an eternal frame, but one always honouring momentary significance, this psalm supplies hope and reassurance in fleeting worry and genuine despair—and all between.

Perhaps this is the day—speaking in strictly 21st Century terms—where there are more concerns for our safety and longer-term wellbeing than ever before. Psalm 23, therefore, is ever pertinent today.

It reminds us the God is an eternal God, shielding us from the woes of our sin and from the terror of fear as it enfolds our minds and hearts, sometimes without reason or warning.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that the joy of the Lord is available almost continually, even when we may struggle with worry, sadness, loss, or be in despair.

In a day when worries are just as relevant as ever before we can know the safety in God as we ruminate over these words—the beautiful, majestic Psalm 23.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Graphic Credit: Aleta Gudelski.

Isaiah 65 – God’s Judgment Is Righteous

The Lord God says:

“See, it is written before me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their laps their iniquities and their ancestors’ iniquities together... I will measure into their laps full payment for their actions.” ~Isaiah 65:6-7 (NRSV).

In context, Isaiah 56-66 focuses broadly on the concept of Sabbath. As the Prophet looks forward to visions of the New Heavens and New Earth, he speaks for God on matters of broad worldwide obedience—a fact that the populace will become in the final hour.

Before time however, many carnal people will remain that way despite judgment to the contrary, but the true servants of God will obey with veracity.

But we are all, of a sense, under God’s judgment. The Christian person, of all people, knows this. Those Christians ignoring this vital theological fact play only half a game with their God; they expect to be blessed without possibility of cursing. Yet there cannot be any blessing without the possibility of cursing.

Cursing, As Love

The God of the Old Testament—the self-same one as that of the New Testament—wants to love us with a very full love. This involves blessing for obedience, curses for disobedience.

This God of the Old Testament, as we read in the history of Israel, was known to judge the nation for their iniquities against their God. He used other nations—the unrighteous, unchosen nations—to go up against Israel. He used these nations to crush a disobedient Israel.

In the same way God loves us. Where we wander, this God will search us out, in the truth of life, as those consequences bear themselves over our lives.

We fool ourselves if we think we are obedient at all times. We cannot be.

Finalising Judgment Will Be Right

Cursing in this life is but a hint of what is to come. God’s judgment in this way can be seen as always right and always appropriate, despite the pain and the things we go without in the midst of such outcomes.

The truth is, judgment is never really about us; it instead reveals the glory of God—the fact of the Lord’s complete Dominion over all creation.

When the New Heavens and New Earth do appear—when that occasion has arisen, finally—we will see a movement over the earth, and acceptance of the Sabbath concept, which is really a willingness within humanity to obey God.

Until then, judgment. The righteous judgments of the Lord are a condition of the sinfulness of creation. Still again, the judgment of the Lord prevails, also, over obedience by way of blessing.

Judgment, for Love

All judgment is based in love. Because judgment is based inherently in love it is righteous.

The disciple of Christ seeks to understand this; it’s what they must do to make sense of life—to make sense of the times when life doesn’t make sense. It also makes sense of the idea that none of us is perfectly obedient when God’s will is to direct us to obedience. This is the purpose of judgment; motivated in love.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Psalm 63 – The LORD Satisfies My Soul

“O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

~Psalm 63:1 (NRSV).

An authentically wonderful soul desperation mixed with nuances of unbridled joy, complete with a twist of awe, and sensual grace beyond words: that’s the essence of Psalm 63—that, a Lament of the Individual, “of David.”

If we ever feel despondent, we take this psalm deep into our prayer closet and breathe the word concepts into our souls; we meditate on David as he would have written and lived it.

Reflective Yet Affirmative Mood

The language of praise in this psalm is reminiscent of a lover trawling over his or her betrothed—there is no sight for another; verses 1-8 drip with complete monogamous faithfulness; an intimacy unmatched.

Yet, reflectiveness is no blasé, disconnected or morally deficient quality in this psalm. The marker of reflection here is intentional, focused and unswerving. This king is besotted with his King!

A desperate situation has brought David to affirm, with fervour, his allegiance.

A Hint of Lament

Verses 9-10 offer the slightest taint of the occasion of this prayer—after all it was a stark wilderness experience David was encountering.

But the allusion of lament, here, is almost silenced by the deafening glory of God manifest in David’s proper infatuation with the Lord, his God.

Verse 11 retains the faithful refrain: “But the king shall rejoice in God...”

God will shut the mouths of liars. Trust in God is unstinting.

Satisfied of Soul

The psalmist, and we—if we partake in the wondrous grace of the Father in Jesus’ sanctifying name—is beyond the biting reality of life that undoes us. Life is no less painful or frustrating. But the satisfaction of soul we gain in having accessed healing means we have a Sanctuary to bay in any time we like. Indeed, we long for it.

God has literally ‘filled’ the psalmist up; beyond wanting or needing anything else. He’s experienced the saving grace of the Lord in the manner of actual life (verse 7a) and it goes beyond his fear.

We imagine, also, the psalmist woken of a night-time; he’s rested, even in troubling fatigue, to roll thoughts of God around the mind at 2, 3, and 4 A.M. To meditate upon God is the first thought at these times where tiredness prevails over sleep (verse 6).

Often in our post-postmodern lives we’re given to boredom, and hence discomfort, when we stand still. This psalm is for the person who’s been made real to themselves, and who’s perfectly comfortable without a single thing besides God. This is something we ought to aspire for: “God’s steadfast love is better than life” (verse 3a).

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.