Bogosity

Read this Ps 40:2,4,7-10;

2He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.

Fans of hillsong will already know these words and funny I should mention it as I was just enjoying this post on Darpism (he’s a bit raw but makes some good points).

Meanwhile, this poor psalm is just trying to tell us that God changes peoples lives and makes them better. I’m not a big supporter of the idea that God intervenes miraculously all the time – i.e. finding us a parking space, making us rich. But I think that walking the path of righteousness leads to a better life in general – at least on an internal level. Outwardly it could cause a bit of struggle because sometimes these values fly in the face of society – e.g. there is no big money to be made in helping the poor (unless you rip off their government funding).

8I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”

I quoted the above line because it refers to Jesus but also was a theme of his teaching – that following rules is not the be all and end all of being righteous. We sense what is right intuitively and by understanding values. Over the years, morals have changed and while we could get upset that it seems things are getting worse, there is also the discovery of the deeper ideas underlying the morals we’ve had. We could hold rigidly to the no sex before marriage thing and never discover the underlying values of trust, faithfulness and digity of self. On the other hand, morals can protect the young and foolhardy from making mistakes.

10I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;

That’s a bit of a bugger of a verse for me as I am currently undercover at work. I think talk of God’s faithfulness and salvation would go down well with my peers if I could disguise it as something else. The likes of Hillsong have made it that much harder for an intelligent person to be a christian amongst intelligent people. A friend of mine used to say I should only tell people I’m a christian once I had their respect – then it would be harder for them to write me off. The trouble is, now I have peoples respect, I don’t want ot blow it away by being associated with vaporous God bothering mercenaries who have no fashion sense or taste in music.