Blogging the Psalms

Blogging the Psalms -- Psalm 105

Psalm 105

The phrase “I will” occurs many times in this psalm. Reading the “I wills”, the legalistic part of us says, “Good, let me do all I am supposed to do.” The second part tells us what God has done. And some of it is a bit incomprehensible to our human minds.

For instance, God sent his people famine. But before the famine began, God sent Joseph before the famine began to prepare salvation for his people. Yet, he allowed Joseph to be put in fetters. He allowed the Word of the Lord to try Joseph. It is written in the Bible that troubles often rise up against God’s people after they have heard God’s Word. So, despite all the promises given to Joseph, he stayed imprisoned and enslaved for many years. 

By the time one reads that God turned the heart of the Egyptians to hate His people, one doesn’t exactly feel like following through with one’s “I wills.” 

I do not believe that God sets out to create hardship in His people’s lives. But I do believe that when God has given us a promise, there is often a battle in the universe against the fulfillment of His Word. Joseph was told in a dream that his family would bow down before him. He wasn’t told the pesky details about the whole battle he would be caught up in. 

So it is necessary that we remember God’s word, and God’s faithfulness. Especially if the word came to us in a dream or from a leading by the Holy Spirit. Even Daniel worried about God’s promises and asked God about the promises the prophets had prophesied. 

There is a incident related in the thirteenth chapter of the first book of Kings about a young prophet who got a word from God. It isn’t clear how this word came to him. Perhaps it was a dream, or a vision, or an audible voice. Whatever way it came, the prophet believed this word and followed through with the instructions God had given to him — but not entirely. After he had completed the first part of God’s command, something happened that tried the word. An older prophet arrived and told him God had changed/edited/abrogated the word the younger prophet had received earlier. The young prophet believed the older prophet, although the older prophet had lied to him. 

I have often questioned God’s promises to me — whether those promises came in dreams or were from Scripture. Sometimes I found myself saying, “Has God really said?” I have wondered, “Am I taking my dreams too seriously?” Or I have looked at a promise in the Bible and said, “Am I being too naïve to trust God?”

But then I remembered that the Lord is my rock.

Here is something I will always remember.

One night when my older son Logan, was about three or four, I dreamed of two kids from the neighborhood -- the son and nephew of my friend Jennie-- beating my son with iron batons, sticks, etc. It was quite a sadistic dream and when I woke up I wondered, “Well, that was a strange dream.” I knew the kids but they had never visited my house, although once in a while I would visit the mother of one of them. 

Later that day, who should come to my door but these two boys? They said, “Carole, we’re playing cowboys and Indians and we want someone to tie up. Can we play with Logan?” Logan, who was with me and who had heard them, said, “Mom, I want to go! Please, Please!” I looked at those kids and there was something very -- for lack of a better word-- “evil” about them. They looked like they were planning something evil. It was so evident to me. One of them had a little red ribbon which he gently brushed against my arm, “See,” he said, “it doesn’t hurt. We just want to play.” These guys were about sixteen and eighteen and I wouldn’t have trusted them from the sneaky looks on their faces. Upshot: I didn’t send my son with them.

I  remember this with a shudder. Because of the dream/premonition, my little son was saved from danger. My God had “gone before” and had protected me from the machinations of the enemy. Jennie’s son turned out to live a good life. His cousin ...well...