June 7th
How can I keep from singing

Psalm 33

‘The earth is full of the hesed of the Lord.’

Hesed is a word we have met before; it is one of the great words in the Hebrew scriptures.  One scholar writes that the translators of the King James Version used up to forty-five different English words to unpack its meaning.  In our modern translations it most often is translated as ‘steadfast or unfailing loving kindness.’  *

Verse 5b states the theme clearly:  ‘The earth is full of the steadfast (unfailing) love of the Lord.’   This steadfast love of the Lord is:

  • New every morning.
  • It is absolutely reliable.
  • It is to be found everywhere in the earth.

What is this hesed?  It has two key meanings:  One, it describes the content of YHWH’s covenant with Israel.  Hesed is what God is doing for Israel, and through her, for the world.  Second, hesed is to be the lifestyle of the people of God as they keep and honour this covenant.

The psalm divides easily into two parts.  It begins (vs. 1-7) with instructions to the righteous to rejoice in the Lord – with a variety of instruments no less – because of the goodness and faithfulness of God’s works.  The example the writer gives is God’s work of creation (v.6-7). 

Verse 8 begins the second major part of the psalm, but here the command is not to ‘praise God’ but to ‘fear’ and ‘stand in awe’ of the Lord.  And this command is not just for the righteous but for the whole earth!  The little word ‘All’ is used nine times.  Once again the reason given for ‘fearing God’ is God’s work in creation.

But this psalm also presents us with two challenges:

  • Verses 10,13-17 give us a picture of our world’s preoccupation with power and greatness. ‘Great’ is used  three times here.

Last week I cited Reinhold Niebuhr’s comments in his book The Irony of American History.  (The words apply to any country or leader who think themselves masters of their own destiny – see Russia in Ukraine, the Saudis in Yemen).  The great irony, he pointed out, is that the very efforts to secure our own futures have rendered us more insecure and vulnerable. He characterized the Biblical view of human history this way:  ‘The evil in human history is regarded as the consequence of [man’s] wrong use of [his] unique capacities.  The wrong use is always due to some failure to recognize the limits of our capacities of power, wisdom, and virtue.  We forget we…are creatures.’

But vs.18-19 give the lie to earthly rulers’ pretensions to greatnesss.  YHWH ‘frustrates the plans of [such] peoples…His eye is on those who fear/reverence Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love.’  This God saves those in need.

  • The second challenge is to us, the church – to trust God but also do our part to live robust, faithful lives.  

When the famed cellist Pablo Casals was around 90 years old, he still practiced the cello for hours each day.  By that age and after his storied musical career, Casals surely had nothing left to prove.  So one day someone asked him “Why do you still practice so much?”  “Because,” Casals replied, “I think I’m getting a little better.”

A great gift is no excuse to not also work hard.  And for believers, faith and trust in a great God are no excuse to not also recognize that we still have much to do in our lives to cooperate with God’s care and protection of us.  Don’t put your trust in earthly things but don’t fail to shore up things on earth either. **

Such sturdy faith waits for the Lord, is glad in Him, hopes in Him (v.809).

https://youtu.be/vpmeW-c51W0 - How can I keep from singing

 

*G.A.F. Knight – Psalms (Vol.1, p.3).

**Stan Mast – reflections on Psalm 33.