January 31, 2012

Psalm 31
I remember Mom making preserves. She made several kinds, but foremost in my memory is the sand plum preserves. Sand plums grow wild in thickets. The cattle used to like to go into the thickets to get shade from the hot summer sun. If I remember right the sand plums ripened in early summer. We went out to the cattle lease to the thickets and picked them empty. When we brought them home, Mom cooked them and did whatever it is you do to fruit to sweeten and preserve it. We had preserves to eat with our peanut butter for months to come. But if they were not preserved, they only lasted a few days at most.
It always strikes me as odd when I read the Psalm and hear it say, “The Lord preserves the faithful.” I get images of the Lord cooking us down to mush and adding sugar and whatever in order to make us tasty and to not spoil. I almost get the image of Him putting us on the shelf for Him to come back later and consume. After all, we were created by His desire, His will, as the KJV puts it, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” So when I cry out, “Preserve me, O God!” I know that what I mean is, “Don’t let me be destroyed!” But do I stop to think that the preservation might involve some unpleasantries comparable to the metaphor of being cooked down to mush and having other ingredients added in order to make me palatable to His taste, and that the whole process is to please Him and not necessarily me?
What does David mean when he cries out, “9 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body! 10 For my life is spent with grief, And my years with sighing; My strength fails because of my iniquity, And my bones waste away?” Sounds like being cooked down to mush to me. How does that bring glory to our God? Well the cooking process destroys the bacteria that bring ruin to the fruit. The cooking process in our lives destroys the sin that brings ruin to the eternal fruit of our lives. In so doing, He can enjoy us forever, and we can enjoy Him forever. Preserve me, O Lord! Love the Lord all you His saints! Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john