Be Exalted, O God – David

 

David was the anointed, but was in a hazardous circumstance. And yet, he found reason to lift words of praise to Him, a portion of which Ken Young (and others, undoubtedly, with their own versions) has relished in “Be Exalted, O God”. David’s hideout was a cave (perhaps the cave at either Adullam, shown here, or at En Gedi), so the incident was either still ongoing or David’s memory was still fresh, and even repetitive in nature for this fugitive whose life was in danger for an extended period before his enemy was vanquished. So, this shepherd-and-eventual-but-not-yet king was panting out of desperation, and yet feeling for not the first time that his Protector-God was listening. Trust, and a certain belief that He was greater than any earthly foe David faced, was at the root of his poetry. Where else could he turn?

 

⁹ I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. ¹⁰ For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. ¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. Nothing sums up David’s state of mind on this occasion better than his own words, what we know as the last three verses of Psalm 57. In at least one of the episodes when Saul was so very close to his prey – David -- in the back of a cave, David and his men observed Saul enter the cavern, and their skin must have had goosebumps (1 Samuel 24). Could Saul have been any more vulnerable, his adversaries probably gloated? David thought about it, and indeed did sneak up toward the king. But all he did was cut off a piece of Saul’s robe, apparently as a way to prove to Saul that he’d had the chance to kill him and yet did not. After all, Saul was his father-in-law, and more importantly to David, he was the 1^st king that God had chosen for the nation, although David was anointed to replace him. God Himself would decide when and how Saul would be moved out of David’s path to the throne. After he left the cave, Saul heard David call out to him, and he turned to hear David tell him all about what had happened in the previous few minutes. Showing him the piece of the robe, David appealed to Saul’s conscience, with success as Saul wept openly and repented of his murderous jealousy, at least for a time. David apparently felt Saul’s change of heart was genuine, and agreed to treat Saul’s family and his name with respect, even after Saul’s departure from the earth. It was a pledge that David honored. David was often angst-ridden, especially when it came to Saul’s anger, but he left the matter in God’s hands. The contrast between the king and the next king could not have been any clearer.      

 

David was in so many ways like the rest of us, including this blogger who wears the same name. He felt the hot breath of his enemies, and called out to God in frustration on many occasions. Just read the very next psalm in your bible, Psalm 58, if you think you can stomach hearing what David wanted God to do. There’s no praise of God, just vicious vengeance that David sought. I have to admit, that one resonates a bit truer with my own feelings more often than I’d like to admit. Leaders, as the target of David’s cursing words, are so newsworthy in today’s world that I often have to remind myself that position and power invite attention…it’s not that anyone is trying to taunt me. It’s just news, and I am not obligated to consume every bit of it. And, it isn’t as personal for me – no one is throwing spears at me, really – as it was for the other David who lived some 3,000 years ago. That David had a danger within eyesight and yet could laud God who was in his corner at the same time – that is pretty amazing. Perhaps David had matured, had experienced God’s prevailing influence in his life despite the whirlwind about him enough times to say ‘thank you, you are my great God’, no matter what transpired. I think I have some more growing up in my future….what this other David said once is a good start.  

 

 

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adulam_cave_of_khureitun_1880.jpg... This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. … This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer… {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States….found inside  this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Adullam

Sing, Amen (Amen)!– Anonymous

 

Whoever he was, he was deep into his bible. This unknown writer knew enough – including that Amen indicates strong trust and agreement with a preceding statement – to say this special word twice, rather than just once, and that such a double-verbalization was a bit rarer. Maybe he was looking at a character named Ezra as he inspired a group of people and how they responded to what he had to say (see an illustration of Ezra in action here, as he reads the law to the people [Neh. 8:1-12], as shown in Gustav Dore’s 19^th Century English Bible). Or, how about in the way that the first three books of Psalms conclude? Or, better yet, what about when Jesus says this over two dozen times with an equivalent form of the word? Is it not enough to say Amen once? And, to sing it twice, rather than voicing it adds something extra, does it not? Who this songwriter was and what his purpose was remain hidden, and yet the words he wrote have the traces of people and events that we can recognize, and lend us an echo for our own time.

 

Amen begins early in Israelite history (Numbers 5:22) and runs through the end of John’s vision, in fact the very last word he shares in the bible (Revelation 22:21); John uses it eight times in his visionary book. It is also something that Moses and the priests charged the people to say repeatedly if they accepted the Lord’s leadership and warnings from Mount Ebal (Deuteronomy 27:15-28). But, perhaps the most intriguing episodes are those in which the Amen is repeated, indicating some urgency or a more deeply felt degree of trust. Perhaps saying it twice results when someone is trying to wrap up so much accumulated praise, as in three of the Psalms – each of which conclude successive compilations of this ancient Hebrew songbook with Amen and Amen; Psalms 41:13 (of David) concludes Book I of Psalms; Psalms 72:19 (of Solomon) concludes Book II of Psalms; and Psalms 89:52 (of Ethan the Ezrahite) concludes Book III of Psalms. When the people had completed rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, and assembled to hear Ezra who stood high above them to remind them of ‘the Lord, the great God’ (Neh. 8:6) and His law, they were attentive in a way that they had not been for quite some time, for they were no longer exiles. And so, they responded with gusto, with two Amens. Our equivalent today might be Hoorah and some wild jumping up and down, like when fanatical people spontaneously react to a team winning the championship. It’s a feeling of triumph on top of the mountain. But, the most frequent use of this phrase or its equivalent is by the God-Son, Jesus. The gospel writer John records Jesus uttering the phrase truly, truly (in many versions, like the English Standard Version) 25 times, as He instructed various people, trying to get their attention. (See Him saying verily, verily/very truly/truly, truly [the equivalent of amen, amen] in John 1:51; 3:3,5,11; 5:19,24-25; 6:26,32,47,53; 8:34,51,58; 10:1,7; 12:24; 13:16,20-21,38; 14:12; 16:20,23; 21:18.) It seems like I must say back to Him, ‘I’m listening, Lord.’

 

So, what were the most important things that Jesus or the others were talking about that inspired ‘Amen and Amen’? There’s a lot there, enough to spend a lifetime trying to grasp. Our unidentified poet/songwriter has whittled them down with his words that have us calling out to God – just to be able to address Him is overwhelming, if you think about it long enough. But, what about ‘when the Lord shall  come again’? That also is too vast to comprehend, is it not, though Paul has tried to picture it for us (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)? His ‘glory’ will be evident then, if what I see about me every day isn’t enough already to make that clear. Consider Him, and whether even two Amens are enough. Our unnamed, shadowy poet whose song we can sing must have thought the same thing, because the two Amens are actually sung no less than 11 times in this short space of music, in less than two minutes (see link to a rendition of it below). And, we can sing it over and over again, however many times we want to. Isn’t He worth it, Amen?    

 

Hear it sung here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaxP4RaBm3A

 

See information on the picture here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:109.Ezra_Reads_the_Law_to_the_People.jpg …The author died in 1883, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931. …found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra

Let the Whole Creation Cry -- Stopford A. Brooke

 

This Irishman knew and wrote verse. That would be a quick summary of Stopford Augustus Brooke’s life, and this was a trait that he would share in a handful of hymns in the 19^th Century, including “Let the Whole Creation Cry”. Stopford knew not only how to write poetry, but also what good poetry by others should be appreciated, as he must have done when he drew upon an anonymous psalmist’s call for all creation to applaud its Maker. Surely creation was crying out God’s praises especially in the Garden of Eden (see it depicted here in this artwork The Garden of Eden by Thomas Cole in 1828), one of the many pieces of evidence of His creative nature that should make us pause. The psalmist began his praise not with mankind in mind, but with a reminder that everything surrounding humanity speaks loudly of Him. Stopford’s first lines and his title words echo that. We should too.  

 

Suppose there had been no occupants of Eden, no first man to herald His image among the creation. Maybe that was what moved Stopford initially. Though he doesn’t really say what motivated his poetry in 1881, this veteran of verse – he’d already won honors for his writing and published several literary works – evidently did not think of himself so highly that he ignored the contributions of others. He was one of God’s image-bearers, but the other parts of God’s creation spoke to him first, as it did to the psalmist to whom Stopford looked for a model of praise. Psalm 148’s author is unknown, but that did not inhibit Stopford’s enthusiasm for what this anonymous poet had to say. The psalmist’s first 10 verses of Psalm 148 see all of His creative genius in everything besides humanity, an attitude that was not lost on Stopford when he began his own version of this outlook with his hymn’s title, and then calling out for all ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’ (v.1) to utter their exaltation. Verse 2 continues with ‘all ye hosts above’, and the ‘sun and moon’, ‘night and stars’ joining in this celebration of Him. Stopford took some other cues from the psalmist, including the ‘warriors’ (v.3) that could have been an echo of the ‘armies of heaven’ (Psalm 148, v.2) who joined in the acclaim of Him. ‘Kings of knowledge and…law’ (v.4) sounds like the psalmist beckoning the ‘kings…rulers and judges’ (Psalm 148, v. 11) to join their voices to the rest of creation already engaged in His magnification. ‘Men and women…children’s happy hearts’ are not left out in Stopford’s lyrical energy, probably because the psalmist also mentions them (v.12 of Psalm 148). Stopford does add one group, perhaps to coax himself and others like him, that ‘those to whom the arts belong’ (v.3) are also here to offer Him tribute. So, if you want to be creative in whatever you do – and who of us doesn’t want that? – it behooves you to stay connected to the Creator.

 

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, or even whether you’re a living being, Stopford repeated from Psalm 148’s words. You can offer Him what He deserves. Stopford must have at one time or another read how Jesus responded to critics when they remonstrated Him for the praise He was hearing upon entering Jerusalem (Luke 19:40). If you think the stones exclaim well enough for all of us, how do you feel about others of your common humanity lifting voices to Him? Can someone else do this enough for you? Did those Pharisees think He was just wasn’t worthy, or did jealousy cloud their vision? Surely, they had seen enough to know He was quite different from anyone else they had ever seen before. That is rather like what the psalmist and Stopford also acknowledged. Who else could create all of this – this planet where we live, the stars and heavenly bodies we see in the universe, all of us humans in all the wondrous physicality that is a marvel to scientists – and not be the One whom we should praise for who He is, and what He’s still planning to do? If you’re not ready to say a praise, are you really looking?   

 

Read about the author here: Stopford Augustus Brooke  and here: Stopford Brooke (chaplain) - Wikipedia

 

See the original six verses here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/e/t/t/letthewc.htm

 

See here for information on the image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Cole_-_The_Garden_of_Eden_(1828).jpg …The author died in 1848, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931. …found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_Eden