When I was young, I was a big fan of games - whether I was playing my gameboy, N64, baseball, or just a good old fashion card game, I made sure that, one, I would win, and two, that I would have a blast beating anyone who dared to challenge me. I have always been the competitive type of person - which means that I don't like to lose. Reading this weeks Psalm, I thought, "If I had to challenge God to one game, what would it be?" After thinking for a while, I decided Hide and Go Seek. Sure, God would find me even before he started counting (I'm still debating whether that's cheating or not), but when It was my turn to find him, I'd do it just as fast as he did - which means it's a tie, and I didn't lose :) ... let me explain.
First off ... here's this weeks Psalm - PSALM 9
Verses 1-9 We hear a lot about David. If you look into the last couple of posts, it looks like I'm bragging about a stranger - which in itself is fantastic. Here's the deal though - I have never met David (although I plan to someday), but he is a stranger worth bragging about. Look around today, how many David's are there in the world? I'm not bold enough to make a statement like that about myself ... but I can tell you that I love to learn from what David said. I love to look into his relationship with the Father and see how I can change to help my own grow stronger. In these verses, David praises God like always, but what does it mean? Let me tell you! God has done "marvelous works" for our sakes, he has "turned our enemies back" so that they cannot harm us, he has judged in righteousness, he has been a safe place for his people, he has sheltered us in times of trouble, he has promised us a life of no worries (Luke), and he has sent us his only begotten son to die on a rugged cross just so he could spend eternity with us. This not only speaks of love, this proclaims power and majesty. In terms of competition, I tell you this - that no one can compete with the Father ... no one can do the things he does. God has no formidable foes, he has no enemies that are worthy of his time. If you challenge God, you will lose. If you try to fight him, you will not win. So what does David do about this? He thanks God for being more than we can handle and he (verse 1) praises our mighty God with the entirety of his heart. I love competition, but if there is one person I want to spend my life surrendered to - it would have to be the person that I know is going to beat me at everything anyways. David surrenders to God - why? Cause He is a mighty God ... but He is a loving God as well.
Verse 10 WAIT!!!! What does the verse say? The Father never forsakes those who seek Him! That means that if you look for God you will find him (Luke 11:9) - which means the only game that God would not be good at is in fact Hide and go Seek (at least when he was doing to hiding). God cannot hide from his people. We've talked about this in Amped a few times, but our God is omnipresent - he's everywhere. Even so, our God is not one that hides - he's not one that runs from his people. In 1st Kings, Elijah makes fun of the false gods because they never answer (well they're not even real), but our God answers back with a fire that consumes Elijah's entire sacrifice. Our God will never hide from you ... if you seek him, you will find him. It's cool to have a God that's willing to make the sacrifice of losing a game of Hide and go Seek just so you can get to know him. Sure, the false gods are better at hiding, but they're not even real ... so that's what I like to call "mega-lame."
Verses 11-20 Here's the end of the Psalm. David thinks "Hey, God is going to destroy all the evil in the world. Why would he spare me?" He cries out and asks God for mercy - because he knows that God is powerful and is swift to justice. This is true, but what is also true is the fact that our God is merciful - that he spares us if we surrender to him. Anyway, I like how the Psalm ends. If God were to even share a fraction of his power to this world, it would shake the universe as we know it to its core."To God, we are just men" ... we're nothing compared to who he is. So What? ... I have always been competitive ... but i have learned there is one fight that i will never win. I will never beat God in anything. I have a plan for my life, but God has one that's much better than I could ever imagine. If we could learn one thing from David in this Psalm, it would be that we need to surrender - in everything but that wonderful old game Hide and go Seek.
Have a good week!
- Chris
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