Friday, July 7, 2017

"May integrity and uprightness protect me" (Psalm 25:21 NIV)

It's been several weeks since I posted anything. I have been on vacation and visiting with my kids and grandkids. I am back home now and will strive now to catch up so that my blogs will be in real time rather than older journal entries.

January 4, 2017

Worship: My Lighthouse by Rend Collective

In my wrestling and in my doubts
In my failures You won't walk out
Your great love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea, oh
You are the peace in my troubled sea

In the silence You won't let go
In the questions Your truth will hold
Your great love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea, oh
You are the peace in my troubled sea

My lighthouse, my lighthouse
Shining in the darkness I will follow You, oh
My lighthouse, my lighthouse
I will trust the promise
You will carry me safe to shore
Safe to shore
Safe to shore
Safe to shore

I won't fear what tomorrow brings
With each morning I'll rise and sing
My God's love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea, oh
You are the peace in my troubled sea

(You are my light) My lighthouse, my lighthouse
Shining in the darkness I will follow You, oh
My lighthouse, my lighthouse
I will trust the promise
You will carry me safe to shore
Safe to shore
Safe to shore
Safe to shore

Fire before us, You're the brightest
You will lead us through the storms
[x4]

My lighthouse, my lighthouse
Shining in the darkness I will follow You, oh
My lighthouse, my lighthouse
I will trust the promise
You will carry me safe to shore
Safe to shore
Safe to shore
Safe to shore

Songwriters
REND COLLECTIVE

Published by
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing





Witness:


Nothing is impossible
Every chain is breakable
With You, we are victorious
You are stronger than our hearts
You are greater than the dark
With You, we are victorious
(from More than Conquerors by Rend Collective - http://www.metrolyrics.com/more-than-conquerors-lyrics-rend-collective.html)


You're the joy joy joy lighting my soul
The joy joy joy making me whole
Though I'm broken, I am running
Into Your arms of love
The pain will not define us
Joy will reignite us
You're the song
You're the song
Of our hearts
The dark is just a canvas
For Your grace and brightness
You're the song
You're the song
Of our hearts

And the sunny days grow dim
The Song remains the same
As we abide in Him

Things we own go up in flames
Jobs we hold may cease
The Song remains the same
He gives us abiding peace

Christ is the Song of the Ages
The true Song that never ends
The Song with infinite pages
Above all others transcends

Come join the Song of celebration
Dance, laugh, and lift your voice
Join with this happy delegation
Make a joyful noise!



WORD: 

Ps 25:16-21

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart have multiplied;
free me from my anguish.
18 Look upon my affliction and my distress
and take away all my sins.
19 See how my enemies have increased
and how fiercely they hate me!
20 Guard my life and rescue me;
let me not be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope is in you.
NIV
Ps 25:16-21

16 Turn to me and have mercy,
for I am alone and in deep distress.
17 My problems go from bad to worse.
Oh, save me from them all!
18 Feel my pain and see my trouble.
Forgive all my sins.
19 See how many enemies I have
and how viciously they hate me!
20 Protect me! Rescue my life from them!
Do not let me be disgraced, for in you I take refuge.
21 May integrity and honesty protect me,
for I put my hope in you.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved..
Ps 25:16-21

16 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.

17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.

18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.

19 Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.

20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.

21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
KJV
Ps 25:16-21

16  Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
18  Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.

19 Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
 Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.
ESV


As I said the other day, David asks for rescue and protection in verses 20 - 21, but the means by which he desires to be rescued and protected is not what one would expect. One would expect David to ask for his enemies to be routed, or fall prey to some divine plague or calamity, and yet he asks for neither. Instead, he petitions for “integrity and uprightness” to “guard,” “rescue,” and “protect” or “preserve” him.

However, this brings up an interpretive issue that needs to be addressed here. Since these two attributes are attributes intrinsic to God, Is David talking about his integrity and uprightness or God’s integrity and uprightness protecting him?

Barnes puts the issue in question succinctly in his comments on this verse:

The language here may refer either: (a) to God- as denoting HIS perfection and uprightness, and then the psalmist's prayer would be that He, a righteous God, would keep him; or (b) to his own integrity and uprightness of character, and then the prayer would be that THAT might be the means of keeping him, as the ground of his safety, under the government of a righteous God; or, (c) which I think the more probable meaning, it may be the utterance of a prayer that God would show Himself upright and perfect in protecting one who put his trust in Him; one who was wronged and injured by his fellow-men; one who fled to God for refuge in time of persecution and trouble.(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

He clarifies his interpretation with these words:

It was not exactly the divine perfections, as such, on which he relied; nor was it the integrity and purity of his own life; but it was the government of God, considered as just and equal, as bearing on himself and those who had wronged him.(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

The Pulpit Commentary wants us to understand this as a prayer to attain these characteristics rather than something David claims he already has.

Psalms 25:20Let integrity and uprightness preserve me. Scarcely his own inherent integrity and uprightness, the want of which he has deplored when confessing that his iniquity is great (ver. 11). Rather an integrity and uprightness whereto he hopes to attain, by the grace of God, in days to come - an integrity and uprightness for which he "waits." For I wait on thee.
(from The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

The UBS OT Handbook Series leans towards these words referring to David rather than God but present both interpretations:

Psalms 25:21 The integrity (literally "perfection"; see 7:8) and uprightness of which the psalmist speaks may be attributes of God (so Anderson); others, like TEV, take them to refer to the psalmist's character (Kirkpatrick; SPCL). The second interpretation seems preferable. Some commentators see the two qualities personified as messengers sent by God to protect the psalmist. Most translations leave the matter ambiguous; the choice in RSV of the words integrity and uprightness, however, seems to refer them to the psalmist. FRCL translates differently: "I depend on you to keep me in innocence and in honesty." The indirect command expressed with May plus a noun must often be recast in the form of an explicit wish; for example, "I ask that goodness and honesty preserve me." In many languages it will not be possible for the qualities of goodness and honesty to perform an action on their own. Hence it will in those cases be necessary to say, for example, if one is following the TEV model, "O Lord, because I am good and honest, keep me safe." On the other hand, if the translator takes these attributes as belonging to God, this may be rendered "because you are good and honest, I ask you to keep me safe."(from UBS Old Testament Handbook Series. Copyright © 1978-2004 by United Bible Societies. All rights reserved.) 

Perhaps best is JFB’s brief comments on this verse:

Psalms 25:21 Integrity - i.e., not that a man's own "integrity" saves him; but it is the evidence of God's grace in him, and pleasing to God, so that we may be sure God will "preserve" such a one. God's part is expressed in Ps 40:11, "Let THY loving-kindness and THY truth continually preserve me."(from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
 Tying this all together we can see the divine and human aspects involved in this petition. The integrity and uprightness David prays for are his own, but the source of these characteristics in his life is God who communicates these attributes to David, the man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22). Before God and his enemies he will live a godly life, and by these, he will be protected and preserved, and because of these David will declare,
I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.
In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever. 
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.
Ps 41:11-13 NIV
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