Psalm 33
Scripture - What stood out?Psalm 3316 The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue. Observation - What does it say?Psalm 33 is another beautiful and moving psalm describing God with glory and praise and culminating with belief that the only hope we truly have is in God’s steadfast love. Understanding - What does it mean?I decided to research the word steadfast and some of the synonyms I came up with were firm, and immovable. I ended up getting sucked into a mini hebrew study session while journaling but it was totally worth it. I chewed on what I felt was the main dish of this psalm in verse 18, “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,...” I found that in different translations steadfast love was translated into faithfulness, lovingkindness, and mercy among others. Reading about the hebrew root word checed just blew my mind a little bit further. Wikipedia described chesed as the love or mercy of God towards humanity. And chesed’s root chasad had a primary meaning of eager or ardent desire. Wow! So how did this adventure all start? I read about a warhorse, I immediately pictured this amazing beast capable of destruction, maybe an armored humvee in today’s world, but the bible was telling me that none of this stuff can actually save you! And so I had to ask myself what am I surrounding myself with in the hopes that it will protect me? And from what? God’s love is what saves. And God’s love is towards...us. For us. His love is firm, it doesn’t move. His love for us filled with mercy, eagerness and ardent desire. His love for us is true hope for salvation. Life Application - How can I apply this to my life today?And so this morning Lord I don’t want to put my faith in my warhorse, my strength, or my nation’s might. Help me to see what I have been depending on for way to long to rescue me and help me to instead trade it in for your steadfast love, a hope that saves.
In the name of Jesus do I pray, amen. -kenneth lee