Faith
Central to this psalm is the appearance of the individual under the greatness of God. As great as God is, an individual crosses under the sight of that greatness.
The meaning of the psalm emanates from verse 11 which says in the King James version," For the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." If you’re walking in the direction of God, you’re walking the right way if you want good things. Think also just how beautiful some people look on a beachfront under the sun’s watchful rays.
The luminous appearance of the sun pervades everything. Everybody has a relationship with the sun, and yearns for its appearance if it doesn’t show up for days on end. Just superimposing your image against the sun is amazing, that the sun can encompass the image of an individual person under its pervasive light is rather amazing.. In the movie the Wizard of Oz, the wicked witch has her image superimposed against the sky in the initial scenes of the movie. In other movies, individual’s images have been brought against close-ups of the sun. This verse compares God’s presence to the sun. Yet as pervasive and dominating as that image is, an individual can and does walk under the purview of God’s presence being recognized and watched quite individually. This is why the prayer of one individual can make a difference, as that John Denver song says, “What one man can do.’ Verse 5 thru 7 says," Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage, As they pass thru the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs, the autumn rains also cover it with pools, The go from strength to strength till each appears before God." The King James version for verse 7 is," They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." That verse might not pass a spell check, but passing before God as in every one of them meaning even if its just one, is speaking that each of these individuals come under the presence of God, like someone coming under the presence of the sun. It is just amazing how the sun really does dwarf the appearance of any individual, someone looks tiny even say from the top of the Empire State building looking down. Yet, each individual mentioned here appears before God who’s mighty presence is compared to the sun in this psalm.
Verse 9 says in the King James version, “ Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed." Shield is mentioned with sun, yet the awesome God is asked to look upon the face of thine anointed." This all pervasive presence of God is again honing in on one individual to the point where God sees their face. Try to imagine the sun picking up the image of your face amist all that’s out there or even imagine the sun picking up that you lost your glasses.
Other verses in this psalm indicate a preference for God. Verse 2 says," My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord, my heart and flesh cry out for the living God." Verse 10 says, “ Better is one day in your courts, than a thousand elsewhere, I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of the wicked."
Here he is taking a day in preference to a thousand days then he is saying he would rather be just at the door with God, then dwelling or being right in the middle of the prosperity or big parties of the wicked.
Verse 3 says, “ Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God." The lure toward God is not out of obligation but truly for the sheer pleasantness of God’s courts. “ Verse 1 in the King James version says," How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts."
The sparrow is mentioned in the New Testament where it says even the sparrows are watched by God. Again this shows that as pervasive as God is, like the sun, somehow within this, a minute situation such as the concerns of a sparrow are watched by Him. This means we can pray for seemingly small and insignificant things, things nevertheless that matter to us personally. But what is happening here in this psalm, is that when you are crossing into the presence of God through the intentions of your heart that you are visible enough to where it’s the equivalent of your image appearing across the mighty sun, as it says in verse 5, when you do set your hearts on pilgrimage to search for the mighty God.
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