DAY 194

SEIZE THE MOMENT

Psalm 4, 5 & 6 and Acts 17:16-34

Today we see Paul using the culture of the day to present the Gospel; he seizes the moment. He is on “Mars Hill” or the Areopagus if you prefer (pictured above). The men of Athens are challenging him, yet he sees a monument to “an unknown god.” Paul improvises and says basically that there is this unknown god, but not just god, but GOD…and he then presents the Gospel.

The result is mixed, some mock, some say “come back tomorrow and we will listen some more, and some believe. It is like that today. We need to be ready to proclaim the Gospel in our culture. I love to use science, it so much opens the doorway to God…and yes some will mock, some will say “come back tomorrow,” and some will believe. My reaction often times varies, a little like the Psalms today.

In the Psalms today each have a different thrust, but the last line of each proclaims God faithfulness.

Psalm 4 seems to be describing what it is like to live surrounded by a wicked world, and yet ends “I lie down in peace; at once I fall asleep; for only you, Lord, make me dwell safely.” Maybe the doubters of Paul’s day and ours make us feel this way.

Psalm 5 seems to be even more of a plea, “Give ear...O Lord.” The Psalmist at once highlights what the wicked do, and in parallels both pleas and praises God ending with “For you O Lord will defend the righteous…” God did defend Job, but it took awhile, did it not? Maybe the mockers of Paul’s day and ours make us feel this way.

Then in Psalm 6 the cry is even more personal, “Do not rebuke me in your anger…I grow weary…every night I drench my bed and flood my couch with tears…” Have you known those kind of moments? We all have. And yet the Psalmist proclaims “The Lord has heard my supplication…” The tense is “past” it is done and God has heard and accepted.

Which Psalm or Psalms resonate with you today, any? The Psalms are the place to go when your soul is not quiet, for in them you will find your heart beating with the Psalmist’s and God’s ready answer.