LIFE ON THE ALTAR

Taken from the book, Psalms: The Pilgrims Ascent, by A. B. Saint

Staying on Course

The heading of the above Psalm has the signature of the name of Asaph written above it. Although not a priest, Asaph was a Levite who lived during the time of David. He was a gifted personality, poetic as well as prophetic in his writings, plain speaking, purposeful and without a doubt a proficient producer of music. Whether he was personally the writer of every Psalm which bears his name it seems is a little unsure, for although there are many like myself who presume the Psalms ascribed to him were all his, in making a little study on this, it also appears that there are certain bible students who take it as given that there is a distinct possibility that other individuals who went under the title of the ‘sons of Asaph,’ either being his own blood relatives, or those singers and musicians who followed on in his train, conclude they could easily have written some of these Psalms themselves.

Psalm 81 is known as a Festival Psalm and opens up with the exhortation that the people, when they come together, “Sing aloud and make a joyful noise unto God.” For the people of God, this is of course the best way to start any new day whether it be the beginning of a Christian Festival or not and whether we be with other worshippers or we find ourselves just on our own. As Psalm 100 opens up with an invitation to “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands,” so with Psalm 81 our song leader here carries with him this same instruction, this same message. 

Praise is not just when we feel like it, it is not just reserved for those days when everything is going well, nor is it reserved only for those occasions when we have nothing better to do. Our God deserves our praise and worship at all times. In verse two the Levites are to take up their musical instruments that the song might indeed be a spirited and joyful sound before the Lord. In verse three we have the blowing of the trumpet, for Asaph the Psalmist, tells that it is a specially appointed time, the time of the new moon and therefore the time of the Jewish Festival known as The Feast of Tabernacles.

Each time it came around, this Festival took the people back to that time in history when God brought them up out of Egypt and rescued them from the awful oppression of slavery and led them out into the Promised Land. He brought them out to bring them in to what He had for them. Hallelujah, He had a plan; He had a purpose for their lives. He promised to bring them out from under their burdens in Egypt, to deliver them with a mighty stretched out arm and with great judgements. His desire was to take them unto Himself as a people and to bring them into the Land of Promise.  

Without a shadow of doubt God demanded complete obedience from His people and promised always to look after them and bless them, even promising to subdue their enemies. All this was brought to their remembrance as they sang this Psalm. One would have thought that this people would have been only too glad to continue on with God as their king and live their lives in complete obedience to Him, but this as we know was not the case, and because of this the Psalm which begins with the noise of the trumpet and singing also contains notes of sadness. 

In this Psalm it is God who is sad. Its opening verses begin with praise and rejoicing but as it moves on its later verses call its people to recollect and to return unto the Lord. Time has since elapsed, and the people are now no longer in slavery in Egypt. They are now singing of a past event for no more do the slavers have the rule over them and no more do they live within the sound of a foreign language. No more are they enclosed within the walls and boundaries of their taskmasters. 

The terrible affliction of those days in Egypt is now long since passed and through the grace of God upon their lives the yoke of bondage has been removed. No longer do they carry heavy burdens upon their shoulders and no longer do they have within their hands the laborious carrying of heavy baskets filled with bricks. No longer do they weep, for their cry had gone out in times past and God had delivered them and sent them their earthly deliverer Moses to bring them into what He Himself had for them. Their crying unto God on behalf of this awful affliction is now over, but it would seem for most, so is also their complete loyalty toward God. 

Through the Psalmist, God speaks to them in the very heart of this Psalm to call them away from foreign gods which they now served and back again unto Himself. In verse 13 we read these words: “O that My people had hearkened unto Me, and Israel had walked in My ways.” God’s desire for change amongst those for whom it is needed is clearly seen as He longingly calls them back into real fellowship with Himself. In this Psalm He reminds them of their sin and their folly in turning from Him to pagan idolatry. We note how that sadly He has had to leave them to their own ways and allow them to walk in their own counsels. Have we not proved ourselves at times that when this happens nothing good ever comes from this? It is a hard lesson to learn but God must allow us to learn it so that we will hopefully come to our senses and turn back again for Him to heal us. Whenever God speaks it is always for our own good.

How easily people seem to forget, so from time to time God needs to give reminders. I wonder if this could be the picture of any of us today. In times past we have maybe called unto Him in our difficulties and He has answered us and come to our aid. Through His kindness He has placed our feet on level footing again and He has made our paths straight. No longer do we weep over trying circumstances, but alas no longer do we worship either. 

Someone once told me of a sermon which they heard preached and judging by their vivid account of it seemed to me must have made quite an impact on them. It was entitled, ‘THE CUPBOARD GOD,’ and had to do with that awful state of mind in which many people find themselves in times of difficulty, only remembering God when they need Him in their life. I hope I am not among them, and I am sure you will feel the same. How awful that there should be those of us who have accepted God’s offer of Salvation and been brought out of darkness into God’s most marvellous light and that we too should forget all His blessings unto us and turn again unto the beggarly elements of this world for our sustenance. Things could have been so different for Israel if only they had hearkened unto God. He was the One with all the answers, yet they chose not to listen to Him.

Have you ever tried to counsel anyone who really does not want to hear? I suppose we all have at some time or other. It can be a difficult job. An illustration springs speedily to mind. When I was a young girl a lady used to call at the house and visit my mother most every week. This went on for years. She would seek sage advice of my mum who willingly gave it to the best of her ability. The thing was that as the years passed it was very noticeable that my mother’s friend never seemed to pay heed to any of the wise counsel she was given, so her situation never changed. The knowledge of this however never stopped my mother from continuing on offering her advice and guidance when asked. I suppose she just lived in hope, as does our Lord, that one day the penny would drop. 

Although she never ever mentioned it to me, it could well have been that from time to time whenever my mum thought upon her friend’s visits, her overwhelming conviction would be how things might have been different for this lady if only she would take the advice and make a turn-around and stop resisting change. My mother never worried about anything and never got frustrated. She never expressed the opinion that she knew everything and before passing on any advice to anyone she would pray over things and commit it to the Lord. I am sure there must have been times when thinking of this lady that the thought must have come to her, ‘I wish she would listen to me!’ The world is full of people whose lives might have been different if they had only responded in a different way. 

As I sit with my lap-top on my knee, we have just returned from our annual holiday. Packing for the trip I had decided to take a book loaned to me by a family member, and whilst away, I read an article which reminded me again about some terrible news which was broadcast over the television and radio waves way back in the mid 1980’s. An Avianca Airlines Jet had suffered a terrible crash in Spain. As is usual in matters such as these, investigations began to take place immediately. The black box having been recovered from the crash site, was taken by the Airline Investigators to search for any clues it may have contained.

It seemed that only minutes before the jet crashed into a mountain side, two voices were heard speaking. One of the voices which came from the planes automatic warning system was in English; the other was the voice of the pilot. The English voice gave out a repeated word of caution which was, “Pull up!” “Pull up!” For some unknown reason, the pilot thought that the device was malfunctioning and so he shut the system off. Tragically, he never lived to tell the tale himself as within a few short minutes the plane crashed into the mountain side, and not only the pilot and every member of the crew, but also 162 out of 173 passengers were killed. Only 11 people were saved that night. 

Upon further reading, it seems that there were a series of unfortunate events which took place before the crash.  Three minutes after midnight the plane was cleared for landing, however the pilot unwittingly made a wrong turn at this point. It seems he was not really aware of his position, and he brought the plane in too low and careered into a steep hill at 142 knots. The plane then proceeded to cartwheel into another hill where the aircraft disintegrated into at least 5 pieces.

The words, “If only,” keep coming to mind. If only this friend of my mum had listened to her. If only this experienced pilot had heeded the warning to “Pull up!” In our Psalm, if only the people of God had hearkened unto the voice of the Lord. Nothing has changed since all these events took place and we too still need to listen to Him and walk in obedience before Him every day! 

What made me look at this particular Psalm at this moment in time? The very last verse. In God’s desire to draw these people back to Himself this is what we read: “He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.” This verse has always been a firm favourite of mine. To me it speaks of two things, firstly the wondrous generosity of our God towards us and secondly the sheer enjoyment of knowing Jesus as Lord. 

He doesn’t only give us Himself as the Bread of Life as in St John’s Gospel chapter 6, but He spreads Himself as honey on it too!  What does Psalm 119 and verse 103 say to us:  “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” As Christians we are to feed upon the Word of God and thereby grow spiritually. 

Several Christian choruses and hymns come to mind when I reflect on this verse, so does also the song which God gave to Moses over in Deuteronomy 32 and verse 13. Referring to God’s leading of the children of Israel through the wilderness, Moses says this: “He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields: and He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.”

When I look into my bible dictionary I am informed that there has always been an abundance of bees in Palestine. They can be found even in the most remote parts of the wilderness, and if there are not many hollowed out trees to deposit their honey they will deposit this honey in the crevices of the rocks. Amongst other things, God has always been known as the ROCK of our Salvation. We sing, do we not, “On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand!” Our God is a wonderful God, even though many times out of a heart of love He has to chastise us for our own good.    

THOUGHT: As we read this beautiful Psalm, let us do a thorough stock take of our lives and ask ourselves what is the spiritual state of our souls right now? Psalm 34 and verse 8 tells us “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusts in Him.” In the natural it can be an awful thing to temporarily lose our sense of smell or taste. A lovingly prepared meal can be set before us, and it looks so appetizing. We can be so hungry that we long to eat it, but as we put the food into our mouth it is not quite the same because we can neither smell the food nor can we taste it. 

The question which must be asked is: How are our spiritual taste buds at this moment in time? In striving maybe after material things, have we lost the taste for the honey which comes from the Lord? In relegating Him to the cupboard our desire for sweet fellowship with Him soon diminishes. Remember it is never too late to make a fresh start with God. He is the God of the second chance, the God of the second mile, the God of the double portion.  Praise God He ever will remain the God of Sustenance and Enjoyment, Comfort and Satisfaction to all those who feed upon Him.

Taken from the book, Psalms: The Pilgrims Ascent, by A. B. Saint