Thursday, December 13, 2007

Psalm 56

Just out of curiosity last night I opened the Bible to a random page and this was what I found:

Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me;
Fighting all day long he oppresses me.
My foes have trampled upon me all day long,
For they are many who fight proudly against me.
When I am afraid,
I will put my trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?
All day long they distort my words;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
They attack, they lurk,
They watch my steps,
As they have waited to take my life.
Because of wickedness, cast them forth,
In anger put down the peoples, O God!
You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call;
This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
In the LORD, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
Your vows are binding upon me, O God;
I will render thank offerings to You.
For You have delivered my soul from death,
Indeed my feet from stumbling,
So that I may walk before God
In the light of the living.



Coincidence or not, it was very appropriate for the day. I think it's funny-weird and interesting that good people have been persecuted and tormented by the Godless evil people for a very long time. But it's also a little sad that even after all these centuries and technological, educational, "rational" and other advances, there are still mean, rotten pitchforks in the world who just can't resist being hateful to those who actually try to be good and moral, and especially to those who try to instruct others about goodness and morality. Well, it's just too bad. I guess evolution hasn't been any more successful at cleaning up the human population than religion or any other pillars of civilization.

2 comments:

Guy said...

Coincide, go inside.
Seek the truth in echoes.

Come now, not just godless people have persecuted, as you know. Christians in islamic lands suffer everyday, even Today. As do pagans and atheists for that matter even worse than Christians or Jews.

I've often wondered how the human race's evolution is being influenced by the artificial selection and de-facto breeding programs that are brought about by the last 10,000 years or so of belief systems. Is the human brain adapting to be more or less impressionable to faith? Has our ability to discern the deeper meanings shifted in that time?

Good quote from the Word, by the way. Thanks for sharing that.

Rae Ann said...

Hi Guy, thanks, and you're right, of course, that godliness does not necessarily determine one's goodness.

I've also wondered how our social constructs have affected our biological evolution. I suspect that one can't really determine exactly which is more influential in the broader long term. But all of yours are good, thoughtful questions.

There is a lot of wisdom in the Word.