What do you think of when you hear about God drawing near? Do you think of a feeling of God's nearness that you have to be looking for lest you miss it? Do you think of Jesus Christ, who "snuck" into the world in the Incarnation? Well, in this psalm, the drawing near of God is not mistakable. There's no sense of sneakiness here- God comes with fire and tempest. The fire is an image of sacrifice- after all, God lit the fire on the altar to the Temple. The tempest is a reminder of God's presence on Mt. Sinai. This time, though, God's presence is not to give the Israelites the Law, but to see how they are doing with the Law.
What follows is a discussion of sacrifices. Animal sacrifice was key to Old Testament spirituality. In the ancient world, sacrifices commonly helped the gods eat. Without the sacrifices, the gods would grow hungry and would unleash their fury until the people started feeding the gods again. God makes this clear that being fed is not the point of the sacrificial system. Then what is the point?
In this psalm, keeping vows and thanksgiving are the primary motivators to the sacrificial system. We respond to God because of God's deliverance and God's rescuing acts. And as we respond to God's saving grace, we keep a dialogue going between God and us. I pray that we keep the dialogue going in our daily walk.
How do you write every day? And so well Too!!
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