Psalm 36
Nearly 40 years ago I preached at a nursing home (do they call them that anymore?) on the middle section of this psalm. I probably have my notes buried underneath a pile of papers somewhere in my office. I don’t recall what I said, but I do recall how talking about the majesty and magnificence of God seemed to lift a spirit of darkness that had been in that room.
For all these years since I have read this psalm and thought about that day some in 1980 or 1981. What strikes me now is the contrast I missed then. The psalmist writes that the wicked have no dread of God. The Hebrew word could be translated ‘shaking.’ The wicked, as the psalmist writes, has a high opinion of himself or herself and thus has lost an appreciation of the majesty of God.
We are celebrating Advent and during this week I’ve been challenged to pay attention to John the Baptist. Here is one who recognized God’s majesty. While yet in his mother’s womb he acknowledged the Messiah, then carried in Mary’s womb. Perhaps John’s potency lies not so much in the manner of his dress, the strange foods, but in the simple fact of his ability to recognize the majesty of God.
The disciple John, one of Jesus’ earliest followers, tried to capture some of the magnificence of God as he recorded Jesus’ words that reflect this Psalm. In the prologue to his account of Jesus’ life, John described Jesus as the true light (John 1:9) who has come into the world.
These first days of Advent are days of diminishing sunlight. Perhaps the darkness is not just physical. Maybe the darkness needs to be lit with a fresh understanding of the light of the world, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
WINSTON COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH 