Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Good morning. Would you pray with me?
Dear Lord, may we listen to your word, understand it and act upon it in obedience?
Today I will be reading Psalm 27.
The Lord is my light and salvation.
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life.
Of whom shall I be afraid when evildoers assail me to devour my flesh.
My adversaries and foes, they shall stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.
Though war rise up against me, yet will I be confident.
One thing I asked of the Lord, that I will seek after to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble.
He will conceal me under the COVID of his tent.
He will set me high on a rock.
Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me.
And I will offer in his tent sacrifices.
With shouts of joy.
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud.
Be gracious to me and answer me.
Come, my heart says, seek his face.
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.
Do not turn your servant away in anger.
You who have been my help, do not cast me off. Do not forsake me, O God, of my salvation.
If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up.
Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path.
Because of mine enemies.
Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries. For false witnesses have risen against me and they are breathing out violence.
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord.
Be strong and let your heart take courage.
Wait for the Lord.
This is the word of the Lord.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Kalyn, for reading the scriptures. Good morning.
If you're new here, my name is William, and I'm so glad to share the word of the Lord today. This morning.
A Catholic missionary from Belgium by the name Placid Temple went to evangelize in Central Africa in the 1930s.
And like many other expatriates, he had fears.
Especially fears of things that he didn't know. Fear of unknown enemies, attack, or even the climate in Africa, tropical diseases.
And even he wondered how people would receive him there.
And he probably knew many like him who never made it. Maybe they went there, but they didn't made it. They didn't make it.
In his mission work, Placid did not just evangelize fast, but he spent time prayerfully looking around just to understand where he was in desire to understand the basic principles influencing the behavior and life of the Mbaluba people of the present day Democratic Republic of Congo.
In his prayerful and inquisitive quest to discover a conceptual framework around his evangelization, his eyes were opened to something that he thought was beautiful.
He noted a unifying force, or rather a glue that kind of held the people together.
And when he discovered that, he did not only notice that the people were held together by a kind of a glue, there was so much glued together, but he noticed a unifying notion within those people, the Ambaluba people.
And it was kind of a way of thinking and a way of life.
He was amazed by that notion. It was a notion of interconnectedness of the people and interdependence of those people.
And he realized that it was not just the people, but this interconnectedness was all about the divine.
The living dead, the dead, and even the people who are alive. Older people, younger people, plants and animals, even rivers and mountains, the fire, the wind, and even the land. All these things were so much interconnected. And there was a lot of interdependence, you know, in the kind of thinking, the way of thinking and life of the Baluba people.
Now, this reality actually evangelized. The reality evangelized this missionary, Placid.
It was deepened. It was deeply touched by this, and it really changed his perspective.
He named that glue that holds everything together, Vital energy. That's the name he gave to that kind of a glue that held all these people together, he thought.
And then he thought. Such a beauty gave him some inner confidence even to engage into the work of witnessing evangelization.
Now, Placid may not have known this was the same idea of the umpuntu I am because we are.
The same notion is said to exist in a number of people, not just in Africa, but in a number of people. For example, the Edu will call this prama, this kind of a thing that holds them together. Interconnectedness, interdependence. And in South Africa, I mean South America, they call it Pachamama, interconnectedness.
And even the Hawaiians have a word for this. It's gi. I will spell that G.
The Koreans call it chi, and the Chinese will call it Ki for Placid.
This was a God thing.
This was a good thing for Placid, and he called it beautiful.
Psalms 27 is one among the collection of 150 individual Psalms spanning centuries, reflecting human emotion and experience.
Writers like Moses, David, Solomon and others share perspectives of faith and life with themes like worship, themes like justice, beauty and protest.
Now, traditional views place this psalm during the lifetime of David. And this is the monarchical. It's called the manakio period between 1586 BCE.
Now, the Psalm wrestles with a fundamental question of faith and under pressure. It's kind of this question of faith under pressure, how to maintain trust in God when facing enemies, abandonment, or life threatening circumstances.
A familiar reality in Israel at this particular time, as seen from the threatening language and military imagery in the text.
Words like evildoers attack, attacking my flesh, enemies and even army arising against me, war breaking against me.
Beyond the physical conflict in our world today, deeper fears characterize our age.
Economic uncertainties, social, political tension, natural disasters like fire and existential anxiety.
Recent Pew Research statistics say that about a quarter of the US Adults say they worry a lot, that they would be deported or some people close to them would be separated from them.
A lot of anxiety, a lot of pressure.
Remember this question of faith, how to trust and how to, you know, have that faith in God in a time of distress or even under pressure.
Now, in this text, verse 1 to 6 expresses a bold confidence of this writer, kind of this theological confidence, faith that remains steadfast.
The Lord is my light and my salvation.
And you know that you can be sure, even when my mother and my father forsake me, the Lord will receive me and I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. There is such confidence in this psalm by the author or by the writer.
In verse six, I mean seven to 14, there's an aspect of vulnerability and petition and prayer for protection, and that's kind of emphasized there. But then you notice that between the confidence, one side of confidence and the other side of vulnerability that is displayed in this text lies the one thing verse, which is verse four. One thing that I ask of the Lord, that will I seek after to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in the temple.
Now, this psalm presents us with a kind of theology where God serves as light, refuge, salvation, and even a stronghold.
But also it invites us to another kind of a posture, a posture of dwelling, seeking and gazing, dwelling in the temple, seeking and gazing at God's beauty. And I'm struck with gazing at the beauty of the Lord.
Now, the Hebrew word yashab, which translates to dwell, suggests permanent residence Continuous or constant stay in the temple, in the temple space, in the house of the Lord.
What is this temple? What is this space? Because the writer is talking about dwelling in the house of the Lord, gazing at the beauty of the Lord, and also seeking in the temple. So what is this temple?
Now, friends, you will realize that the temple, the word temple in the New Testament is this kind of a place. You know, there are different words that have been used. There is the temple, there is also tabernacle. There is also, you know, the tent of the meeting. Kind of the place where people would meet to encounter, I mean, to have a moment before their God.
But the temple, there are some aspects which really defined the temple. And it kind of, you know, struck me when I was reading about this, to realize what really meant when we talk about this space, the temple.
Now, the temple was a beautiful structure.
It had the highest expression of human artistry, aesthetics, architecture and craftsmanship.
This is from limestone outer walls, the inner walls of gold.
It is made of cedar woods from Lebanon.
Then the floor is made of cypress wood.
Then there are these carved cherubims. They are just kind of beautiful creatures. They are carved in, in the temple.
Then the temple had pillars of bros.
And there was the outsider, the outside part. There was the basin. This was the basin where people would kind of wash their feet before they enter the temple. It was made of bros. It's kind of, you know, lots of beauty here.
Yes. And then there was the linen cloth which kind of just covered the olli of olives. That particular place in the temple where only the priest would enter.
And when he enters there, he did this once per year to atone for the sins of the people.
And that was kind of a, you know, a no gone place, no gone space. But it was, you know, covered with this beautiful kind of a linen, a cloth.
And then all this beauty, apart from just those things that made the temple then inside, there were all these kind of different kinds of acts, you know, that really magnificently beautified that place.
So that's really a beautiful place, the temple.
It's not just about that kind of a beauty. But the temple was a place of worship and divine presence.
This is the center of Israel's sacrificial system whereby they will sacrifice, you know, the offerings we call the sin offering, even other kinds of offerings, like the peace offerings. So it is a place of sacrifice. It's a place of worship. Another thing about the temple, it was God's earthly dwelling space. That is the space where God is. And you will See that a lot in, you know, a lot of, a lot of the scriptures. When we look at about what we read about the temple, this is like where hearth and heaven meets. It's kind of a meeting place, both the earth and the heaven.
And remember, there was fire at one particular time that came from heaven. In the book of 2nd Chronicles, chapter 1, verse 3, when Solomon was dedicating the temple.
Remember, David wanted to build the temple of the Lord, but he was told, no, your son will do this. And Solomon actually built the temple. And at a time when he was dedicating it, fire kind of came from heaven. And there was this kind of Shekinah glory that covered the temple. And it was this magnificent kind of, you know, a cloud, some fire, glorious moment covering the temple. It was such a beautiful manifestation of God's presence and faithfulness to his people.
Now the temple was central to Israelites national and ethnic identity even beyond its religious function. It was kind of a symbol of identity and it also served as the center of education. So if you want to learn, you go to the temple. There was, you know, education there, things like law, history and other kinds of, you know, knowledge or pieces of pieces of knowledge. You know, it was a resource center where people will go there to be educated.
Quite a place. It was also an economic and social center. It should not surprise us when you hear from the scriptures, you know, people selling and buying in the temple. You know, this is. This was happening in the temple. There was nothing wrong with that. People would do that in the temple. In fact, there was even the, you know, the collection of taxes. There was what was called the temple taxes that would happen in the temple. It was also the place where orphans and widows were cared for. You know, there was that, you know, aspect of, you know, caring for the needy in the temple. And it was also a political center in some sense. And I should say that rulers of the day gained political legitimacy from through associating themselves with the temple. So the temple really kind of gave them some legitimacy in their political endeavors. It was also a symbol of law, order and justice.
Now what is all this about the temple? Remember, this is the space where the psalmist in verse 4 of the text that we read, the idea of dwelling the temple or in the house of the Lord, the idea of seeking and the idea of gazing upon beauty in the house of the Lord. And then you've just heard all these kind of things about the temple. In short, life happened in the temple. Life happened in the temple. The temple was not a private space, but A public space.
Therefore, dwelling in the temple would be turned about to dwelling in the public space.
Seeking God and gazing at God's beauty would happen in the public space, not just a private, sacred religious space.
Yes, it is sacred, it is religious. But then it is public, public space.
Now, that means if anyone wanted to dwell in the temple all the days, like the scriptures tell us, all the days of their life, they would not just be seated with their eyes closed, only meditating on God's word and thinking about God's character, or enjoying the magnificent artistry and beauty in the temple, but they would definitely be actually interacting with people in the temple. For example, they will be met with some orphans there and some widows there, because that is where widows and orphans are cared for. They will meet people there selling and buying, because there is some aspect of economy, there is an economic aspect of the temple. Then again, they will meet the temple tax officials because they were there to collect the tax. I mean, the temple tax.
And even they will also meet with people maybe coming there for some pilgrimage. Whether it is the Passover or whether it is child naming, people will be gathered there. So this is a public space.
So if the reality of the temple is anything to go by, then, friends, then dwelling in the temple, seeking and gazing upon beauty, is a public act of faith that is concerned with not just personal piety and enjoyment of God's character, but the intentional awareness of God's presence and glory in. In the social world, in the world in totality, we have to dwell, to seek and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord in those natural, spiritual, social, economic and political realities of life, not just in one particular space.
The Hebrew word for beauty is noam. This word noam, which translates in the light, pleasantness, sweetness, suggests God's character and works as attractive and satisfying.
The Hebrew word, again chaza, which translates to gaze, means to look with curiosity. Not just to glance at beauty, but to look with some inner curiosity now also to look with some wonder, you know, kind of just wonder.
And even to contemplate upon what you are gazing at or what you are looking at. You know, this kind of a thing, God's beauty, God's beauty in the world and in the space where we are always at.
Now, friends, God's beauty or presence is not just found in isolation or in personal piety. It is everywhere. Where life happens, where there is mess in the evil society out there, there is beauty as well.
There is God's presence as well. And it beckons our gaze. This beauty beckons our gaze. It wants us to look at it. I mean, to gaze at it with curiosity, with wonder, with inquisitiveness and delight.
And I want to say it is transformative when we have this perspective of identifying and looking for this beauty out forever, wherever we are. It's not closing our eyes to the reality of pain and evil in the world. No, but it's opening our eyes to God's beauty and presence wherever we are. When disaster comes like mighty waters, when doctors offer us terrible diagnosis, when faced with the challenge of even homelessness and other challenges in society, we choose to gaze at the beauty and name that beauty, the dignity in people even though they are homeless, you know, the joy and the love of God in everything that we see. Which gives us a perspective, even in our response, you know, when we choose that perspective of seeing beauty in the world, seeing God's presence, God's power, God's presence in the world, in the creation. I mean, it gives us a perspective.
Even when we are witnessing, it gives us a perspective. Let us now ask the Lord to open our minds and to open our hearts that we may be able to recognize beauty in the world. And this beauty, it is the presence of the Lord everywhere where we are. And it gives us this kind of a positive attitude, this kind of a positive approach to things.
And it's an act of faith.
It is an act of faith. Sometimes the evil in the world is just so much. The pain in the world is just so much that we may miss the beauty of the Lord. We may miss to realize where God is at work.
And that's what we are invited, especially in this particular text. I sense today that we may dwell. You know, it's a place we have to live.
It's a kind of a notion we have to develop. It's a perspective we have to build. It's a posture. It's a posture we have to dwell, to seek, and more importantly to. To gaze at the beauty of the Lord. May the Lord help us as we go out today and think about where is that beauty? Where do I find it?
And live in that space, live in that posture of finding and seeking and gazing at the beauty of the Lord.
Let us now pray to God to open our eyes to its beauty by singing the hymn 489 in the blue hymnal, Open now the Gates of Beauty.
This is a hymn by German preacher and poet back in the 17th, late 17th and early 18th century, Benjamin Schumach. He wrote this hymn as a reflection of Psalms 27:4.
Gazing at the beauty of the Lord, let us all stand if we are able to.
