My church had its annual picnic this morning! There was some rain,
but we were under a roof, and we still did the water-balloon toss. And,
as happened last year, my water balloon broke, even though I caught
it! Last year, it just unravelled, squirting in mid-air. This year, it
burst in my hands when I caught it.
The sermon was good. The pastor was envisioning David, watching
sheep alone and having time to think, contemplating the design of
himself and the world around him. I can identify with that, even though
I believe in evolution. The world is wonderful, however it came to be
as it is. Yet, there are evolutionists who point to things in nature
that do not work that well. Evolution can lead to a design that is
good, yet flawed.
We were reading Psalm 139. The Vacation Bible School this coming
week will be focusing on Psalm 139. Psalm 139 has beautiful verses
about God’s omnipresence and creation of each and every one of us. The
Psalmist calls himself fearfully and wonderfully made! Yet, vv 19-22
have things about God destroying the wicked and the Psalmist’s hatred of
God’s enemies. I doubt these verses will be mentioned in
Vacation Bible School! I remember being in a Bible study group, and we
read Psalm 139. Someone in the group noted that the Psalmist says that
he hates God’s enemies with perfect hatred. His hatred was
perfect. Was it? Well, Jesus talks about the importance of loving our
enemies. Still, I can identify with the Psalmist’s sentiment that
murderers were disturbing his own peace and the peace of the people, and
his desire for God to stop that.
I one time attended a liberal Seventh-Day Adventist church. We would
do a liturgy, and the liturgy would quote a Bible passage while
omitting the violent parts. For some reason, one reader would
intentionally read aloud those omitted verses as part of the liturgy!
Why, I do not know. He himself was rather liberal. Maybe he wanted us
just to be real about what the Bible said, rather than putting the Bible
into some soothing package.
Still, maybe it is not that bad that kids next week at the Vacation
Bible School will be focusing on the soothing, positive aspects of Psalm
139. These parts reinforce attitudes that can encourage them not to be like the wicked whom Psalm 139 criticizes!