Knowing God – part 6

Continuing to the end of Psalm 33:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all humankind;
from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth–
he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.
No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
a horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you. 

14. The LORD sees all mankind from his dwelling place.

1. I have a hard time grasping this one for a few reasons: a] from my dwelling place I can barely see into the neighbor’s backyard – when I’m upstairs.  When I’m downstairs I can’t see anything anywhere, I have to go outside to catch a glimpse of the smokers across the street.  b] all mankind is a foreign phrase to me.  I can’t comprehend the number of people who live in my town [6,255].  I don’t actually even know the number of people on my block or who lives there.  But God can see all mankind – meaning every person on every block in every town, city, suburb, metropolis, in every district, county, state, country, nation, and continent.  Even as I mention each of those places, the majority of them mean nothing to me – but God sees it all.

15. The LORD forms the hearts of all and considers everything they do.

1. Not only can he see them all, he is responsible for molding each person’s heart…and then he observes all that they do with that heart.  Every single person in all of history!  I can’t even begin to list all of the famous ones, the ones in history books and PBS specials!  But he shaped the hearts of the unknown and watched the very things that they did!  Not just watches, but considers, thinks about, takes in and comprehends.

16.   The LORD watches those who fear him and on those whose hope is in his unfailing love He delivers them from death and keeps them alive in famine.

1. Fearing God has always been a distant thing from me, something I’ve had trouble defining and applying.  But I think fearing God is considering his involvement in a situation and understanding, because of his great power and abilities, he could at anytime turn the tables and make things different – for better or worse.  And he appreciates that, he appreciates it enough to provide sustaining help along the journey in the desert and wasteland.  Not just in a physical world, but in the spiritual one, where everlasting exists.

17. The LORD is my help and shield.

1. And finally, the Lord is my help and shield.  It’s as if David has taken stock of everything that is God and that he is about and determines that God is his supplier and protector.  That is what knowledge of God is – understanding his abilities and how they operate in my life, how they change me!  Now let it change me!