7 How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.
9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light
Psalms 36:7-9
The Priceless unfailing love
This verse tells us both high and low find the same fulfillment from God’s provision. The picture I see here is of a homeless man walking the streets of New York when he finds a beautiful meal on the edge of a fountain in a courtyard. This meal feels his eyes with delight as he rushes to go to eat it. At the same time, a wealthy business man from the top floor of the building connected to the courtyard, also spies the delicious meal. He runs down to the main floor and hurries out to the fountain to gorge on this scrumptious meal. Both the homeless man and the rich man both feast together on this meal not concerned about the status of the other, only the goodness of the food. They both find delight and fullness in this meal like nothing ever before, better than any fine dining experience for the rich man and better than any fullness the poor man had ever felt.
This is the picture I see that God gives to this world. The Bible is full of stories of both high and low that follow God to do his work and find joy in belonging. Status is of no importance in the Kingdom of God, because God breaks all barriers. The rich and the poor now share something that no one else can even begin to understand. An instant bond is created with love for one another, for with God is the fountain of life! (V9). Only when we fully step into the Kingdom do we see this light (v9) which is why the world does not understand us and rejects what we offer. We need to know that once we partake of this meal we are no longer of the world but we have seen the light and because of this we have to let go of our hold on this life.
In church we often speak of how bad things are in this world. Supreme Court decisions, abortions, persecution of the Church. If only this world would turn around and serve God! Well, the truth is that will never happen. The Bible tells us the world will reject us and become more evil as time goes on. That is the affect of sin. it continues to fester and rot the soul, not only of individuals but also of principalities and powers such as groups and governments. We should not be surprised at this because we once were in the same situation before salvation.
The good news is that we have a seal, the Holy Spirit, as Ephesians tells, us which guarantees our inheritance into the Kingdom. We need not worry about this world. However, our missions should be to take this Turkish Delight to all that we can find who will see how tantalizing it is and partake of it as we did. There are many who need it and the harvest is great. Sometimes I feel as though I do not want to say anything to this world but I am working on boldness to tell others, to share my testimony. Revelations tells us it is by our testimony others will believe. It need not be a sermon or a Bible thumping message, just our story.
note: The NIV version I use here is the 1984 version. The 2011 version of the NIV changes the meaning of verse 7 from “high and low” among men to “people take refuge.” the 2011 version is based on gender neutrality which I think changes the meaning of this passage too much. The actual Hebrew breakdown can be found here. The Hebrew references sons or children of men which has the same meaning I think as “high and low”.
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