Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
I'm not tracking with you here. Where does this come from?
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I was continuing my meditation on Psalm 18, which I'd done in post #386. Here is a more substantial quote, with the salient parts bolded.
20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I am not guilty of turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop[e];
with my God I can scale a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect:
The Lord’s word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him.
God is perfect in all His ways. His word is pure, converting the soul. His testimony is righteous (etc etc - see e.g. Psalm 19). But it says, "to the devious God shows himself as shrewd." So if you are pure, God's word is pure. But if you are corrupted, God's word is corrupted (fallen, low, etc). On a superficial level, WL was right. David was a mortal sinner. David was colored by concepts. We all are. But how does the NT deal with this? Did Peter lambast the failure of David to rise from the dead? In Psalm 16, David said that he wouldn't see corruption, and in Acts 2 Peter said that David was a prophet, and knew that God had promised him a Seed that would endure forever. In the gospels Jesus said the same thing: "David was in spirit, and he was writing about Me".
But WL instead of taking this route, essentially indicted the Psalmists for being low, and fallen, and struggling with their "natural concepts". Did Paul ever indicate this? Did Jesus, or Peter? So I am wondering if maybe God is using this word to expose WL as being himself burdened by natural concepts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
I do not think that God reveals his words as the natural concepts of man. But natural man perceives them in that manner because that is what he is — natural. And since some of the words of God, coming past Lee in the train of vanquished foes was such a stench in his (Lee's) nostrils, it would seem that he was not really one of those who saw God in it, but those who saw death in it. Says something about the god he believed in.
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I don't think we are thinking or writing fundamentally different things. I just used the poetic language of the psalmist to say it.