Presented to the Swift Current Corps 23 Janaury 2011
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Psalm 147:10 records “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man.” I thought this was an appropriate passage to look at on Robbie Burns Day. For Christmas Susan bought me some Bible Commentaries on Psalms from the Word Biblical Commentary set – this is part of the reason why we are still looking at the book of Psalms in our Sunday meetings. In one of these books, in the author’s preface to the first edition of Volume I, the author, Peter C. Craigie, writes:
… for years I had been mystified by the psalms. I belong to a tradition in the church in which the psalms continue to be used regularly in worship. And yet as a teenager singing the psalms, their words for the most part contained little meaning for me; they were songs of a remote and distant land, with no evident relevance to my own world. It was the custom in Scotland for boys to wear the kilt to church on Sunday; to this day I can recall singing the words of Psalm 147:10 ‘Neither delighteth he in any man’s legs’. I pondered at that time the question of whether scripture condemned the kilt.[1]
When I read Peter Craigie’s quote I knew immediately what I should preach on while I am wearing my kilt for Robbie Burns Day. First, does anyone know who Robbie Burns is? Robert Burns (1759-1796) was an 18th Century Scottish poet and songwriter who wrote hundreds of lasting tributes to Scottish life in both song and poetry. Of himself, he wrote:
A Scottish Bard, proud of the name, and whose highest ambition is to sing in his country’s service, where shall he so properly look for patronage as to the illustrious names of his native land: those who bear the honours and inherit the virtues of their ancestors? The poetic genius of my country found me, as the prophetic bard Elijah did Elisha—at the plough, and threw her inspiring mantle over me. She bade me sing the loves, the joys, the rural scenes and rural pleasures of my native soil, in my native tongue; I tuned my wild, artless notes as she inspired (ROBERT BURNS, Edinburgh, April 4, 1787).[2]
Robert Burns is a poet; he is not to be confused with Scotland’s patron saint, who is St. Andrew from the Bible. St. Andrew’s Day is the 30th of November and it is a national holiday in Scotland. Robert Burns Day is the 25th of January and this is a good time for people of Scottish heritage in this country here to get together, wear the kilt, eat haggis, and listen to the bard’s poetry. Sarah-Grace danced with her highland dance troop at the Robert Burn’s dinner at the Legion yesterday.
All right, to our text. In the NIV Verse 10 reads: “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior [or 'man' in place of 'warrior' depending on the year published];” the rest of this sentence is contained in verse 11: “the LORD delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.”
This sentence tells us something very straightforward. It tells us what God does not delight in and what he does delight in. Psalm 147:10 is not necessarily talking about wearing a kilt, bathing suit, or shorts when it says that God doesn’t delight in a warrior’s legs.[3] This passage is not addressing Christian modesty. It is telling us that if we put our faith in people – in this example the passage by referencing ‘horse’ and ‘warrior’ is specifically referring to devoting our resources to and, by extension, our faith in the army[4] – if we put our faith in people, we will not impress God,[5] who is the creator, preserver, and governor of all things (cf. TSA d. 2). Some scholars suggest that this psalm was once two psalms and that Verse 10 was the conclusion of the first psalm and Verse 11 the commencement of the next one summing up its whole meaning and purpose.[6] Most scholars agree however that in this psalm in the form that we have it now, Verses 10 and 11 sum up the theme and the intent of the entire psalm. As such we shall look at each of these verses today.
Verse 10: “His [God’s] pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior” This verse is specifically referring to the cavalry and the infantry. We have discussed from this pulpit before how for most of their existence Israel and Judah were surrounded by hostile nations until God finally used these hostile nations to destroy Judah and deport the people in 586 BCE (2 Chronicles 36:17-21). Israel and Judah only had a very brief history as a united kingdom. God used King David to unify the kingdom at the end of a long civil war (1 Samuel 31 – 2 Samuel 5) and then because of the sins of David’s son, Solomon, God broke it apart again (1 Kings 11-12; cf. 2 Chronicles 10). One of the things the children of Israel were told way back when they left Egypt with Moses was not to get horses from Egypt (Deuteronomy 17:16). This reference to horses – just like in our text today - was a reference to putting faith in the military instead of in God.[7] One of the very first things the second king of Israel (Solomon) did was to get horses from Egypt (1 Kings 4:26, 9:19, 10:26; 2 Chronicles 1:14, 9:23; cf. Deuteronomy 17:16). The prophet Samuel warned the people – when God and the people were in the process rejecting the leadership of his own corrupt sons – he warned them that if they were a unified country under a single political leader that the leader would press their children into military service (1 Samuel 8:1-22). King Solomon and his heirs and his descendants did just this and more as they ignored this advice and continued to put their faith in themselves, their military, their legs, and their horses until God finally has enough and puts an end to all of their reigns (2 Chronicles 36:17-21).
How about us here today in this room? Do we ever fall into this same trap? Do we sometimes put our faith in the strength of the horse or the legs of a warrior, of a man? Do we ever put our faith in something other than God? I think we can be tempted to do this in a number of different ways in our society today. I think we do this whenever we do not believe that God will look after our needs. Most people acknowledge that we should give God at least a tenth of the money He gives us through our jobs, our pensions, our businesses, or whatever. I think we fall into the trap of Psalm 147:10’s sin of putting our faith in the horse and the legs of a man when we don’t at least tithe our income. I think when we withhold more than 90% of our income from God; we are saying pretty vocally that we don’t trust Him to provide for even ten percent of our needs (cf. Psalm 20:7, 33:17, Amos 2:14-15, Matthew 6:31-34; Luke 9:57-62, 18:19-30; Acts 2: 42-47; Hebrews 4). I think when we just try to solve our problems with our own thoughts and abilities; failing to petition God in prayer when we have decisions to make, we are showing God we don’t have faith in God. I think whenever we know what is right to do in a given circumstance but give into peer or a colleague’s pressure, it shows that we are putting our faith in the majority – democracy, the sin of the book of judges (cf. Judges 21:25) – instead of putting our faith in God. I think that when we make our decisions as to what we should do with our time and our abilities based on our wallets rather than on revelation from God - which comes from praying and reading the Bible - then we are committing the sin of our text today of putting our faith in the strength of the horse or the legs of the warrior man.
Let me give you a horrible example of putting one’s faith in money rather than God that has been near and dear to my heart lately (cf. Matthew 6:19-34). The advancement of the Kingdom of God has suffered what looks like some serious set backs in Swift Current here over the last couple of weeks. We know that putting faith in anything other than God is basically a rejection of Him and His kingdom. A New Testament equivalent to this warning about putting our faith in horses and men’s legs would be from Matthew 6:24-27.[8] I know you’ll recognize it as I read it:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
You cannot serve both God and money. ‘The Center’ downtown – which was started by God through a local church, renounced its Christian faith in the past weeks in favour of the secular religion. They wrote this:
The Community Youth Initiative as of December 15, 2010 has officially obtained a nonprofit status. From this point forward we will be known as the Swift Current Community Youth Initiative (SCCTI). Our entity or registration number is XXXXXX. This has opened the door to more corporate funding. Additional grant monies are now available because the SCCTI is NOT designated as a religious organization.
The Center’s programme decided NOT to be a Christian ministry anymore so that they could get more money. Now this claim that you are able to raise more money if you are not a Christian organization is not true but even if it were true, Matthew 6:24: ‘You cannot serve both God and money’; ‘you will devoted to the one and despise the other’. Psalm 147:10 “His [God’s] pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior.”
We don’t have to make this wrong choice our lives that the Center and the Swift Current Youth Initiative did. There is another way, Psalm 147:11: “the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”
Now ‘fear’ can mean a lot of things in the Bible. Don’t worry I am not going to do an exhaustive word study here. The word translated ‘fear’ in this verse, ‘yare’, in the tense and context that it is used here refers quite simply to a moral reverence. It is a kind of deference but it does not include any of the moral dread that is involved with other variations of the word.[9] An example of this ‘fear’, ‘yare’ in our society is sort of like when one is in court and the judge tells you specifically to remove your hat, you do it. Mind you this may have a little bit of the aforementioned dread involved. This ‘yare-fear’ would probably be – in this context - more like if someone meets me on a Saturday or when I am on vacation and I am out of uniform and they are using rather rough language with a lot of profanity and swear words. As soon as they find out that I am an Officer, the equivalent of a pastor plus, they immediately apologize for every swear word they ever uttered in my presence (or anyone else’s sometimes) prior to making that discovering. Their ‘watching their language’ is out of respect for my vocation, my calling. It is not out of fright at all. Likewise, we in the Lord’s courtroom need to respect his authority and we can also put our faith in his unfailing love.
This unfailing love (checed), as it is translated relates to a strong sense of goodwill especially as can be relied on in real times of need (cf. Deuteronomy 7:7,12; Psalm 89:24, 28, 33, 49; 2 Samuel 7:15; Isaiah 55:3).[10] Sometimes this word is translated as ‘mercy’ or ‘kindness’. This word, checed, relates to the person you can turn to in a crisis. We all have friends and family but we know that when the chips are down we really can’t rely on all of them. Some people let us down. This word for love or mercy applied in this context refers to one who will never let us down in a time of need. And this is God.
The Lord delights in those of us who respect Him – who care enough about His station and His feelings to watch our language around Him. And He can be trusted in our time of need because of His unfailing love for us (cf. John 3:16ff.). We don’t need to rely on horse and men’s legs. We don’t need to rely on cavalry and infantry. We don’t need to rely on man or Mammon. We don’t need to rely on people or money. We don’t need to rely on anyone in place of God. God will provide.
Corporately we should never deny our Christian faith in order to get government money like the Swift Current Center’s Community Youth Initiative did by intentionally rejecting its Christian roots and adopting the secular, so-called ‘non-religious’ religion instead. Individually we should make sure that we don’t make our decisions based on what other people think or on our own abilities and prejudices. We don’t need to withhold our tithe money because we think we can’t make ends meet without it. Do you really think that if you give God His tithe that He will unjustly let you starve to death? Do you not trust God? Do you put your faith in your own ability to handle your finances more than you put your faith in God? Who is best to look after you: you, the government (as is the hopes of the Center’s SC Youth Initiative), or God. Doctrine 2 of The Salvation Army says, “We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.” We need only to serve God. Not money, not pride, not laziness, not whatever else it is that takes our focus off of God. When we seek first the Kingdom of God, all else that we need will be given unto us (Matthew 6:33).
So today I charge us all, if we have been intentionally withholding any of our time from God by not reading our Bibles; if we have been withholding any of our time from God by not praying to Him but rather have been spending all of our so-called ‘free time’ watching television, playing video games or gossiping with friends; if we trust more in Oprah or Dr. Phil, Law and Order or your cousin Fred’s advice than we do in God; if we have not been tithing because bills are tight; then indeed we are putting our faith in horse and the legs of men. If there is anyone or anything in our life that we are tempted to put our trust in ahead of God than that is the naked knee in our life that we must cover up (cf. 1 Corinthians 8-9). Today I trust that none of us will be distracted by the naked knees of life but that we will all instead trust in the merciful love of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Let us pray.
[1] Peter C. Craigie, 'Psalms 1-50', 2nd ed. (WBC 19: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 2004), Author’s preface to the first edition.
[2] Cited from, C.D. Merriman, ‘The Literature Network: Robert Burns’ (Jalic Inc. 2006), cited 17 January 2011, available on-line at http://www.online-literature.com/robert-burns/
[3] Cf. Charles H. Spurgeon, ‘The Treasury of David Vol. 3: Psalms 101-150’, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, page 429.
[4] John H. Stek, ‘ Note on Psalm 147’, (NIV Study Bible: Zondervan: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2002), 950.
[5] Cf. Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1975 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 16), S. 523
[6] Cf. Leslie C. Allen, 'Psalms 101-150', 2nd ed., (WBC 21: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 2002), 383 – some even suggest 3 psalms; Cf. also Charles H. Spurgeon, ‘The Treasury of David Vol. 3: Psalms 111-150’, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers,
[7] Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Deuteronomy/Exposition of Deuteronomy/III. The Second Address: Stipulations of the Covenant-Treaty and Its Ratification (4:44-28:68)/C. Specific Stipulations of the Covenant-Treaty (12:1-26:19)/2. National concerns (16:18-19:21)]/d. Appointment of and rules for a king (17:14-20), Book Version: 4.0.2
[8] Cf. Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1975 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 16), S. 523
[9] 'Yare', in The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words. (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1966), p. 395. Cf. also Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, ‘3373: yare’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.59.
[10] John H. Stek, ‘ Note on Psalm 6:8’, (NIV Study Bible: Zondervan: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2002), page 792; Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, ‘2617: checed’ yare’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.46.
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