Jesus Creed

Jesus Creed

Against the Wall: Focal Point

posted by xscot mcknight | 2:10am Friday March 16, 2007

The focal point of this psalmist, a fella who has his back against the wall and is surrounded by those who want to do him in, is this:
The sum of your word is truth;
and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.
It is no wonder that the rabbis love this psalm; it is Torah-centric.
The “sum” or other ideas connected to this term (rosh): tip of a mountain, top of the tower, top of the mast or tree, the ears of a corn, the chief of a nation or group, the best… etc..
The whole is put together into this one word: God’s Word is Truth; everything God says is eternally true. God can do no other.
For that reason, the psalmist faces God with his back against the wall, pleas with God, and asks God to preserve his life.



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Michelle Van Loon

posted March 16, 2007 at 8:32 am


When a person’s back is against the wall, everything the person normally relies on for his or her identity and protection is gone. Facing a catastrophic reordering of his life at the least – or, more probably, death – exposes the true composition of the psalmist’s soul to all of us.
Even in that naked, unprotected state, he is counting completely on the Eternal and Complete to be enough. I am convicted today by the psalmist’s desperate trust, and the reality that this dependence probably didn’t get downloaded to him in a huge spiritual trust-dump once he got up against that wall. It came from a habitual pattern of cherishing God and each letter of His Word.



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