It’s official! This summer, Steve and I will be serving as Ministry Coordinators with Adventures In Missions (AIM) in New Orleans this summer. We will be overseeing a staff of 12-15 college-age Ministry Team Leaders and making sure that all of AIM’s ministries in New Orleans run smoothly. We leave on June 2nd and will be there for 10 weeks. Please begin to pray for us as God molds and shapes us as we prepare for this mission.

I’m sure there are many who thought I had abandoned my journaling of the Psalms. Actually, I have been consumed by the Psalms as I just finished writing a paper. In the paper, I conducted a literary analysis of Psalms 42-43. The two psalms were handled together because they were, originally, a single song. This can be seen in the progress of the psalm and the repitition of the same chorus to conclude each stanza. Here are a few thoughts on Psalms 42-43…

1) The song is compromised of three stanzas, each ending with the same chorus.
2) Each stanza progresses the storyline of the psalmist and with each occurence of the chorus, the emphasis changes.
3) The psalmist wrote this when in exile with David after fleeing Absalom, yet longing to be in the sanctuary where he might experience God’s presence. (this was a conclusion in my paper).
Each of these thoughts set up the power of the psalm.

Stanza 1 – Desperation
The psalmist is anguished that he is separated from the sanctuary and longs to be there that he might experience the presence of God. “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God” (Ps. 42:1). This is not a “Oh, it would be nice to have a drink” type of thirst. This was a “I’m gonna die of thirst if I don’t get something to drink” type of thirst. He was desperate to be restored to the presence of God.

Stanza 2 – Depressed and Downcast
The psalmist is still separated from the presence of God. Yet now it is not just desperation, but depression that besets him. He is saddened that God has “forgotten me” (Ps. 42:9). His enemies come upon him and he is not with God. And he is depressed.

Stanza 3 – Depedence leading to Delight
As the song moves to the thirst stanza, Psalm 43, the psalmist is begins to trust in God. He declares, “Send forth yur light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell” (Ps. 43:3). He is still longing to be in God’s presence, but he declares his dependence on God, believing that God will leading him safely into his presence. The psalmist continues, “Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight” (Ps. 43:4). Upon demonstration of dependence, the psalmist is moved to delight in God.

The Message for Us
Something has changed since the time of the psalmist to our time. Jesus has come bringing the very presence of God to us. No longer is God’s presence confined to the sanctuary. Rather, the curtain has been torn and we all have access to the throne of grace by way of the cross of Christ. Thus, Jesus says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mt. 28:20). The psalmist ached to be in the presence of God. Let us delight that, because of Christ, God is with us.

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My whole paper on Psalms 42 and 43 is available here – Structure and Meaning in Psalms 42 and 43

One quote from the “Homosexuality and the Church” conference I attended really struck me and I wanted to share it.

“The opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality. It’s holiness.” – Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International

What a profound statement. The reason Christians have failed in the way we interact with homosexuals is that we keep trying to “fix them.” But the “fix” isn’t someone becoming heterosexual. The “fix” is holiness. The fix is becoming more like Jesus.

If only we would approach all sins, not just homosexuality, with that grace and goal in mind. Do we want people to follow a set of rules? Or do we long for the grace of Christ to transform the hearts of people into the likeness of Christ? Do we call people to stop sinning, or to walk in holiness?

Check out my latest cakes at www.creativecakesbykim.com. I’m having fun taking another class from Wilton and getting more business all the time…maybe this can be my retirement from teaching!

We’d like to welcome Jocelyn Cherisse Ezell into the world! Congrats to Daniel and Celeste.

Click here to meet her!