 Psalm 18:33
He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, And sets me upon my high places. Psalm 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. Did you know that there are over 45 verses in the Bible on deer? If God used that picture that often, I’m sure we should take a closer look. I know from research that deer have only one safety feature from predators: that they are quiet. They try to stay as quiet as possible from hunters, using their massive ears to detect the smallest sound. Their coloring provides camouflaged protection and they are swift runners. They live chiefly on the defense; they can see 180 degrees as they are eating or drinking to see prey around them. So in the Psalm 42 verse which says “my heart pants for you”….panting is a dire and noisy activity. This does not fit the deer's defense tactics. Panting involves deep gasping. Deer have very few sweat glands, which we use to exchange heat, panting is their mechanism, in place of the cooling more sweat glands offer. The Hebrew "arag" means "the cry of a deer or domestic animal". If the deer is panting, it is so dehydrated that it desires water over its own safety. By panting it creates sound which makes it easier prey – but it is heading towards the water at all costs. We, in our desire for God and His righteousness, should develop such a deep hunger/thirst for him that we even make ourselves open to the enemy --- we don’t care what they do as long as our thirst is quenched by God. We run to the fountain of Jesus, knowing that He will receive us and set the table in the midst of our enemies. In this marvelous safety we need never fear opening ourselves up to attack in our quest for His deep eternal waters. Does our faith run that deep? In Psalm 18 we see God placing us on high places. The Hebrew word for "high place" can mean ridge, mountain, battlefield, and even burial mound. If you read the verses before and after vs.33, the poet uses many military terms --- as in defeating God's enemies. The context of this verse is to be lifted above a battle to a safe place of victory. God can set us--- a defenseless hart/deer--- in a position of a safe fort away from the enemy. Deer in battle....This sounds so odd! I have never seen deer used in battle. Elephants, horses, and donkeys have been used, but never deer. We see that God uses our weakness to promote His greatness in our lives. When the battle is won, it is the hand of the Lord which does it, not the strength of the deer. Yet, we placed in the high place, see this victory first hand. When the panting times come, run to the Living Water. When the battle cry rages, let the Lord lift you up. Isaiah 35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.
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 . Colossians 3:3 "For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God." As we all know, Johann Sebastian Bach was the finest and probably the most brilliant composer in human history. His perfection to form, harmony, melody and compositional unity in pieces staggers the mind. His influence on all other composers after him reveals the tremendous ripple effect in man's music collection. Surely, without a Bach there would have been no Beethoven, Mendelsohn and others. His influence on music is well stated in the words of Johannes Brahms (1833–1897): "Study Bach: there you will find everything." In 2016 a hand-written piece from Bach was discovered and sold at private auction. "Prelude pour la Luth ò Cembal" (for lute or keyboard) was written between 1740-1745. It sold for over three million dollars. This piece fits on 3 pieces of paper. After Bach's death his widow was put in a difficult financial place with so many children to care for. In trying to make money, some of Bach's music was sold. Some of his music was sold, not for the music, but for the paper. A few of his violin pieces were saved in stacks in "wrapping paper" or "butcher paper" which have been preserved today. We will never know how much of Bach's music was destroyed in this manner. Butcher paper. That's like selling the Constitution to a wallpaper company, or using a $100 bill to roll up and start a fire. These papers are much more valuable because of what was produced on them. Imagine the fervor, the brilliance and musical value of Bach's piece wrapping up a stinky dead fish. A fugue on a bloody rump roast. A concerto sealing up a chicken. It boggles the mind. We stagger back in horror. The most valuable products of human creativity --- sold for a few pennies then used for such a common purpose. Bach's music welcomed royalty to their thrones and accompanied the holiest of Church events. Bach's chorales ever elevated the truth of Jesus Christ and His life to the listener. High cathedrals kissed the notes of Bach's organ tones ---- now the carcass of a pig touched these notes. Death was wrapped up in ultimate brilliance and beauty. It seems such a waste. Until we think of Christ......and us. We are are that dead chunk of meat. Sold at the market, we were born just as dead and rotting in this world of sin and decay. We are sold at the meat market with very little value. No lasting value, that is. Without outside intervention, we are to be sold into oblivion eaten by festering flies. Now imagine being wrapped in a piece of paper with the must sublime melody printed on it --- a one- of-a- kind symphony clothing you in song. This song once lit the hallways of heaven and now touches your utter helplessness. Raw meat touching the warmest of musical thoughts. Death wrapped in life --- the ultimate dichotomy. Christ did for this at the moment of rebirth in Him. When we have washed our souls in the blood at the cross, we are wrapped in a priceless paper ---- a linen of Christ's song of righteousness. This comes completely from Him, not of our own merit or doing. This song is written in Christ's own hand, from His own eternal mind, flawless in form. The blood ink flows from his hands and feet, the rarest of mercy inks. He chooses to wrap our sin-state and our "deadness" in this precious manuscript, covering us with his beauty. Isn't this a waste? Putting something so irreplaceable on something so wretched --- it does not make sense to the human mind. "My ways are not your ways", says the Lord. His mercy, lovingkindness and sacrifice is the ultimate act of restoration. He does it in the most un-human of ways, which the world calls foolishness. He chooses the butcher paper. Imagine being an 18th century German housefrau coming home with your pack of meat --- unwrapping it on the wooden table and seeing the notes scribbled on the paper. You look closer in curiosity --- you see the name "JS Bach" and the words "Soli Deo Gloria" at the bottom. You realize in complete horror and joy that you have carried home a priceless song which led men into worship -- written for the glory of God. People should see us as that strange combination --- we, the weak fleshly people we are, yet carefully wrapped in the Lord's work --- the butcher paper of redemption. On it is written the song of the saints: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!" As our lives are unwrapped, the stamp of "Soli Deo Gloria" (all glory to God alone) comes clearly into view. Revelation speaks of saints wrapped in white robes who have dipped their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Holy butcher paper. What a sight. Lord, keep us all wrapped in your butcher paper of heaven. Let your Song envelope us, shape us, and identify us with You alone.  |
AuthorRochelle Felsburg is a music teacher, Church music director, teacher, pianist, hostess, gardener, and writer. She is a crazy cat lady. Most of all she's her husband's (Darren's) girlfriend! Archives
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