Sunday, August 7, 2016

Struggles of the Soul: Psalm of Solomon 16

I am not sure whether I want to continue meeting with my friends or people in general because they are bound to ask me what I am doing. Explaining my present circumstances may take time and not everyone including those close to me can appreciate what I had gone through in the past several months leading to the end of my ministry at the end of June. Last night I attended the Wira Pusat SIB Sabah Charity Dinner (SIB Men's Fellowship). I had the honour to sit next to the Chairman of the Wira SIB Sabah, an elder of my home church and he is one of earliest friends in SIB and were together with me in the committee when I was District Superintendent of KK District. Yet I found it difficult to relay what I have been going through and I hoped what I said gave grace to the hearers. In the meantime while waiting to see what the Lord will do for me, I have time to reflect on the state of my soul and it is good to realise within ourselves how weak and frail, how sinful and prone to iniquity we are. I read this beautiful Psalm of Solomon (ch. 16) from the Septuagint.
There is no Hebrew text for the Psalms of Solomon and it is not included in the canonical Scripture. Yet some psalms found therein are as inspired as they come:

Rule over me, O God from wicked sin
from every evil woman who causes the foolish to stumble
and let not the beauty of a woman who
transgresses the Law deceive me
nor anything that is subject to useless sin (PsSol 16:5-6).

Men's weakness is women and beauty can be a danger even for the most spiritual of men. Giants have been slain by beauty. Judah, the princes of Judah in the wilderness, Samson, David, Solomon, Ahab and many others have fallen because of women. May God protect those who fear Him from temptation. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil (women) as the Psalmist would pray in the PsSol.

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