Psalm 68:5-10 -- God Our Savior . . . and Refreshment?

I know this is my 3rd post on this week, but the Spirit was moving me and making so many connections the week I completed this part of our study. Not only were the first few days amazing with the Romans scriptures, but I eventually had any amazing insight when I read these verses as well. Plus, my devotional for one of the mornings was entitled "Father to the Fatherless". . . The Holy Spirit was really driving home this concept for me!

The first day, I followed what the study guide said and discovered the main idea: God is our Savior! Whatever our problem, God is going to be there for us to helps us and provide what we need. I examined the various translations of verse 6 and what really stuck out for me was about setting prisoners free and giving them joy. I really appreciate this because that is exactly how I feel since I have come back to the Lord. I am free from being a slave to the world and am now a slave to Jesus (I know I sound like Brantlee's echo). The part in the verse about the rebels made perfect sense to me, too, because that was where I was at only about 8 months ago. They "dwell in a parched [or sun-scorched] land", "an unproductive land", and for them "there is only famine and distress". To me this signifies how these rebels will be separate from God in 2 ways: 1. On Earth they will be without God's protection and therefore will have to deal with the distress that comes from that, and 2. After death, they will be separate from God because they will not be with Him in Heaven.

As great as it was to relate to verse 6 in such a personal way, I had an even more wonderful discovery on the next day when I examined the meanings of some of the words in the verses and looked at some synonyms for some of the words as well. I chose to look more closely at verse 9 specifically "refreshed" and "inheritance". Again, the word "refreshed" perfectly describes how I feel! It means "to revive . . . give new vigor or spirit to", or "to give new freshness to; restore", or "to fill up again; replenish". God has certainly revived me and given me a new spirit. I feel restored and replenished! But what about inheritance . . . I thought of the actual thing that an heir would inherit, but this verse is calling the heirs "His weary inheritance". How many of us have been weary? Some before discovering God, others who had become spiritually dry, and God came along and refreshed us all!

I read this verse right after Robbie (a pastor from our sending church Riverbend) gave a sermon demonstrating how River's Edge should follow the example of the first century church as described in Acts 2:42-47. He said that River's Edge is a fresh start for many people. He challenged us to see God like we had never seen him before! He said with a church plant like this there is a newness, a freshness. When I read the Psalm, that word "refresh" really stood out to me, and that is why. The Spirit was trying to show me how, yes . . . Right now . . . God is refreshing His weary inheritance right here in BL. How powerful is that?!