Resplendent with light

DEVOTION

PSALMS

RESPLENDENT WITH LIGHT

Ps 76

In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel. 2 His tent is in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion. 3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shields and the swords, the weapons of war.

Selah 

 4 You are resplendent with light, more majestic than mountains rich with game. 5 Valiant men lie plundered, they sleep their last sleep; not one of the warriors can lift his hands. 6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both horse and chariot lie still. 7 You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry?  8 From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet —  9 when you, O God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land.

Selah 

10 Surely your wrath against men brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.   11 Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them; let all the neighboring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared. 12 He breaks the spirit of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth.

NIV

Well the Hebrew does not use the word resplendent at all, rather it uses luminous, however being resplendent with light would mean being richly colorful, sumptuous. We suppose both the Hebrew and this English translation give us the right idea about the image of God as being filled with light, or light emitting from him in such a way it would almost be impossible to see his actual form. We would have to be an avid hunter to appreciate mountains rich with game or have lived in those days when game was the normal fair at the dinner table. Nevertheless the idea is God is far more majestic then any scene on earth. This gives us that clue about not getting too cozy with the scenes of the world, or the game it holds for us. We might not hunt wild game upon the mountains, but we could hunt other items which the world is rich with. As men, we were designed to be the hunter, gatherer type to support our family, while the ladies were designed as the nester, to care for the nest, making everything nice. Of course those roles are so intermingled in our modern culture and both men and women function as the hunter, gatherer as well as nester, but us men do not do the nesting thing much justice. Nevertheless the idea is that we need to be careful about heading out on the hunt on the mountains. Instead we should be seeking the Lord, hunting him, searching for his presence, his person, and he has promised us that if we seek, we will find, if we knock the door will be opened. Those valiant men, the great hunters on the mountains of life will lie plundered. When they die, they will live no more, not one of the wicked, the warriors who have hunted his full on the mountains, who have captured it all, will be able to lift his hands. At the word, the rebuke of God, both the horse and the chariot, the symbol of the warrior, the great champions of the world, will lie still, implying in the grave, which they will not raise in the resurrection. However they will be judged, they will be judged by an angry God. They will not be able to stand before him, that either means they will be judged in their graves, or they will fall prostrate before him, with fear and trembling, knowing all their gain in life is for nothing, for now all is lost including their everlasting life. They are silenced in his judgment, but we are lifted up, we who were not hunters of all the game on the mountains, but who sought after the Lord. We may not have as much as all the great hunters, having all the horses and chariots, other than of course that which God himself supplied for us. So we might be seen as the afflicted in some sense and we will be vindicated, redeemed, uplifted and saved. We will be in his resplendent with light.