HOT STUFF

Yes, (baby), it was hot outside—no intended reference to a 1979 high-energy disco anthem about passionate connection which elevated the “hot stuff” saying. (Whew!). The first thing that came to my mind when I checked my outdoor thermometer one day was a quote from a half-century-plus ago, by Harry S Truman: “If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” (Ironically, this thermometer was in the shade outside the kitchen window!) In at least two instances, his quote came out in committee and staff meetings dealing with some heavy-duty national concerns. The essence is this: if the pressure of a high-stakes task is too much for you to cope with, leave so someone more capable can take over.

Few remember that Truman grew up in a Baptist church in Missouri, and claimed to have read through the Bible twice before he was twelve. He was said to have considered the Bible the moral core of American government. (More here: Sam Rushay: Harry S. Truman was a man of true faith ). (1) But long before Truman there lived another guy who found “the kitchen” way too hot. In his case, the kitchen was his God-invitation to the royal palace, which its current occupant did not want to leave. You've probably guessed: David, anointed to replace King Saul, but who had to endure a tumultuous transition in which Saul hunted him down like a criminal.

It's unlikely we'll be hiding in caves and behind rocks in a desperate effort to escape a would-be killer. But those intensive, faith-challenging times birthed the lyrics behind many of David's psalms. He didn't “get out of the kitchen.” He had to endure life in the “heat.” He listened to the voice of God, not that of his enemies. His Psalm 29 seems to emphasize that. Seven times he writes about the power of “the voice of God.” It's not an audible voice (as cartoonists tend to illustrate, which I think trivializes the mystery and power of God). But it's His voice revealed in His creation and the circumstances of life.

As I consider the imagery of Psalm 29, I notice that much is connected with loud, thunderous, scary storms. The psalm has vivid verbs: thunders, breaks, strikes, shakes, twists. It ends with God enthroned over all of this—after all, He created it! And the conclusion?

The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace. (v. 11)

Life will have its share of storms. But through the tumult and mess and destructive power, these never change: His strength, His peace. The writer of Psalm 119 claimed this offer: “My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your word” (v. 28). The heat in the spiritual “kitchen” may get oppressive, but we don't have to stay in there and “stew” without relief when God offers His presence and help.

(1) Sam Rushay: Harry S. Truman was a man of true faith

A stormy revelation

At right, an evening sky last summer after a violent rainstorm.

The predicted thunderstorm began as I got up at 4 a.m. the other morning—not my usual rising time, but I’d popped awake. Thanks to a hall nightlight, I didn’t trip over the “guard cat” who sleeps outside our bedroom door (he doesn’t want to miss anyone who might know how to open the refrigerator door and dish out cat food). After tending to his suddenly urgent nutritional needs, I settled in my rocker and opened my Bible to my bookmark in Psalms.

A sticky note indicated I would next read Psalm 29. How appropriate for that rainy morning, because Psalm 29 is the “Storm Song.” All through it are images of a horrific storm battering the land, all representing the might and power of God. The word “voice” is prominent and used seven times—seven rightly indicating “perfection” as the “voice of the Lord.”

As I savored the various images, I paused at verse 9. Another time that I studied this verse, I learned it’s a difficult passage to translate from Hebrew idioms. “Twists the oaks”(NIV) is “makes the deer give birth” in other translations. One explanation is that violent weather steps up animal birthing. “Strips the forests bare” is “discovereth the forests” in KJV. Now, that sent me to my Bible dictionaries. How can God, who created the forests, “discover” them? I learned the original Hebrew word is chasaph, which means “to make bare.” The word is used in Psalm 29:9 for violent weather and in Jeremiah 13:20 for exposing the private parts of someone’s body.

So, bottom line, rather than “dis”-cover, it means "un"-cover, as a violent wind might do in ripping branches off trees. The more modern “strips bare” is the better translation.

This little detour to search out chasaph also reminded me how language has changed in the past four hundred years. And it doesn’t even take four centuries for a language to bend and twist. I have friends who are missionary linguists in a tribal language of South America. They began their work in the 1970s, and forty years later are having to revise some of their work because the language has changed.

As Mark Twain once quipped, the difference between an almost-right word and the right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. Yes, big difference.

By the time 5 a.m. came, I had about five Bible study reference aids the size of the metropolitan phone book fanned around me—and the cat was scratching at the door. He had to get out and check his territory (I guess that’s what he does as I’m sure he doesn’t wind up at MacDonald’s for coffee and apple pie). And I ended my study grateful for the affirming last verse: “The Lord gives strength to his people.” Four o’clock in the morning is not my best time, but it turned out to be a good time as I dug a little deeper into a lesser-known psalm.