cynicism – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

Maintaining a heart of worship

Psalm 134 is the last of the songs of ascent, and it has been conjectured that it was sung after the pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem had been made, and the people were ready to go home.

And as they started on their journey home, they sang to those who were still working in the temple that evening,

Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD
who minister by night in the house of the LORD.

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the LORD. (Psalm 134:1–2)

One word that gets lost in the NIV translation is the word “Behold.” The NASB puts it,

Behold, bless the LORD. (1)

In other words, “Hey! Pay attention! Remember to bless the Lord.”

The worshipers were exhorting the priests and Levites not to become lax in their duties, but to stay alert and to continue worshiping and serving the Lord.

There’s a cross-reference in my Bible that is very interesting.

It points out that in 1 Chronicles 9:33 there were Levites who were specifically designated for singing praises to God, and it was their job to do so day and night.

Perhaps it was these people that the psalmist had in mind.

But whoever the psalmist was specifically addressing, it’s a reminder to all of us that God is never to be far from our thoughts day or night.

I was reading a book today about how cynicism can creep up into our thinking and how it can affect our prayer life.

Cynicism creeps into our thinking mostly because we let God slip out from our hearts and minds. We forget his love. We start to doubt his goodness.

As a result, we start to wonder if it’s even worth our time praying to God, and because of this, our relationship with him drifts even further apart.

But when we keep a heart of thanksgiving in our hearts, and we remember who God is and his goodness toward us, it keeps cynicism from getting into our system and poisoning our spirits.

There are few things worse than a cynical priest, and it’s worth remembering that as God’s people, we are also his priests in this world.

How about you? Are you letting cynicism poison your spirit? Is it poisoning your attitude toward this world? Toward your life? Toward God?

Then let us refocus our hearts and minds.

Focus on God’s goodness. Focus on his love for us. Focus on all he’s done for us. Bring back a heart of thanksgiving. And all your cynicism will melt away and be replaced with God’s joy.

As the pilgrims departed, the priests called back to them,

May the LORD bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth. (3)

As you go on through this journey in life, I pray that God may bless you with every spiritual blessing from heaven.

And may he purge you of all cynicism from your heart and fill you with his joy.

Futile?

Sometimes as we follow God, we become disappointed and discouraged. And if we’re not careful, it’s easy to become cynical as well.

That’s what happened to the Israelites. They were saying to themselves,

It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty?

But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it. (Malachi 3:14–15)

Perhaps they thought they were doing all that God had required of them.

They went to the temple. They made sacrifices. They celebrated the Jewish festivals commanded by the Law of Moses.

But they weren’t seeing blessing in their lives. Instead, they saw those who were not trying to please God prosper.

As a result, they were saying, “What’s the point? It’s futile trying to serve God. Nothing good ever comes out from it.”

Part of the problem, of course, was that though they did the actions, their hearts were not in it.

As we’ve seen, they were offering blemished sacrifices. They were not giving full tithes to God, if they were giving at all.

And while they kept some of God’s commands, they broke others such as marrying people from unbelieving nations.

Despite all this, they had the gall to say that they were doing what God had asked, and to ask why they weren’t being blessed.

How often do we do the same? We claim to be doing what is right, when in reality, we are doing things half-heartedly.

We claim to be obeying God, when in reality, we pick and choose which commands we want to obey.

Then we complain when we don’t see God’s blessing in our lives.

But others of us may be doing all that God asks of us, and we still don’t see his blessing. And we ask why. What does God say?

Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.

A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.

“On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.

And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” (Malachi 3:16–18)

In short, “I do see, and I do remember. And for those who are faithful to me, they will be my treasured possession, and on the day of judgment, they will be able to stand before me without shame.

But those who are not faithful to me will be treated exactly as they deserve.”

What do we do when we feel discouraged? How do we keep from getting cynical?

I think the main thing is to stay in Christian fellowship. Share with your brothers and sisters what you are feeling. Share with them your frustrations. And listen to what they have to say.

They may point out areas in your life where you’re not being as faithful as you think you are. Or they may simply just encourage you to stay the course, reminding you that God is faithful, and that he will reward you.

But let us never let cynicism pull us away from God. Rather, let us keep our eyes on him, following him to the end.