Friday, October 12, 2012

Dumber Than a Box of Rocks


Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. 
(Psalms 96:11-13 ESV)

One of my favorite expressions to use to show the stupidity of something is to say that such-and-such is "dumber than a box of rocks."  I don't know why that phrase resonates with me more than any other way of expressing contempt; it just does.

God also turned the same phrase against me while reading and meditating over Psalm 96 the other day.

For context sake, Psalm 96 is considered a "worship psalm" because it is stuck in a five chapter section of the book of Psalms where all five chapters have worship as a central theme.  Indeed, this psalm starts out with the command to "sing to the Lord a new song!"

But if you spend any amount of time in this psalm, you see that by the time the psalm ends, the theme becomes Christ's return:
"he will judge the peoples with equity." (verse 10)
"for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth" (verse 13)
"He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness." (verse 13)
But the part that really convicted me is the transition from verse 11 to verse 13.  The psalmist paints a picture of  nature being excited at the Lord's return.  And it made me wonder if I am just as excited.

The earth rejoices, the sea roars, the field exults, and Christ himself warned the leaders of the day that if the people were hindered from worshiping him, even the rocks would cry out (Luke 19:40). But do I sing with the same passion? Do I wait expectantly for that day when he comes in the skies?  Am I fired up to see him face to face?

Some days yes; but honestly most days probably not.

And that makes me sad, knowing that I am indeed dumber than a box of rocks.