Who Controls The Reins?

Psalm 83

“Keep not thou silence, O God For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones...have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee..(saying).."Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession". O my God, make them ..as the stubble before the wind...as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;.. and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD...That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”

There is a motivation or drive behind every action we perform. Deep behind the motivation there are emotionally charged ideas which stir that motivation into action. Often, the motivation for change is not specific toward a particular goal but only a change from one state to another. For

example, I may be sitting and reading in one room where the temperature is a little too warm for my comfort, so I may get up and move to another room. In this case, it was a general decision to move to another location just to feel more comfortable. What I gained in changing my setting to

read was a more comfortable place to make the reading experience more comfortable. In psychology, we may frame this as negative reinforcement. I received a reward in moving from one room to another.

When we consider the words of the psalmist, we see that the enemies (those who align against the writer) make "tumult," (i.e. a wild, furious rage) driven by a hate toward God. The "lifted up head " refers to pride in their opposition toward God. We are told that the take “crafty counsel against God’s people”. This refers to loose imaginations and creative plans against those who honor God. It is not enough that the followers of God perform their worship privately or conducting their personal worship outside the view of unbelievers. The enemies of God’s people plan to eradicate them regardless and seek alliance with others who will join them to trouble

believers in their own personal religious practices.

When considering the general motivation of some unbelievers against the private faith of believers can reveal some points. This passage suggests:

1) The presence of Godly people creates a level of discomfort in unbelievers that can stir strong feelings against believers;

2) Unbelievers can not claim a believers faith as insignificant. Otherwise, a believers private faith would not have any impact of the course of an unbelievers own daily life. There is significance in the faith of a believer that is influential and directive to the level of stirring emotional reaction in unbelievers;

3) Unbelievers may become emotionally charged when they actively oppose the faith and religious practice of a believer. It is not just a matter of “not agreeing with religious practice of another”. The motivation and effort required to stir antagonism in unbelievers toward even private worship of believers, directly engages the decisions that regulate antagonistic acts.

The psalmist then makes a request that God would make the enemy frustrated by seeing their plans fail without any effect (stubble in the wind), and that they would have that their efforts consume their own security ( uncontrolled fire), while acknowledging that they are inadequate to oppose the defense of God upon his people (fear). The psalmist hopes the enemy will come to believe as he does, in the God of believers as mighty in power and strength.

Invisible influence upon the Visible

Before there was the science claiming the concept of molecular structure in nature around us, a microscopic study observed the influence of some invisible form within water that impacted pollen movement when viewed on a microscope slide. The pollen seemed to be bumped around by something that was not readily visible to the eye. The movements of pollen by the collision within a drop of water were called Brownian motion which led to the eventual discovery of water molecules.

According to Wikipedia,

"in 1905...theoretical physicist Albert Einstein published a paper where he modeled the motion of the pollen particles as being moved by individual water molecules, making one of his first major scientific contributions. The direction of the force of atomic bombardment is constantly changing, and at different times the particle is hit more on one side than another, leading to the seemingly random nature of the motion. This explanation of Brownian motion served as convincing evidence that atoms and molecules exist and was further verified experimentally by Jean Perrin in 1908."

Brownian Movement- Pollen moved by water molecules

In some way, we could argue that there is a type of Brownian motion or true invisible substance to a believers faith. A believers faith, even though out of view, influences the hearts of unbelievers to a level of reaction. If an unbeliever is driven against the private practices of a believer, then clearly the antagonistic motivation is more than just a personal and individual decision. There is an influence deep behind the motivation that is emotionally charged which is responsible for troubling the believer. Such unbelievers are not comfortable with their own state of decisions. Why does a private faith provoke the comfort of unbelievers? Something else is controlling the reins.

REFERENCE

Wikipedia contributors. 2022. “Albert Einstein.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. May 27, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albert_Einstein&oldid=1090038459.