Curt Harlow [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friends, and welcome back to the Bible Study. And as always, we have the frontal lobe of Bayside Thrive College. Here it's Dena Davidson, and we are joined for the first time this first time, right, Burnice, by one of our incredible teammates from our UC Davis Bayside church. It's Burnice, everyone. How you doing, Burnice? Are you nervous, Burnice? Now, so you're, are you actually preaching on this passage, Ed Davis?
Burnice Nyamien [00:00:28]:
I was, but I decided to relinquish.
Dena Davidson [00:00:31]:
Because you had a really exciting life event.
Curt Harlow [00:00:33]:
Why, why, why, why would you.
Burnice Nyamien [00:00:35]:
My wedding. That's why.
Dena Davidson [00:00:37]:
That's a great reason.
Curt Harlow [00:00:38]:
But she's already done the prep, she's already done the study, and she's one of the smartest people around here. So welcome. Burnice, we're glad you're here. We're going to mix things up if you've been following us, and I hope you have, usually it starts with me reading the passage, a little context. And I read the passage, and then I go right to, as I say, the frontal lobe of a side. DINA we're going to flip it this time because I want to do a little bit of hermeneutical teaching on the biggest idea you have to understand to get the right interpretation of this passage. So, Dena, why don't you do the honors, give us some context, read the passage, and we'll go from there.
Dena Davidson [00:01:12]:
All right. It's Psalm 2. And so scholars believe that this is a royal psalm. And what that means is that when a king in Israel was going to be coronated, put on the throne, this psalm would actually be read out. And it would be something that called all the people to worship and to recognize the transfer of authority from one king to the next, which ultimately, because Israel was a theocracy, was instituted by God. So this is beautiful to imagine the people of Israel gathering around, recognizing God's rule and reign, and then reading this out as God puts the authority on this chosen instrument for that season.
Curt Harlow [00:01:51]:
So, you know, just get all your regal thoughts in mind as we read this. It's very.
Dena Davidson [00:01:56]:
So I'm excited to hear how you draw a line to us because, you know, like, okay, so great. Psalm 2 doesn't apply to me, but stay tuned because it's so good and it absolutely does apply to us. So let's read it out. Psalm 2. Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Let us break their chains. They Say, and throw off their fetters. The one enthroned in heaven laughs.
Dena Davidson [00:02:24]:
The Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter. You will dash them to pieces like pottery.
Dena Davidson [00:02:53]:
Therefore, you kings, be wise, be warned, you rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry, and you be destroyed in your way. For his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Curt, bring it home. Help us understand.
Curt Harlow [00:03:12]:
This is a perfect passage. And you'll notice we read the whole psalm. We usually grab four or five verses. It's a perfect passage for this pod, because we are here talking about, how do you rightly interpret. Interpret the Bible? What are the sort of the attitudes and tools you bring to it? And there it couldn't be a better example of some place where we have to say, in our own wisdom and understanding and background and culture, we would not get this psalm at all.
Dena Davidson [00:03:39]:
That's right.
Curt Harlow [00:03:40]:
We wouldn't get it at all. And the reason is, especially for Americans, we don't have kings.
Dena Davidson [00:03:45]:
That's right.
Curt Harlow [00:03:46]:
We don't have kings. Dana's got another response to that. I'll let you say it. But governmentally, we are. We've thrown off the European kings. And we are democracy, representative democracy.
Dena Davidson [00:04:01]:
And we're pretty sure that that's the right way.
Burnice Nyamien [00:04:02]:
Right?
Dena Davidson [00:04:03]:
So we have disdain for this form of government.
Curt Harlow [00:04:05]:
Yes, we have disdain. Yes, we are in rebellion, too. The idea of kings. So what you have to do, the very first thing you have to do is realize the Bible was written for you, but it wasn't written to you. This was written to people that deeply understood kings. There are three stanzas here, and then at the end, there's a summary statement about what the standards mean. So the first stanza is the problem. Earthly kings rebel against the heavenly king.
Curt Harlow [00:04:35]:
That's the problem. The earthly kings think they can rebel against the heavenly king. The second stanza is the heavenly king's reaction. Revolting kings are funny. That's his reaction. Then the third stance is God promising a true earthly king in contrast to these revolting earthly kings. And the last one is a warning and a command. To not reject the true earthly king that the heavenly king is providing.
Curt Harlow [00:05:03]:
So what do all three of these standards have in common? They all have in common. Earthly kings and the heavenly king. And so unless you understand the idea of a king, you cannot properly interpret this passage. So let's just do a little history lesson here. I'm going to try to go quick. When queen Elizabeth died, Andrew McCourt, who's Northern Irish, and Mark Clark, who. Both on the bayside team, who's Canadian, they both came to my office that day, separate times. And Andrew, Curt, the queen died today.
Curt Harlow [00:05:37]:
And I looked at him.
Dena Davidson [00:05:38]:
See, we're laughing.
Curt Harlow [00:05:39]:
Yeah, we are laughing. And he was not being. No, he was. He was grieving. And I said, andrew, I have to be honest, I didn't know she was still alive. She's quite old. Nothing against her.
Dena Davidson [00:05:53]:
That's so American.
Curt Harlow [00:05:54]:
But even like when they have the weddings and the Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, I don't even. The Americans that watch that, I don't get those Americans. I do not understand why this is Troy Aikman apparently doesn't fellowship with them in their gated community. Ooh, I saw that. This doesn't give me why. Because I'm kingless. So here's the short little history lesson on kings and why they so are important. So when we got better at agriculture, we said to our tribemates, all of our family clan, our tribe, hey, we don't have to walk around anymore looking for food.
Curt Harlow [00:06:31]:
We're pretty good at growing food right here. So when you set a whole big tribe down and they don't move, what is that called? That's called a city. The problem with the city is there's all sorts of problems where everyone uses the bathroom, how everyone gets from one end of the city to the next end of the city. Who could trade with who? What are the rules for trading? And when you have disputes, what do you do? And so there had to be city leadership. And when you had city leadership, that led to a city leader. When that city leader consolidated their power, that led to a king. So cities and kings are deeply related. Without kings, early cities couldn't function.
Curt Harlow [00:07:10]:
And so then what did those kings do? The kings of those early cities, they did four things. They first of all, organized the city into a city state. So, you know, a lot of the Greek. Greek that northern Greek was all city states, even at the time of Paul. And southern Greek was a kingdom. So they organized the city states. Here's our rules. Here's our gods.
Curt Harlow [00:07:32]:
And then slowly but Surely as they organized the cities, they decided it would be best. And this is true of every continent except for Antarctica. They decided it would be best if they were also the highest priest and the king. So you have this priestly king thing, and it happens. It happens in Asia, it happens in Oceania, it happens in the Americas. And so then what happens is once you're the high priest and the king, you also have divine qualities. This is Pharaoh, this is Caesar. You could see multiple examples of this.
Curt Harlow [00:08:06]:
And so once you have divine qualities and you're the high priest, you think, I really deserve to have that city over there too. Because if I had that city, we'd have this much more resources, we'd have this much more trade, my people would be more secure. And by the way, I would be great. I would be a real king. So the evolution to high priest king, to divine king led to the consolidation and conquering or acquiring our treaties between you'll be the lesser king, I'll be the higher king of multiple cities, which is a nation. That's how you get nations. There you go. And then nations got so powerful, like let's say the Babylonian nation, they thought, there's no city nation out there that can stand against us.
Curt Harlow [00:08:54]:
And they became empires. Okay, so what is the nature of a king? The nature of a king is he's a conqueror, right? It elevates and it escalates, it inflates. So they organized cities that became empires. They acquired, acquired more resources and security for the people. They defended against other kings. And here's the real thing that a king provided, they facilitated succession. So what is Shakespeare writing about all the time? The mess up of succession and kings. A lot of our art in many cultures is about that.
Curt Harlow [00:09:35]:
So the idea of the king, it's literally the idea of survival. It's literally the idea of resources. It's literally the idea of having a stable, organized life. And it's most of all literally the idea of power. So why did they read this at the inauguration of a new king? To remind him you're not the highest priest, you are not have divine qualities. In fact, you're only here because God appointed you. And eventually God will appoint you his true son. That's what the passage says.
Curt Harlow [00:10:12]:
And if you don't, if you don't submit to that king, woe unto you.
Dena Davidson [00:10:17]:
Right?
Curt Harlow [00:10:18]:
So you have to kind of embrace how much of human history like this concept's so powerful. And I'll end with this, Dena. This concept of a king organizing a city, organizing a nation, organizing an empire, it's so powerful. To this day, we have. Let's see, In Asia, there's 13 active royal families involved in still governing. In Europe, there's 12. In the Americas, there's nine. In Oceania, that's Australia.
Curt Harlow [00:10:46]:
And Pacific, there's six. And in Africa, there's three. So this form of government is very, very powerful.
Dena Davidson [00:10:55]:
That's right.
Curt Harlow [00:10:55]:
And even in places like Great Britain, where it's become more symbolic, you could see just by Andrew's response coming in, and Mark did it later. He came in and said, did you hear the queen died? I said, yeah, Andrew was in here crying about it a minute ago. So the point about it is, most of the experience of average work a day, humans throughout history has been closely tied to is our king submitted to God or not?
Dena Davidson [00:11:27]:
That's right.
Curt Harlow [00:11:28]:
Is our king submitted to God? Or as the proverb says, good king, good future, bad king, bad future, bad future. So that's the. That's the thing that overshadows all of this. Now help us break it down. What? There's a dialogue going on here. Dena, what do you think that dialogue is?
Dena Davidson [00:11:46]:
There is. Well, I just want to take it to verse one. It says, why do the nations conspire and the people's plot in vain? This is, to your point, everything you're saying, Curt, it's just the nature of kings to conspire. This is what they do. They talk and they plot and they figure out, how can we get more, how can we conquer more, how can we rule over more? And so. So what Israel is doing is they have. They're about to put a king on the throne when they read this, and they're looking at every other nation and saying, these people are not submitted to the true God, the one true God. And they're plotting, and they're finding all these ways that they can have power.
Dena Davidson [00:12:24]:
And we know that that is worthless, useless because our king serves the one true God, and our king is the one who's going to be on the throne. My Old Testament professor, he said, the whole Old Testament is about this concept of the rule and reign of God. And from Genesis all the way to the very end, it's all about God's reign, that God is the one true ruler because he is the Creator and because he is good, this gives him the right to rule all of creation. And your. Just as you were saying, your flourishing in life or your lack of flourishing in life is directly related to whether you will come under the reign of God. And so Israel painfully had to learn this lesson. With their own kings. And even thinking about how Israel got a king, I think is very fascinating because we show up to Psalm 2 and we can forget that it actually was not God's best plan.
Dena Davidson [00:13:22]:
It was not his heart's intention for Israel to have a earthly representative because he knew how flawed human beings are. He wanted himself to be the king. And so there was this time where the Israelites came to the prophet Samuel, the person who spoke on behalf of God and said, we want a king. We want a king. We want a king. We want a king. You can read about this in first and Second Samuel. And Samuel's deeply offended because he knows that God has specifically told the Israelites not to ask for a king.
Dena Davidson [00:13:54]:
And here they are asking for a king. They are, as verse one says, plotting, plotting in this case, against God. And so Samuel's deeply offended. And then God comes to Samuel and says, they have not rejected you, they have rejected me as king over them. And this is one of those passive wrath of God moments where God actually says yes to the people's will. And he tells them exactly what's going to happen. He's like, you're going to have some bad kings that are going to take this nation in the wrong direction. But I'm still going to say yes, because you have to learn that no mere human is worthy of being king.
Dena Davidson [00:14:34]:
No mere human is worthy of sitting on the throne. So in the way that God planned it, there was always supposed to be a connection between the God of the heavens and the earthly appointed person to rule Israel over and over tried to sever that connection. But what I love about Psalm 2 is we see it working correctly. We see that the one who's on the throne is actually following God and is submitted to the rule and to the reign of God. And that is why all the other nations are going, you know, and plotting in vain. But the nation of Israel is going to receive the blessing. But ultimately, I want one of you guys to speak to this. There's a messianic prophecy in here, and this points forward to the fact that no mere earthly king is fit to rule, but one day there will sit on David's throne, one that is fit to rule.
Dena Davidson [00:15:27]:
Anyone want to take that?
Curt Harlow [00:15:29]:
Burnice? Yeah. We haven't heard from you yet. What do you think about this?
Burnice Nyamien [00:15:32]:
I think it's a very forewarning that, oh, yes, I'm going to bring somebody. David, he did what he could in the time that he had. But of course, the promise was in his lineage. Somebody was going to Come and make everything new and reconcile us with the Lord. And of course, that is Jesus, and he is the perfect king, the right person for the job, because he cares for the people and he also detests evil. Hence why he was laughing at the people, because they were trying to conspire and he knows exactly what they're going to try to do. And he's not necessarily afraid. He's not like, oh, I'm so worried.
Burnice Nyamien [00:16:10]:
What are they going to do? Oh, my goodness, it's giving Babel all over again. Right Then trying to like, oh, let's try to be God and let's try to take this for ourselves and do whatever we want to do. But it's interesting how Jesus just laughs.
Dena Davidson [00:16:23]:
I love that.
Curt Harlow [00:16:24]:
Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:16:25]:
So you're talking about the passage where it says, I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son, today I've become your Father. And we actually get those words in the baptism of Jesus with John the Baptist. And we hear the voice from heaven and the doves sitting on him. And, you are my son in whom I am well pleased. And it's this beautiful image and this callback to Psalm 2. It's Jesus's coronation moment, where the Father is looking at him. And finally on earth, we have one fit to rule.
Dena Davidson [00:16:59]:
Every other king has failed us, but finally we have this one prophesied and looked forward to from Psalm 2. He's finally on the throne.
Curt Harlow [00:17:07]:
Yeah. Not only do we see this in John the Baptist, which, by the way, John the Baptist is the only person who gets this idea. They're all looking literally for a political king in the line of David to come back. And John the Baptist says, look, there's the Lamb of God. Takes away the sins of the world. But you also get an echo of Jesus teaching the disciples. At the end of John the Father here says, you are my son, today I've become your Father. But Jesus at the end says, I am the Son and you are my Father.
Curt Harlow [00:17:41]:
And I do nothing that you don't tell me to do. I don't say anything, you don't tell me to say. And if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And so that same interplay of, like, there's a heavenly king, but there's also an earthly king. And they are as close as a father or son, or as we understand, the Trinity, they're the same. If you've seen the Son, you've seen the Father. So you get a powerful messianic thing. For centuries you can imagine kings in Israel.
Curt Harlow [00:18:11]:
And even when Israel's in civil war, they're reading this psalm at their coronation, not even realizing what they're reading, thinking, I must be the son in this picture. And God's going, I'm laughing at that. No, this is. There's no one that I'm going to give the nations to other than Jesus. There is no one that's worthy to break them with a rod of iron. A man's not going to do that other than Jesus. So there's a powerful, powerful thing in here. What do you guys.
Curt Harlow [00:18:43]:
I want you both to speak to this. Therefore, you kings, be wise. Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son or he will be angry and you will lead to your destruction. Okay, first of all, Dena, I said earlier that Americans have no king. You said something very, very clever that makes this stanza deeply convicting. So what's your theory on this?
Dena Davidson [00:19:12]:
Yeah, so my theory is Americans do have a king. We have dethroned every other king so that we can sit on the throne. Americans are individualistic. We are all our own king. And there is no nation in my knowledge and understanding. There's no nation who has so deeply taken to heart the idea that we are our own king and we are our own God. There is no governmental authority.
Curt Harlow [00:19:38]:
We'll.
Dena Davidson [00:19:38]:
We'll tea party them. You know, we'll cast them off.
Curt Harlow [00:19:41]:
Yeah. You know, we rebel. Every Texan, and I love you Texans. I love you. But the Texans, they'll say to you, you know, we were. We were state. We were a country first. Way before we were American.
Dena Davidson [00:19:51]:
Exactly.
Curt Harlow [00:19:51]:
We were a state and a country. Every other state got added still flyer. We went out and got America to join us.
Dena Davidson [00:19:57]:
Yes, exactly. And. And that is, man, that is just where we are at as a people and as a nation. And man, it's bred no conflict, right, guys? We never have the kings of America fighting with the other kings of America. And I won't say this to other people. I'll say that I, as myself, there's something deeply American in me. Every time I see a governmental authority telling me to do something and I go, psh, I don't have to do that. I'm an American.
Dena Davidson [00:20:26]:
I have my own flag. Let's think for a second about how many flags we have today, right? Like, we don't submit ourselves to the American flag. We have literally have our own flag with our own colors. And we are saying, I get to choose my own pathway. We are the gods of our own heart. We are the kings of our own pathways.
Curt Harlow [00:20:45]:
Every state has their own flag. Every movement has their own flag.
Dena Davidson [00:20:48]:
You can see them on the trucks going down the freeway. Everyone's saying, this is to me what it means to be an American. There's no you'di unity, there's only individualism. So we have actually, you know, we can, for all we want to say that we have a better form of government. We have just taken this to the really microcosm level. We have put all the authority in ourself.
Curt Harlow [00:21:11]:
Okay, I still like our system better. I don't want any.
Dena Davidson [00:21:14]:
I don't want any king over me either, but I'm American.
Curt Harlow [00:21:16]:
Here's the thing. Let's read this. Let's read this in that context. So we have overthrown no kings. And so then you would read the passage this way. Therefore, you kings unto yourself, be wise, be warned, you rulers of yourself. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction.
Curt Harlow [00:21:45]:
Yeah, I think of the proverb, he who trusts himself trusts a fool.
Dena Davidson [00:21:51]:
That's so good.
Curt Harlow [00:21:52]:
We are, you know, there's equal and great potential of sin in a collectivist mindset. Don't get me wrong on that. But we're so individualistic, organized, we don't see the destruction of being our own king. And we are convinced that we're far more right. And like the old thing, I tell my kids all the time, the older I get, the less I know. I used to just think I knew everything.
Dena Davidson [00:22:18]:
This is why the New Testament is so offensive if you read it properly. Because Jesus picks up on all this Old Testament language of the rule and reign of God. And he comes in and he's declaring that he is the king and he is starting this new kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven. And there can be a moment where we really have to ask ourselves, are we living in that kingdom? Are we really accepting the rule and the reign of Christ? Because if we are, then kiss the sun, lest he be angry. What do we think of that? Do we really think that I have to bow all of my preferences, all of my desires, everything inside of me, every belief, every thought, I have to bow to him lest he be angry. How dare he be angry with me. Who does he think he is?
Curt Harlow [00:23:10]:
It's not Jesus. Take the wheel. It's Jesus. You own the car. And I'm going to get out of the car and you're going to tell me which car to get into and where to sit. And I'm going to sit there. Okay, we're talking a lot of American stuff here, Burnice. So what of this resonates with you? What if this is like.
Curt Harlow [00:23:27]:
No, from my perspective, I see a little bit different angle here. I mean, both, we're about as white bred American as you could get over here. Give us some more international feel to this, I think.
Burnice Nyamien [00:23:43]:
Yeah, the biggest thing we, at least I'm from Ivory coast and we don't really put our trust in the government because time and time again history shows that governments fail, kings fail and stuff. So I'm not trying to put all my hopes and all my dreams in a president because at the end of the day they're only there for their own gain. And like you were saying, like the biggest thing is the throne of our hearts, who is actually there. Because the hope is that we have Jesus because he's the one that gave us life. He's the one that made us the way that we are with all our personality and our quirks and everything. So he's the best person to go to in terms of like managing this life well and to, to live life to the fullest with all the purposes that he has for us. But of course we're like, oh, you know what, let me take the wheel and you kind of like stay in the trunk. Yeah, I got this type situation.
Burnice Nyamien [00:24:38]:
But of course that is foolishness. It's never going to be that way and it leads to destruction. So if we are wise and if we have the Holy Spirit in us, we should know that it is actually beneficial for us to just release, relinquish the seat and let Jesus sit down because he knows what's best. And also he promises so much more than we can even imagine.
Dena Davidson [00:25:03]:
So we're hopping a little bit into application. But I think one of the things that's jumping out to me is, you know, for me growing up in my context with government and there's just this tiny or maybe sometimes large American rebellious spirit inside of me and it's good to rebel against evil. So that, that's a good part. I'm grateful for that and being an American. But there can be this wrong headedness where when God demands something of me, my instant, like I want to rebel, I want to sit as the king of my own heart or as maybe coming from your cultural context, it's not an instant rebellion, it's more of like a disappointed distrust. I've seen other people rule and it's not gone well.
Burnice Nyamien [00:25:48]:
I think it's very interesting how in many ways when I try to explain how I and my family, we see presidents and stuff, it's like here it's like people are so outraged and it's like, oh my goodness, like whatever they said they were gonna do, they didn't. And I'm just like, why were you trusting in them so much? Even then the whole idea of like, oh, it's like they're like two faced, like they said one thing and then, oh, this is actually how they are. And I'm like, I'd rather have somebody tell me straight to my face that they're gonna stab me in the back over somebody. Like, oh yeah, I'm all for you. I'm all like, I'm gonna fight for you and for all the things that you want and then eventually stab me in the back. Which one hurts more?
Curt Harlow [00:26:32]:
Right?
Burnice Nyamien [00:26:33]:
So in many ways it's like, don't put your trust in men. The Bible literally says so.
Curt Harlow [00:26:37]:
Yeah. So my experience is my European international students, my African international students would be a lot more cynical. Exactly what you're describing. So I'm not super disappointed and I'm not super angry no matter who's in part, by the way, the coalition that happens, most of them are coalition democracies. The coalition that happens, it's probably not going to be what I want anyway. It's never going to be the coalition that I exactly want. And every one of those leaders is. I'm just more cynical.
Curt Harlow [00:27:09]:
Americans, I think are moving that way, but we still have some idealism. I think in the last four or five election cycles that cynicism has taken place. I think millennials definitely have a Gen Z definitely has it. You know, the boomers and where, you know, they're either, you know, bring back Ronald Reagan or bring back Obama. They were the best and they were, they did no wrong. And they're the standard bearer for my political side. And then you kind of. No one knows what Gen X believes, by the way, that's me.
Curt Harlow [00:27:46]:
That we're just ignored. We never come into the articles, but I would say that it started with us. And Gen X is like, you know, this is going to be, this is not, this is, this is going to be a lot of big money. It's going to be big government, institutionalized money. It's going to be big business, institutionalized money. And I have very little. So the cynicism starts with us. But I think by the time you get to the American generation about your age, they're almost with that same Global thinking now, it's very interesting.
Curt Harlow [00:28:19]:
There's a wide variety and it's very not. It's too over simplifistic to say my Asian students, because that's, you know, that's a huge amount of the globe. But there is a sort of still collectivism there. Like, you know, my Japanese students don't understand why we lock everything up because they have more of a cooperative culture. And we're like, well, we lock everything up because we're a bunch of stealers. And. And so there is. The Singapore students are this way as well.
Curt Harlow [00:28:53]:
They. They have a general sense of, yeah, my government's very authoritative, but basically it works out. And we've got low crime, we have low pollution. It works pretty good for us. And so it's interesting to me in terms of just this idea. Who is your ultimate authority? I think much of the world and more and more in America, we're going, yeah, this. I find it hard to believe in any earthly authority which there could be an opportunity in that. And the opportunity is, yes, I have strong opinions about what forms of government work.
Curt Harlow [00:29:27]:
But in the end, I'm not trustworthy. The governments I believe in are not trustworthy. There's only one trustworthy. The other little thought that came up to me when you were talking about that I will proclaim the Lord's decree. So I tend to read this and go, he said to me, you are my son. Today I become your father. I'm like, oh, Messianic. It's Messianic right there.
Curt Harlow [00:29:53]:
That's. Oh, cool. There's Jesus in the Old Testament. This is not the point. That is true. It's not the point. The point is the person who is submitted to the ultimate king makes a commitment and obeys the command to proclaim that the Son and the Father are related. That's the exhortation to us.
Curt Harlow [00:30:15]:
Whoever's in charge of my life, I will decree that. That's who I'm going to decree. If I'm in charge of my life, I'm decreeing me. If a political party's in charge of my life, I'm decreeing them. If a movement or cause, I'm decreeing them. This says, you're to decree king to yourself or king. You're decreeing the Father and the Son. So in a way, this is an exhortation to us.
Curt Harlow [00:30:40]:
The sign we're submitted to the king is we decree what he decrees. We follow the command and decree what he decrees. All right, I like talking. So we've gone over time, but really quickly around the circle. How do you. Okay, a lot of royal talk here, some political talk here. How do you you apply here in 2025 Psalm 2. Dena?
Dena Davidson [00:31:08]:
Yeah, I think first and foremost you need to take a sober account of every human government and ask yourself the question, am I putting my trust and faith in this human government? Because the clear overall thrust of this psalm is that human governments derive their legitimacy from their opinion, obedience to the one who is in heaven. And so are we putting our trust in faith and bowing our hearts and heads to the human governments? Or first and foremost are we bowing our hearts and our heads to God himself who's enthroned in heaven, who laughs at all of these human authorities and all their plots and all their plans and all their ways. They're going to save humanity and God's just up to in heaven laughing and saying that's not how I'm going to get it done. And so I think it's just a gut check to us to think sober mindedly about every form of government. Our own other countries, but most importantly, I would say our own self government, of our own self governance. Am I on the throne of my heart or can I truly say that my heart is bowed to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and that I am living in a holy fear of kindling his anger like this psalm calls us to.
Curt Harlow [00:32:30]:
Very good. Burnice, what would you say? How do we apply this?
Burnice Nyamien [00:32:34]:
I think she said it all. We have to like a self assessment of like what takes priority in our lives and understanding that the only way that we can flourish in the way that we were made to flourish is to submit to God, to his authority, to his guidance, to his rule. And as a result of that we get to enjoy community and relationship with him in the way that it's supposed to be.
Curt Harlow [00:32:59]:
That I clearly that is the most clear application there are. You submitted? I'm going to take it just a slightly different direction and I'm going to talk about Church hurt for just two seconds. So I was on a team with a spiritual authority on that team that was going through a season where he was not a very good leader. And I remember when I got on that team I thought we are really spiritual what we're doing, the mission we're on, the students we're trying to reach and the things we're doing and what we've given our life to. We've said no to money, we work hard and we are kind of more, I never thought this exactly this way, but we are More spiritual than other pastors, churches, and ministries. We're kind of the elite. That had gotten into my soul, and I didn't know it. And then when I experienced some hurt and dysfunction under this leadership, I first had a pity party.
Curt Harlow [00:34:05]:
God, I'm just trying to do the right thing. Why am I being assaulted here? And then God said to me, so what'd you get in this for? What did you get in this for? To be a part of some elite spiritual force that's a little better than everyone else? Or could it be that your team and your organization and your mission is just as sinful and flawed as every church and every team and every institution? And did you get in this for me or for this cause? And I was like, I got into it for you, but I forgot that. And now, I'm not saying that if you experience some church hurt, that somehow that excuses that. It absolutely doesn't. But the way to protect yourself from church hurt is to not expect anyone to be trustworthy and perfect and not a sinner other than the King. And so it doesn't mean that I don't respond to leadership. I don't respect them. It doesn't mean that I don't have to listen, doesn't mean I'm not a good teammate.
Curt Harlow [00:35:13]:
It just means there's one reason I do this. Jesus came to earth, died on the cross, conquered death because he loves me in my sin, period. And when other people sin, I'm not surprised by that because he had to die for their sin, too. So, again, if you experience some church hurt there, I'm not saying that it was justified. I'm just saying it's Jesus. He's the king, period. End of story.
Dena Davidson [00:35:44]:
And because he's the King, you can trust him with your future. If it happens again, he will be there to heal and to protect you.
Curt Harlow [00:35:52]:
Yes, in a lot of ways, I got just. I'm talking about me. Only now. I got myself in that situation by lifting that institution and team up above Christ. And so, in a way, I walked into that destruction, and it was a good lesson. I learned the lesson really well. And now I don't trust anyone except the King, you or you. Not even Bri, who's awesome.
Curt Harlow [00:36:18]:
You're awesome, aren't you, Brie? You're awesome. Ray, what are we studying next week? Psalm 8. So. And allegedly, we're having Mark Clark. Okay, so tune in next week because Dena claims that Mark has never been on camera with her.
Dena Davidson [00:36:34]:
Very offended.
Curt Harlow [00:36:35]:
How many years have you been here at Bayside Dinos?
Dena Davidson [00:36:37]:
With Mark, like 16. I've been at Bayside for 15 years.
Curt Harlow [00:36:41]:
And he was on the podcast way before he became a teammate.
Dena Davidson [00:36:43]:
I'm just saying there's a lot of opportunities.
Curt Harlow [00:36:45]:
So me, Dean and Mark Clark next week.
Dena Davidson [00:36:48]:
And if he's not here, just put that in the comments and I'm gonna.
Curt Harlow [00:36:51]:
Have, I'm gonna have Bri cut this portion of this podcast and email it to him too. Anyway, Guy Bark's a busy guy, but on the other hand, it's dynamite when he's here. So Psalm 8 next week, tune in, please like and subscribe and share and tattoo it on your left arm, everything you can to spread the word and really do put them comments in there. You guys are liking a lot of this, but share it and ask us some questions. And we'd love to answer your questions as we continue this summer in the Psalms.