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Welcome to Day 2703 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2704 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 83:1-8 – Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2703 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2703 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Today’s Wisdom Nugget is titled: A Conspiracy of Silence – When Nations Conspire - A Trek Through Psalm 83:1-8 Guthrie Chamberlain: Welcome to Wisdom-Trek, your compass for navigating the profound landscapes of faith and life. I’m your guide, Guthrie Chamberlain, and today, we open a new and urgent chapter in our journey through the Psalms. We're embarking on a trek through Psalm 83 in the New Living Translation, encompassing its opening verses, 1 through 8. Psalm 83, another psalm of Asaph, is a fervent communal lament and an imprecatory prayer, a desperate cry for God's intervention against a specific and imminent threat. After the divine judgment scene of Psalm 82, where God condemned unjust human rulers in a heavenly court, this psalm brings us back to earth, to a very real and present danger: a grand conspiracy of nations with a single, malevolent goal. This psalm is a powerful expression of a people facing a severe existential threat. The psalmist pleads with God, the ultimate Judge and ruler of the nations, not to remain silent in the face of this malicious plot. It reminds us that there are times when the threats are so great, so overwhelming, that the only hope is for a silent God to speak and a hidden God to act. So, let’s immerse ourselves in this prayer of national desperation and listen to the psalmist’s earnest plea for God’s intervention against this formidable conspiracy.

• The Plea for a Silent God to Act

(Reads Psalm 83:1-4 NLT) O God, do not remain silent! Do not turn a deaf ear. Do not stand aloof, O God. Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies? Don’t you see the arrogance of those who hate you? They devise crafty schemes against your people, and they conspire against your treasured ones. "Come," they say, "let us wipe out Israel as a nation. We will destroy the memory of its existence." Guthrie Chamberlain: The psalm begins with an immediate, urgent, and almost confrontational plea for God to break His silence: "O God, do not remain silent! Do not turn a deaf ear. Do not stand aloof, O God." This triple appeal highlights the profound distress of the people. God’s silence in the face of a terrifying threat is unbearable. "Remain silent" (charash) implies inactivity. "Turn a deaf ear" (al-al) implies a refusal to listen. "Stand aloof" (shalaq) suggests a deliberate distance, an indifference to their suffering. The psalmist is begging God to do the opposite of all these things: to speak, to listen, and to draw near and intervene. This lament stands in stark contrast to the divine pronouncements of judgment in the previous Psalm 82, where God's voice was loud and clear. Here, that same mighty voice...