READ Psalm 41-45
These days there is lots of talk about returning to ‘normal’ yet is there such a thing? Life is filled with ups and downs and I often say that normal is only a setting on the clothes dryer!
Today’s reading has very few ‘ups’ in it, mostly ‘downs’ — and those contrasts reveal what is normal, at least usual or common in the life of God’s people. The reading starts out with promises of protection, reputation and good health to those who take care of the poor and weak people in their midst:
Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. (Psalm 41:1–3)
It continues as the psalmist speaks of God’s blessings because of his integrity, but as believers realize, even integrity is also a gift of God’s grace:
By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me. But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. (Psalm 41:11–12)
However, the next chapters tell of the downside. The psalmist is in turmoil because God seems missing and his enemies are making fun of him:
As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (Psalm 42:10–11)
For emphasis, this last lament is repeated in the next psalm, yet even at the bottom of the normal curve, he realizes that his situation will change and eventually he will again praise God.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (Psalm 43:5)
The next psalm shows a rise in the writer’s life. His mood has changed for he is praising God instead of questioning Him. His confidence is not in his own resources but in His God:
You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob! Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us. For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us. In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah (Psalm 44:4–8)
This does not last long for soon he again is looking at his problems and feeling as if God has rejected him:
You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way; yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death. If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! (Psalm 44:14–26)
I have the same ups and downs. Life is not a straight line and ‘normal’ is merely a wish. God wants me to be calm, trusting Him and knowing He is with me — no matter what is going on in my world or in the world in general. In Christ, normal is not about the news, nor having constant goodness and acceptable circumstances — it is about having peace in my heart:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4–7)
This peace surpasses understanding because it is a gift from God that is with me without any relationship to those constant ups and downs of life!
No comments:
Post a Comment