… It’s like you’ve gone out to the beach on a calm beautiful
day and you’ve gone out into the calm
water and suddenly a set of huge waves
have come crashing through and they pick you up and spin you round and round
and round and up and down and over and over and it leaves you wondering which
way is up as you gasp for air. And just as you struggle to the surface another
wave comes through and it’s down into that tumbling darkness again. Your lungs
burning your mind screaming. Wave after wave leaves you wondering if you will
see the blue sky again. That’s a picture of the life situation a lament
wrestles with. Can you identify with such times?
The Psalm starts out as a plea to God for help in the midst
of suffering. The reoccurring theme and motif is of God as a refuge. It is
mentioned four times in the opening part of this psalm along with the metaphors
of God as fortress and rock. God is my refuge, A place of shelter in the storm: A place of
security amidst the swirl of battle. If you’ve familiar with ‘The second movie,
and book in the Lord of the Ring’s Trilogy’ for the horse men of Rohan that
place was Helm’s deep a keep that had never been breached where they retreat in
times of trouble to make their stand. But as the forces of Saraman come even
these walls fall. For the Psalmist his
hope is not placed in brick and mortar but in God.
The Psalmist does not look to God for a quick fix or as an
escape from the reality he finds himself in. It’s not like God is some sort of drug
that a person uses to try and escape from
pain and worry. Its not a place to hunker in the bunker till it all
blows over. In the Lord of the Rings its only as the defenders of Helms deep
ride out to face the enemy that they find help as Gandolf leading reinforcements
comes to their aid just like he
promised. The psalmist hope is that
God’s righteousness will prevail that God is with him and will lead and guide
him.
The plea for help in God finishes with a declaration of
faith and trust, which for us who look back from beyond the cross and the
resurrection sound familiar “into your hands I commit my Spirit”. He hands over his life, his circumstances his
future. This declaration of trust is
backed up by what the Psalmist knows of God’s character, revealed in his saving
acts in history,. Just like in psalm 136, that God’s steadfast love endures
forever.
We too can call out to God in the midst of suffering and
hardship, knowing God’s character and goodness. That God hears us and is present
with us and able to lead and to guide and help us to stand.
The psalm moves on and becomes a tale of woe, the psalmist
pours out his sorrow with vivid metaphors. I feel like broken pottery cast
away. We do not know what his affliction is but his key issue is that it has
caused him to shunned and abandoned by his neighbours. There is an element that
they have wrongly accused him. Yes there is an illness or maybe financial
hardship, tragedy has befallen him . If it from David’s life we don’t know have
the circumstance, but we know that David had suffered from times when he was conspired against even by his own son,
Absalom. That he had to flee his royal city and throne and go once again
wondering in the wilderness.
The thing that really hurt however is the assumption of
everyone that the psalmist has obviously done something to deserve this. We in
our western culture do not get the full strength of the idea of shaming. It is
not just a being made to feel we are unworthy, rather it is an ostracising and
a cutting off. We see it in the gospels
in the way in which tax collectors were treated by the Pharisees and religious
people of Jesus day. Even the paralysed man let down through the ceiling, whom
the Pharisees were probably thinking had done something wrong to deserve this.
Jesus made these people whole and welcomed them back into being God’s people.
Sadly even today there are those who
would say that misfortune was a sign of God’s punishment and prosperity a sign
of doing the right thing so that God would bless us. But The psalmist and the
scriptures do not hold to that. The book of Job and much of the wisdom
literature in the Old Testament, reject that as they wrestle with ‘Why bad
things happen to good people?”
We could go on and
wrestle with that, but the psalmist does not do that, rather the writer
expresses how in the midst of this he reacts and finds refuge in God. The
accusations are false and in the face of them and suffering the psalmist puts
his trust in the God of truth.
The psalmist places
his times all his circumstances in God’s hands because he knows that God’s
steadfast love endures forever. Echoing the Aaronic blessing he prays that God
might make the light of God’s face shine into the darkness. The refuge he seeks is the presence of God.
But this psalm is
about trusting God righteousness.That
the God of truth will not allow falsehood and deception and in justice to last
forever. In Luke’s sermon on the plain we see this in the beatitudes’ of Jesus
where those who would have been seen as being cursed and cut off from God’s
blessing are called blessed by Jesus, the poor, the grief stricken, the Hungry,
the hated and excluded because of Christ’s name, where as those who may see
themselves as blessed now are called to be careful. Woe to the rich, those who
are full, those whose lives are full of laughter, constantly amused and who are
idolised by this world. This psalm
challenges us to look and see where is God in the midst of suffering?… God is
with and for the suffering, the poor, the grieving, the outcast and ostracised,
those who ignore them or who write them off or who participate in increasing
their suffering will find that their plans come to naught. The Psalmist asserts
this hope.
Ultimately this is a psalm of praise: the Psalmist turns from lament to praise. It’s as if in the
midst of the churning waves he has spotted that patch of blue and it stills the
Psalmist’s mind. As he has made that affirmation of trust and surrender into
God’s hands there is the realisation that God is with and for him. In the face
of his own suffering he is able to call God’s people to give God praise.
He says he had felt like a besieged city and there was no
hope in sight, he had felt like God was not looking, Could it be that God
turned his back, was out to lunch, had packed up and taken a holiday. NO! The Psalmist has again become orientated
properly. He has found a solid place to stand.
As he had surrendered his life into God’s hands he became aware again
that God answers prayer that God is with us. We don’t know if everything comes
up roses, we are not told, we are simply told that God has drawn near God has
heard, God has answered and shown his steadfast love.. Therefore we should give
God praise. All the saints us included are encouraged to love the LORD. To keep
following him, not to be turned away and discouraged by even the darkest of
circumstance but to take courage because as the psalmist
discovered God is with the humble who seek him.
Secondly, it calls us whatever the circumstances to trust in God. Yes
in the midst of suffering and hardship it is right to cry out to God, with the
same confidence that the psalmist found. God hears and God knows our suffering
and sorrow, God is able to be a refuge a steady place to stand in the face of
the storms of life. Yes it is OK to pour out our tale of woe to the LORD, God
understands, Jesus has been there and knows our pain, it’s not wrong to groan, God can be trusted with even the most
heartfelt and deepest sorrow. But the way forward is in the face of every
reason why not to to say “But I”… “But I will trust the Lord” to hand ourselves
over to God’s care and God’s keeping, trusting in a sovereign and compassionate
God. Then to give him praise, to acknowledge in the darkness or even in the
smallest hint of dawn, the smallest patch of blue sky, God’s sovereignty, goodness
and mercy.
“Like Jesus we cannot assume that committing our spirits
into the hand of the God of truth will result in deliverance from suffering and
death. (although I do believe people that God heals and saves and comes to our
aid) Indeed, to commit one’s spirit in this way is to give up control or
expectation over the outcome of life and so trust in the redemptive love of
God, come what may. It is giving up that makes it possible in the final
analysis to enter the refuge of God. The taunts and ridicule do not disappear.
They simply pass without harm because we have passed beyond caring. The one who
gives up life finds it. And in surrendering our claim to what we had thought to
be life, we discover the true nature of living in the power of God alone and in
his presence.”
“Be strong and let your heart take courage all you who wait
on the Lord.”
Thanks for this post Howard. We should connect soon. Jason
ReplyDeleteLove to catch up some time Jason. Valued the time we spent together last year on the barrier.
ReplyDelete