Readings for the day: Psalms 97, 98, 99
I find it easy to get discouraged. My wife tells me it’s because I pay far too much attention to the news on my phone and I will readily admit I have a difficult time turning it off. The more I travel globally, the more I find my heart broken. Bombings at three churches in Indonesia. Riots and death in Gaza. Ebola outbreaks in west Africa. Brutal crackdowns on fellows Christians in China. Andrew Brunson imprisoned for his faith in Turkey. The deeper the Spirit takes me into Christ, the more these events effect me. I am often troubled when I pray. I often find myself brooding over the chaos of the world. Wondering when God will finally put an end to it all.
I am just as troubled for events here at home. The plight of the poor. The racial strife that persists. The rage that seems to simmer under the surface of our society. I am baffled by the ability of people to walk away from relationships they’ve cultivated for years. Troubled by our wide-spread lack of resiliency. Our inability to process disappointment and pain in healthy ways. The deeper the Spirit takes me into Christ, the more I realize how essential forgiveness and reconciliation are to the life of any community. Be it a family, church, school, business, town, etc. We simply cannot survive without it and yet fewer and fewer people seem capable of grace.
I am broken by the personal experiences I’ve had recently. Walking with a family through the suffering and death of their five-year old son and grandson. Spending time in conversation with them. Praying with them. Loving them. Heart breaking for them. Walking with another friend through a recent cancer diagnosis. A man I respect and admire in so many ways fighting now for his life and his future after a tumor the size of a beach ball was removed from his abdomen. A couple I know struggling to hold their marriage together. Children I love fighting depression and anxiety. Yes, I know this is part of what I signed up for as a pastor but it doesn’t make it any easier. I am no Superman. My heart breaks on almost continual basis for those I love and have the privilege to serve.
How I needed today’s reading from the Psalms! “The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all peoples see his glory.” (Psalm 97:1-6) What a declaration of hope! God reigns! Not God will reign. Or God has reigned. But God reigns! The present tense! He reigns over the chaos. He reigns over the pain. He reigns over the disease and death. He reigns over it all. Globally. Domestically. Locally. Personally. God reigns! And because God reigns, I can be glad. Even in the midst of all my fears. Even as I stumble under the weight of all my burdens. Even when I am discouraged or troubled or broken. God reigns. I can rejoice. “Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.” (Psalm 97:11-12)
Now I know many will argue this doesn’t change a thing. It’s not like war and violence and sickness and suffering are going away anytime soon. They will use world events as evidence to push back against the idea of a good and holy and righteous and sovereign God. They will argue it’s impossible for God to be all these things when there is so much wrong in the world. This leaves us with one of only two conclusions, so they say. Either God isn’t good. Isn’t holy. Isn’t righteous. And perhaps just doesn’t care. Or God is not sovereign. He is not all-powerful. He doesn’t reign and is at the mercy of the same forces we are that operate with such seeming impunity in our world. And if I didn’t have faith. If I hadn’t encountered God personally. If I didn’t know God on an intimate level, I might be tempted to agree.
But I believe. I have faith. Even in the darkness, I trust the light will one day dawn. Even when the world is crashing down around me, I trust the One who holds all things in His hands. Even when the lives of those I love seem to be falling apart, I trust the One who holds all things together. God is reigning! God is on His throne! God is sovereignly directing all things for His glorious purposes! So I will sing! I will “sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” (Psalm 98:1-3)