For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, even when I spoke, "I am greatly afflicted." I said in my alarm, "All men are liars." (Verses 8-11)
In what storm, in what affliction, with tears streaming down your face as you tried to walk forward in pain, have you said, "I still believe."? Before you were delivered from the grief and saved from your stumbling in perplexity at the horrible circumstances in which you found yourself? Perhaps a disease, the loss of a loved one, financial stress or facing the ramifications of your own waywardness. It is the test, isn't it? If when things fall apart, we can still attest to our faith in a good God Whose lovingkindness will get us through. When we can't answer the question, "What is God doing?" When all we have is our trust in the character and love of our Savior...and the hope in His Word that "joy comes in the morning." Maybe that's why Paul referred to this psalm when he wrote, in 2 Corinthians 4: But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.
I was reading Mockingjay before I went to bed last night. In the story, Plutarch, the leader of the revolt against the capitol, gives Katniss Everdeen a blue pill to take just in case the danger she finds herself in proves hopeless. The suicide pill will give her a painless death. Put her to sleep forever instead of the alternative--to be captured and tortured by the regime. When she swallows the pill, Plutarch promises Katniss her troubles will be gone. She hides it in her clothing. A panacea. A treasure to be taken out only in the most dire of emergencies. A comfort. Katniss has a way out if she needs one. If she doesn't overcome her enemies and is overtaken.
This may seem like a stretch to some, but I thought of her as I read the psalm today. As I thought about the many Christians all over the world right now in prison for their faith. Crushed. Afflicted. And friends I have who are in this moment battling illnesses that only God can heal. There are people I love who have lost spouses and children. I cried out today for a family whose little girl is dying from cancer and rendered helpless by the chemotherapy that is trying to kill it. What all these people have in common, though, is like Katniss's blue pill. A panacea for the pain. Not ingested for the purposes of escape. The treasure hidden in their earthly bodies is the Spirit of God. Come to assure them that in all of this, deep within and crying out on their behalf, is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Moving and brooding as He did over the face of the waters when it all began for planet Earth, is God. Never leaving. Never forsaking. Crying out with us, hovering near, speaking peace to the storms that were meant to destroy us. The God of everything sharing intimately with us when all seems lost. Promising life eternal. Giving us the down payment on heaven by living in our earthly bodies. So that, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil (Psalm 23) because He is with us.
I remember the words of my dying friend as she lay in her hospital bed. "I am the Lord's." Great peace in the declaration. She believed, even when she said, "I'm dying." And because Jesus promised it, I know she is now indeed praising God in the land of the truly living. Eyes dried, feet steady, soul perfected. I've also seen the earthy victory that snags us from the snares of death and heals us to stay another day on Earth. My business sold, not ruined; my home not destroyed with the neighborhood in the biggest tornado ever to hit North Texas; grabbed by the hand of my Father out of life destroying sin; good come from evil; mourning turned to joy. This treasure--vast and priceless--resides permanently within me to power me through even the throes of death. No blue pill. To end the woes. But an immeasurable gift--the power of God--to enable me to say, "Even when I am afflicted, I still believe!"
I think we are going to need our treasure more and more in these confusing days of our lives here. Troubles. All around. Nationally and worldwide. Even the shaking of the earth last night here in Southern California was a reminder that our planet is uneasy and volatile. Jesus told His disciples on the night of His arrest that we'd all see trouble. Even He. Foretold their hypocrisy. That they'd all leave Him alone. "Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me. I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16) Triumphant in heaven, conquering not only His own death, but ours as well, Jesus sent His very Spirit to make us more than conquerors here. Treasure the gift. It was given at great cost.
In what storm, in what affliction, with tears streaming down your face as you tried to walk forward in pain, have you said, "I still believe."? Before you were delivered from the grief and saved from your stumbling in perplexity at the horrible circumstances in which you found yourself? Perhaps a disease, the loss of a loved one, financial stress or facing the ramifications of your own waywardness. It is the test, isn't it? If when things fall apart, we can still attest to our faith in a good God Whose lovingkindness will get us through. When we can't answer the question, "What is God doing?" When all we have is our trust in the character and love of our Savior...and the hope in His Word that "joy comes in the morning." Maybe that's why Paul referred to this psalm when he wrote, in 2 Corinthians 4: But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.
I was reading Mockingjay before I went to bed last night. In the story, Plutarch, the leader of the revolt against the capitol, gives Katniss Everdeen a blue pill to take just in case the danger she finds herself in proves hopeless. The suicide pill will give her a painless death. Put her to sleep forever instead of the alternative--to be captured and tortured by the regime. When she swallows the pill, Plutarch promises Katniss her troubles will be gone. She hides it in her clothing. A panacea. A treasure to be taken out only in the most dire of emergencies. A comfort. Katniss has a way out if she needs one. If she doesn't overcome her enemies and is overtaken.
This may seem like a stretch to some, but I thought of her as I read the psalm today. As I thought about the many Christians all over the world right now in prison for their faith. Crushed. Afflicted. And friends I have who are in this moment battling illnesses that only God can heal. There are people I love who have lost spouses and children. I cried out today for a family whose little girl is dying from cancer and rendered helpless by the chemotherapy that is trying to kill it. What all these people have in common, though, is like Katniss's blue pill. A panacea for the pain. Not ingested for the purposes of escape. The treasure hidden in their earthly bodies is the Spirit of God. Come to assure them that in all of this, deep within and crying out on their behalf, is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Moving and brooding as He did over the face of the waters when it all began for planet Earth, is God. Never leaving. Never forsaking. Crying out with us, hovering near, speaking peace to the storms that were meant to destroy us. The God of everything sharing intimately with us when all seems lost. Promising life eternal. Giving us the down payment on heaven by living in our earthly bodies. So that, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil (Psalm 23) because He is with us.
I remember the words of my dying friend as she lay in her hospital bed. "I am the Lord's." Great peace in the declaration. She believed, even when she said, "I'm dying." And because Jesus promised it, I know she is now indeed praising God in the land of the truly living. Eyes dried, feet steady, soul perfected. I've also seen the earthy victory that snags us from the snares of death and heals us to stay another day on Earth. My business sold, not ruined; my home not destroyed with the neighborhood in the biggest tornado ever to hit North Texas; grabbed by the hand of my Father out of life destroying sin; good come from evil; mourning turned to joy. This treasure--vast and priceless--resides permanently within me to power me through even the throes of death. No blue pill. To end the woes. But an immeasurable gift--the power of God--to enable me to say, "Even when I am afflicted, I still believe!"
I think we are going to need our treasure more and more in these confusing days of our lives here. Troubles. All around. Nationally and worldwide. Even the shaking of the earth last night here in Southern California was a reminder that our planet is uneasy and volatile. Jesus told His disciples on the night of His arrest that we'd all see trouble. Even He. Foretold their hypocrisy. That they'd all leave Him alone. "Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me. I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16) Triumphant in heaven, conquering not only His own death, but ours as well, Jesus sent His very Spirit to make us more than conquerors here. Treasure the gift. It was given at great cost.
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