It's A Trap! Reflection on Psalm 43

Image By: Rishabh Mishra

It was recess and I was standing guard while the ladies were enjoyed the swing set.  I should explain.  I was standing guard because it was the habit of boys at my school to chase the girls during recess.  It was all in good fun, but the arrangement bothered me; to my superhero-loving 8 year old mind the boys seemed like bad guys.  So, as only an 8 year old can I resolved to oppose bad guys wherever they might be.  I declared myself the girl's body guard; when a boy would run at a girl I chased him away, kicked him, and yelled, “Don’t chase girls!”

While I stood guard that day a friend of mine yelled over from the play structure, “Hey David!  Come over here!”

“No!”  I had a job to do.

“I wanna show you something cool!”

This particular boy, we'll call him Jack, was good at catching cool bugs, however; I thought this could be a trap.  As I considered, he yelled, “I promise it’s not a trap.” That might seem a suspicious declaration to you, but it neatly dissipated my suspicions at the time.  I was not the smartest kid; I assumed he was bound by his promise to me.

“It was a trap!” Jack shouted once I had climbed to where he stood.  Two boys blocked my retreat route and four others came out from various hiding places.  I was surrounded.  No one hurt me.  This game was too fun for either side to ruin it that way.  I ran through the crowd and dove heroically down a slide.  Their plan was clever.  My escape was daring.  Everyone won.

           

            This is the greatest extent to which anyone was ever lain in wait for my blood.  I’ve been blessed; I have not been oppressed by an enemy, but sometimes circumstances can be bad enough without enemies.  I’ve hunted for jobs without finding them.  I’ve been hungry.  There have been difficult obstacles.  I’ve asked God what he thinks he’s doing much like David did in verse 2.  I love how the Psalms let us see the weakness of David.  Apparently it is OK to be weak sometimes.  Crazy right?  I think if there's a right way to deal with our weakness David nails it in 3-5.  He calls out to God; he steels himself against despair, and resolves to hope.  Sometimes that's all we can do.

Challenge:

            Call out to God today.  Whether you’re in a time of comfort or a time of hurt, take time today to ask God to guide you, increase your joy.  Praise him and resolve to hope.  Then, if you can, go hang out with someone who loves you.  God Speed.

Life is Hard, Especially For Jane Eyre

I started reading Jane Eyre this week. I am really enjoying it, and this is a relief as it is a book I feel obligated to read. Especially since I have pretended to have read it in the past. I think we all pretend to have read more books than they're actually read; I hope. At least I will pretend this is true; I cannot be the only one who feels overwhelmed by the vast universe of books I haven't read. Back to the point: I am really enjoying Jane Eyre, not just the book but the character too. Jane is magnificent.

Jane Eyre is brave, bold, and smart. I wish I was more like her. I hope I am a little, but not too much, like her. Where I am reading she has just had a rather pointed dissent from Christianity. Jane feels, reasonably, that it is unjust for her friend Helen to submit patiently to undeserved reprimands and punishments. This is a common feeling; injustice is hard to stomach. I have felt this way, and every human, especially children, feel this way from some or all of the time. We want the world to be fair and it is not. There is not a neat and easy truism that makes this problem go away. There are comforting truths; explore them. Today I will not give answers away. Some truths do not feel precious, or even trustworthy, unless you've wrestled with them yourselves.

Read Luke 13, in which Jesus explains that bad things do not just happen to bad people, and in which he heals the sick, and laments the difficulty of salvation.

Read Job, in which a lot of bad things happen to a pretty good man who feels rather put upon by it all, but in the end God has a thing or two to say as well.

Read John 16, in which Jesus promises that in this world we will have trouble, but that he has overcome the world.

Read Hebrews 12, in which the author submits a perspective of hardship that is rather comforting if you've been blessed to have kind and loving parents.

Read 2 Corinthians 1, in which Paul reflects that his hardships have equipped him to comfort and serve his neighbors.

Read Jane Eyre.

Live. Ask. Struggle.

Challenge:

We are not given an easy answer for why God doesn't prevent bad things from happening. He does not promise to, which is at least a testament to his honesty. Bad things do happen; wrestle with it. Read the Bible. Ask the Lord. Let me know any insights or conclusions you come to, that's what the comment section is for. Good reading, and God speed.

RE: Psalm 40, A Rainy Day Love Song

A love song, sung in a time of trial is a beautiful thing. It shows the true nature of love and the power of faith. Love is fabulously resilient, it flourishes in good times, and sees us through our dark times. The Psalmist recalls God's goodness and mercy, and draws strength from God's previous goodness, even while standing in the midst of new trials and troubles.

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Challenge: Reflect on what God has done for you in your life, remember when he has provided and rescued when things were at their worst. The God who saved us from our sins remains more faithful and loving than we can fathom. As you walk into the challenges of this new day and week, remember who goes with you.

RE: Psalm 31

While at Concordia I had classmates who sometimes felt like they weren't real Christians simply because their faith story was not dramatic. Most of them were baptized as infants, but had heard the exciting testimonies of born again ex-Islamic extremists, recovering alcoholics, and ex-gangsters. They heard the stories of how God had intervened in powerful ways in the lives of extraordinary individuals, and they felt a little jealous because God had only intervened in simple ways in their own short lives. Feeling jealous of the hardships of others is not rational; this is a childish perspective to take on, but I confess that I feel this way myself.

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Psalm 31 evokes this kind of jealousy in me. I am a white, college educated, citizen of the United States of America. If I have suffered at all I have suffered little. I do not know what it is like to see the Lord's love while in a city under siege (31:21), I have never been literally delivered from a pursuing enemy (31:16), I have not known terror on every side (31:13).

When I take a mature look at the psalm I know that it is a blessing to have not experienced the suffering or affliction that the psalmist experienced. I may yet experience it or I may never experience it. That is not important. Our condition, station, and even our experiences are of peripheral importance when we properly focus on the cross. Jesus came so that at the end of days all people might enter a life free of distress, anxiety, or fear. If we suffer we can look to this psalm and know that God is with those who suffer, but even if we don't suffer we can look at this psalm and delight to remember that one man suffered once for all (1 Peter 3:18). Like him we can freely and gladly entrust our lives, our destiny, and our spirits (31:5) to the God that loves us all.