Category: The Word (Page 34 of 34)

My blog-topics jump all over the place, don’t they!  That’s partly because I read my devotions for the day and find my heart moved to write about what I’ve read.  So, if you can take the jolting from the jumping, here we go again.  This time it’s the last four verses of Psalm 92.

The righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the LORD;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
to declare that the LORD is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Sappy seniors.

But this “Sabbath Song” (see title at the top of the psalm) doesn’t center on them.  It sings of them only in relation to the One who is “Most High.”

It is good to gives thanks to the LORD,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High.
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy (92:1-4).

It’s because of him that “the righteous flourish” and “still bear fruit in old age.”  Because his love is steadfast, old-agers still bear fruit.  Because he is faithful, creaky-voice seniors still sing praises to his name.  Because he is Most High, the elderly push through pain and hobble to gathered worship and find that it is good to gives thanks to the LORD.

When Lois and I came to Florida 24 years ago, we were 46 years old and the congregation was virtually all over 60.  Compared to our church in New Jersey, this had a nursing home feel about it.  Now that I’m 24 years older I’m a little wiser.  Seniors who know the Lord and walk in righteousness after him are no less alive, no less attractive, no less precious  than the energetic, forward-looking, enthusiastic young.  Pity I had to grow old to learn of the Lord’s steadfast love and faithfulness to the old!  We might sing more off-key, have trouble keeping up with the words to some Old English hymns or some upbeat contemporary songs, but the Lord enjoys our worship as much as he does the worship of the young and we find it just as soul-satisfying.

But let’s be honest.  Not every oldster walks as gracefully as a palm tree or stands as strong as a Lebanon cedar.  In fact, the apostle Paul said, ” . . . our outer nature is wasting away” (2 Corinthians 4:16a).  And think of Job scraping his infected skin with shards of pottery (Job 2:7,8)!  He couldn’t comprehend what was happening to him until the Lord revealed himself in ways Job had never known and restored his blessings beyond expectation (Job 38-42).  But Paul knew:  “Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light and momentary affliction (!) is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:16b-18a).

So we “seniors of the Lord” might be stumbling and struggling on the outside, but inside we’re still growing (92:12), still planted in the presence of the Lord (92:12), still bearing fruit in our old age (92:14a), still sappy and green (92:14b).  We know that one day soon we will enjoy “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17b).  That’s what we try to keep our sights on (2 Corinthians 4:18).  (Maybe that’s why we sometimes stumble–we’re looking at the unseen, eternal things!).

Meanwhile, we know why we’re kept sappy and green inside.  We know our mission.

” . . . to declare that the LORD is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him” (92:15).

Sappy seniors.  Still singing of our Lord.

Reading my devotions for the day, I’m often moved to respond in writing.  Today Psalm 88 did it.  It’s not a “Gee whiz, everything is wonderful!” prayer.  Quite the opposite.  “Heman the Ezrahite”, the identified composer, was darkly despondent.  I’ll quote only a portion of his 18 verses.  Read slowly.  Keep in mind Heman is praying this to God . . .

O LORD, God of my salvation;
I cry out day and night before you.

Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!

For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol (the place of the dead) . . .

You have put me in the depths of the pit,
in the regions dark and deep.

Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves . . .

I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
my eye grows dim through sorrow . . .

But I, O LORD, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.

O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
Why do you hide your face from me? . . .

I suffer your terrors; I am helpless . . .

They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.

You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.

That’s the way the prayer ends.  No climaxing chorus of victory.  Not a note of hope.  Just lonely darkness.  Where’s this guy’s faith?  Why doesn’t he remember the Lord’s glorious works of old?  Why doesn’t he quote some good promise of the Lord for tomorrow?  Because this is how he honestly feels.

Hasn’t there been a time or two (or more) when we’ve felt like this?  A soul full of troubles? Tired of living?  Trapped in a deep, dark pit with no escape?  Drowning?  Cast off from God?  Terrorized and helpless?  Alone and assaulted?  As if God is angry and hiding?

Apparently it’s acceptable to tell God things like this.  To be brutally honest about how we’re feeling.  If this prayer is any indication, God won’t strike us dead or condemn us for questioning him and, yes, even painfully complaining to him.

Nobody wants to stay like this.  We’d rather pray Asaph’s prayer in Psalm 79.  He begins reciting how the nations have devastated Jerusalem, how they’ve “poured out [the] blood [of the Lord’s people] like water.”  He asks, “How long, O LORD?  Will you be angry forever?” (79:5).  He prays for God’s help (79:9), then makes this confident  affirmation at the end:  “But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise” (79:13).  He’s full of faith that the Lord will defeat his enemies.  Heman, however,  is in no mood to consider coming victory.  The Lord has “assaulted” him (88:16).  He’s ready to die (88:15).

There are actually Christians who claim if we speak this way we create the condition.  Don’t say God has put you in a dark pit or else he will!  That’s heretical nonsense.  Of course, we can drive ourselves into deeper despondency if Psalm 79 is always our model prayer.  It’s good for us when we feel unloved to pray, “I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever” (Psalm 89:1a).

But there are times (ask Heman) when we’re so despondent that honesty requires a kind of “raw-ness” to our prayers.  No need to pretend.  No need to sing “faith is the victory” when we feel like “why do you hide your face from me?”  The Lord understands.  He prefers raw honesty to hypocritical religiosity.

So “pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:8).
” . . . weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b).  And we will sing . . .

You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy;

that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever (Psalm 30:11,12).

(Note:  If you’re reading this on Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday.  Gather with God’s worshiping people and get lifted up!)