The Psalmist of Psalm 39 finds
himself contemplating the shortness of life and seems to be in a situation of
feeling sorry for himself and his circumstances. He thinks if he is silent about his bleak
circumstances, perhaps things will get better.
However, no matter how hard he tries to do what is right, his
circumstances do not change. They are
still bleak and he wonders why he even bothers doing the right thing. He recognizes the sin of his life and he
wonders if his bleak circumstances are a punishment of God. He uses the image of God punching him with
his fist.
How many times has that image of God
been given to us? Sometimes we tend to
view God as this unseen force beyond the sky, bow and arrow in hand, waiting
for us to mess up so he can send an arrow flying down from the heavens to knock
us off our feet. I tend to think that
the troubles and heartaches we face are merely natural consequences of
sin. Sometimes it’s natural consequences
of our own individual sin, sometimes it is the sins of the community and
sometimes it is global sin.
God is not the author of sickness,
disease, violence, tragedies. No, the
psalmist knows in his heart of hearts that it is God who gives us hope in the
midst of all these things. I remember
back in the early nineties my father was teaching a Sunday School lesson. He brought up the question of Why. Why me God?
Why did this have to happen to me?
My father’s answer was simple, Why not me? What makes me any less deserving of tragedy
and heartache then the person sitting next to me. None of us are immune. We have that in common. The greater thing we have in common though is
hope. The psalmist says “My hope is set
in you.” (vs. 7b) What should we be waiting for? We should be waiting for God because that is
where our hope is set! Thanks be to God.
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