We Only Have Control Of Ourselves

When things in our lives are not going the way we had planned it is easy to cry out to God in wonder of where God is.  This is not a new feeling.  Ancient theology from Old Testament times attributed everything that happened to gods.  For Israel, everything was attributed to God, the only true God.  When they weren’t winning battles that signaled to them that God was not present with them.  Such was the case of the corporate prayer found in Psalm 60.  Israel was not winning battles and they cried out to God laying claim that God had rejected them. 

The truth is God does not reject us.  We reject God.  We make choices that move us away from God.  We make choices that contribute to our own shortcomings and failures.  It is a corporate we.  I certainly don’t have a theology that suggests that everything bad that happens to us happens because we have done something wrong.  That is ludicrous.  Humanity as a whole does much that contributes to the bad things that happen in this world.  We don’t take care of the creation God has given us.  That improper care leads to disease and disaster many times.  We don’t treat each other with love and dignity and respect. 

While I certainly don’t believe that all bad things occur because of something we have done wrong, I also believe that when things are falling apart the only thing we have control over is our own actions.  We would be remiss not to examine ourselves and see where we might need to make adjustments in our own behaviors. 

I had such a moment on June 12.  I reached out to my health and fitness coach as I sat here at this desk in prayer and recognized that while I was in school I had neglected a lot of things and people in my life.  I had also neglected my own health and well-being.  My coach recommended two books to me that day.  One was Joyce Myer’s Making Good Habits, Breaking BadHabits.  The other was Brene’ Brown’sGifts of Imperfection.  Armed with those two books and a book I had read several years ago, Sink Reflections,  by Maria Cilley I set out to transform my personal life.  It was not God who had rejected me.  I had rejected myself.  God was never absent from my life.  God is always present if only I take time to be still in God’s presence and listen for the whispers to my heart.  The same is true for you.  When life seems upside down and out of control take control of the only thing you have control over.  Take control of you and your behavior and do it with God in the yoke with you, present with you, and guiding you every step of the way.  Then you can say as the psalmist of Psalm 60 concluded “With God we will triumph; he’s the one who will trample our adversaries.”  (vs. 12, CEB)

God is Judge-I am not

            Psalm 58 is one of those Psalms that make me uncomfortable.  It is full of violent images invoked by the psalmist as punishment from God on the enemy of the psalmist or the community for which the psalmist writes.  When we read these psalms it is important to remember the teachings of Jesus about our enemies.  Jesus tells us to love our enemies.  Matthew 5:43-44 says ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you.” This is a very different picture than the picture laid out by the psalmist who cries out to God to break the teeth out of the enemies mouth and let the enemy “dissolve like water flowing away.”  It is a very different picture then the picture the psalmist paints of the righteous “soaking their feet in the enemies blood.”

            The psalmist here uses wartime imagery to get the main point across.   I believe it is human nature to desire to see those who cause us pain suffer.  I have said many times that one of the things I love about the Psalms is that they validate my humanity.  I don’t have to feel shame and guilt when in my hurt and brokenness I feel like seeing those who are hurting me suffer.  However, the bigger truth of this psalm and the other psalms like it is that God is the judge.  It is God who is in control of righting wrongs. 

            The overall picture painted here is that yes there is pain and suffering in the world.  We can not escape it.  Yes, it is natural and right to seek Justice.  James Mays writes in a commentary on this psalm that the “notion of vengeance (vs. 10) is a feature of the vision of God as ruler.  The term does not mean vindictive revenge; it refers to an action to do justice and restore order where the regular and responsible institutions of justice have failed.[1]

            In The Wesley Study Bible there are sections throughout the bible entitled “Holiness of Heart and Life.”  These are notes written in sidebars of the Bible by key pastors in the Methodist tradition that help us live out our Wesleyan faith.  Here is what the side bar on the page of this passage states regarding persecution:

By “assurance” John Wesley meant a state of mind and heart, not so much dreamy as durable.  A sense of absolute trust in God does not lift us above the fray but guides us through the fray with confidence that someone holds us by counting our sleepless nights and gathering our tears.  Thus the psalmist is able to weave our palpable fear of persecution with the irrepressible hope of deliverance.  The faithful are not immune to dread; we cannot always know we will be safe.  What we can know is that, come what may, we will be saved.[2]

Know from this Psalm that it is natural to want to see justice brought to that which has wronged you.  Know also from this Psalm that God is the one who is in control.  We are called to love our enemies.  We are called to forgive.  We can not do that on our own.  We can do it when we let God be the ruler over our lives and over our world.  Thanks be to God. 

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[1] Mays, James L., “Psalms” in Interpretation A Bible commentary for Teaching and Preaching, (Louisville, John Knox Press, 1994) pg. 212

[2] Green, Joel and Willimon, William, eds. Wesley Study Bible, CEB edition (Common English Bible, Nashville, 2012) pg. 728-sidebar

Be still and let God fight-A reflection on Psalm 54

In 2 Samuel 23 we are told the story of David, hiding among the Ziphites, fearing for his life.  His best friend, the King’s son, comes to him and gives him reassurances that he will become King that his father will not succeed in having him killed.  Things look bleak for David though when the Ziphites go to King Saul and tell him that they know where David is.  Saul sets a plan into motion to capture and kill David.  David though has complete faith in God for the plan that God has in store.  Psalm 54 is David’s act of praise and confidence in God that God is present even in this bleakest of moments.  I wonder what bleak moments you are facing today?  Be assured, like David, that God is present.  Always trust in God’s plan for your life.  Sometimes it is hard to see God’s plan.  Sometimes you feel like you just might die before God’s plan is ever realized.  The Bible shows us over and over again though that God is the victory.  I was reminded by a friend last week that God will fight for us in our troubles, against our enemies.  We don’t have to do the fighting.  We are called to be still and Let God.  It is so tempting to take the control back from God and devise our own plans.  Be sure my friends that when we do that, disaster is sure to follow.  Our plans are never as good as what God has planned for us.  Thanks Be to God.