Psalms 143
1 Kings 17:17-24
Acts 20:17-24
I guess that we are the cause of most of the calamity that comes into our own lives. In the unstableness our own minds we bring uncertainty upon ourselves. We doubt the decisions we make, how well we have raised our children, the jobs we have taken, how much money we have spent, who are friends are, and basically how and why we live the way we do. We ask ourselves, what if I had done this, or did I do enough, shouldn’t I have been better prepared? Wasn’t it Pogo that said “I looked for the enemy and he is us.”
The Psalms for today declares something much like this. The writer cries out to Jehovah and says “Don’t judge me yet.” The enemy is winning now, and I’m in a dark place, I hate it here, I don’t know exactly how I got here, for I remember You, O LORD, I remember Your works, Your doings, Your presence, and I’m reaching out to You now. Of all the times I have needed You to be stable and unchanging it is now, don’t turn away. Deliver me from my enemies and myself, teach me, lead me, deliver me. You Jehovah alone are Adonai, and El Elyon, for your sake take me back, save me from me, revive me, and make your Name Holy in my midst.
1 Kngs 17:17-24 Here is the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarapheth, and the bowl of flour, and jar of oil that never ran dry. She recognizes Elijah as a prophet of the Hebrews, though she is a Gentile, and welcomes his visitation and the mighty works he performs. Yet when her son dies shortly after this time, she blames herself. “It’s my sin that brought this calamity, your holiness Elijah, illuminates my wretchedness.” Elijah falls upon the boy and graciously calls upon Jehovah to heal him and He does, to the mothers delight, but don’t think Elijah didn’t need to see God work in this matter just as much as the woman did. Jehovah glorified Himself in their midst.
Acts 20:7-12 In a similar story of healing we have Paul in Troas, about to take leave of that city, and gathered with a crowd in an upper room. It’s a Sunday evening, and they are about to have communion, a breaking of bread, when Paul, having no social awareness, preaches until midnight. A young boy falls both asleep and out of a third story window. He dies and Paul, in like manner of Elijah, falls upon the boy embracing him and Jehovah restores life to the child. Now the boy could blame himself for falling, the parents could blame themselves for not watching him closely enough, Paul could blame himself for preaching too long, and these things happened for all those reasons, but more importantly, also for God to glorify Himself in their midst.
I believe that the fabric of our lives is so intricate, so finely woven together, in such a complex, and beautiful way that we find ourselves wondering how and why things happen to us. We can’t see the finished project yet, so we doubt. There was turmoil and self doubt in the heart of the Psalmist. There was turmoil and self doubt in the heart of the widow of Zarapheth. There was turmoil and self doubt in the lives of the crowd at Troas. Yet Jehovah was the stable one in whom they all turned to. He healed and brought calm to all of them. He sometimes works huge miracles to make His name Holy amongst us, He sometimes merely calms us and soothes our doubts and fears when we are still, and calling upon Him.
In whom do you put your trust? Do you have current events troubling you? In any time of turmoil, small or large scale, the one who is stable like the Rock of Gibraltar is Jehovah, our Savior and our God. He is always there, and now is the time to call upon Him.
Karl
