Dec. 27, 2020
2020 - Crappy Year, Good God (Psalm 120:1-7)
There are playlists we like to pull out for travel. Sometimes we spend a few hours creating the "perfect" playlist. They remind us of vacations before, long drives, and great destinations. God uses the Psalms to help us a we journey toward Him. The Psalms are a place of mourning, questioning what we are seeing, and simple turns back to God in the midst of struggle and sorrow.
Psalm 120:1 - is the very first verse in a playlist Jews would sing on their way up to the Temple. It was a declaration. "I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer." It is no coincidence the songs START with this. We could take our troubles anywhere these days, but are we fed up enough that we will take them to Him?
This psalm talks of fighting and lying and trouble. It speaks of living in a land where people say they want peace, but it doesn't seem to be what people really want. It's a "fed-up-ness" with all that is being seen around.
Eugene Peterson said: "No literature is more realistic and honest in facing the harsh facts of life than the Bible. At no time is there the faintest suggestion that the life of faith exempts us from difficulties. What is promised is preservation from all the evil in them."
The Psalmist often asks two questions and follows that with a statement:
1. "God, where are you?"
2. "God, what are you doing?"
3. "God, don't forget about me!"
In doing this, he's confessing his concerns, but the last statement is not a knock on God, it's a begging and crying out that if God doesn't rescue, no one will... and nothing can.
2020 has revealed how fragile we are. 2020 has revealed what other things we've put our trust in. 2020 has also revealed that if God does not intervene in our lives, we have nothing. Thankfully, between now and our being with God for all eternity, He's given us Jesus and He's given us His Body... while we wait, while we are in-between:
MOURN WHAT HAS BEEN LOST. YET KNOW THE END, as the Psalmist did:
Psalm 27:13–14 (NLT) - 13 Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. 14 Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.
