JOY ON THE WAY

By the time this is published, the clumps of early-spring grape hyacinth by my front walk will be limp, their stalks shriveled to threads. But they'll be back again next year, shooting up as the weather whispers the coming of spring. Their resiliency amazes me, as some of the rock salt thrown on the icy walk next to them during winter surely contaminates their soil. But they still return, offering their brilliant purple “beads” as a springtime delight.

For whatever reason, while reading Colossians 2:7—a wonderful admonition and benediction—those little plants came to mind:

Just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

The analogy isn't perfect; grape hyacinth have a very short blooming cycle. But they're true to their nature, responding in God's amazing plant growth cycle to push from their dormant roots with delicate, lovely blooms.

If grape hyacinth could talk, I wonder if they'd complain a bit about their long dormant season. I'm reminded of David's woe-is-me Psalm 13 as he kept running and hiding from those who opposed him. Psalm 13 starts out with almost a whining tone:

How long, O LORD, will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have horror in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

David is definitely down in the dumps. He's wondering if his foes might succeed in taking his life. But he ends on a note of hope against hope, of trusting the trustworthiness of God:

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me. (vv. 5-6)

The Hebrew word translated “unfailing love” is chesed and used of God's steadfast, faithful love, such as seen in His covenant relationship with His people. It's a whole package of amazing qualities: loving-kindness, mercy, and loyalty that is unwavering in challenges of difficulties. In English, we just don't have an adequate synonym for God's awesome, immeasurable love.

Do we experience hardships in this life? Slumps? Discouragement? Harm and danger? Yes. Is God aware of them? Absolutely. Are we supposed to kick at them and blame God? No. It's better instead to stop, look and be in awe of how He works through our trials and hard places. He knows “how long,” and it will be just the right interval.

Possibly, on that hard-to-travel path, we'll find whispers of His goodness. Little blessings, Glimpses of joy. Like those delicate beaded hyacinth blooming by my home every spring. Reminding me that, after every winter, God will stir the earth and send them forth. True to His character as faithful—to me.

HOW MUCH MORE?

The "crowns" on our neighbor's garbage cans
are good "proof" of the overnight snow dump

After a nose-reddening, finger-numbing January cold snap, we knew “it” was coming. The snow. And even though the weather forecasts warned us of a “dump,” it still was an “I can't believe this” event when we woke up and saw nearly two more feet of snow outside. (Thirty miles away, closer to the mountains, Bavarian-themed Leavenworth residents opened their doors to three feet of “white.”) Bundling up and grabbing snow shovels for a strenuous digging out as snow continued to fall, our thoughts were “How much more?”

Later, resting from a session of shoveling, I thought of another “how much more” series of questionings I'd recently read in Psalm 13. Actually, in my translation, it was “How long,” and the speaker was David, who was weary of trying to keep one step ahead of his enemy King Saul. “How long--” David asked repeatedly (vv. 1-2):

*Would God Forget David and hide His face?

*Would David wrestle with doubts and sorrow weighing his heart?

*Would the enemy seem to be winning this conflict?

No surprise, God has heard a lot of frustrated, exasperated questions--“how much more?” or “how long?” The prophet Habakkuk, watching the unraveling of his nation, asked, “How long, O Lord, must I call for help but you do not listen?” (Habakkuk 1:2). Even in the “Revelation” John had of future events, Christian martyrs waiting in heaven asked, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” (Rev. 6:10).

OUR HOW-LONGS?

In our times, whose “how long” questions are likely to be:

*How long will we endure the pandemic and all its frustrations and sorrows?

*How long before we can simply be with people, and our kids go to school in a “normal” way?

*How long before the different opinions people hold about the pandemic won't matter anymore?

Or, more sobering:

*How long will we grieve those who go to eternity without having Jesus as their Savior?

David's Psalm 13 is a brief six verses, but it packs a lot of punch. After his honest, unhappy “how long” questions, followed by reminders that he'd appreciate God's answer, he articulates what he knows to be true:

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me. (vv. 5-6)

Depth by porch

You might outline this psalm as “questioning,” “complaining,” and finally “affirming.” And that's a good description of how our faith grows. The dailiness of life's deadlines and dead-ends, defeats and denials, may leave us reeling like we're buried under two feet of snow. But there's the “but”--the hope.

The “rest of the story” of our snow-shoveling was that we got unsolicited help for the task. And even though we went to bed with sore muscles, we got through it—enough to literally “get through” to the street and mailbox. A week later, the snowpack had melted by half.

Not all our “how long” questions are answered so quickly. I've faced difficulties that have gone on for years. Even though I wish I could “shovel them away,” God allows them to remain in my life. Because—as the psalm emphasizes—they teach me to trust in His unfailing love (v. 13). And maybe also (v. 6) to sing praises to Him. (And I don't mean the pop holiday song, “Oh, the weather outside is frightful...” even though it was!) 

GROAN--HOW MUCH LONGER? (Psalm13)

Part of a continuing series on 48 psalms that speak to “feeling down.”

Stuck in a thorny situation!  That’s the main complaint of Psalm 13, that David wrote during one of his many “feeling hopeless” times.  Four times he wails, “How long?” (my paraphrase):

*How long—forever?---will you forget about me, God?

*How long will it seem that You, God, have hidden Your face?

*How long must  I deal with negative and sad thoughts?

*How long will the enemy seem to have the upper hand?

What I like about this psalm is that David is talking to God  about his serious doubts. He’s not giving up his faith, although it’s a bit ragged right now. We don’t know his precise circumstances but he sounds like he’d come to the end of his rope, again, in staying a step ahead of King Saul and his murderous desperados.

The things that put me in a funk aren’t as life-threatening as David’s. But at different times in my life I have run into spiritual mountains I cannot scale, deep river gorges I cannot cross—except for God.

 But the big “BUT” is the word to hang on:

But I trust in your unfailing love; My heart rejoices in your salvation. 

I will sing to the LORD for he has been good to me.

David’s saying, “We have a history together, God.  You’ve helped me in the past. First of all, I thank you for the gift of salvation that allows me to be in relationship with You and trust You. Then I just need to praise You.  Where’s my harp? That’s how I express my ‘love language’ to God. I’ll sing a song that praises God’s goodness.  That may not solve my problems immediately, but it will keep my focus on God, who rescues and helps me.”

Thorns are part of life.  But even a cactus can put out a blossom, like a reminder of God’s help even when life seems sticky for much too long.

When you wait, and wait, on God

Have you prayed for years, even decades, regarding something and see no hope of an answer? Welcome to God’s Pray-Waiting Club. Sometimes I sing a duet with King David, who pined, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?”  (Psalm 13:1).

 

Those who think of God as “somewhere out there looking down on us” are probably most discouraged by unanswered prayer. They imagine God is too busy processing millions of prayers to pay much detailed attention to them. But such a view demeans the greatness of God. Still, when no answer seems to come to our prayers, we may feel abandoned or forgotten. That’s when we need scriptural reminders that God always hears our prayers and always responds.  But He will not be manipulated. His answer will come in His way, in His time, and to fulfill His purpose. And sometimes that’s “no,” for some of these reasons:

*In response to disobedience and dishonor. Moses truly wanted to step into the Promised Land. Then he lost his temper in a way that dishonored God. When the people rose up against Moses because there was no water, God had told him to “speak” to a certain rock, and it would provide water.  Instead, he stormed,  “Listen you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10).  The pronoun “we” put Moses on equal footing with God. Then, instead of speaking, he whammed the rock with his staff.  God took that seriously and right then set the punishment: Moses wouldn’t enter the land.  Moses’ heart-breaking disappointment shows how  God loves us but also has laid out how to relate to a holy God. Any sin--public or private, done or neglected to be done--is an affront to His holiness.

*To fulfill God’s higher plan. Jesus knew going through crucifixion would be excruciating. Worse, He’d suffocate under the dark weight of the world’s sin.  His Father would turn His face away. “My Father,” He pleaded that last night in Gethsemane, “if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.”  But He knew the Father’s will was to go through it: “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 25:39). God may leave us in a difficult situation because He sees the end result. That challenging job, difficult roommate,  marital conflict, illness or disability may be the tool He uses to develop godly character that pushes through.

*To help us experience God’s sufficiency.  Paul felt he’d suffered enough. Missionary life had meant imprisonment, beatings, shipwrecks, travel dangers, criminal harm, sleep deprivation, hunger, ragged clothing, and edge-of-death trauma (see 2 Corinthians 11). He also carried a huge emotional pastor’s burden. Whatever the source—an old injury?—he continued to suffer a “thorn in the flesh” that simply wouldn’t go away. To help him endure this, he had a special-delivery message from Christ: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:7-10). To that, Paul responded with words that still instruct us:  “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

God’s “no” is never arbitrary. In His profound wisdom and unfailing love, He seeks only our best. That’s not necessarily our comfort, but it’s what will bring Him honor and impact our world for good. As we accept the “no” and begin to see His hand in our lives, then we’ll come full-circle to the conclusion of Psalm 13.  After hanging out all his “how-long” questions, the psalmist decides:

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me. (Psalm 13:6)