| A bitter pill...? |
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I've read the Bible through many times. And one of the challenges of
doing so is that the Bible can get old if you don't approach it with
fresh eyes, especially those passages that you grow to love. I don't
typically get surprised when I read it anymore, although I am always
amazed at how God uses it to speak to me again and again. Yet yesterday, I was surprised... ...as I read Psalm 44. Beautiful Psalm from verses 1-8 about who God is and what He has done for His people. But then, starting in verse 9 all the way through the end, our picture of our "Best Life Now" is overturned by God's tossing His people aside, for no apparent reason, without explanation, and without response. And I was particularly surprised, given the previous Psalms ability to come back around to hope, that the Psalm ends without resolution, without explanation, and without anything positive. And I thought - "what the heck?!" Seriously. I could write this Psalm if my life began falling apart without explanation:
Well, the answer is found...you just have to link up Psalm 44 with a New Testament passage that quotes it, to find an answer that makes sense. Otherwise, God seems to make little sense. Psalm 44:22 reads, "But for Your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep." This is quoted by the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:35-37: 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Paul wrestled with Psalm 44, and it is his conclusion that helps us understand Psalm 44. He asks the rhetorical question regarding trials and non-sensible trouble - "Does it mean God no longer loves us...?" NO. God still loves us, and nothing will ever separate us from that love, even if all hell breaks loose in our lives without a reason. And even as hell DOES break loose, we can know that all things work together for good for those who love God (Romans 8:28). When there are NO answers at the moment, it does NOT mean there aren't answers. This side of eternity might never reveal those answers, but ultimate and overwhelming victory is ours through Christ. One other thought - Psalm 44:22/Romans 8:36 reads, "For YOUR sake we are killed..." You see, THIS is where the rubber meets the road. How willing am I to live for YOUR sake? Am I willing to be a pawn in God's cosmic plan for the world, to be used up and even discarded for God's ultimate glory? Am I willing to be laid to waste, burned out, used up, set aside, derided, and given no explanation whatsoever for HIS sake? Will I let God be sovereign and let Him - without complaint - run His universe the way that He wants to run it? Will I truly live and let my life be solely FOR HIS SAKE AND HIS ALONE? Jim Elliot wrote it best in his own personal journal in 1948: "Father, take my life, yea, my blood if Thou wilt, and consume it with Thine enveloping fire. I would not save it, for it is not mine to save. Have it Lord, have it all. Pour out my life as an oblation for the world. Blood is only of value as it flows before Thine altar." He also wrote, "Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. But flame is often short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul? Short life? In me there dwells the spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God's house consumed Him. 'Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God." Psalm 44 is a bitter pill if there were no value in being part of God's plan. But if that is what God desires for me or for any other man, then God, for YOUR sake, may You use my life. Bitterness might reign in this life, but sweetness, beauty, and understanding in the next...
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