Enthroned on the praises of Israel ...

Any day is a good day to praise God;
Any place is a good place to glorify him.
And yet we neither praise God in every place
Nor glorify him every day. Why is that?

Perhaps there are days when we just don’t feel like it.
Maybe there are places in our lives where we feel
Too sad or too burdened to lift our voices to God.
But should we let those days or places exist?

Consider the example of Jesus.
Think about the worst time in his life;
Consider the worst place he ever was.
It’s not too hard to locate that, is it?
The day of his death, pinned to the cross …
Yet what does Jesus do on that day,
From that place? He quotes a psalm.
Not just any psalm. Psalm 22.
Remember the words from its first verse?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

This appears to be, at first, Jesus asking a “why” question.
And we know that asking God a “why” question
Is asking God the wrong question, don’t we?
The Jewish people who heard Jesus would have known;
They would have understood that he was quoting the psalm,
And they would have understood that by quoting
Its first line, he was, in effect, quoting the entire psalm.
Even when he did not have the breath to speak it all.
This was a device used frequently in the synagogue,
And it still happens in our pulpits today.
A part stands for the whole. A synecdoche.
So Jesus does not merely ask why; in effect
He delivers his entire lament to his Father:

Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.

Where is God? Enthroned upon our praises!
Why do we praise this God?

In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

Yet both the psalmist and Jesus
might understandably struggle
With trusting at this trying moment;
Neither might feel so close to salvation
While in the hands of their enemies …

But I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me;
they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
"Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver —
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!"
Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother's breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

And so the psalmist describes the feelings of his heart
In a way that eerily foretells the events of the cross,
So well that they easily become the words of Jesus:

Many bulls encircle me,
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs are all around me;
a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shriveled;
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
they divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
O my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!

Despite these heart-breaking events,
Both the psalmist and Jesus anticipate the shift,
The turning from the disaster, and
The returning from the grave.
And in that turning which only God can empower
Is found the ultimate reason for praising God.

From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
but heard when I cried to him.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
For dominion belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.

May we have the courage and faith to trust God today,
enough trust to be able say “He has done it”
even before he finishes doing it.

May we give God the glory today.

Blessings,

Ron

Quotations are from the NRSV.

A litany of why

Sometimes we wonder why things are the way that they are for us. We are, after all, the children of God. Should we not be blessed? Let me voice the litany of “why” questions that I hear my brothers and sisters speak from day to day:

Why does our family struggle with finances, with meeting our bills? It’s not like, after all, that we spend hundreds of dollars each month on cigarettes or alcohol. It’s not as if one of us has a gambling problem. Yes, we probably could be a little more careful with our money, but why do we feel as if we live from day to day? Why are things happening that cause my retirement nest egg to decline, it seems like every day?

Why do I have this pain, why do I experience this personal suffering in my body? Why does this pain distract my spirit, restrain my godly passion, diminish my energy to do the righteousness of God? Since my body affects my spirit, why is this pain allowed to persist?

Why does this world careen from one crisis to another? We know that reporters are honored by their peers when they find the ugly, not the good; crisis, not creativity. Still it seems as if there is enough violence, hate, poverty, and war in our world for several lifetimes, not just ours.

Why are my children suffering? I know that God says that he loves children; why does he allow these challenges to happen in their lives? Aren’t their trials great enough? Haven’t I prayed enough, counseled enough, given enough?

Why does God withhold this desire of my heart from me? Does it not glorify him? Would it not please him? Do I not please him? Surely this is only a small thing in the power of God …

Why? Well, honestly “why” is the natural question in the face of suffering. It leads to lament, which is the moaning of our spirits before the spirit of God. We need to lament, we need to express to God our sorrow because he does understand it. He even understands the sorrow that is too deep for words. Eventually though, on the other side of lament, comes the act of faith, the act of endurance. James says, “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4 NRSV)

Paul goes further. He says that suffering, that crisis, only serve as contrast to the glory that even now God is bringing to his creation.

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Romans 8:18-30 – NRSV

O God, be righteous; because your righteousness is our righteousness, the righteousness of your frail children.
O God, be glorified; because your glory spills over to bring glory to us, your children oppressed by an arrogant world.
O children of God, be righteous: do justice, show mercy, and walk humbly before your God, and you will demonstrate the righteousness of God.
O children of God, glorify God, humble yourselves, and he will lift you up.

O God hear the sighs of our heart, enact in us the glory of your righteousness, and help us trust that you are the Savior, the one who comes at just the right time. O Lord, expand the borders of your kingdom; please begin in our hearts.

Grace, and peace,

Ron