Week 11: Leviticus 24:10 – Numbers 4 and Psalms 71 – 77

As I write this week, I am mindful of the uniquely challenging time in our world’s history we find ourselves in.  As COVID-19 continues to spread, ordinary life is being brought to a halt.  Increasing preventative measures are being taken, and we all find ourselves wondering how to appropriately think, feel and respond to all of it.  It is unlike what nearly anyone alive on the earth today has experienced.

Personally, the week has been full of disappointments.  All of the cancellations and closures have interrupted several plans that our family had been anticipating for months.  However, I trust that our disappointment pales in comparison to the anxiety, fear and suffering that are plaguing the hearts of so many people across the nation and around the world.

Considering these things and the affect COVID-19 is having on the hearts and minds of humanity, Psalm 73, which we read earlier in the week, was quite fitting:

“But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task…” Psalm 73:16

How in the world do we begin to make sense of reality, the appropriate responses we should have, and what God is doing in our midst?  There are overwhelming amounts of information, varying opinions and so many unknown factors.  The individual human heart is left to wonder how to take it all in and discern a truthful perspective.  The follow-up verse in Psalm 73 shed some glorious insight:

 “…until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.”  Psalm 73:17

In God’s presence, we are graciously given the perspective we need for our souls to find rest.  While our circumstances are literally changing by the hour, He is unchanging.  His reign, His kingdom and His sovereignty stand secure.  As uncertainties seem to dictate our days, steadfast security remains as we meditate on Him.

73 is the first Psalm of Book 3 in of the book of Psalms as a whole.  The 5 books, or collections, within the book of Psalms bring clarity to the divine organization of the entire book as we know it today.  The 5 collections were compiled in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, after Israel had been in exile in Babylon.  They were intended to instruct the hearts of God’s people in worship even though God’s promises to them seemed as a distant memory.

The last Psalm of Book 2 (Ps. 72) is of Solomon, signifying the establishment of David’s kingdom and his descendant on the throne.  All seemed to be going to plan in accordance with God’s promises to the anointed king of Israel.  But a dramatic shift took place in Book 3.  The tone changed as Books 3-5 were and are instructions to Israel on how to have hope in God even when things do not appear to be going to plan.  They instruct the nations to trust that the Lord reigns even when our experiences tells us something very different. They point us back to the God who was, who is and who always will be.

Israel’s expectations were being challenged, but God was beckoning their hearts to find peace in Him alone.  It seems that we find ourselves in a very similar place.  So many of the things that we perceive as evidence of God’s blessing on our lives, are being put on hold.  The liberties once taken for granted and the confidences once placed in the regularity of life are being stripped away, one by one.  People around the world are feeling vulnerable and afraid.  We feel uncertain about what the future will hold and how to properly prepare for it.  For many, comfort and peace may seem to be quickly slipping out of grasp.

Personally, my heart is tempted towards anxiety, obsessive thoughts, depression and overwhelm when circumstances are spiraling out of my control.  Where is your heart tempted to go in times of uncertainty?

In Psalm 77, the last Psalm of this weeks’ reading, the Psalmist put words to the questions stirring in his heart as the promises of God seemed to be crumbling before his eyes:

“Has his (God’s) steadfast love forever ceased?  Are his promises at an end for all time?  Has God forgotten to be gracious?” Psalm 77:8-9

What gut wrenching questions for the Psalmist to pen.  Had God’s love ceased?  Were His promises all for not?  Had God forgotten…to be God?

But then…faith arose!  He addressed his doubts in God’s love and faithfulness head on.  “I will appeal to this,” he said!  You can almost hear him shouting as he proclaimed,

“I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.  I will ponder all you work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.  Your way, O God, is holy.  What god is great like our God?” Psalm 77:11-13

These words spoke to me this week!  When I remember all that God has done and that His way is holy and good, the circumstances and disappointments that consumed my countenance begin to melt away.  What god is like our God? I may not understand why things are playing out the way they are.  But, I can think back on countless other times when I did not understand in the moment, only to see the incomprehensible kindness and goodness of God at work in hind-sight.

The closing words of Psalm 77 were particularly moving as I read them this morning.  As the Psalmist reflected back on the numerous ways God had demonstrated His sovereignty to His people, he said this:

“Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.”  Psalm 77:19

Dear fellow sojourners, wherever you find you heart and mind in this uniquely challenging time in our history, take heart.  God’s way is to carry us through that which we think will be our end.  It is His way to set Himself apart from everything else that we think will save us, only to show Himself glorious and mighty.  We often do not recognize that it has been Him carrying us through the turmoil and chaos.  His footprints are often unseen as we are so fixated on all that threatens us.  None-the-less, we are His people; and He is ALWAYS faithful to His people.

He alone is our Rock, the unchanging One, the unshifting One.  How do we know we can trust Him…Has anyone else said that they were going to raise from the dead and actually done it?  Has anyone else endured what Jesus did on our behalf?  He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the same God as He was to them.  He was, He is and He is to come.  There is nowhere that He is not, nothing that goes unnoticed by Him or unredeemed in the fulness of His perfect plan for creation.  Hold tight to Him and do not be afraid.