Crisis
" Crisis, Trouble, Disaster -What Should We Do?" Psalm 121
Overwhelmed? Troubled? Has the situation been more than we can handle? In the last few weeks in The Great Physician in our evening studies we have seen people who were helpless. There was Jairus from Luke 8 , a ruler of the synagogue whose only daughter was dying. He implored Jesus to come to his house. The woman who touched, literally grasped the tassel of the robe of the teacher , Jesus , who suffered from a disease for 12 years and had spent all she had on doctor’s bills came trembling to the Master. Even a Soldier came because he had a servant who he dearly loved and valued who was gravely ill. ( Luke 7) This week we have been overwhelmed as a people for the nation of Japan. Some of us have even been to that country at one time or another. Thousands have lost their lives and even more have now the nuclear radiation to fear and to fight from the reactors that are melting. And I imagine with these things we have felt rather helpless and even fearful of the nuclear reactors’ safety in our own country.
All of us know the feelings around being helpless at some point in our lives as well . There is a certain amount of hopelessness as well that begins to settle in. What can we do? There is no way to fix it. We simply bow our heads in sorrow and tears. We cannot fix it. We cannot do anything. There seems no way out. Personal tragedy is unexpected but not a welcome visitor. We are in crisis and it is all we think about. Going through any loss is like this for us. We lose our way . Nothing else seems to matter but what we are going through then.
The Psalmist talks about these things. He is on his pilgrimage to the holy city. Some think it was written by David during a military campaign, but it seems more like a traveler’s pen that wrote it. The first verse could be more of a question, “ Should I lift up my eyes to the hills? ----in others or in nature I cannot find the help that I need. “ From where does my help come? Not in anything that is man made. These things are only temporary and do not lift my spirit. “ My help comes from the LORD , who made heaven and earth.” In God alone will my soul be made whole. For He does something that no one else or thing can do. 121:4 God protects me . “ He will not let your foot be moved.” Nothing is a surprise to God. “ He who keeps you will not slumber.”
Some wish to take God out of the picture. No God could not be a part of this for it is too terrible . But if God is not a part of it then He is not God. Our worship would be in vain if God has no power and control. He is a Sovereign. He is our King and Lord. He has absolute sway over all the kingdoms and nations of the world. “ And not a sparrow will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ..even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” Matthew 10:29 This is our faith. This is His promise that whatever we go through He will cause it to work for good. It does not mean we sit there and do nothing. We get up and do His work in the power of the Spirit knowing His love for us. But there are times when our efforts are in vain. At such times we must wait for His help . He does keep us and watch over us .
The Psalmist says the powers of this world will not strike His followers . “ The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.” 121:4b Sometimes it is hard to believe that God is watching over us and our loved ones. One mother and father said this about their son,“ During our son’s sojourn in the wilderness of unbelief I sympathized and commiserated because I had been through those trackless wastes myself as a young adult. “ But” , I told him, “ just because you don’t believe in God, doesn’t mean He doesn’t believe in you.” “ Forward Day By Day, ” Nov-Jan 2007 An English clergyman said this week from Truro Cathedral at Evening Prayer, “ In Lent we walk with Him in the wilderness of our unanswered questions . We pray that the Lord will walk with us and the courage to believe that He walks with us. Walk with us in the darkness of our journey and bring us to life and light. When our hearts and minds refuse to be comforted by easy answers. Walk with us in the darkness of our journey and bring us to life and light. When we feel deserted and abandoned by those we love. Walk with us in the darkness of our journey and bring us to life and light. Eternal Wisdom scatter the darkness of our ignorance. May we brought by your infinite mercy to your presence O Lord.”
I feel that presence as I enter this place. Have you ever felt that here? I truly hope so. Sometimes the empty Church is such a place. We sit and ponder what He says to us. We have many questions and sorrows. People disappoint us. We do not always see what God is doing in our lives and world. This is a time of year for renewal of prayer, giving and fasting.
We do not walk alone. I remember vividly that is was this Psalm that was read at my grandfather’s funeral who served as a Presbyterian minister for over 54 years. This Psalm has often given me comfort and the peace of God. It ends with the stirring words of vs. 7-8 “ The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”
We do not know God’s purposes in this place, our lives or the world. But we may trust in His infinite wisdom He is doing for us better things than we can desire or pray for.
Let us pray. “ O LORD, be thou a guide unto us in our journey, a shadow in the day, and a covering by night, a staff to our weakness, and a protection from danger, that by thy assistance we may perform not only this journey in safety but also all our earthly pilgrimage, and may finally come to the everlasting rest of our heavenly country; through Him who is the way, the truth, the life, Jesus Christ our Lord.” AMEN.
( from A Free Church Book of Common Prayer, 1929, given to me by my grandfather, Dr. Howard Moody Morgan, DD)
Overwhelmed? Troubled? Has the situation been more than we can handle? In the last few weeks in The Great Physician in our evening studies we have seen people who were helpless. There was Jairus from Luke 8 , a ruler of the synagogue whose only daughter was dying. He implored Jesus to come to his house. The woman who touched, literally grasped the tassel of the robe of the teacher , Jesus , who suffered from a disease for 12 years and had spent all she had on doctor’s bills came trembling to the Master. Even a Soldier came because he had a servant who he dearly loved and valued who was gravely ill. ( Luke 7) This week we have been overwhelmed as a people for the nation of Japan. Some of us have even been to that country at one time or another. Thousands have lost their lives and even more have now the nuclear radiation to fear and to fight from the reactors that are melting. And I imagine with these things we have felt rather helpless and even fearful of the nuclear reactors’ safety in our own country.
All of us know the feelings around being helpless at some point in our lives as well . There is a certain amount of hopelessness as well that begins to settle in. What can we do? There is no way to fix it. We simply bow our heads in sorrow and tears. We cannot fix it. We cannot do anything. There seems no way out. Personal tragedy is unexpected but not a welcome visitor. We are in crisis and it is all we think about. Going through any loss is like this for us. We lose our way . Nothing else seems to matter but what we are going through then.
The Psalmist talks about these things. He is on his pilgrimage to the holy city. Some think it was written by David during a military campaign, but it seems more like a traveler’s pen that wrote it. The first verse could be more of a question, “ Should I lift up my eyes to the hills? ----in others or in nature I cannot find the help that I need. “ From where does my help come? Not in anything that is man made. These things are only temporary and do not lift my spirit. “ My help comes from the LORD , who made heaven and earth.” In God alone will my soul be made whole. For He does something that no one else or thing can do. 121:4 God protects me . “ He will not let your foot be moved.” Nothing is a surprise to God. “ He who keeps you will not slumber.”
Some wish to take God out of the picture. No God could not be a part of this for it is too terrible . But if God is not a part of it then He is not God. Our worship would be in vain if God has no power and control. He is a Sovereign. He is our King and Lord. He has absolute sway over all the kingdoms and nations of the world. “ And not a sparrow will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ..even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” Matthew 10:29 This is our faith. This is His promise that whatever we go through He will cause it to work for good. It does not mean we sit there and do nothing. We get up and do His work in the power of the Spirit knowing His love for us. But there are times when our efforts are in vain. At such times we must wait for His help . He does keep us and watch over us .
The Psalmist says the powers of this world will not strike His followers . “ The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.” 121:4b Sometimes it is hard to believe that God is watching over us and our loved ones. One mother and father said this about their son,“ During our son’s sojourn in the wilderness of unbelief I sympathized and commiserated because I had been through those trackless wastes myself as a young adult. “ But” , I told him, “ just because you don’t believe in God, doesn’t mean He doesn’t believe in you.” “ Forward Day By Day, ” Nov-Jan 2007 An English clergyman said this week from Truro Cathedral at Evening Prayer, “ In Lent we walk with Him in the wilderness of our unanswered questions . We pray that the Lord will walk with us and the courage to believe that He walks with us. Walk with us in the darkness of our journey and bring us to life and light. When our hearts and minds refuse to be comforted by easy answers. Walk with us in the darkness of our journey and bring us to life and light. When we feel deserted and abandoned by those we love. Walk with us in the darkness of our journey and bring us to life and light. Eternal Wisdom scatter the darkness of our ignorance. May we brought by your infinite mercy to your presence O Lord.”
I feel that presence as I enter this place. Have you ever felt that here? I truly hope so. Sometimes the empty Church is such a place. We sit and ponder what He says to us. We have many questions and sorrows. People disappoint us. We do not always see what God is doing in our lives and world. This is a time of year for renewal of prayer, giving and fasting.
We do not walk alone. I remember vividly that is was this Psalm that was read at my grandfather’s funeral who served as a Presbyterian minister for over 54 years. This Psalm has often given me comfort and the peace of God. It ends with the stirring words of vs. 7-8 “ The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”
We do not know God’s purposes in this place, our lives or the world. But we may trust in His infinite wisdom He is doing for us better things than we can desire or pray for.
Let us pray. “ O LORD, be thou a guide unto us in our journey, a shadow in the day, and a covering by night, a staff to our weakness, and a protection from danger, that by thy assistance we may perform not only this journey in safety but also all our earthly pilgrimage, and may finally come to the everlasting rest of our heavenly country; through Him who is the way, the truth, the life, Jesus Christ our Lord.” AMEN.
( from A Free Church Book of Common Prayer, 1929, given to me by my grandfather, Dr. Howard Moody Morgan, DD)
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