Psalm 121

In reading Psalm 121 this morning, I wonder how many people that I know could read this and then say in their heart of hearts, “yeah but what about…?” In today’s treacherous landscape, where sickness, sadness, war, and destruction seem to be ruling the day, these positive-sounding psalms could seem more like a Christian platitude than truth.  But I don’t think that’s what this psalm was meant to be.  It’s not meant to be a feel-good poem, but a reminder of who God is despite our present circumstances.

I know a lot of people going through real tough times right now.  Not just having a bad day but having what we would call a “bad life.”  Things that have been done to them, sickness that only seems to get worse, and leadership decisions that affect their livelihood.  These circumstances seem to suck the joy out of living, don’t they?  Maybe it’s not happening directly to us, but someone close to us.  That’s when the dangerous but misdirected question enters our minds: how could a loving God… There’s a subtle shift of perspective that the enemy uses in these situations to distract us from God’s truth.  The funny thing is, if we can pick apart that temptation from our spiritual enemy, then we can actually recognize the misdirection.

You see, the sleight-of-hand is that the enemy gets us to focus on the here and now.  Yes, we are suffering, but God said we would.  This is a result of our broken world.  No, that isn’t supposed to make us feel better.  However, it must be a part of our overall worldview in light of present sufferings.  If this life is all there was, then that would be really pitiful and sad.  But it isn’t!  This is the misdirection.  In that dangerous question of asking why a loving God would allow us to suffer, we actually negate the timeline of eternity and contradict the existence of God altogether!

We talk about God as if He is limited to our own limitations: time, pain, and constricted resources.  We try to bring God down to “our level” instead of rising up to His.  Look at what Psalm 121:7 says:

The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.

Your soul is not about your illness, a cheating spouse, a misbehaving child, or losing your job.  All those things are temporary, like dust in the wind!  Yet our spiritual enemy wants to use those things to distract us from the reality: he is already defeated and the Lord is on our side.  We might not have much control over the things happening to us, but we do have control over how we respond to it.  While this psalm seems hopeful and uplifting, I believe it is a reminder to choose God over our suffering and disappointments.  In previous devotions, I mentioned John 16:33, when Jesus said that we will experience tribulation, but to take comfort in the fact that He is with us amidst the tribulation.  Just because we are saved, or God loves us, does not immediately exempt us from pain and difficulty; what a selfish thought!  It changes our view of God from one who is the almighty Creator of the universe to a personal genie that is supposed to take care of every inconvenience that we have.  This thought process is no different from the spirit worship we see in pagan religions.  That focus and perspective takes us all the way back to the original sin of humankind, the original temptation: for us to try to be like God.  Satan is still using this tactic which got him cast out of heaven.  He is now trying to get us to maintain the same attitude as him: that we should be the ones in control.

So then, why does God allow pain and suffering?  To remind us that it isn’t about us!  Now, that isn’t an absolute answer, as there are multiple reasons which I have shared in previous passages, but it is a different way of recognizing God’s sovereignty.  If we could just say a prayer and manipulate God to send angels down in very (humanly speaking) “bad” situation, then He wouldn’t be God, we would be!  Not to mention, if He answered every prayer, how much contradiction would there be?  Just consider the players of opposing football teams praying that they win the game.  How can both prayers be answered according to human will and a real result happen?  It’s illogical.  We can’t predict or understand the end result because we can’t see the bigger picture.

So then, the answer isn’t to question God’s goodness, but to trust Him despite our pain and suffering.  What we doknow, is that there will be a day when everything is perfect as it is supposed to be again.  But God wants to know whose side are you on.  Do you recognize Him as the One True God, or do you prefer him to be your personal butler to come and take care of things for you when you don’t like how it is going in your life?  Will you choose to love and trust Him in the difficulty, or only when He makes things comfortable for you and the ones you love?

I have come to realize that pain and suffering is a pathway to peace.  It is an opportunity to break us of our selfishness until we recognize and accept God’s sovereignty.  One more rant about this from a different perspective and then I will invite you to worship God with me despite our worldly tribulations.

I have heard people call into question God’s goodness through the filter of pain and suffering, saying they won’t recognize or serve a God who allows bad things to happen to “good people.”  That specific phrase, “good people,” I addressed elsewhere and won’t rehash it here.  You can read about it on my post about Psalm 119: Resh. But yet in that very statement, they are choosing to recognize and serve Satan, who does bad things to ALL people!  Turning your back on God is turning your face towards the devil.  You can only serve one master, so choosing not to serve God is a choice to serve Satan.  Who will you choose to serve and recognize as your God?

In Praise You in the Storm, Casting Crowns puts the sentiment of this psalm to music for us.  It’s a beautiful way of articulating how we can choose God despite the difficulties of life.