This week has been a downer for me. I let the triumvirate of troubles get between God and me: plague, prejudice, and pride. I slothed through Bible readings, slumbered through church online, and skipped out of prayer times; taken together, a sure-fire formula for “down-in-the-mouthedness.” Besides that, the weather has been gray and rainy, not to mention the Sahara sandstorm that has painted the sky a milky – white. I presume that the “murder hornets” are not far behind, (a line from Pastor Jay Cooper’s sermon of 6/28/2020.) All in all, it would appear that we are only “one pestilence short of an apocalypse.”
This afternoon, God asked me if I were ready to leave the “pity-party.” I looked around me at the sad faces of my fellow party-goers holding plastic cups of cheap scotch and telling tales “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (Shakespeare, The Tempest) while the house band wailed a lethargic cover of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.”
“Yeah,” I sighed, “I b’lieve I am.”
“OK,” He beamed in a most cheerful tone, “Let’s blow this joint.” Now, “the joint” is the driveway where I have set up a temporary office on the tailgate of the red Silverado with the two-tone upholstery. Of course, that was not the “joint” to which He referred. “The joint” we were about to “blow” was what Sherlock Holmes referred to as my “Mind-Palace.”
I leaned back on the tailgate and prayed my true feelings. I “bled” on Him a while, holding nothing back, sugar-coating nothing in a “thin candy shell” like an “M.” I confessed my sloth, slumber, and skipping, none of which surprised Him. After all, He is God.
Presently, a melody crept into the “Mind-Palace.” I don’t know how it got there, I thought I had it sealed pretty tightly. However, do know from where it came – or should I say, “from whom it came. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is with-in me, bless His ho-ly name.” I knew it was the choral arrangement of a Psalm, but I must confess that I didn’t know which Psalm, I had to look it up. Psalm 103.
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul. Ps. 103 KJV.
In the Psalm, David invites the reader to praise God. After so, inviting, David enumerates a few of the reasons why we should do this. He has forgiven all of our sins and has healed all our diseases. He has given us good things to eat and has “executed righteousness and judgment” for all who are oppressed.
Whoa, stop the bus. That sounds great and everything, but I wondered if it were really true. In what sense has God done this? Aren’t these basically the societal ills about which I had moped around in the first place? Didn’t I hear that the virus numbers and death rates were on the rise in several states? Weren’t some people still out in the streets going about their business unhindered by masks or “social distancing” while others were out in the same streets protesting systemic injustice and inequality? Weren’t the rich still getting richer at the expense of the poor, sort of “Robin Hood in Reverse?” “Yeah,” I muttered under my breath so He wouldn’t hear, my mood darkening anew, “Where’s your Psalm now?”
About that time, my cellphone “dinged” a single melodic tone, indicating that a new Email had just dropped into my virtual mailbox. It was a news flash from the New York Times. “A Georgia grand jury has just handed down a nine-count indictment against the three white suspects held in the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery,” an unarmed 25-year-old African-American man, fatally shot near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia, while jogging.
“See,” God said. “I’ve got this, and you know what? I’ve got all the other stuff, too. You just keep on being faithful, doing what I’ve called you to do, trusting Me, and let me handle the world in My way and in My time. You’ll be a lot more productive – and joyful.”
And you guys know what? I b’lieve Him. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, “Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me. Bless His Ho-ly Name.”
So let it be written, so let it be done.
P. S. You might enjoy this little clip. https://youtu.be/d-ZVP4P4lXo
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