It’s been a hard week, my friends.
I’m exhausted. I knew it was going to be hard anyway, starting the process of saying goodbye to you all. But then, my kid calls Friday night because the explosions sound like a thunderstorm where she is living in the West Bank…and the week got even harder.
But that’s when this whole thing kinda takes on legs, isn’t it? I mean this faith thing we do here together. These are the times it is for, after all. When we don’t have it all figured out….when the unknown is looming and our anxiety is ramping up…and you know what? We simply have to trust God.
That’s where I’m at this morning. We simply have to trust God. We simply have to trust God during times of transition…with changes and new beginnings ahead for the church and for Matt and me. This is God’s church…it’s not ours…and God’s big enough to handle these things…so I can be good with it.
But we also simply have to trust God in a world that is horribly messed up. In a world where bombs are lobbed at innocent civilians because governments condone the tearing down of Palestinian neighborhoods to give “free land” to Israeli Settlers….and look the other way when mosques and churches are destroyed….and deny basic freedoms to all Palestinians. In a world that is horribly messed up…we have to trust God…that God’s big enough to handle those things too. And that can be harder.
So many nations throughout history have a legacy of that kind oppression and corruption. We do, that’s for sure. We’ve built our nation on stealing land and denying freedoms to people. And we all know how Germany did it to the Jews and Gypsies…and now how Israel does it to the Palestinians. But it’s universal, it seems….at least if you bother to learn history. Or just read your Bible. Matt and I have been reading in Jeremiah…and after reading about King Zedekiah’s abuses of power, sometimes it feels like I’m reading today’s news. People in power never seem to change. Their fragile egos are everything…and they don’t really care who might get hurt. That’s what happened to Daniel after all, isn’t it? The folks who are jealous of Daniel take advantage of the king’s ego to manipulate the laws to hurt Daniel….to get rid of him. Hmmm… gee….nobody ever does that these days, do they? Yes…the world has always been messed up.
But when it happens…when injustice and violence and war and corruption crop up over and over again…what do we do? We simply have to trust God.
Now…for Daniel, let’s admit that worked out quite splendidly. God shut the lion’s mouth and the king was converted..and all the folks that hated Daniel were thrown to the lions instead. Three cheers for the good guys!
But…I think the choir anthem probably spoke to all of us this morning when it asked …”didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel…..Then why not every man(…or woman …or child)?” I mean it’s great that Daniel was saved and all…but there are so many more that were not…that are not. So many more victims of political violence… of terrorism…or war…who are not saved from the lion’s jaws. So what do we do with that?
How do we simply trust God anyway?
I think that’s where our psalm comes in. When we are scared…when we are hurting…when we are anxious…we trust that God has us and holds us and won’t let us go…even when the arrows fly. Even when the wars rage. Even when pestilence strikes….which, by the way, may be either physical or mental illness. We trust that God is our refuge even when we have nowhere to hide….and God is our safety even when we are most certainly not feeling safe. We trust our home is under God’s wings…and no matter what happens…that we are okay. God is big enough to handle this.
Years ago, I met with a young man in our congregation who was facing some charges in court that someone had filed simply to hurt him…to get back at him. And like all lawsuits, it could have gone either way and we had no idea how the judge would rule. And as we met the night before, all I could do was remind him that whatever might happen…he was going to be okay. Because his “okayness’ didn’t depend on the circumstances of his life…rather his “okayness” was knowing that he belonged to God. Who he was…was okay because God loved him….and nobody could take that from him. He was nestled into the crook of God’s wing…no matter what happened. This psalm isn’t about guaranteeing that things are always going to go the way they should…rather it is about guaranteeing that we are okay, even when the circumstances of our life are going all wrong.
If you remember, this psalm was the very one Satan quoted to Jesus when Jesus was tempted in the desert. Satan said…’hey..why don’t you jump off the top of the temple wall..because God will protect you from ever being hurt…the angels won’t even let you stub your little toe….I mean, that’s what the good book says, right?’ And Jesus refused. He knew that was not what it meant. Because, we all know that Jesus did more than stub his toe. In fact, he became a victim of the very political egos and greed and corruption and violence we’ve been talking about, and in the end he was tortured and executed.
No…our faith in God does not mean the lions’ mouths in this world will always be shut. The Lord doesn’t deliver every person from injustice and evil. But our faith in God means that we are okay in the midst of whatever we face. Whatever fears or uncertainties. Our faith in God means that we know that no matter what the world does to us….no matter what arrow or pestilence may come…we are going to be okay. Because our home…our forever home… is under the wings of God.
Some of you remember Evelyn Cordes….she used to quote Kari, my daughter, often when I would visit her. One time, when Kari was only about 10…we were talking about dying…and Kari said she wasn’t afraid of death because she trusted God would take care of her. Every single time I saw Evelyn she would shake her head and say…if a kid like that is okay with it…I guess I can be too. Kari’s simple faith touched her. I happen to know Kari still feels that way. Because she shares the same faith you hold….that whatever happens, we are beloved. And we are never alone. And God will raise us up. Just as God raised Jesus from the dead, we too will rise and we will shine. Because God is big…and God can handle this. So nestle in under God’s mothering wings, dear friends, and know that you have a refuge. You are safe. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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