Beyond that, of course, the ads try to impress the superior features of their product. With four-wheel-drives, they pile up the action shots - careering down a steep bank and through the water, across rough terrain, into the wild ridges... At times, the ads go too far - such as the four-wheel-drive pulling the semi- trailer out of a deep bog. Sorry - it’s not heavy enough to have good traction, no matter how powerful the engine is supposed to be! Unfortunately, this kind of advertising can lead some owners to attempt the foolish - after all, doesn’t the ad say so?
An American air hostess was reflecting on September 11 - and the daily fear that had become a feature of her employment. She turned the pages of her Bible for strength and encouragement and found great help in Psalm 94.18-19 - "When I said, ‘My foot is slipping’, your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul".
This Psalm gives no clues as to its authorship. Apparently, it was written at a time of great oppression for the Lord’s people. Their plea is for the Lord to avenge them, judging their wicked and arrogant oppressors. "They slay the widow and the alien; they murder the fatherless. They say, ‘The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed’." (vv. 1-7)
"Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach your law; you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked. For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance. Judgment will again be founded on righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it" (vv. 12-15).
The psalmist has a deep conviction that we live in a world of moral order, not disorder. Whatever injustice may happen along the way, in the end the Lord and his righteousness will prevail and there will be final justice for those whose trust is in him.
The pressure to resolve the issue raised by unwelcome and unjust circumstances rests heavily on us - as it did on the people of the Psalmist’s time. "Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?" (v. 16) Many are the times we have felt powerless to help someone who seems caught in an unjust system. God, someone, anyone... We need something done immediately.
Yet God doesn’t step in to prevent or reverse the world’s disasters. That question was being asked after September 11 - why didn’t God just stop it? One booklet which seeks to answer the question has the title, Where was God on September 11? If there is a God, that’s the kind of useful activity we would like him to do in the world.
Believing people know in experience that such human problems aren’t solved by some heavenly "flick of a switch". There are notable times when people have been delivered "out of" adverse circumstances. But many more times people know themselves to be delivered "in" their circumstances.
That seems to be the experience of the psalmist. "Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death" (v. 17). His situation was extreme, so there must have been some immediate deliverance.
"When I said, ‘My foot is slipping’, your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul" (vv. 18-19). This is the deliverance "in" his circumstances - support, consolation, joy.
There are times when we feel ourselves "at the end of our tether" and when we wish the Lord would just "take over". But most of all we need to know his support, consolation and joy in every circumstance.
| Prayer: Dear Father, each new day is a gift from you. Yet there are many things in our days that aren’t part of your good plan for us - or for others. Thank you that you are with us, no matter what our circumstances. Thank you that you took a human cross and made it the instrument of your love and grace. Grant us to know you presence and grace today. Whenever we are anxious, may we know your support and consolation - and enter into your joy. In Jesus’ name, Amen |
But in our world
so much is wrong -
we do not hear
the joyful song.
It seems an insult
to our woe,
a sentimental
tawdry song,
irrelevant
to human strife,
a waste of time
in human life.
But then we see
a wooden cross,
a good man
and his final loss.
Human arrogance
and greed,
no thought or care
for human need,
had placed him there
in deepest pain -
he died our death,
our life to gain.
At Christmas time
the carolers sing,
"Glad tidings
of comfort and joy".
He knows the depths
of human pain -
he died our death,
our life to gain!
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