‘The Lord is My Light and My Salvation’

March 31, 2020

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes,

Came upon me to eat my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

 Thou a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;

Though war should arise against me, in this I will be confident.

 One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek after;

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion;

In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me;

He shall set my feet upon a rock.

 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me.

Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy;

I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord… (Psalm 27:1-6 NKJV)

 March, 2020 will possibly go down as one of the most difficult months in the history of the United States of America, except perhaps April which is coming. More than 9-11, more than hurricane Katrina, hurricane Sandy, or hurricane Michael this event of the coronavirus outbreak (Covid-19) has cut far deeper into the American psyche than anything since World War II. Each generation often has a ‘defining moment’ for that generation. I suspect for all those living today under 40 years old, this may be a defining moment for all. Those of us who are older and have seen more of the vagaries which life offers are perhaps more philosophical. We may see most of our accumulated wealth and our American way of life vanish in less than a few days, but we know things will return to normal, as much as normal can be in this age of climate change. But for those under 40 years, it is unlikely if any can remotely remember anything like what we are experiencing today. With palpable anxiety, we look forward into our future and see a bleak landscape or we can also imagine a land of abundant opportunities.

When the constructs of a certain way of life are all upended; when our whole world civilization collapses into a pile of rubble suddenly and without warning, we are left with the choice of despair or reconstruction. This is a moment when we can choose to construct something much better than came before. This is our opportunity (shall we call it ‘grand?’) to create a whole new and different world.

For example, the issue of a social safety net which can help everyone in times of cataclysm and in good times also could be considered as a necessity and no longer an option only for those with wealth. Or, we could revalue the types of jobs which are in our larger society. Perhaps sports heroes could make a little less in order to pay caregivers for our elderly poor a little more. For example, do we need to learn the lesson again of how to be better prepared for natural disasters, even one as predictable as a global pandemic?  As early as 2015, Bill Gates was saying a global pandemic is inevitable, given the novel viruses springing up in various parts of the world. Global transportation not only carries people around the globe, it also carries whatever viruses people are capable of carrying along with them.

We should not blame the person who consumed an exotic animal and got a virus. We should blame ourselves for not being prepared for what we already knew was coming. We can blame ourselves for not having enough medical equipment, enough hospital beds, enough personal protection devices for all our first responders and first line medical personnel. We could have run disaster scenarios to know before hand what is needed and what needs to be immediately closed and what can remain open as essential services. We are not stupid. We could have done this, but we did not. However, we did have many wonderful Super Bowls of sports and many, many mega movie hits. This is not being cynical (perhaps a little) and mean spirited (perhaps a little), but we could have set other national priorities. If we can plan in the Pentagon to fight two wars on two different fronts at the same time and have adequate equipment available to do so, we could have been prepared to fight this war against this pandemic, too!

It is ‘water under the bridge’ to look backward and fix blame, but it may prove to be a helpful exercise to examine our failures at multiple levels, including national leadership and ask ourselves how can we do our jobs better next time.

The psalmist David, who often seemed to be fleeing someone who wanted to take his life, penned this psalm 27 apparently during one of the more hopeless occasions of his existence. Yet, in this same time, David has the audacity to believe that God will strengthen him and help him overcome, even triumph over his enemies in his time of trouble:

‘Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me upon a rock.’ And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me. Therefore, will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.” (Psalm 27: 3-6)

David believed that as long as his main task of worshipping God was fulfilled (as he was a great composer of psalms) and as long as God desired his worship he could be kept safe from his enemies who were trying to destroy his life, since he knew that God was going to protect ‘his anointed one’ and protect him from an untimely and unfortunate early death.

David believed that his safety from death and from the power of his enemies was because during worship he is surrounded by the powerful and loving presence of God. Th disciples of Jesus were safe in the boat on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a terrible storm raging all about, because Jesus was in the boat with them. In the same way, David knew that his worship is pleasing to Almighty God, the Lord and so a lifeboat is given to David and those who love God enough to worship God. This is a journey of faith, which though fraught with perils is still the only journey worth living. Whether we live or whether we die, we belong to God, who loves us with an eternal love! Thanks be to God for this precious gift!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ and most Holy God our Father, we are reminded daily by the TV news that our lives are little more than dust, and we are ‘dust creatures’ animated by the Spirit of God who creates our own human spirit, so we can be made “in the image of God our Creator, Redeemer and Friend.” We are afraid, and some of us are more afraid than others. Only for so long can our bodies and our minds run on caffeine and adrenaline. We are already tired, and we may yet be more tired. However, even when we are in doubt and surrounded by fear, we are still trusting and relying upon You, Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father. We rely upon you as we know we are your beloved children. As a father protects his little children, so we believe that you will protect and care for us as well. Thank you for being our God, our Father, our Redeemer, our Sustainer and our Friend!

“What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we did not carry, everything to God in prayer.”

What seems trite is really not trite at all. Entering into the Lord Jesus Christ and hiding ourselves there until this storm has passed over is the brightest thing we can do. We are not hiding from life, but we are resting in Christ’s presence so when life happens we are strong enough in Christ to go meet life out in the world!

Amen! Amen, we praise you Jesus Christ our Lord!

Bill Wilson, servant of God, by God’s grace and mercies.

Let all of God’s people say, “Amen!”

“Amen! We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ!”