UNDERSTANDING THE PSALMS AND THE OTHER POETIC BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

Do you find this verse troubling?

·       I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. (Psalm 37:25; ESV)

I find it troubling. It sets me up for disappointment and disbelief. How? I know the trials I have experienced and have seen the many trials of my brethren. There have been times when we all go begging for help. Certainly, those Christians facing death and forced conversions at the hands of ISIS, Boko Haran, and a multitude of other Islamic terrorist groups are begging for help.

It comes down to this – can we really trust God and His promises? King David, the writer of this Psalm, also “went begging” from the rich but miserly Nabal (1 Samuel 25:1-8).

Even worse, the chosen of God have often lived lives of destitution:

·       They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. (Hebrews 11:37-38)

Where was God at these times? Where was He when His saints were experiencing martyrdom, which He Himself had ordained? How can we reconcile these painful hardships with His promises of deliverance and blessedness?

Interestingly, even in Psalm 37, we find both perspectives – the prosperity of the wicked and the poverty of the righteous:

·       Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. (Psalm 37:7-9)

But when shall we be delivered? When shall we “inherit the land?” When will his promises be fulfilled? As Hebrews teaches us, the martyrs were required to wait until His Kingdom comes. Meanwhile, He is holding our hand.

Even immediately before the troubling verse (25), David acknowledged that the righteous will fall:

·       The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand. (Psalm 37:23-24)

However, suffering is only temporary. Meanwhile, “the Lord upholds his hand.” "Where sin abounds, so does grace much more so abound” (Romans 5:20).

Also, even when we fall, we “shall not be cast headlong” in destruction, as Paul had taught:

·       But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:7-11)

To truly know grace, we must also know the depths of our sin and condemnation. To truly know God’s deliverance, we must also know our helplessness and desperation.

How do we put all this together? How should we interpret the Psalms and the promises of God? We need to see the big picture and to understand the far-reaching plan of God.

The Psalmist had despaired of the promises of God:

·       Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. (Psalm 73:12-13)

However, he was later shown the big picture, how the promises of God would eventually be fulfilled, and that made all the difference. He therefore confessed:

·       I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:22-26)

Indeed, our flesh will fail us, but we have something far better.

OUR PROBLEM WITH GOD

There is one challenge that I think that all true believers in Christ face. We become disappointed with God. How? The painful and discouraging realities of our lives seem to be miles away from His promises. For example, our Lord promises:

·       “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

However, rest seems to be almost unattainable. Therefore, we are tempted to conclude that His rest is a fiction and His promises are just wishful thinking, a vain human attempt to find peace in an un-peaceful world. Consequently, many abandon the Bible and its promises of greener pastures. They lament:

• I had prayed that my mother would be healed, but she died an excruciating death.
• I prayed that God would free me from same-sex attraction, but He didn't.
• I asked God to take away my loneliness and isolation, but nothing happened.

However, the Psalmists also had this problem. They saw the wicked prospering, while the righteous suffering, and this tormented them:

• “For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked...Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, And washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued, And chastened every morning...When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me—” (Psalms 73:3, 13-14, 16)

This is also painful for us. We find that we are languishing instead of rejoicing. We try to understand this, but understanding eludes us, as it had the Psalmists.

However, I have found that my tears can bring the message of Scripture into greater clarity. It prepares us by teaching that suffering is inevitable:

• “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

If we want to be like Jesus, we also must be like Him in His suffering:

• Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (II Corinthians 4:10-11)

To make his point about the need and inevitability of suffering, Paul used the word "always" twice. 

Even Jesus had to learn obedience through suffering:

• In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5:7-8)

If Jesus had to learn through suffering, so must we!

But doesn't this contradict God's many promises that if we ask, we shall have?

• “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

However, we often overlook three conditions. Our asking has to be according to God's will. Many verses attest to this fact:

• You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3)

Our motives must be God-centered:

• “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Receiving from God is a matter of putting Him before all else. 

Also, our un-confessed sins might be temporarily blocking us from receiving. Peter provides one example of this:

• Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.” (I Peter 3:7)

Whenever we refuse to confess our sins, we tell God, "I want to handle this matter on my own." This He allows. When we turn away from God, He turns away from us. Consequently, we must examine ourselves:

• For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. (I Corinthians 11:31)

Suffering is a great tool.  It forces us to dig into our filth.

Lastly, patience is necessary:

• And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:11-12)

However, in the midst of my suffering, I was convinced that I had confessed my sins, asked according to His will, and had waited patiently. I, therefore concluded that God had failed me. However, we are called to endure:

• My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. (James 5:10-11)

We often protest: "How can such treatment be regarded as 'very compassionate and merciful'?" We need to see the big picture, the picture Jesus saw on the Cross, which enabled Him to endure the Cross.

• Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame...(Hebrews 12:1-2)

Job needed to look heavenward. However, his charges against God precluded this. It is hard to trust in God as we accuse Him of wrongdoing.

However, mercifully, God accused Job of ignorance. He asked Job a series of questions, none of which could Job answer. He got God's intended message. If he was so ignorant that he could not answer basic questions about creation, how could he presume to bring charges against the Creator! Job repented.

We too presume to know far more than we actually do. We suppose that God has not been faithful and that there couldn't possibly be a good reason for our disappointment.

The Psalmist couldn't find any good reason for the thriving of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous. However, his God gave him a revelation of the big picture, and this made the difference:

• I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory. (Psalms 73:22-24)

We too think too much of our own understanding. We need to be humbled. Paul also thought too much of himself. If he was to be of use to the Lord, he too would have to be humbled:

• For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. (II Corinthians 1:8-9)

May we too learn this necessary lesson.

EMOTION-LESS PRAYER

We tend to believe that when we pray without emotion, even detachment, our prayers will fail to reach God. Even if they do reach God, we are convinced that He will not be pleased with them.

I felt this way this morning. I awoke to a violent attack of vertigo, profuse sweating,

and, of course, nausea. The EMT took me to the local hospital.

Even worse, it felt as if God had abandoned me. Why? My prayers felt artificial and faithless, and God seemed uninterested in my vertigo. I became deeply distressed by this.

Later that day, after the hospital had discharged me, I was reminded of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, fictitious exchanges between the head demon and his demonic subordinate, Wormwood.

Wormwood had been boasting to Screwtape about a Christian he had demoralized to the point where he experienced no excitement or zeal for the Lord. However, Screwtape was not impressed:

·       "Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."

That's the way I had been feeling - demoralized. However, my friend reminded me that the Psalmists had also been so demoralized that they would have to give themselves a faith pep talk:

·       “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” (Psalms 43:5; ESV)

·       “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?...But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” (Psalms 13:1-2, 6)

Sometimes, they would remind themselves of the past faithfulness of God:

·       "Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?...I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.” (Psalms 77:8-9, 12)

Often our feelings do not comply with our prayers. Instead, we too are to remember His faithfulness.

Meanwhile, passion in prayer can be over-rated. The priests of Baal tried to prevail over Elijah's God even to the point of cutting themselves, but it was all for naught.

Don't be concerned about a lack of passion in your prayers. Just persevere in faith and obedience.

WHEN UNDERSTANDING FAILS US

What can we do when it seems that God has failed us? When our loved ones are afflicted and die long before their time? When God could easily heal a faithful servant and doesn’t? Even when he allows them to commit suicide? When we these kinds of things happening, we feel betrayed and wonder whether we can really trust this God.

It might surprise you to learn that even the Saints of Israel had a problem with God. The Psalmist complained that God had betrayed the covenant He had made with David:

• But you [God] have rejected, you have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one [David]. You have renounced the covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins… O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David? (Psalm 89:38-40)

Another Psalmist complained that it was useless to serve God, seeing that the unrighteous thrived better than the righteous:

• Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. (Psalm 73:13) 

Of course, Job, after losing everything, had his own complaints against God:

• "Although I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life. It is all the same; that is why I say, 'He [God] destroys both the blameless and the wicked.' When a scourge brings sudden death, he [God] mocks the despair of the innocent. When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he [God] blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?” (Job 9:21-24)

From the narrow vantage point of his experience, it seemed that God acts unjustly in every way:

• All was well with me, but he [God] shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; his archers surround me. Without pity, he [God] pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior…yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. (Job 16:12-17)

From Job’s limited perspective, he was sure that he didn’t deserve the way that God had treated him. Instead, he was sure that God was guilty of unfaithfulness. However, Job placed too much trust in his own thinking. This became clear to him after God had revealed Himself and asked Job a long series of questions that Job couldn’t even begin to answer.

Job got the point. If he couldn’t answer one of these easy questions, how could he bring charges against God! Consequently, Job repented:

• "I am unworthy (“vile” NKJV)--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more." (Job 40:4-5)

• “You [God] asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know…My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:3-6) 

The Psalmist had placed too much trust in his understanding, in the limited spectrum of life that he was able to observe. However, God had given him a revelation that changed all that:

• But when I thought how to understand this [the flourishing of the unrighteous], it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. (Psalm 73:16-17)

God had enabled the Psalmist to see the big picture, and he was mightily blessed:

• When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.  Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:21-26)

However, the Psalmist of Psalm 89, who had accused God of renouncing His covenant with David, didn’t receive an answer, at least as far as we know. After unloading on God, he nevertheless concludes the Psalm:

• Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?... Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen. (Psalm 89:49, 52)
  

Although sorely disappointed, the Psalmist’s only hope remained with the Lord. He therefore blessed Him, refusing to place his trust in his own understanding.

Discouragement is the lot of God’s servants. There are going to be times when His ways do not make any sense to us. However, the wise servant will not place too much trust in what he sees and understands. Perhaps we trust too much in our wisdom, and perhaps our trust in misplaced. Perhaps we just need to reaffirm our trust in a God who alone is our hope, knowing that there will be times when understanding will surely fail us.