It’s difficult the continuous triumphant, victorious Psalms, especially while living in a western, colonized country where I still benefit from colonialisation and things like that. I don’t want my faith to be about being victorious over others at their expense.
But I do want to know for sure that God will answer us when we are in distress, whatever that present distress is.
And I think he does. Even though its’ sometimes only possible to really know it retrospectively. Which sometimes doesn’t quite feel like enough when the distress is actually happening.
I think what this means though is that it is within our times of distress that God deeply wants us to cry out to him. Even if we think we haven’t been ‘good enough’ or faithful enough or anything like that. It doesn’t matter. Cry out. For as long as it takes. Don’t stop. And then later, no matter how long it takes, we can celebrate how God got us through it, even if you only feel like you are hanging on by a finger nail.
This Psalm actually makes me sad, especially v4. “May he give you the desires of your heart.’
Because I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to happen most of the time. Until we examine what the desires of our hearts are. If we are seeking to become more like Christ, then hopefully the desires of our heart follow after Christ. But even then, we must still get used to suffering: ours and others. Not in a de-sensitised way but in a way where rather than only asking God ‘why’ (which it is ok to do), we also move into the questions of what this means for the world, what can we do about it, all the while still trusting, believing and following God – even if we are a bit angry. But God is angry too about suffering. God will meet us in that place of anger and draw us into God’s self.
How / can we live in a way that what God desires, truly and deeply become the desires of our heart? Can we truly move beyond the desires of our heart being security or ….. Can we truly move from trusting in chariots and horses or houses or governments or ourselves or money or excitement and trust God in the name of the Lord?
V1 “May the Lord answer…” - may we be able to identify / recognize and know God’s answer to our prayers.
