Hope for Shattering Times

God’s people (5) are going through shattering times—the earthquake of God’s anger and rejection; the hard things of v. 3; the cup of his wrath. I let the verbs of vs. 1-5 reverberate in my heart. Where can a person run when there is an earthquake? David knows that there are some situations when human friends can do nothing for us (11); we can only look to God for help—“you” in v. 10 and “he” in v. 12 are both emphatic. While David was far away in the north-east, as the psalm’s title indicates, his enemies to the south took advantage of his absence. Great defeats can slide in under amazing victories: I should remember this when I consider my own battles. Do I face a situation in which a retreat would be wise—saving my honor perhaps, at the cost of my prospects?

The startling part of this song is the central section, vs. 6-8—a boisterous answer from God to the psalmist’s prayer, perhaps through some prophet or priest. These assertions are made in a very different context in Psalm 108. The same hymn can come to my rescue in very different circumstances: when I turn my thoughts to the international scene, civil disturbances or international wars which are being waged at the present time; or to brutality, confusion, widows, orphans, hunger, death, places where the gun rules and politicians are impotent, sudden violence here or long-drawn-out intractable conflicts there. The psalm pictures God in colossal terms, marching through the nations like a property surveyor, parceling off portions to different peoples with absolute sovereignty. Pray for those working in zones of suffering—doctors, relief workers, peace-makers—that their hopes for a better future may be fulfilled.

Think how your life may be guided by Christ, your problems solved by his wisdom, your weakness reversed by his strength and your struggles turned into victory by his grace.