Image: "Heart of Gold", 2020, Severna Park, Md
Psalm 73:25–26 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. 26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 74:3 Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations. The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
Psalm 75:10 “All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.”
Psalm 77:7 Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more?
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Ferlin Husky was one of the "old time" country western singers... back before "cross-over" styles transformed the genre. "Cross-Over" CW music emphasizes broad appeal. The old nasal twangy "3 chords and a story" melodies just didn't appeal to young people attuned to rock and roll and whatever it is that passes for rock these days. But Husky went down swinging. His hit gospel song "On the Wings of a Dove" touched the souls of many folks hard bitten by tough times. The second verse goes like this:
When troubles surround us, when evils come
The body grows weak the spirit grows numb
When these things beset us, God doesn't forget us
He sends down His love
On the wings of a dove (LISTEN HERE)
No matter what our attitude toward CW music... whether we enjoy the simple, predictable melody or not... we still can identify with these words. We are kindred spirits across the decades (Husky died in 2011) because we have also experienced times when we were simply incapacitated by troubles... we identify with the body growing weak and the spirit numb as troubles surrounded us. We know how it becomes a serious question whether we even desire to go on or not. We know this because in the progress of ordinary life, we all go through periods of testing and it is in those, more than all others, that we learn what it means to truly trust God.
Most of the Psalms in today's reading reflect this kind of circumstance. Psalm 73 is especially beloved by generations of God's people because it proclaims the same message as Ferlin's song. The Psalmist is surrounded by troubles and evil men. He looked around and saw that these men doing pretty well. They were prosperous, arrogant, comfortable in their surroundings even in death (73:4) and were supremely confident that it was sheer foolishness to worry about what God thinks (73:11).
The Psalmist is shaken to core. He, like so many of us, began to wonder if this religion business was just a mind game. The contrast between his own circumstances and the brilliant lifestyles of the wicked made him wonder if he had "cleansed his heart in vain." The psychological impact left him, like the song "numb" in spirit. He was plagued all the day long by the "injustice of it all." Bad times created a compulsive / obsessive thought process... he could either stop worrying about it or having frustration dominate him. The Psalmist awoke each morning to the "chastening" lash of demonic torture.
It was at this deepest point in his downward spiral that things changed. His grief and vexed mind made him so foolish and ignorant that he was like a "beast' walking upright. Most of us know exactly what this means. Here, in the depths, came the healing touch of the Holy Spirit. God "sent down His love" and shifted the Psalmist's focus heavenward where it should have been all along. Suddenly he was transformed. He knew that it wasn't a mind game at all. He knew, through the Holy Spirit, that God was with him and by that very fact, his circumstances were far superior to the prosperous evil men around him. He saw that God's love embraced him, held him by his hand (vs. 23) and that, in this way, God would lead him through this present trial, guide him through his remaining life and, joy upon joy, "afterward receive me to glory." (vs. 24)
This awakening to his own true blessedness over and against his prior sense of helpless victimhood, brought on a gushing expression of praise and thanksgiving. "Whom have I in heaven but YOU! There is none on earth that I desire besides You... my flesh and my heart fail... but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." This is what God's love, sent down to us on the snow white Dove of His Holy Spirit, does to us. It touches us in the deepest core of our being. It makes us realize that God Himself is our most precious possession. He makes us know the "goodness" that we experience when we "draw near to God." (vs. 28)
I heard some very sad news last evening about a beloved friend who is seriously ill. This is just the latest "bad news" coming in recent times. Family members have died, some of whom at an early age. The impact of the virus-caused economic recession generates a sense of omnipresent oppression. "Trouble surrounds us" and "evil" is coming at us left and right. But this psalm and the others shift my eyes away from that blackness to the Light which shines above it. There is a God in heaven and He "belongs" to me... as He belongs to all His children. That God should and must be the object of my desire, even above my concerns about "what might happen next." It is God who is our strength... and He is our inheritance. He will be with us in this and everything that comes next. Ultimately we have nothing to fear but fear itself... and perfect love casts out fear. (1 Jn 4:18)
God is still sending "down His love" and this is the great work that we are to "declare" to all who will hear us. (73:28)
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