Dear Friends

Verses from Psalm 39
1I said, ‘I will keep watch over my ways, ?
so that I offend not with my tongue.

3So I held my tongue and said nothing; ?
I kept silent but to no avail.

4My distress increased, my heart grew hot within me; ?
while I mused, the fire was kindled
and I spoke out with my tongue:

5‘Lord, let me know my end and the number of my days, ?
that I may know how short my time is.

8‘And now, what is my hope? ?
Truly my hope is even in you.

10I fell silent and did not open my mouth, ?
for surely it was your doing.

11Take away your plague from me; ?
I am consumed by the blows of your hand.

What is more powerful?  An elephant or a mouse?  Well, if the cartoons are to be believed, it’s a mouse, as, certainly in cartoon land, elephants are terrified of them and screech to a halt in their trumpeting tracks in front of one mouse crossing their path.  Whether that’s based in reality I doubt, but it leads to a very similar question.  Which is more powerful?  Humanity or a virus invisible to the naked eye?  We are learning that it’s the virus.  Size isn’t everything and we don’t like it and it makes us feel distinctly insecure.  We don’t know who to trust.  For many, many people, the idea of trusting in God is just laughable; so they are left to cope with their insecurity and anxiety on their own.  It’s not surprising they are in anguish!
Psalm 39 seems to be written by someone in some sort of similar mental anguish.  Verse 11 gives the impression it was written during a pandemic. 11Take away your plague from me; I am consumed by the blows of your hand.  The writer is clearly a believer in God, but is desperate to ask him, … to accuse him,  ‘If you love me God, why do you allow me to feel like this?  All my foundations seem to be crumbling away!  I’m feeling distinctly out of control.  You can hear him having a battle with himself, ‘Shall I lash out against God?  Or shall I keep silent and pretend to trust him?’  1I said, ‘I will keep watch over my ways, so that I offend not with my tongue.

He decides, probably foolishly, to be silent, but the stress just builds up inside him like a pressure cooker to 3So I held my tongue and said nothing; I kept silent but to no avail.  In the end he could stand it no more and he explodes.  4My distress increased, my heart grew hot within me; while I mused, the fire was kindled and I spoke out with my tongue.  :But instead of shouting at God, railing against him that ‘it’s not fair’, he tries to take control and asks God to tell him if he is going to catch the plague  5‘Lord, let me know my end and the number of my days, that I may know how short my time is.

Where is true security to be found?  Well we discover.  After the rebellion comes the revelation.  8‘And now, what is my hope? Truly my hope is even in you.  And with the revelation comes a feeling of peace, of acceptance.  Que sera sera!  10I fell silent and did not open my mouth, for surely it was your doing.  The journey is over!  So if you’re feeling anxious, or frustrated, or out of control, I invite you to take the same journey and to discover that it is only when we admit that we are not in control, and hand it all to God, that the peace descends upon us.
A prayer
Eternal Father,
see the tears of those who suffer,
and in your compassion deliver them;
give us wisdom at all times to know that we are pilgrims passing soon through earthly life,
and may all our hope be in you.
Amen.
Here’s another version of Pie Jesu.  Andrew Lloyd Webber.  It seems to radiate acceptance and peace in the face of adversity and clearly calls us to trust in Christ to find this.
Every blessing
Andrew