In the Day of Trouble--July 20, 2020

In the Day of Trouble--July 20, 2020

"Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,

    for I am poor and needy.

 Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;

    save your servant who trusts in you.

 You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord,

    for to you do I cry all day long.

 Gladden the soul of your servant,

    for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,

   abounding in steadfast love to all who call on your.

 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;

    listen to my cry of supplication.

 In the day of my trouble I call on you,

    for you will answer me." [Psalm 86:1-7]

I don't know about you, but these days, it seems like every morning I wake up waiting for another shoe to drop.  We have been living through a difficult season, this whole world, and especially our country, our state, and our communities feel like they are being rocked with new challenges daily.  Just when we think we've gotten a handle on "how the world is," there's a new reality to deal with, and we all have to go back and re-strategize how to get a toe-hold in shifting terrain.

Our families figure a workable way to make a living... and then someone loses a job, or gets furloughed, or a business can't find a way to keep open with limitations they have operate with, or someone gets sick and now an income stream is lost.  And so lots of households I know feel like they are struggling just to keep their heads above water, without anybody knowing for how long they are going to have to keep treading (and while knowing that the length of time we are treading water depends in large part on the behaviors of other people around us that we cannot control).

Our communities are feeling tensions and worry, not just over sickness from the pandemic, but over disagreements on what we should do about schools, how to support local businesses, what things should or shouldn't be open, and even how to deal with our disagreements. All of that is layered on top of all the other unrest that was simmering already, along the fault lines between us. And there are times when it feels like we're coming apart at the seams.

We wake up ready to face the world that existed when we went to bed... only to discover the sun has risen on a different world.  And that is utterly exhausting.

But here is what gives me hope on a morning that feels anxious with the anticipation of the next shoe to drop: the living God remains constant when everything else has been thrown up in the air, and this God is forever meeting us at the point of our need.  The living God, the God we meet in the Scriptures, the God to whom the psalmist cries out, knows that he will find in God a willingness to show up, without any promised deal or transaction for what's "in it for God."

There's something truly profoundly beautiful in the way this prayer, which we know as Psalm 86, begins.  That's because the poet doesn't make any attempt to cut a deal with God, but simply trusts God's constant faithfulness in a world that is hard to deal with.  The one praying simply says, "I need you to listen to me... because I am poor and needy."  Look at that--the reason he trusts God will listen is simply his own need.  Not, "and if you help me, I'll promise to pay you back with lots of sacrifices"... and not, "you owe me one, God, because I have memorized so many Bible verses."  And not even, "I have a religious bumper sticker on my donkey so people will know I believe in you, so won't you help me out in return?"  The poet doesn't see the relationship as one of commerce, but one of grace.  In other words, it is not dependent on having something of value to offer God in return for assistance.  It is grounded in the faithfulness of God, in the "steadfast love" God shows to any and all who call on God.

That's what lifts up my soul on a day like today.  We can hope for relief from other quarters, but we know that politicians, employers, and the bigger structures and systems we live within are all still bound by the thinking of transactional self-interest: they do what they do if they think it will pay off in profits or votes or a better bottom line for the investors.  That will always limit how much any of them can do, or are willing to do, in "the day of trouble," as the psalmist puts it.  But a God whose reputation is staked on steadfast love for the poor and needy, simply on the grounds of our need... well, that's a God you can rely on even when bills are stalled in Congress, when businesses are out of money to keep people on staff, and when shoes keep dropping like rain from the sky.

We simply cannot rely on the fickleness of transactional, deal-making self-interest; maybe the anxiety of these pandemic days is simply making clear to us what was already always true but which we did not want to recognize.  But through a season like this, we find that our prayer can be much like this ancient poet:  we can count on God to show up for us, and to lift up our lives, not because of what we can give God in return, but simply because of who God is.

In the day of trouble, we can't count on the deal-makers and dignitaries for help (because they may just calculate it is not in their self-interest to help us).  But we can always count on the living God--for ours is the God whose reputation is staked on steadfast love for the ones with empty hands and troubled hearts.

Come to our aid, Lord God, for all the worries and troubles we bring today. Come to our aid, not because of what we can do for you, but because of who you are.