It took me by surprise, reading through a couple of familiar verses from Psalm 33 the other day, to see something I’d never seen before. A life-giving breath and delightful reminder of the truth that the Word of God is ‘living and active.’
In these days of a rapidly-changing and globally-embracing situation, for most of us, we reach for known and familiar tools to make sense of things: we scour news headlines for up to the minute information, we read and reread article after article after article to be armed and to have the assurance of a stocked arsenal of awareness to draw upon. Assurances of predictabilities, at the very least, are scanty at best. And then…we pick up the sword of the Spirit, and our carefully cached stockpile falls away to this:
No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
To adjust the concepts outlined above for a modern audience, following Mad Libs best practices, replace “king” and “army” with power / authority nouns of your choice; perhaps “president” and “administration.” Replace “horse” with your favorite conceivable form of transport; “SpaceX rocket” or what have you.
I am by no means suggesting here that we should not be informed or take wisely-considered preparedness action. But the attitude is what must shift, if it is coming from any place other than this bedrock truth:
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
Famine can take many forms other than food–or personal paper products. What I am caught by, is that as I look to outward things to bolster my sense of weakness, of inadequacy, of lack, my God is actually looking to me! He is looking at me. Not to be His source of strength: but as One Who is watching with ardent affection for the moment my eyes will lift, lock with His, and see that He alone is the Source for all that is needed. Selah (‘pause, and think calmly of that’).
How appropriately, the Psalm ends with this reassurance, with the one truth we can stand upon, and not be shaken in these times of trouble:
We wait in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.
Selah.