[Read Psalm 118:1-7]
When reading the Psalms it’s helpful to search for clues in order to understand what’s going on in the Psalmist life when they are writing the Psalm. In this passage we see words like “distress” and “fear” and “those who hate me.” The Psalmist didn’t write this Psalm during a time of ease and relaxation. Things were difficult. People hated him and were coming after him. He was in distress. He was tempted to live in fear.
As I thought about that situation, I couldn’t help but see the parallels to our current situation in the US. I think we could describe our current situation as one of distress, fear, and hatred. The coronavirus has caused many people to live in distress and fear. The job shortages across the country have caused people to live in distress and fear. The supply chain issues have caused many to live in distress and fear. The tragedy that occurred in Waukesha this past week has caused people to live in distress and fear—amazed something like that could happen so close to home, wondering if it could happen here.
I don’t think I have to spend much time talking about the hatred we’re experiencing in our country. We’re no longer able to disagree with one another or able to find some level of compromise. Rather, when someone disagrees with us we call them unloving, stupid, foolish, or a hater—which then gives us the seeming freedom to hate them back. And to make things worse, whenever I talk about this with people, they never think I’m talking to them. They always think I’m talking about the people they disagree with. They look at me, nodding their head, thinking, “Yeah, I’m tired of people calling me foolish, unloving, stupid, or a hater. They need to stop doing that. They’re such terrible people.” Hear me clearly. I’m not talking about “other people.” I’m talking about ME. I’m talking about YOU. Let’s not be so blinded by our own opinions that we can’t imagine we could possibly be wrong.
In the midst of times like these—times of distress, fear, and hatred—the Psalmist gives us some direction on how we should respond and where we need to focus our thoughts.
The Psalmist begins by remembering the goodness of God. He says, “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good” (Psalm 118:1, ESV). In seasons like this—times of distress, fear, and hatred—we need to remember that God is good…all the time (and all the time, God is good). Not only do we need to remember this truth, we need to meditate upon it daily because we are easily distracted. In difficult times we too quickly begin to question the goodness of God. We wonder why God would allow such a thing to happen. We wonder if God is enjoying causing us pain and suffering. We wonder why God hasn’t acted sooner. And as we wonder about these things, we begin to question whether God is still good.
Yet, one of the most powerful truths of scripture is that God is unchanging. He doesn’t change over time or based on the circumstances. He always is who he always has been and will always continue to be. That’s part of what he meant when he told Moses, “I am who I am.” So, when we read in scripture that God is good, we need to remember that God is good ALL THE TIME—not just when we like the things He is doing, not just when things are going our way. He has always been good, is good right now, and will always be good. That will never change. But it should change the way we view our current situation and the way we respond.
The Psalmist goes on to give us an example—to show us one way he knows God is good. He says, “He is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 118:1, ESV). For the most part, whenever you see the word “for” you can substitute it with the word “because.” How do we know God is good? Because his steadfast love endures forever. It doesn’t go away. It doesn’t shift or change. God is good because he has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, no matter what we’re going through. He is WITH us, right there at our side. And, just in case you’re tempted to forget this truth, he repeats four times: his steadfast love endures forever, his steadfast love endures forever, his steadfast love endures forever, his steadfast love endures forever.
And this is just as true when things are going well—humming along—or when we’re in times of distress, fear, and hatred. God is still with us because his steadfast love endures forever. As Psalm 23 says, God is with us in the green meadows; God is with us beside quiet waters; and God is with us in the valley of the shadow of death.
And it’s good that God is with us because God is good. It would be no comfort for us if God was not good, but was with us—like a worthless friend who is willing to betray us at a moment’s notice, or will run away at the first sign of trouble. Yet God is good—he won’t betray us—and he is with us—he won’t run away. He’s right there with us in the thick of the battle.
These two truths cause us to respond in three different ways. First, we see the Psalmist crying out to God in prayer. He says, “Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free.” (Psalm 118:5, ESV). On the one hand, the Psalmist gives this as another example of God’s goodness and his enduring steadfast love—his “withness.” When he was in a difficult season of life—in distress—he called out to God and God answered him and set him free. That’s how he knows God is always with him and that God is good. He was with him in his distress and He set him free.
Yet, this also shows out proper response to God’s goodness and “withness.” Since God is good and God is always with us, we CAN cry out to him in the midst of our distress—we MUST cry out to him in the midst of our distress. If God wasn’t good, why would we even try crying out to him in our difficulty; and if God wasn’t with us—if he was far away—it would be pointless to try crying out to him in our distress. Yet, God is good and he is with us, which means we must cry out to him when we are distressed and fearful and surrounded by those who hate us.
Yet, this isn’t always our natural tendency, is it? Our natural tendency is to get downcast and turn in on ourselves. Rather than crying out to God, we stew in our minds. We allow our fears and distress to run rampant in our minds—to take control—and they only run deeper. We allow the hurtful things people say about us or the frustrations we have with other people to spin and spin and spin in our skulls until we blow them out of proportion. Martin Luther has some helpful, blunt advice for us in these instances: “Thou must learn to call, and not to sit there by thyself, and lie on the bench, hang and shake thy head, and bite and devour thyself with thy thoughts; but come on thou indolent knave, down upon thy knees, up with they hands and eyes to heaven, take a Psalm or a prayer and set forth thy distress with tears before God.” (Taken from Spurgeon’s Treasury of David). When we do this, an amazing freedom comes over our hearts and our minds—when we let go of these things and entrust them to the only one who can truly do anything about them—our good God. This is why we must turn to God when we find ourselves in distress, fearful, or surrounded by those who hate us—God is good and he is with us. Call out to him and he will answer.
Yet, the Psalmist doesn’t just turn to God in prayer when things get tough, he does something more counter-cultural. He praises God. Not only does he praise God, but he praises God loudly. He goes around from house to house praising God and telling others to praise God. Listen to him: “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let those who fear the LORD say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”” (Psalm 118:1–4, ESV). I can picture him today saying, “Republicans, stop whining and living in fear, open your mouths and praise God because his steadfast love endures forever. Democrats, stop whining and living in fear, open your mouths and praise God because his steadfast love endures forever. All of you who are beat down, burdened, distressed and living in fear, open your mouth and praise God because his steadfast love endures forever.”
Yet, our tendency is to only praise God when we like what he’s doing. Charles Spurgeon should convict our hearts deeply when he says, “Those who only praise God because he DOES them good should rise to a higher note and give thanks to him because he IS good.” (Treasury of David, 101). God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. You know what that means, right? It means that all the time God is worthy of our praises, and God is worthy of our praises all the time—even when we’re in distress or fearfulness or surrounded by those who hate us. God is good, he is with us, and he is worthy of all our praise all the time.
We can praise God in difficulty because we know he is good and he is with us. Think about it. God doesn’t put us through difficulty and trials simply because he enjoys making us suffer. If he did, he wouldn’t be good. But, since we KNOW God is good and we KNOW God is with us, we also know there is a good reason for this difficulty. God is using it for something greater. So we praise Him for his goodness and his wisdom.
Yet, we also praise Him for being with us. Remember God doesn’t just put trials and difficulties in our way, then sit back and watch us struggle. He enters into them with us. He walks right alongside us. He carries us through when we need it. So, we praise Him for the fact that his steadfast love endures forever.
The goodness of God and his “withness” has another effect on our lives. The Psalmist says, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6, ESV). Since the Psalmist knows God is good and God is with him, he says He will not fear but will live with confidence. Having a good God who is always by our side should cause us to live with fearless confidence. And, when we don’t naturally respond with fearless confidence, we should cry out to God to grant us fearless confidence and to remind us that he is good and he is with us. Why should we be afraid?
Don’t forget Psalm 23: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…” (Psalm 23:4, ESV). Why? “…for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4, ESV). Why doesn’t he live in fear, even when walking through the valley of the shadow of death? Because God is good and God is with him. God is right there by his side with a rod and a staff. The staff is there to guide him through the valley. The rod is there to put a beat down on anyone or anything that tries to harm him. Why would we be afraid?
This is so important for each of us to hear right now. Fear is running rampant. It always does in times of distress and hatred. But as God’s people—people who KNOW God is good and God is with us—we must not live in fear. Please understand I say this out of love: We must not live in fear of this virus. I know that my near-death experience with COVID has caused many to live in fear—if this could happen to a young, healthy guy, what could happen to me? Please don’t live in fear. I can testify that even as I lay in that hospital bed, weak and unable to speak, God was there with me and He was very good. We must not live in fear. We must hold firmly to the truth that God is good and he is with us, allowing that truth to create a fearless confidence to spread throughout our hearts and minds as we live our daily lives.
Now, make sure you hear me properly. This doesn’t mean we live like fools and tempt God with our stupidity and I’m not telling you whether to wear a mask or not. There are plenty of people wearing a mask out of principle, but there are also plenty of people who wear a mask out of fear: fear of getting sick, fear of looking unloving, fear of other’s opinions. In the same way, there are plenty of people refusing to wear a mask out of principle, but there are just as many people NOT wearing a mask because they are also afraid: afraid of government overreach, afraid of looking like a liberal, afraid of losing their freedom. Let me tell you, that fear isn’t any more holy than the other. Here’s the point in all of this: Stop living and making decisions based on fear. Rather, look to our good God, who is always with us, trust Him, and live accordingly—a fearless confident life.
As we enter into this season of Advent, we must keep this truth on our minds and in our hearts. As we look forward to, and remember, the birth of a child in a manger in Bethlehem, we must also remember that he is called Emmanuel—God with us—with us all the time. We must remember that he didn’t stay in heaven, looking at the messed up, broken world, simply watching our distress and fear and hatred. Rather, as a good God whose steadfast love endures forever, he entered into our broken world, lived in our broken world, died in our broken world, and rose again to restore our broken world. That’s the God we serve and worship. That’s the God who is good and always with us. That’s the God who strengthens us to live fearless, confident lives in this world. Let’s trust Him.