Psalm 3
Preached: Jan 24, 2010 - Des Arc First UMC - Nursing Home
SCRIPTURE READINGS Psalm 3:
This psalmist had plenty of enemies, some physical some
were illnesses. A lot
like many of us today.
Are you today facing a problem that is a lose—lose
situation at best no matter how you look at it? You aren’t sure whom
to trust any longer and you’re heartbroken about the way you’ve been
betrayed by others and your own body?
It is often difficult to know what to do in these situations.
You can do as the psalmist did—count on God as your impenetrable
defense, who not only protects your body but guards your heart as
well.
Psalm 3 is a prayer of one who stands accused by many
enemies, who have been rising up against him in increasing numbers.
These enemies humiliated him and deprive him of his dignity.
How many of us also have enemies who humiliate us and
derive us of our dignity? As we all grow older there are things we
have done in life that we are not all that proud of aren’t there?
I am starting to take up Golf again this year. Not only
do I have to re-learn how to swing the club and hit the ball -I have
to learn how to stand, How to address the ball, How to keep my head
down, How to hold my hands, wrist, and arms again that don’t seem
natural. After all that I have to relearn the rules of the game and
the lingo and even some of the local rules of the game like “give
mes” and “mulligans”. “Give mes” are those balls close to a hole
that you cannot possibly miss so you accept the inevitability of
that and accept the making of the hole in one more stroke. A
mulligan is when you have hit a ball either badly or even out of
play and you retake the stroke without a penalty being assessed
against you for the play.
Sometimes I wish that there was some magic that would
wipe the slate clean and allow me to start over. You know
where I truly get my mulligan at life!
We could all use a mulligan right once in a while. We could
all not make the same mistakes we made before and probably be
able to live a much better life than our present condition: If we
hadn’t smoked to much; If we hadn’t drank to much; If we had found
another partner for life; If we had done this or that different with
our children. Maybe—just
maybe things would be different now.
But we don’t have mulligans do we? We live with what we
have done. And we have to live with the consequences. Thank God that
He is there for us. Thank God he is there even now.
We like this psalmist crave from God the restoration of
our dignity. And like the psalmist we should know that we are not
without help. We can
trust God, in what he can and will do for us. He can and will be our
protector, our upholder and the restorer of honor for each of us. We
can and should trust him with our very existence and with his loving
grace. He is our salvation and
Our redemption and Our final caregiver.
It is funny how when we all seem so without hope and we
seem so without aid and we seem so depressed and run down. It is at
these times that we most want God to come close to us and he does
and God does come near if we let him.
I know the
people of Haiti are wondering where God was last week as over
200,000 died in their earthquake. But God was there. Contrary to
What Pat Robinson said, God does not dole out things like
earthquakes, and floods and tornadoes because a person or group of
people have been bad. Contrary to what some people believe, God is
not a vengeful tyrant who does things in retribution. My God is and
always will be a God who was willing to come to earth to redeem and
rescue me from the evil that is in this world constantly. My God is
a God of love and mercy who cries as I cry and cares as I care. My
God is there in the midst of these storms helping to care and
comfort me and others as they need it.
Please don't’ despair, and let it rule your life.
Rather trust in God to shield you in your situations and learn to
lean on his arm for comfort in times of trial. And you too will sing
Victory comes from you O Lord,
May your Blessings rest on your people.