Psalm 41: The Day of Trouble

For those who have been following this blog, I owe you an apology. I could say that I haven’t written because I’ve been away a lot the last couple of weeks, but the truth is, much more than my schedule, I haven’t written because I’ve been struggling with Psalm 41. I’ve struggled to make heads or tails of it. It’s another Psalm in which David seems to be defending himself, confessing his sin, asking for mercy and complaining about his enemies. For two weeks I’ve read it almost every day and each time come away with the same thought, “What is this about?” My to do list today started with Psalm 41, my plan was that no matter how hard it was or how long it took, I would not do anything today until I had written about Psalm 41. Then I got a text from a friend and I felt like I started to see Psalm 41 a bit clearer.

David begins this psalm the same way he began Psalm 1, with a beatitude, “Blessed is the one . . .” A beatitude is a call to action, it’s God revealing His character and leading us to follow His example. It’s more than a way to blessing, it’s a directive in how to follow Jesus. “Blessed is the one who remembers the poor” is a description of someone that lives in selflessness, someone that uses their blessings to bless others, someone who thinks more highly of others than they think of themselves. Let’s define the poor for a moment. This is not just those who have less or little money, it’s not those who are unemployed or underemployed, it’s not about money, it’s about life. The poor are those who lack in any way what is needed for a life of peace, joy and security. The poor are the broken, the lonely, the overlooked, the unwanted, the marginalized, the minority, the anxious, the lost and the afraid. We are surrounded by the poor; we’ve all been the poor. God’s character has always been to remember the poor. In biblical examples, God remembered the poor when He went looking for Adam and Eve when they had broken the relationship they were created for. He remembered the poor when He promised Eve that a Redeemer would come from her seed to break the bonds that she and her husband had put on all of humanity. He remembered the poor when He heard the slavery-induced cries of Israel and came to deliver them. He remembered the poor when He sent the prophets and John the Baptist to prepare our hearts for the Messiah. He remembered the poor when He sent Jesus to free us from our sins by His blood. He remembers the poor right now, in this moment, sending His people, with His Word, by His Spirit to be the salt of the earth, preserving that which is decaying, breathing life into that which is bound to die. David is telling us, “Blessed are those who choose to remember those who God will not ever forget.”

What is the blessing for having God’s heart, the promise that comes from choosing to view the world around us through God’s compassion rather than our convenience, persuasion or preference? “In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him”. David didn’t write that “if” he found trouble that God would be with him, he wrote it as a matter of fact, he would face trouble and when he did, God would be to him what he had been to others. It’s the Psalms version of Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.” Trouble, difficulty, hardship these are the realities of life. Jesus promised, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.” Psalm 34:19, another psalm of David, taught us, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” The day of trouble is not the absence of God, it’s not how He shows His displeasure, it’s simply the truth of where we live. It’s like pollen in New Jersey, humidity in Florida or rain in Seattle, if you visit or live in those places you know what to expect. We live in a fallen world, in a creation that is groaning from corruption, in a culture that is decaying at such a rate that God made us the salt to attempt to arrest it’s death. The blessing of remembering the poor or caring for the weak is not the absence of trouble, it’s confidence in God’s care when trouble arises.

My text this morning was from a good friend, a friend I love and a friend that has taught me greatly about caring for the weak, about the sacrifices of friendship, about spending ourselves on behalf of the poor. He reached out today with a prayer request, with a personal need and I suddenly was reminded of this psalm that I’d been wrestling with. My friend who is an example of God’s character to others is now in need of God’s character for himself. That’s the beauty of the psalm, God’s character is not just a given, it’s a promise, He never wavers from who He is, He doesn’t just do things, He is. He is good, He is love, He is faithful, He is patient, He is kind, He is gentle, He is able, He is willing, He is generous, He is self-controlled. David seems to have been writing from his day of trouble and reminding himself of what would never change: God would deliver him, God would protect Him and even keep him alive, God would sustain him in sickness and restore him from illness to health. The day of trouble could not keep him from God, because God is always present, possibly never more so than the day of trouble. Today, if you would, pray for my friend, that the goodness of God would overtake, deliver and heal him. If you are facing your own day of trouble, I will pray for you, that “the God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him”, that the day of trouble will be an opportunity for you to see God’s goodness and feel His everlasting, all-encompassing love.