Meditation for December 19, 2007

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Psalm 33:10-22

 

10  The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

        he thwarts the designs of the peoples.

11  But the will of the Lord stands fast for ever,

        and the designs of his heart from age to age.

12  Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,

        happy the people he has chosen to be his own!

13  The Lord looks down from heaven,

        and beholds all the people in the world.

14  From where he sits enthroned he turns his gaze

        on all who dwell on the earth.

15  He fashions all the hearts of them

         and understands all their works.

16  There is no king that can be saved by a mighty army;

         a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

17  The war horse is a vain hope for victory,

         for all its strength it cannot save.

18  Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him,

         on those who hope in his steadfast love,

19  to pluck their lives from death,

         and to feed them in time of famine.

20  Our soul waits for the Lord;

        he is our help and our shield.

21  Indeed, our heart rejoices in him,

        for in his holy name we put our trust.

22  Let your loving-kindness [steadfast love], O Lord, be upon us,

         as we have put our trust in you.

 

In Whom Do You Ultimately Place Your Trust?

 

Where do you ultimately place your trust? Another way to think about this question might be this:  When I am in a place of vulnerability, where do my thoughts go?

 

There are many options available to us.

 

Do I put my ultimate trust in how much money I have in the bank, or in how my investments are doing in the stock market?

 

Do I put my ultimate trust in our country's military might (see verses 16 and 17 above), in the budgets of the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, or in the guns that I have stashed in my home?

 

Do I put my ultimate trust in trying to be righteous - in trying to fulfill all the commandments of God, as I understand them?

 

Do I put my ultimate trust in what my family and friends think of me - in whether I am well received and well-liked?

 

Is my ultimate trust founded in how educated I am, or in the particular job I have?

 

Do I put my ultimate trust in my associations with other people who hold political or theological views that are similar to mine?

 

Ask yourself:  What makes me feel most secure?  Your answer to that question will tell you a great deal about where you place your ultimate trust.

 

God, through the various leaders and prophets and authors who are prominent in the Bible, challenges us - over and over again - to put our trust in Him, and only in Him.  This psalm is no exception.  "The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing..." (verse 10)  "There is no king [or President] that can be saved by a mighty army." (verse 16)  "Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord."  We like to say, "In God we trust." Our money even reminds us to place our trust in God.  But when push comes to shove, is that really where we place our trust?

 

One of the incredible mysteries we contemplate as Christians is the one we contemplate this time of year.  God took up human life.  And at the very beginning of this One's life, he was placed in a feeding trough, for his parents were temporarily homeless, and that feeding trough was about the only thing available to them in the moment.  From the beginning, then, God-in-the-flesh comes to know one of the essential attributes of being human.  That attribute, of course, is our vulnerability.  Mary and Joseph were in a strange place, with a brand new baby.  They had to trust in God in that moment, just as they trusted in God when they heard the news that Mary was pregnant.  How do we react when we are vulnerable?  Many of us want to lash out, or get more controlling - assert our will in some way.  Make no mistake - God calls us to be strong.  But the Bible is clear.  True strength comes from being reliant on God, and trusting in Him alone.

 

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, to pluck their lives from death, and to feed them in time of famine.  Our soul waits for the Lord; for he is our help and our shield.  Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, for in his holy name we put our trust.  Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, as we have put our trust in you." (Psalm 33:18-22)

 

When you start to recognize you are moving into a fearful place, where do you go?  Do you say, "I just have to 'buck up' and be strong?"  Do you collapse?  Do you get angry, and want to lash out at someone?  ("By God, someone is going to pay for this!")  The antidote to fear is trust - trusting in the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God.  He alone is our help and our shield.  He alone can deliver us from famine, disease, enemies, fear - whatever it is.  Only the Lord can save us.  If our trust is placed in anyone else, or anything else, it is misplaced.  We have an idol in our lives, for we are making something else God. 

 

Only God can be God.  And this God came into our world, and instead of acting like James Bond or the Terminator or Superman, he "emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness..." (Philippians 2:7) Instead of arriving on the world's stage and immediately telling everyone how things were going to be, Jesus - God-in-the-flesh - was born... in a manger.  So began the ultimate journey of ultimate trust.