“What if?”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Thursday, November 23, 2023

Psalm 65 (Forward, p. 25) CEV p. 592

Today’s psalm celebrates those times when God’s goodness ‘shines through’—that is, when we mortals are pleased with God and the way He has allowed things to be. Verses 5-8 speak of His power in a more cosmic or in more earth-wide ways:

“Our God, you save us, and your fearsome deeds answer our prayers for justice! You give hope to people everywhere on earth, even those across the sea. You are strong, and your mighty power put the mountains in place. You silence the roaring waves and the noisy shouts of the nations. People far away marvel at your fearsome deeds, and all who live under the sun celebrate and sing because of you.”

And verses 9-13 give praise to and celebrate His care for the earth and especially for agricultural pursuits:

“You take care of the earth and send rain to help the soil grow all kinds of crops. Your rivers never run dry, and you prepare the earth to produce much grain. You water all of its fields and level the lumpy ground. You send showers of rain to soften the soil and help the plants sprout. Wherever your footsteps touch the earth, a rich harvest is gathered. Desert pastures blossom, and mountains celebrate. Meadows are filled with sheep and goats; valleys overflow with grain and echo with joyful songs.”

Indeed, there is much here to celebrate and rejoice over. But what if, what if the rivers do run dry and showers of rain are scarce? And what if our ‘prayers for justice’ are not answered, and people do not find that they can place their hope or confidence in God? And what if the mountains do not seem to ‘keep their place’ and the nations continue with their noisy shouts?

Today’s psalm really does not address these concerns or questions, but elsewhere in the Scriptures we find, not words per se that answer them, but deeds and actions that do. The three youths in the furnace in Babylon were willing to trust God no matter what the circumstances (see Daniel

3:17-18). And Jesus was willing in the Garden of Gethsemane to trust His Father even when the future seemed bleak indeed (Matthew 26:39,42) And Jeremiah, by buying a piece of property even as the city of Jerusalem was being sieged and likely to fall soon, put his trust in God and in an unknown, uncertain future (Jeremiah 32). And Job, in his terrible grief and misery, knew to trust God equally in the bad times as in the good. As he says to his wife when she reproves him for his faith and trust in God: “Don’t talk like a fool! If we accept blessings from God, we must accept trouble as well” (Job 2:10). He even goes as far as to say, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15), thus stating again his sincere and unwavering trust in God.

And so, just as certainly as we should praise Him for His goodness, whether this is in the nations, or in the harvest, or in our own individual lives, we should also praise Him and trust Him even in ‘the not so good times.’ Indeed, we can have confidence in Him, for it is just as the apostle Paul says, ‘We know that all things work together for good for those that love God, who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). And so, we can trust Him, no matter what, ‘even if’, things are not exactly to our liking. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Forward notes: “You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths overflow with plenty” (verse 12).

“I love this verse so much I wrote a poem about it;

If there were no such thing as food, my flesh

Would not be hungry. If there was no song,

I wouldn’t need to sing, nor would I long

For love, if love were not, to come refresh

My aching, desert heart. We do not want

For things that don’t exist—though I have known,

My whole life long, a craving to return,

A homesickness for where I’d be, but can’t

Identify. I think it must be God.

And though I love the earth beneath my feet,

There’s something unfulfilled and incomplete

In every path my restless soles have trod.

There must be soul-food somewhere,

dressed and carved;

My belly full, my soul forever starved.

Moving Forward: “Is there a poem buried within you? Share it with us at #ForwardDaybyDay.”