Truth Is, Psalms (And Life) Can Be Deceptively Complicated (II of II)

In my prior blog on this topic, I noodled over the seeming disparity between what King David wrote and what he did. I found the wide divergence amusing, but saw no evidence of a crime. It's just that mystery in life. We pray (and need to pray) for God's guidance and deliverance. But in practice we have to make decisions and do our level best to escape bad situations as best we can. More often than not, our own hot little feet have something to do with our freedom from bad situations.

But there's another little paradox hiding in the two Psalms I have been reading of late, and it's not hard to find in other Psalms, either. Here is an example:

Psalm 34: 21
Evil will slay the wicked;
    the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

The Psalms sometimes seem divorced from the ugly realities of the world we live in from day to day. The verse we just read does not easily square with basic political geopolitics. Vladimir Putin is an old man now, and he's been up to unspeakably evil things for decades. Assad has been ruling Syria since 2000, and in the intervening years has taken the entire country to hell; he is personally responsible for millions of refugees and hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. Then we could talk about the multi-generational dynastic evils present in North Korea. And we can't forget Mugabe, a nonagenarian nutcase who has worked hard over the past forty years to transform the relatively stable and pleasant country of Zimbabwe into just another African nightmare.

With all due respect to the Psalms, sometimes the wicked have a great deal of staying power—and that is both a mystery and a disappointment. But the paradox that has my attention today lies the opposite direction. The seemingly abundant optimism we find prevalent in the Psalms can seem no less divorced from our day-to-day realities than the assurances that the lives of the wicked will be cut short.

Psalm 34: (excerpts)
I will glory in the Lord
    let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.

This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
    he saved him out of all his troubles.

On first blush those words seem awfully optimistic, don't they? Great stuff if you're in a chipper mood and life is good. But when life has served you lemonade, verses like these can leave you wondering, "When will these promises apply to me?" Sometimes the promises we find in portions of the Psalms don't seem to have played out as advertised in our own lives, and that, too, is both a mystery and a disappointment.

Now these are not new insights, and I'd wager most anyone who has spent more than a passing glance with the Psalms has wondered about such things. But what I keep thinking after further reflection is this... That optimism? It really ain't that optimistic. There are hints of what I'm talking about in the verses we've seen already, but let's look at a few more verses from Psalm 34 before I elaborate on this thought.

Psalm 34: (more excerpts)
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are attentive to their cry;

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

The righteous person may have many troubles,
    but the Lord delivers him from them all;

The Lord will rescue his servants;
    no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Now what we've read so far can seem awfully optimistic, but that's only because we're (or at least I have been) focusing on the promise. Take a moment and review the premise.

When you get delivered? That's because you were a captive.

When the righteous cry out? It's because they're in distress.

When you get saved from your troubles? That's because you had them.

One doesn't become brokenhearted without experiencing heartache.

Are you crushed in spirit? That means you've been through hard times. A lot of them.

Have you seen many troubles? Well, that is the heart of the matter, isn't it? Many troubles. We could find many more verses just like these listed here. On and on it goes.

King David, who wrote this Psalm, is describing anything but the Utopian ideal that some Psalms seem to falsely promise. Utopian ideal? Hardly. Some Psalms are more optimistic than others, but this one, that on the face of it is rather upbeat... it's really an encouragement to those who have been put through the wringer. Several times.

Speaking for myself, that is encouraging. Something I can relate to. God has been with me, and God has been gracious to me. But my life has not been one long joyride. Along with David, I have seen many troubles. And God has (as David's Psalm promised) seen me through them all. I know that I will eventually face death and before that perhaps some trials that I will never fully recover from. Anyone with two eyes knows that these things do happen to both godly people as well as to the unrighteous.

But I have seen the lives of the wicked, and I'm not jealous. Assad, Mugabe, Putin and a host of less well-known evildoers may still walk this earth, but I don't envy their lives, and I am not sure they should rightly be described as alive. I think the Psalmist isn't off the mark with these men. Evil has slayed most of the humanity within them.

How wonderful, rather, to plod along with the righteous through my difficulties (both petty and profound), knowing that God, who loves me, is watching me and with me. Even when I struggle.

And one day I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.