CRISIS
Psalm 74
“O God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?”
This is not a crisis in the sense that a critical and dangerous situation has arisen. It is a crisis in the sense that our relationship with God has been stretched to its limits and it feels like we have gone past the point of no return.
Perhaps you have sinned and the consequences are dire—you committed adultery and your family is in ruin; you embezzled your company funds and your career is over; you are in prison facing the death penalty; you left God and the church and have lived a life in defiance of God’s values and now you feel that God would never listen to your prayers ever again. There is no light at the end of the tunnel.
Or perhaps you can’t put your finger on a specific cause but for a long time God seems far away, you feel dry and empty and your prayers do nothing.
Is this the end or is there a way back? Could it be, as we read in Hebrews 6, that “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”
Even though he thinks that it is “forever”, yet the Psalmist fall on key truths about God: He is a God who saves; he is a God with whom nothing can stand against his will; he is God who is ever mindful of his promises; he is a God who is compassionate towards the poor and needy; and he is a God who has staked his name on those who come to him to obey him, whatever their past may be.
Remember that it is while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us. If it is down to us, there is certainly no way back. But if we turn to him and lean on him then even the impossible is possible because that is who he is. God is not the problem; he is the solution and we should trust him and reach out to him.
“Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” (2 Timothy 2:11-13)